#he still knows some of his doctors/healers because he was there so frequently

[scorpiusmalfoylovesoscarwilde]

headcanon that scorpius was a sick child and was in and out of hospital constantly, perhaps related to astoria's blood curse but not directly. his immune system isnt very strong, and everytime he gets sick they're terrified that it's the blood curse but also whatever else it could be, because it's always so sudden and so intense and they call healers over to the house who recommend this delirious feverish 4 year old is hospitalised immediately, and you'd think it'd get easier to some extent because they'd be used to it, but everytime they feel like this is it, this is the time he'll walk in to the hospital and not walk out again

[centuryberry]

Flourish AU

Me, looking back at the Replanted AU after posting the recent Unpaid Babysitting update: Yishan needed better parents. Also, I wish I could incorporate Shanzha and RinRin into the Sundown Era AU without more dimension shenanigans.

Me:

Me: Wait -

And so, this AU came to be. Say hello to Iceflower's Son!Yishan, everyone. He's here to bring Shanzha and RinRin into the Sundown Era AU, grow up better than he could've been, create a myth or two, and - most importantly - father Yue, Louhou, and Jidu so all four Celestial Primates can have grandbabies to spoil.

Background: The Land of Eternal Snow still doesn't exist in the Sundown Era AU. Shanzha and RinRin are also nowhere in China during the Rebellion against Heaven. Why? Because they're in Goryeo (Korea) and Nippon (Japan), respectively, making a name for themselves. After inheriting the powers of the Celestial Primates and shaking up their respective pantheons, they headed over to China to retire together since one of their own ascended as Jade Emperor.

In one another life, Yishan was the firstborn son of a prestigious clan who grew up viewing almost everyone as his enemy. In this one, he was the son of legends posing as common herbalists living in the mountains.

What does a more well adjusted and untraumatized child Yishan look like? Well, he has more friends growing up. And when I mean friends, I mean animals. He likes animals more than people. He also has a habit of bringing home wounded animals for Shanzha to treat. (He begs to keep them every time but his moms keep telling him no.) He’s also incurably blunt and judgy - even to his mothers.

Shanzha makes sure to train her son in healing and martial arts while RinRin teaches him how to socialize and act. These are very necessary lessons since Yishan tends to piss off a lot of people just by being himself.

(Despite being raised by Shanzha and RinRin, there are some things about Yishan that stays the same lmao.)

Yishan ends up being a nerd over medicine and poisons. As for his social skills, he technically knows what to do in theory but doesn’t bother to extend the effort towards those he considers stupid.

As a late teen, Yishan became a traveling doctor so he could leave the nest and explore the world.

While Yishan heals people and battles against stupidity (and make more animal friends), he gains a reputation for being an amazing healer with the worst bedside manner. He also beat up a couple of powerful yaoguai because either 1) they were in the way of a key ingredient of a medical breakthrough or 2) he pissed them off first.

During his travels, Yishan meets and makes his first non-animal friend: a soldier named Mensheng. He turns down the offer to serve the soldier’s Ivory Lady and continues his journey.

Eventually, Yishan is kidnapped invited to the Celestial Realm by some very pushy attendants (one of whom he gives a nasty black eye) so he could become Laozi’s new apprentice.

Despite Yishan kicking and screaming through the entire process, he ends up being Laozi’s favorite. The man wouldn’t let him go.

Yishan frequently conspires with Laozi’s Bull to break out. They fail every time. The only reason why Yishan wasn’t as successful in leaving was because of the cool shiny new medicinal plants Laozi kept waving in front of his face.

Then, Yishan was tasked to assist Laozi in checking up on the health of the Princess of the Celestial Realm and acting ruler of Flower Fruit Mountain.

"Princess?" All of you are probably asking. Yup, Wukong and Macaque did end up having one (1) kid and it's Sangshen. Because of an attempted poisoning incident, she came out weak and sickly. Sangshen is adored by her parents but is seen as a disappointment to the Celestial Court (since she's female, weak, and takes after Macaque), so she prefers to stay in FFM.

Still, because of her poor health, Wukong would frequently send Laozi down to check up on her. At this point, Laozi spends more of his time at FFM than in the Celestial Realm. He even has his own room and lab there.

Laozi's plan was to drop Yishan off to FFM and take over in keeping tabs on Sangshen's health.

When Yishan first laid eyes on Sangshen, he was a complete goner. It was love at first sight. As for Sangshen, she fell slower, but no less harder. Yishan was so considerate and charming and devoted that she couldn't help but develop feelings. (Everyone else who knows him: Are we talking about the same Yishan?!?!)

Yishan being Yishan beings ridiculously rare and hard-to-obtain stuff to shower Sangshen with. With his attention (and daily offering of super rare medicine), her health improves by leagues.

Sangshen eventually breaks it to Yishan that he probably shouldn't be courting her since her parents would kill him where he stands if they caught wind of this. Her parents established pretty early that they wouldn't let anyone marry her unless they lasted 15 min in a battle against both of them.

Instead of being deterred, Yishan takes this challenge and asks for some PTO to visit Shanzha and RinRin.

Yishan: Hey moms, how do I stay alive in a spar against the Emperor and Empress of the Universe? Shanzha: What RinRin: What happened to "hi"? Also, wtf Yishan: I'm in love and it's the only way I can get permission to marry her

*Cue intense training montage*

After training his tail off, Yishan presents himself to the Emperor and Empress as a suitor for their daughter's hand. They are less than pleased and put him through the wringer for daring to ask. They beat him to the ground.

And yet, Yishan lasts for 30 minutes. So, after recovering, Yishan happily accepts the begrudging permission of his future in-laws and heads down to FFM to tell Sangshen the good news.

FFM: You mad bastard, you actually did it. Yishan: Obviously. If I didn't, Sangshen would cry and that's unforgivable.

Yishan wasted no time in proposing and Sangshen wasted no time in accepting. A wedding was then arranged in the Celestial Realm and Yishan's mothers were invited. Shanzha and RinRin come, of course.

An official freaks out at seeing Shanzha since he recognizes her as the Godslayer who wiped out the entire court of Korean Primordial Gods.

Another official flips his lid when he recognizes RinRin as the Trickster who swindled him during his time abroad in Japan.

When Shanzha and RinRin's identities as Celestial Primates come to light, the entire Celestial Court is filled with dread. Oh no, there's FOUR of them now.

Shanzha and RinRin get along with Wukong and Macaque like a house on fire. They trade unhinged stories of their youth and make plans to hang out. Shanzha jokingly offers to take out any Celestial who annoys Wukong too much. Wukong takes this offer very seriously, making many of his ministers sweat.

Yishan and Sangshen get married and spend many years of wedded bliss before Sangshen announces that she's pregnant.

Say hello to Yue~

This cutie pie made Wukong cry. At first, he was a little disappointed to see that she took mostly after Yishan's side of the family. Then, she sneezed and lo and behold, six ears popped out. Yishan had to fight with his father-in-law to get his daughter back.

Wukong wasn't any better when Louhou and Jidu were born. He might've been reluctant to be a father, but he took to being a grandfather like a duck to water.

Shadowpeach would squabble with Iceflower for grandbaby time. In the end, Iceflower simply moved into the Celestial Realm so all of them could have grandbaby time.

Extra Facts about Iceflower:

Shanzha used to be a devotee of the Primordial Korean gods. An event shattered her faith and took away everything she's ever cared about. Eyes opened to their cruelty, Shanzha started her quest in wiping them all out. Shanzha trained under the Long-Armed Gibbon as the Celestial Primate was sympathetic to her circumstances. She's very much inspired by Kratos as she was very unhinged during this period of life.

RinRin, on the other hand, was a pet monkey of a daughter of a samurai who evolved into a yokai after a tragedy. She sowed discord as a shapeshifter until she was killed by an angry god. The Red Buttocked Baboon found her in the Japanese Underworld and found her amusing enough to be his successor. RinRin then proceeded to cheat death, harass Japanese deities, and become a Loki-like figure.

Shanzha, born as “Nari” (Lily), renamed herself after a Chinese Hawthorn fruit usually used for medicine solely to outsmart a god who could cut a life short by calling out their name three times. The new name kept the god guessing long enough for her to shoot them down. Since it helped her keep her life, she ended up keeping the name.

Since RinRin had many names and faces during her time as a trickster spirit/deity, she was much more attached to her true name. Fun fact: Her name means “dignified bell” in Japanese.

[shadowmaat]

Life is pain

I didn't want to derail the Padme body horror post making the rounds. It mentions how excruciatingly uncomfortable the costumes were for Kiera Knightly and has an addendum from another person about details from the Queen's Peril that added in some of the agonizing periods she experienced. Which got the pinball in my head rolling. lol.

According to Sources Palpatine has been grooming Padme since childhood. He manipulated her parents into angling her for queendom, "mentored" her as she grew up, and of course convinced her of the whole Vote of No Confidence thing.

Let's take it an additional step and say he formed some kind of one-sided parasitic bond with her. Or at the very least, he was able to feed off her suffering, so made sure she suffered as much as possible. Painful fashion, incompetent doctors/gynecologists, whatever. She grows up thinking this is normal and her handmaidens just sort of roll with it (we'll assume they've tried to help and she shrugged it off as "this is just normal for me.")

Along comes Anakin. Their romance begins. Anakin, who rarely notices anything that doesn't directly affect him and his interests, takes Padme at her word that all her pain is "just normal" and doesn't think twice about it. Sure, he'd spare her if he could because she's his, but if this is what happens to all women, well, he can't fix that.

Good Timeline:

We'll say Anakin and Aayla are on some mission together or just sparring or whatever. Aayla is unusually snappish and apologizes by explaining that it's just the twi'lek equivalent of PMS. Anakin tells her how lucky she is not to be human because it's SO MUCH WORSE for human women.

Aayla, who knows a few things about alien biology, is perplexed and asks for clarification. Anakin blithely mentions that Pad- uh, Senator Amidala is laid up for days because of the pain.

Aayla tells him that isn't normal. Anakin assures her it absolutely is. They argue. Nothing is decided, but Aayla is determined to investigate. She asks Master Che about it. Vokara might not be human, but she's a Master Healer who has worked on countless humans and has access to vast medical databases. Vokara tells her that debilitating periods are absolutely NOT normal for humans. Padme is hauled into the Temple for a thorough checkup, which leads to a bigger investigation, several Nubian doctors and fashion designers losing their licenses/jobs, and a bit of relief for poor Padme, who isn't sure how to handle a life without pain. We'll say that Palpatine's role in things isn't discovered, but he of course expresses sympathy for the poor young thing while mentally moving up his timeline to compensate.

Bad Timeline:

Anakin and Aayla never discuss feminine health. Palpatine arranges for Anakin to have the parasitic bond, which isn't hard to do given Anakin's unhealthy obsession with Padme.

Anakin goes through the war while rarely experiencing any serious injuries. Padme, however, has frequent illnesses and periods of weakness/low energy. Since her corrupt doctors are still in place, she's reassured that not only is this stuff normal for her, but her concern might indicate some degree of hypochondria or other attention-seeking gambit that makes them question if she needs a therapist. That'll back her right off, since she can't be seen as "mentally weak" or whatever nonsense.

Anyway, this route sets the stage for that fanon idea that Padme died because her life force was drained in order to save Anakin.

I think I had more to say but I've been interrupted five times and lost whatever train of thought I was on. Ah well. lol

edit: oh right, I think there was a "worst timeline" idea that involved Anakin killing Padme during one of his tantrums and then somehow reanimating her while he desperately tried to pretend everything was normal and nothing bad had happened.

[teddy-feathers]

gonna talk a bit about my super hero characters

This is cannon for the universe i need to build for them and not necessarily how ive been role playing them.

There's Noah Really. He's Caucasian and got a nose with a big arch, green eyes, and long blonde hair. His power is prehensile hair - if you had a power null on around him itd still work because its just another muscle. He's gay and came from a very large conservative family. They kicked him out as soon as legally able and he's been managing on his own since. While he loves his siblings and had a large part in rasing many of them as the second eldest, hes been completely cut off from his family. He made a new one though. a bunch of other young supers who needed/ need help. He's talkative, flirty, flamboyant, but despite that he very rarely dates. He has too many platonic people relying on him to settle for anything less than a real deep snd long lasting connection.

Jo Everbody is an Asian American kid with shaggy, ear length black hair and brown eyes. They're non binary but look and dress masculine, though the carpet dont match the drapes so to speak. They're younger than most of the rest of the group though only by a couple of years. they have a home though, they lost their parents when they were ten and their sister Cecilia "Cissa" had just turned 18 and was allowed to take care of them. Their power is they are a very powerful empath, when they were younger they got overstimulated by this frequently. Now that theyre older they have better control and regulation of their power... but they crave deep emotional attachments and often date and get dumped seeking them. Theyre quiet and studious outside of their flings and dont know how to handle ofher people's emotions without fixing it for them - something theyre loath to do. But they do like doing emotional feedback during romantic encounters. if they feel good and their partner feels good it can create a positive feedback loop that feeds on itself.

"Deb" Debrah Beat is an African American woman with brown curls, dark brown eyes, and a great smile. Shes very active and physical and would like to be a physical therapist but.... her power is she heals. From everything. Anything. Since it's basically a horrible power she designed and built - with the help of her girlfriend - some large robotic gloves. She can punch like the hulk with those on and she never lets slip her power is healing herself.

"Abby" Abhi Normal is a trans woman. She dyes her hair pink and favors very feminine clothing, rarely wearing pants. She likes costumes and trying different fashions but mostly she is creative. Her power is being able to control what she creates. So she creates everything from paper dolls to mannequins. Shes very handy. She is pansexual and in a very committed and loving relationship with Deb Beat.

Dan Gnabbit is a trans man. Hes a bit of a nerd, bit of a slob, but his power is opening doors. if it looks like a door he can make a portal between it and a place he knows that also has a door like area to anchor to. the fun thing is its all in his head - it doesn't have to be a door like structure. he can just make portals. but hes still learning to control his power and needs the mental connection.

Varie Nearly is a... difficult person. Shes Aromatic but into sex. thats not why shes difficult shes... kinda a bitch. very much a kick you while your down sort of person. very insulting. she like punkish clothing and has died red hair and wears heavy purple makeup. the thing with her is she might be an asshole but shes *our* asshole. surprisingly very loyal to the group. her power is she can talk to birds. youll find her up trees when shes not harrassing someone already having a bad day.

Seren Deputy is a hispanic american woman who really really wants to become a doctor. only problem is that her power is opening old wounds. She wouldve killed deb by accident had deb not been a healer. shes actually extremely smart, very kind, and is working her way to med school. shes just also feels bad that she could have killed deb that one time.

theres probably more to this but I'm tired

[fromthedeskofsigma]

I'm not responding to the Frogman, mostly on account of he's right. I don't have any physical disabilities to speak of; what I do have is a developmental disability and enough empathy to know that those who do have physical disabilities have always struggled with representation in media, same as I have. Just as representation for people like me is all too often limited to fan speculation (or, worse, minstrel-level atrocities like the Good Doctor), people with physical disabilities are frequently relegated to sidekick status or single-episode "teach the audience about disabilities and empathy" guest characters. It's getting better all the time, but regardless of what kind of disability we're talking about, we as a culture are still a long ways off from treating disabilities as mainstream, and it's mostly because of the kind of disingenuous, pseudointellectual, I-learned-everything-I-know-about-facts-and-logic-from-Ben-Shapiro bullshit like what me and Froggy are responding to in this thread. This kind of reactionary attitude infests modern media, as it pretty much always has, and it's not gonna stop until we all stand up and shout it down. So, in the spirit of doing just that, a point-by-point rebuttal because I'm an unashamed fantasy nerd who has multiple D&D characters with various disabilities and my autism won't let me sleep until I address this in the most anal-retentive way possible: 1) In most fantasy settings, healing magic lies somewhere between "basically just standard medicine with a bigger special-effects budget" and "can instantly heal most wounds, but only if they haven't healed on their own." Please note, in the latter, that "healed on their own" could well mean "arm bitten off by a manticore, basic first aid was applied, couldn't get to a healer before the wound closed." That arm ain't growin' back. Granted, exceptions exist and any chronic condition caused by magic can usually in turn be reversed by magic, but being able to simply snap one's fingers and induce the lame to walk isn't exactly compelling storytelling...no matter what the Biblical literalists may say. 2) See above. If the paralysis was induced magically, there's a good chance magic could heal it; there's no healing, say, a severed spine once the wound's closed, however, and a congenital issue was never truly a "wound" to begin with. In most settings, magic won't help you there. 3) That actually has been done in some settings, and is an excellent example of working disabled representation into a fantasy story. That being said, like most real-world mobility aids, a levitation/flight spell has its limitations; if the caster is somehow rendered unable to cast, like if they're dazed or cursed or simply run out of the stamina needed to maintain the spell, they're dropping like a sack of potatoes. It could also potentially make them an easy target for enemy combatants--I'm sure an archer would single out the glowing dude in the bathrobe floating several feet above his party members' heads pretty quick. Sometimes, the simpler (read: real-world) solutions are just more practical, even for a wizard. 4) Right, first of all, Dwarven craftsmanship is robust, not crude. I'll not entertain any notions that Dwarven work is lesser just because aesthetics occasionally take a backseat to durability, you filthy Elf supremacist. More to the point, there's no reason a half-decent cartwright couldn't build something like the chair pictured above: the materials would have been abundant, the techniques would have existed to shape and assemble it, and...well, here's what people with mobility issues were able to get in 8th Century Italy:

Not a far cry from what's used today, frankly; a few more aesthetic flourishes and lacking some modern ergonomic features, but otherwise quite similar. No matter what setting we're talking about (unless you count religious texts, which, to be fair, I do), magic always has rules. Any system that has rules will have limitations, because if a wizard could just do the Magic Hand Thing(tm) and make any problem go away in an instant without any difficulties or consequences, stories would be woefully short and terribly boring. Stories are about a character overcoming a problem, succeeding in spite of--and occasionally because of--the handicaps their life has given them. And, yes, sometimes those handicaps are literal. If you can't handle that, you're a whiny little pissbaby who doesn't know a damn thing about what makes fantasy so damn fantastic.

This was some of the most high effort bullshitting I've ever seen someone go through just to keep disabled people out of their D&D campaign.

It's so incredibly simple. And as someone who is chronically verbose, even I could boil it down to a single sentence.

PEOPLE LIKE TO SEE THEMSELF REPRESENTED IN THE MEDIA THEY CONSUME.

There should be a name for that.

Like... representative analogs.

Representism.

Representology.

I'm sure someone will think of something to call it. And then let everyone know how much it matters.

But seriously, It really does not need to be any more complicated. And it isn't even that complicated to come up with reasons disability exists in a magical realm.

Perhaps magic caused the disability in the first place. Or it is a curse not easily undone. Or perhaps magic gets better over time like science. 100 years ago, an infection was a death sentence. Now we have antibiotics. And the magic to "cure" disabilities just isn't advanced enough yet.

I could literally do this all night.

Fantasy is probably one of the easiest genres to include disabilities and it is really gross how many people want to deny us this opportunity for... representation.

[komoreangel]

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚

pairing: scaramouche x fem!reader

scenario: you met when you were both very young, and since the day he left you behind he still feels an undying fear for what sight would await him if he dared to return home.

or…

thantophobia - the fear of losing a loved one. but he had made it perfectly clear that you did not fall under that category when he left you and all of your promises behind.

request: okok my first idea was: scaramouche childhood friends to enemies to lovers. take with that what you will <3

a/n: hi anon ty so very much for the request we all know i love scara <33 but i did tweak it a bit basically its childhood friends to enemies to scara loves reader but reader isnt convinced (with a hint of 'ive always loved you' thrown in)

side note: this is a rewrite of an excerpt i wrote for a scara x oc, in which the oc was female (the same is said here but i will avoid using pronouns) and adopted into the kamisato clan as a princess (minor inazuma spoilers). the same situation is stated here. also i am 1000% willing to write more of this (includes my personal headcanons for scaramouche’s backstory, not canon!!)

growing up, you had always had poor health

your mother worried for you a lot when you were younger

she didn’t like to let you go outside much either

you spent most of your time in the palace walls while she worked, frequently being taken to see the royal physician

you would sit outside the door while your parents talked with the doctors about your “condition”

you weren’t even that sick

just weak for your age

that was when you first met him

he was training to be a soldier along his father

you were like a ghost in his eyes

sitting in the hall in the middle of the night

knees pushed to your chest, snoozing in the soft light of the moon

he was naturally a curious boy, so he kneeled in front of you and poked your shoulder

“hello?”

you startled awake

“wah-!” he fell back at your sudden movement

“who are you?” you asked

your voice was soft, and gentle, like a midnight breeze

“i’m [redacted].”

you remember what he told you, but some part of that memory had been erased from your mind…you wonder to this day what he could have said.

“my name is y/n.”

he thought it was a pretty name, although he wasn’t going to say anything

the two of you sat in the moonlight, talking quietly amongst yourselves

“why are you sitting outside the physician’s office?” he asked you

“my mama says i’m sick, and that going outside will make it worse.”

“oh. are you going to get better soon?”

you smile at him, a gesture that makes his chest tighten, although he can’t fathom why.

“yeah! she says that if we can afford to get some medicine from liyue, i’ll be all better! then i can start making friends!”

he slightly smiles

“can i be your friend, [redacted]?”

you had even said the name yourself once. why couldn’t you remember it?

his expression shifts to a slightly surprised look

“you…want to be my friend?”

he was quiet even then, and his silent expression would grow to an angry one over time

“yeah! you’re interesting, and you’re one of the few people who bothers to talk to me.”

he doesn’t speak for a while.

“you can say no if you want to.” you say to him.

“okay. i’ll be your friend.”

it’s a short response, but the bright grin that lights up your face makes it worth the wait

“yay! i can’t wait till i’m better so we can hang out more!”

you two talked in that hallway a lot

meeting after dark, talking about anything in the world

when you were about six, the worst of your illness hit you

the doctors didn’t even know what was wrong, and there were nights when he would sit outside the physician’s office alone at night, hoping, praying that the sun would shine on a world that still had you in it

you would collapse from exhaustion at the slightest overexertion

his father always told him he had to be careful with you, not only were you shorter than him, but you were also very fragile

those hours spent sitting in the hallway alone, he got to do a lot of thinking

he wanted to help you, but he didn’t know how

then, there was a sudden burst of hope

you were going to liyue with your parents

you would get the help you needed

he was happy for you, even if it meant you would have to spend time away from him

and then there was the terrible news

the ship had gone missing

you had too

he couldn’t sleep for days on end

his father was worried too

when he saw you again, you found yourself shuddering on the shores of inazuma

he wrapped his arms around you as tight as he could, as if his strength alone could undo everything that had happened

it was one of the few times he showed affection in public

he rushed you to the healer again

and this time there was no hoping

there was no praying

there was just the pit in his stomach, the fear that coursed through his veins and fueled his blood

every second felt like a decade, it was a moment in which you weren’t perfectly healthy and safe

the townspeople began to spread rumors, as people do

the guard’s son who was lovesick with worry for the sickly orphan girl

what a pity, no?

he wanted to shut them up. he wished he had the power to shut them up.

when even his father had to drag him away from the pharmacy, he didn’t talk to anyone for a very long time.

this was around the time he grew sour and snappy

his simply quiet demeanor developed into a scowl that constantly graced his face

he only smiled the day you were released from the physicians.

you weren’t fully healed. but you felt better than you ever had in your life.

his father took you in without a second thought, and he was just happy to have you with him.

“i’m better, scara.” you said to him, a happy smile on your face

“i was wondering when you’d hurry up and get well.”

you were a bit troubled by his attitude, but no less, you were happy to see your friend again.

it went like that for a long time.

he was rude, but you didn’t care because you knew what he was like underneath.

some nights he would sneak into your room and talk to you.

he told you he was just bored and felt like annoying you.

but his real reason was to make sure you were still breathing.

he always worried about you

so the day you received your vision, he felt a lot of relief

surely this meant that you could protect yourself. you were safe.

then the worst of all things happened.

his fathers death.

the day he felt like his world was ripped from underneath his feet.

almost immediately, the electro archon, baal, herself, intervened, and declared that you were to be adopted into the kamisato clan.

why you? why couldn’t he keep you with him? he was old enough to be able to take care of both of you

baal didn’t like his questioning. she said she knew what was best for you.

it was strange. because in the days he spent with you after, although not many, you didn’t seem sick at all.

for the first time, you seemed perfectly healthy.

he was glad for that…but he wasn’t happy. you could see that easily.

you knew this wasn’t the right thing for him

he stuck around for a year. you suppose you’re lucky he even stayed that long. you were pretty much his only reason.

sure he found friends in ayaka and kazuha…but he was unhappy.

he knew there was no point in staying, so he thought it was time he took his leave.

he approached you one day, as the sun began to set

you were worried for him, as he had been very angry towards baal and the emperor lately.

“scara, is there something you want to talk about?”

you watch as he stands before you

he blurts out, “run away with me.”

you’re taken aback almost immediately.

“what?”

he repeats his statement

“i’m going to flee from inazuma. come with me.”

“scara..”

his expression, as it does often these days, turns stern and serious.

“i’m not going to ask you again. come with me, y/n.”

you’re tired of him ordering you around.

“you know i can’t. i have duties here. i can’t just betray my country for you.”

“you know baal wants me gone. she’s going to kill me if i stay. she might do the same to you.”

you scoff at his words. “she won’t harm me or you. you’re being dramatic.”

he spits out his next words, laced with venom. “baal killed my father. i hate her and so should you.”

“scara.”

“it’s like you’ve completely forgotten about him just because you’re royalty now.”

“scara.”

“don’t call me scara. come with me if you ever cared at all.”

“scaramouche!”

he goes quiet

“don’t go. please.”

he frowns

“you know i can’t do that.”

you want to try and make him stay

but he won’t. you know nothing you say will convince him. he won’t let himself be convinced by you, even if that’s what he truly wants.

you inhale

“get out of here.”

“what?”

“go. leave. and take this with you.”

you throw the necklace you were wearing at him, and he catches it. baal had exiled him, it was true, but he couldn’t expect you to throw everything away for him.

“wait, what are you-“

as the two of you stare each other down, you hear ayaka’s voice coming from the courtyard, calling for you.

she has a guard with her, as the emperor assigns every royal family member. you managed to ditch yours early on.

“the guard is gonna get you if you stay, scara. get out of here, now.”

he scoffs

“whatever. i can’t believe i thought you were worth risking my life.”

he pockets the necklace and steps over the wall, and he’s gone.

nine years of friendship and he threw you away like you were nothing

in truth, the minute he was out of sight, he threw down his bag in anger

he turned around and you weren’t there anymore

you gave up on him

so if he hated you, you deserved it

it might be worth a hefty price anyway.

at least that’s what he told himself

(he never stopped missing you. almost as soon as he joined the fatui, he requested an audience with the tsaritsa to ask her how you were doing.)

“a simple agent, asking that much of me? and for a girl? that’s very bold of you.”

upon hearing it was about you, the cryo archon grew very interested. of course she remembered you.

the sickly orphan she gifted a vision to at a very young age.

she told him you were well

what she didn’t tell him was about baal going berserk and massacring thousands of her people.

upon receiving the news, he felt that chill upon him once again

the fear that fell onto his shoulders, weighing him down, too scared to ask for more information. he didn’t want to be told you were gone.

“the royal family was not harmed.”

he felt his muscles relax as he calmed down.

he quickly reassumed an upright stance.

he was the sixth harbinger. he has no weaknesses. he cares for nothing and no one.

but beneath his mask, the fire of his love for you burned brighter than the flame of any pyro vision.

a/n: ok so i really enjoyed this….scara banner when. i did tweak it a bit but i have other things written for this scenario in which scara returns to inazuma and reader is (deservingly) PISSED with him :) lmk if you want me to post those !

[kass-storycorner]

An unpleasant surprise

I should definitely do my coursework instead of writing this fic, however the idea just came into my head and I couldn’t focus until I wrote this down. Writing this took waaaay longer than I anticpiated and it was way more spontanious... so it’s not proof read or anything, still hope you’ll enjoy it.

The idea/prompt: character is secretly in love with you, but won’t tell you because you are already in a relationship with someone else. Character however finds out that your partner is cheating on you – this is how they would react/act upon finding it out

Word count: 3637 Words (I’m sorry)

Character: Kaeya x gn!reader (in this it’s still very platonic and one sided love) Genre: Angst (?), Hurt, Comfort, even a bit of humour but maybe not, idk haha

Content warnings: cheating, threats, mention of blood and a major injury, mentioning of Dilucs and Kaeyas past, but nothing to explicit (tried to avoid the major spoilers)

Format: The first part / backstory is written in bullet points, but at the end you’ll find a fic written in the normal text format 

He just wanted to drown his sorrows in peace at the Angel’s Share, but no. He had to be witness to that disgusting display of infidelity of your (hopefully soon to be ex-) boyfriend

Kaeya has known you for several years now, both of you started around the same time in the Knights of Favonius. The early years of your training were some of the most fun times Kaeya had- thinking about it always made him smile. Both of you were known from the beginning as rule benders, mostly breakers, within the Knights and if it weren’t for the influence of Kaeyas adoptive family none of you both would’ve gotten that many chances to stay until each of you proved their own worth without familiar ties.

However, in the last few years you both grew a bit more distant. Kaeya blamed himself entirely for it, after Crepus death he knew he should not have any emotional ties to anyone in Mondstadt, at first he ruined the relationship with his brother by telling him the truth. He then just tried to avoid you more and more, which wasn’t easy, because after Diluc quit his position as a Cavalry Captain Kaeya rose up to his position – only to have you as his subordinate.  

It was not until you were on a mission with Kaeya that went horribly wrong, that Kaeya realised his feelings for you never were platonic, he was in love with you since the early days of training.You are his first love.

That mission was more of a secretive one, a few months after Diluc had left Mond and Crepus died, and one of the first bigger outings Kaeya had to lead as a Cavalry Captain. And the first mission without his brother by his side. The dragon Ursa resurfaced and continued to cause harm to the people of Mond, so Grand Master Varka gave Kaeya the responsibility to find that Dragons lair.

Instead of finding the hiding spot of Ursa, Kaeyas troop stumbled into a hiding spot of the, at that point not known as, Abyss order. That was the last time Kaeya went into a mission without information he himself collected and checked, because looking back it was so obviously a trap. How did he not notice it back then?

The fight was brutal and exhausting – somehow it was a miracle that the only Knight dangerously wounded was you. At least that is what the other Knights who were on that mission too would say, thankful that the worst they had to suffer from back then were a few scars at most. Hearing anyone talk about it enraged Kaeya, though he would never show it. It was because you were the most skilled fighter in that troop, even without a Vision Kaeya was sure that at your peak back then you could’ve bested him even now. But because of one of his mistakes, he did not care to watch his own back, maybe because he knew you would protect him, it was you who was injured and not him.

In that moment, seeing you unconscious on the floor laying in your own blood because you protected him, Kaeya understood his feelings for you.

After bringing you back safely to Mondstadt, and you thankfully not dying because of the injuries, Kaeya became even more distant. At first he wished to be able to tell you his true feelings after you’ve woken up, but he just couldn’t. When the healers and doctors gave the news that the injury was so severe that you would never be able to fight again, or even walk down the streets of Mond without being in pain – Kaeya thought the guilt of keeping that secret from Diluc and Crepus for years was unbearable, but the guilt he felt from being responsible for this? It pained him even more.

You stayed in the Knights, taking over administrative tasks and helping every other department of the Knights in the best ways you possibly could.

What surprised Kaeya is that you were never bitter about it. You never said it was Kaeyas fault, even went out of your way to constantly reassure him after you got the news that he shouldn’t blame himself for it (until this day he refuses to listen to you). Your smile and laughter didn’t stop after it, which he never could understand.

How were you able to be so happy and kind when your dream of leading your own troop just – vanished. To travel around Teyvat, see the world. When you weren’t able to do the things, you loved on your own, like going to Windrise to pick some of your favourite flowers.

Somehow, Kaeya thought, it was because of that guy. He never liked your boyfriend to begin with, but Kaeya thought maybe it was his jealousy that clouded his judgement.

He came into your life shortly after the incident and Kaeya remembered the first time he saw you two together – holding hands, you looked so smitten and the way you laughed when he leaned down to whisper something into your ear. After seeing that Kaeya knew he could never have something like this in his life. Not if its not with you.

Kaeya didn’t spend much time with you outside of the Knights anymore, though he would always have a conversation with you when you came up to him or he had to visit your office. Whenever he saw you outside of the Knights, you were always with your boyfriend, sometimes stopping and having a quick chat with Kaeya. Sometimes he wished you would stop being so nice to him.

Now seeing that disgusting piece of shit of a boyfriend sit in the corner of the Angel’s Share, with his hands all over some young thing made Kaeyas blood boil.

How dared he, the man who should be so lucky to have you, have his eyes and hands on another woman.

Also it’s a good thing that Diluc is not at Angel’s Share today, he was also a close friend of you back in the day and even though the friendship with Diluc didn’t survive his three years absence, Diluc would definitely throw that bastard out

Kaeya was astounded by the audacity your boyfriend had. He never had a high opinion of him but seeing that man openly flirt and make out with a woman that was not you, so obvious for everyone to see… in a bar that was frequently visited by your colleagues and friends. If it weren’t for the fact that he was cheating on you Kaeya could maybe muster up some respect for a man who had so clearly a death wish. Eyeing him from the corner of his eye, Kaeya kept observing that situation. How the hands that always held yours in public were touching all over the body of that unknown woman. How the mouth that told you sweet nothings over and over, told you that he loved you, was occupied with kissing the neck of another woman. That whole display just filled Kaeya with disgust. The loud giggles of that woman in his lap filled the Tavern and that was the moment Kaeya decided he had enough. Calmy, he finished his drink, stood up from the bar and made his way over to the table. “You surely don’t mind if I join you two”, Kaeya said in a nonchalant manner, sitting down opposite to the couple. “Oh, Sir Kaeya!”, the young woman giggled, clearly intoxicated, and embarrassed by the way Kaeya eyed the two. Quickly they both shifted, so the woman sat now besides your boyfriend. The way the cheater looked at Kaeya, it was quite amusing. A mix of fear, shock and uneasiness filled the eyes of him. It filled Kaeya with a weird sense of pride, knowing that being caught by him was something that scared him. “Seemed like you two had quite some fun back here”, Kaeya smugly started his interrogation. It was not unusual for Kaeya to use the Angel’s Share as his interrogation room – the casual setting and the alcohol made it so much easier sometimes for people to spill all their secrets. Especially when Kaeya could just be so charming. What Kaeya interested the most was if this was the first offense of the cheater or if that behaviour was a more… regular occurrence. It was at least for him the first time he caught that man red handed. Getting some information out of the girl was quite easy, she was so eager to tell the Cavalry Captain all about the two. Though from what Kaeya gathered the whole thing between her and your boyfriend was quite fresh. “You two really seem like a fitting pair”, Kaeya replied after a long ramble of that woman on how she was just so in love with your boyfriend. His voice sweet and smooth as silk, not showing how the anger inside him grew. It was just not fair, not fair to you. “Hey,” Kaeya began and eyed the empty glasses on the table, looking then back at the woman. “How about another round of drinks, it’s on me. Would you be so kind and go to Charles and order a few?”, again his voice was charming as ever.  “No, no, Sir Kaeya, that’s too kind, but another drink won’t be necessary. It is quite late; don’t you think flower? We should get going”, the cheater chimed in and Kaeya nearly lost his cool when he heard him call the woman ‘flower’. Whenever Kaeya met you and him on his patrols around Mondstadt he always heard him call you ‘flower’. Fucking bastard, is all Kaeya could think before the voice of the woman protested the cheaters concerns. “Nooo, just one more round. How can you turn down Sir Kaeya, love? Just one more, please”, she looked at him with pleading eyes and he just sighted. “Fine”, he said and with that the woman was on her way to the bar. Kaeya now hoped that Charles would keep her occupied long enough so he could find out everything he wants to know from that cheater. His eye shifted from the woman who made her way to the bar to your boyfriend who sat directly across Kaeya. Now completely alone and vulnerable, for his shield left his side. The tension in the air seemed to be unbearable, Kaeya could see how uncomfortable the silence and his curious glance made the cheater. But Kaeya knew – sometimes saying nothing says it all. Helplessly your boyfriend looked over to the bar only to see that the woman he was with was now totally engrossed in a conversation with Charles. After a few minutes, that might have felt like hours to that cheater, he broke the silence. “So,” he tried to start a conversation, clearly not knowing that he fell right into Kaeyas trap. “What gives us the honour to be invited by the Cavalry Captain?”. “Oh, I think you might be smart enough to come up with an answer yourself,” Kaeya replied, keeping up a smile. Though the look in Kaeyas eye was just as cold as the top of Dragonspine, causing the other man to shiver. “As much as it honours me that you think of me this highly, I sadly have no idea what would make the renowned Sir Kaeya sit down at my table tonight.” “Oh, so this is how you want have this conversation”, now his voice was just as cold as his look. “I don’t understand what you mean.” ‘Bullshit’, Kaeya thought. “I’ve been just curious about that woman that just sat so prominently on your lap earlier this evening, she seems to be not the same I saw you hold hands with earlier this day.” “As nice at it is that the Cavalry Captain seems concerned for me, it isn’t one of the Knights duties to pry into the lives of citizens, now, is it?” Oh, how confident the cheater now sounded, thinking he was winning that conversation. Kaeya couldn’t deny that the entire situation made him furious and that he handled it a bit differently than he usually would if he were to talk with drunk treasure hoarders. “Oh, we’re awfully bold now, are we? Believe me the Knights don’t care about your infidelity, though I guess a certain one might find it awfully interesting to know how you spend your nights.” There was a short moment of silences between the two men, the tension just rising. “Well, they wouldn’t believe you. But if you want to go and be a telltale go, I won’t stop you”, the man gave as an answer. His words did not fit his body language – bold words, but his body was tense and Kaeya could see the fear behind the eyes of the man. But it was not fear of losing you, no he seemed to be quite confident that this would not happen. Kaeya said nothing, he just looked at that man, piercing him with his ice cold look. “You see”, he continued, “I wouldn’t be sitting here in Angle’s Share with that lovely company if I thought they might believe the words of any low-rank Knight coming in their office, believing their lies. Quite sad what pranks some people want to play on them, don’t you think?” Slowly, but surely, Kaeya understood that this tonight was definitely not the first offense of that man. And he now understood why most of the Knights here tonight just looked away from the scene, not batting an eye at what was going on. Kaeya could kick himself in the ass, how did he not notice the behaviour of that rodent before him earlier? If he was so open about cheating on you that even most of the other Knights knew, how come that he did not? “And I think its just so sad, that one of the people they hold in such high regards would join in on those baseless accusations, don’t you think Sir Kaeya? I mean it would be so disappointing for them to find out that you tell them such a lie, only because you just don’t like me.” If Kaeya wasn’t a Knight, if he weren’t Kaeya right now, if he hadn’t to uphold a certain image… the floor of the Tavern would be painted with the blood of this absolute bastard. Oh, how Kaeya wished he could lose his cool. “If you say it like that, then I guess I won’t tell them a word,” Kaeya replied. “I’m glad you understand”, the cheater smiled, the fear in his eyes now subsided and he seemed to relax a bit. At that Kaeya just leaned forward, his look cold and his voice even colder. “You are telling them.” The man just scoffed, looking confused at Kaeya. “Why should I?” Kaeya now coming closer, his voice more threatening than before. “Do you really want to find out, if you don’t?”. Kaeya leaned back, smiling and at that moment the woman came back with the drinks. The face of the man was just pale as snow, the fear back in his eyes. “Oh, thank you dear”, Kaeya said when she places his drink before him, and he took a sip. If your boyfriend is smarter than he seemed to be after fooling around with that woman in public, it would do him good to do as Kaeya said.

                                                             -

Dealing with the pain in your leg was something you were used to now for a few years, but the pain in your heart today… you somehow would prefer a broken leg over your shattered heart. Your eyes were fixated on the documents before you, though trough the tears in your eyes you could barley make out what they said. What they were even for. How could you ignore it for so long, that he cheated. That he fooled around with any woman in Mondstadt willing to be with him. This sleezy asshole. The tears fell down on the paper, you couldn’t care right now what important piece of documents you ruined with your tears. How, how, how??? Why were you so stupid to believe him when he always said that all the people that came to you with their concerns must have been mistaken. Why did you believe him over and over again. You couldn’t stop thinking about how the first person coming to you was Outrider Amber, so nervous to even say anything. How you just laughed her worries away, saying she definitely was mistaken. How after Amber again and again told you how sure she was. Had you just listened to her. Then maybe you wouldn’t feel so humiliated. If you just hadn’t listened to that damn liar. In that moment you heard a knock on the door. Quickly you wiped your tears away with your sleeves, clearing your throat. “Come in,” you said, though you were shocked at how hoarse you sounded. Stepping into your office was Kaeya, but when he saw your red eyes and tear stained face, he quickly closed the door behind him. “Are you alright?”, he asked in such a soft and kind voice. Since you woke up in the infirmary all those years ago you hadn’t heard him talk in that voice. You couldn’t help it, it made you immediately tear up again. Throwing your head into your hands you just couldn’t stop the uncontrollably sobs that took over you. You didn’t even notice that Kaeya was kneeling beside your chair until he felt his hand on your back. “Hey,” you heard him say, again in this soft voice. “It’s alright, let it out.” And you did. For a while you just sat there, crying and sobbing until you ran empty. The whole time Kaeya was on your side, saying nothing. He was just there and somehow, even after you two grew apart in the past years, after all that happened – Crepus death, Dilucs disappearance and return, your injury. Even after all it did not feel awkward to just cry and look for comfort at his side. After all, you still were friends. Slowly you calmed down, looking up to him. “I was so stupid, Kaeya. So many people came to me, told me what they saw, who he was and I- I just ignored it. I ignored it all, my feelings and-“, you felt the lump in your throat, making you stop speaking. It was just too much. “You’re not stupid,” he said, taking you in his arms. It felt so good to just melt into the hug. Just trying to forget the pain for a few seconds, slipping back into the familiarity of Kaeya you haven’t felt in such a long time.

Kaeya on the other hand couldn’t stop asking himself if what he’s doing here was alright. Was it okay to comfort you, he asked. If he hadn’t basically threatened your, obviously now, ex-boyfriend last night to tell you the truth, he might have been met with your bright smile today and not that painful expression. But it was the right thing to do, you deserved to know. You deserved for that guy to tell you, although he should have told you the truth out of his own free will. Not because Kaeya got involved. “Thank you”, he heard you mumble into his chest. “For what?” he asked, both of you now parting from the hug. “For just… for being here. And for being a friend”, you answered, again wiping tears away. Kaeya couldn’t help himself and chuckled at that statement. A friend, yeah. That is what he was and what he must be fine with. However, he didn’t really expect you to view him as one, after all that happened and how much he tried to avoid you in the past. “Well, I have been an awful friend the last years, haven’t I?”. Your eyes shot up, looking directly into his eye. “No, what makes you think that?”. You genuinely looked surprised at his statement. “Well,” he gestured towards your leg. Before he could even say anything, he felt your hands cup his face and looking at him sternly. “Kaeya Alberich, how often do I have to tell you this. What happened to my leg is not your fault, please stop taking blame for it. It was my choice to join you on that mission.” For a short while you both just looked into each other’s eyes until Kaeya couldn’t stand it anymore, a sigh leaving him, and he looked away. “How come that I want to comfort you and you just end up telling me something I just can’t seem to learn.” He stood up and then he saw it. You smiled at him. A sad smile, but a smile, nonetheless. “One day you’ll hopefully learn it”, you said. “Now, to make up for this”, pointing at your leg, trying to joke, “and for threatening a Mondstadt citizen, I think you should get me something from Good Hunter.” Kaeya was surprised. How did you know? He couldn’t even ask you, you already gave him the answer to the question that was so clearly written all over his face. “He literally begged me, after telling me the truth and breaking up with me, that I made sure you wouldn’t hurt him.” Now Kaeya gave out a small laugh, partially because he felt a bit embarrassed by you knowing, but also the thought of that arrogant asshole being so afraid of him amused Kaeya. “And, what did you tell him”, he asked, now back with his more playful tone. “Mmmmmh, I told him I’ll think about it.”

[absolutelyfizzing]

Take a break

Remus x reader

description - Remus interrupts your studying to take care of you. Established remus x reader relationship

word count - 1200

warnings - fluff? reader gets picked up? sleepy fluff? implied fem reader

MASTERLIST

Your head pounded and your eyes were drooping, you had pulled another all-nighter last night while studying for exams. You were in your last term at Hogwarts and you wanted desperately to get into healer school so you could become a doctor. It would require exceptional scores in potions and charms which were not your strongest of classes. Still, you pushed on in the hopes of having it pay off in the next few weeks while exams were being completed.

Suddenly there was a hand on your shoulder and your eyes widened slightly. You would have pushed the hand off of you but your arms felt like they were made of lead. Now that you came to think of it, your eyelids were too. Still, you managed to look up at the person whose hand was warming your shoulder and you immediately relaxed, a small smile on your face. Your darling boyfriend Remus had some to visit. Or, more likely, he had come to try to coax you to bed.

"Honey, you've got to take a break" He whispered and you felt your cheeks warm at the pet name.

"But Rem, I have to get this in my brain before potions exams in 3 weeks, theres no way I am gonna get high enough scores if I don't study now" You whined out. Remus sighed behind you and you felt the want to please him creep in. He was guilting you into taking care of yourself. He sighed again but this time more dramatically, letting you in on the fact that he was teasing you on purpose. You smiled and then glared at him, rolling your eyes.

"Okay fine, I will go get food with you and then take a nap but I need to get back here in a few hours to finish up this chapter." Before your words were fully out of your mouth, you were being pulled up, Remus' hands under your armpits as he helped you step away from the work laid out in front of you. You sent a longing look toward the schoolwork you were being dragged away from.

"It'll be there when you wake up, for now you need food for that big mental workout you just did." Remus smiled and you felt yourself letting go of the school stuff. He had a scary way of just being able to make you content in any situation. You found yourself zoning out along the walk to the kitchens, just enjoying the huge amount of warmth coming from your boyfriend. You had never met anyone who was as much of a heater as him and in the cold halls you weren't complaining. Before you knew it you were being pulled into the kitchens, the house elves greeting you both. Remus frequented the kitchens, often seeking chocolate and warm food after full moons and he was very kind to the ouse elves so they had no issue in fixing him stuff to eat. Because of your time spent with remus, they quite liked you too. They had even gotten over the need to be overly hospitable around the two of you, instead waiting for you to ask before making anything and sometimes even letting you make stuff for yourself if you wanted to. This time when you walked into the kitchens you were picked up and set onto the large center table. Your eyes were drooping and your brain went fuzzy. You could hear people talking but you nearly fell asleep sitting there, not having enough energy to really listen to what they were saying.

You felt a hand on your face and your eyes opened wider, focussing on the brown eyed man ahead of you. You took a moment to gaze at his face, following the lines of his scars with your eyes.

"You're staring." He mumbled, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks. You smiled a bit.

"Cant help it, I like you too much." You heard the house elves 'aw' at your remark and now it was your turn to blush. You felt something get placed in your hands and you looked to your lap to find a warm bowl of soup. The next few minutes were spent with you scarfing down the food that you hadn't realized you wanted so desperately. Remus left you to eat in peace, choosing to instead catch up with the house elves who rewarded him with a bar of chocolate that they knew he liked. When you were done with your meal Remus seemed to sense it. He came over, took the empty bowl from you, and then asked you something. You heard muffled talking and tried to focus more.

"Hm?" You hummed tiredly.

"Want me to carry you to the dorms?" He asked again, a smile on his lips.

"No, I got it, m' barely tired." You slurred out and hopped off of the table. You both started to walk along the corridor, hands entwined when you felt yourself start to doze off. You nearly fell a few times before Remus decided that was enough. He turned you to face him and picked you up by your thighs. You were always surprised by his strength but he was the tallest and the strongest of all the marauders. He just seemed so non-threatening that you sometimes forgot. Your arms wrapped around his neck and your feet hooked behind his back. You snuggled your face into the crook of his neck, eyes closing and a hum of approval coming from you. Remus smirked at the action and he continued walking to his dormitory.

He knew you would scold him tomorrow for not taking you back to your's but he couldn't bring himself to care when he knew that he would get to cuddle you all night. Sirius had figured out how to get around the charm on the stairs to prevent girls from getting to the boys dormitory so he had no problem carrying you up the stairs. When he opened the door to his room a silence fell. All the boys loved you and they had been worried about how little you were sleeping lately. Remus gave them a look and they nodded, heading out to the common room to chat until they went to bed. Once they had all left Remus carried you to the bathroom, setting you down on the sink counter. Your arms and legs released him but your head remained on his chest. He sat you up and stuck a toothbrush into your mouth. Your eyes lazily opened for a second and then closed again as he brushed for you. He then turned you around and told you to spit which you complied with. He brought you back to his bed and began taking your shoes off and then your jeans. He took off your bra as well, knowing you would be uncomfortable sleeping in it. He slipped you into a pair of his sweatpants and a large sweatshirt he had, proceeding to tuck you under his covers. He slid in with you and you automatically curled into his side. Remus wasn't tired yet so he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep but he couldn't care less as he just enjoyed you laying next to him.

[babymagi]

Just some scenarios: How would Magi males react/take care of his sick S/O? And how about the opposite, where the guys get sick and the S/O takes care of them? (if you can, can you also do a separate reblog scenario with the females?)

I'll do both right here :>

The Men

Alibaba - Taking care of S/O: first reaction no matter what is to take them to a doctor, when he finds out it's not something fatal he'd still probably be really concerned and dropping everything to take care of them Being taken care of: absolutely loves being doted on and still wants kisses even if the disease is contagious

Hakuryuu - Taking care of S/O: makes warm food for them and makes sure to get the best doctors in order to take care of them Being taken care of: absolute baby, needs attention 24/7 but also sleeps the majority of that time

Judar - Taking care of S/O: worst caretaker ever. "Hey guess what did you know orgasms can clear a blocked nose" and other terrible health hacks. Being taken care of: also a baby but doesn't want people near him because he doesn't want to be perceived as 'weak' so no one other than his S/O gets the pRiViLeDgE of taking care of him

Sinbad - Taking care of S/O: He's not so great either but he tries (Ja'far helps) Being taken care of: this man is probably so loopy when he has a fever and it's just.... one-track mind and that's blowing his partner's back out even though that will only succeed in getting them sick too

Muu - Taking care of S/O: Older brother syndrome, obviously he's very worried but is also very used to this kind of thing Being taken care of: Isn't actually feeling bad he just wants to spend time with his S/O and using him being sick as an excuse

Spinthus - Taking care of S/O: I had to include the healer, mans knows what he's doing but adds in a shit ton of affection as well Being taken care of: "I CAN DO THIS MYSELF" "LET ME TAKE CARE OF YOU" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

The Women

Morgiana - Taking care of S/O: Doesn't really know what she's doing but she's trying her best and we love that for her Being taken care of: Doesn't want to inconvenience her partner but eventually allows herself to be cared for

Kougyoku - Taking care of S/O: "Ka Koubun HELP" Being taken care of: Thinks it's the nicest thing that her partner took the time out of their day to take care of her even though she's suffering and is complaining a lot

Yamraiha - Taking care of S/O: tries to magic them to make them feel better but it doesn't work bc healing magic is hard so she just does what she can to make them feeling even slightly better Being taken care of: also a loopy sick and clingy as all hell, can't leave her alone because she'll be extremely sad (yet deny it later)

Pisti - Taking care of S/O: thinks that animal medicine works for humans too (it does not) Being taken care of: other than her whining a lot she's very easy to take care of, will most likely sleep it off

Myron - Taking care of S/O: Not very good at taking care of people so Muu has to help her a bit. Thinks her S/O is dying for like... the entire time they're sick Being taken care of: "I'm not sick, I'm tooooooooootally fine!" *proceeds to collapse after she tries to stand up and has to be dragged back into bed*

Scheherazade - Taking care of S/O: Is able to get the best doctors in all of Riem to take care of them, frequently checks up on the and uses magic to make sure they have enough energy Being taken care of: she needs to be coaxed back into bed because she can't be up and doing things if she's sick, finally lets herself be taken care of by her partner after much convincing

[blushing-starker]

Insanity brings me truth and you

can you guess what Peter's doing to not be understood by the guards?

It's not easy, being crazy. There are expectations to run away from, a bar to limbo under, a specific number of people one has to betray and scar. The unknowable becomes knowable, so you have to skirt the edge of that Venn diagram very carefully. Or very recklessly. Either way, it's a complex thing except for when it's not. Jesus, how infuriating to think about. The point is, the paradox that crazies carry on their shoulders? It's a fucking hassle, a tricky one and Peter is tired of it.

He sighs, lets gravity bend him backward, legs slipping dangerously off the blanket he's hung as a hammock inside his cell. Act like a psycho and you're predictable, don't act like an ax wielding murderer and whoops! Predictable. It's the downside of being insane; you leave the weary capitalist consumer mask out in the world, probably set that shit on fire and make yourself sick with the fumes. But you just replace it with the one labelled 'danger to society' and get forced to play along with that. He did what he did to avoid the world and its predetermined fate, its standards.

Peter closes his eyes, thinks of the nauseating smell on his left. Rupert, the guard that dared graze him while he came back from the shower naked, has a broken nose thanks to Ned and his loyalty to him. The idiot barely cleans the open wound and the whole cell reeks of pus because of it. He does the math of how long it's been going on for and shudders in disgust. His bare calves slip a little more.

An inhale near the front of his cage. Slow, but controlled. Not the usual. Thank God for a circus family and heightened senses.

The doctor is paying attention to him.

"Doctor Stark. Gnittor gnihtemos llems ouy nac?" Rupert grumbles from his perch on the second floor, curses a hare brained psycho that's incomprehensible. Peter hums, pleased to know that after ten months, nine days, twelve hours, and...

Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus on sinking deeper into nothing, into a yawning void. The blanket shakes and his thighs are starting to tremble. Blood is rushing to his head, veins most likely beginning to protrude. Irrelevant.

His favorite guard Stan wears a Swiss watch his wife got for him on their fortieth anniversary. It sings to him now, smooth and cool like a river. A skipping stone is thrown, tic, a fish heads towards the sound, toc. Above all the other stimuli in the room, the watch announces itself. Ten fifteen.

Ten months, nine days, twelve hours and twenty minutes into a game, his tiny gnat still hasn't caught on. Not like the charming doctor. He sees him then, behind closed eyelids, as clearly as a sweet nightmare. Tall, taller than Peter, but less strong. Wide shoulders that morph into a slim waist and a delectable ass he aches to sink his teeth into. Shapely calves from running, curiously delicate looking ankles.

Down and back again. A full head of dark hair with a dusting of silver. Dangerously clever mouth, what his aunt would call a noble nose. Agreeable cheekbones. Piercing eyes that tear his walls down, rip apart the bricks and mortar until he's scrambling on the other side, desperately, clumsily attempting to reinforce them for the millionth time. Those eyes saw the trick, the mirror reflection on his second day here, Peter offhandedly talking in reverse with Ned when they passed the new doctor. A dark gaze had pinned him in place, a spider fixed in place with its own silk against the cold dissection table.

Ned had rambled on, Peter had met a worthy playmate and the doctor had seen all he needed in that eternally prolonged glance. That very afternoon, a psychiatrist signed on as his very own voyeur.

Doctor Stark seems to be as interested in cutting him open to peek inside as Peter is in taking a dagger and comparing their hearts. He does this a lot; wonders how fate and the absence of lucky fate led them here. On opposite sides of a prison when perhaps it should be the other way around. Or perhaps there should only be Peter and Doctor Stark.

He feels himself falling, plummeting ever downward into fantasies and hazy dreams. It's not until the good doctor sharply calls out his name that he realizes he's also plummeting towards the floor. Now, MJ had warned him; had specifically said that the hammock being ten feet off the concrete ground was a bad idea. Ned had said he'd be fine and Peter loves the guy, ok? He has to do everything he can so that his best friend wins a bet over his other best friend.

Peter slightly regrets that when he's forced to arch his body backward, flip right side up in order to hit the floor on his feet instead of his face. The impact chokes the air right out of him, shakes his bones, but he doesn't react. Cracks his neck and that's all. Most of the guards were kind, some shade of understanding. They weren't harmless, though. He knows what he looks like, knows how many hours these men are cooped up with the scum of the earth.

"To answer your question," Peter leaps onto the bars of his cell, slithers higher than any sane person would and somersaults off the vertical slits, sinks into his trustworthy hammock with its trustworthy knots (MJ and Ned had tied them, one each), "yes, I do. It's less potent this time."

He stills, frowns. "How? There haven't been any changes. External or internal." No need to act like the Mad Hatter when the conversation could be had normally. Quicker and more reliable with meanings. But the doctor pauses, enunciates his next words slowly.

"Ti koot uoy erom emit yadot." God, he loved hearing Doctor Stark talk that carefully and smoothly. It was as comforting as it was uncomfortable. (He and sex don't particularly get along. It's like a headache that comes and goes; with the right medicine it can dissipate and evolve into something soothing, pleasant. With the majority of medicine, it blossoms into pain and soreness, a dry throat clogged by a thick syrup that won't leave him be no matter how much water MJ and Ned encourage him to drink. Peter isn't yet completely certain which side of his scale the doctor falls on, but he's guessing it's likely the first.)

(The man seemed to live in the grey areas; fitting that with this, too, he'd reside in the in between.)

The reverse effect is in play and he grins, genuine and wide, when he catches it. "Monsters are visiting more frequently, taking up space in the light." His nightmares had intensified recently, and they're starting to accompany him even in moments Peter knows are real; shapes drifting by the corner of his eye. As a coping tactic, he rips parts of his nails off. Not entirely, just the corners. His mind could concoct lots of things, but in his dreams his hands are always pristine.

(He hasn't caught up with it, hasn't noticed that although his nightmares have a clearness to them, a bright intensity, Peter can't shift enough focus to realize his hands aren't his own. They never are. But he usually has more pressing bodies to deal with than the good doctor's.)

Another pause, this one being done by Tony Stark, doctor and healer of men, instead of Doctor Stark, curious keeper of deranged souls. "I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe this will help." Peter peers over the edge of the grey hammock, watches with interest as the doctor approaches his cell with a glass bottle of clear liquid sloshing inside. The other man stops an inch away from the bars, looks up at Peter.

There's a slow tension simmering between them, something as thick and addictive as honey. There's scientific curiosity, a desire to seek out and maybe comprehend the unknown lurking inside their mirror image, as other and as alike as oneself. But there is also a gleam of something he's afraid of acknowledging in Doctor Stark's eyes. A madness once tucked away steadily unraveling itself with each glance they share.

Peter returns the look, unblinking and thinking. " 'If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.' " A lesson Nietzsche offered to those wise enough, sane enough to live blind.

The doctor raises an eyebrow, is otherwise still. Sometimes, if Peter considers their current predicament for too long, his grasp on his masks loosens, and the Spider begins to spin its deadly thread round and round its very own body. He sees a guard exchange money with a partner; the crazy quota has, he guesses, been filled for the week. And they had such a nice streak going on, too. Oh, well. This web is unavoidable anyways.

He pitches himself forward, is the one who controls the descent instead of gravity this time. Letting the air rush up to meet him, he inhales, tastes a distinct sharpness around him. Crouching, Peter takes it all in, every last detail. Looks, really looks, at the doctor and suspects.

As if he were none the wiser, he calmly heads to the front of the cell. Meets the doctor at the divide and wonders what it'll be. Wonders if he'll rise higher than ash and flame, an acrobat testing the fates by flying just seconds ahead of death. Doctor Stark hands him the bottle and he can see now, tiny pieces of lavender. A distraction for the guards. "That should keep the monsters in the dark. Use it before you got to sleep and tuck away your hair."

Like a schoolgirl with a crush, he self consciously brings a hand to his curls. They're getting a bit long, but the warden only allows haircuts once a month or two. "I don't have anything to use." Digging into his lab coat, the other man retrieves a single black stick.

Well, to everyone else it's a hair pin. Peter knows the truth though, can see it and smell it and very nearly touch it. As it is, he gently plucks the items out of elegant hands and refuses to look at them. Looking draws attention. Doctor Stark gazes at his face, eyes flickering in a rehearsed way around his own, but not into them. That's alright, he understands.

"The lack of movement around your face should also help." The question of why is out before he can reel it in and act as a sane, normal person. Christ, he could handle crazy, not rude. He would have to practice being in control so as not to slip up when the doctor is around. Said doctor cocks his head, doesn't have to do anything more for Peter to get the message: go on, ask the devil why he made the deal.

Peter B Parker does not back down when intrigued. "Why are you helping me sleep better?"

Why help me escape?

"It's my duty." Three words. Not the explicit declaration of affection typical, normal, dull people receive from an admirer or partner. Not a grand proclamation of wanting what the heart wants, or a sonnet regarding the connection between star crossed paramours. Simple, short, concise; enough to turn to religion, to sanctity and salvation if it means hearing it again. He'd do anything, including putting on a discarded mask from his past if it gets him what he desires. Peter would suffer through sanity for this man. He would if it means hearing what sounds silent to those around them.

You're my duty. Whatever happens tonight, Doctor Stark believes it's his duty to see it through. To see him through, in a way.

"Why would you accept?" Ah, silly doc thinking any of his principles have changed since the first time they met, since the first time he brought fire to life and gave death in return. Peter smiles, brings forth the prisoner that had not seen the light of day in almost a decade.

(His uncle often said Peter's greatest gift to the world was his smile, his true smile. His aunt said it was the final move needed to capture a king and make him his pawn.)

"Why, doc, you know I hate to be bored." Call him a psycho, a freak, a sick, pitiful creature. Call him anything and everything and maybe those words would ring true. But Peter will never allow himself to be bored, not when there's so much fun to be had. Especially with a doctor as crazy as he is. "This looks...promising."

" 'He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.' " The first part of Nietzsche's warning.

"Nietzsche didn't understand; those who fought monsters were already fated to become what they struggled to defeat. They believed salvation could be found by killing the monsters outside, but all they did was feed the ones inside."

Anthony Stark, the truest version, grins at him, all glinting eyes, sharp teeth and a crooked smile. Peter Parker, armed with a match, gasoline and soon to be glass shards, grins right back. In this instant, being crazy isn't such a hassle. After all, he has someone to share the crazy with now.

[writeblrfantasy]

when the witches call interludes: ireil

wc 617

Blood.

Ireil has known blood. He has known it well, and intimately, and often. He went to Elodan’s best known, some say only reputable medical school. He has been wrist, elbow deep in blood a few notable, unpleasant times. He is a surgeon. He is a healer, a doctor of all kinds. If he is given a patient, in whatever condition, he will not let up until they have survived.

If they die, it tears straight down his soul, ripping out his ability to sleep. he doesn’t get nightmares, but he gets their effect in his dreams—the happy reality where they survived, where their families laughed and hugged him in thanks, where he got to watch them wake, so alive. Waking is the nightmare, when he has to remember all over again that he failed.

He doesn’t care about the blood. That is the last thing on his mind when he operates, other than from where it is flowing and how he can stop it as fast as possible.

Ireil knows blood.

Never before has been blood this nauseating.

Blushing pink, sticky, coating his hands and making them heavy. Ireil’s breaths come heavy, it’s hard to breathe. He’s standing over a sink, lanky form bent under the crushing pressure of a low ceiling, eyes closed and trying to breathe.

He failed. He was never given a chance to try for success. Celel was like no patient he’d ever had before. But still, he should’ve tried. There’s never an excuse. And this failure has hit him hardest of all.

Ireil opens his eyes. He wears the jacket of a surgeon, sleeves cut just below the elbow so that he doesn’t have to waste time rolling them up or fearing they’ll fall and get in his way as he works. He blesses whoever invented them as he washes his hands now in a deep white sink, the tap running and filling it with Celel’s pink, level nine blood. It’s rare to find running water pipes in the middle countries as frequently as one finds them in Ela Onir.

He almost wishes he was forced to wash his hands in the rush of a river. The rawness there, the way it forces him to listen to sounds other than his own ragged breathing are exactly what he needs. Something to drown out this void in his chest.

Ireil told the others to wait outside, he needed a minute alone in this dirty, dilapidated little washroom in the middle of nowhere, but now he’s regretting it. His breaths come back to him half formed, harsh, and the shack is silent but for the running water. The sink is pink.

He shuts off the tap and lets it drain, bracing his hands against the sides of the sink, bending and ducking his head to suck in some air. Golden sunlight floats in through the windows—there’s so much golden sunlight in the southern countries, Ireil will never tire of the three hour sunsets.

Celel will never see another golden sunset because of him. Ireil may not be the reason he was wounded, but he’s the reason he succumbed, gasping, staring up at a blue sky while his brother cursed and screamed in his own tongue. Ireil is numb. No, he’s all too aware of his pain, his buzzing mind, that hollow grief and guilt in his chest. He cannot be allowed to walk freely, happily, unimpeded while Celel died in his hands. Pink blood everywhere. Ireil must give himself the divine retribution he knows he deserves.

Ireil turns the tap back on. He dips his hands in the water again. It’s turned crystal clear, but he blinks and finds it pink.

wtwc taglist (lmk to be added/removed): @magic-is-something-we-create @47crayons @saltwaterbells @piyawrites @faithfire

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH116

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

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Chapter 116: The Dream of the Holy Nun (VI)

Out of habit, Qi Leren went to Chen Baiqi to buy some information about the Holy City. Unfortunately, Chen Baiqi didn't have any details on it, only an old map of the Holy City from decades ago that she made Qi Leren pay for. Chen Baiqi reserved the task information of "The Dream of the Holy Nun" from him, to be sold to her when he finished his task.

Qi Leren also asked her if she had any interest in this task. Although the number for the task was already full, if Chen Baiqi was willing to join, he could consider persuading Dr. Lu to stay safe in the clinic.

Chen Baiqi gave him an inscrutable look: "I’ve been able to  live in this world for eight years by holding a principle."

"What principle?" Qi Leren asked.

"Never die easily unless you have to," Chen Baiqi said.

“……”

"This kind of task involving the demon invasion from more than 20 years ago is either epic difficulty or a chain task that will go through eighty-one difficulties before finally becoming epic difficulty. Anyway, it won't be easy. I wouldn't be surprised to see demons all over the city as soon as you enter the Holy City. Please Qi Leren, don't let me sweep your grave again," Chen Baiqi patted Qi Leren on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"Hey, don't give me a flag," Qi Leren said depressedly.

"You'd better hold Su He’s thighs. He may have items that force him out of the task. He would never let himself die from not being able to stand the difficulty. After all, there’s still a long way to go. It's a pity that you are a little poor, otherwise I could sell you some high-quality items. Right now I can only sell you cheap little miniature bombs, I really can't make a lot of money." Although Qi Leren had earned a lot of survival days, he was still a poor wretch in Chen Baiqi's view. She couldn't extort money before he was fattened.

Qi Leren, after paying for the task’s necessities, went home depressed.

The mandatory task for the first month had arrived. In the first month, Qi Leren performed two tasks, namely, Witchcraft Sacrifice and Castle Cry; one was a main world task and the other was a copy world task. During the tasks’ execution, the players’ remaining survival days would not be consumed, but they were still counted as survival time spent by players.

Every mandatory task could be postponed for one week. If a player failed to start after the deadline, he would be forced into the task world. If a player performed a task that lasted for two months, he must complete a mandatory task within one week after the task was finished, and then complete another mandatory task within one week.

Players in the Nightmare World hated the "monthly exam", because there was almost no task reward (unless the degree of completion was extremely high), and the difficulty was also raised every month. By the third year, those players who were not qualified and neglected to improve themselves began to fall off one after another and were eliminated by the cruel monthly exam without the chance of a make up exam.

Qi Leren wasn't worried about his own strength. Ning Zhou said that his skill cards and his own strength were enough to cope with the compulsory tasks of the first three years, but he was often flustered because he frequently met tasks with unusual difficulty.

Dr. Lu, however, looked frightened, fearing that he couldn't pass the first monthly exam, and came to Qi Leren's home to start the task together. Although most of the first compulsory tasks were single-person tasks and starting together didn’t mean they would be in a task together, it made Dr. Lu feel a little safer.

But…

"You, you, you, you, hello*!" After seeing Ning Zhou standing by the window, Dr. Lu suddenly remembered that Su He had talked about a friend in Qi Leren’s home last time.

*{E/N: Dr. Lu is trying to cover up his shock by making “you” (你) into “hello” (你好)}

At the moment when Qi Leren opened the door, he wanted to throw the door in Dr. Lu's face. However, if you thought about it carefully, Ning Zhou and Dr. Lu would meet each other sooner or later. Seeing him early was the same as later since he had to introduce people to Ning Zhou.

"Dr. Lu, this is Ning Zhou, who will participate in the 'Dream of the Holy Nun' task. Ning Zhou, this is Dr. Lu, whose full name is Lu Cangshu, he’s my friend from the same Novice Village who’s a healer," Qi Leren briefly introduced the two men.

Stopped on the sofa, the big black bird cawed angrily, forcing Qi Leren to introduce it to Dr. Lu to get it to stop.

Dr. Lu looked at the person from head to toe with his mouth open, pulled Qi Leren’s ear to him, and asked, "Your goddess?"

Can you not be so quick with this? Qi Leren vomited in his mind and nodded honestly.

So Dr. Lu sat down with a strange smile, looked hard at Ning Zhou, and looked hard at Qi Leren, as if he knew everything. Qi Leren felt that he couldn't explain clearly even if he had one hundred mouths.

Poor Ning Zhou didn't know why he was being scrutinized. He was completely out of the situation and was not used to getting along with strangers. He sat for a while and then went upstairs.

When Ning Zhou left, Dr. Lu tried to suppress the excitement of getting gossip, and forced him to align himself with Qi Leren seriously, saying, "I don't discriminate against homosexuals. Really, I’ve seen many as a doctor. Several little gays came to the anorectal department every day to ask my brother for a finger examination. His technique isn’t bad. It takes 30 seconds to milk a prostate..."

"...You’ve misunderstood, we’re not that kind of relationship."

Dr. Lu had a look of "Excuse me, you are living together".

"Ning Zhou just came to help me train. The training menu I gave you last time was set by him," Qi Leren explained.

"I see..." Dr. Lu suddenly realized, then looked at him askance, and asked, "Do you think I’ll believe this nonsense? Didn't your relationship die as soon as the mission was over? Why is it that now he cordially trains and practices with you? A while ago, you suddenly disappeared. I couldn't find you all over the world. I really wondered if you’d given up and chased your goddess. Now that you’ve finally caught this goddess, you actually say that you have a pure straight man friendship, hehe."

Qi Leren was speechless.

Although it was normal for two men to live together, Qi Leren believed that Ning Zhou didn't think much about it at all, but it was unconvincing in front of Dr. Lu who knew the previous episode... After all, more than half a month ago, they’d fallen in love at first sight and went through fire and water, dying to live... and then died when it was all laid bare. As a result, it took less than half a month for them to live under the same roof. This development didn’t seem quite right…

However, Qi Leren couldn't explain the Slaughter Secret Society undercover task to Dr. Lu - although he feels that after the explanation, Dr. Lu would only be more convinced that they weren’t innocent, and even Qi Leren himself began to wonder if there is something really wrong between him and Ning Zhou.

Qi Leren asked himself, if he had met Ning Zhou as a woman at a different time and place, would he fall in love with her? The answer was: he would. As a woman, Ning Zhou perfectly met all his expectations for the other half. Whenever and wherever he met her, he would definitely fall in love with her.

But if he met Ning Zhou, who was a male, would he still fall in love with him?

Qi Leren thought that the answer was probably no.

He may worship him, yearn for him, want to be friends with him, and even go through life and death for him, but he wouldn't fall in love with him, because he wouldn't consider the possibility of exceeding the limit of friends at all, and Ning Zhou would only be more stubborn than him. Even if they went through hardships and died together, they may have a deeper friendship and even affection than love, but that would never turn into love.

Feelings were so simple and complicated, neither one was deeper than the other, but only a small error would completely change them.

"Although there was something wrong at the beginning, the misunderstanding has been solved now. I think we’ll become good friends, very good friends," Qi Leren said, speaking slowly. Maybe he was a little confused, but he still said so, inexplicably determined.

Dr. Lu looked at him carefully for a long time with disbelief: "...Oh."

"Time is almost up, let's start the mandatory task." Qi Leren cast aside his distractions and concentrated on dealing with the present difficulties.

He opened the system’s menu bar and selected the mandatory task for this month. Qi Leren and Dr. Lu disappeared from the room one after another.

The eagle, who stopped on the sofa, patted its wings and flew up the stairs to return to its master. Ning Zhou, who stood on the stairs, stretched out his arm to let it land. The eagle that understood speech affectionately rubbed the side of Ning Zhou's face and felt it’s master's mood. It was very clever at times.

The two people in the living room had disappeared. Ning Zhou wanted to go downstairs to help them prepare but instead heard Qi Leren and Dr. Lu talking about him, so he had stopped on the stairs.

Friends…

This should be the most appropriate distance.

-----

Editor’s Notes:

Qi Leren: “I’m not gay.”

Dr. Lu: “Okay but like have you tried having a finger up your ass? For science.”

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[trulycertain]

fic writer interview

Tagged by @skogrr Thank you very much! It's a while since I've done one of these, and I've missed them.

Name: Tru/"Oi you" Fandoms (that I write for): Dragon Age, mostly. Still the fandom of my heart. Mass Effect, Deus Ex... uh, accidentally GreedFall? I don't know how or when that happened. Two-shot: Hmm... The actual last two-shot I wrote was Terms & Conditions, a very silly Dorian/Inquisitor modern AU where Gal is the guy Dorian hires to stop his late father's house falling apart. Recently? I suspect that's going to be Driftwood, which can stand on its own as a sort of weird post-canon first-meeting AU, but is trying to tempt me to continue it. (Vasco ends up going looking for Tír Fradí, which has disappeared - and finds it. He also finds De Sardet as a highly avoidant tree god of the island, post-Bad Ending, who transformed against her will. And he ends up falling in love with her anyway.) Weird tree gods! Pining by literal pine! An eventual happy ending! More grumpy commentary by Vasco!

Most popular multi-chapter: Either An Unquenchable Flame or Distraction, probably - both juggernaut pairings, the former close to the game's release and the latter with some fancy forbidden romance, so not so surprising. But surprisingly, Prague, 10:42 PM has done really well, considering it's for a small fandom (Deus Ex) and a rarepair age/rank-difference pairing that I thought would be a one-off experiment? I get it, guys. I like sad repressed stoics too.

Actual worst part of writing: Editing - which can be fun, but that "over and over" stage when you're about to post, especially in a longfic if you fear you've lost the spirit of the thing and the character voices and you can't see the wood for the trees. And when I have to remove a whole scene which Jenga-unbalances the fic, and then I have to redux from the top. Basically, most things to do with pacing. How you choose your titles: I like double-meanings and one word titles. If that fails: quote from a song. If that fails: quote from poetry, but very rarely. Do you outline: Only a little. A bulletpointed list of events or noted-down major lines of dialogue, that's usually it.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: Uh... oh god. I blame so many people for some of these.

Post-Destroy ending where John is attempting to build a shed on Rannoch because that's the kind of thing retired people do, right? and Tali is far better at it than him, and it's just... disgusting fluff.

Actually, just reduxing the early John/Tali stuff with a bit more nuance and a stronger style.

Eva and Kaidan, and their mutually wary first meeting. ("Wow, that's a lot of pomade." "Wow, that's a lot of death-glare.")

AU where Gal and Dorian never met in DAI, and after everything went down, Gal tried to fade into the shadows and leave. He ended up working in Tevinter as an occasional informant/odd-jobs guy the way he was pre-Inquisition. He ends up being a gardener for a bitter, wry magister who seems to hate the entire Magisterium, has recently lost his father to political scheming and murder, and wants to take down the entirety of the remaining Venatori with one staff and maybe his teeth if he has to (hi, Dorian). But first, Dorian's going to drink his own body weight in whiskey and be a recluse for a while and start thinking about time magic again. Gal is trying to keep his head down and should definitely not be falling in love with said magister. Who's someday going to end up at one of the more southerly ports, come across a statue of the great Inquisitor, and go, Oh.

Stuff on Jensen's PT and rebuilding himself post-augs. More of Proprioception, basically.

Mer-AU where Marie De Sardet is still a diplomat attempting to make new connections, just not a human one, and it's a disaster. An awkward disaster. Highlights include her being framed as the beast trying to drown their best captain; her attempting to wobble about on brand-new legs and Vasco's coat while everyone assumes the dear captain has had a few too many; her asking Vasco if his "fascinating markings" glow; them getting into a duel, and her (fondly) getting punted off the side of the ship going "Woo-hoo." OK, I wrote a bit of that, but only a 1k doodle I'll probably never return to.

Non-Naut court AU where Marie gets promised to Bastien D'Arcy, because he's a bit of a layabout but he's also rich, popular at court, and amenable to bribe - [cough] suggestion, and the D'Arcys have prominent trading links with the Alliance. Instead she falls for his far less of a social butterfly, tired, worried-numbers-guy brother Léandre, who's pretty damn uncomfortable around Nauts because he's well aware he nearly got sold to them and he is not the favourite.

Straight-up role-reversal AU (another thing where I've put down 1k that I'll probably never return to), where Marie's Naut name is Paz, and she's a fed-up second-mate who's tired of noble idiots and feels a little strange and conflicted about her mark (and has context for it, because they make frequent crossings to Tír Fradí). Also a little more jaded, without the love of her mother, and not nearly as much of a tryhard as Vasco in canon; she ended up here because she had nowhere else to go and the Nauts were like "Ooh, free kid," and she's well aware. She gets stuck escorting the D'Arcy brothers to Tír Fradí for their new venture and is not looking forward to it. Except one of them is intensely bright and wry and keeps asking questions about the ship and noticing shit he is definitely not meant to notice, and they keep ending up in strange conversations, even if he seems really, really wary and uncomfortable about Nauts.

Some vague stuff about Vasco's thoughts on Jonas and that whole side quest, considering he's also a sea-given and implies sea-given take some shit in the Nauts, and also how damn difficult it must be watching a sea-given's parents endeavour to get their kid back when he knows full well his didn't do that for him.

Actually, just more Vasco POV in general, even though he's damn hard to nail down. I've written much pining for him from Marie's perspective, and I'd like to try things from the opposite. This guy's idea of wooing someone perfectly normally is to panic and then recite Baroque poetry. You know he's sappy as hell in the privacy of his own head, even if he's trying not to be.

Jean and Síora having the "I'm a sad healer who just lost my mother and I'm trying so hard not to crumble under the weight of assisting the leader" mutual talk way too late at night around the campfire and maybe him crying on her shoulder a little, with mutual kindness and the beginnings of attraction, and her finally getting past his jokey-smug facade to understand him.

More stuff about Jean's past in general, and how he wanted to be a doctor before he was dragged away from it by looking after Constantin and being nobility.

Síora and Eseld and the ways they changed over the years; something like an exploration of grief and growing her own will and the ways they very differently view the renaigse. Also maybe more about the en ol menawi magic, if I can worldbuild well enough?

I'd also love to do a GreedFall soulmark AU - it's generally not my kind of trope, I'm not into biological determinism type tropes - just because names and aliases and assumed identities are such a mess in GreedFall and it's a repeated plot point. That said, I feel like it's been done so beautifully in this fandom before that I wouldn't have much to add.

Callouts @ me: So. Many. Commas. So much over-explaining everything. If they get out of the car, your readers do not need a five-page manual of "and then he undid his seatbelt and leaned over to grasp the door handle, and then pulled it, and then stepped a foot out before he almost thought better of it - but no, he was going to get out of this car. The other foot joined the first, and he nearly banged his head on the doorframe."

Best writing traits: People say I have a head for finding small-but-important moments. I'm also told I write likeable protags. People have more than once said my writing makes them feel safe or makes them smile, and I really couldn't ask for more than that. I'll take those.

Spicy tangential opinion: I don't think I have any, really? Oh god, that makes me sound so very boring. Oh! Um. There should be more tree body horror in fandom. And body horror in general. *thumbsup*

No pressure tagging: @artemis-crimson, @eridanidreams,@rainypixel, @aphreal42.

[the-badger-mole]

Happy Birthday

"I'm bored!" Toph complained. "Why do I even have to be here?" Katara rolled her eyes as she rubbed her distended belly. The young heir in her womb was in a mood today. 

You are your father's child, she thought as a tiny foot connected with her kidney. She turned to Toph and smirked.

 "You're here because my husband is paranoid, and Uncle wasn't able to get here before Zuko left."

 "But you're so boring!" Toph groaned. "You can't even spar with me because of that kid!”

"You mean your little niece or nephew?" Katara winced as her baby kicked her again.  She ran her hand over her stomach. "Settle down in there."

 "What's wrong with you?" Toph asked. She frowned as she turned towards Katara. "Are you hurt?"

"The baby is kicking today," Katara explained. "Hard." 

“I can't understand why you would willingly put yourself through this," Toph scoffed. "What's the upside? After the kid is born, it's all long nights and stinky diapers." Katara waddled across the room and lowered herself carefully onto the sofa beside Toph. 

"Well, I've always wanted kids," she said. "I've had enough experience delivering them to know what I'm getting myself into. Plus there's the whole line of succession thing."

“I would have let the monarchy end with Zuko and made the Fire Nation vote for their next leader." Toph folded her arms across her chest. At nineteen, she was absolutely certain she would never experience the maternal urges her friend had apparently harbored since she was old enough to understand the concept of motherhood. Katara just threw her head back and laughed.

"That's not a terrible idea," Katara chortled. "I'll run it by Zuko when he gets home. But I would still want to have his babies regardless." Toph shuddered in disgust.

The few men she had dated in her life were fun while they lasted, but she hadn't regretted the end of any of those relationships. She certainly wouldn't want to be tied to any of them by a child.

"If you say so, Fire Lady Sweetness." She stretched her arms over her head and leaned towards Katara curiously. "When are you due?" Katara reached around and rubbed the base of her spine, suppressing another groan.

 "About four weeks," she said. "That's why Zuko asked Aang to take him. He wants to get back from Ba Sing Se as quickly as possible."

“And why did I get stuck babysitting, again?" Toph asked. Katara grabbed a cushion and threw it at her friend she missed by a lot, but it didn't matter.

 "Stop whining!" she chided jokingly. "You know you missed m-eeeoooow!" Katara doubled over in pain. In an instant, Toph was at her side, all business and worry.

"What's wrong?" she asked frantically. "Are you okay? Is the baby okay?"

 "I'm fine!" Katara waved her off. "It’s been going on for a couple of days now. This happens when you get close to birth. Your body has practice contractions sometimes." Toph frowned at her unconvinced. 

"I am never having kids," she swore. 

"It's definitely not for everyone."   Katara chuckled. Then she let out another low groan."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Toph asked. Katara nodded and pulled herself off of the sofa. Sitting was too uncomfortable at the moment.

"I'm fine," she reassured her friend. Then she doubled over and let out a sound that reminded Toph of the lowing of a goat-cow.

“You do not sound okay!" Toph jumped up and tried to guide her friend back to the sofa to lie down. "Katara, you're scaring me!"

“I'm oka-oh no!" Toph heard the sound of something splashing on the ground. She frowned. She hadn't heard a glass tumble over.

“What?" she gasped. "What happened? Katara, what's going on?" There was a silence long enough for panic to settle over Toph before she heard a reply.

“Um...my...my water just broke," Katara said quietly. Toph's brow furrowed in confusion even as relief settled over her. 

"Okay...” Toph said. “So we'll have someone bring you another."

"No, Toph," Katara took a deep breath, and Toph thought it sounded like she was trying not to cry. "I mean the baby is coming. Now." 

 "WHAT?" Toph shrieked. She clamped onto Katara's arm, unsure of what she needed to do. Normally, when something like this happened, she would turn to Katara. But who did Katara turn to when she was the one who needed help?

”ZUKO! Toph called. "ZUKO!!!"

"Toph, he is thousands of miles away," Katara reminded her. "He can't hear you."

“You're having his baby!" Toph said frantically. "He has to hear me!" 

In spite of herself, Katara actually laughed a bit before she was cut off by another contraction

"Have someone send for a physician," she instructed Toph. "And then tell a servant I need someone to take me to my room." Toph nodded, glad to have some direction.

"Right!" she breathed. "Got it. Tell...someone to come help." She turned and ran off before Katara could say anything else. 

Fortunately, the entire palace was on alert for this. The Fire Lady was giving birth to the heir to the Fire Nation, after all. There was a well practiced protocol in place. Before long, the physician followed by a couple of the palace staff had arrived with a rolling bed and were loading Katara on to it. Toph breathed a sigh of relief that her friend was in the hands of people who actually knew what they were doing.

"Wait!" Katara cried as they began to wheel her off. She reached back for Toph. "Aren't you coming?" Toph shook her head.

"What do I know about childbirth?" she asked. "You'll be better off without me." Katara shook her head.

"Zuko isn't here," pain and pleading mingled in her voice. "I need you!" Toph shook her head.

“I'm no good with stuff like this!"[

"Please, Toph!" Katara begged. That shook Toph to her core. Katara didn't beg. "Please, Toph. I'm scared! I can't do this alone!"

That did it. Toph straightened her shoulders and went to take her friend's hand. 

"Fine," she grumbled. "I'll go with you. But you had better not splash anything gross on my feet!"

At first, Toph found the whole birth process a bit anti-climactic. After all the drama of Katara's water breaking and her contraction pains, the kid was still not ready to come out.

Toph sat dutifully at Katara's bedside, cracking jokes and keeping her water glass filled. After a while, she began to wonder if Katara was even in labor after all, but the periodic groans of pain testified that she was.

"At this rate, Zuko will be home before this kid is born," Toph said. Katara sighed as she froze a bit of water to chew on.

 "Spirits, I hope so," she sighed. "I'm glad you're with me, but I really, really want Zuko here right now."

 "I'll try not to take offense," Toph deadpanned.  The truth was, though,Toph was sure that Katara couldn't be wishing harder than she was that Zuko would miraculously show up ahead of schedule. He'd only be a day or two early, after all...

"Ooooooooooh!" Katara groaned. That was happening more frequently, Toph noted. The physician and her assistants began fluttering around the room with more urgency.

"What's going on?" Toph asked nervously. 

"The baby's coming," Katara told her. She was trying to keep her breathing steady, but Toph could feel Katara's pulse quickening.

"The baby's been coming for four hours now!" Toph couldn't keep the complaint completely out of her voice. Childbirth was boring!

“No, Toph," Katara grabbed Toph's hand and squeezed. Hard. "It's time." 

"Ow!" Toph tried to pry her fingers free, but Katara's grip was vice-like. 

"I can't do this!" Katara sobbed through the contraction. "I can't do this. I need Zuko here!"

"He's too far away!" Toph reminded her. "I had someone send word, but I don't think it'll get to him in time." Katara shook her head vigorously.

 "I'll wait!" she declared. "I can't have this baby without him!"

Toph balked, momentarily distracted from Katara's grip on her hand. She had never seen Katara so...so...frightened. This was the same woman who had ended a century-long war and defeated the prodigy fire-bender princess of the Fire Nation. The same woman who had decided to move across the world and faced the impertinence of the Fire Nation's snobbiest royals in order to be with the man she loved. And she had reigned benevolently and wisely over those same snobs for two years! She couldn't do this without her husband?

"So, what's the plan here, Sugar Queen?" Toph demanded. "Just postpone giving birth? I'm pretty sure that's not how this works!" She tilted her head towards the physician for confirmation. The older woman nodded her head. In spite of the pain of Katara's grip on her hand, Toph smirked to herself. There was nothing to this child birthing stuff.

"I don't care!" Katara sobbed, squeezing her knees shut. "I have to wait for Zuko! We are supposed to do this together!"  Toph suppressed a groan.

 "I'm sure he's going to be sad he missed this, but Katara, you're having a baby!"

"I'm a healer!" Katara snapped. "I can hold this baby in until my husband gets home!" 

At any other time, Toph would have made fun of Katara's stubbornness, but she had been at Katara's bedside for hours, her hand hurt and she really, really needed to go to the bathroom!

"Your majesty, I'm afraid that might hurt the baby," the physician said, bowing and scraping as if Katara wasn't just the scrappy daughter of a barely noble family from the frozen south. Katara had experienced more in her nearly twenty-two years than this namby-pamby doctor had in all her life. Toph gritted her teeth until she was sure one of them had cracked. The physician was going to be useless here.

“Katara, stop being a brat!" Toph ordered. "You always have to have everything your way! Well, guess what? Zuko isn't here and you are having this thing whether you're ready or not!”

"Is that...supposed to be...be comforting?" Katara gasped.

"It's supposed to be accurate!" Toph snorted. "Look, you have two options. You can either put on your big girl pants and let this happen naturally, or you can be a bigger baby than the one you're pushing out of your white lotus, and make this harder than it has to be. Either way, that baby is coming out! So, what are you gonna do, Sugar Queen?"

Katara, still crying softly, slowly let her legs fall open. The physician let out a sigh of relief and went to work.

Toph had been blind from birth, but she had never really regretted not having that sense. Sure, she had no concept of colors, and she would never really be able to see the smiles of her loved ones, but she had been just fine without that stuff. This, though...this  was the first time she had ever been glad not to be able to see. As long as she lived, Toph knew she would never be able to forget the traumatic sounds of Katara’s agonized screaming. She would never forget the pain of the bone crushing grip on her hand. And she would never ever forget the fear she felt witnessing Katara go through what Toph knew had killed so many women before them. The birth of the heir of the Fire Nation throne was possibly the worst thing Toph had ever experienced.

After what felt like an age, the sounds of Katara's screams were replaced by the wailing of a baby. Katara finally released Toph's hand, and before the gore and viscera had even been cleaned from the tiny body, Katara had pulled her daughter into her arms and cooed as if she had never experienced a moment's pain in her life. Toph shook her head. She would never understand this part of the human experience.After a bit, the physician carefully pried the baby girl from Katara's arms so both mother and child could be cleaned up. It was done quickly and soon, the baby was returned to Katara.

"You did good, Sugar Queen," Toph sighed. Katara turned in her direction, and Toph knew she was smiling.

 "You did good, too, Auntie Toph." Katara reached out and took Toph's hand, gently this time. "Thank you."

“Welcome," Toph grumbled, extracting her hand. She wasn't quite ready to forgive Katara for that just yet. Katara just laughed, sounding tired, but happy. 

"What's her name?" Toph asked quietly.

"I'm going to wait for Zuko to get back so we can decide together," Katara told her. She shifted a bit towards Toph. "Do you want to hold her?"

Toph started to say no, but Katara had already guided her hand under the infant princess' head. She waited until Toph had a firm grip before pulling back.

Toph had been blind since birth, but she never really regretted not having that sense. Not really. She had been able to compensate in other ways. She would never know what her little niece's eyes looked like. Toph would never understand what it meant that the baby took after her mother's skin tone,  and had her father's smile, but she knew that few people would understand what it was to know what the baby's heartbeat felt like or truly understand the soft warmth of the baby's skin. Toph would never forget the awfulness of witnessing the baby's birth, but it paled in comparison to the memory of holding the first child she would ever love for the first time.

Part 1, Part 2

[nerdbee]

Sunshine and Shadows- Chapter 2

Nico woke up to the sound of manic giggling. Groggily, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He slipped out of the bed, moving towards the curtain with the hope of finding food. The blue material was ripped back and, to his surprise, Harley barged in, slapped a smiley-face sticker onto his t-shirt, and left again, still giggling. Nico looked up to see a smirking Cecil at the next bed over, sporting his own smiley sticker.

“Will thought it would be a good idea for him to visit and lift the spirits of everyone. He’s been hovering near for a while, because I told him you should wake up on your own, rather than with his help”

“Hmmph”

Nico responded.

A seemingly amused Will came in with a tray of plates of food, which he proceeded to hand out to the various inhabitants of the infirmary.

“You look so grumpy”,

he chuckled, narrowly avoiding a small Apollo child who seemed to be imitating Kayla by holding a clipboard and marching around on their tiptoes with a small bow strung to their back and the torn leaves of a very green plant on their head.

“Lillie, remember what I told you. No weapons in the infirmary!”

Lillie turned around and proceeded to aggressively skip out of the infirmary, knocking a side table over in the process, and scattering leaves along the floor. Kayla sighed, and put down her clipboard in order to clean up the damage.

“Sorry about that. She really wanted to help”

Will sighed and shook his head, before turning to Nico and setting a plate of food on the table near his bed. Upon closer inspection, the plate had an alarmingly high number of plants. Nico huffed, before selecting an apple and taking a bite from it, mumbling his thanks.

"So what am I meant to do now?"

He asked.

"Well, for a start, breakfast should be more than one apple."

Will replied from where he was putting away a pile of music sheets. Nico felt a pang in his heart, remembering how his mother used to teach him and Bianca to play the piano. Nico could never coordinate his fingers properly, but Bianca played beautifully, and he had liked to sit and watch her, mesmerised by the music. After she died, it was hard for him to listen to music, because it was unfair that music should continue when the people who made him love it were gone. People like Annabeth and Percy could save the world over and over and they still had each other and a billion other friends. Nico had nobody. Not really.

"Nico"

A soft voice broke him from his dreaming, and Nico realised that he was blending in with the shadows. Desperately grasping at the bedframe, Nico drew his gaze up to Will's. The son of Apollo's eyes were blue like his father's, yet less startling. They were more muted in colour, calming and reassuring, just like him. Will tilted his head, and Nico, realising that he was staring, dipped his gaze to fiddle with the apple core in his hands. Will's hands reached out, and took the core, his fingers brushing against Nico's, before withdrawing while the blonde boy apologised gently. Nico waved him off. Everything he touched was destroyed. It was in his nature. He would do all he could to stop that from happening to Will Solace.

Will, it seemed, had other ideas.

“Nico, try sitting down. I’m really sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing. Gods, I’m so stupid, what kind of doctor am I? I should have researched more. How can I help if I haven’t researched? I’m sorry”

The son of Apollo was pacing back and forth and he had a length of bandage which he was wrapping and unwrapping around his wrist. Until he saw him on Half-Blood Hill, Nico hadn’t realised how stubborn Will was. Now, he was beginning to notice that the blonde was constantly self-doubting himself. It was normally less obvious than this, when he would always make jokes about how he was no use in battle because he was ‘just a healer’, but now it was clear that he was insecure about even his healing abilities. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Will was only 15. Sure, Nico was around the same age, but people were constantly calling him "kid", or on one memorable occasion, "young gloomy cupcake" (Coach Hedge had some interesting nicknames), but Will had gone from 2nd-in-line to head counselor in an incredibly short span of time. Nico still felt Bianca's loss as if it were yesterday. He couldn't imagine having to go through that twice.

When he had first arrived at, Camp Half-Blood, he had thought that being a demigod was the coolest thing that had ever happened to him, but now he frequently wished that he could have stayed in the Lotus Casino forever, with Bianca, oblivious to the world outside.

Plato once told a story about a group of people that lived inside a cave, only able to view the world from shadows projected onto the cave wall. One of them decided to leave the cave and found the world outside to be full of joy and wonder. When they returned to tell the others, they couldn't persuade them to leave the cave, because the shadows showed the outlines of terrible monsters and they didn't think it was worth the risk.

Nico had stepped out into the real world, but the joy and wonder was overwhelmed by pain and grief. He wanted to return to the shadows. There, he couldn't be hurt, and he couldn't hurt anyone else. It would be so easy to just slip away, it was so much easier leaving than coming back.

"Nico!"

The worried voice cut into Nico's mind and fractured thoughts. It seemed bizarre that anyone would be worried for him.

"Nico, stay with me"

Will sounded urgent, like he couldn't bear the idea of Nico leaving. Nico recalled their earlier conversation, when Will had said that he wasn't stupid, because he'd decided to stay. Nico looked up into Will's frantic eyes, that somehow calmed him even when the owner was panicking, and decided that he would make an effort to stay, even if it was harder than leaving.

Link to pt 1:

Taglist:

@rainbow-sheepofthefamily @luna0713hunter @percabethfangirl @emava04 @seven-halfbloods

@nightmareghosts (sorry i didn't tag you earlier, your user has changed since you asked me to tag you)

[selenacosmic]

Hiii! I really love your doctor headcanons and just finished watching final fantasy and tangled so I've got an idea. 😃 Can I request a healer MC who can use magic to heal but she heals not only human, but animals and plants (dead trees)? But because she is afraid of people exploiting her power, she hides in a forest and one day the warlord found her by accident. Can I please request Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Kenshin and Yukimura? Thank you very much. Have a nice day!

That’s an interesting one! And I have been rewatching the avatar lately, this will be really fun to do!

Magical healer MC.

Oda forces.

Nobunaga Oda.

You two met during a war, Nobunaga was hurt but he didn’t care. It was an arrow on his shoulder and a few small cuts on his body. He guided his men to the secret camp, ready to begin his next plan to win the war.

But then he saw someone on the woods, Nobunaga only saw a shadow of this person, he figured it was a spy. Nobunaga could send any of his men to take care of this, but he decided to let them rest for now, he ordered hideyoshi to take the lead while he was going to investigate.

Going through the woods was uncomfortable, but he didn’t care. After walking in search for the spy, he found a house at the distance. It was old, small, but surprisingly well reserved. Before he could take any action, Nobunaga felt something strange within him, it was then that he realized... that arrow was poised!

He opened his eyes to a sweet smell, he couldn’t feel his firm armor, only the soft futon against his back. Something soft was touching his wounds, and suddenly the pain would go away. He looked up, and saw someone beautiful, Nobunaga moved his hand to touch your face, it made you look at him.

“Oh, you are awake...”

You sounded unsure, as if it was a bad idea to take care of him. He looked at your hands, they were involved by a glowing water. How strange...

“Who are you?”

His commanding voice echoed, carnelian eyes fixed on yours. It wasn’t supposed to sound intimidating, but it wasn’t something he could control.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. You were badly hurt, I was lucky to take out the poison before it spread.”

Nobunaga looked at you, you were so bold to talk to him like that, he smirked, letting you take care of him. Be very sure, Nobunaga memorized the way to your house, he will visit you very frequently.

Mitsuhide Akechi.

It was during one of his schemes, the fox needed to pretend to betray His Lord again to deceive one of his enemies. And in the process, was tortured badly. As long as he had his tongue intact, it was enough for him.

He walked for hours through the forest, it was part of his plans to wait for the right moment to streak against the enemy. But the details weren’t important, he needed a place to hide until the right hour. He saw a house in the distance, seem abandoned.

Cautiously, Mitsuhide entered the house without any difficulties, except for the fact that he was surprised to see that it wasn’t an empty house. A startled girl, looking scared at him, lived there. The house might be old from the outside, but the inside was freshly new. Still, he couldn’t ignore the girl.

“Now, calm down. I have no intentions of hurting you, my dear. Let go of the broom.”

“How am I supposed to trust you? You broke into my house!”

“I wonder who is more suspicious. Me, who entered a place that looked abandoned. Or you, who live in it.”

“I am the one making questions here! W...wait... you are injured! Badly injured!”

“You wish to care for me now? My, how adorable.”

You didn’t let him continuing to talk, it was too distracting. You forced guided him to sit down so that you could take care of those horrific wounds.

His foxy eyes widened as he saw what you were truly capable of. Your hands were involved by water, as it glow with life. Brushing it against the injuries, the wounds would slowly close. His amber eyes were fixed on your face, it was truly filled with concern.

Mitsuhide only stayed long enough to know your name and to be cured of his injuries. Oh, but be very sure that he would come back for you. You were just too fascinating.

Uesugi-Takeda forces.

Kenshin uesugi.

War was his nature, and as such, it was normal for him to get hurt. But we shouldn’t forget that, as the god of war, it was rare the moments where he would get hurt.

But this time, it wasn’t because of a war. He wanted to feel his blood rushing through his veins. That’s why Kenshin was at the forest, trying to find a Ronin to entertain him in a fight.

And he did, though most of them were too weak to keep it up with him, this was starting to get boring. That is when he heard footsteps sounds, he smiled waiting for his next opponent, the sound was coming from behind the bushes. And when they got closer... he was ready to attack!

Oh, wait... it’s just a woman. She didn’t seem to notice him, as he didn’t make a noise when preparing his sword. What a waste of time... Kenshin couldn’t find a worthy opponent and had to stumble across a woman.

He was about to leave, until something started to glow. It was coming from you! More specifically, from your hands. When he looked closer, there was a small animal together with you. It was a bunny that injured his leg.

The transparent, glowing water showed the wound close as you moved your hands. The little animal was cured, you somehow made the water go back to its bag. Now this was impressive...

You caressed the animal’s head, getting up to continue walking. But Kenshin wouldn’t let you go away that easily after what you did.

“You, woman! You aren’t going away.”

Of course, you got startled by him, but tried to keep it calm. You knew you shouldn’t have done this where everyone could see! You gulped dryly, waiting for whatever he wanted, he had a sword after all.

Resuming what happened, Kenshin offered you a place in the palace. Your abilities were perfect for his army, you were their healer now!

Yukimura Sanada.

Yukimura is scared of anything involving magic or sorcery, this boy would shake at the very thought of it! He heard stories of an enchantress who lurked around the woods.

Too risky, there is no way he is going in there! What if the evil enchantress caught him during it? Of course, it was a stupid thing to think, specially for a warrior like him. But one can never be too cautious.

Unfortunately for him, Yukimura couldn’t avoid fate. He needed to cross the forest to reach his Lords’s camp, it was well hidden.

But in the dark of those woods...! No, he is an warrior, he has been through a lot, there is no such thing as an enchantress there! It was just childish stories, just that!

He couldn’t finish that thought, footsteps were heard. Yukimura took his spear, if there was really an enchantress there, he would fight her! But then... it was just a girl, she was walking fearlessly through the forest, as if she was used to it. Is that... the enchantress?

He lowered his weapon, putting it back to its place. You looked so... harmless, how could he be scared of you? How stupid of him... Yukimura was ready to give you an warning about how dangerous that place was for you, since you didn’t seem to notice him, but when you touched a tree, that was almost dying, it somehow received life, it was... cured!

Forget it! You are the enchantress! Yukimura looked at you scared, and started to run walk away to the camp before you had any chance of seeing him.

They were staying in that camp for some days now, so Yukimura didn’t had a choice but to walk through that path, very well armed of course. Though, you have noticed him that night, it was funny to see him walk so scared around there.

So you started to tease him slightly, which increased your closeness to Yukimura. His fear slowly fading, even after the war he would go there just to see you.

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Thank you for reading! If you wish to see more of my work, check out my masterlist!