#i need watcher to collab with her

[noa-nightingale]

Michelle Khare & Steven Lim || Character Conversations

This video is so interesting, especially the part where Steven talks about Watcher's employees.

"The number one guiding light of building the operation and the business at Watcher has been leading with compassion and grace toward our employees. (...) I want Watcher to serve them more than they serve Watcher, and if they can leave the company at the end of the day and say, yeah, I think I got more out of this experience than I gave, that makes me really happy."

[tasty-littl-snack]

Rewatching old top 5 beatdowns and Joyce calling Shane a bottom with mommy issues is the funniest fucking thing. I know she’s with try guys now but I wish she could make more appearances on watcher. She’s a delight.

I honestly love her and I think she brings out a side of Shane and Ryan that we can rarely see (they try to play on her level and thus reveal things they normally wouldn't and it makes for good content but I think the disney dilfs was the only episode where Shane wanted things to be cut out for real, but they of course kept that.) I think it's nice that sometimes they can be truly unhinged with some people, and that episode you mentioned she's really good at pointing out such things. The fact that they brought her back for a more unhinged ep gives me hope she will return. From the made up scenarios to Ryan just saying things for fun (this year gave us the "I'm a size queen!" as obvs a joke but why would he say that. I don't think he would say that in front of Shane tbh. Also Joyce saying that he needs to discover something about himself was that nice wink wink towards the audience.)

I don't know why she wouldn't return for the next season. To my knowledge even though she's in the recurring cast of that other youtuber-turned-streamer, if that banned her from appearing on other channels and especially Watcher, I think she wouldn't agree. To my knowledge other people still do things outside of appearing in videos with one company sometimes. (Some have a podcast that's not associated with them, others do other things, so I don't think we lost the probability of Joyce appearing on Watcher ever again.)

She also guest starred in other Watcher shows featuring Steven (taste-tested the drinks in second season of WAS and was in that one sponsored cooking one-off which could be counted as a "Steven Show") so I don't see why people think she might not work with them again. The only reason might be that they are utilizing the food trio boys in top5 so we can get fun combinations like Andrew Shane and Ryan ranking things, or Steven Adam and Andrew ranking a thing. I think top 5 could use some change of the cast from the usual Shane and Ryan and it's a good show to slowly introduce new cast or make it easier collabing with other people outside of Watcher and Joyce is perfect for that so I too hope to see her again when that show airs.

[aimfor-theheart]

Act I, Part II

|| kaeya alberich x afab!reader || E/18+ || hurt/comfort/fluff || wc: 13k || ao3 || masterlist || <- Act I, Part I ||

When you, a beloved artist and performer of Mondstadt, attract the attention of the Fatui, there is only one person you seek out for help; the infamous Cavalry Captain of the Ordo Favonius, Mondstadt's beloved bastard.

minors and ageless blogs dni, 18+ only

❀ for you are the world (as i am in pieces) - @lorelune ❀

a/n: this is the second part to act one because tumblr would not let me post in one! this is apart of a lovely collab with my buddy @lorelune that you should check out!! i've linked their fic above!! thank you so much to @acerathia for beta reading this!!! this is the first act of three that will be posted!! everything will also be on ao3!! thank you so much and i'd love to hear your thoughts!! <33

tags: afab reader (she/her pronouns but is rather gender fluid/binds her chest sometimes and presents both femme and masc), alcohol use, mentions of kidnapping, mentions of stalking/full on stalking from the fatui to the reader, eventual smut (not in this chapter), mentions of heartbreak/abandonment issues, bodyguard au technically, fake dating au technically

SCENE VI 

Dawn Winery in the early morning. The sun has barely risen over its hills. The sky is still cool and blue, the light watery as it pours into the study. Diluc is hardly awake at his desk, hair still tousled and eyes heavy. He was up late last night and we can tell. Kaeya enters from downstage right and keeps his back towards the audience. 

“It’s too early, Kaeya,” Diluc’s voice is a rough scratch. 

“I’ll be brief,” Kaeya says with too much bounce in his step. “It’s important.” 

Diluc raises vermillion eyes up from the paperwork on his desk and levels him with an unimpressed look, but he is silent. Waiting. 

Kaeya can’t help the slight smile that tugs at his mouth. He can’t help himself; he’s a younger brother, “you look awfully exhausted.” 

“Get out,” Diluc grouses. 

Kaeya fights his urge to laugh, “that’s not why I’m here.” 

“Then get to the point.” 

With some pain, Kaeya manages to say, “I need your help.” 

Diluc narrows his eyes, “with what?” 

Kaeya says your name, slowly, carefully. 

“Whatever it is going on between you two, I don’t want to know–and you better not be toying with her, she’s already been through too much heartbreak to–”

“No,” Kaeya says quickly, “there’s nothing between us. She’s in trouble–our relationship is a ruse so that I have an excuse to be at her side to protect her.” 

Diluc blinks slowly. 

“She’s in trouble?” He then asks, “why wouldn’t she–?”

“She’s being very clever and very cautious. The Fatui are watching her every move.” Kaeya explains, “we’re trying not to alert her watchers that we know.” 

Diluc’s brows furrow, “what would the Fatui want with her?” He asks, “I know she’s been trouble for them before but I can’t fathom what they’d so actively pursue her for.” 

“I’m trying to find out,” Kaeya says, “but they’re getting more aggressive. The other night I interfered with a chase.” 

“A chase?” Diluc asks. 

“They were chasing her on her way home from Springvale. I’m not sure what they would’ve done if they’d caught her before I got there. Point being,” Kaeya draws in a quick breath through his teeth, “I need more eyes on her.” 

“Does Jean know?” Diluc asks. 

“Yes and I plan to enlist Venti, too. Anyone who is close to her that we can trust. It’s imperative we don’t alert them.” Kaeya continues, “It’s not abnormal for you or Venti or Jean to hang around her when I can’t.” 

“That’s why she’s been coming home with you.” Diluc says slowly. 

“Yes,” Kaeya agrees, and then he looks at Diluc wryly, “did you think we were sincerely together?” 

“Well, I wouldn’t put it past you,” Diluc responds and there is an edge to his voice that Kaeya bristles at. 

He pokes at it, “jealous?” 

Diluc shakes his head quickly and the furrow of his brow makes Kaeya think he is almost confused by the insinuation, “not at all. Concerned, if nothing else. Like I said, she’s been through heartbreak already.” Diluc leans back, eyeing his brother, “and well, your reputation precedes you.” 

“And which is that?” Kaeya asks and though his voice is cold, affected, there is a thorn in it. 

“Of a heartbreaker.” Diluc replies bluntly, and then he chides, “don’t play dumb now. You can see why I’d be concerned for someone known as Mondstadt’s Heart in your company.” 

The irony isn’t lost on Kaeya. 

“You wound me,” he drawls, eye flashing in the morning light. “I’ve nothing but good intentions with her. I’m trying to protect her.” 

Diluc hums as if he doesn’t believe him and perhaps, if Kaeya were in a worse mood, he’d goad him further. If the day wasn’t waiting for him and he didn’t need Diluc’s help and it wasn’t for the sake of your safety, Kaeya would try to get him to say the word he is certain that Diluc is thinking of him;

Liar. 

But instead, Kaeya says, “I trust you’ll keep this a secret. Play along when we require it. And most of all, watch out for her until we can get this resolved.” 

Any bitterness or anger or irritation in Diluc melts now. His head dips into a sincere nod, “of course. Anything she needs.” 

Ever the noble knight, Kaeya thinks dryly, looking at his brother’s strong but kind face. Bitterness twists somewhere inside of him for some reason, makes his shoulders square. Still, for you, he cannot help but say with sincerity; 

“Thank you.” 

And when he turns on his heel to leave, his face is a mask, except for the small, downward draw of a puzzled brow. 

His mind swims and his heart is a thorn somewhere in his chest for reasons he can’t name. 

But as he always does, he quiets both. Hushes them harshly, like telling secrets as a child, and looks ahead, even if he desperately wants to glance behind him. 

***

POSTFACE TO SCENE VI

Streets of Mondstadt again but a late afternoon hush has fallen over the city. Orange-dark and soft. Children are being called home. People are wandering home from work. The day is ending sweetly. 

“I have to grab my diary again.” You tell Kaeya and you’re careful to keep your voice light. 

Kaeya tilts his head and considers you, “when did you hide it again–?” 

“A day or two ago. I hid it in the morning.” You respond. 

“Wouldn’t I have been with you?” He asks. 

You shake your head, “it was when you were checking in with Jean.” 

“You little sneak,” Kaeya says, looking at you in a newfound light. “You’re quick. How did you get to the Cathedral and back in time?” 

You open your mouth to respond, but promptly shut it when he suddenly stops your brisk walk by grabbing your upper arm, “and didn’t you learn your lesson? I thought we decided you shouldn’t go off on your own anymore.” 

You pull at him a little, but he tightens his grip, unrelenting. “It’s dangerous.” 

His voice has gone stern and lower and you do feel properly chastised as he gazes at you. He’s being serious for once; the easy, light-hearted tone replaced with something richer and darker. 

(And Archons help you, it does something to you, to see him serious and stern, voice pitched like that for you. You flush darkly.)

“I’m sorry,” you say, “but I was quick. And it wasn’t–” 

“I didn’t think I’d have to worry about you wandering off like a child. Or deliberately sneaking away–” 

“I’m not a child!” You say, now with more fire beneath your own voice. “And I didn’t wander off–!” 

“You went back to the Cathedral.” Kaeya accuses and you shake your head sharply. 

“I hid it at the Knights headquarters.” You say and finally pull your arm from his grip, “and I didn’t disobey you, since you’re going to get all worked up about it.” 

You turn away from him with your nose in the air, perhaps aware that you’re acting a little churlish. You can hear his huff as you walk away. 

(Desperately, you want him to follow. Your heart sings it; follow, follow, follow. And he does, but–)

You can tell he isn’t willing to admit he’s wrong. 

“Why do you keep hiding it, anyways?” He asks. 

You don’t answer him. 

When he realizes the game you’re playing, he shakes his head, “you’re a brat.” 

You round on him, cheeks heated, and just to dig in, you say, “and you’re a brute. Don’t speak to me like that. And don’t handle me like that, either.” 

Kaeya’s brows quirk in surprise. You feel as if he can’t help himself, “Mondstadt’s princess is too fragile for a little scolding?” 

“I’m not fragile,” you snip back, “and I didn’t deserve that scolding.” 

An unbearably handsome and smug smile crosses his face, “but you are a princess?” 

Heat tears down into you with a vengeance. Oh, he’s so–

“You’re insufferable.” You tell him, turning away once more, but you’ve lost much of your temper. Especially as he lazily follows after you, even more so when he smoothly drawls;

“Sorry for being a brute.” 

“I’m not going to apologize.” You quip back and you’re met with his laugh, sweet and low and husky. 

You can feel your ears burn. 

He catches up to your side and because the two of you are in public, he slips his hand around your waist and pulls you into his side. “Fine,” he agrees, “I’ll concede when I know I’ve lost.” 

A smile twitches at your own lips and you tuck into his side like you might belong there. You can still feel that heat, deep and burying itself beneath your skin. You try to stifle it. You think it’ll only grow, with the way his hand slides along the bend of your hip. 

As you approach the Knights’ Headquarters, he finally asks, “another secret hiding place of yours?” 

And you finally answer him, “one of many.” Then you decide to add, “and I hide it because you’d be surprised at the amount of people who’d like to take a peek at my diary.” You dare yourself to finally glance at him, afraid that you’ll see how handsome he is. 

(Your fears are confirmed most terribly.) 

“Venti is the biggest culprit, anyways.” You continue. 

He laughs now easily. And then he hums, “I’ll be honest, my interest is piqued now.” 

You shove him a little, laughing yourself, and dart off. 

Your heart sings follow, follow, follow–

And he chases and chases and chases, at your heels, on your skirts, and all over Mondstadt. 

***

PRELUDE TO SCENE VII

In an old, cramped costume and prop room, shadowed except for the gold light from an old lamp with a frilly shade. Light bounces on sequence and shimmering fabric, ruffles and furs are bronzed, patterns pop and feathers poke out from the layers and layers of costumes. Bits and bobbins are scattered around; oddities and prop-weapons are tucked into corners. 

You are wading through the sea of fabric. Klee, a burst of red in a wash of silver and blue costumes, pokes her head out excitedly. 

Kaeya leans against the doorway, watching the pair of you. He’s shadowed so heavily to the audience that we can’t quite make out his face; perhaps just the slip of a fond smile. 

“Look! Look!” Klee cries happily, pulling a gown of liquid silver, shimmering material. It looks like starlight. “So sparkly!” 

You and Kaeya had agreed to take her with you for a while after Jean had caught her attempting to sneak away from her room again. Though you spend less time with Klee than Kaeya tends to, you’ve still aided Jean with her quite a bit. She loves to come to your shows and in the summer months, when there are arts camps that your troupe leads, Klee is often among the participants. 

(She does, in fact, cause some chaos, much to the dismay of your fellow actors. You adore her all the same; besides, you’ve always liked a show with a bit of a bang.) 

“I wore that once,” you tell Klee, “I played a princess from the moon in that play.” 

“A princess!” Klee exclaims, bunching the fabric in her small hands. “Did you have a crown?” 

You hum, pausing in your original search for a particular costume for one of the shows you’ll be performing in during Windblume. “I’m sure it’s around here somewhere,” you say then and you turn away to begin hunting amongst all the objects. You open trunks to rifle through them, pulling out all sorts of items; wooden swords and plastic wine glasses, candles, and even a babydoll. 

Klee picks up one of the wooden swords immediately. 

“That was for a show about pirates.” You tell Klee. 

“Argh!” She cries, brandishing the swords, much too large for her, towards Kaeya. 

“A fearsome pirate!” He says and picks up the other wooden sword to hold it up to her own, “are you here to steal my treasure?” 

You smile to yourself and fondness blooms like a flower inside of your chest; for Klee and for Kaeya, how eager he is to jump into her theatrics. 

“No, you be the pirate!” Klee then says, “you have the eyepatch!” 

This makes you laugh, full and warm in the small, cramped space of the costume room. 

“Alright, I’m here to steal all your treasure!” He says, readjusting his sword to a playful fighting stance. He glances at you, just behind Klee, and then adds, “and I’ll be kidnapping the fair lady behind you.” 

The smile he gives you is roguish. Devilish. Your heart flutters like a bird’s beating wing. 

But, you are nothing, if not an actor. 

“Oh, no. Captain Klee,” you say seriously, wide eyed and she looks at you as you plead, “you have to save me!” 

“I’ll protect you!” Klee promises, “and the treasure! You’ll never get past me!” 

This begins a battle of wooden swords, where Klee uses both hands to swing at Kaeya wildly. He parries gently, careful with each pass of the fake sword, but crying out with effort sincerely as if she’s delivering blow after massive blow.

Klee, wild little girl that she is, begins to knock over costumes, racks of clothes, and lone props set half-hazardly against the walls. 

Kaeya, seeing the disaster, pretends to let one of Klee’s blows knock his sword from his hand. 

But then, in a quick burst, he’s gotten the sword from her own grip, too. And she squeals, “run!” 

What ensues then, is nothing short of chaos, as you and Klee run around row and row of costumes. You’re dizzy with laughter as you round prop furniture and fake carriages and Archons knows what. Kaeya chases eagerly and Klee takes your hand, pulling harder. 

You’re thankful you’re dressed in trousers today, a blouse not dissimilar to the kind Kaeya wears beneath his coat. 

It makes for easy movement, so the two of you rush and dart among the wild colors and dramatic paintings left to gather dust; all once a part of a story, a play, a show, and now perhaps long forgotten. 

You throw a skirt at Kaeya’s head and he pretends to be deterred, Klee laughing and pulling on you harder, running away again. 

Your chase comes to a halt when he finally manages to corner the two of you. Klee stands bravely in front of you. 

“It looks like I’ve got you cornered, Captain Klee.” Kaeya says, stepping towards the two of you. 

But you catch the little glint in her eyes. You know it well. 

In an instant, and with a great battle cry, she launches herself at Kaeya.

As easy as ever, he catches her, swings her through the air and her peels of laughter are bright and pinging off the walls. 

“You made a brave last stand.” Kaeya says, wrangling her until he’s got her around the waist, hanging upside down as she laughs herself breathless. “But it seems I’ve won. I’ll be taking the fair lady and treasure now.” 

Kaeya looks at you, a lightning crack of blue in the dark. Heat swarms your cheeks for reasons you wish you didn’t know. 

Klee squirms, “no! It’s not over yet!” 

Kaeya snorts at that, “Klee, I’ve got you upside down.” 

But she kicks in his hold– “be careful!” 

You rush towards the pair of them, reaching to catch her as she slips from part of Kaeya’s hold with all her fussing and fighting now. She wriggles and kicks with all her might. 

He rights her just as she frees herself and in the process of all her flailing, and all the two of your attempts at keeping her from falling, she takes the three of you down in a heap. 

Thankfully, your fall is softened by costumes strewn about from all the previous fighting. Klee falls on top of you and Kaeya just barely manages to catch himself, twisting his body at the last minute to fall onto his side beside the two of you. He grunts and you yelp a little with the weight of Klee. 

And then, when the dust has settled, Klee begins to laugh again. 

You turn to look at Kaeya, who looks at you in return. 

You share a silent conversation; 

Are you okay? 

Yes, are you? 

And then your own laugh is pulled from you and your arms come around Klee, laughing with her fully. Freely. For a moment, you can feel Kaeya looking at the two of you. You can feel the weight of his gaze, the ache of fondness, of warmth. 

But then Kaeya’s laugh joins in the symphony, lower, softer, but so genuine it makes you want to bottle the sound and keep it. You want to be able to pull that sound from him all the time, for everything. 

You fall back into the heap of costumes, laying on your back with a contented sigh, and Klee climbs eagerly over you. 

Kaeya, after a moment, falls back with you. 

His shoulder brushes against your own. 

And he pulls Klee from your stomach to lift her again, another bout of her laughter erupting like twinkling bells. 

“Perhaps you’ve won this one, Captain Klee.” Kaeya says, setting her back down gently, even as she squirms to sit up atop him. 

She pulls at his ears and he twists a little, “I’ve defeated the pirate!” 

And then you notice, just beyond Klee’s head, high above on a shelf;

“The crown!” 

Klee is up in an instant and Kaeya is quick to follow her. 

He offers his hand to you, which you take. You let yourself be enfolded in his grip a moment, to notice the calluses on his hands, and the way he overtakes your own. He pulls you up from the ground. 

You have to look away–from him, from his hand over yours. 

This time, when he lifts Klee up to get the crown, no one falls over. 

And then carefully, you’re affixing the silver crown to her head. Its sheen is glossy and bends and curls in half-moons all over, swirls of astrology. Opal and fair blue jewels dot and sparkle among it like stars. 

It’s a little big on Klee’s small head, but nonetheless, you gasp, “oh, you look beautiful!” 

“Princess Klee, what shall be your first decree of the kingdom?” Kaeya asks as he holds her up on his hip. Her small arms are wrapped around his neck. The sight is precious, so heartwarming that your smile almost aches. “As a Knight, I’ll see to your orders immediately.” 

“That we get ice cream!” 

Kaeya and you share a look and you can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of you. 

“Ice cream?” Kaeya asks, “but you haven’t even had lunch.”

“You said as my Knight that you would see to my orders immediately.” Klee responds and Kaeya looks at you, perhaps a little surprised, as you laugh even harder. 

And then, “you’re not going to disobey the princess, are you?” You ask him. 

“Yeah!” Klee agrees, “do you want ice cream, too?” 

Kaeya eyes you. Your smile is a cat’s curl, sweet and mischievous, “I’d love ice cream, Princess Klee.” 

“See! The moon princess says we should get ice cream, too!” Klee announces. 

Kaeya’s brows arch upwards as he looks at you, “oh, you’re a princess now, too?” 

Your smile is wide, “apparently.” 

His own grin is fond, despite the way he pretends to be reluctant, “in that case, who am I to deny the wishes of not one, but two princesses?” 

“Yes!” Klee exclaims and wriggles in his hold so that he’ll set her down. She rushes towards the door, “lets go right now!” 

Kaeya looks at you, “did you find what you’re looking for?” 

“Not at all,” you say with a smile, “but I’ll figure it out. It seems we have more pressing matters to attend to.” 

Kaeya looks back at Klee and perhaps, this is the most open you’ve seen him; with Klee and with you. He adores her. He turns back to you. 

He looks at you with such warmth. 

Then he smirks, crooked and handsome, “then after you, princess.” 

You feel a prickle of warmth among your cheeks, the tips of your ears, as you turn to follow Klee out the door and into the afternoon light. It’s so bright for a moment that you have to blink against it, before all the world enfolds before your eyes. 

And with the crown wobbling atop her head, Klee bounds towards ice cream. You follow after her eagerly, taking up her little hand. Kaeya rounds the back, right on your heels. 

He watches the two of you, softened like the sweet ice cream, maybe by the sun–maybe by the girl in your arms.

Maybe by your own softness and the light that touches you, that reflects back onto the world. 

SCENE VII

Darkening evening; somewhere in the countryside of Mondstadt, far outside the city gates. The tall grass sways. You and Kaeya are on a picnic blanket. There is a bottle of wine between you. If it was real, it’d be a perfect romantic evening. 

Later, our world should be revealed through the eyes of Kaeya; unknowing and naive for once. Startled with its sudden beauty. We should also ask, has the world always been this magical? Have I missed it all along? 

“Windblume is soon,” you comment, “rehearsals will pick up in preparation for it–sorry for making you walk out to Springvale so much.” You’re reclined back into the blanket and Kaeya has been careful not to look long or hard at you. He knows you’ll look fetching and lovely. 

“The walk is nice,” Kaeya replies to appease you, “I don’t mind. Besides, Venti’s with you for many of those, isn’t he?” 

You take a swig from the bottle before passing it back to him. His fingers curl around the neck, brushing your own. You swallow slowly. “He is, thankfully. Though I’m not sure how much help a bard would be in danger–us artists are all rather useless.” You joke, “lovers and not fighters, you know?” 

Kaeya presses the bottle to his lips and thinks of your own on it before he takes a rather large sip himself. 

“I think Venti would surprise you,” Kaeya comments and then he tilts his head, careful with his next question, “what all do you know of Venti?” 

You laugh a little, surprised by his question, “what do you mean?” 

“He’s–” Kaeya struggles to find the right words, “strange, isn't he? He has a strange…history.” 

“Do you know it?” You ask.

“Do you?” 

You laugh again, shaking your head at him, “you’re always doing that.” 

“What?” Kaeya feigns innocence. 

“Avoiding my questions,” you wrap your hand around his that still has the wine and pull it from his grasp. “In truth, I don’t know much of Venti’s past. But I know who he is now and that’s what matters to me.” 

Kaeya hums lightly, watching as you take another slow pull of wine, throat working. He looks away. 

“He is strange, though.” You agree, “I’ve always had…a sense of him.” 

“How so?” Kaeya asks, eyes glancing up at the stars above him. 

“He’s otherworldly, isn’t he? Or…he seems rather old, sometimes.” You shake your head slightly, “I can’t quite put my finger on it. But sometimes, I don’t think he’s human at all. He feels timeless.” 

Kaeya can’t help but smile to himself. You are very clever. So keen. 

Once more, he is struck by how easily you seem to be able to see through everyone, even without fully knowing. 

Instead, Kaeya says, “I don’t know, he seems rather immature to me. A drunkard.” Then, he swipes the bottle back from you. 

You laugh, full and lovely, “oh, says you! You’re one of his best drinking buddies!” 

Kaeya takes several more deep pulls of the wine as if to prove a point, only to get you to laugh again, which you do, before you reach to pull it back from his lips. 

“Don’t drink it all! I still want some!” And now it’s his turn to laugh, the taste of wine tarte and sweet on his lips, as he pulls from your reach. You topple closer to him as you grab for it and he carefully pulls it away from your grasp once more. 

Kaeya plants his hand on your shoulder to hold you away as he takes another long pull of wine. Some spills from his lips and he can feel it on his chin, dipping down into his throat.

He finally hands you the bottle when he’s finished, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

And you’re looking at his throat.

He uses a knuckle to trace up the line of wine, and sucks it clean from the skin there.

His throat will be sticky and smell boozy and sweet until he returns home with you but for now, you are looking closely at his throat. 

He wonders if you’re thinking what he is. He wonders if you know how expressive you are, the sweet rounding out of your eyes, and the parting of your lips. 

You blink, as if clearing your pretty little head and then take a sip from the same bottle his own lips were just at. He lets you nurse it now since the pleasant flush of wine is already rising to his cheeks. 

You tip your head up towards the heavens and are awash in the lavender honey glow of the sunset. The sky is starting to darken, plum deep and rosy. It watercolors across your features, swims in the depth of your eyes. 

“The sky is so beautiful,” you say with soft awe. 

It’s like you’re seeing it for the first time all over again. 

It takes Kaeya great effort to drag his eyes away from you and up into the sky that has stolen your attention. 

It is beautiful. 

“I may be biased, but I think the sky is best in Mondstadt.” You continue. 

You take another swig of wine and he watches you wipe at the corner of your mouth this time, eyes following your hand, the flash of your tongue. 

“I won’t argue,” Kaeya agrees softly. 

“I think it’s all the open fields and hills. Everything is just so–” you let loose a breath, “free.” 

He can’t say he harbors the same amazement for Mondstadt. His feelings towards the nation have always been more convoluted than that; though he has grown into the seemingly charming Captain of the Knights, one of Mondstadt’s pride and joys, he does not quite feel the same adoration for it. 

He does not feel as connected as you are, as rooted so solidly here. 

As the sun slips away, you finally say, “would you like to see something?” 

Before he can answer, you’re standing, opening a palm up to help him stand as well. 

He looks at your open palm, so vulnerable, so unscarred and untouched. 

He takes it with uncertainty and almost tentativeness he can’t quite understand. But then you’re hauling him up and pulling him along. 

“Where are you taking me?” He asks. 

And you turn to smile over your shoulder, impish and lovely, “it’s a secret.”

If there is one thing Kaeya is good for, it’s secrets. He allows himself to be led over hill and slope, round and over, through a thicket of trees. 

He has a strong sense of direction and lay of the land, but even now, he feels rather–disorientated. Lost.  He holds tight to your hand. 

“Where are we?” He asks now. 

“I told you,” you reply, “it’s a secret.” 

“You do know, don’t you?” Kaeya drawls. 

You laugh, “yes, I know where we are! It’s not much further.” 

And then, as if the world had listened to your voice, you bring him around a loping bend, which opens up to a small, glittering lagoon. Trees droop and shade it, specifically a large, curling willow tree that hangs overhead. Blossoming trees of pink and white scatter their petals into the still, midnight blue water. Stars reflect on the surface, sparkling like diamonds. 

Kaeya blinks in surprise. It almost feels like an entirely new world he’d been transported into. 

More than that, he can’t believe this isn’t on his map. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard of a place like this. 

You wander to a small outcropping that leans out over the water. You peer down into it, then back at him. “Isn’t it lovely?” 

“How did you find this?” Kaeya asks, coming to your side in order to peer into the water. It’s nearly clear. And if it weren’t for the dying light, he’d be able to see clear into the bottom of the lagoon. More than that, what he can see are flashing, striking stones at the bottom. Like jewels, they glimmer and glow, refracting and transforming the light and water. 

It’s like the sky underwater. 

You pull your gaze away from the pond to look at him, to perhaps peer right into him in that uncanny way of yours. He fights the urge to squirm. 

But you smile, and you say, “if you listen closely, the world will reveal its secrets to you.” 

Kaeya tilts his head, surprised. And before he can be clever or smart-mouthed, you continue, “I know countless hidden places all over Mondstadt.” 

“Do you explore often?” He asks, trying to make sense of this. Of you. 

You shake your head, “not particularly. I told you–if you listen and you look and you’re open, all will reveal itself to you.” 

Kaeya doesn’t have the heart to argue with you. He doesn’t think of the world as magical as you do. And yet, you are the one who has found this place, magical as it is–

You suddenly begin to unlace the front of your corset. You pull roughly at it, until it loosens enough for you to slip it off and let it fall into the tall grass, beside the bottle of wine you’d set down. 

Then, you begin to pull the sleeves of your outer dress off, down over your shoulders to pool at your waist–

“What are you doing?!” Kaeya laughs in disbelief, turning his eyes away momentarily, until he realizes you’re at least still in a chemise. 

“Going for a swim,” you say easily, shimmying that outer layer completely off and stepping right out of it. You toe off your shoes and bend over to roll your stockings down your thigh. 

Kaeya, for a moment, can do nothing but gaze at you. 

As if you can sense it, you pick your head up to catch his gaze, looking up at him from beneath your lashes, still bent over with your back in a pretty curve. “You’re not going to make me swim alone, are you?” 

You’re such trouble, he thinks with a squeeze of his heart. 

He shucks off his coat to let it fall into the grass. 

You grin wildly, standing again and without another moment, leap off the outcropping and into the pool below. 

The splash is big and upends the calmness of the water, splattering drops everywhere. 

Kaeya watches you resurface as his fingers nimbly take apart his shirt, button by button to reveal his bare chest. He strips himself of boots and socks. 

And perhaps it's the wine, but he even goes to unbutton his pants, catching your eye from the water. Your eyebrows quirk in surprise and you say to him, “you should’ve told me you wanted to skinny dip!”

He laughs, hearty and warm, “I don’t. But I’d rather not walk home in wet pants.” 

Carefully, he pushes them off, leaving himself in just his dark briefs, revealing the muscles of his thighs. The chill of the evening air. 

He jumps in right after you and you shriek a little as he lands almost beside you. 

The water is cold, the plunge of it shocking his senses with a jolt. He pushes to the surface and breaks it, pushing the mess of his midnight hair away from his face. 

“It’s freezing!” Kaeya says.

“I thought you were good with the cold,” you respond and just to torment him, you give a splash to his face. He blinks back the water from his eye. 

Kaeya splashes you back immediately and you laugh. You wipe the water from your face. “It isn’t so bad.” You get out but your teeth are beginning to chatter and now it's Kaeya’s turn to laugh at you. 

“Do you swim here often?” He asks. 

You shake your head, “this is the first time–I had no idea the water was so cold!” You dunk lower beneath the water, “have to keep moving, I suppose.” 

And then you disappear from beneath the darkening surface. Kaeya can hardly see the bottom anymore as the last rays of light fall from the sky, but he can feel the current, the push and pull of the water around his legs as you move. 

You pop up on the other side of him, further away, dripping and shining in the beginning light of the moon, petals clinging to your bare chest and shoulders, tangled in your hair. 

He slips beneath the surface as well, quiet as can be, and blindly swims towards you in the dark. His hands reach, seeking–

They skim your legs until he gets his palm around your calf. He can hear your shriek of laughter, far away and soft, warbly to his ears. He pulls lightly and you kick, playful, giggles spilling out, and he swims for them now. 

He emerges right beside you and instantly, you’re on him, pushing his shoulders down momentarily to dunk him. 

He squabbles for you, with you, hands coming around your waist to pull you under and back up. You’re laughing wildly, fighting and twisting with him in the water.

You kick away from him, dive beneath the water and without thought, like he’s a child again, he follows you. 

The cold fades. 

And he’s laughing, “you little brat,” he says right after you use your feet to kick up a large splash back at him. 

He shakes his head, water flying free from him and onto you. 

“You dog!” you laugh, but this time, when you disappear beneath the water, you don’t resurface right away. 

The water goes still, except for his wading. 

He glances around, listening for you, waiting. He can hear the thud of his heart. The hoot of an owl. The world, soft and hushed at night. 

Your secret world, he thinks with amazement, just as you grab his leg from beneath the water. You don’t have the strength to pull him under at all, so you use him to pull yourself back up. Hand on his waist, then up on his chest, his shoulder, until you’re in front of him once more. 

If he was a better man, he’d band an arm around your waist, pull you in tight. 

If he was good and unmarred and open like you were, he’d feel you flush against him and know you the way you seem to know the world; eagerly and with all the love in your heart. 

Perhaps, selfishly, he has the urge to do so. 

He can’t decide if it’s fleeting or not, if he just wants to know what you’d taste like or what sort of sound you’d make against his lips. Or if something else shifts and simmers beneath his skin. He thinks you must draw that out in everyone, that half the world is likely in love with you, anyways. 

He’s no special man. 

There are better ones than him that should have you. Hands like his shouldn’t hold you, nor lips like his to kiss you. 

You are slick with petals and moonlight, shimmering in his vision. As the night wind brushes past you, you begin to shiver all over. 

“You’re going to catch a cold,” he says.

“So will you and then we’ll both be sick and miserable together.” You flash him that smile again, the mischievous, elated one. 

Kaeya shakes his head, “come on,” he urges, “we should head home before it gets any later.” He watches you shiver, teeth chattering, “And you get any colder.” 

Finally, you listen to him and let him corral you out of the water. 

It is cold with the sun set and dripping wet. He redresses swiftly, but pauses when he reaches his coat. 

He dusts it off and then drops it over your shoulders. 

“You’re cold, too!” You protest instantly, looking up at him and he can feel the way his shirt clings to his wet chest. 

“I like the cold, remember?” Kaeya responds and he affixes it to you, bundling you deep into it, grabbing it by the lapels to pull it shut around you. Perhaps half for your modesty; half because he’s an awful scoundrel and he knows all the world would love to see you like this. And he does not want them to. 

“Now, shall we go?” He asks and he offers you his arm. 

Your eyes are light, near glowing with the moon and stars, “we shall.” 

He escorts you home like a perfect, honest gentleman. His hands don’t stray and his eyes don’t, either. You sing and chirp like a bird. It fills up the night sky. 

But you’re in his coat and he thinks of your own hand on his hip, on his chest. He thinks of your laugh and wicked smile. He thinks of you like a nymph, in the water under the moonlight, in his dreams covered in petals. 

He thinks of you like a child does, alight and carefree.

He thinks of you with a strange, tremendous fear. 

If you listen closely, the world will reveal its secrets to you. 

He wonders if you could hear his heart at all, wonders if you can hear it now, across his apartment, all the way in his bed. You must, because it takes up all his chest, thuds deep inside him like a bell tolling, like a drum from a song he only knew as a boy. 

And he wonders what it’d reveal to you, if you ever manage to catch its melody. 

***

SCENE VIII

Outside of Angel’s Share, towards closing hour. A gold street lamp illuminates our world. Otherwise, it should be dark. The hush of the patrons from inside is a dull, low roar. We should feel alone on stage, though. Singular. 

All it takes is a moment. 

A split second that Kaeya disappears inside of Angel’s Share to replace your empty glass of wine with another full one. You’d wanted air, tipsy and flushed, and previously giggly with Kaeya and Venti. 

From around the corner, in the darkness of the street, a man appears. 

Instantly, your hackles rise. Your intuition is a sharp, prickly thing inside of you. It catapults your heart into a race. 

You try to soothe yourself; you tell yourself you’re paranoid. 

You greet him like you would any Mondstadtian. 

“Hello. Coming for a drink?” 

But he doesn’t respond. 

Your smile drops from your face. Something inside of you sharpens and you notice the slightest move of his muscles.

You think all prey must know the heartbeat before their predator pounces. They have to, if they’re going to outrun them. 

But the door swings open and Kaeya is out into the night once more, wine in hand. 

His eyes lock solidly on the man and he must know, Kaeya is too clever and too keen of a man to not know. 

His arm slips around you as he hands you the glass of dark wine. 

Strangely, he kisses your cheek in greeting, and then he asks you, and the man, and to the night, “made a friend already?” 

“It seems,” you respond and you pick your smile up, though it feels wobbly, and try to plaster it back on your face. “So?” You prompt the man carefully, your voice thinner than you prefer, so small, “you’re coming for a drink?” 

The man is frozen. 

But finally, he says, “just walking past. I’ll be on my way.” 

“Good evening to you!” Kaeya calls jovially, squeezing your waist. The moment he is out of earshot, Kaeya is looking you over. “Are you okay?” 

“Yes,” you breathe, “he didn’t do anything.” 

Kaeya glances towards the figure, growing fainter, “go inside to Venti and Diluc.” 

There’s something strange in his tone, in the command. 

Fear crawls up your spine like a spider on spindly, tickling legs. Goosebumps erupt all over the nape of your neck. Your breath goes tight. 

“But–” you start.

“Go,” he says, with more of a bass in his voice, deep from his chest and he presses at you, urging you inside. “I’ll return shortly.” 

A firmer nudge towards the door makes you stumble. You glance back at him. 

He waits until you disappear back into the tavern and immediately, your eyes flicker over the small crowd, finding a burst of red hair. 

Venti is right beside Diluc. 

You rush to them. 

Instantly, Diluc must know something is amiss, because he comes around the side of the bar to meet you halfway, to pull you away from the crowd. 

He pulls the glass of wine from your hands and sets it aside, lost. 

“What is it?” He urges gently, large, calloused hands opening to take yours.

“A Fatui member–” you get out, “I think Kaeya went after him.” 

Venti appears at your side as Diluc peers above your head, at the door, as if he may be able to see through it. 

He curses softly, “are you hurt? Did they do anything to you?” 

“I’m alright, Kaeya came out and scared him off, I think.” You answer but you can feel the quick flutter of your heart, the press and squeeze of it desperately in your chest that suddenly feels too small for it. 

“Venti?” Diluc starts, but Venti cuts him off, as if he’d known Diluc’s thoughts;

“She’s safe with me.” 

In an instant, Diluc has slipped from you as well, rushing towards the door and into the night before you can even call after him. 

“Come on,” Venti says, taking your hands to lead you further away from the crowds and up to the top level. He makes you sit, pulling a chair up beside your own. 

“Should they have gone after them-?” You ask distantly, your own eyes drifting to the door as if you might be able to see them now. “Isn’t it dangerous?”

“They’ll be able to handle it!” Venti replies, rather chipper, but then he softens, “you don’t have to worry about them.” 

You catch your lip between your teeth. Your mind races with images of fights, of one of them getting injured. You imagine a Fatui member stepping through the door for you instead of Kaeya or Diluc. You imagine they never step through the door again. 

Kaeya said he’d be back but–

You can feel your fear grow large and strong inside of you, some old wound that bursts open. 

He won’t ever come, like he said he would. 

Your breath gets caught somewhere, ribs stuck on a sharp little inhale. You can hardly think straight, only can imagine waiting here. All night. All morning. 

You get the absurd idea that you’ll wait here forever, in limbo, for a man to walk through the door. 

“Hey,” Venti nudges your knee with his, “they’ll be back soon. They’ll be okay.” 

“You’ll wait with me?” You ask and your voice is surprisingly small.

“Of course,” Venti replies, “I’m not going anywhere!” 

And he does wait with you as your worry grows larger and more untamable, bramble thick and thorny inside of you. You’re near shaking and he tries to say, again and again, in his sweet voice, that they’ll be okay. They’ll be back soon. 

But the tavern empties until it is just you and Venti. The moon rises high in the sky. 

And you pace. And you wait. And you wring your hands and bite your lip bloody. 

Venti tries to soothe you to no avail. 

The night grows long like a transforming beast. 

But in an instant, it’s all vanished–

The door swings open and you rush to the railing, heart jumping wildly, to see who it is. 

Kaeya and Diluc waltz back into the tavern, bickering with each other. You can hear their voices, low and heated with tempers. 

You rush down the stairs and for a moment, you want to rush right into Kaeya’s arms. You have the urge to find him there, solid and warm beneath your touch. You want him to bundle you up, to soothe you. 

But you stop yourself, a little flushed and out of breath. 

“You’re okay?” You get out, eyes finally flickering between them. 

“Totally fine,” Kaeya says smoothly, “though, rather empty-handed.” 

His remark is towards Diluc. 

“Oh like it’s my fault that–” 

“It is!” Kaeya instantly snaps. 

“We wouldn’t have been able to–” 

“Did you find anything out?” Venti interrupts their fighting. 

“Nothing of good use,” Kaeya responds, “the Fatui member circled back to the tavern, presumably to continue to keep an eye on you.” He huffs, “and if anything, is more suspicious that we’re onto them because of Diluc–” 

“It’s hardly suspicious to see me around my own tavern.” Diluc drawls. 

Kaeya catches your gaze and his face transforms. He must realize that you’re still shaken and afraid, that you look smaller than usual, because in an instant, he’s shrugged out of his own coat and thrown it over your shoulders once more. 

“Perhaps I should get you home, hm?” He says, once more carefully bundling you into the garment, wrapping it around you like a cloak. He puts his hands on your trembling shoulders. “Enough excitement for one night.” 

“I’m sorry–”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Kaeya scolds softly, “there’s no reason to apologize. You’re frightened, which is a completely normal reaction to have.” 

You can feel Diluc’s eyes on the two of you. You stop yourself from cinching your grip around Kaeya’s wrists, hands still on your shoulders. You stop yourself from clinging to him desperately. 

He then looks to Diluc and Venti, “Diluc can fill you in. We’ll be leaving.” 

“I’m going to tail your follower,” Diluc says, “I’m going to stay out and search for answers.”

“Diluc–” you start, shaking your head. 

Kaeya frowns momentarily, brows furrowing. He sends a fleeting glare to Diluc. But when his gaze returns to yours, he softens, and coos, “he’ll be fine. We should head home. It’s late.” And then to Diluc and Venti, “We’ll be in touch.” 

You want to take his hand. You want–

His hand on your lower back guides you out of the tavern, into the crisp night once more. Instantly, you glance around, and search for your wretched shadow. Your heart stumbles into a strange little tempo. 

“It’s alright,” Kaeya murmurs, pulling you in closer. 

Without Diluc and Venti, under the guise of your false relationship now, you lean into the touch and into his side. 

For a moment, the world is silent as you begin the familiar trek back to Kaeya’s apartment. The night is as it always is; the stars gaze down upon you in silver pricks of light, cold and distant. The streets are dead at this hour and you can hear the faint, soft hoot of an owl. 

Your mind churns, spinning over itself in a tumble, and all it can seem to repeat now is don’t leave, don’t go away, don’t leave, please stay. 

Belatedly, you realize you’ve been led into Kaeya’s apartment, which has become a great source of comfort to you. You exhale hard. You feel as if someone has loosened all your strings and you drop like an unmoored puppet. 

Kaeya carefully removes his coat from you. 

“I’ll run you a bath.” He says gently and he moves to slip away from you.

“Kaeya–” his name bursts from your mouth before you can stop it. 

He turns, expectant, waiting. 

You try to unstick your voice from where it clings in your throat. 

And when you do, you surprise yourself to say, “I didn’t like when you took off and–” 

Left me. 

You don’t know why, but the phrase itself is enough to make tears build to a sharp pressure. You can feel it behind your eyes, in your nose. Your throat closes in tight with it, swallowing around the new lump caught in your throat. 

“I was scared you wouldn’t come back.” 

Desperately, childishly, you fight back tears for some reason.

Your lip wobbles. 

Quickly, you press the heels of your hands into your eyes, “‘m sorry–I don’t know why I’m–” 

You don’t catch Kaeya’s face; you don’t see the understanding that washes over him, the sudden softening of his whole body. Slack with his realization.

He goes to you, crosses the space he’d put there in the first place, “I’m sorry to make you worry.” 

His hands touch your shoulders, and then they slip up, pinkies against your own, before his hands fold over yours and gently, as kindly as possible, he pulls them from your face. 

“Oh, darling, don’t cry.” Kaeya hushes softly, “I’m fine–Diluc’s okay. We came back.” 

You sniffle, “I know–” 

“It’s alright,” he murmurs, and then you’re in his arms, being tucked into his chest. Your hands are up, before they settle, curling into the front of his shirt. He tightens his hold on you, presses your face into him, cradles you to him. “I’m sorry,” he soothes, “I didn’t mean to frighten you.” 

You exhale hard, rough, through the ebbing of your tears. 

You can feel a bruise somewhere, blossoming deep inside of you, growing into its own fierce ache because something has just prodded at it. 

In truth, you feel as if you could fall apart in his arms, that you could start crying and perhaps never stop. But you cling to him and you cling to your shaky breath, trying to force it into being even and slow, trying to tame the beast of your fear. Of your hurt. 

You manage to muffle into his chest, “will you stay with me tonight?” 

And he knows what you mean; he knows you mean, will you keep watch of me? Will you protect me? Will you stay until I close my eyes? 

Will you still be there when I open them again? 

“Yes,” he promises gently, and then he pulls away to inspect you, to catch the watery, raw look in your eyes. “I’ll even tell you another story.” 

And you laugh, let it burst from your aching chest in a rough sound. He smiles, too, at the corners. 

 You tuck yourself back into his arms, though, unable to leave. He does not press you. 

He just holds you. 

And you can hear the drum of his heart in your ear, the steady beat, and the little skip, before he lets out a slow breath and evens it once more. Carefully, he keeps tempo, and carefully, you listen. 

You wish you could fall asleep to the sound. 

Instead, you finally manage to say, “I’d take a bath, too…” 

And now Kaeya laughs, lovely and warm and in your ear. He squeezes you affectionately, sways a little with you in his arms and you teeter with him, lifting your head from his chest to look up at him with a horribly fond smile, and tears caught somewhere on your lashes. 

He pulls away so that you can stand on your own two feet. Cold rushes in. You want him back, you want him back–

But he makes a show of dipping into a little bow, “of course, princess, and shall I carry you there as well?” 

And he looks like the prince you imagine in the stories he tells. 

Your laugh chases away your tears, the way the sun will chase away the night. The way a fire melts snow and ice, the way all the world softens when you know what you’re listening for. Your heart aches something fierce and when you fall asleep that night, to the sound of Kaeya’s smooth, rolling timbre, and you wish he’d stay until morning. 

You wish you’d wake up to the sound of his heart beating, wish you could hear it again and memorize the sound, the symphony that you strain to hear in the crux of his so well-guarded chest.

In the morning, he’s gone from his place in his bedroom, like a ghost, like a dream. But again and again, you search for him.

He hasn’t left. He’s in the kitchen. Not far, but not close. Somewhere in the middle, in limbo, in another world entirely. 

But again in the morning light, he turns to find you standing in the arch of his doorway, in his clothes, like perhaps you’ve always belonged there afterall. 

***

SCENE IX

Kaeya’s apartment, night, blue moon in the window. Heavy and lovely. There’s water running in the bathroom and Kaeya waits for you outside. We see his profile as he stares at the leather-bound diary we’ve come to know as yours. It tempts him.

Kaeya is too curious and too cautious and too distrusting to let your diary lay out in the open while you prepare for bed. 

In an instance, he’s swept it up. 

He isn’t quite sure what he’s going to find but he certainly wasn’t expecting–

Notes to a song scribbled halfhazerdly on the page. Lyrics beneath it. A comment in your looping handwriting, as if added later;

I don’t think I’ll sing this one ever again after Liyue. 

And then a diary entry, dated nearly two years ago. 

Retuning home after everything and being celebrated when I nearly ran away from everyone for a man who left me at the altar. I was so ready to leave them all behind and disappear. I always dreamed of running and running and running. And yet, they’ve welcomed me home into their arms again. My guilt is tremedous and shivering and hungry. I don’t think I’ll ever–

Kaeya shuffles through the pages, startled, perhaps with it’s honesty. 

Another page is a poem, half crossed out;

Wishless, loveless

Love to wish 

On a love

That will never come

I imagine you running to me

Open armed–

Wishing you’d shown up that dawn. 

But like a child  

I cry 

And cling 

To stars

On wishes 

On a love

That wil never come. 

Something stirs inside him. He shouldn’t be reading this. And yet, he must know. Kaeya frowns and skips away, pages ahead, searching for more–there must be more than just your own thoughts. Another diary entry dated nearly a year ago. 

Admittedly, it was horribly foolish of me to sleep with Rosaria at all, but if she asked again–

Kaeya’s brows jump up in surprise, mouth popping open. He skims the page. 

I keep admiring the marks she left on me in the mirror. I keep thinking of her pinning me against the wall again and–

Kaeya is startled by the curl of jealousy that drifts through him. He’s half tempted to read on but also something inside of him sours. He doesn’t want to think of you with someone else. He doesn’t want to think of Rosaria’s marks all over your body. He flips a little further through the pages, before the door to the bathroom finally pops open. 

“What are you doing?” You’re clean faced, ready for bed, and he can smell the rosy lotion you use. Powdery soft and delicate. 

Well, he’s been caught red handed, hasn’t he? Might as well–

“Reading your diary.” He drawls, holding it up cheekily. 

“Kaeya!” You squeal his name in a way that makes him want to hear it again, and again, and again until your voice breaks with it. You lunge for him and he dances away nimbly. 

He flips to another page, more recent, and catches his name on the page. He reads it aloud;

“It doesn’t help that Kaeya smells nice, either. And his voice–his voice drives me wild. I could listen to him–” Kaeya is grinning from ear to ear, holding the notebook from your reach as you paw and clamber for it, “is this what you think of me?” He preens. 

“You’re so–!” You cry, fingers digging into his wrist as you wrestle with him for the diary, laughing through your struggle as he easily flips you around with a gentle twist of your arm. You squeal again and he feels like being selfish so he presses until you yelp a little. And then your back is to his chest, one arm caught by his hand and pressing gently into your lower back, while his other holds the journal in front of your face. 

He leans in close to read more, hooking his chin over your shoulder, “And his hands are so large and rough. He’s like a real-life prince. Charming and brave and kin–” 

“Kaeya! Stop it! Don’t read anymore!” You’re laughing but your voice is going shrill and high, terrified. “You’re the worst!” 

Kaeya snaps the journal shut, if only to appease you, “ah, that’s not what you really think of me now, is it?” He purrs. 

You toss him off, finally wrenching the diary from his grasp and darting across the room. You turn to face him, clutching the journal to your front. Your hair is a wild mess. Your chest is heaving a little, skin revealed by the pretty little ruffled nightdress you wear to bed. 

“You’re a scoundrel,” you accuse breathlessly.

He feels it, looking at that exposed skin and the way you’re panting. 

“Not a prince?” He sings. 

“Kaeya!” You shriek again and for a moment, he thinks you’re going to throw it back at him. But you still yourself and try to glare at him without laughing, “what else did you find out?” 

“Not much,” Kaeya lies, eye glinting, smirk crooking across his face sharply, “but you and Rosaria, huh?” 

He watches your mortification blossom in a slow realization. 

“That was a one time thing.” You get out. 

“Doesn’t sound like you wanted it to be–”

You do throw the journal at him now and he laughs, and you laugh, even as you stomp back over to him and allow him to hand it to you gently. He smooths down all the ruffled pages, too, pressing it back into your palms. 

“I am sorry my curiosity got the best of me.” He says, schooling his features. 

“No you’re not,” you tsk, half-heartedly glaring at him. 

“Not particularly,” he agrees, “does it upset you, though?” He presses gently. 

You think about it for a moment, nose scrunching up in thought. 

“Not really,” you finally settle on. “Though embarrassing, it’s not anything I wouldn’t tell you. Or eventually tell you.” 

Your honesty nearly blinds him. 

“Really?” He asks, startled. 

You nod, “really. All you had to do is ask, you know?” 

Kaeya hums lightly but this has struck him very keenly. He suddenly feels very serious and somber. He wants to scold you for it, for some reason. Don’t you know you shouldn’t just–reveal everything? To him, of all people? Don’t you have self-preservation? Aren’t you scared? 

Is there nothing in the world you could want to hide from him? 

Are you really–as candid as you seem? So open?  

You bid him goodnight in a sweet voice. 

And the thing that gets him the most, is that you don’t even take your diary with you. 

You leave it out on the coffee table, where it’d been when he’d first swept it up. 

He doesn’t dare touch it now. 

Worse than that, he can hardly sleep, with the journal beside him. And the moon high and large, gazing down at him curiously, as he thinks about you over and over. In his bed. 

As an open book. 

***

SCENE X

Angel’s Share once more as we know it, softly lit at night. Quieter than usual, perhaps duller than usual, too. You’re nowhere to be found. Kaeya and Venti are at the bar that Diluc is behind. Kaeya gives the audience his shoulder, a quarter of his face but no more. 

“Oh, she hides the diary as a joke for me–it’s like a game!” Venti laughs. “I’m sure I know everything in it. She doesn’t really keep secrets, you know?” 

Kaeya is well aware of the games you and Venti play now. He swears the pair of you only communicate in music notes, riddles written in iambic pentameter, and wild goose chases. 

“I find that hard to believe,” Kaeya responds curiously. 

“Not everyone is like you.” Diluc says dryly and Kaeya feels particularly prickly tonight so he squares a look at Diluc and responds;

“It’s not as if you’d know.” 

Venti is quick to jump between them before Diluc can retaliate, “well, she really can’t keep a secret. Which is funny because I think everyone in the world trusts her with them. Secrets flock to her.” 

Kaeya swallows a swig of wine, “what do you mean?” 

“Everyone opens up to her. All the time. Before performances, after them, just in the tavern or while she’s buying eggs. She holds all of them.” Venti explains. And then he smiles as he realizes something, “I suppose, with you around lately, people aren’t as keen to share.” 

“I can pull secrets out of people.” Kaeya defends. 

“Yes, because you’re clever and silver-tongued. You swindle secrets. She just–” Venti has a gleam to his eyes, “catches them and holds them. They’re freely given to her. Perhaps even she knows them without being spoken.” 

Kaeya hums lightly, tilting his head, “that sounds exhausting, to hold everyone’s secrets.” 

“She seems more well rested than ever with you.” Venti responds cheekily. 

Diluc scoffs. 

Kaeya’s jaw locks. He tries to remain light when he snarks, “I don’t suppose you’re going to lecture me about being careful with her, too?” 

He’s gotten it from Diluc and Jean. His Acting Grand Master had given him the spiel just the other day, after she’d noticed the way the two of you had been bickering and giggling together. He’s sure he knows what it looks like. 

The wretched part of it is they’re not completely unfounded. 

Kaeya is perhaps pushing his luck with you–like any cheat and braggart and trick would. 

But he knows, deep down, that he cannot be with you in any way. He knows you are too good, too sweet, too lovely for the likes of him. 

It doesn’t stop it from bothering him, though. 

But Venti laughs merrily, “not at all! I’m going to warn her to be gentle with you.” 

“With me?” 

“She’s going to eat you alive.” Venti promises with an impish grin. “You don’t stand a chance.” 

“I doubt that.” Kaeya responds but he can feel something trepidatious in the pit of his chest. His poor heart gives a strange pull. And he knows, in the way that he always does when he’s looking for information, that this is somehow true. 

It rings in his ears. 

“You’ll see,” Venti says merrily, “and when you realize it, you’ll think dammit! That stupid Archon was right!” Venti then casually pushes his empty glass towards Diluc, “another, please, bartender!” 

And as a man from a godless nation, Kaeya shivers. 

“Venti, I think you’ve had too much to drink.” Diluc shakes his head. 

Venti sighs dramatically, before swiping Kaeya’s glass. And for once, Kaeya doesn’t protest or squabble with him for the last bit of his wine. 

“Does she know what you are?” Kaeya asks, suddenly feeling very sober. 

Venti peaks up from the glass of wine, wiping his chin with the back of his hand, “not officially! I’ve never told her. But she just knows.” 

Kaeya hums, unamused. Unsatisfied with that answer. 

“How long have you known her?” Kaeya presses. 

“A few years. We’ve become very close in recent years. I haven’t had a best friend like her in a long time–” 

Kaeya suddenly turns his cold gaze to Diluc, “and what about you? Does she know?” 

Diluc goes very still. And he must be able to sense Kaeya’s sudden shift in mood, his sudden restlessness or–or sharpening. He’s agitated. He can feel it beneath his skin.

Diluc doesn’t dare play dumb. “No–she knows we fought, that’s all.” 

“You haven’t told her? Since she’s so easy to open up to–” 

“Kaeya.” 

“Well?” 

“No.” Diluc says again, harder this time, “she doesn’t know anything.” 

“Don’t get jealous,” Venti says and Kaeya doesn’t know how much more he can stomach for the night. His gaze, icy and hard, flicks back to Venti. And he continues, “she was the world’s first before she was ever yours.” 

“What are you–” Kaeya snaps, feeling suddenly protective of you, “she’s not mine. Or the world’s.” 

Venti shrugs lightly, “she’s always belonged to the wind. She’s always belonged to the world.” 

Kaeya fights the urge to snap back, gnash his teeth a little, but the Archon continues softly, as if Kaeya is no longer there at all;

“And truthfully, she’s all I hope for in the world.” He sighs a little, looking elsewhere, far away, decades away into the past or future, Kaeya can’t tell. And what it takes, to put that look on an Archon’s face, Kaeya will never know. But he does know he agrees with an Archon, for once, when he says wistfully;

“She’s the very best of us all, I think. And the world is very lucky to have her.” 

[jess-the-vampire]

What's weird about the whole "They didn't have time to focus on Caleb and Evelyn's backstory" argument is that a good chunk of "For the Future" relied on using Boscha and Kikimora, two antagonists who were irreverent by the end of Season 2. If there was time to focus on them, why not just cut them out so the plot is focused more on the Hexsquad learning more about Belos' past while trying to evade the Collector's forces?

honestly i'm not sure why the backstory wasn't higher on the list of things to cover in the finale

like it would be one thing if there wasn't that much focus on it, so there were no expectations for it to get more then it did, but the show kept on adding stuff to this backstory and keeps drawing attention towards it

so the fact it gives it so much attention and then leaves it entirely to be inferred is really strange to me

like this is the main antagonist's backstory, and you almost entirely can miss most of it if you're a casual watcher of the show, that's how vague it is and how much of it consists of details you can miss

like i said, i don't hate the idea of a story you can figure out in the bg, but there was SO much focus on it and so much not clear, that it's so unusual how dropped it is

like even in regards to Philip himself, it's basically not treated as relevant to his own motivations, so you kinda just wonder why give it the focus they do if they didn't really wanna use it that much?

like maybe i could forgive that on the basis of them wanting to save it for a spinoff or something, but even so, not having any payoff for it in the main series is a little irritating. Especially since the team didn't know if they would get a spinoff to tell the story at all.

tbh i think both kiki and bosha were already fine where they ended, i was satisfied with kiki's last big scene being her finally disavowing belos and playing a part in his failure, and bosha....well she hasn't mattered much since s1 and that was fine. I'm not sure why they got time....but others who needed it did not.

tho after the last posthoot, i almost get the vauge idea the crew doesn't have a full wittebane backstory.

It sounds like they have some outline for what happened, but not a full detailed story, given how dana sounded like she was spittballing the love story off the top of her head, it kinda leaves me wondering just how much thought HAD been put into the story compared to the fans.

and as someone who is working on the wittebane collab project and got assigned a role about continuity and detail, trust me when i say trying to figure out a cohesive timeline where all these details make sense is painful.

(Ex: EaE seems to be post fight cause philip is already making grimwalkers, and the door when eda found it had a scratch on it, implying it was damaged in the fight. Cept in EaE philip supposably just gathered the ingredients, so the portal wasn't made yet so like🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ )

it's a genuinely interesting story that i can't help but get the impression the crew didn't care as much about compared to the fans, which kinda stinks because the villain backstory should have a bit more thought put into it since it drives the plot as much as it does.

i love the crew, but this is a case where i do feel their priorities were skewed a little and i personally don't know why they put as much focus on caleb as they did given it doesn't get a true conclusion in the show. It does add for hunter's character and gives a plot reason to get back to the isles but outside of those two things it's kinda almost irrelevant in the end, especially with philip.

[maxineholtzmann]

the truth is stranger than my own worst dreams - chapter one: i took a little journey to the unknown

“Welcome to Haunted Hawkins - the show where I, Robin Buckley, show you the compelling evidence that Hawkins is the most haunted town in America! This week, we’re investigating the old Creel House—” Nancy hit the spacebar on her laptop, pausing the video on a shot of Robin’s freckled face smiling outside of the Creel house, her light brown hair cut into a bob, blue eyes shining with excitement. I can’t believe they’re making me do this, she thought, rolling her shoulders back and sighing.

Her latest assignment for her weekly skeptics column in The Weekly Watcher was to join Robin on her next “ghost hunt” and write up her thoughts on it. The whole thing had been set up by Murray, her editor, without consulting Nancy at all. He thought they needed the collab and exposure to increase site traffic—as if increased traffic was going to make a website full of Bigfoot and UFO articles more lucrative for advertisers.

Nancy had already watched most of Robin’s prior “investigations” to prepare for their meeting that afternoon and while she couldn’t deny that Robin had a certain charisma, she didn’t believe for a second that any of her so-called paranormal “evidence” was authentic. Ghosts were not real and this whole thing was going to be a spectacular waste of time. But at least she was getting paid to do it.

(read the rest on ao3)

[golbrocklovely]

i havent watched the new video yet, but from what i heard, i dont understand how someone that is so scared and does not want to be there, forces themselves to participate. Because you’ll either come out looking really bad or you’ll look like a coward to people. this girl did a q & a on her stories after being with snc and one particular answer she gave that was talked about was her saying she had lost views in the last couple of years or months and was trying to get that back. my suggestion would be not to put yourself in a situation where a large audience can possibly mistake your discomfort for snottiness but thats just me 🤷‍♀️.

ehhh, i mean it makes sense regardless to go on a platform with a ton of watchers. same reason snc did joe rogan even tho his audience collectively hated them and thought they were beta losers, or whatever lmao

there's always the possibility that someone that watched thought she was cool and decided to follow her, and that's good enough sometimes.

plus, maybe she wanted to try ghost hunting to some extent and this was the first opportunity, on top of it getting her noticed.

bc the flip side of her being over-reactionary… if she had just been chill or did nothing the whole video, would anyone be talking about her? probably not. and if she was too chill ppl would bitch about that too. realistically, it's not like she planned to be upset or scared the whole time. clearly she was genuinely scared, and anyone mistaking that for rudeness needs to take it down a peg, personally.

she wasn't that bad. annoying?? sure, i guess. but not even remotely as bad as some of snc's previous collabs lbf lol

tbh the only reason i'm even defending her is bc i knew the moment she started reacting the way she was, i thought "oh, ppl aren't gonna like her". and also personally, she wasn't annoying, at all, to me. i mean, she was almost on the brink of tears at one point, and if ppl get annoyed about that... go touch grass. honestly.

(not saying any of this directed at you, anon. just those that have outright been mean towards her for no reason. if anyone reading this thought she was annoying, cool. whatever. agree to disagree. it's those that take it too far that are the ones i'm talking about.)

[pikawarrior]

Welp welcome back to my random rambles im just gonna talk bout alot of random stuff mainly my stories so here for go lets hope this is understandable

Story/maybe comic stuff

Turning of the orange | The Strawberry Patch - Old soon to be remade/written stop motion strawberry shortcake zombie movie me and my dad were making when i was in elementary schoolish. We unfortunately didnt make it that far since he had to leave often and for long times cuz work, but recently i found my old tablet with all the pics and my notes so rework time baby. Im about to use all my years of angst/horror writing to fuck these bitches up even more

The Butterfly Effect and It's Consequences | The Phoenix Effect -

The Butterfly Effect is my main rottmnt fanfic series. About my little rottmnt oc's (Ame) life and how the gang adopting them into the family changed everything mostly for the better but the bad things kinda got alot worse. Idk been focusing on the phoenix effect more

The Phoenix Effect is kinda an extension of that. Its basically the same thing but adds the cass apocalypse series into it. Basically how future Ame being there also changes things and how oopies mystics powers are hard to control after being half dead in stasis for about 12 years hope Ame does trys to leave to protect everyone from himself only to get kidnapped putting everyone in worse danger also oopies isnt that the super dangerous alien someone accidentally freed awhile ago

The Future Diary - So i watched The Hot Box's video on the anime future diary and well here we are

Another rottmnt oc thing. Ame obtains a diary from his future self being like "hey so the world is gonna end soon here's how i think you could possibly stop that. Pls dont do this all alone ur like 5" and ame decides to do it all by himself.

Got all eight chapters planned out already with two already at stage two (aka fully written out just needs to be edited and stuff). I just dont know how to use ao3 in this sense or how to tag stuff plus i got anxiety so its just sitting in my notes app

Video stuff cuz yes

Currently working on a few more special videos. On my channel ive technically reached 100 videos (i unlisted alot of old ones/never posted a bunch more so technically i reached that months ago but shhh let me have this) plus i got 135 subs now so celebrations are in order. Idk what to say bout this, am making a video using the ok ko ending song idk the name, one is a fake collab a friend made and another is an original meme a youtube mutual/friend by association made. Plus like so mant mini things for my ocs, Dimension and Watcher are gonna get so much development and cute couple moments.

Also everyone else is gonna go through so much trauma my gods its gonna amazing.

Also ive been trying to like voice things, audio quality sucks cuz im working off of my tablet but like ive voice a few of my own videos (only one posted) and like its so fun i wish i had proper stuff to do this so i can do it more

Other art stuff

I got a toyhou.se (its EnviousDeath), pls enjoy these characters and stuff

Im trying to make my art more mess and chaotic while staying clean? If that makes any sense. Still a lover of doing gacha stuff but am trying to branch out more.

Also btw how do people just idk do social stuff like trade characters, comment, and just aaaa idk what am doing i forgot how to do social stuff and also i never understood how to do this type without being awkward as hell

Character stuff

Watcher - *slaps religious trauma onto them* bitch gets sacrificed. Okay okay so Watcher, wasnt always Watcher. Before they used to be Ena a simple kid who was sent away for reasons i havent thought of yet to a church. Blah blah corruption, Watcher gets sacrificed for not falling in line blah blah they were saved and given a second chance.

Dimension - *slaps alot of anxiety and identity issues onto her* bitch got issues. Same as Watcher, Dimension wasnt always Dimension. Before she was Ellie a poor girl hated by her whole town because of the lies their mother spread about them and their father who had left years ago. She only had one friend, Watcher. Somehow they managed to make contact with each other despite being in different universes. Eventually Dimension snapped and went on a killing spree, slowly ripping apart her world in the process because this wasnt supposed to happen (think spiderverse canon events but different ill explain later) with her world crumbling around her, Dimension messages Ena one last time, not knowing Ena was already long gone, and accepts what they assume to be death only to fall into whats basically the anti void from utmv, gets corrupted and became a villain technically more of a multiversal criminal.

(For time and length reasons im cutting this segment short)

Multiverse stuff

OKAY TIME FOR WORLD BUILDING

How does what happened to Dimension's universe work? The way i explained it is like spiderverse canon events but different, but heres the details. Idk how to explain this but bare with me

Imagine each universe as a game in a folder on a computer. Each game has different code, story, art assets basically all are mostly different.

Most games are coded to have very specific story events and when something goes wrong everything breaks. Like take a spaghetti thing of code that shatters the moment you try to do something like trying to talk with an npc while having a status effect and thats how some of these worlds are like. And Dimension's was very much one of those worlds, and her breaking down like that shattered the code of their world and everything fell apart.

Im too tired to continue but my main multiverse is like one big computer own by a game creator who only sometimes knows how to make a stable game

Feel free to ask about any of what ive just ramblef about am always willing to ramble bout my stuff

[purplesurveys]

1611

The detail survey!

You should answer all the questions with detail.

In detail…how did you meet your crush/boyfriend/lover/etc.: Sorry to miss the point of this survey right off the bat lol, but I don’t have anyone special at the moment. Maybe it’s a realization that I got a little bit too late, maybe it’s the self-love that I’m trying to nurture and protect these days, maybe it’s trauma, quite frankly it might just be my asexuality coming into play, but I quite like being on my own.

In detail…what are you wearing? I have on a gray sweatshirt and the pajama shorts from a pajama set I have. The top I’ve actually had on all day (it was what I put on this morning, when we were still in Tanay), and just didn’t feel the need to change out of since I’ve been cold this entire time. I’ll switch to a new top tomorrow morning before work so I don’t feel icky.

In detail…what are you doing tomorrow? I have work tomorrow and I imagine I’ll be pretty busy and on do-not-disturb mode at home since Monday is typically the most hectic and exhausting day of the week; as for specifics, I do have three meetings already slated for the day – that can always change though. Jimin’s collab with Taeyang is coming out tomorrow afternoon too so at least I have something to look forward to! I’m already expecting to zone out of work for around a half hour or so so that I can properly listen to the song and fangirl a bit with friends. Lastly, I do have a client pitch on Tuesday so I should spend some time practicing my lines and slides.

In detail…what did you do today? This morning I woke up still in our accommodation in Tanay – this quaint, quiet spot in the middle of the mountains and streams and nature, with domes for rooms. It’s basically a place that’s meant for you to disconnect from the world; wifi was weak and every single spot was devoid of mobile signal, and no TV in the room either. 

I had pancakes and a couple of hotdogs for breakfast (super good!), then my sister and I stayed in our room right after since it was raining all morning. We had already spent so much saliva the day before just talking and playing whatever random game we could think of (again, weak wifi and no signal) lol, but this morning our Gen Z asses couldn’t take it anymore so I finally opened YouTube and pulled her to watch a few episodes of Watcher’s Dish Granted with me hahaha even though each video took ages to load. By noon we had checked out, and was on the road for 2-3 hours. Before going home though we headed to this Singaporean place where I had laksa and a few sticks of street food; right after that we picked up the dogs from the local dog hotel, and then FINALLY we were on our way home. Spent a few hours watching BTS content, and maybe around a half hour catching up on work backlog, and now I’m here doing this survey before I turn in.

In detail…what did you do/will you do on your birthday? For my last birthday I spent it mostly at home and didn’t really do anything other than lie on the couch and, surprise surprise!, watch BTS stuff. I received a bucket hat from Bea, a shirt (and a couple of vape pods, because they know me so well lmao) from Andi, and a Starbucks drink from my former co-worker that day. That evening, I took my family out for ramen to celebrate. 

Then that same weekend, my friends and I went to Zambales as a little treat I had for them – it was also our first beach outing since pre-pandemic so we were all excited about that. In the evening, Hans and I had a drinking game while watching his brother’s live volleyball game, I took a few shots of gin from this other group who was having a jamming session, and basically I ended up wasted enough that I stumbled while walking down some steps and sprained my left ankle. Friends had to carry me to bed where I fell asleep immediately, then the next morning another group caught me limping and ever so generously offered to nurse my foot hahaha.

In detail…how does your best friend look like? She has big brown eyes, rosy cheeks, and a beauty mark on the left side of her face, a little bit above her cheekbone. She currently has brown highlights with her black hair, which stops just right underneath her collarbones. She has a semi-slim build and is slightly taller than me.

In detail… what was your last kiss like? Who was it with? It was with my ex-partner when she visited me briefly during the peak of the pandemic. Letting other people in your home raised alarm bells at the time so we spent the whole time outside, just chatting and catching up. On the kiss, I believe it had been a simple goodbye peck, happening right before she left. I don’t even know why she visited and how our parents allowed us to hang out given the situation?? I think she came to show me her new car or something like that. Idk. My memory’s been doing a fantastic job erasing memories of her that I don’t even know if this account is still accurate at all.

In detail…how was your first kiss this year? I have not had a kiss in 2023. Or 2022 or 2021, for that matter.

In detail…what are you looking forward to? The soonest thing would be the theatrical screening of the Busan concert! It’s happening in cinemas worldwide, including the Philippines, so I’m just super excited to still be able to be excited about something BTS-related given that they are on hiatus and that the boys are enlisting in the military one by one. I’ve already been briefing my friends to go for the Feb 4 screening since that’s when they’ll be having that worldwide lightstick event where I believe all of the Army Bombs will be synced for the screenings happening that day.

In detail…how long have you been with your boyfriend? I don’t have a significant other.

In detail…how does your best female friend look like? I already described her the best way I could a few questions ago.

In detail…when did you first listen the song you are listening to? That’s a good question. I have no idea, but I imagine it must have been around May or June of 2021 right when I was starting to dig deeper into the BTS black hole. It’s an unreleased song and a solo of one of the members (Winter Bear), and I’m guessing my first encounter with it came a little after going through the band’s ~official discography.

In detail…what are you doing besides this? I’m going to sleep, man. I earned it lmao. I can’t wait to pass out tonight.

In detail…why are you doing this? Because nobody else asks these questions in a normal conversation, and it’s helpful to have an outlet where you can, like, unload for the day or answer questions that can sometimes lead you to new discoveries about yourself. It’s a journal, essentially.

In detail…what were you doing before this? I was working and finalizing the last few slides in my upcoming pitch presentation so that I don’t have to worry as much about it anymore tomorrow. I also played with the dogs for a little bit and let them play with one another. In detail…why did you take the last pic you took? I took it because Cooper and Agi were in such a hilarious position during their playtime and I didn’t want to miss out on taking a photo of it. Usually Cooper is the one who ends up on his back while Agi messes with him, but this evening it was Agi lying down with Cooper sniffing him all over. Immediately took a bunch of photos because that never happens between the two.

In detail…who was the last person you hugged and why? Dev. It was just a goodbye hug, nothing more to it. I guess I do hug her harder than my other co-workers; she lost her mom (and her only parent) last year, so I have a natural instinct to look out for her and to basically be softer and more caring, even protective, around her.

In detail…did you like this survey? It was fun, thanks!

[imjusttpeachy]

the early bird gets the panini (c.h.)

well this is quite the change of pace isn’t it. lmao i figured u guys needed a break from the crying so here’s... whatever this is

thank u all new followers!! u jus made a big mistake💞🦋

u guys should search up “my very real collab with 50 cent” by corpse if you haven’t heard it yet, i ascended the first time i listened lmaoooo

playlist

the wombats - greek tragedy

aminé - heebiejeebies

free nationals - beauty and essex

the marías- let my baby stay

summary: Corpse interrupts the reader’s morning livestream after she left him alone in bed that morning. Fluff and fuckery ensues.

word count: 2, 326

WARNINGS: she/her pronouns, coarse language

>>>

“Okay, Tom Nook is the most bitch-ass motherfucker I’ve ever met. I could fold him like a panini with a slap I swear to god.”

Mornings were definitely one of your favourite times to stream. Of course, you loved staying up into the early hours of the morning only kept awake by the energy drinks running through your veins and the screaming of your friends over your headset, but nothing could beat the sweet simplicity of waking up with your watchers. It was always so calm, your anxiety levels at a low with the small audience building up slowly as more of them woke up. Reading those good morning messages saying that you helped to start their day off on a good foot— nothing would beat that.

The only downside to these scheduled morning streams was having to tear yourself away from the cozy warmth of your bed, especially if there was a certain someone blanketed over you silently persuading you to stay there forever. It was always a rare sight, bruised eyes sealed shut, long eyelashes kissing pale cheeks as small snores escaped from slightly parted lips. Glancing down at the messy black mop that rested on top of your chest, you sighed softly. You knew he’d only been asleep for a few hours, if that, thinking back to the night before where you crawled into bed alone after kissing him goodnight before leaving him to finish editing for his latest video. He worked too hard, but despite you reminding him this every single time he stayed up into the dark hours of the night to finish his work, he always never seemed to be satisfied. Most of the time you were able to coax him from the stuffy confines of his gaming office, bribing him with sweet kisses and promises of cuddles; when he was in the zone, though, nothing could steer his sore eyes away from the monitor. So with a sweet kiss goodnight, you’d make your way to the bedroom, falling asleep to the faint click-clacks of his keyboard.

It was funny how different you were in that aspect. You always loved mornings, the sun shining through the blinds always brought a smile to your face holding the promise of a bright day ahead. It felt good to never be in a rush, to enjoy the still air, and watch the world around you wake up as people settled into their daily routines. The day’s chaos always seemed to leak through into the dark of the night, but in the morning everything felt new and refreshed; the perfect new beginning to another chapter in the story of your life. Though, allowing yourself the guilty pleasure of staying in bed tangled together with your favourite person every so often wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Okay, maybe it was almost every day.

But who could say no when those strong arms encased you so perfectly, holding you so close you couldn’t figure out where you ended and where he started? Who could say no to his warm skin pressed against your own, the weight of his body grounding you as you pulled yourself from the darkness of sleep? Who could say no to being able to study his face up close, running your fingertip ever so lightly along the curve of his jaw, the bridge of his nose, the apples of his cheekbones, watching his eyelids flutter as he stirred softly in his sleep? Who could say no to the pillow talk you shared once those pretty eyes opened, the deep grumble of his morning voice that prickled goosebumps over your skin as he muttered those 3 sweet little words?

Definitely not you.

Well, not often anyway.

Reluctantly pulling your gaze away from the sweet face resting on your chest, you glanced over to the alarm clock on the nightstand. Red numbers reading 9:37 AM that seemed to be glaring back at you pushed any thought of indulging in your morning pleasures straight from your mind. You’d need to be live in 20 minutes. Puffing another sigh from your lips you slowly worked your way out from underneath your personal weighted blanket, trying your best to maneuver him softly onto the pillows to not wake him. Of course, you’d never be that lucky. Hissing through your teeth as your feet hit the icy top of the hardwood floor, you whipped your head around as a warm hand encased your wrist in a loose grip. Beneath messy bed head that could barely be seen from underneath the comforter that you had pulled back on top of him, you see the glimpse of tired eyes clouded with confusion peering out from underneath.

“Angel?” The deep grumble muttered underneath his breath almost made you throw all your plans to the wind and crawl right back into the fluffy clouds you longed to once again get lost in. Huffing out a sigh you slowly turned around, pulling your hand from his grasp only to bury it in the dark locks buried among the pillows. You leaned down softly, pushing your hands through his hair to reveal soft pleading eyes staring back at you, doing nothing but making your heart ache for having to leave so soon. Trancing your thumb along his eyebrow to try and smooth the small furrow that had made its home between them, you sighed softly.

“It’s Thursday, gotta stream puppy.” You watched as a small flash of recognition passed across his bleary eyes, a puff escaping his lips from under the comforter as you watched his chest fall slightly. Pulling his head up from the comforter, you smiled as you felt chapped lips press a small kiss to the inside of your wrist in understanding. Allowing yourself a bit of fun you leaned down pressing your lips to his briefly, giggling softly as a whine escaped his mouth as you pulled away. “Promise I won’t be long, I’ll be back before you even have time to miss me.”

“Too late for that.”

>>>

Smiling as you glanced up at your monitor that held your live chat, you watched as your viewers lost it with your threat to an animated shopkeeper. Times like this are what remind you of how grateful you are to your subscribers, they were practically family at this point and you felt you couldn’t be luckier to have such genuine, warm-hearted people that wanted to watch; even when you were cussing out characters that did nothing to you. You were laughing as you read some of the chat replies out loud when you saw your phone light up with a text from where it was sitting on your desk. Excusing yourself for a moment from the stream you grabbed your phone seeing a message from Corpse. 

Corpsie💞💞: did you order coffee? someone knocked on the door and there’s a paper bag on the step

Cursing to yourself quietly for forgetting, you answered him quickly saying that you just needed to cut to a break on stream and you’d be out in a minute to grab it. He was wary of even opening the front door these days, and honestly, you couldn’t blame him. The last time you had driven out to pick up whatever was sent into his P.O. Box, there were people waiting outside the building. When you went inside to grab everything, you asked the teller what exactly they were waiting for, to which he told you that they were hoping to catch a glimpse of this faceless internet star as this is where he’d go to get his mail. You don’t think you’ve ever walked faster to your car— trying your best to not grab their attention though your body was shaking with adrenaline, knowing they might’ve seen him while he was waiting there for you. Practically throwing open the driver's door, you tossed everything haphazardly into the back seat, telling Corpse to pull up his hood and mask as you started the car and peeled out of there. That was the last time he left the house.

You sighed, dropping your phone back on your desk as well as the switch that had been sitting in your lap, beginning to explain that you needed a quick break to get your coffee and starting to click through the settings to set up your break screen when you saw your phone light up again.

Corpsie💞💞: nah don’t worry i got it

You barely had time to sit back in your chair as you stared at your phone in disbelief before there was a soft knocking on your office door. 

“Just kidding guys, apparently we have a kind guest who’s bringing it to me instead.”

Corpse hearing your voice from behind the door, it swung open to reveal your mop-headed lover sporting his cute plaid pyjama pants and yesterday’s hoodie as he held your coffees and bag in his hand. You grinned to yourself, moving out of the frame of the webcam as you reached out to grab everything, placing it on your desk before turning back to him with a wide smile. Reaching back for his hand, you pulled it down toward you, his body following as your other hand reached up to bury itself in his bedhead. You leaned forward and pressed a small peck onto his lips, mumbling a soft thank you against them as you kissed him once more. While this may have looked like the most simple gesture you knew how difficult it must have been for him, almost wanting to cry at how sweet he was to go to those lengths to do something a little special for you. As you pulled away, you smiled as his face mirrored yours, those soft rosy lips pulled into the sweetest grin you’d ever seen. Resting his forehead against yours, he mumbled back a small “anything for you princess,” the deep rumble of his morning voice sending a chill up your spine as you leaned forward again to steal another sweet kiss. Finally pulling away from you he stood up to his full height, a yawn escaping his mouth; though as he looked back toward the door you could sense his hesitation and grinned widely up at him.

“Do you wanna sit with me for a bit? I can just turn off the camera.” Giggling softly, you watched his head practically whip back toward you nodding a yes as he squeezed your hand, still intertwined with his. Reluctantly pulling it from his grasp, you pulled yourself back toward your monitors as you began to click through your stream settings. 

“Well, your favourite guest has decided to grace us with his presence for a little so I’m gonna have to turn off face-cam, but I don’t think you guys will have a problem with that.” You laughed out, watching as your chat began to surge with messages about him. Making sure there was no way you could accidentally turn on the webcam again, you gestured him over to you starting to stand from your chair to grab the other one sitting in the corner of the office when a hand grasped yours, a strong tug pulling you completely off it with; a small yelp escaped your lips as you fell clumsily into your boyfriend's chest. You could hear his laugh from above you as he maneuvered you around in his arms before falling back onto your chair and pulling you into his lap, his face burying itself into the crook of your neck where you could feel that smug grin that was surely painted on his face. With his arms wrapped around you completely, holding you securely to his chest you knew you weren’t going anywhere. Looking up at the chat a laugh was pulled from your lips as your watchers conspired against you, message after message accusing you of doing something unspeakable behind the camera as being the reason you turned it off.

“Guys, literally nothing is happening.” You laughed out, watching as the chat passed so fast you couldn’t even read a full sentence. “Corpse just decided he wanted to share a chair instead of getting his own.”

“Yeah, my bad.” With no trace of any remorse in his monotone answer, another laugh escaped from your lips. Leaning forward to grab your switch and actually start playing again, you settled back into Corpse’s lap knowing this is exactly where you wanted to be. You were only a few minutes back into the game, Corpse and you occasionally reading out some live chat comments excited about his surprise appearance as viewers slowly climbed— his own watchers joining to watch the stream, when he inevitably started to fuck with you. A chill snaked up your spine as you began to feel small kisses trailing up your neck, you should’ve known this was one of the reasons he wanted to have you in his lap— it was easier to get your attention this way. You could feel that smug little smile drift back onto his face as he heard your voice start to shake slightly; at those moments he’d pull away and start replying to messages before turning back and starting all over again. It was the fourth time he began to press those soft lips to the base of your throat when you shrugged him off and shoved the breakfast sandwich you were snacking on into his face.

“Okay, if you want to share a chair you’re gonna have to behave.”

“Okay, okay. Sorry baby, sorry.” Corpse laughed out, voice muffled from behind the sandwich; taking a bite of it and placing it back in front of you, his chest still shaking with laughter. Deciding to hook his chin over your shoulder instead, he went back to watching the live chat, chatting and answering questions— that is before he came across a certain comment that had him furrowing his brows in confusion.

“What’s this about you folding Tom Nook like a panini?”

>>>

[storiesbyjes2g]

B: “GIRL! I am so mad at you!”

M: “I’m sorry I missed your call! I was...in the bathroom.”

B: “Ok I was mad about that but I’m really mad that you never told me you could sing! What other secrets do you have?”

B: “Did you just shush me?”

M: “NO!!! Never! It’s my roommate. She’s being annoying.”

B: “Oh, is this the same friend from the Gnomier commercial? Tell her she’s cute, but I can only accept annoying if she can also sing and you two can be a group.”

M: “Ha ha! Yep, that’s her, but singing is definitely not her hidden talent.”

B: “Rap?! I love her. So you have your own studio? Sounds like you’re taking music seriously.”

M: “I’ve known her a while now and have yet to hear her rap. But anyway, yeah, I’m definitely thinking about it more seriously. The more I write, the more I want to share it.”

B: “Well, you are incredible, Mel. You have a beautiful voice on top of playing the violin. That’s so dope. So multi-talented!”

M: “Oh wow. Thank you! I appreciate you saying that.”

B: “I have to thank you. Every time we chat, I get a little more inspired. You remind me of myself when I first started out. Singing and playing on Simstagram just because I loved it. (sigh) Anywho, how’s the writing going?”

M: “It’s going well, actually. Slow and go, but getting better. I try to write every day, but I’m taking your advice. I’m not forcing it.”

B: “That’s perfect. I’m really glad you haven’t stopped writing and that you’re putting your talents out there. What do you think about us working on a project together?”

M: “Are you serious?! I...well, honestly, it sounds like a dream!”

B: “I haven’t worked out the details, but I would love to meet you in person and just vibe- play music, sing, write. Maybe something for my next album- or yours!”

M: “OH MY WATCHER THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!! How could I say no to that?!”

B: “I don’t want to put too much pressure on you if you’re not ready, so you should think about it before saying yes for real. Talk to your family, your cute annoying roommate. Ask me all the questions. I just think you have something special, and I would like to see where you can go.”

M: “Now that you say that, I don’t think I really considered how far this could go, you know? Like, I decided I want to sing, but that was it. This could change things. I definitely need to discuss it with my fiancé.”

B: “FIANCE?! Please tell me more! I love love.”

Melany is just having the BEST week!! Collab with THE QUEEN?! What is life?? 🤯😭😁😁😁😍😱

previous - The Voicemail by @ladybugsimblr​

[aroaceacacia]

Hallo! Petra here again with a moondial prompt XD

False, Grian and Ren last saw Wil making rustic houses under Bubbles' and Grian's tutelage. The next time Grian saw him, Wil is in a ravine, shivering from either the cold or crumbling sanity, the former Watcher does not know.

False enjoyed her practice duels with Techno back in the Hermitcraft server, she now sees the PvP god stockpiling lethal fireworks, nertherite armor and enchanted tools. She helps him grind for the materials, up until they need another place to put their stuff in.

Ren helps Fundy with his tunnel, as Iskall found a way to communicate between them, between Ren's experience with tunnels, DocM's collabs and Iskalls hauntings, they made a perfectly safe vault.

-with love, Petra

Petra. it's been maybe two years since you sent this ask in. and just know it has been a point of light in my messy messy inbox.

thank u so much for enjoying a little au with me & my friends and for having ideas for it <3 it means a lot that people out there think stuff I make is cool and want to engage with it

[too-attached-to-fiction]

good night things (1/10/2020)

we’re back :) 

Mind Palace updated today and I always get a positive boost from the comments

I had gatorade today which is something I don’t get to say a lot

Watcher finally fucking launched and I can safely say it’s a collab bigger than infinity war

I learned how to do embroidery today 

(I started making a nightmare before christmas themed one)

(hopefully it will be done BY christmas) 

I submitted my daily scholarship

I have two interviews for jobs on monday so fingers crossed that one of them works out! 

thank you to the homeless man who yelled that the metro door button I was pressing wasn’t working and that I needed to run to the next car when he saw me struggling

one of my best friends stuck her airpod in my ear and we listened to ariana grande all of lunch

another one of my best friends got her phone back after it was lost for 17 days

I don’t really get to relax until sunday but that’s okay 

I’m making money!!

[theweekinarrowfic]

Completed Arrow Multichapters on AO3, July 7-July 20, 2019

NOTE:  I’m now crossposting to https://theweekinarrowfic.dreamwidth.org/

Need some fic to recover from SDCC?  Why not try one of the multchapter fanfics recently completed by our talented fic writers?  (My computer works again!)

Olicity

Impeccable Genetics by CSM (4/4, 15 Jul 2019) - While searching for Adrian Chase a little girl named Mia shows up in the bunker turning Oliver and Felicity’s life upside down. Part 3 of Adventures in Time Travel

The Merge by Demonic_Neko (5/5, 09 Jul 2019) - Something or someone is going to create an up rest in the multiverse. Every chapter will be part of the whole lot. (In other words, one chapter might be on one earth or the other for the time being.) Everything is connected just FYI dearies.

ink stains and dumbbells by inlovewithimpossibility (2/2, 09 Jul 2019) - "Hey Dynasties, Oliver here coming at you with another video!" "Hi guys, welcome back to Ghost Fox Goddess, I am Felicity Smoak. "When one half of YouTube duo, Queen-Merlyn Dynasty, lands himself in hot water with Principal Wilson due to failing grades, Oliver knows that he needs to step up his game. The principal recommends a tutor but little does Oliver know that she's also a successful YouTuber. The two of them set out on filming a collab but neither anticipates how popular their videos will be or the insane reaction the sight of the two of them on screen together will gain from the fans. Part 3 of inlovewithimpossibility's Olicity Summer Sizzle 2019 Fics

Liquid Courage by OliversMuse (3/3, 09 Jul 2019) - Felicity has been upstairs at the bar drinking mimosa's when she decides to go back down to the lair and get her purse to head home for the night. Oliver and Diggle realize that she is tipsy so Oliver decides to take her home. However after Diggle leaves them alone Felicity says and does some things that she would never do sober and Oliver quickly finds that his feelings for his IT girl run deep.

(i want to) save that light by callistawolf (13/13, 08 Jul 2019) - What if one little thing changed in the history of Arrow? What if, instead of going to Laurel's apartment after discovering the extent of Merlyn's plans for the Glades, Oliver stayed at the foundry and talked to Felicity instead? This series of short vignettes explores some of the ripple-effect changes that could take place throughout the next season as a result of this one, fortuitous change.

Patriot Oliver by changingdestiny4 (2/2, 07 Jul 2019) - A 4th Of July tribute, "Arrow" style, in which Oliver embarks on a mission to recover the Declaration Of Independence charter when it's stolen by an insane British terrorist.

Other Ships/Characters

A Queen's Ransom by Fandom_Stuff (team-centric, 7/7, 16 Jul 2019) - A bullet whizzed passed Oliver's ear just as his arrow hit home in the chest of his attacker, Grayson Phillips.Oliver Queen has just returned from five years in hell. With John Diggle and Felicity Smoak by his side Oliver is crossing names off his father's list. But Oliver is forced to take a break from the work his father left him when someone Oliver cares about is kidnapped.

the more things change by TheTruthAboutLove (Sara/Ava Lance, next gen, 7/7, 11 Jul 2019) - "It appears we might have a little stowaway on the ship. "Or, Ava and Sara meet their daughter from the future as she repeatedly gets displaced in time. Starts with Laurel being two years old in the first chapter and getting older as the fic progresses.

Inner demons by Bl4ckHunter (Sara/Oliver, 5/5, 09 Jul 2019) - Oliver and Laurel search for Sara, trying to save her from her inner demons, while someone else, out for revenge, wants to hunt her down as well.

Lexie's Reputation by Madquinn13 (Nyssa/Sara, 19/19, 08 Jul 2019) - After a difficult time being a teen mother Sara Raatko nee Lance's life is finally a perfect dream. It was until her oldest daughter fell for a guy none of her family like.This is the story of the building up of and the destruction of Lexie Lance's Reputation. Part 33 of Teen Mom AU

Fallen Angel by Bl4ckHunter (Laurel/Oliver, 7/7, 08 Jul 2019) - Sequel to WATCHER IN THE WINGS. With Azrael returning, Batman discovers a dangerous conspiracy as he and his allies investigate deep secrets of Gotham City. Part 28 of The Dar(h)k War Saga

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Viridian Vanguard (Part 27)

Qrow took one long, slow drink from his flask, pulled it from his lips, and sighed heavily. <Alright, I’m good—let them in,> he mumbled as he capped it again, put it away in the inner pocket of his shirt.

Soon, the door on the other side of the room opened up, their first interviewee of the day strode to the dais in the center of the room, Ruby and the rest of the Keeper Team surrounding her. They exchanged the usual formalities, before she knelt down on the large cushion provided for her, bathed in the light streaming through the high windows.

<Welcome to the first round of interviews for the Keeper Team!> Penny said smiling. <First off, congratulations for making it this far! Second, for the purposes of uniformity, we will have to request that you please communicate almost-to-entirely in Actaeon, save for any Nivian sayings, concepts, or quotes that you feel will not, or cannot translate adequately. Third, though we are sure you are already well aware, the questions we may ask you can get intensely personal, and that you are free to ask such questions back, if either of us feel that they may be relevant, or might prove to be a significant asset or liability in the future.

<With that out of the way: please state your name, who you are, and how your merits and achievements make you the best candidate for this position!>

<I am Anouke Kalla,> Anouke replied. <I have been a watcher since I was old enough to walk and handle a knife, and have been hunting down, slaying, and skinning almost every dangerous beast and horrific monster that lurks in this Valley for the past five decades. Whether they stalk no man’s land, lurk in the darkest, murkiest depths, or soar the most treacherous skies, I can guarantee you I have faced and bested them all, with one notable exception:

<Soul Eaters.>

Anouke put her hand to her breast, looked Ruby in the eyes, and said, <I swear, Keeper Rose, grant me the honour of serving under you, and those monsters will learn to fear my presence as much as yours.>

<Yeah, say no more, you’re out.> Qrow said calmly.

Anouke’s eyes widened, she snapped her head to Qrow. <Excuse me?!>

<We don’t need overconfident big game hunters who want to be part of team just get close to a Soul Eater, and try to bag its head for a trophy,> Qrow said. <They’re not ‘fun,’ or a ‘worthy challenge,’ they’re an abomination of magic and science we have to stop at all costs—even if it means killing it so hard there’s nothing left of it that you can see without the help of a scanner or a microscope.>

<Yeah, I’m really sorry, Watcher Kalla, but Uncle Qrow has a point,> Ruby said. <You have to put your very all into fighting a Soul Eater—and every bit you spend on trying to kill it in a way that preserves its body, rather than just doing everything you can to ensure it’s dead is more opportunity for the Soul Eater to kill you, instead.>

Anouke scowled, before she let out a short, disappointed sigh. <I feel you are incurring a great loss by rejecting me… but very well, I will respect your decision, Keeper,> she said, turning back to Ruby, and bowing her head. <Thank you for your time and the opportunity.>

Ruby and the rest of the Keeper Team said their half of the formal farewell, before Anouke was out the door, and the next candidate came in.

“Wow, that quickly and just for that reason?” Weiss asked.

“Yep!” Ruby said. “It’s kinda like one of those economic theories or something, where there’s hundreds of folks that want to fill in a vacant, permanent spot in the Keeper Team, so we can just pick and choose whoever we think is going to be the absolute best of the best, though there were some folks where the issues were more, uh, personal.”

“Such as?”

“Well...”

It was mid-day now when yet another candidate strode into the room, a pair of well-worn headphones around their neck. <Yo, name’s Yral Revene, but you might know me by my stage name: ‘Jackdaw,’> they said. <Officially my job is as a watcher-weaver, but only to pay the bills while I work on my real job: music maker. I want in on the Keeper Team as you all are gonna be the key to my revolutionizing music and weaving, and it’s going to start with me helping you kick Soul Eater tail like never before!>

<That’s an incredibly bold statement,> Ren said. <May you please explain how exactly you are planning to do this…?>

<With the freedom to use my Sound, is what,> Jackdaw replied. <I’ve been forced to use all the stock standard sheets and songs, so me and the rest of the sound weavers can harmonize and collab easy-like, and even then, I’ve barely been allowed to use my Sound on the field.>

<Your ‘Sound’…?> Ruby asked.

<They mean their personally composed music,> Penny said.

<Oh!> Ruby said. <So, is this also a set of custom-made and modified spells, then?>

<Yes,> Jackdaw replied. <I could go on and on about how awesome it is, but I think I should just let my Sound speak for itself,> they said, pulling out an external speaker and their comm-crystal.

<Excuse me!> Penny said, rising up from her seat. <I would like to remind you that elemental weaving of any sort is forbidden inside the interview room, and will be considered an attempt to harm the Keeper or her teammates, with the according grave punishment!>

<Relax, it’s just the music this time!> Jackdaw replied as they set it down, before they smiled. <You can experience the rest later, at the Grove. Ready?>

Everyone agreed to it, or didn’t mind, except for Qrow, who said <Hold on.> then ripped open one of the cushions, and plugged his hearing-holes with the stuffing.

<Oh come on, Uncle Qrow, aren’t you overreacting?> Ruby asked him.

<Alright, go!> Qrow said loudly, either ignoring her, or unable to hear.

Without any further issues, Jackdaw grinned, and pressed play, their personal music booming and filling the room. Merely ten seconds in, the smiles on Ruby and Nora’s faces disappeared, Zwei whined and pressed his two heads together and covered his outermost ears with his paws, while Penny looked concernedly at the increasingly uncomfortable and displeased members of the Keeper Team, sans Qrow.

<Oh, Eluna, make it stop!> Blake cried, clapping her hands over her ears.

<I’m really sorry, but please do!> Ruby added.

<Seriously?> Jackdaw asked, frowning. <It’s just new! It’s like an acquired taste! You’ll learn to love it, I swear!>

<My sincerest apologies, but I will really have to ask you to stop, or be forced to!> Penny cried. <Any more of this, and you might be charged with harassing and psychologically harming the Keeper and her Team.>

“And then there were some folks who’d been doing incredibly well, but we had to make the tough decision to reject them because of one deal-breaker or another...”

It was afternoon now, the curtains on the windows drawn to keep the glare of the sun from being too powerful. It was already past 2, their agreed upon lunch break, but they delayed it for the sake of their latest interviewee.

<… While I doubt I will be able to concoct, or even begin to research on something that might affect the Soul Eaters themselves, I’m sure that I’ve proven that my potions can be a great boon to you and the rest of the team, in combat or out of it,> he finished.

<Indeed you have, Maker Nyimu!> Penny said, smiling. <There’s just one more aspect from your record that we would like to address: we’re rather concerned about how dramatically your combat performance dropped after you finished drug rehabilitation, both in training exercises and live situations, and how that might be a liability when it comes to high-stakes situations like a Soul Eater attack.>

Nyimu frowned. <Ah, yes… to be honest, most of my stellar performance before it was all thanks to the constant abuse of enhancers, or using more to escape the consequences. Again, I swear I will improve myself without the cheap, dangerous shortcuts.>

<We know,> Qrow said, <but let me give you a hypothetical situation: everyone but you and Ruby are down or dead. She’s in deep shit, you’re the only one that has a hope in hell of saving her, but you know that the only way you can do it is if you pop a pot, or jam a needle into your arm, give you the boost you need.

<Would you do it…?>

Nyimu was silent, his eyes widening in surprise, before his face contorted into all manner of expressions, the inner turmoil clear for all to see. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, before finally, he sighed heavily, slumped his shoulders, and shook his head. <No, Watcher Branwen, I believe I cannot…> he said. <Even a single misstep will be all it takes to fall again into addiction, I’m certain of it..>

<So you don’t think you can sacrifice yourself, if it comes to that?> Ruby asked sympathetically.

Nyimu looked at her, and said, <No Keeper—I apologize.>

<Nothing to be sorry about.> Ruby said. <Though, I am sorry to say you’re not going on the Keeper team.>

<I expected as much,> Nyimu said, smiling ruefully. He bowed, they went through the formal goodbyes, and left.

As soon as he was out the door, everyone started getting up off their cushions and stretched, groans and sighs of relief echoing in the room.

<Ugh, I’m so glad it’s finally over...> Blake muttered as she arched her back. <Please don’t take this as a personal insult, everyone, but I never realized how much truth there was to the stories of what kinds of Fae would want to apply for the Keeper Team… I always assumed there was some element of exaggeration and fabrication to it to make it a more entertaining story, not that they were just reporting it as is!>

<Yeah, Keepers tend to attract misfits, outcasts, and oddballs almost as much as they do trouble,> Qrow said, bending his arms back and forth between their usual and flying configurations. <And sometimes, they’re both at once,> he added, looking pointedly at Blake.

She scowled, and said nothing.

<Be nice, Uncle Qrow,> Ruby snapped softly, before she smiled at Blake. <So, since this is your first time in the Bastion and being out of the house in general since you got here, anything you want to get for lunch? There’s plenty of great restaurants here, and I’m sure we can convince the Council to foot for our bill.>

<If none of you mind, I would really appreciate someplace that serves fish,> Blake replied. <Preferably fresh.>

<Oh, well you’re in luck!> Nora said, grinning. <Ren and I know this great seafood place in the Tender’s Fields, serves pretty much everything—freshwater and saltwater fish, squids, octopi, shellfish, algae, seaweed—heck, they even have these neat compressed balls of plankton you eat like chips! You even get a discount if you catch it yourself.>

Blake smiled. <I’d really like that, actually.>

<Any objections?> Ruby asked. When there were none, she smiled and said, <Then let’s go get some lunch!>

Then as if on cue, all of their comm-crystals sans Blake’s started flashing and beeping wildly in alarm, similar alarms echoing elsewhere in the Roost. Penny projected a holo and read aloud the message:

<Emergency Alert! Research Facility Hyrkanos in the Thundercall Tunnels is under attack by an aerie of Thundercall Rocs, confirmed lead by ‘Zeus V!’ Requesting Keeper Team and other Apex-class watchers to reinforce within an hour or less! Outposts have been overrun or isolated, security has sustained casualties and infrastructure has been severely damaged, evacuations impossible without outside assistance!>

<Isn’t Thundercall where we were supposed to go in three weeks?> Ruby cried as they started running.

<Looks like the date’s been moved forward, kiddos!> Qrow cried back.

<Sorry to sound self-centered, but what’s going to happen to me?> Blake butted-in as she kept pace with them. <I’m supposed to be with at least one of you at all times!>

<Simple: we take you with us!> Ruby replied. <Your equipment’s all fixed now, and you said it yourself that you’re willing to fight and hunt with us, right?>

<There’s a lot of legal mumbo jumbo about Keeper’s deputizing folks, so don’t worry about going to jail, and just focus on not dying!> Nora chirped. <It’d be really tragic and awful if you died so soon after you just got introduced into the story!>

Blake looked strangely at her, before she shook her head, and kept on running.

Note: Qrow, like many avian Fae, does not have ears, and has hearing-holes instead. Ren also has them, as reptilian Fae and some more exotic subspecies like snake Fae have acquired adaptations from others over the millenia, though the earliest of them reportedly could only “taste” sound or had very poor audio perception.

[golbrocklovely]

My favorite Hellweek video so far was def the one with Michelle, simply because she is one of my fav youtubers to watch. Literally, she is such an inspiration with what she does, I kinda wish SnC will collab on her channel do so some other challenges. (everyone should check out her channel it's really good) Even though she was scared in the video with SnC, I didn't mind her being jumpy because honestly she reacted like I would react in that situation lmao. It felt more genuine than how the other girls react sometimes.

I guess this time Hellweek feels a bit off because I think SnC are burnt out from doing spooky stuff. This is, I think, the longest period they did without changing their content and it starts to feel a bit reduntant. Like after a while you should get used to certain things happening but they still scream their heads off when one of their devices goes off. Their reactions are too much for someone who does this now for over a year. I also don't like the humour they have in certain videos, I don't mind them cracking jokes from time to time but sometimes it's too much. One of the reasons I don't vibe with Ghost Files (new Ryan and Shane show on Watcher) so much, it's entertaining but when they start to insult the ghosts it's just not my thing. I loved their buzzfeed unsolved true crime way more than the supernatural stuff.

I also think SnC start to compensate with over editing their stuff, like doing essentially the same video every other day they propably think we will get bored, so they want to make it scarier by adding a bunch of unnecessary pics and videos which is kinda annoying. Idk SnC are people who never stuck long with just one thing, they always did other stuff, and now they don't have their personal channels anymore because they are stuck with the main channel. I think maybe they need a creative break from it. Last year's Hellweek was great because it was new but after an entire year of only doing essentially Hellweeks every other month I get it that it can get tiring. And now they kinda positioned themselves as youtube's ghosthunters it's hard to do anything else. (but that is just my opinion)

there's really only been like two that i thought were kinda lame or borderline not that good at all, and that was mississippi mansion and myrtles plantation. and i would say the best one was the bell witch cave. the one with michelle is tied with first place to me as well, or at least one of the higher up ones. i think she was a good addition to the video and her reactions were on par with basically any other guest. i don't think she overreacted or underreacted comparatively to the other girls they've had on there.

i don't know if it's burnout, but if i may be so bold to say this: i don't actually think hell week this year is any crazier than last year's. i think they're both on the same level, the difference is the conjuring finale vs what we all kind of assume will be a not so crazy ending with the winchester mansion. i haven't finished or even started my full review of hell week, and i do want to compare it to last year's, but i honestly feel like both are basically the same, the difference is that last year's was so new to us that it was exciting, and this year it doesn't feel that way bc of the constant content they have been giving us.

if anything, i think some of us are burned out from snc and the way they do paranormal investigating. i think that's why if they continue to do hell week, they need to up the ante or do something that they don't do usually for other series or seasons. bc otherwise, what exactly separates hell week from season one or two? nothing really. it's the same ppl, for the most part, going to similar locations like before.

i will say, idk why they started hamming up the jokes a bit this time around, but it's not working in their favor in my book. besides the fact that every place they go to they're getting told to gtfo, i think it's also really weird that they would do "reenactments" and shit like that. but then on top of that, try to make it funny. it's not even a disrespectful thing (even tho it is) it's also just… not funny. and feels very out of place. i love snc and i love their humor for the most part, and i wouldn't want them to start changing that, but this…. was a no bueno type of deal for me.

and i think their reactions are fine bc realistically they're going to these new places they've never been before and they don't know if they're gonna get evidence so i can only imagine it does freak them out regardless when they do get it. plus, it would be very jarring if they all of sudden just stop having reactions to things bc they've grown used to it. they could calm down a bit tho lol

and like i mentioned in another ask, i feel like they wanted to try out new stuff bc it's hell week, which is fine if you're not in a time crunch. but clearly they are and were. so it's a bit weird to me to pull out all the stops when you don't have the time to fully deliver it.

i plan to make a list with my hell week review of things i would love for them to start implementing or doing next year with whatever content they do come out with. god knows they won't see it, but it's nice to know that i'm just putting my thoughts out there. but one of the major things i would love for them to do is to honestly a) find time for themselves to just… not work and b) start back up the personal channels. bc i think that's where they got to get a lot of creativity out that they don't get to do on the main channel.

[jebusfox]

New years

Collab with @star-light-00

Watcher's party was in fully swing. He had snacks placed around for people to dine on, lovely drinks for people to down in one gulp, and lots of music playing for people to dance to. Shame it was just him and Azel in the house at the time. She was the only he invited really, Wulfric was busy with Xate and Dahila and he was too lazy to get up and leave, having to instead resort to having some drinks and wait for Azel to arrive. Now here they were, sitting beside one another on the couch, watching the live MTT broadcast going on in New Home. The digital time was set up, counting down until new year. It was only a few more minutes now.

The masked human leaned forward, grabbing another beer can and opening it swiftly, drinking it as he eyed over to Azel. The small dragon did the same, except reaching over towards a can of soda. She too gazed over at Watcher.

Their eyes were locked at each other. One of them had to break the ice.

"Well this is awkward." Stated Watcher, breaking the ice. "N-not because of you! It's because of well....I set up all this stuff like I'm expecting a massive party. Lol." He looked back down at his drink, thinking about the entire year that went past.

Azel blushed, understanding what he was talking about. He did set this all up for something, if not for a party, then what for? It looked too nice to go to waste. Was it to impress her? No. Probably not...

"I don't mind." She began, nervously staring down at the red carpet with a bright blue blush appearing on her cheeks. Goodness, Watcher sure did put a lot of time into this.

Watcher looked over at her, seeing her blush so. She was probably really shy about this entire thing. He didn't really blame her, he would be too if some crazy, masked wearing guy in the middle of the woods set all this up for him. He looked around once more, blushing as well.

"Erm...jeez...the countdown is almost ready to go...got any regrets? Any resolutions?" The human asked, wondering what was on Azel's mind.

"N-not really." She said, trying not to give too much away. "I...I want to be a bit braver is all. Not as nervous. I want to ask something but...right now I feel really...well..."

Watcher started to peice things together. He realized what was going on. She was hiding something from him...but what? He examined her slouched body posture, her shivering hands, her now even bigger blush. It was like...wait...is she...

"...Got someone you like?" He hesitantly asked, knowing that this night was going to be really, really different than most nights.

Azel shot up on her seat, blushing to the point that her entire face was blue. He knew didn't he? Of course he knew, he just had to find out. She wasn't exactly sure if he knew it was him she liked...but at this point shre knew that this night was going to be really, really different than most nights.

"Just one." She quickly said, hoping to try and change the conversation soon. Watcher didn't, instead taking note of how strange she was acting around him. Before he could ask, the TV began to make lots of noise. They both turned around to check, only to see the countdown begin.

"60! 59! 58!-"

"Oh, it's starting." Watcher smiled, knowing this year was one hell of a ride. Azel on the other hand, blushed even more. There was one regret she did have, but she couldn't...right now? It felt too cheesy. But...this was her chance. All she had to say was those words and it would be over.

Azel worked up all of her courage, and stared at Watcher vigilantly. She was going to tell him right now.

"...Watcher...erm...I need to ask you something." She said, trying not to make her words slurred or speak quickly like before. Watcher looked over, still listening to the counting going on in front of them. He was puzzled, sure. But right now he just wanted to know what was up with her.

"Yeah? What is it Azel?" The masked man asked, his lips still revealed seeing he was drinking beer. He didn't really feel like putting his mask back on seeing he was going to be drinking more and more soon.

Azel stared up at his lips, still trying her best to speak and tell Watcher her feelings. This was so hard...how was it this hard just to speak?

"30! 29! 28! 27!-"

The countdown was still going on. So many seconds left in the day...she began to think and think about what to do. So much time going past, she wasn't going to get her chance. She couldn't speak at all...she just couldn't.

...If she couldn't speak, there was only one thing she could do. She began to quickly stand up on Watcher's couch, getting on the same level as the masked man. Her eyes locked with his, and she took a deep breath. She had one shot. Just one shot.

"20! 29! 28! 27!-"

She closed her eyes, and leaned forward, her lips pouting towards Watcher's, instantly connecting their lips together for a kiss. Afterwards, she'd quickly move back, staring into his eyes with a massive blush on her cheeks.

Watcher was taken aback. So that's why she was getting so worked up.

"I-I'm sorry. I just got really nervous an-" Before she could even finish, Watcher would grab hold of her hand, squishing it gently as his other cupped her cheek. He began to pull her closer into a loving embrace.

"10! 9! 8! 7!-"

Watcher quickly whispered into Azel's ear. "I feel the same way.~" and then promptly kissed her once more, a pink blush now appearing on his own cheeks. Azel's would become a much lighter shade of blue, her eyes widen with shock...but then they'd close, and her arms would wrap around his body.

"...3! 2! 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"

The TV was going crazy, whilst Watcher and Azel were making out in front of it. Slowly, Watcher would pull back, blushing as he spoke.

"...So...fancy another drink?"

//Happy New Year to all of you! Thank you for so many good times. I’m sorry I haven’t been very active recently. I hopefully will be more active soon!