#fragment bits

[zytes]

this manatee looks like it’s in a skyrim loading screen

[krillgarden]

akemi family portrait

[jeysecretive]

These rats

AU by @sonadowcentral

[spookberry]

magical embodiment of sapphic homoerotic friendships gives you magical girl powers, what do you do?

[saetiate]

itoshi sae x reader comfort, established relationship. cw: mentions of reader's past trauma and past physical abuse. reader has grown up with 19 years of abusive trauma (this is the only specific bit and is only said once, the rest is general). sae is aware of this trauma, so he does not have his usual possible 'cruelty' (shall we say) that you might associate with him depending on how you characterize him. he is trying on purpose for you. selfship coded but written generally

a plate falls. a pang that for once, sounds soft, in a way it never has before. not like it did the first nineteen years in your life, making your heart jackrabbit, a deafening noise that followed a deafening silence that would follow with deafening screaming.

a plate falls from the side of the counter to the floor, you move but you don't catch it in time. you watch it tip and spin and fall and you know your heart is meant to fall with it but this time, the absence of it feels off. there's that silence you know all too well, a silence that would usually fill your stomach with dread, that you know follows with having you at your knees, bent over with pain shooting through your body over and over again, your crying body still staring at the broken fragments.

there's none of that. there is a hand, but it is nothing like the hands before. it is gentle at the crux between your neck and your shoulder. the squeeze it gives is comforting.

how strange, to be granted with something like that, something like comfort and warmth, for a mistake you made. how strange, that comfort can feel like a cut, something you know is inherently wrong — your brain mismatching the feelings given with the ones you hold.

you know, that being given comfort is not meant to make you feel this strange, curling feeling, like the fear of falling. it doesn't change how you feel. you know and you have learned and that in of itself doesn't heal anything. how messed up is that?

there's a shuffling, and then a paper bag is being given to you. you move, then, crouching to grab at the pieces. sae's hand waves in front of you for a moment. you don't know what he sees, you don't dare to look at him. you don't want to know if it's filled with pity, or disappointment. it's probably neither, given his usual nonchalant demeanor, but you can't risk it. you can't risk looking.

whatever he sees, he doesn't move to stop you this time (he has before. before, he has held your hands in his and asked you to sit down. before, you were a shaking rabbit in his arms with tears biting your lower lashline and a trembling lip. today is not that day. it's finally, not that day anymore). he helps you instead. there's a broom in your hands, and then a wet towel, and then…

and then the floor is clean.

"food's on the table." his voice is calm, despite everything. despite everything? what's that supposed to mean? why does a thought like that still cross your mind?

"that's what you were going for, right?" he continues. you're staring at the floor, where the plate had been. if you hadn't been, you'd notice the way he was trying to meet your gaze. "to put some food on a plate and on the table?"

"yeah. thank you."

"did you want a drink too?" he hums noncommittally. "i can make something."

"no, it's fine. i can do it myself."

i can do it myself. this time, you mean it. this time, it's really true. said with a kind of conviction.

he looks at you for a second, and then there's a gentle "okay."

"are you mad at me?"

you ask him this at the table, a whole ten minutes of silence after the whole ordeal.

"why would i be?" he tilts his head. that's the thing about sae, his words tend to be genuine. blunt, sometimes, but he doesn't tend to lie. when you look at him, you can find no hidden motives, no matter how hard you search.

"it's normal," he continues. he sounds like he's been thinking of how to say it, rotating the words in his mind like a hamster wheel. his mouth moves with unsurety, eyebrows furrowed, so foreign in comparison to his usual grace. "to drop things sometimes."

normal. you remember the bowl that sae himself had broken just a couple months ago, how it split into two pieces in the sink. how he had even given his version of a joke about how there's only one of these bowls left, because rin had broken the same one half a year ago when he came to visit, and you had broken that bowl over a year ago, the time he had held your shaking hands.

the meal finishes. he clears the plates and does the dishes. he sits with you on the sofa and you watch a show together.

there's no punishment. there's no yelling. there's a blanket draped over you both and his arm around yours and the afternoon sun.

normal, he calls it. but even after all these years, the warmth feels new to you all the same. there's an upside, of course. you find it like sunlight passing through the trees. that being: you're able to be grateful for it, to hold him close and bask in it.

author's note: i thought about not adding the 19 years bit but... i couldn't phrase this in a way that made me happy without it.

wow, exposing my traumatic and abusive childhood to the internet. i was indeed in a cycle of abuse for the first nineteen years of my life, physical and mental and emotional and financial all at once from families to friends to significant others, and i'm in my mid 20s now. which means i've spent about 5+ years healing from that. i'm still healing. my heart does not drop at a falling glass anymore. but i notice how it doesn't drop. the absence of it. i wanted to capture that

(also i imagine a lot of people reading this don't know me like that but this is my first time talking about this. i don't want to be seen as having like a victim complex or something? i'm a very independent girl (i have a capricorn moon and rising if that gives context) and this is my writing blog where i am using writing to explore my feelings.)

[stefisdoingthings]

ark aftermath

[hakusins]

tw // blood red water, slight nudity

There stands the root of all the world's corruption, the seed of ruin - Auriga

Pose reference under the cut!

Fate Grand Order Durga's Final Ascension Art

[fortjester]

harrow the ninth by tamsyn muir — drunk drivers/killer whales by car seat headrest — maya the psychic by gerard way — western nights by ethel cain — sex with a ghost by teddy hyde — we're in love by boygenius

[sainteclectic]

I WILL BE YOUR HOLY BLADE. I WILL DIRTY MY HANDS SO YOURS STAY PRISTINE.

[desired-misery]

The man is folded over himself in a heavy metal chair with a bag over his head and ropes around his ankles. Naked, bruised, not obviously breathing. Assumed to be unconscious— or dead— until Finn grabs the bag over his head and pulls it off—

The man launches up, headbutting Finn in the face, knocking them both to the floor. Finn yelps. Piers shouts, swinging his gun up again. Finn cries out in pain as the man breaks his nose with an elbow, wrestles for his gun—

Hawker, who is closer, puts the man in a headlock, hauling him off off Finn. Snarling, the man twists and bites into Hawker's arm. Piers catches wild blue eyes narrowed into slits as the man grunts and falls to the floor when Hawker kicks him off.

"Fucker!" Hawker roars, drawing his pistol— all their instincts are screaming that it's a BOW, Hawker has been bit—

The man knocks Hawker's knee out from the side, buckling his leg, and fights for control over the pistol.

"Stop!" Piers yells, poised to shoot but it's way too close, the ricochet might hit one of them even if he manages to not hit Hawker—

The man takes a blow to the stomach with hardly more than a grunt, swinging around behind Hawker, a knife in his control, and presses the point to Hawker's neck, above the arm wrapped over Hawker's throat—

"Nobody fucking move!" The man snarls. When everyone freezes, Piers can get a good look at him—

"Agent Kennedy?!" Piers says, stunned, lowering his rifle.

Kennedy bares bloody teeth, eyes flashing only briefly to Piers before the rest of Alpha returns, Chris in the lead—

"One more step and he's dead," Kennedy says—

"Leon?" Chris lowers his weapon on recognition, straightening up in shock. Hawker remains still, hands raised in surrender, eyes locked on his own knife over his throat.

Kennedy doesn't react, not until Chris pulls off his helmet.

"Leon, it's Chris. Chris Redfield with the BSAA," Chris says, and that is when Kennedy licks his bleeding lip and actually looks at Chris's face. Kennedy's eyebrows raise in surprise. His arm around Hawker's neck loosens.

"Chris? What the hell are you doing here?" Kennedy lets Hawker go, who immediately scrambles up, swearing, his hand clamped over the bloody patch on his forearm.

"Saving your sorry ass, looks like." Chris says with a smile. He offers Kennedy a hand up.

"I had it under control," Kennedy says, but he groans when Chris hauls him to his feet, and takes an unsteady, limping step...

@citrine-elephant Leon biting someone for you :)

[rotisseries]

planet of love

[ranticore]

very strongly considering going as far as i can with my aborted mez draft idea where the holy beasts are never actually witnessed in full by anyone - the knight is blind and never sees the outside of what they're piloting, the enginesmith works on bits and pieces or only sees the beasts asleep, and the renegade only experiences it in parts, never having seen "their" beast before it was ripped away from them. i think that would be fun

[kerizaret]

I apologise in advance for any mistakes with instruments (<- doesn't know much abt them) but!!! I really really wanted to at least sketch @shiraishi-kanade 's amazing prsk OC unit, Kawaakari Orchestra!!

Here's your guys jay!

I messed up the heights and Akari didn't turn out that well... but they were a lot of fun to draw!!

[layraket]

Day 8 - Sleep Deprivation

Character(s): Four (LU)

Words: 1258

Summary: He doesn’t know what a normal sleep schedule is pls someone knock him out

Whump scale: 1 (see the full scale here)

Warning: Sleep disorders

This is kind of related with this post btw

Part 2 in Day 13

-

Not sleeping was a normal thing for him at this point. Since his first adventure staying up to keep going was almost daily, with only a small break when he couldn’t any more.

His grandpa has scolded him more than once for staying up too late at the forge, forcing him to stay at his room. At least the windows were never locked.

When his second adventure happened, sleeping become something optional.

His curiosity kept him awake during whole nights to continue an interesting book, his energy pleading him to practice with his sword, his heart aching for past memories, and his gut telling him to check if there weren’t any monster attacks around.

It was tiring after a certain point.

Since he joined the chain it was getting easier to sleep, the constant exercise being a big help for him to fall asleep during a full night. When it wasn’t enough, he would always ask to take a shift to keep guard and try to burn all the extra energy.

It worked, the first months.

After a while it suddenly became more and more difficult to sleep. It was after a fight with some weird wizzrobes that everything went down.

Four was hit by one of their spells, gladly it didn’t show any effects during the fight. They won and made camp as usual.

He took first shift, after all he didn’t feel like he could sleep easily tonight.

He called for Legend to take the second shift and went to his bedroll to try and fall asleep. He really tried, and failed.

When he realized it was already morning, the sun coming up in the horizon and light falling on the small clearing they were resting in.

Time was on last shift, and to not worry him he pretended to wake up from a really deep sleep. A whole night restless, it wasn’t new.

The next time he decided to not take any shifts, maybe that made his brain more alert than usual.

‘As usual’ do you mean us or your own mind? Both.

It wasn’t surprise that it didn’t work, another night without getting any sleep. He could keep the act up, it wasn’t hard to pretend being completely alert and no tired at all.

Yeah, the first three days.

When at first it didn’t matter a lot to him, now he was starting to feel the side effects of no resting. His body was feeling more and more heavy, his thoughts were less well-structured and an hour felt like a whole day.

He made a good job hiding it though, nobody has asked him about his tired face or the bags under his eyes yet.

“Hey Four, have a moment?”

Great.

“Yeah vet?” If he was lucky it was just to give some maintenance to his sword and shield, then he could go and try to take a nap without everyone looking.

It looks like that wasn’t the answer Legend wanted to hear, looking him up and down. “Just wanted to ask, how are you doing in your training?” This felt like a trick question, a very hard one.

“Ah, good, Sky is teaching me some movements and to react quick, very good teacher.” The last time he trained with the skyloftian he fell on his face, but Legend didn’t need to know that.

“Uh-huh” Maybe he squinted, maybe he blinked very slowly, he doesn’t know. “What about a friendly match of sparring then? Let’s see how much have you improved.” There was the characteristic smile from their vet, playful and challenging.

It was lacking something, huh. Weird.

“Sure, why not?” I’ll give five reasons why not, first of all– A friendly match could wake him up enough for the rest of the day.

They asked Wild for a borrowed sword for Legend and went to their places. They made camp in a big clearing, giving them enough space to not interfere with anyone doing their own thing.  

They both charged to each other, Four’s legs feeling heavier than they should be with each step he gave. With a clank their swords clashed, coming with fast swings trying to hit their opponent.

Slowly the smith’s movements started to get slower and clumsier, now with him just hitting anywhere he could and the vet blocking it without problem.

This game kept going a while, until Legend throwed his sword away and got a clean hit on Four’s neck.

He fell to the floor, his body collapsing and the impact being mitigated by the soft grass.

“That-That wasn’t fair!” How dare him call for a friendly match and suddenly use his bare hands?! But you had done it a lot of times before– The injustice!

Again, he felt like this answer didn’t make the vet content. Or better, him talking didn’t made him happy.

“You should be knocked out by now. How are you even awake.” The look in his eyes was of pure confusion, or Four thinks, its hard to tell when his vision was blurry.

“What do you mean he’s still awake?!” That was Wild, sweet chaotic Wild. What were they talking about. “It was a clean hit! We’ve tried everything!”

“Can someone explain?” The smith asked, slowly moving to get up, but his body didn’t have the strength to do so. Well, the grass wasn’t that uncomfortable at the end.

The two heroes looked at each other in a silent conversation, nobody can have any context in this group apparently.

Wild was the first one to talk “Legend noticed how you sometimes took longer shifts and haven’t been sleeping, so we’ve been trying to get you to have some more rest.”

“It didn’t work anymore, though” There was a hint of frustration in his voice, how long have been they doing this? “Since that battle with the wizzrobes nothing seemed to make effect anymore.” 

“We tried tea, making you work a little more with weapons so you get more tired to sleep, and knocking you out.” Wild scratched the back of his head, now thinking about why that last one wasn’t a very good idea. “Now I don’t even know what else to do.”

Huh, that was sweet from them. “Thanks guys, but I’m good, don’t worry.”

“We worry.” Legend dead-paned. “I’ve seen you, fully awake when the sun is still coming out. That was away from okay.”

“Is not that bad– “

“Four. It’s been a week like that. A whole week.”

“You’re gonna get killed for that” The champion was searching for something on his slate “Sleep deprivation isn’t a game, and you shouldn’t threat it like that.”

He couldn’t argue at that, but it was easier said than done. He also tried ways to sleep during this whole time; counting minish, reading a really boring book, making himself a cocoon with his blankets. Nothing worked!

Wild tapped his arm to gain his attention, had he zoned out? “When I don’t get to sleep, I hold this as a nightlight.”

He was passed a small crystal, it looked interesting, its light was soft and with a soft hint of yellow.

“It’s a Star Fragment, they fall from the sky in my Hyrule and are a little rare. You can have this one, maybe it helps you with getting some sleep…”

When touching the crystal, its light seemed to be brighter, making some weight fall from him that he wasn’t aware he had.

The last thing he saw before falling unconscious was his brothers calling for him, and some weird dark smoke.

[dandelion-wings]

Re-reading current WIPs leads to re-reading old stuff no longer in progress, which lead me today to the old stuff from @theabysscomeshome and I's Harbinger AU. And it occurred to me that, while I doubt I'm ever fixing up or finishing the outdated stuff enough to ever put this on AO3 at this point, I could go ahead and post the one complete piece from it that's not completely jossed, and that I still like, here. >>

For reference, the Harbinger AU is essentially a Venti-Tsarita roleswap (with a side of Jean-Childe roleswap but that doesn't show up at all in here), wherein the Knights of Favonius essentially fill the Fatui's role.

---

The great tower in front of them is in disrepair, shattered and half-broken, but the cubical mechanism for opening the door still works once the hilichurls out front have been cleared away. As the great door grinds open, tilted sideways at an awkward angle, a cheerful voice rings out from behind them both.

"Oh, it's Sir Diluc!"

Diluc spins around, his hand dropping to the hilt of his claymore. Lumine, noting his narrowed eyes and tight jaw, follows suit. In front of them both is a young woman, or older girl, in a leather traveling outfit with bright red accents that stand out against the swirling snow--including a headband that looks like nothing so much as a pair of rabbit ears. She pulls up the goggles that had been over her eyes and grins at them.

"Hello! I haven't met you before. Who are you?"

"Outrider," Diluc says, his tone guarded, though he doesn't yet draw his claymore. "You're a long way from Mondstadt."

"So are you! It's so nice to meet you here. I haven't seen you in ages." The girl skips forward as if she hasn't noticed Diluc's tension or the hand tightening further around his claymore's hilt. "Sir Kaeya and Master Jean will be so glad to know you're all right!"

"*Don't*," Diluc growls.

Those names Lumine recognizes. "Diluc, who is this?"

"Outrider Amber of the Knights of Favonius. Which makes her very far from her operational area."

"Oh, that's expanded a little bit since you left, Sir Diluc." She veers away from him to bound smiling over to Lumine. "I still haven't gotten your name."

"My name is Lumine," she says, fighting the urge to reach for the hand that Amber holds out to her. The girl's cheerful friendliness is at sharp odds with how tensely Diluc watches her. Also, if she's more recently from Mondstadt... Lumine has to ask. "Have you met a boy who looks like me on your travels from Mondstadt? I'm looking for my brother."

Amber looks her up and down, then shakes her head, an apologetic look on her face. "No, I'm sorry, I haven't. But I can put up some posters for you once I get back! Uh... if you can tell me a place to contact you...."

"Don't bother," Diluc says.

"I don't have any way for you to contact me, since I'm on the road. But I appreciate the offer." Lumine looks over at Diluc, trying to judge if it's *really* necessary to keep her hand on her sword. "I thought the Knights of Favonius were dangerous? But Amber's willing to put up posters, even if there's no point."

"It's not her I'm worried about. It's who might come behind her. Is that Lawrence woman in Snezhnaya too?"

"Don't call her that! At least call her Sir Eula!" Amber stamps a foot and glares at him. "And I can't tell you her movements, but she's not with me. I'm here because Sir Kaeya's too much of a layabout to do his own intelligence missions."

"Hey, should you be telling us that?" Paimon asks. She's drifted forward over Lumine's shoulder, her curiosity drawing her in.

"You're with Sir Diluc, so it's fine. He's a little grumpy, but he's not a bad guy."

Diluc sighs and straightens up, finally releasing his claymore. "She wouldn't tell us if she thought we could interfere with it. Which means she won't tell us the details, either."

"Nope!" Amber beams at him. "I'm so lucky I saw you guys in the snow. Your hair really stands out, Sir Diluc, and you always wear that black coat, so I thought it must be you. Even though it's not part of the mission, Sir Kaeya will be glad to know you're still going strong. And that you made a friend."

"Hmmph." Diluc crosses his arms over his chest. "And I'm sure it will help him track my movements."

"Duh! He worries about you, you know." She looks past them at the open door to the tower, then turns to Lumine. "If you're going in there, do you want some help? I have the time, and I wouldn't mind getting out of the cold for a while. Snezhnaya is *freezing*. Besides, I can tell Sir Diluc all about how Master Jean and Sir Kaeya are doing."

Lumine glances over at Sir Diluc. He looks a little annoyed, but not alarmed, and he doesn't try to refuse for her. This is her mission, given by the Tsaritsa, even if he's been helping her on it. And she would like to learn a little more about these Knights of Favonius from someone who doesn't have so obvious a grudge. It seems somehow appropriate to do so in pursuit of an Anemoculus.

"All right," Lumine says. "You can help."

As Lumine turns back towards the gaping black shadow of the doorway, she hears Amber cheer behind her. "Awesome! I can't wait to show you Baron Bunny."

***

Baron Bunny is a giant plush, it turns out. It explodes, which is a bit unexpected, but after the brief surprise of it in the first fight Lumine quickly gets used to it. Amber isn't nearly as strong a fighter as Diluc, though she also has a Pyro Vision, but just the presence of her flaring heat in battle seems to make the Melt effect that Lumine has gotten used to setting up with Diluc more effective. Overall, she's a much better party member than Diluc's reaction had led Lumine to expect.

A quarter of the way up the tower, they run into what seems to be a dead end. Lumine stands at the bottom of a cavernous space, made more so by the lingering edges of floors and walls that have crumbled away above. Even if she stands on the highest of the broken pillars, the next partially-intact floor is dozens of feet over her head. There's a lift mechanism in the corner, but it lies dormant and still.

"Those torches," Diluc says, holding his flaming claymore high to light the space. "That sort are usually connected to the mechanisms in these ruins. If I can reach them, I can light them and see what they'll do. It's getting there that's the problem."

Lumine looks around and sees what he means. The tilting and crumbling of the tower have put most of them in nearly-unaccessible spots. That one he might be able to reach by jumping off this pillar if she jumps far enough, and if he can squeeze through that rubble there one is half-buried behind it... but the ones higher on the walls will be harder to reach. Her Cryo constructs melt so quickly under Diluc's feet. The two that, due to the tilt of the tower, are practically on the ceiling? She has no idea about those.

"Oh, is that all? Leave it to me," Amber chirps from the base of the pillar. Lumine crouches down and watches her unsling her bow. She takes careful aim at each of the torches, the ends of her arrows bursting into flame, and lights each of them with one shot, even the half-buried one that Lumine wouldn't have thought she could reach.

"Thank you," Lumine says, smiling at her, as the lift jerks to life and begins to slowly grind its way up the wall. "We couldn't have done that without you."

"Glad to help." Amber assures her, dashing up the slant of the wall towards the lift. "Last one up is a rotten egg!"

Lumine jumps off the pillar to hit the wall right behind her. As she scrambles up onto the lift she sees Diluc uncross his arms, brace himself, and leap to follow.

***

They make it most of the rest of the way up before they reach another such space, this one with great crumbled gaps in the outer walls as well. No lift or torches are apparent this time. The cold winds from outside the tower rip through the sides of the tower, leaving piled-up drifts of snow behind. Lumine, Diluc, and Amber crouch in the lowest corner, Paimon floating low and using Lumine as a windbreak.

"Those are blowing harder than I'd have thought from looking outside," Diluc says. "There must be Anemo energy leaking down from above."

"I bet we could get up there using those winds," Amber says, eyeing the roaring flurries overhead in speculation.

"With the winds?" Lumine asks.

"Yeah, using our wind gliders!" Amber reaches back and pats the narrow wood-and-metal box on her back that Lumine had thought was some kind of travel case. "Sir Diluc, haven't you shown Lumine how to glide yet?"

"We haven't been in a large enough town to find one for sale. Or to get mine repaired," he says expressionlessly.

"What, your wind glider is broken? Let me take a look at it," Amber begs, reaching out towards him like she wants to grab for something. "I bet I can fix it. And I have a spare with me I could lend to Lumine, so we can show her how to glide! You know there won't be a better way up."

Diluc stares at her for a moment more, calculating, then reaches into his travel pack and pulls out another such case and holds it out. Amber snatches it from him with a squeal of excitement. "The left wing won't extend fully," he tells her as she flips it over and starts undoing catches on the back.

"Oh, that's because your pivot gears are bent. This will take me a few minutes, so maybe we should sit down and rest while I fix it? I haven't eaten in ages."

"A lunch break sounds like a *great* idea!" Paimon seconds enthusiastically. "Lumine, do you have more of that cabbage-potato borscht?"

"No, I'm all out," Lumine says regretfully to Paimon. Her stomach rumbles at the memory of the delicious soup. "Diluc, what about you?"

"I have potatoes."

"Nothing else?"

"Potatoes are a complete meal on their own."

"Not without butter and cream," Amber protests, looking up from the articulating wing made of metal joins and wooden feathers that she's stretched out over her knees. "I did some hunting earlier, and I still have plenty of meat, plus some cheese. You could make a pile-'em-up! You were always really good at that one."

"Oh!" Paimon comes zooming up to hover level with Diluc's face, bobbing in the air in front of him. "Juicy meat and melty cheese and potatoes! That sounds perfect to Paimon!"

Diluc bats irritably at Paimon until she drifts further away. "It won't be the same without lamp grass for seasoning."

"True," Amber says. "I guess I could make my signature Outrider's champion steak when I'm done fixing your wind glider."

"...I'll make a pile-'em-up without the lamp grass."

***

The Hydro Abyss Mage, shell frozen by Lumine's Cryo and melted into nothingness by Diluc's phoenix and Amber's arrows, tumbles squealing to the floor. Diluc lunges forward and drops down on top of it, pinning it beneath his knees, one hand on its shoulder, the other holding his claymore across its throat.

"The key to the pillar," he snaps at it. "How do we get it open?"

"Like I'm going to tell you," the Abyss Mage chitters, its voice high and cracking and full of vicious glee. "You'll never get through- aaah! That hurts!"

Diluc lets the flame die. "Tell us, or it's going to hurt a lot more."

"Favonians who can't even figure out the order of the elemental monuments on your own- aaah! Ow! Okay! The first, third and fifth have to be lit at the same time, while the other two are left alone, or they all go out! Aaaaah, I'm not lying!"

With a jerk of his claymore, Diluc slices through the Abyss Mage's neck, and it dissolves into powdery black smoke. Then he rises and turns to study the elemental monuments arranged around the pillar in which the Anemoculus is said to be encased. The way they're set, she can tell his phoenix can't hit all three at once without lighting the two in between.

"You could get those two," Lumine suggests, pointing to the two on the end. The curving way the monuments have been arranged in front of the pillar means that there's a straight line between them that wouldn't touch the others. "And Amber can shoot the third at the same time."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Amber pulls an arrow from her bow and sets it to the string, looking at Lumine with a smile. "Just give me a signal."

"Fine," Diluc says shortly, and walks to where he needs to stand to line up the phoenix. He, too, looks at Lumine for a signal.

Lumine takes a couple of steps back, just in case, and raises a hand. "Fire!" she calls, snapping it down.

Amber's arrow flies and flashes, the phoenix blazes forward, and the three monuments light up, Pyro sigils shining above them as veins of elemental energy run glowing down them like lava down a volcano's side. There's a click from the pillar, then a grinding of stone, and a portion of the front slides away. The Anemoculus--a blue-green orb framed with irregular, feathery wing-like protrusions, with a more stylized wing-like symbol shining from within the orb--rotates slowly within. She can feel the Anemo energy radiating off of it, generating a cool breeze that flows through the room.

Slowly, entranced by the beauty of the elemental object, Lumine starts forward. She reaches a hand out towards it as she passes the monument that Amber had lit.

But Amber is faster. She dashes forward and thrusts her hand into the pillar, snatching the Anemoculus from its prison. As she turns about, Lumine unthinkingly reaches towards her, expecting to be handed it. Amber just pulls her goggles down and bounces backwards, using the tilt of the floor to speed her movement.

"Sorry, Lumine. I wish I didn't have to do this, you seem really nice. But Sir Kaeya says Master Jean needs these, and even if he's too lazy to get them himself, I can't let you have one. I really hope I didn't mess things up for you too much. Good luck finding your brother! Sir Diluc, I'll tell everyone you said hi!"

As Diluc lunges for her, face twisted in fury, hands outstretched, she flings herself through the arching, open window behind her and into the freezing winds below. Amber twists about in the air, clutching the Anemoculus to her chest with one hand and pulling the string on her wind glider with the other. Wings snap out behind her and she catches the wind, soaring away and down with expert speed.

"After her!" Lumine shouts at Diluc, charging towards the same window, reaching for the release of the glider Amber had told her to keep as she goes. She can hear his feet on the floor behind her. Paimon, wailing in alarm, grabs Lumine's arm and clutches on tight as they launch.

The winds battering at her out here are entirely different from those they'd flown on in the tower. While they aren't as strong, they also aren't nearly as directed. With only her minimal experience, Lumine can't manage to steer herself after Amber, who is dwindling into a spiraling red-brown dot in the distance. Diluc has more experience with wind gliders, but he seems to be having just as much trouble--no, more, one wing, the supposedly fixed wing, stiff and unmoving even when the other one flexes. He's caught by a particularly strong buffet and tumbles as something in the unmoving wing, unable to flex, instead snaps.

With Amber already out of reach, Lumine turns and dives as best she can after Diluc instead. He doesn't fall at deadly speed, but it's still a good clip, and he hits the ground below with a crash sufficient to throw up snow in a blinding cloud all around. Lumine wipes it from her eyes as she lands, then wades through the waist-deep drifts until she finds Diluc fumbling out of them, snow turning to water wherever he's touched and then freezing right back into ice.

All around them, the wind is still swirling, carrying even more snow than before. Lumine looks up at the slate-grey sky that's all she's ever seen in Snezhnaya, searching for a darker blotch. "I think a blizzard may be coming on...."

"It's no blizzard." Finally making it to his feet and dusting off the worst of his snow from his clothes and hair, Diluc reaches again for his claymore as he peers out into the blinding flurries all around. This time he draws it, holding it in front of him, a thin line of flame dancing along the blade. "It's worse."

"What's worse?" Paimon asks, slowly letting go of Lumine's arm and floating up to peer over her shoulder.

Out of the white wall of snow, a figure appears, striding confidently towards them. A tall woman, clad in black and white with a blue cape swirling behind. Lumine is shivering in this even deeper chill, but she seems entirely untroubled. She's carrying a claymore that looks like it's been carved out of ice, held high and ready to swing, the flat resting on her shoulder.

"Diluc Ragnvindr," she says, staring haughtily at Diluc. Somehow the tilt of her chin makes it seem like she's looking down at him, even though he's the same height or taller. "How annoying."

"Sir Eula?" Lumine guesses, glancing at Diluc and then back at her.

"Yes. Sir Eula Lawrence, Captain of the Reconnaissance Company, and Fourth Harbinger of the Knights of Favonius, to be precise." She turns that disdainful look on Lumine. "Amber tells me you're... *nice*... so I will not take vengeance on this traitor here and now, in circumstances where you may get in the way. But if you threaten Amber or our mission, I will not hesitate to turn my blade upon you."

Lumine tenses, reaching for her sword, but Diluc reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder. It's warm on Lumine's bare skin even through his still-wet glove. "This isn't the place to fight her," he says, low-voiced, frustration audible through his gritted teeth. "Report back to the Tsaritsa, and we'll work out our plan from there."

"Wise of you," Eula says. She stands there, claymore on her shoulder, not moving an inch, as she watches them walk away.

[saetiate]

christmas with itoshi sae <3 (sae x reader fluff)

Sae exhales. It's cold and warm all at once. He likes it this way, that there's cold and warm spots in the house. The chilliness of the kitchen means a warm drink is that much more satisfying. It also means, like a cat seeking comfort, he only has to look in the warm areas of the house to find you.

He holds two mugs of hot chocolate in his hands, brings one to you where you're sitting on the floor right in front of the fireplace, next to the tree you've both just finished setting up. He steps off his slippers carefully before stepping on the (freshly washed!) carpet. You hold your hands out in a grabbing motion that he can't help but find endearing. He thinks how he feels shows from the way you smile even brighter. Or maybe you're just really excited to have hot chocolate.

"Thank you, love." The throw blanket in your lap gets readjusted until it's your 'perfect comfy position', and he plops next to you with less grace than he usually shows.

There's a soft silence that pillows between you both. He watches you as you smile at the marshmallows bobbing in your cup, swirling them around to watch them swim before taking a sip. A whole one moves into your mouth with the liquid and you bite into it as you swallow.

"Don't choke," he tells you, setting his cup down on the coffee table an arm's length away, and you give your cup for him to do the same. That same big, eye-crinkling smile that makes the corners of his mouth turn up in return. You're staring back up at the Christmas tree, twinkling lights reflecting on the shine of your skin. You've gone for a warmer theme this year, soft yellow lights with red and white baubles.

"Are you satisfied with it?"

His voice has always been softer with you, though it took you a while to realize. Something between a gruff and a whisper. You turn to him with a beaming smile.

"I am." You take his hand in yours, and he pulls you in with it, wraps his arms around you and kisses your cheek, like a present being wrapped in the warmest ribbon. Tucks you into him and envelops you whole.

"My parents called to say they're excited to see you." He kisses your neck. "Even Rin is coming,"

You wrap your hands around his arms, strong muscle flexes and tense under your fingers. You giggle when his nose nuzzles into your neck and that's the last straw, he's flipping you over in his arms and pulling you both down until you're gasping a laugh and on top of him.

He likes it like that. When you're all over him. He cups your face to look at you, really looks. Something indescribable flits over his face, something like adoration and sweetness, but he doesn't give you time to truly process it before he's kissing you, grabbing your waist. He pulls the throw blanket up over you too, a candied consideration with a hearth-warm hold.

You press your face into the crook of his neck, his soap and natural scent is more home than you had ever expected. Chest to chest, you can feel his heart beating against yours.

"Merry Christmas, beautiful." His chest rumbles with the words, his hands brushing through your hair, a kiss pressed to your crown.

"Merry Christmas, Sae," you're face to face with him now, noses brushing. His hand is gentle at the nape of your neck as he brings you in for another kiss.

other things you and sae do together for the holidays: ice skating at a local christmas fair, big dinners with both his and your family, night walks after eating in the chilly cold air.