#i was gonna fic this but i couldnt write the whole thing in time for the day

[mb-blue-roses]

More Spider-verse posting for 6/6-

This time, an enby Noir w/ some neopronoun action going on!

[Image OD: A drawing of Noir from the Spider-verse movies. Spi is wearing spiders jacket, mask, goggles, and hat. He is not wearing a shirt, and top surgery scars are visible on his chest. The skin, mask, jacket, and hat are done in shades of grey and black, while the goggles are done in dark yellow and purple. Spi is wearing a purple pin that says "Spi/he" on it is yellow text. The background is the colors of the nonbinary flag, except more muted. A signature, a stylized A_G, is next to Noir's head. End ID]

[coridallasmultipass]

.

[firemenenthusiast]

—“till death do us apart”

farleigh start x fem! reader

summary: sometimes even fate can be altered

warnings: angst. read at your own risk. plot twist. grammar of a non native english speaker

a/n: am i in my angst era ? also this is for mon cheri @farleighlover 😋 revenge for writing ‘numbingly obsessed’. this fic idea was like a bazooka shooting into my face i had to write it down

“What if we rewrite the stars? Say you were made to be mine. Nothing could keep us apart. You'd be the one I was meant to find”

the way the sun was shining brightly outside his window, soft amber glare richoceting off the balcony of his apartment told him that the even the universe was looking down upon them, blessing the entire day.-

it was cloudy, the sky hanging puffs of fluffy white, but not the type of cloudy that makes everyone moody, no. it was just nice, he thought, as he adjusted the gleaming links on his cuffs, black ribboned tux sitting perfectly on his broad shoulders. cocking his head slightly to the side, his tight dark brown curls bouncing out of his face making him shudder in anticipation. or was it nerves ? he couldnt really tell, too many staggering emotions filling into his head, fighting each other for a place behind those eyes. taking a last deep breath, he adjusted himself in the mirror before turning towards the door, pair of leather shoes carrying him away.

it’s been five years since your class graduated from oxford, or should you call it your alma mater now. it was probably the greatest day ever, being finally done with excruciatingly painful days of all nighters, pushing through everything else just to chase after submission dates. as much as you’re glad that it’s all over, the collection of memories with people there wrapping you like a fuzzy blanket. the only thing making oxford the best phase of your life is the people there. your friends, your dormmates, your classmates, felix, oliver, farleigh.

and farleigh.

everything was better because you got farleigh. he was always there for you, supporting you, making you feel like the luckiest person in the world that out of all the girls in oxford that he could easily get with, he chose you. and you chose him. i mean, it wouldn’t really be anything between the two of you if you didn’t give him a chance. as much as you liked him before the start of your relationship, you weren’t gonna let him in that easily. just thinking about how much you made him suffer to win you over made you let out a soft chuckle. you’d throw the bouquet of fresh flowers he’d left on your designated seat in class immediately after seeing them and god, was that humiliating for him. one thing farleigh absolutely couldn’t stand was being humiliated, or rejected. but he pushed through, he refused to give up because he liked you so much. he’s willing to fight through everything if it meant that you’d just give him a chance. he suprised himself with how much he was doing just to make you accept him, cuz he swore he would never be down so bad just for a girl. but for you, all that pride and need to maintain his reputation just got thrown out the window.

you and farleigh, it was like the two of you were made for each other, maybe it was your fault for not seeing that sooner but your relationship with him was everything to you after you gave in and give him a chance. it was like red blood, pumping oxygen to every part of your existence, he was like air to you. farleigh made you happy, made you feel all giddy whenever he’d wait outside of your class for you to finish so the two of you could grab lunch together, he was your yellow, your rock. at times you could feel your heart grow even fonder of him, slowly falling head over heels. his bright pearly smile fuelled your entire being, you catch yourself secretly grinning whenever you’d think of him. he was very charming, though sometimes so annoying and bratty. you didn’t care, if anything he was your annoying brat. whenever the two of you would spend the whole day wrapped in each other’s arms, you’d let out the biggest sigh of contentment after getting back to your dorm. farleigh protected you, shielding you from anything that was gonna hurt you, from physical dangers to the emotional ones when you’d struggle with your mental health. he knew everything about you, he knew the tricks and tweaks of winning over your heart. he was your guardian angel.

you’d also noticed how beautiful of a day it was outside, and you were thanking the universe for granting the both of you a chance for this day to be as beautiful as it could be. it was everything you’ve ever dreamed of, and it was exactly like how you’d imagine and daydreamed about it to be since you were a little girl. from the gorgeous white gown draped down your figure to the personally hand arranged bouquet of flower that you were gonna carry down the aisle. it was perfect, and so is the fact that you were gonna marry the love of your life. you couldn’t be more excited, scared and nervous. everyone had told you that it’s normal to be nervous, it’s probably the biggest moment in your life and you couldn’t risk it being even slightly ruined. everything had to be perfect, and they actually were. getting ready in the dressing room, you paced around to get your mind off things that you were overthinking about. what if you stumbled and ripped your gown ? what if you puked in the middle of the walk because you were too nervous ? in that moment you just wanted to tell your bridesmaid to go get your fiancé. you knew he could calm you down easily, he always did. little did you know that he was also taking deep breaths to cool himself down in another room.

the sleek black tux hugging farleigh nicely around his torso and his bust. the sleeves, perfectly tailored and not a single inch longer than it should be. he looked dashing, handsome even. but when is it that he doesn’t? stepping onto the venue, his chin tilted upwards, feasting his eyes upon the beautifully decorated hall. a small smile crept itself across his lips. it was just like how you always told him how you would like the place to look like when you get married. farleigh had always kept a mental note on the details, from the choice of flowers standing tall along the aisle, to the soft hue of innocent yellow dimly lighting up the whole place. you always had a vision when it comes to your wedding day, and he would listen to you talk about it, nodding away and even adding his own points on how he wanted his wedding to be. he had immaculate taste too, of course. chirping in to give you suggestions after suggestions just to make sure the vision of his and your wedding day was perfect. he didn’t really care, the only vivid thing he could imagine was the image of you standing in front of him, looking as pretty as always, smiling up at him as he vowed to take you as his lawfully wedded wife. it was innocent how the two of you would dream about this day.

guests were starting to fill up the venue, settling themselves down on their designated seats as few of them were seen chatting up with each other, smiles decorating their faces. both your families were moving around efficiently, making sure that everything was in order for the ceremony to move smoothly, while you waited in the dressing room, carefully adjusting and making sure that your make up and hair were put together flawlessly. “you nervous?” you heard venetia speak, as you turn your head towards her, smiling. your eyes trailed along the beautifully sewn hem of your gown. “of course i am, i would be lying if i said im not” letting out a soft sigh, your eyes glanced towards her. “how’s farleigh ?” you asked her, before she took both your hands in hers, firmly grabbing onto the palms as she cocked her head to the side, beaming at you. “he’ll be alright” she responded, shortly. “you ready ?” to which you nodded, offering her a quick smile.

the walk from the dressing room to the hall felt like forever, as steps after steps burned memories into your head, everything felt so surreal yet too real at the same time. as you carefully line your walk in the heels with the tail of your gown making it a sport, you began to notice familiar faces sitting at the back row, already beaming at you with their hands cupped against their chests. you offered them a warm smile, desperately using it to hide the all new emotions you were currently feeling. you were now already standing at the end of the aisle, in the middle of everyone, as all eyes were set on you. you tried your best to flash the prettiest smile, like you had practiced for only like since forever. farleigh’s eyes immediately set themselves on you, his eyebrows dropped as his dark orbs began to gloss, a small breath got caught in his throat as it seemed like he had forgotten how to breathe. he was getting lightheaded with how similar you looked with the vision he had of you being his bride. just when he thought you couldn’t get anymore beautiful, you began to walk down with the white veil over your head, fresh flowers neatly grasped in your hands. you looked pure, breathtakingly beautiful in white. it was almost like the angels had lent you their beauty for that exact moment, for you to wear as you slowly step towards the altar.

your eyes met farleigh’s, a knowing look being exchanged between the two of you. you almost laughed at how touched he looked, he would be caught dead first before this to even show that he had deep emotions for someone but for you, he didn’t care. anything for you. all the nervousness suddenly disappeared as you carefully step onto the elevated platform at the end of your slow walk, joining your fiancé before facing each other, huge smile plastered across your faces. all of that ruckus and chaos before your wedding day has led to this moment, as you take it all in that it was finally happening.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the love of these two as they come together in marriage.” the officiant started right as the two of you were ready. after exchanging rings, he started his vows first, which almost made you cry but happiness flooded through the feeling.

“…I promise to cherish you always, to honor and sustain you, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, and to be true to you in all things until death alone shall part us.” as you finish your vow, you could feel your feet starting to perform little jumps of excitement. turning your head towards the officiant, he could see that you were already getting impatient. smiling to himself, he looked over to the crowd before saying the magic words

“By the power vested in me by the state, I now pronounce you husband and wife !” you almost squeak before leaning over to kiss your now husband, gently pressing your lips over his soft ones, your cold fingers cupping his cheeks as a roar of applause filled the hall. the crowd stood up to cheer, bright smiles complimenting the decorations in the hall.

it was exactly like you imagined, except this time it wasn’t farleigh that you were kissing.

as farleigh clapped for the both of you from his seat, he couldn’t help the proud smile pushing itself to form on his lips, as his eyes begin to water. he immediately reached up to wipe them off quickly, yet obvious tint of red could still be seen if one were to examine his face closely. but he wasn’t worried of that happening, because he wasn’t the main subject of today’s ceremony, no. he was just happy to be here, cheering for you and your husband. he would be lying if he didn’t think about how it would be if it was him instead on the altar, kissing you away from all the doubts that he had put you through over the last few years of your relationship. he knew that you and him, the two of you were supposed to be endgame. it was supposed to be him, slipping the ring onto your finger, before kissing over them. he knew all that, yet nothing could win over a fight with his own issues, nothing could beat his own mind in a game called love. he wanted to give up on love long ago but you showed him the bright end of the tunnel, and he will always be grateful for that. for now, he would have to make peace with the fact that you’re no longer his, and he no longer has a place in your heart. it’s not like he doesn’t want all of this, he really does. hell, he had thought about this exact day countless times when you were his, just that he imagined it to be him who will get to say his vows on how he was gonna love you till death do the both of you apart. everything else was pretty much just how he had imagined it to be, especially how beautiful you looked.

the two of you had promised that the relationship had to end with marriage, and that after graduation nothing was gonna change. but promises are meant to broken aren’t they ? he changed, a lot. you did too. farleigh struggled with himself after graduation, with the fact that he didn’t have anything left in the uk, him being done with oxford left him no reason to keep staying with the cattons. he didn’t want to leave, he begged for sir james to keep letting him stay, saying that he would do anything with the best he had, building a career over the estates in saltburn, anything. anything just for him to able to stay here, with you. he was afraid that if he left, everything will be different and he’d lose you. so he worked, really hard. struggling to make his own money to put them into his own little apartment. little did he know, he lost himself in the process, along with what he had with you. warm embraces and chuckles after laughters turned into hurtful arguments. your usual warm spot on his bed turned cold, as your dent on his mattress slowly disappeared. it’s not like you didn’t fight for him, you truly did. but you realised that what the two of you had, was only nice while it lasted. and you struggled to make peace with that, but not as much as he was. you were everything to him, and losing you just meant losing himself.

when you told him that you were getting married, he looked really happy, as he pulled you in a tight hug. it felt safe, and you could feel that he was genuinely happy for you. you’re glad that after all, you were still able to be close with him, only now as friends. he was happy to receive the wedding invitation, having set it up on his empty kitchen table so he wouldn’t miss it for the world. he still loved you, so much as he wouldn’t want to miss watching you on your happiest day, even if it wasn’t because of him. even if it wasn’t with him. seeing you happy was enough for him. knowing that you were happy, he forced himself to accept that fate couldn’t be rewritten. how he wished it is, because then he would get to write your name in his stars again and again, and again. as many times as he could as long as in the end, you’d end up in his arms.

as the getaway car began to roll its wheels, he looked at you flashing the prettiest smile ever, waving at him. he returned the smile, masking in the reasoned melancholy down his chest. the car started to drive away slowly before his smile slowly pressed itself away against his lips. it has now turned to a smile knowing that he once had you, and he would forever cherish that. the crowd began to dissipate, some gradually walking away to leave, some getting back inside to continue their chats, some even talking about how gorgeous of a wedding it was, and that they were happy for you and your husband. farleigh stepped down the stairs to a gravely ground, his leather shoes digging into the coarse pebbles as he leaned back onto the stone post at the end of the stairs, his hand reaching into the pocket of his slacks. noticing someone approaching his spot, he glanced to the person to see felix, his hands tucked into his pockets before he reached out, asking for a stick from farleigh. he lit the cigarette in his fingers before reaching over, cupping his hand over the flame to lit felix’s.

puffing his first drag, farleigh chuckled at felix at the situation. “how you holding up ?” he heard felix ask, his light brown hair flipping over as the soft wind grazed their skin. farleigh tilted his head down, quietly playing with the pebbles with the tip of his shoes with a burning cigarette dancing between his fingers. “i’m gonna be okay” nodding, he assured felix. “that’s good” he chirped back, he knew how bad farleigh was hurting, but he also knew that his cousin would be caught dead first before showing deep emotions to anyone. felix were also sure that the two of you were really gonna end up together. it was only right to him. he wasn’t sure about what happened, but he could feel how bad the pain was violently ripping farleigh apart. he could only pray that it gets easier, as he didn’t want to lose him too.

“i know you loved her mate” felix started

“i still do” farleigh responded, his head hanging low

“-just differently now”

shaking the burned bits of the cigarette from his fingers, ashes falling down onto the ground as they both sat in silence, quietly enjoying the gentle breeze of the wind, blowing away all of farleigh’s hope for you.

taglist: @farleighlover @r4vn @love-me-pls @radioloom @imjustheretoreadsmuthaha @luckystrikerealness @juniperhasfallen @themoonchildwhofell @khxna @fuckshitslover @szapizzapanda

[doyouevenshipbr0]

borderline illiterate gruvia think piece.

happy gruvia day i guess!

so like…… im a grown woman. so believe me when i say at this point i rly couldnt care to be genuinely bothered by antis. like i will literally just block them lmao. ok yes i did write a whole fic revolving around a comment by an anti KFHDKSJWJEDK but i rly wasnt mad i was just genuinely inspired by what they said.

ANYWAYS! nonsensical 294820381002 word rant incoming from the “unbothered” grown woman.

seeing people say how gray is out of character in 100 yq/has stockholm syndrome are literally missing the entireeeee point of his and juvia’s relationship and its crazy!!

*side note, i think for the sake of helping gray’s character and development, they sacrificed a lot of cool things about juvia and a lot of her individuality which i do not like. but thats a rant for another time. btw do notttt even come for me bc she is literally still by far my fav character lmao*

im probably gonna go on for too long about this but gray’s whole fucking character throughout the whole story from beginning to end is centered around the fact that hes cold and closed off and grumpy and “too cool” and listen im not saying this is fucking rocket science or any type of transcendent literature by any means but i HAVE to point out that hes a fucking ice wizard. like. duh. im sure his character/personality was meant to go along with abilities i mean look at literally EVERYONE else in fairy tail.

ANYWAYS the reason he is this way is because he’s so used to losing all of the people he loves and even worse, hes used to so many people sacrificing themselves for him.

and it traumatizes him!! so many people hes been close to have died and he ultimately always thinks its his fault! lord knows im rusty with ft knowledge but his parents died (cant remember if it was in any type of sacrificial way teehee), Ur sacrifices herself for gray, ultear sacrifices herself for gray, and his dad dies AGAIN (once again, not sure if this was in a sacrificial manner lmao. i kindaaa think it was? maybe? shrug.). but POINT IS! theres a common theme of loved ones dying and/or sacrificing themselves for him. there might even be more people lmao idfk.

so what happens when he meets a girl who has an overwhelming and unwavering and infinite love for him?! he is freaked the fuck out!!! for a couple reasons! 1. he is so used to losing the people that love him and 2. he doesn’t even think hes deserving of any love to this degree!

then what happens? he PUSHES HER AWAY! KEEPS HER AT A DISTANCE!!!! because THATS ALL HE KNOWS!!!!!!!!! yes he has his friends who love him but no one has ever loved him in the way and abundance that JUVIA DOES! so he has to react appropriately! lots of love = lots of keeping her at an arms length!

so when he thinks he loses juvia in their fight with invel, and she comes back, dont we think it would make sense that he finally realizes he should accept his feelings for her? i mean remember when he said he promised her an answer AFTER the war? once again, like gray, pushing things off. and then he almost LOSES HER without ever telling her how he feels! so gray realizes life is short! theres no use in trying to deny ur feelings! these are common themes in like 85% of my gruvia drabbles lmao.

im not even saying that it was love at first sight for him and that gray liked her from the jump. bc i dont think thats true. i think we can finally see outward romantic feelings for juvia right after the tartaros arc, when juvia visits gray at his parents’ grave. but before that, i think juvia was a friend (wellll i feel like after the tenrou island arc he liked her more than a friend, but he didnt really realize how much more) who he cared about, and truly didnt know what to make of her because like i said, hes never known a person to love him so much and actually not die LMAO.

but my point is, juvia is the perfect person to be gray’s romantic partner. she is a person so full of love and so happy to love and she doesnt care who knows it. she is unequivocally herself and she wears her heart on her sleeve to the upmost extent.

it literally only makes sense for his character to end up with her!

u could argue gray doesnt need to end up with anyone at all bc he has his friendsssss and likeeee. sureee. fine. but what fun is that? i personally want to see the scared-of-love grump to find his person. i think, again, thats kind of the point of gray’s character- learning u are worthy of love, accepting love, and learning to love openly.

im sorry but literally what better happy ending for him than to be with juvia?

so fast forward to 100 yq, where he is just sooooo out of character apparently. dont we think that may actually be…. character development?

the boy who probably couldn’t even fathom a romantic relationship is now finally accepting he’s in love. he’s done pushing it off, he’s done denying, he’s done depriving himself of feeling love. thats a step in the right direction! now what? in true gray fashion, he thinks hes still not good enough! and that’s where we are now. he’s not confident, he thinks he’s weak, and he thinks he cant protect her. why? he knows she loves him. he knows he’s objectively a strong wizard. so why does he feel inadequate? CIRCLE BACK!!! TO WHO GRAY IS AS A PERSON!!!! SINCE DAY ONE!!! constantly in fear of losing his loved ones! thinking he can’t protect them! SCARED TO LOVE!

like im sorry the proof is soooo in the pudding and i totally understand if gruvia isn’t ur cup of tea but to say things arent making sense is silly to me! they actually make perfect sense!

and yknow what. im gonna go from a romantic standpoint to a realist standpoint. years ago, mashima said he likes gray and juvias dynamic and didnt have anything serious in mind for them anytime soon. so he kept that going for literally the entire series. well. he ended fairy tail alluding to the fact that gray and juvia were kinda together at that point. or he at least ended it with the pretty obvious conclusion that gray does in fact have feelings for juvia. so then when ft 100 yq starts what was he supposed to do? act like all of their development in the last arc never happened? that would be kinda hard to do!

whatever i just hope at least like 3 of these sentences were coherent lmao u guys get my point

[kaihuntrr]

one-year anniversary!

HI. oh my goodness can you believe its been a WHOLE YEAR (and a day, im posting this a day later OOPS-) since i started working on this au? i dont think i started working on the chapters until... the -ber months? but the general brainstorming started now and oh my GOD the amount of changes that has happened while working on this au is insane! im absolutely floored with how much people enjoy this au, and while im too busy to be posting art (im doing some personal work!) i have all the time in the world to talk about how much this means to me.

i've written things in the past, but i havent for the LIFE of me worked on such a long project such as this (we're only halfway through act one of FIVE!) and learning and growing with such wonderful betas and partner (ehehe @mewhoismyself hello there) is just so wonderful <3

SO! in order to make this anniversary special, i've decided to post a little cut/practice scene from act two! this couldnt make the cut with what the plot has in mind, but i figured itd be best to have some nice moments with scott and martyn, eh?

OH! and before i go, the next chapter will be posted a day earlier! <3 im going abroad the day after the original chapter posting date, so i need to rest. i think this back half of the fic is gonna be really something <3

anyway, i wont keep you here for longer. i hope you have a fun time reading this, just as much as my partner and i had fun writing this so many months ago <33

Martyn tried to listen as Scott rambled on about what he’d been up to, how nice it had been to see his friends again. He even tried to let the small twist of jealousy at Scott being so happy over seeing someone else wrench his attention back into the moment, but it didn’t work. The face of Pearl kept flashing in the forefront of his mind, her eyes and jagged scar glowing unnaturally under the moonlight. 

“Oh, and…,” Scott continued to ramble on, but Martyn still couldn’t focus. It seemed that Scott had noticed as his voice trailed off and he looked at the blonde with a tilted head. “Martyn…?”

Martyn gave a grumbled response. His mind blocked out the world around him as he pictured brief flashes of the island, the hollow and desolate stares of the people, the wicked laugh coming from Pearl….

Scott sighed. “Martyn….”

Martyn could still feel a slight buzz in his head from where he was hit. How much blood did he lose back there? He didn’t know. All he knew was that he was glad to be alive. Glad that he was here, still breathing, like everyone else. Glad that he was–

“Martyn!”

Martyn jerked as Scott’s face was suddenly inches from his own. Scott’s lips were twisted into a pout and his eyebrows were drawn into a scowl. “Huh- sorry, what?”

Scott sighed, letting his head fall forward, “So you weren’t listening to me….”

“No!” Martyn said quickly, throwing his hands up. Panic leapt in his chest, making his heart beat faster. He didn’t want Scott to think he was ignoring him…! “No, I- I’m… I’m sorry…,” he hung his head. “I’m trying to listen- I’m not meaning to ignore you, I just….” Martyn looked down at the sand beneath him. Guilt welled up in his throat. He’d been so eager to see Scott while he was away, and before he’d gotten back, and now that he was actually here… Martyn was ignoring him. He was making Scott feel ignored.

Martyn shook his head, forcing a huge smile onto his face. “So, you said you saw your friends, right? Did you have fun-? Oh, what am I saying, you just said you had fun- haha…,” Martyn scrubbed the back of his head, then straightened up, rolling to his feet. “Hey, do you wanna go see if we can find your bird friend? I bet it’s missed you too!” He pointed towards a path leading up to the forest, “Bet he lives in there somewhere…!”

“Um- Martyn…,” Scott trailed off looking after him.

Martyn took a few steps backwards, away from Scott, and spread his arms, hoping he’d follow. “Or we can go down to the beach! It’s a nice day, it’ll feel great to splash in the water a little.”

“Martyn.”

“Or- oh, we can go see the decorations they’re setting up for the festival down in the center of town. You said you were excited right, so we can-!”

“Martyn!” Scott snapped. 

Martyn stopped.

Scott took the few steps to close the distance between them, laying his hand on Martyn’s arm, then sliding it down to take his hand. He tilted his head, giving Martyn big sad eyes. “Martyn, talk to me…. What’s wrong?”

It was hard for Martyn to not crack under Scott’s gaze. “It’s just…,” he trailed off, trying to put his thoughts into words. He was just engrossed in them a second ago, but now, trying to tell Scott, he couldn’t think of what to say. “I… uh….”

“You’re alright, Martyn,” Scott rubbed his thumb over Martyn’s hand in a small, circular motion. “Take your time.”

A small pause fell over him. Martyn could hear the slow ebbs of the waves before he managed to speak. “I can’t get her out of my mind,” his voice spat with venom. Pearl’s sadistic glee, her manic grin, her ever-looming presence burned in his head. Martyn’s grip unknowingly tightened around Scott until he looked the other in the eye. His grip on Scott lessened as he looked away. “What good can I be to protect you, when I can’t defend myself from one person?”

“Who said I needed protecting?” Scott raised an eyebrow, his tone still soft but with a hint of skepticism as he leaned to the side to catch Martyn’s gaze again. He let out a weak chuckle and moved his other hand to rest on Martyn’s cheek. “Besides, you can’t protect me from everything.”

Martyn leaned into the touch, not caring how warm his cheeks felt as Scott’s delicate hand pressed into his skin, lightly grazing over the scar Pearl caused. He closed his eyes as he let out a sigh and drooped his shoulders. “But I want to…,” he muttered. He looked at Scott, his face scrunched with worry. “I don’t want you getting hurt at all, Scott.”

“There’s going to be times where I get hurt, Martyn,” Scott narrowed his eyes and withdrew his hand from Martyn’s cheek. Martyn was wide-eyed, only for Scott to hold the hunter’s other hand. “When that happens, all I’d ask is for you to help me get back on my feet.”

Martyn could feel his nerves freeze up at Scott’s warm hold. His gentle stare and concern on his face nearly caused Martyn’s heart to explode. A million things swirled in his mind as the breeze wafted over. “I can’t help it,” he lowered his head, biting his lip. “You should be protected, with all the chaos going around–”

“What chaos?” Scott cracked a smile and shook his head. He shrugged, letting go of one of Martyn’s hands as he gestured around. “All there is to see is you, me, and the beach. Nothing to worry about, right?”

Nothing to worry about for now, but so many things could happen in the blink of an eye. Martyn could practically hear the sound of the sea princes’ ringing in his ears, the one from his dreams laughing as its mouth opened wide to swallow Scott as he screamed-.... 

No. Martyn needed to be prepared for anything, so nothing bad could ever happen to the people he cared for. Nothing. Never again. 

“I still want to fight for you,” his voice was barely a whisper in the wind, cracking a bit from the emotions that crawled up the back of his throat. But seeing Scott’s attentive look, with the slight tilt of his head, Martyn knew he could hear him. “Can I at least do that?” he pleaded. He needed to-. He needed to. 

“You may,” Scott nodded, giving him a small smile. Then his eyes narrowed as a smirk crept onto his lips. “So- I’d like to see how you fight.”

Martyn opened his mouth to respond- just in time for a woosh of breath to leave him as his back hit the ground. Martyn gasped, blinking for several seconds as he tried to figure out he’d gotten laid flat out on his back… with a certain ginger pinning his shoulders to the sand.

“Yikes…,” Scott teased, his eyebrows rising, complimenting the wide grin on his face.

Martyn sputtered, his face immediately flushing beat red. “I wasn’t ready! Sneak- sneak attack…!”

Scott laid one arm across his chest, propping his other elbow on top of it and laying his cheek in his hand. “Most things will take an opportunity for a sneak attack, when presented with one.” He kicked his feet in the air, as if he was lounging on a couch reading a book. 

Martyn flushed all the way to his ears. “Redo!”

Scott leaned his head down, smiling at Martyn in a way that was almost sickeningly sweet. “Are you waiting for a written invitation?” 

Martyn grabbed Scott by the shoulders and surged upwards, knocking the ginger off of him. Scott laughed as he slipped his grip, ducking under one of Martyn’s arms to wrap his arms around Martyn’s torso. 

Before Martyn’s brain could fully process that, Scott had rolled Martyn over top of him and planted him flat on his back again. 

Working on instinct more than pre-thought, Martyn wrapped his arms around Scott’s shoulders and kicked off the sand. He knocked his thigh against Scott’s hip, bumping him off balance just enough to send them rolling over again.

But Scott didn’t end up on his back underneath Martyn. 

Somehow, mid flip, he’d slithered around Martyn’s torso, ducking his arm again and getting outside of his hold. Martyn ended up with his face in the sand and a knee pressed between his shoulders, shoving him down further.

Martyn was about to push himself up with his arms, using his strength advantage to throw Scott off of him, but Martyn froze when he felt something sharp curl around his throat. 

He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even swallow. He could barely even breathe. 

Suddenly the sharp points of crescent bladed scythes were touched against his neck so delicately. Suddenly the sharp claws of a hungry beast wrapped around his throat, pricking the skin above his jugular. One wrong move and she’d slid his throat. One wrong breath and the beast would tear him to ribbons.

A figure above him bent down to whisper in his ear. 

“I win!” Scott chirped brightly. He laughed as he withdrew his fingernails from where he’d curled them around Martyn’s throat. “You really do need more practice. Though I’d be happy to oblige…,” his voice turned sing-songy as he plopped back on the sand, his arms holding him up.

Martyn slowly pushed himself upwards, staring down at the sand where his face had been in utter bafflement. Why had that felt-? Why was he-? Why was his heart beating so fast? Why… did he feel like he’d just been hunted…?

“That- that uh…,” Martyn stammered, not really sure what he wanted to say. “You’re a lot better fighter than I thought you’d be.” He turned his head to look at Scott, pushing himself up so he was sitting on his knees.

“I know,” Scott smiled widely, tipping his head back and forth, “Do I impress you, Martyn?” He smiled and hummed teasingly, his eyes narrowed in a joyful satisfaction. 

“Always,” he breathed, a lot more genuine and heartfelt than he’d meant to. Scott’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Martyn felt his face flush and he looked down at the sand. Well, he was in this far. “I think you’re amazing.” 

“Thank you…,” Scott said with a shy little smile. A light hint of red dusted his cheeks. He looked… really nice like that.

Martyn shook his head, roughly clearing his throat. “Well um, as- as fun as this was… I was actually referring to- to my gun combat more than my hand-to-hand.”

“Uh huh,” Scott answered with a small smirk, not sounding like he believed him. “Well, maybe I could help you with that as well.” 

“You know how to use a gun?” Martyn asked, more than a little shocked. How… how much did he really know about Scott?

Scott opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked to the side, then looked back at Martyn. “Noooo…?” he admitted, grinning sheepishly. He sighed, rolling his eyes a bit, “To be honest I thought you were still flirting, not that that was a serious question. And now, well… I’m just embarrassed.”

“Oh.” Martyn tried to hide his sigh of relief. It was one thing to just not know that Scott was a capable fighter -he was a tavern keeper who dealt with rowdy drunks all the time, Martyn honestly should have expected it- but it was another thing to not know that Scott was a trained gunman. For some reason they felt different. Martyn felt a grin split his face. “Would-... would you like me to teach you…?”

“Teach me what?” Scott’s eyebrows pinched together for a brief moment, then shot up towards his hairline, “How to use a gun?”

“Yeah,” Martyn grinned, “It’ll be like the time I was taught!”

“When were you taught?” Scott tilted his head.

“I think I was… seven? My parents knew I wanted to be a hunter, so they taught me,” Martyn hummed, looking out at the beach. He could remember the eagerness in his voice when he asked his parents to teach him. He only knew of the dangers through them and the people he lived around, but he knew his heart was calling out to the sea more than anything else.  “I needed practice, like everyone else, but I’m a natural. A crack shot, they’d told me!” He laughed. Shooting a target from far away was much easier than fighting with swords or his bare hands. 

Scott blinked, processing Martyn’s words. He slowly turned his head to Martyn, eyes widening in shock as all sense of his playfulness dropped. “You were a child when you learned how to use those?”

“Yeah…? I wanted to be a hunter, Scott, so I learned early.” Martyn looked at Scott and shrugged, feeling the ginger’s gaze on his skin felt… different. Martyn learned how to use guns to be a hunter, not to– oh. Was Scott thinking Martyn would…? Martyn shook his head and raised his hands up. “But I can’t shoot a person. A sea monster is easy because they’re big and stupid, but a person…?”

Scott had a judgemental look on his face as it scrunched up. He pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them, resting his head on it as he sighed. “Ending a person’s life is hard, and I’m happy you haven’t shot anyone, but…,” he trailed off. Martyn leaned closer to Scott as he raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think it’s a little concerning?”

“What’s concerning?”

“You learned how to shoot things, how to kill things, as a kid,” Scott looked away, gripping his arms tighter as he watched the waves flow in and out. “Every life has a purpose; from you, to me, and even the beasts in the ocean.”

Martyn narrowed his eyes. Exactly what purpose could those monsters serve? Being ocean terrors? An effective way to kill humans and destroy ships? To bring fear in the hearts of children? To kill Ren- Jimmy? Why were there monsters in the ocean? Why should there be? 

“They’re monsters, Scott.” Martyn hissed, anger rising in his voice.

“They’re animals,” Scott hissed back, his face pinching into an expression that was almost pained. “They’re just animals….” 

“They’re heartless, cruel, and always starving.” Martyn huffed, pulling out his gun to examine it under the sunlight. Horrible beasts. Disgusting monsters. Murderers. “They’re such horrible, unnatural beasts that every mechanic in the world works to develop better guns and weapons to kill them all.” 

He didn’t fully notice the way Scott shied away from the gun in his hand. “You’re lucky you don’t need to leave the kingdom to see those ugly things,” Martyn spat.

“Ugly…,” Scott grumbled, turning his head away, like he was offended by the notion. “Well, I’m sure most of them would think the same about you.”

Martyn blinked, giving Scott a double take. Ugly…? 

Scott let out a sigh as he stretched and uncurled his legs and arms to stretch out in front of him. He picked up a small handful of sand and watched it fall through his fingers. “Every life is precious, every life is running on limited time. I’m not an idiot. I know things die. But there’s no reason to cut it shorter than it needs to be. ” He smiled wistfully, tossing the rest of the sand forward. “The sea is… scary, but maybe if you had an open mind, you’d see there’s more to it than monsters.”

Martyn followed Scott’s gaze and stared. Was there anything more to them? Surely not. The fondness in Scott’s voice was hard to believe- but the man has never even seen any beast to Martyn’s knowledge. The fond tone that Scott spoke about those- those monsters with… it honestly made Martyn angry. Those monsters took away the people he cared about. The people he loved. People he cherished. Jimmy, Ren… and so many other innocent people lost their lives to the sea, Lizzie’s parents…. The ocean took all of them, and there was nothing to blame but the monsters that infested it.

“They’re monsters, nothing more than that,” he spat, emotions in his chest wrenching into a tight knot that made it hard to breathe. He swung his arm out to the side, bringing his gun up in front of his chest as he rose to his knees, almost looming over Scott. “I know what they are, Scott, and I know I’m doing all that I can to protect you and the rest of the kingdom from the beasts that would just as quickly swallow you whole as they would crush you into pieces!”

“There’s no need for you to be so hostile about it,” Scott snapped at Martyn, his eyes narrowing into a cold glare that felt like icy daggers stabbing into Martyn’s face. Scott stood up and brushed all the sand from his clothes with a sigh. “I understand.” He walked closer to the water, just enough for the waves to lap against his shoes and tightened his fist, as if preventing to lash out.

Martyn blinked. “Was I-?” he muttered to himself. 

He looked out at Scott standing in the surf. He looked… sad. The guilty feeling in his chest built up once more. 

All of a sudden, Martyn remembered just how happy Scott looked with his birds fluttering around him, with the canary nuzzling his palm. Oh-. Scott was an animal lover…. No wonder he-.

Martyn was messing everything up. First he’d ignored him, and he was pushing Scott away by getting angry. Martyn quickly stood up and ran across the beach towards Scott, “Oh, Scott, I’m sorry–”

Scott turned to look at him, a flat expression on his face.

Martyn felt his heart twist, “I- I’m sorry. I- I didn’t mean to make you feel….”

“Upset?” Scott supplied.

“Yeah…,” Martyn bowed his head. His hand twitched out, reaching for Scott’s but giving up and retreating before he could take it. Martyn turned his head away and bit his lip. “I-... I made you-....”

Scott stepped closer and held out his hand. “No need for that, silly hunter,” he smiled sweetly. Martyn took it almost immediately, surprising them both. Scott let out a chuckle and bumped his shoulder next to Martyn’s. “I’m not mad,” Scott said softly. Martyn believed him. He looked… sad instead. 

“I don’t want you to–”

“You’re just fine.” Scott assured him with a smirk. “It takes a lot more than a simple disagreement to make me actually upset. We’re okay, right?” 

Martyn bashfully nodded, resulting in a wide smile from Scott. Was he… really okay? Or was he just hiding how he felt? For Martyn’s sake? Martyn hoped it was the former. 

Scott put a hand on his chest, giving Martyn’s hand a small squeeze. “Just… try to keep an open mind, alright? The world can be… stranger than you might think.” He smiled a little bashfully, “I might have- a surprise or two… to share, eventually.”

“Like how you can kick my butt in hand to hand?”

Scott’s face split into a wide grin, his eyes lighting up with laughter. “Just like that.”

Martyn felt himself smiling, a laugh escaping him as he squeezed Scott’s hand. Yeah, they were okay.

[nutal]

URGH NEW GUITARSPEAR (multichaptered ???) fic idea hear me out IM GONNA YAP SO MUCH also for convenience sake, Eve isn’t existing in this universe LMAO also warnings for like abuse n shit

But like it’s a human/modern au and Adam’s with Lilith, and they’ve been married for a while now. Lilith’s always been a little manipulative, but now she’s gotten subtly abusive almost, very demanding and Adam suspects she’s cheating too. One night she straight up just kicks him out of the house for that night saying he can find his own place to sleep because she’s not willing to share a bed with him nor even let him on the couch after a heated argument. He resists heavily, but only gets way too much slack for it there’s no way he can stay with that psychotic bitch admittedly.

He’s obviously really pissed the fuck off, but he ends up walking out late near the suburbs, ending at a nearby park. When he’s there, he finds Lute!! And she’s also alone, just by herself, sitting on a bench seeming really irritated/isolated herself due to her annoying ass roommate vaggie. He’s got nothing better to do so he tries talking her up a bit, and the conversation veers into smth like this:

“Shit, you seem fun. What’s your name?”

“Lute.”

“Lute? Weird name but sick as hell.”

“What are you doing here?” she snapped.

“Oh, so you’re not even gonna ask me my name back?”

She sighed. “What’s your name?”

Or like smth like that and then they explain their issues to each other, mainly adam to lute and while she’s very hesitant of him at first she is admittedly curious as well. And then eventually she’s like, “wait I think I recognize you” and then he’s like “Yeah? With a face like mine I’m hard to miss” or smth like that and she’s like “ur that guy from the band that sometimes plays at the bar I go to” and he’s like “well shit, that’s me. You should come see us more, we fucking rock” and then they just keep yapping til morning getting familiar with each other until adam like passes out, and she has to wake him up.

Back at home, Lilith’s behavior jus keeps getting worse until Adam finds out for good she actually IS cheating when she catches her in bed with Lucifer. The next time Lute shows up to the bar, she sees Adam and tries to catch him after the show, asking him how everything is and he explains what happened over a cig and lowkey? She’s pissed because she gets what it’s like to be betrayed like that then have to live with it bc of how Vaggie constantly acts. So, she ends up helping him out, even eventually offering him a place to stay in her apartment for a while after some time with lots of precautions at first until theyre more comfy with each other. Also Vaggie is so angry with this its lowkey funny and then they just give her shit for it LMAO

THEN as adam and lute spend more time together, unexpected feelings get involved and when they finally accept it, they entertain a revenge cheat thing. Like if Lilith’s gonna cheat on him? Fuck it, he’ll do it back, and then he divorces her after she finds out so she can get a taste of her own medicine. Around like a month passes and after some legal proceedings, he gets the rights to the old marital house and lets Lute hang around there sometimes, also letting her crack out on some of the property he was able to get too. And boy is it satisfying when they take advantage of that same bed Adam caught Lilith and Lucifer in one time. Revenge coming full circle.

MY BAD FOR THE HUGE YAP SESSION COULDNT HELP MYSELF obviously a lotta details might change but heres this random ass premise i stirred up at *literally* 1:00AM thanks for reading this whole shitshow if u somehow made it this far im literally gonna write this i swear i cant wait

[termagax]

i hesitate to reblog my comic pages a whole bunch of times because i have a lot of personal gripes and things i dont think look very good or i wouldve done differently or reworked if i hadnt been so fed up with it ESP. the dialogue im so bad at dialogue and i worry that reblogging it a bunch is gonna let other people notice that especially so long after ive made it. but also there are a few panels tjat ARE so so so cute

these first ones especially look good and i KNOW thats because the entire comic was just to give justification to THIS SHOT i LOVE this shot i was havign DREAMS avout this shot i have 5 different abandoned attempts to write it out in a fic i spent days thinking of nothing except how badly i wanted to cut his hair and run my hands over it and kiss him on his stupid head and i think it REALLY shows. esp the angle of his head when its turned away from the camera like that looks SOOOO good to me.

this bits fine i think it couldve been laid out better and i wish i was good at lettering but the drawings themselves are fine. i DONT think i figured out how to draw this hairstyle like i dont think it comes across well unless you already know what hes supposed to look like. but its fineeee i like how square i made his head and i like the ideaaaa of making fun of him for being old so i think the interaction is cute enough to justify the jank

THIS PANEL ALSO. JUST SO CUTEEEEEEE theres a lot of jank w proportions and shape but again the interaction is everything to me i like the idea that he isnt really comfortable being looked at like that? like in my head hes not an insecure guy and clearly hes very very confident in himself and his appearance but i just dont think hes comfortable being. treated affectionately in that way ? if that makes sense? i know some people disagree with this but i just dont think he really dates or even really does hookups so i think hes just easy to fluster. hes a confident guy but the attention he gets is usually more people being scared or finding him weird or offputting or gross. scary dog. so i just like the idea that he gets embarrassed when they look at him or call him pretty. and also i like when he shrugs it off by being a dickhead.

i wish i liked the panels on the second page more but it was a huge struggle to figure out and id been working on it for like 8 hours and i was so annoyed and none of the panels were turning out and i couldnt come up with anything better than the PLACEHOLDER DIALOGUE. and the panelling is ROUGHHH like the layout is just not good and i dont think it communicates what i wanted to.

but THIS panel is so cute to me I LOVE THEMMMMMM my friends my best friends. you can actually see on the hand here and a few other shots on this page i was STRUGGLING w my lines and was trying out a different technique that my best friend nini suggested where you block in a sillouhette and then erase out the middle chunk. and it looks really cool i like the look of it but i think you can clearly tell which things are done that way and which ones arent so its a bit jarring. but i DO wanna use that more because it looks good it just kind of conflicts with my normal process so i have to find a Project. it doesnt work well w an undersketch so i tend to use it when a pose just is NOT coming together or when i can really see it in my mind and just cant get the structures to work out.

this shot is ALSO REALLY CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEE I LOVE HIS FACE. this comic was fun because i usually use his long hair to cover his face (because i think its cute and cheeky to not show his face as much as possible and esp. when hes younger i just like the idea that he sort of hides it even before he had the mask.) so i dont have to worry about his expressions as much so it was FUN to get to draw his whole face. but also it changes the balance of what details i have room for? idk if you guys have noticed but i try to keep my shapes really distinct and my art not too busy so there are pieces where i will fully leave out details i think are there especially his facial piercings (youll notice he doesnt have them in this comic) and sometimes even his scar if the piece is too busy in the head/torso region. and a lot of times between his bangs and the way i do his facial hair i just end up leaving the scar out or leaving it as light implication. but it is always there. so because his hair is out of his face i got to consistently include it (though not every panel - see the one i talked about earlier? i leave it out there because i think itd make the blush lines not read as well and i was trying to stick to black and white.) and that was interesting to proportion. BUT ANYWAYS. this panel is so cute i think everything came out really well and i kind of nailed the style i was going for with it like the tooneyness is just totally there. i struggle sometimes with figuring out the right way to do his jawline and i think this one just clicked so nicely and its exacltly what i wanted it to look like.

although if youll permit me to ramble EVEN LONGER i worry sometimes that going so cartoony means he doesnt look "like roadhog" like ovw has such a semirealist style which i hardcore struggle with sometimes (and u can tell in this comic when i do try for that it doesnt looook as good) and i worry that im abstracting the realness out of him and not communicating it as well as some of the artists i really look up to who are SUPER good at striking that balance btwn cartoony exaggeration and expression and realistic weight and proportion (im not gonna namedrop but youve certainly seen me gush about their stuff before). it wouldnt bother me so much if he had like a canonical face like i dont sweat it with rat everyone knows what rat looks like but this is a guy i made up in my mind so i REALLY WANT to be able to communicate what i think he looks like so i get nervous doing these abstractions. but ultimately i think those abstractions are the better half of my work they just look better and i basically only draw for me anyways so leaving details implied works fine for me (ie: when i see his face in my head i think he has a lot more signs of age. but i leave them out because it would clutter the place too much)

anyways sorry for the impromptu directors commentary i just think SO MUCH abt my art and every decision i make has like 900 years of thought behind it and i like to talk. thanks if you read this far i love you 🫶

[lookingforhappy]

So, be honest, how are you doing? Are you gonna be okay? Cause I'm ridiculously upset tbh. I kept feeling weird watching the show (but some parts of episode 1 were kinda nice).....then the incident happened. Then basically everything was on fire.

took me a while to process the season tbh i think everyones collective disgust is helping honestly bc it means i can go ahead and write/draw/hc stuff that ignores it or changes it wildly lol

i thought the majority of the show was pretty medicore, not the worst thing they could have done just not as in depth as it needed to be.

the puke scene was a bad shot at humour that i hated but if i sat here listing every bit that i hated then id be here all day and honestly i dont know if ill ever do that because theres just too much to list.

i checked out entirely once five said they all had to die to fix the world and then it just kept getting worse and worse and my literal nightmare scenario happened.

how many times do we need to re learn that any variant of "it was all a dream" doesn't work??? the only and i mean only time ive seen it done well is inception (funny bc elliot page is in that too) and that whole movie is about dreams which is why it works.

(little hope is another example of a story that pulled the "it was all a dream" thing and lost 90% of its audience because of that ending)

just honestly why. who did they think would like this??

when five ran out on them and got on that train i was so sure that they were going to do a sacrifice end with five.

he had lost literally everything, his families trust, his girlfriend, his dream life (living comfortably in a world he understands with someone he loves

as bad as five/lila was - and believe me i have many problems with it from a characterisation standpoint from both perspectives - it was an interesting move for exploring fives psyche and wants... like he has always been the family man but when presented with something he understands as intimately as solitude and survival but with the comforts of a stable world, food source and someone to be with)

like he was set up perfectly to die and be redeemed through that (again, not something i like but something that would have been better), have diego be with him during his final moments and have five apologise for cheating with lila and confess that he only did it in the throes of surivial induced insanity/desperation and that he always wanted diego happy. end with five dead but remembered, and the family alive.

then it lit on fire. like it was smoldering before but yeah like you said a literal housefire erupted in that last episode. the ending pissed me off so bad i can never enjoy that season again - literally tried to rewatch the season to try and understand it better but couldnt start the final episode bc its awful.

idk im just praying that not everyone leaves this fandom for dead because i know theres some amazing fic writers out there and the series itself was good for 1 - 3 seasons.

[transfemlogan]

I need your pin conspiracy board now on who the suspect is.

so originally i assumed it was ganic, my friend who writes nsfw fics . i brought them up cuz they wrote me an analoceit fic & mnted i couldnt link it cuz of That. i was like oh r they like.... saying that the nsfw is the problematic thing? or do they know what theyre specifically writing abt that makes it problematic???

but i write nsfw content too & have a whole ass blog 4 it (whispers everyone 18 & up should ask 2 follow it i post cool stuff). so i was like... if ur upset abt that u have another thing coming........... /silly

BUT then i was like is it DANIE DEOSTYX? bcuz i have this user blocked 4 making me uncomfortable & then they got in contact w/ me thru a different acc & i unblocked them. then they told me 2 "beware" of danie deostyx bcuz . of a lot of bullshit none of it was that big of an issue & im nimot gonna get in2 it cuz thats danies shit but THERE WAS A LOT THAT WAS GOING ON .but that user sometimes sends me anons . i know who it is like every time they do it & i thought maybe thats what it was?

AND THEN i was maybe its about PAST stuff??? are they talking about chance sankiisides???? bcuz he got run off twitter 4 supporting bisexual lesbians but like . if THATS what the issue is, I support bi lesbians too . so like if thats what ur upset abt ..... u have another thing coming........

hell i even thought abt ozzy t4t-apexeclipse a second like. thomas criticiser. is that the problematic part. WHO ARE WE TALKING ABOUT

BUT... with the most recent ask i think that 1. its a troll but 2. if its not i think theyre talking abt ashley warnadude. bcuz theres a few criticial blogs that r vaguing abt her (or mnting. her whole ass username. not even vague abt it) & like. "they are criticising him but r still nice 2 him !!!" or whatever the fuck theyre trying to say. & i was like is THAT the silence & ignorance theyre talking abt??? like refusal 2 talk abt thomas??

but . me & ashley dm often. i know what they feel & think abt things. i am very aware of their opinions . so arguably im more aware than any of u fucks

i dont know. maybe its someone im not even thinking about. who are all my mutuals.

[ibusukiss]

Boueibu Rewatch

Thursday's for the Boys! 4

Season 1 - Episodes 10-12

Episode 10

MEGAWA!!! my favorite side character!!!! I was still deep in love with Free! when this came out so Nagisa's VA showing up was super exciting

i have always been fascinated by the heat pack(?) HANGER that Gora has...is that a jp thing?

tbh...i like megane yumoto more than normal yumoto ^^;

kinchan doesnt give a f abt yumoto's good manners

atsu are u saying a cold is a gateway drug to mental illness...?

The Door!!! Ohhhh how many smut fics ive started writing over the years have hinged (no pun intended) upon that door being there

AKU MADE KOUHAI TOSHITE!!

unrelated to the episode but when this was airing i was taking an 8am class and an asynch-online class and id come home on tuesday after my 8am and Forbid myself from watching the new ep until i was done with my online class homework. i think it posted on CR at 10 or 11am PST? mannnn, community college schedule, i miss you T_T

ok was the blast from ryuu's love stick Very penis shaped or am i just dirty minded :O

megawaXentirebaseballteam fic when

"we were all waiting for you bc we cant say some bullshit about love ourselves" or smthn

Episode 11

i REALLY dont remember this ep

is this the only time wombat calls them 'missionaries of love'? that deffo has a different connotation...

Ryuu youre so wrong thai curry is the best

kinchan's trauma is curry-scented

actually insane what this whole plot ended up being about

BAKA PAWA

glad yumoto supports gora's kink exploration

deffo the biggest stretch for a transformation all season

wow its so funny that student just know there's weird magical boys with blurry faces around

KINCHAAAAAAN DARK AURITE!!!!!!! ICONICCCCC

such a choice for them to find out who the other team is at the Very End

io has his priorities

god i love how petty this whole thing is

aaaaa them referencing back Atsu and En's fight!!!

gora's brocon senses tingling

man i just love the evil student council trope

Episode 12

FINALEEE

there really is an element of Surveillance and Privacy that couldnt easily been touched on more here, Kinchan's reaction skims the surface of it, but it could be So Much More (the theme of my feelings about this show in general)

my question is...is Boueibu the real show, the same show all the aliens watched?

NANDATTE

WOW i completely forgot Gora was a monster

kabuki rule is deffo my favorite 4th wall break here haha

akorima together here was So Important to me

Akoya PUNCHHHHH!!

oh he says akoya here too :D

that tiny akorima conversation fed me for MONTHS

THIS KINATSU MOMENT!!!!

moa betta rabu meikingu was such a choice

my thesis is that LOVE is scifi and HK is fantasy

aaaaaaa i have watch just thiw kinchqn moment more than anything else in this ep lol

did they imply hireashi banged his supervisor?

my gf is watching with me and she says hireashi belongs on adult swim lmao

hhhrhrrr akoya with his hair up is so cuuute

____

that was season 1!!! this show genuinely changed my life, i owe it so much happiness and joy throughout all these years <3

(Fair warning to all who are reading this - season 2 is my least favorite by far so i am gonna probably be more critical of it than s1 or s3. if you love s2 and dont wanna read me bitching about it, i get it! no need to read it lol lets just say i am looking forward to when we get to HK :P but im sure thats not a surprise)

[bitwynn]

Something worth more than this

A SAGAU Impostor AU Songfic

Song used: Peace and Love on the Planet Earth

So I'm not sure if you can tell but this is the songfic request i alluded to in the Not A Fan "Author End Notes". I'm planning to make this a two-parter considering the fact that my... i guess sort of "format(?)" , calls for me to only have one song per fic lol-- also because i, as i was mulling this over in my brain during the few days i couldnt write due to Life Circumstances, got a TONNNNN of ideas and have already made a bit of a whole perfect two parter story AHAHAH-- literally, the only part i fucked up in was which song to use first because i had two versions in my head. one that used Peace and Love first and another that used Mother Tongue first. I kinda just-- gave up on figuring out which song to use first and just looked at the request for the placement of the song lollll. I am still very sick as i write this so thats gonna be. Fun.

@jjovin321 this ones for you bud (no shit you requested it AHAHA--)

Blue for Barbara, Yellow/Gold for Zhongli, Green for Wanderer, Red for Diluc, Italics is Reader/General, Bold is Xiao, Combined is Everyone. Colors and effects only used for song parts mostly. Sometimes Italics will be used for emphasis and the like. Some lines will be altered slightly to better fit the story. Please read with this in mind.

---

"Hey, uhm... Li?" The man turns to you, a questioning look in his amber eyes. "Yes?"

Sheepish, you scratch your head. "This might be a weird ask but uhm..." What were you supposed to say to him? What can you even say to him?

You and your group were deep in the stone pillars and mountains that dotted Minlin, at risk from the Adepti that take residence in the area, but safe thanks to the fear and respect the people have thanks to these Adepti. You had suggested going through Huaguang Stone Forest thanks to its treacherous terrain that even your once-Vessels have trouble navigating, but Zhongli had pointed out the Adepti problem that you'd completely forgotten about.

You had tried to find a safer, and more Adepti-less route, but you all knew that the Millelith and the other Vessels would be crawling over every spot in Liyue they could cover. With that, you were forced to go to the belly of the beast.

Meaning, that because you were in such a highly dangerous area with not only the area itself being the problem, but also the beings residing in it, you shouldn't make these such... selfish requests. Hell, you were currently figuring out a way to go through Huaguang without gliding all over the place or swimming through the lakes that the stone pillars emerge from. Cloud Retainer or Mountain Shaper could just effortlessly pluck you out of the sky, and Ganyu could just freeze you to death underwater. You couldn't waste brainpower on such frivolous things.

But fuck-- you can't just tell them that 'oh hey guys, I'm really homesick and I constantly just wanna curl up into a ball and die! I miss everyone back home so much, please help me, it hurts so much!'

You had to stay strong. For you, and for them.

No-- no, you are strong. What you're trying to do is to just look strong and, god isn't that fucking hilarious? What use would looking strong be to these people? Wanderer watched you have a breakdown the first time you met because you ate his food, Barbara has seen you half dead way too many times for anyone to see anyone be half dead, Zhongli constantly throws you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes everytime you start getting chased, and Diluc was the one to teach you basic self defense which resulted in an ass beating everytime you spar.

These people, they've all seen you and each other at their lowest and weakest points. And they've never condemned any of you for being this way. It is, quite literally, just you and them against the world. So why feel ashamed to ask them of this one thing?

"Can you teach me how to use my powers?"

Their love and care and your complete and utter trust in them still won't stop you from trying to save at least a little bit of face though.

Zhongli takes a moment, cocking his head in thought. "Seeing as we're currently out of ideas on how to cross Huaguang without risk, or at least as little risk as we can afford... alright." He smiles a little to himself, old memories that you've never seen shining in his eyes. "Who knows, we may even find a way to cross safely as I teach you."

Your little group is currently situated in one of the hanging huts-- really, it was more of a little alcove that Zhongli carved out of one of the pillars. You still remember his pleased look as you watched him press his hand against the rock, and you gawked as the stone began to mold to his will. And now, that's what you're trying to recreate.

"Wait, wait, wait-- can you tell me that again one more time? I've been trying but, I'm not sure if I get it?"

Zhongli, as patient as a sage, nods and explains to you once again. "What I do when I mold and shape the earth is to connect with the Geo energy within it. As the earth is just Geo in a different form, I merely begin to impose my will upon it after the connection. It's--"

"Yes, yes, 'it's very similar to your own abilities to possess us as Vessels so maybe try to think of it more like that', we get it!" The Wanderer groans as he lounges at the lip of your alcove, disguised by a low hanging Sandbearer tree. His leg sways back and forth off the lip as he goes on. "At this point, I'm the one who's learning how to become the 'new Geo Archon' with how many times you ask him to repeat that."

"Bitch, the Avatar took 3 fucking seasons to learn fire bending! I have like-- 3 extra elements to learn here and I am literally just starting!"

The Wanderer merely gives you a side eye. "How long was the three seasons?"

"Like... 2 to 3 years? Maybe 4-ish?"

"How long have you been here?"

"...Couple months or so?"

He smiles.

"And how long did this 'Avatar' take to master each element?"

You feel yourself shrink. "Like... uh... couple months at most, I think."

His grin widens and he nods his head. "I rest my case."

"Hey, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

"Now, calm down y/n," Zhongli starts, gripping your shoulder. "With enough time and guidance, you'll be able to handle Geo with the same ease as I do-- maybe more, considering your... special circumstances."

He brings your attention back to the rock you've been trying to bend for what feels like hours. "Maybe we should start with you. Because to me, it feels like you already understand the instructions and are capable of doing it. But, your way of going about it might be what's holding you back." He tilts his head. "What were you trying to do, y/n?"

You feel your face heat as you begin to squirm under his gaze. You take a breath, and sigh. "I... I wanted to make a guitar."

You had turned your eyes downwards to the rock, drawing spirals with your finger. "It's... It'd be nice to have something I can actually play." To have something of home. Even if its just a pale imitation of the one back there.

You feel his gaze soften as he comes closer. "Now... I think I see the problem here." Your own gaze doesn't lift, still staring at your twiddling fingers. "You sure?"

He hums. "Just a hunch, I suppose." He takes your hands and places them back on the rock. "I believe that... you were trying to meld the rock into a guitar but, were trying to do it all in one go."

You lift your head, Zhongli sounding like he had said these next few words millions of times before. "The shape you were conjuring is much too complex for someone of your skill level. But, that doesn't mean we can't make this."

He gestures back to the rock. "First off, simplify the shape of the item you're conjuring. Focus on the large main shapes. If I were trying to make a sculpture of a bird, then I would simplify it first into a small circle for the head, and then an oblong for the body."

You look back to the rock, connecting with its naturally occurring Geo energy. You take a calming breath and close your eyes to focus. "Then... if I were to simplify a guitar... it would be..."

You think back, way back to before you appeared here. Back to your normal life, with your friends and family. You think back on those afternoon jamming sessions with your friends as you'd sing and mess around and teach each other your instruments. You think back to the stories your father had told you, about wooing your mother with a serenade as he'd teach you one of the many songs he'd sing for you and for her.

You remember how you would tap, tap, tap on the guitar-- a makeshift drum as you jammed with friends. You remember the sting and the bite of the hard metal strings as your father taught you how to play a few songs. You remember playing the most basic of meme songs to troll your friends; loved ones leaving their own special marks on you and their guitars.

You smile as you think back to those happy memories way back then. "It would be... that weird sort of number 8 shape for the body..." You remember signing your name on the body of your friend's sticker covered guitar, and how you always gushed over how cool it looked. "...and the long-ass neck for the strings." You remember your father as he was stringing his guitar, how he always warned you to be careful with the E string as it was so thin and prone to snapping if tuned too tight.

You couldn't see it but Zhongli nods with a smile, watching you work. "Second, you add the larger details by redistributing the Geo around your structure. You could add more Geo by using the earth around you but, that's a lesson for another day. Now just focus on moving the Geo around. Back to my 'bird sculpture', I'd take some Geo energy from the main oblong body and move it to the head-- giving it eyes and a beak. I'd also slim the oblong body and make it more bird-like as I do so, moving the other extra Geo down to make feet."

You nod, trance-like as you dig deep in your memories.

The body would need to be hollowed of course, the extra Geo serving to fatten the neck a little and provide some detail to the head. Details like pegs, and tuners, and the little raised platform where the strings rested so they weren't completely flat on the fingerboard. And you can't forget about the frets, it wouldn't sound or feel right if you didn't have them.

You hum a little, the memories of old bringing a smile to your face. The pick guard needs to be a little below the soundhole-- afterall, that's where your hand'll hit when you start strumming. Speaking of strumming, the strings need a bridge to hold them down. Can't just have them attached to only the pegs or they'd be useless.

Zhongli chuckles, causing you to open your eyes. His smile is wide as he regards you with the softest expression, the corners of his eyes crinkling with pride. "Well... I was supposed to coach you on how to do some of the finer detail work but, it seems that I don't need to y/n." He nods at you, the rock in your hand feeling a little less like a rock.

You look down at it, and... "Oh my god. Oh, oh my god... Oh my god, Zhongli... I..."

There it was. An almost perfect copy of your friend's and family's guitar right in your hands. Actually, it would be more accurate to describe it as a fusion of the two instruments-- this guitar taking bits and pieces of the ones in your memories and bringing them to life here in Teyvat.

"Li... Li, I-- I'm so--" you take a deep, wet, shuddering breath. "I..." He merely brings you into a hug, you melting into his arms. "You did good. You did wonderfully, y/n."

You stay there together for a few moments, as you quietly fell apart in his arms. And with one final, shuddering breath, you pull away, looking up at him with a teary-eyed smile. "Thank... thank you, Li. I-- I wouldn't have done this without you." He huffs. "Only because I have an exceptional student."

You blush with praise as he inspects the guitar in your hands. You watch his eyes sparkle and widen, clearly impressed. "May I? Thank you." He lifts the guitar with your, admittedly, reluctant permission, careful fingers flitting about and checking over it. "I imagine that you want this to be a playable structure, yes? Because other than that, this is an impressive guitar structure."

He runs a finger across the strings, rock hard and immovable. "Honestly, the only thing you need to do is to change the composition of some of the material and it would be perfect! Of course, you'd most likely make adjustments to the thinness and thickness of the rock once you start hearing the sound, but overall-- this guitar is of exquisite make, y/n."

Zhongli hands you back your guitar. "I'm quite proud." You take it back, the blush slowly dying down on your face. "...Thanks."

Muscle memory overtakes your fingers as you press chords into the stone strings. The sting of your uncalloused fingers bringing bittersweet memories of your old life. "So... when will I learn to actually, ykno-- turn this into something playable?" "Oh, thats much too advanced for someone of your level, y/n."

The Wanderer bursts out laughing as you squawk in indignation. "WHAT THE FUCK?! That's directed to both of you by the way, but-- what the fuck?" "I'm merely saying that your control over Geo is impressive for someone who has, quite frankly, never done such a thing before. Even those with Visions could not have had that same sort of mastery at your level. But converting Geo into its other forms is a different beast than sculpting. You have to fundamentally change what form the Geo is currently taking-- much more different than moving it around with precision."

You hiss at Wanderer, who blows you a raspberry, as he keeps watch by the opening. Zhongli continues. "I as well, needed much time and practice to refine my control and ability over Geo and its many forms. I could adjust it for you but," He glances over to your silently fuming face, earlier so melancholic in its reminiscence. "I'm assuming you'd want to do it yourself. The next best thing if you want it now is to use the practice of alchemy to convert the sandstone into other materials. Alas, this is one of the few things I am not as knowledgeable on."

He glances to the rest of the team for help, who were peacefully just resting their tired arms and legs on a soft pile of leaves. Diluc speaks up from where he'd been using his folded coat as a pillow. "I've worked with the chief alchemist before on occasion and still remember those few moments where y/n used me to make 'character ascension' materials." He frowns in contemplation as he thinks back to those times.

"I remember that you'd be able to use the 'Dust of Azoth' to convert different kinds of pure, crystallized elemental energy into other elemental energy but, I'm not so sure if you'd be able to use it on... sandstone, you said?" Zhongli nods. "Yeah, there's a high likelihood of that not being able to happen. Dream Solvent is also a risky option, since it only works on 'boss drops' as y/n calls it."

"Well, they're dropped by bosses-- what else am I gonna call them?"

Barbara pipes up, chuckling at your remark. "The only other option I can think of is magic, but the only ones I know are mainly focused on Hydro and healing. But..." She trails off, twiddling her fingers from where she's using Diluc as a pillow. "If you're this proficient in just-- sculpting Geo, then maybe you'd also be that proficient in conversion too!" She suddenly turns sheepish as she scratches her head. "I mean... you are Overseer of Teyvat. There's no reason it wouldn't come easily to you."

"Yeah, its literally the entire reason we're wanted fugitives in every single corner of Teyvat." The entire mood of the alcove shifted as the Wanderer spoke, tone perfectly level as he sits on the edge; his back ramrod straight and legs still in the slowly blowing breeze. His voice is perfectly neutral, none of the usual snark or confidence or playful sass.

Something's wrong.

You kept your posture perfectly casual, fingers still playing with the stone strings of your guitar while in your head, you were scrolling through your weapons options to at least try and defend yourself from-- whatever it is that's alerted him. Everyone's doing something mostly the same, Barbara flipping through the pages of her Mappa Mare like it was just a regular atlas and not a weapon of mass destruction. Wanderer's fingers rapped on his bell, the movement making its clapper sway, its twinkling sounds deafeningly loud in your silence.

He kept his gaze forward, to the stones of Huaguang. Watching. Waiting.

Diluc casually laid a hand on his hip, as if it wasn't the perfect setup for a slash, and Zhongli merely poured himself a cup of tea, trusting in his power as Archon of the land.

Wanderer turns his head to the side and you see his eyes, casually taking in the beautiful scenery as if he wasn't looking for something. He begins to speak. "You know, it's rather pathetic for them to be chasing us down. Rather-- I think that its perfectly in character for them to do so. I mean," He shrugs with a scoff, cocky and insufferable. "are they that stupid as to not realize the differences between you and their 'Divine Excellency'?"

He's taunting them out.

You play along, the role of the 'Divine Deceiver' coming unnervingly easily to you. "Oh, please. They wouldn't recognize Lord Barbatos even if he descended with his godly form in their face. Oh wait--" The laugh that bursts out of your mouth is more of a cackle, the perfect lure.

And finally, the finishing blow-- "I... really didn't know, y/n. I'm sorry..."

Barbara, the perfect image of a confused girl who's lost her way.

"Oh, its alright Barbara," you coo, the whiplash from scheming cruelty to innocent dove almost certainly driving the hit home. "He was merely shirking his duties as the God of Mondstat! And for what? To get wasted every night at Angel's Share?" You scoot closer to her, Zhongli softly blowing on his steaming cup. "So, he's both a liar and an irresponsible god! But don't you worry Barbara, your Divine Overseer is here now." You let her take your hand and kiss it, the very image of reverence and worship.

Barbara nuzzles up to your hand, the tension almost palpable in the air as you all wait for the shoe to drop. Zhongli must've sensed your growing panic, speaking up into the silence. His eyes are soft as he talks. "Yes... thank you for your descent here to Teyvat, your grace." His face sombers, setting down his tea. "I've grown weak in my thousands of years of living, and have had to shirk my duties to my people just like that drunken fool."

He's done well to ease your panic, but it's only replaced by growing dread as he continues to talk. "I... I cannot thank you enough for forgiving me for my incompetence as Overseer of Liyue. I can only hope that my servitude to you will make up for that." Zhongli, whenever he plays his role, never quite lays it on this thick.

Though he's felt remorse and doubts when he stepped down from being the god of Liyue, he has never seen himself as incompetent or weak. He is, afterall, Morax the Warrior God and God of Contracts. Everything he does, he completes to absolute perfection. This self deprecation can only mean one thing.

Oh.

Oh, no.

It's Xiao.

A burst of black and green light-- Anemo energy, blinds almost everyone inside, Diluc and Wanderer still safe thanks to their positions. "Slander!" Xiao hisses. "This is slander and lies, Morax!" You claw at his arms as he grips you in a chokehold. "Do not listen to a single word that leaves this-- this charlatan's mouth!" Zhongli, if he wasn't already, sits straight up and his voice booms with a level of power and authority that none of you have ever heard before.

"Stand down, Xiao." This, this is Morax, the God of War himself speaking.

He summons his blade, the Primordial Jade Spear, and points the edge to your neck. Wanderer stands by the entrance, orbs of black Anemo in his palms and at the ready. Diluc is standing, the blinded Barbara behind him and Wolf's Gravestone at the ready. "Take it back."

You could almost feel the cool jade against your neck with how close its getting to you. "Take it all back Morax-- they're just lies that this vermin," Xiao practically spits the insult out like phlegm. "has wormed into your head." Morax's eyes narrow as he rises, his height making him tower over the Vigilant Yaksha.

"I will not repeat myself again. Stand down, General Alatus."

Xiao bristles, tightening his hold on both you and his spear. You choke as the already agitated yaksha fumes, blade and hand mere moments away from taking your life. He stands his ground against the sheer authority rolling off Morax in waves. "No. No, I will not stand down. I will not stand down, Grand Marshal!"

Morax's eyes narrow as he summons his own spear, the Vortex Vanquisher. "No. No, what I will do, Grand Marshal, is to take this impostor," he speaks the insult with such venom. "before the Divine Overseer's throne not because I want whatever reward they're offering-- no. I am doing this because this faker has clearly poisoned your mind, Morax!" He turns to the rest of the tiny cave. "They've poisoned all of your minds with their lies!"

"I am doing this for the good of Liyue, Rex. For the good of Teyvat!"

And for a moment, his rage ebbs into something like desperation. "Please, understand-- I am doing this for you, I am doing this because of my contract and my duty to protect and serve you and Liyue and the people. Please..."

His eyes soften with sorrow, Morax melting away back into Zhongli as you choke and gasp for air in Xiao's grip. "I am afraid that there are many things you do not yet understand, Alatus."

And Xiao's rage returns, climaxing into a roaring burst of Anemo energy.

"Disappear!" And he left just as he came, with a burst of black and green Anemo energy, Diluc and Wanderer stumbling as they had lunged after you to no avail.

-

You're currently high in the air above the stone pillars of Huaguang Stone Forest, Xiao having shed part of his human form to free the more beastial parts of his Adepti form-- A large and beautiful pair of dark green wings, shimmering golden in the sunlight. The sight of his wings would've been a wonder to look at as you flew through the sky, if you weren't currently hanging by his talons with his spear still pressed to your neck. The threat of death does certainly ruin the whole experience.

The pressure of the blade to your neck is light as you squirm. "Let me go, Xiao!" He tsks. "Believe me, I'd love to just let go of you and watch as you splatter against the rocks and erase your feeble mortal existence from this world. But, I'm going to present you, you impostor, to the Divine Overseer so that they may properly judge you for your blasphemy against them."

You squawk in fear and indignation. "I MEAN'T LIKE-- PUT ME DOWN SAFELY AND LEAVE ME ALONE?!" Another tsk. "Just keep your mouth shut lest I change my mind." You gasp in indignation. "You wouldn't dare!" You cling onto his talons anyways.

It seems like it was the correct decision, seeing as his grip loosened greatly. Xiao chuckles as you cling to him, fingers practically digging into his feet. "Normally, the suffering of the people is something I greatly despise. But, this does bring a smile to my face."

You squeak, the panic and fear festering in your heart finally fully showing itself. "Please-- please can't we just talk this out or something?!" He scoffs. "Like I'll listen to you and your saccharine lies and silver tongue." His grip tightens, enough to draw blood. You shout in pain as he continues. "I don't know what magicks you did or what words you said to them that-- that turned them all this way, but know this, deceiver."

It stings; the way he says your undeserved title, and the talons digging into your flesh. "It will stop now. You, and your lying, and scheming, and blaspheming-- It will all be paid for. With your life, with your blood-- with whatever the Divine Overseer sees fit. And when you are gone from this world, I will make sure that everything you've done-- everyone's minds you've poisoned, everyone that you've harmed-- I will be sure to make it all right again. Do you understand, you fake?!"

Yeah, okay-- you had to agree. The whole playing into your roles thing is really hurting all your reputations. But that's something to be worried about later, the intensity of the situation having reached its peak for you.

You're heaving-- gulping as much air into your lungs as you shake; trembling in his grip. Your heart's pounding, a rabbit-like pace, as you claw at his talons, babbling and begging. "Please-- please, let me go-- you, you don't understand Xiao, please! I can explain everything, please, god, don't kill me! Please, please, please!"

The floodgates break, tears and snot streaming down your face. "God-- fuck! I never even wanted to be here-- I never even to be like this! Fuck-- fuck! Xiao, please-- please, I just want to go home!"

Something changed inside him, with only the barest off-beat wing flap indicating the seed of doubt planted in his heart. He growls, deep and guttural and angry. "I won't listen to your lies. Not now, not ever."

But with the way you begged for your life... it didn't feel like a lie.

Unfortunately, the beginnings of his inner turmoil go unnoticed to you, the panic and fear reaching its climax. You needed to get away, you didn't want to die yet. You needed to go somewhere else-- anywhere else as long as you were safe and alive and away from him. Your mind instinctively goes to the nearest Waypoint, but the realization hits you as you were about to teleport away.

The Vessels know how the Waypoints work now. Thanks to you, those "strange, four pronged landmarks" became a source of fast-travel for the Vision-holders. The Vision-holders that were currently hunting you. Vision-holders that would be watching and waiting at those same Waypoints, waiting for you or any of your party to appear in a golden flash of light.

You would die if you teleport yourself away, the Vision-holders and the militia camping at those structures.

You would die if you resist Xiao's grip, falling to your death or slamming into one of the stone pillars that dot Huaguang.

You would die if you give up, your doppelganger most definitely looking to make you suffer as you breathe your last breaths.

All roads lead to your demise.

But-- no-- no, it cant be. You can't die just yet-- you can't just leave them behind like that. You can't just betray Wanderer, you can't hurt Barbara again, you can't let Diluc lose another loved one again, you can't let Zhongli lose the few remaining dredges of family he has left. And even though Teyvat would never, ever let you die-- not truly at least, dying hurts. Dying always hurt so much.

You have to live.

For you, your newfound family and friends, at least until you can find someway to-- to fix this. To fix everything.

You can't run away from this. Even if you wanted to.

You force yourself to calm down, slowing your breath and heart, but your mind still roiling with fear and anxiety. This is a do or die situation. What can you do? What can you do in this moment, with your feeble strength and abilities that won't end up in Xiao lobbing your head off, or falling to your death, or some other horrible ending to your fate?

You can surprise him-- Diluc and Zhongli had trained you with a sword when they could, Diluc's old Favonius Sword somehow both heavy and light in your hands in your short training sessions. But as soon as you'd bring out the blade, Xiao would probably slit your throat or drop you to force you to drop the sword.

Teleporting is out of the question, with each Waypoint practically swarming with bloodthirsty soldiers. What else, what else?!

You frantically look around Huaguang for something-- anything that could get you out of this. It's such a shame for Zhongli, he only wanted some peace and rest-- to live out the rest of his retirement in peace. But, unfortunately ever since you dropped into this world, he's not only hated and lambasted by his people, but also exposed as a god-- forever tarnishing him in their memory.

A touch of sorrow fills your heart, as Xiao flies you off. And to think-- he'd spent thousands and thousands of years protecting his people with his powers and spears, only for them to turn those same things against him. You still remember the sting as those spears and arrows rained down upon you and the group. And to think, he used to do the same to his enemies during the Archon War, just to protect Liyue and his people. You chuckle. How the tables have turned.

Wait... Spears... Archon War... Zhongli...

You have an idea.

Trusting Xiao to not let you go, you release your almost vice-like grip on his feet, looking out onto the stone pillars before you. You take a calming breath, calling onto Zhongli's teachings. The shiver that goes up your body is so much more different than the tremblings of fear you felt earlier, having connected with the pure Geo energy present within the pillars. You groan, this power filling and rushing within you overwhelming your senses. Is this what it feels like to be Zhongli?

Thinking back to earlier, when you had so effortlessly sculpted a stone guitar, you call out to the Geo energy in those pillars surrounding you-- each one of them answering in turn. You shiver, still unused to the surge of power inside you, Teyvat itself so willing and eager to answer your call. You impose your will onto the world around you, your wish deeply ingrained into each stone, each drop of water, and each blade of grass.

Save me.

Xiao, abruptly yanked out of his thoughts, stops mid-air as the pillars rumble and shake. "You dirty witch! What did you do?!" He flaps around frantically as the pillars begin to crumble and fall atop you. You gulp as you hang on to his claws, the two of you beginning to fall mid-air. "A trust exercise!"

-

Earlier...

"Dammit!" Wanderer shouts, as regains his balance. "Shit-- that damn adepti took them and just-- vanished!" He paces, grumbling as he tries toget his thoughts together. "Fuck-- Barbara, where's the nearest Waypoint? We might still be able to rush the soldiers if we get there now." "No, there's no need for that." Zhongli places a hand on Barbara's shoulder, who had frantically began paging her Mappa Mare.

"What do you mean there's no need for that-- He quite literally vanished! There's no other explanation for it than him going to a Waypoint!" He sighs, recalling his old memories. "Alatus, better known as the Adeptus Xiao, was once the mere hound of a god who had captured him. He was forced to do many horrible acts in that god's name, and was even made to eat the dreams of his victims."

The Wanderer crossed his arms. "And? What does his sob story have to do with y/n getting fucking kidnapped?" He ignored his rise, Zhongli continuing on. "Before I had freed him from his old master, before I bestowed upon him the name 'Xiao', he went by a different name. Alatus. This was because of what he was as an Illuminated Beast. Before he was Xiao, known as the Conquerer of Demons, efore he was Alatus, known as the Devourer of Dreams, he was known as Alatus, the Great Golden Winged. He was known for the beauty of his wings, and swiftness like no other."

"...Meaning that he used some sort of ancient adeptal magic to 'teleport' out of here?" Zhongli nodded at Diluc, who had regained his bearing. "Yes. There can be no other explanation." Wanderer speaks up. "And how are you so sure of that?" The once-Archon hummed as his eyes shone with Geo energy. Elemental Sight.

"There is a difference between Waypoint Teleportation and Xiao's Adeptal Teleportation. Whenever we use a Waypoint, we leave little to no elemental energy behind. On the off chance we do, the energy we leave behind is Null energy-- pure, unadulterated elemental energy that hasn't turned into one of the seven elements yet. It usually dissipates into whatever element is nearest to it, in most abundance, or most prominent. And the traces of Null energy are so miniscule that you'd miss it even if you're actively looking for it." Zhongli blinks away his elemental sight, gesturing to where Xiao and their Overseer once stood.

"This small area is condensed with Anemo energy, with trace amounts of Xiao's accumulated karma. He, therefore, cannot have used a Waypoint." Wanderer tch-ed, as everyone's eye's faded back into their regular shades. "Touché old man, touché."

"That's... fascinating but," Barbara had her Mappa Mare cracked open to the lands of Liyue, Minlin. "how are we supposed to track Xiao? We know that he's obviously taking them to the fake, and that y/n would do all they can to stop or at least delay him, but what path would he take?" She rubs her hands in worry. "Oh, we're surrounded by all sides with adepti! I'd know what paths and what distractions y/n would make but-- but what about Xiao? Would he fall for y/n's baiting and tricks? From earlier, it doesn't seem like he would and that any attempt y/n would make to slow him down wouldn't work..."

Diluc grumbles as he looks down onto the atlas. He sighs. "You know him best Li, we'll follow your lead." A nod.

"Alright. Wanderer, you have an Anemo Vision and you're the fastest out of all of us. Is there any chance you can use the residual Anemo energy to try and pin point his location? If not, do a close and general sweep of the area to try and figure out what direction he went. From there, you'll be our 'eye in the sky' as y/n would put it. You'll be the one guiding us to their location." He nods as he rushes where Xiao was, cupping his hands and filling them with Anemo.

"Barbara, seeing as you've spent the most time with y/n and have the added benefit of 'level 10 friendship', you'll be my advisor to whatever other variables and probabilities that they'd do or make for us. Like if they manage to somehow talk Xiao into putting them down, or if they shift into one of us to try to fight their way out." Another nod as she takes her place at his side.

Zhongli turns to the last of their group. "Diluc--" "Muscle?" A nod. "Apologies, old friend." He brushes it off. "It's alright. There's not much I can do here anyways." They exchange a nod as Zhongli kneels, pressing a hand into the rock. "I'll try to find them by communicating with the pillars or by the Geo signature of their stone guitar. They'd also unwittingly resonated with Geo earlier so this may be a little easier..."

Zhongli feels the Geo energy rush within him. He soaks it all in, feeling it fill up every part of him-- from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. He is positively thrumming with Geo, but no matter how much he takes in, it will never fill up the gaping hole left behind by the Gnosis. He pushes past that old ache, setting his eyes back on his objective.

When he speaks, every rock, every pebble, every boulder, every stone-- no matter how big or small or insignificant, all raise themselves in attention.

"Where is my god?"

The pebbles tumble and cry-- as the wind and waters move us to and fro, we do not know, oh, Lord of Geo.

The boulders rumble in their places-- as rain and time wear us down, we do not know, oh, Lord of Geo.

The grains of sand swirl and churn-- as the tides and the fish guide us 'round Teyvat, we do not know, oh, Lord of Geo.

The crystals gleam and shine-- as both adventurers and miners pick, pick, pick away at us, we do not know, oh, Lord of Geo.

Zhongli frowns, digging deeper and deeper within his connection with the earth. Deeper and deeper still, until he can find each speck of dust and soot by name. Until he can see his allies by the Geo energy emitted by the imperceptible dusting of earth on their bodies.

He speaks once more, urging the stones to sense their surrounding not just by the seismic sense that the natural world has on their forms but to open their eyes-- to see how their once-god saw the world around himself.

"Where is my god?"

The dirt in the breeze dances and twirls-- god, my god, rejoice! We have been graced by our Divine Overseer's touch!

The pure Geo energy shaped curiously like a person roils and churns-- god, my god, rejoice! We have been graced by our Divine Overseer's call!

The pillars shake with glee-- god, my god, rejoice! We have been graced by our Divine Overseer's will!

In the distance, Zhongli could both hear and feel the crumbling and collapsing of multiple of Huaguang's pillars. No-- rather, he himself were the crumbling pillars, stone stelai kneeling before their almighty god. He surfaces, weakening his connection and clearing his mind from the pure and unadulterated Geo that had overtaken him. Shaking away the desire to kowtow that he presumes is from the stone pillars (though he wouldn't be surprised if it came from deep buried instincts), Zhongli rouses to the image of the group waiting for him at the lip of their alcove.

Wanderer plays with a dark and karma tinted thread of Anemo. "I have a slight feeling I know exactly where y/n is."

-

You groan, having landed in a tangled feathery heap. You cough, waving away at the dust in the air as you try to take in your surroundings. Key word here being try, as you come to realize that the pillars had collapsed on top of you to perfectly form a small and yet sizable cavern. A cavern, mind you, with no light source.

You blindly grope around and wave your hands in the air. "Man, it'd sure be nice if I could see." And would you look at that? The next few random rocks you wildly flailed around at were bright, glowing ores of Cor Lapis, covered so heavily in dust and soot that you couldn't see their light. Perk of being god, you suppose.

After using the weak lights of the ores to find others to light up your tiny enclosure, you finally drink in your surroundings. It wasn't much really-- just some rocks, rocks, more rocks, Xiao laying bloody and bruised on the floor, couple more rocks...

"Oh shit-- Xiao!"

You rush to his side, cradling his head in your hands as he groaned in pain. You sucked in a breath, examining the rest of his body. It wasn't anything too major, thank goodness, but it was clear that when you landed, he took the brunt of the damage. You take a few breaths to calm down the rising panic in your chest. He might've wanted to skin you alive and turn you into a nice fur coat for that face-stealing copycat, but he doesn't have to die for it.

You dab away at the blood and dust beginning to cake his many wounds, Barbara's teachings echoing in the back of your mind.

He doesn't have to die. He doesn't know the truth.

You empty the small bottle of water into your now dirty cloth, wiping and cleaning away at the blood and grime on his body. A small frown forms as you stare at the heavily bleeding cut on his head. You know from Barbara's many lectures and the times you got really deep into Wikipedia articles at 3 am, that head wounds bleed heavily. When your head gets damaged, it bleeds much more compared to any other body part and that's normal. That's fine and okay.

But knowledge of things doesn't usually help irrational fears, as you turn his head to try and treat it. But you don't get much further than turning it to face you, as you are immediately met with the cold sting of metal on your neck. Xiao glares at you, gaze fierce but taut. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I assure you I won't fall for it."

You immediately freeze like a deer in headlights. "I wasn't trying to do anything!-- I mean I was, but it's nothing bad! I promise!" You and your hands are frozen still on the sides of his face as you watch his expression go through dozens of emotions you can't quite place. You'd love to look away, but the gentle pressure of the small dagger at your neck is quick to dissuade that idea.

After what feels like an eternity, he finally settles on a sort of neutral but piercing glare. "What were you trying to do then." Your gaze drops from his face, a red heat rising to your face. "There's a cut on your head. It's bleeding a lot and... and I got worried. I know head wounds do that, bleed a lot, but... but still. I got worried."

You could feel his gaze searching your slowly heating face. But you didn't care about that, eyes slowly drifting towards the blood and the wounds on his body. Fuck, couldn't you do anything right? If you took a different route like Nantianmen, or hadn't nagged the group for a break, or played into your rumors to tease him out or something, none of this would've ever happened. You wouldn't have gotten so close to dying multiple times, you wouldn't have almost killed Xiao when you begged Teyvat for help, you wouldn't have to complicate Zhongli's feelings with Xiao and the adepti and--

You take a breath, wet and slow.

And you wouldn't have your old guitar back. And you wouldn't have learned to at least control a tiny bit of your abilities. Wouldn't have given them the rest they so rightfully deserved and needed. Wouldn't have bantered or brought a smile to your friends faces.

In the end, there's no use to wondering and worrying about "what if"s and "could've been"s. The only thing you can do now is to make the best of what you've got.

A sharp hiss takes you out of your silent musing, Xiao attempting to sit up and failing. You barely register the lack of cold metal on your neck as you help him up, leaning him against the cavern wall. "Are, are you okay? I mean, you're obviously not-- you're fucking covered in blood, and bruises, and shit, but like-- you get what I mean yeah? Oh, speaking of!" You summon the first healing food that came to mind. Chicken Mushroom Skewers and a Sweet Madame. "I don't really have medical supplies but..."

You trail off, unsure if food having medicinal and magical healing properties is a normal thing. "...But I've found that having a full stomach helps?" Good save.

Xiao, whose mind has been roiling with confusion and contradictions and conflicting information this whole time, blinks at you in pained befuddlement. He clears his mind, or at least clears it as much as he can with a slight shake of his head. "It's... It's fine. Its just some mild bruising and minor injuries." Xiao stretches his wings in mild discomfort.

On a second thought, maybe those minor injuries weren't as minor as he thought, flinching hard at the pain that shot up his wing. Both of his wings. "Oh, shit! Are you okay?" "Don't touch me!" He slaps your hands away from where they were reaching out for his wings. Xiao scoots away from you, palming his dagger and glaring.

"Why are you suddenly acting like this?!" His Jade spear gleams in the soft light of the Cor Lapis, pointed at your neck. "Don't think your pretty words and silver tongue will worm its way into mind head and poison me like you did with Morax and the rest you've encountered!" The emotional whiplash and building conflict within him reached its breaking point. "Who-- What-- What is your plan here? Helping me and keeping me alive will only bring you more problems in the future! You have had ample opportunity to remove a potential-- not even potential, actual problem in, in whatever grand scheme or plan you have!"

He's heaving now, the roiling emotions in his chest taking over. "Unless you plan to have all of Teyvat in the palm of your hand, having us all grovel and cower like a dog at a table, begging for scraps. But-- but what was that?! Rex La-- Morax-- Zhongli would never topple the pillars of Huaguang like that! And seeing how precious you are to him, he'd never risk it at the chance of ending you."

He'd dismissed his weapon in the middle of his rant, burying his hands in his hair; the confusion and doubt clashing with the conflicting thoughts and emotions within him.

"But earlier-- no sane person would fall for the show you displayed earlier, so clearly scheming and conniving with your little group. So it was-- so it was a trap, bait for me to get in and--and... it was, it was bait-- a trap. A--A trap for me, I--"

It hurt. It hurt so much. He's so lost, so confused. Rex-- No, Zhongli. Zhongli was right. What was their goal here? What does he not understand?

He pulls at his hair, roaring in frustration.

Archons, he wants to understand. He wants to know what mysteries and truths are hidden from him yet. He wants to understand why he follows them, why those... supposedly brainwashed people were so eager to lay down their lives, why his Almighty Overseer had ordered this manhunt so easily and readily at the first rumor that this lookalike existed? Why his body aches and screams with pain as the seed of doubt begins to bloom in his chest?

It hurts. It hurts so much.

It's not supposed to hurt.

He clutches at his chest, the rising tide of emotions within him having empowered his age-old karmic debt. It claws and roils deep within his skin, the corruption reaching for his very being. He chokes, something burning, and inky, and tar-like deep in his throat, the feeling of drowning not far behind. Distantly, he hears himself screaming.

He claws at himself-- at his drowning neck, at his arms and legs bound in ancient burning rage and agony, at the many small wounds leaking both blood and a searing ancient hate. He claws at his back, at his wings-- wishing to tear them off so that their shining beauty and wonder may not be tainted by his eons of sins crawling up his spine. He can feel the karma reaching for them, a tiny and pure and clean part of himself that he had hidden from it so thoroughly until now.

"My-- My wings!--" He chokes, on air or karma or blood, he doesn't know. "Not-- not my wings!"

He feels gentle hands in his hair, pulling his head to rest on something warm and soft. Tears and spit covered his face. It had never hurt this bad before.

Your hands were shaking with panic as you brushed your fingers into his hair, having at least laid his head on a bit of folded fabric. "Sh, sh, sh," you cooed into his ear. "Just-- just breathe. Listen to my voice. Focus on my voice." Your voice cracked. "Please."

Xiao's head turns slightly to you, as he shook and writhed on the floor. He was delirious enough to listen to you. You gulp.

As you brush his hair and whisper sweet nothings into his tear and spit streaked face, you wracked your mind for-- for something-- anything that could help. You take a breath. Another. Panicking won't solve anything. But its hard not to. You feel him clutch your hand like a life line.

You remember... you remember an old voiceline-- Zhongli telling the traveler to deliver some painkillers to him. But-- no, that won't help right now. Zhongli isn't here, and you don't have the painkillers. Hell, you didn't even know how to make those painkillers. What else, what else...

Your eyes scanned the cavern, trying to find something that would spark an idea-- something that could help. Xiao whimpers in your arms. "Please... hurts... so much..." "I'm trying Xiao, just-- just hang on a little longer and you'll be okay, I promise." Come on, come on-- isn't there a character story or piece of lore that could help? Character story... lore...

You know what to do. You just weren't sure if it'd work.

You let go of him, resting his head back on the scrap of cloth you laid out for him. He whines in pain, reaching out for you but you let go of him nonetheless. "Sh, sh, sh... I'm here, I'm here, shhh... you'll be okay, it won't hurt anymore I promise."

You bring out your guitar, still more like a stone statuette than an actual guitar. You still weren't sure this was going to work, but it has to. It needs to. Its going to.

You take a breath, close your eyes, and call upon the Geo within you. Right now, this is just you and your guitar and your captive audience. No life-threatening dangers and prejudices, just you, and your music, and your avid listener.

You strum your hands across the strings.

"Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do,"

The notes ring out inside the cavern, the Cor Lapis almost pulsing with the sound.

"Do-mi-so-do,"

Despite the grim situation, you couldn't help the smile that creeps onto your face. You brush your hands onto the strings once more.

"Isn't it pretty?"

The ores seem to shine brighter in response. Your voice changes to match the next line.

"...how exceedingly simple."

Memories of an old but beloved show fill your mind.

"Do-mi-so-ti,"

Xiao's labored breathing slows.

"We're making music!"

Another strum.

"What is the point?"

You couldn't help the sudden beaming smile on your worn and worried face at his words. His breathing is still heavy, curling up into himself in pain.

"You're not-- making anything."

You could almost see it, back on your couch watching the show as this not so exact scene plays out on screen.

"Well, if it isn't anything, then why does it sound so good?"

He breathes, long, and hard, and deep; the pain is slowly subsiding from his body.

"I suppose its just interest,"

He ignores the tiny voice in his head, reminding him of the first time a god had calmed the karma within him.

"Do-mi-so-do,"

You keep playing the simple tune, memories of acting out certain scenes and songs with friends rising from the depths of your mind.

"Devoid of substance or purpose, a hypothetical pattern,"

Xiao lays there, still curled up on the floor.

"Do-mi-so-ti,"

He lays a wing over himself.

"For the satisfaction of bringing it to completion."

Xiao blinks. The weight of the karma on his chest is gone.

"Sure."

You try to remember the rest of the chords to the song, playing a little with the fingering.

"Do-mi-so-ti."

He tightens his curled position.

"Interest without meaning?"

Even the small pains from his scratches and bruises have faded.

"Solutions without problems?"

Despite the turmoil building up once again within him, you keep strumming at your guitar.

"And then you just add words!"

The words flow from your mouth easily, having sung this song thousands of times in a different life.

"Here's what I've been working on."

Xiao watches as your fingers skillfully fly on the guitar as you take a breath to sing.

"Life and death and love and birth,"

Oddly enough...

"And peace and war on the planet Earth."

Despite all the turmoil and confusion...

"Is there anything that's worth more,"

And his Overseer's warning to not fall for this impostor's trickery...

"Than peace and love on the planet Earth? Ooh-woah,"

He feels at ease with you.

"Come on and sing it with me!"

You were genuinely offering, despite it being the actual lyrics.

"Sing?"

Xiao raises an eyebrow, choosing to sort out... everything later.

"The words relate to the key,"

You smile, both to him and to yourself. No wonder your first Vessel was the Traveler.

"Key?"

You lean back, fingers still strumming on the strings of your guitar.

"If its a pattern, if its a pattern, then just repeat after me!"

You were just so full of love and wonder for this world. Steadfast, and strong-willed, and even willing to break bread, or in this case share a song, with a sworn enemy.

-

Life and death and love and birth,

Zhongli couldn't help but break into a small grin, the rocks and stones singing to him in your voice. With a small nudge to the Geo around him, they sung louder, loud enough for the group to hear.

Life and death and love and birth,

"Is that guy... singing along?!" Diluc huffed from where he was being carried by the Wanderer. "...yeah, okay, at this point I probably shouldn't be surprised anymore."

Now you sing mi-fa-mi-mi-fa-mi-ti-la,

Barbara cradled a singing rock in her hands from where she sat upon Zhongli's dust cloud. "...I think it's selfish of me to want to hoard them all to ourselves and just travel Teyvat like this."

And peace and war on the planet Earth!

Zhongli watches as his Memory of Dust endlessly locked and unlocked itself, using it to pilot the dust cloud they're to their destination. He stares ahead as she continues her musing. "...And I think y/n feels the same way too."

-

You clap with glee as he sings along.

"Yes, yes, that's it!"

Xiao scoffs, tentatively sitting up. He shoots you a look when he sees the flash of worry on your face.

"That's so easy."

You focus back on your playing, glad that it helped. You can already tell that you're gonna have a crazy freakout session after... all of this.

"Yeah, but that's what's fun about it,"

Your fingers flowed with ease on the strings, a perfect replica of the ones you have back home where they were once just stone. You have a feeling you're gonna go ballistic about this too.

"You should write something, you should write a song!"

Just like earlier, despite the suggestion being literally lyrics the in the song, you're genuinely asking.

"About what?"

You couldn't help but giggle to yourself at the curious but eager lilt in his voice.

"Whatever your thinking!"

You watch as a look takes over his face for a moment. He steels himself and sighs. Singing always helps release some pent-up emotions in your experience, so for someone with a special relationship with them like Xiao, it must be a huge relief.

He opens his mouth to sing.

-

I guess we're already here,

Zhongli watches as the Wanderer and Diluc finally reach them, a perfectly shaped dome in the middle of all this rubble and destruction.

I guess we already know,

Backing up to gain some momentum, Wanderer suddenly zooms forward and throws Diluc at the geode they're about to crack open.

We've all got something to fear,

Speeding like a bullet, he throws back his claymore and with a mighty scream and a mighty heft, he is set alight by Dawn. "Your verdict is--!"

We've all got nowhere to go,

The geode is sliced open, Dawn dancing and rising up into the sky. Zhongli waves his hand, his Memory pulsing with light, and the cut-off lid is caught by almost spiderweb-like threads of pure Geo.

There was nothing Xiao could do as the two of them were rushed by a sudden burst of Hydro and Anemo energy, the resulting Swirl preventing him from doing anything.

I think you're all insane,

You're whisked off into the Wanderer's arms, both of you zipping up high into the sky where the rest of your ragtag team is waiting upon Zhongli's dust cloud.

But I guess I am too,

Wanderer nods at him but before anything happens, you raise your hand. "Its fine. You don't have to do anything." The four of them share a look. "I have a feeling he won't follow us outta here."

Anybody would be if they were stuck in Teyvat with you.

After a beat of silence, they relent. The dust cloud churns as Zhongli takes you and the gang far and away from here. "Your 'feelings' have never failed us before." The Wanderer groans as he tilts his head back in annoyance. "And it shouldn't fuckin' start now, asshole. Do you even have any idea the hassle we have to do just to get you every time you get kidnapped?!"

You chuckle, fluent in the Wanderer's special type of emotionally constipated way of speaking. "Thank you for caring Wanderer. And I'm sorry for worrying you." You turn to the rest of the group. "All of you. I... I really am." The Wanderer merely scoffs and looks away. Diluc nods and says, "It's alright. Just... do try to not worry us too much next time yeah?" You smile. Despite it all, you smile.

"Ahahaha, yeah!"

Barbara tackles you in a tight hug. You eagerly reciprocate.

Life and death and love and birth and,

"I hadn't realized until now-- are the rocks singing?!" Zhongli, having sat down with his legs crossed, hands you a pebble. "It was the fastest way we confirmed you're alright."

Life and death and love and birth and,

"I know I should be used to it at this point with all the wacky-ass shit we encounter, but I'm still not over you making the 'Guardian Yaksha' sing!" Wanderer exclaims. You giggle, a memory popping up as fresh as day. "Well, it didn't take me much you get you to sing. And on our first meeting too!"

Life and death and love and birth and,

The two of you bicker as Barbara tries to mediate and Zhongli focuses back on whisking you all away. Diluc looks down at the destruction they caused in Huaguang, the cut open cavern of your geode like a glittering clamshell in the afternoon sun. He could barely make out Xiao's silhouette amidst all the Cor Lapis and Crystal Ore.

Peace and war on the planet Earth.

Satisfied that he wouldn't and/or couldn't follow them, Diluc turns back to the rest of you, the bickering having turned into friendly playfighting and banter. He looks at you and notices something amiss. He chuckles, getting everyones attention. "We went through all of that for your guitar, and you didn't even manage to save it." "Oh, no no no, I have it right here!" With a flash of light, you summon your guitar. It's looking awfully like the zither you bought at Liyue. "...Goddammit."

Is there anything that's worth more?

Xiao would like to say that you'd all left him in a daze when you ambushed him, but really... He'd been caught up in your words. Your song. Too caught up in the things that happened to him during your song.

Is there anything that's worth more?

Still in disbelief of his now unblemished and uninjured form, he goes over to your... stringed instrument. A guitar, his mind supplies, having remembered watching that fiery one's "rock and roll" concert after realizing that the strange activity he saw was just her and her people setting up a small venue.

Is there anything that's worth more?

He runs his finger across the strings, simple notes coming up to greet his ears. He shouldn't be surprised, songs are merely the beautiful weavings of simple notes coming together. Not unlike his once-Grand Marshal's battle tactics coming to fruition. Not unlike your schemes that his Divine Overseer claims you have.

Xiao turns his gaze to the skies, the cloud of dust you all so quickly arrived in now long gone.

Than peace and love on the planet Earth?

He does not follow.

---

AAAAAAAAND DONE! oh my fucking god this took forever to write IKLRHeSTgHEKRGJK-- literally took me a year or so to finish AHJAHAHA Honestly the real struggle here was finding the time to write since like-- i already had the whole story in my head, i just needed to translate it into words.

Well... not really? It was more like i had a guideline for how i wanted this to go, its just that when i started writing thats when i put in the details lol

also there's some parts there that i think like... drag a little aka the part where y/n is panicking and trying to think of a solution for the problem-- i wanted it to take a while and for y/n to form a thought process that ended in the natural conclusion of figuring out a solution to their problem. Id LIKE to think i did p well at that part but like im not too sureeeeeeeee

also-- THE AMOUNT OF SET UP JUST TO GET TO THE SONG PART-- THE SONG IS BARELY EVEN PART OF THE STORY AHAHAHHAHAHAHA-- now that, im COMPLETELY UNAPOLOGETIC FOR AHAHAHHAHAHAHAH

oh yeah-- i already said this before but there is gonna be a rough-ish timeline for the Playlist so if i ever write a fic where y/n cant do this but in the other fic can do it-- just trust me theres a timeline, its probably before the event that made y/n able to do it lol

id add more a/ns but like-- my brain is mush and i can finally publish this so im gonna stop here. oh right-- i did mention this is gonna be a two parter, so the next part in this will be the immediate aftermath, exploring Xiao's POV of the situation and his thoughts. I wanna say that itll be short but uh. Considering my track record, thats not gonna happen. thanks for reading yall :))

[tomato-fendo-writes]

Fun Fax: OLM Chapter 13

me, my betas, lee, and jin this chapter like

once again, throwing hands with the timeline this whole chapter. couldnt decide what hours of the day Kazuya left for a long time while writing chapter 12, and that only carried over here lol. most of my ish there was working around Lee finding out that Kazuya bolted for the day, and golly i gotta start ironing this kinda thing out sooner lol

i know this is tekken, but i am also a martial artist and a human, so i could not ignore the damage that would be done by punching something full force, let alone for hours. punching a makiwara ONCE hurt my baby knuckles 💀 gonna have to suspend disbelief for me a bit here, especially when i have to contend with Tekken Physics later on lol. really trying to walk the line between realism and shonen physics

wont lie, a couple lines from this chapter were directly inspired by God of War (2018). namely, the “You left me, again,” and “WHY DON’T YOU CARE” lines - and also, Kazuya calling Jin “boy” as much as he does in this stage in general sdhfjk. it really works for him, but i get to have fun with making Jin finally lose his cool over it

okay ANOTHER thing i pulled insp from for this chap was Treasure Planet (the way Jin pressed himself into Lee with his forehead instead ofoutright hugging, “forget it. forget it.”) i adore the movie, so it snuck in lol

THE ENTIRE SCENE WITH LEE TELLING OFF KAZUYA FOR BEING INCONSIDERATE, I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THAT SCENE FROM THE INCREDIBLES WHEN BOB COMES HOME LATE AND HELEN GRILLS HIM HDSFJK

before i decided on the exacts of how Jin and Kaz’s convo went last chapter, i had a version of their talk in this one that was mellower, and even had Kaz explain where he got his scar/what happened to his mom here instead of there

this chapter is where i had to give up and just accept that the first chunk of this fic is Idiot Plot dhsjhd. actually the whole fic is, because we are all stupid and no one here freaking talks abt things they need to

favorite beta comment was just “kazuya should b shot fr”

i’ll be real, this chapter was largely written so many months ago that i’ve forgotten a lot of the processes with it lol. i try to write FF as i work on the chapters, but some get left behind if nothing sticks out to me. i’ll just say that every convo was tweaked and changed approx 200 times and if you think it’s long as-is, i trimmed off a couple hundred words or so before finalizing lol

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

hey ari!!! hope ur doing super well <33 i dropped by to ask u a few things…….

let me know whenever u find the time to read my gojo fic… i made a few revisions over time and i’d rlly love to hear ur thoughts o valued gojo lover ;; its become very important to me , but no pressure :33

AND. need ur most brainrotting thoughts about sashishu por favor. for. research. yeah… research 🙇‍♂️

riko !!!! i hope ur doing super super well urself, im doing just fine <33 trying to finish this fic im writing so i can (hopefully) post it today pshjdh BUT its going good so far !!

i know i alr said it but !! i am so so excited to read ur gojo fic !! if i dont have time today then i will tmrw 🙏🙏 cant wait to rb it w a huge rant i took a lil peek at it n i can already tell its gonna be so good….

AND RIKO. tysm i appreciate u like no other, ive been waiting for a chance to rant abt my Absolute Beloveds……… this might get long im sorry but sashisu make me. genuinely insane

OK SO. just generally speaking…… to me, the biggest sashisu appeal is just. how grounded they are. to me. i feel like both jjk trios are very realistic but in different ways!!

like. the 2018 trio are just !! good friends and they care for each other and they have fun together. AND most importantly; they can be open w each other !! like all three of them are a lillll closed off and obviously traumatized but they can still be sincere with one another. yuji talks openly w both megumi and nobara, megumi’s whole arc revolves around him getting comfortable with the idea of leaning on others and being saved by others, and nobara’s whole character hinges on her just being unabashedly herself.

AND I LOVE THEM i really do but sashisu r just so….. different and also similar and they feel so real to me even though theyre all insane in the head.

because contrary to the 2018 trio, theyre all sort of. Cunts pshjdhd. LIKE. high school satoru is a brat and he thinks he can make friends by being a bully and hes kind despite that but hes also sooo infuriating, and suguru acts like hes better but hes rly not. theyre both assholes. same w shoko!! shes literally out here casually underage smoking and all three of them get in trouble n then blame it on each other n its just…. theyre just so fun. they bully each other but u can TELL theres love there.

and the greatest difference between the 2018 and 2006trio is that the former can be open with each other, but the latter cant. sashisu are doomed as a trio because theyre all so closed off and traumatized and repressed and they will never be as sincere with each other as yuji/megumi/nobara are.

and to me, thats the main reason why suguru defects !! not that its their fault, but the fact that they didnt notice — or maybe the fact that they DID notice but didnt know how to broach the subject — is the one factor that makes his defection almost unavoidable to me. because his best friends, his most loved people, were never the type to be vulnerable like that. and neither was he !!

theyre just so DOOMED riko….. suguru couldnt open his heart to satoru or shoko, satoru didnt notice suguru’s silence bc he was too busy making himself strong enough to protect them, and we dont know how shoko felt but she obviously didnt do anything even if she did notice smth was off. neither of them saw how much suguru was suffering, and suguru was extremely depressed and isolated and never once gave them the chance to help him.

the three of them just werent the type to have heartfelt conversations in the same way the other trio does, and i think sashisu just… figured they didnt need to. that they had that bond together and that it would always be enough. bc all three of them have these incredible powers that make them isolated and kind of miserable, but they were able to be kids only when they were together. during that one year, they got to feel that slice of normalcy and genuine friendship.

and then they lost it !! and shoko and satoru both regret it !!! and they were never able to hate suguru, and he was never able to hate them, even at the very end !!! and the thing that always breaks me is that its just so, so evident that they all loved each other. but it wasnt enough !! and i think thats such a …. grounded and real depiction of how it can be to love someone who’s ill, or traumatized, while you yourself are ill or traumatized. and you might love each other, and it might still not be enough. but the fact that the love was there still matters.

they were three child soldiers who only found comfort in each other, and they all crumbled under the weight of the world but even at the very end they still loved each other.

and for sashisu, that love never disappeared — both shoko and satoru became more responsible after suguru left, and together theyre able to protect so many of the students and their coworkers. and theyre still traumatized and arguably even MORE repressed but the two of them still stick together, and theres a comfort in knowing theyll always have that. (im ignoring the current manga arc its not canon to me idc)

THIS IS ALREADY SO LOONNGG i just. i ADORE them. theyre so good. but !! if we’re moving past just general analysis of them then !! i love to think abt…. sashisu x reader……. maybe one day ill finish my sss x reader series psjdjdj but !!!

i just think itd be such a fun n comfortable dynamic ?? bc they all complete each other in a way…. satoru is just kinda hyper n cuddly n sweet, n suguru is calm and teasing n warm…. and shoko is so chill but also so caring and . i Need them. all of them r so gorgeous i would fall to my knees and cry if i just saw them relaxing by the couch.

i feel like a reader dynamic w them would just be the four of u living together and spending the rest of ur lives doing the same things u did in high school….. going to karaoke n getting in trouble and eating food . etc etc. maybe getting a couple cats…. and a bunch of plants that would all die if it werent for suguru pshjdjs.

in conclusion they make me feel ill <3

(also riko…. pls read the pink lighter by nosferatui, its a sashisu fix-it time travel fic and its one of my favorites ever !! i still havent finished it but its complete and it genuinely changed my life the writing is so good it hurts)

[deadhoneybee]

Scenes from a fic ill never write (im gonna chuck it at its own ones (1) and zeros (0) )

Its a college au, roughly 1k

———————————

It was almost half past twelve at night, remus was tucked into the couch with his computer in his lap and about four books laid out next to him. He’d been trying to finish this essay for three hours now and the words were starting to swim together.

He dropped his head in his hands and rubbed his face sighing out of frustration. He could finish it after class tomorrow. The door to the dorm creaked open and remus peeked through his fingers to see a very sloshed looking sirius.

“Welcome back then, i didnt think youd be here so soon” he closed his laptop and books, stacking them all on the coffee table.

“Yeah well” sirius just shrugged and pulled of his jacket, swaying as he tossed it on a kitchen chair to his right. Remus watched him carefully, a bit nervous he would topple over any minute. He thought about getting up to help but didnt move. Sirius was an adult, and he didnt need remus’ help, probably didnt even want it anyway.

Sirius just stood there by the door, staring straight at him. He could tell sirius was thinking hard about something and it made Remus squirm, he felt like he was in the hot seat and he wanted out.

“Remus, why dont you like me.”

What. That, was the last thing he expected to come out of sirius’ drunken mouth. What did he even say? He couldnt tell him the truth? That no he did like sirius, thought he was cool and talented and even a bit pretty because thats the whole problem, and up until ten seconds ago he was positive Sirius didnt like him. He still couldnt lie to him though..

Sirius stumbled into the living area and dropped into a bean bag on the floor. “Ya know.. cuz i like you. Alot. Think youre really cool even…” he stared at the ceiling tiles for a moment before dropping his gaze back to remus, who could hardly even form a proper sentence.

Oh. Oh no, Divert. Divert right now and digest it later, this is… too much theres no way sirius could actually enjoy his company. There just isnt.

“How pissed are you exactly?” He tried to sound as relaxed as possible but at that sirius scoffed, or maybe he hiccuped? Couldve been both.

“Not very, walked back all b’myself jus fine yeah?”this time it was remus that definitely scoffed.

“Youre joking, you walked back? Like this? Where was james?” Sirius shrugged his shoulders and looked like he was trying not to giggle “dunno. He was singing karaoke, at the bar? And then i was… not there.” Remus sighed and rubbed his face again. If sirius didnt request a new dorm mate in the morning then remus would be dead from the stress before first term was up.

“Yeah right well-“

“Remus whats your middle name?”

Remus pulled his hand down over his nose and mouth so he could look at sirius. His eyes were closed and his head was thrown back, he looked very concentrated and remus was just… very lost. “Im sorry what?”

“Youre middle” he stopped and hicuped again, tossing an arm over his eyes “name.. what is it?”

“Its john? Why?” There was not response for a second and he thought maybe sirius had fallen asleep until he loved his arm and opened an eye to look at him.

“Huh… so its just your first and last then?”

“Sirius, what on earth are you on about right now.” He groaned and sat closer to the edge of the couch, and sirius sat up, or well tried before giving up and sinking back into the bag with his both his eyes now trained on him.

“Your name obviously” he rolled his eyes like remus was the one making next to no sense. “Remus john lupin, means something like.. wolf john wolf right?” Very few people in his life had pieced that together, and he was not anticipating that this is where sirius was going.

“Um, yeah.. its a bit unfortunate really. My father is.. or um he was really obessed with wolves so.” He sighed and sagged back into the couch, cracking his knuckles in a nervous habit “I like it. Better then Sirius orion black anyway.” Remus didnt know what to say to that. He thought it was a rather nice name if he was honest, which he wouldnt be, not now at least.

“Can i call you wolfy?”

“Absolutely not. Never, would be preferred thanks.” Sirius scoffed and then laughed, something that sounded so light and care free and it made remus smile a bit. “Ill think of something else then, even though i was quite fond of that one.”

“You just thought of it, you cant be that fond of it already. Besides it was awful” sirius stuck his tongue out at him, smiling. “Yeah alright then, i will think of one though”

“As long as it doesnt have ‘wolf’ in it, i might be alright with that”

“Good.”

They sat for a moment like that, the occasional hiccup from sirius and tick of the old plastic clock on the wall. Its was just about one in the morning now and remus sighed. He looked over at sirius, now curled up on the bean bag. He seemed like he was about to fall asleep, his breathing soft and even and his hair haphazardly strewn about the back of the seat and his eyes.

“Hey sirius?” There was only a hum in response “dont you have an exam tomorrow at eight?” That got his attention, he opened his eyes and stretched out his legs

“Fuck. Yeah, and my professor is a right arse too.” He tried to push himself up a few times before throwing his head back and grumbling. “Mm, moonster, i dont think i can get up right now”

“That is not, dont call me that either.” He rolled his eyes and helped sirius to his feet, he was positive that hed said something in response but it was mumbled and incoherent. They walked back to their room, more remus walked and sirius stumbled. It was a wonder how he managed to make it all the way back like this, honestly.

He stopped at the edge of sirius’ bed and sat him down, neither of them said anything as he pulled himself up all the way and curled up ontop of the blankets with his back to remus’ side of the room. He just sighed and collapsed into his own bed, pulled his blanked up and over himself and stared at the ceiling.

He could hear sirius breathing slow and steady a few feet away, some shuffling, kicking, and then a thump on the floor. He turned his head and closed his eyes for a moment before he got back up and picked the duvet up off the floor. He draped it over sirius and just looked at him for a moment before whispering “i do like you, by the way..”

He walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water, dropped a few icecubes in it and walked back into their room placing it on sirius’ nightstand before dropping back into his own bed and rolling over to face the wall.

He thought he might have heard a small thank you before he fell asleep.

[dottores]

AHHHHHHHH screamed and sobbed into my pillow when I came home to read the new chapter of Heliotropes. I fought every inner demon afterwards I’m not even gonna lie to you.

I’m the commenter from ao3 of the color purple, and I saw your response to my comment and cried even harder bro. I know it’s only been four chapters (and a segment data page!), but I’m already so attached. The ending of the new chapter hand me audibly going “no nO NOOO”. Arggggg darn you, your angsty ideas, and how well you execute them.

I’m so happy that I was right about how much Dottore has influenced her, even more than we had been originally lead to believe. However all your hints of future fights has me sweating in my seat, but excited nonetheless!! It’s interesting for me to think about how sneaky Ms. Purple must have become over the years. Being a good secret keeper and staying under the radar must be hard, and she’s definitely learned a thing or two, I’m sure.

Seeing how conflicted Ms. Purple is with her family is so interesting, especially since we already know that Dottore probably wouldn’t care for her family no matter how wonderful they are. I love him, but I fear he might take advantage of her distance from them by making it worse or manipulating the situation. She cares for them, and you can’t just stop loving someone, even if they hurt you again and again. This is something I doubt Dottore would be able to understand, since emotions aren’t something he can typically rationalize.

ALSO IM SO HLAD YOU DIDNT MAKE MS. PURPLE A COOKIE CUTTER THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I’m so happy you’ve become invested in this fic, as I can see just how much it’s helping you explore both yourself and your talents.

When I went back to reread The Color Purple again, I realized how close Delta and Iota must be to her. On top of that, Dottore had already threatened to send Theata to work with Delta. I was thinking about how funny that was, as those three would be the most problematic for Dottore if they found his (their? Technically) soulmate first.

Also I already suspected Brighella of something bad, BUT NOW IM THOROUGHLY CONVINCED HES THE SPY. Which would be so SO bad for arlecchino since she brought him in (yikes).

All of this is making me wonder about possibilities and routes. I’m curious to find out what Ms. Purple will do to earn Dottore’s respect, because even if he does care about her as she’s his soulmate, that doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t really want her there. The plot thickens.

NO WORRIES ABOUT THE COMMENT BTW!! I’m surprised you even responded, it really made my day <33 Your work inspires me, and I’ll never shut up about how great you are in expressing exactly what the characters are feeling or doing without losing the audience’s focus. I’ve yet to read any of your stories and feel uninterested, even on characters I don’t particularly care for. Thank you so much for your time and efforts, I promise you me and hundreds of others are always thrilled to see that you’ve updated.

Best of luck on your future works!!

STOPPPPP YOURE THE AO3 COMMENTER ????? I LITERALLY LOVE YOU SO MUCH WHAT YOUR COMMENT STRAIGHT UP MADE ME CRY SEVERAL TIMES IT WAS THE SWEETEST THING EVER. YOURE SO BELOVED TO ME, LET ME SMOOCH YOUR FOREHEAD SOBSSSS

ok hehe rest below the cut

GDJHSDHJSJDHSH i actually wasn’t going to end the chapter with that, bc i usually like leaving it at 4 scenes BUT I HAD THE IDEA AND COULDNT LET IT SLIP BY HAHAHAHHA it would be just his luck to get THAT as his word right after all that LMAOOO and yk damn well he’s gonna take it the wrong way

🤭🤭🤭 the sneakiness and having to hide it is something else that it’s gonna be explored more in chapter 5 & 6. i just planned chapter 5 and i’m gonna start writing it friday i’m rlly excited for it, i think it’s the chapter i’m most excited for thus far.

the conflict between her and dottore when it comes to family is gonna be a BIG ONE, djsjdjjsjd i actually literally changed the whole original fic at chapter 2 to center around this conflict. without too much spoilers, i got the idea from the tik tok audio that goes “if i betray you, i betray myself. but if i betray them, i betray my country. my country is very dear to me.” “dearer than i?” “no, not dearer than you” HAHAHHAHA i’m rlly excited to get to that point too

DELTA AND IOTA WERE LITERALLY A TOWN OR TWO OVER FROM HER BEFORE SHE LEFT TO LIVE IN THE CITY. when iota finds out, he cries LMAO. if they had found her first, it would be the end of all things for dottore LMAOO he would be miserable 💀💀💀 the only thing that would’ve made it worse if gamma was there too. he hasn’t been introduced in the fic yet.

SOBS ILYSM 🥹🥹🥹🥹 that rlly might’ve been the sweetest thing anyone’s said to me i’m quite literally about to cry, i wish i could give you the biggest hug. i love asks and comments, theyve deadass been what’s pulled me out of writers block like dozens of times. i think i told you in the ao3 comment but ur comment there saved my ass like three times HAHAH. i showed my bf and i was like “if i ever start complaining about being stuck, send me this” and he DID and it worked like a charm every time LMAO. i always try to respond but sometimes it just takes me half an eternity because i’m swamped with work and drained SOBS. so i’m sorry if it ever feels like i’m not responding bc i promise i try to get to it at a decent time but i just get so overwhelmed and then i crash for a few days.

[bellysoupset]

SOUP!!!!!!!

oh my goodness this halloween saga is INSANEEEE AND I LOVE IT SO SO SO MUCH AGHHHH😭 i’ve had one of the worst weeks ever and i seriously think that reading this saga was one of the main reasons i made it thru LMAOooo

PLS THE ANGST WAS SPECTACULAR I CANT EVEN EXPLAIN TO YOU HOW MUCH I LOVED THESE FICS. everything with vin and luke was fucking adorable I LOVE THESE BOYS and their friendship so freaking much <3 then bella with jon RAH CHEFS KISS BC??? i LOVE that she was all calm and nonchalant and caring but also super chill about it while jon was kinda dying on the inside bc he wasnt being a “gentleman”, but at the same they both stayed playful and silly <333 and THEN MY BABY GIRL MY QUEEN GETTING ROOFIED????????? EXCUSE YOU BC HOW THE HECK DID YOU MANAGE TO EXCEED MY EXPECTATIONS????? like i really cannot tell you how excited i was about this and i wasnt sure how you were gonna approach the whole getting roofied thing but i fully trusted that you’d deliver the angst, AND oh my DID YOU‼️‼️‼️‼️

leo being so protective and worried about her???? both him and bella getting ARRESTED protecting her??????? AND JON’S PANIC GOSHHHHH IT WAS EVERYTHING IVE EVER WANTED TO READ‼️‼️‼️ the lack of sympathy sickness with someone other than leo??????? THE REASSURANCE WHEN SHE WAKES UP AND THE HURT AND HELPLESSNESS WHEN SHES SO OUT OF IT AND HE CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT????? THE WORRY AT THE HOSPITAL AND OMFG MY BABY VIN ALL PANICKED AND WORRIED AND BLAMING HIMSELF I CANT BREATHEEEEE 😭😭 and the arrest not being enough for him OOF I CANT DO THIS OMG THIS WAS SO FUCKING GOOD I LOVE YOUR OCs SO FUCKING MUCH SOUP😭😭😭😭😭

AND THE BELLA FIC HOLY MOLYYYYYYY😩😩😩 when i thought it couldnt get better and/or more angsty IT FUCKING DID and i enjoyed every minute of it AHHHHH🫶🏽 leo all worried and side eyeing her as he noticed something wasnt right and then giving her his jacket 😭😭😭 and then the whole conversation with luke where shes so out of it and OH MY GOODNESS WHEN SHE SPEAKS SPANISH WITHOUT REALISING IT‼️‼️‼️ THE WAY YOU INCORPORATED THAT WAS SO REALISTIC AND INSANE AND AMAZING AND TERRIFYING AND THEN SHE JUST PASSES OUT?????? HELLO I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO MY GIRL AHHHH THIS WHOLE SAGA WAS CRAZY GOOD IM OBSESSED.

for real thank you so much for writing this and thus making my shitty week a lot less shitty❤️‍🩹 bc i swear that reading these restored the very much needed happy chemicals in my brain when nothing else could 😭🫶🏽

side note the whole ✨unknowingly speaking spanish✨ situation is so insane and important to me bc, as an international college student in the U.S. who plays a contact sport where it’s common to get concussions, this is LITERALLY ONE OF MY BIGGEST FEARS and OMFG you described the panic and confusion and fear (and just this whole situation im terrified of) SO fucking well AGHHHHH i know i say it all the time but YOU’RE SO FREAKING TALENTED DUDE PLS NEVER STOP WRITING 😩🫶🏽

- 🦦

Otter!! Hi!!

I adore your wall of texts sooo much!

I'm so sorry you had a crappy week Otter 🥺 I hope it's better now or at least that it's gonna start looking up soon!

It's funny you mentioned the unknowingly speaking spanish thing, because I do that all the damn time. English is not my first language but daily I find myself switching to english and then just being?? So confused when the people around me are not understanding.

End of the day, don't freak out if that does happen to you. Gestures is an universal language. You've got my whole heart as another bilingual person in the interwebs.