#poems are not mine and the links to all of them are in the ao3 end notes!

[tatterings]

Lamentable is the Autumn Picker Content with Plums - Chapter 11 - A Fertile Flower of Hope

AO3 LINK HERE

Pairing: Astarion/Halsin

Rating: Explicit for the full work, this chapter is E for everyone.

Tags/warnings: Mention of sexual slavery.

Word count: 8,000 (this chapter)

Header art by @solmesia.

Work below the cut as well!

As the door opened, a slender hand thrust into the room, accompanied soon after by a loud thunk onto the floor below - Astarion's drowcraft armor. The door opened wider, creaking on its iron hinges, permitting the entrance of Jaheira. She was an imposing force, a hero of Baldur’s Gate, and though Astarion was not one for hero worship (besides, perhaps, Drizzt Do’Urden), her sheer presence oozed ‘respect me’; even when she barged in rooms essentially unannounced.

The vampire slipped from Halsin’s arms and turned to face the High Harper, taking a moment to compose the sheepish expression he would hate for her to see. Though Jaheira was no young woman anymore, her vision was as sharp as a panther’s prowling on a hunt. When Astarion met her eyes, Jahiera's expression was mixed. Her silver eyebrow arched in suspicion but also playfulness, and her wrinkled hands were perched on her hips.

 "When you both caused a scene a bit ago, this popped out of thin air, right onto the war table. I suppose it is yours?" She said in her thick accent, gesturing with a wave towards the armor. "Plenty of poisons and daggers. Astarion, you may be a  man after my own heart," she said, chuckling to herself.

"That would indeed be mine," Astarion said, crossing his arms with a huff, feigning dissatisfaction in the high Harper's approval of his well-stocked weaponry he kept close at hand. "But rather rude of you to insist was our fault for causing the scene."

Jaheira merely smirked and shrugged, "It is all the same. Regardless, you may resume your…activities" her words trailed off as she waved her hand and waggled her fingers in their direction, before turning on her heel and closing the door. Astarion turned to face Halsin, the tips of his ears flushed, and both the men laughed quietly to themselves over the silliness of the intrusion, the shattering of the tension which had their nerves tied in knots after their run-in with Raphael.

Astarion huffed a sigh and picked up the armor gingerly to don it. He patted about his bracers and the chest piece, verifying all his hidden daggers were still there. Gods bless the Drow for making armor with so many wonderful hiding spots for knives and poisons and other handy little accouterments that never failed to give him the upper hand in battle. He felt better with his armor on. No one needed to see the carvings on his back, to perceive him laid bare, exposed. To know about any poems or curses, or how he wanted to feel the wide, hot press of Halsin's hand across his back.

He cleared his throat softly, looking up at the druid, whose expression was one so full of... something. Tenderness perhaps? Curiosity? Either way, the soft way that he gazed at Astarion was almost unsettling.

"Well. Shall we.. get on with it? Do whatever needs to be done to help the boy?" Astarion asked, tilting his head as he spoke, studying the large man beside him. No need to dwell on the outburst nor Raphael nor infernal carvings. There was work to be done, and bastards to hurt. He was in a vindictive mood, feeling as though he had been flayed by the cambion for the world to see.

Halsin nodded somberly, and opened the door, gesturing to Astarion to go forward first. Astarion appreciated that the druid rarely questioned him when he wanted to move on to another topic.

***

The day had been full already, between Raphael’s appearance and his brief respite in Halsin’s’s arms, and yet it was only mid-afternoon. But mid-afternoon in these cursed lands was just as dark as a starless midnight. The Selunite priestess Isobel had provided a blessing to them earlier, barring the need to carry a moon lantern or torches to navigate the endless shadows. Still, Astarion wished he'd brought one all the same. Not that he was unnerved by the dark, since darkened alleyways and dimly lit taverns were his only companions for 200 years. And this magical darkness, though it was much heavier than a moonless night, opaque and unseeable, even with his darkvision - wasn't as unnerving as the concept of Halsin truly comprehending, perceiving those scars that lay underneath the circular keloid-scarring on his back.

They were close to where Halsin had last seen flowers in the shadow lands, and although the curse seemed lighter here somehow, shadows still lurked in the edges of the vision. Different shadows lurked in the periphery of Astarion's mind. His mind replayed on a loop the memories of Halsin’s tenderness and care in their… intimacy - Astarion hesitated to call it lovemaking - and the druid’s protectiveness when he had been stripped bare by Raphael. Both times was as though Halsin had held a torch to the scarred, dark insides of Astarion. While it had brought him warmth and comfort at the time, recalling the inescapable vulnerability of the moments they shared made his muscles tense and his stomach coil tightly. Astarion longed for a torch for the simple fact that he would prefer something to hold and grip onto, without cutting crescent moons into the palms of his hands as he clenched them into fists.

Halsin now was fully aware of all his scars, now that he had seen the physical ones. The ever-observant druid had already detected, as if he could smell them, the deeper and arguably more inescapable ones in his mind that he himself hated to acknowledge. It nagged at the back of Astarion's mind, lingering like a headache that throbbed despite all the herbs and potions one could take. Would Halsin still want him, once his own problems are resolved, and the scars of the shadows are lifted from this land and the druid’s deliciously strong-beating heart? Would he still want to deal with Astarion's scars - no, his wounds, for they still hurt him on a level far beyond his skin - after completing his 100-year quest to cleanse the shadows?

Astarion was skeptical that the answer could possibly even be "yes". If it was, Halsin was the most noble of the biggest fools. The vampire was lost deep within his thoughts when the sound of a child's laughter ripped him from the fog of emotions. Although, as Astarion heard it again echoing in the distance, he realized it was almost like a child's laughter. It had something deeper in it, a mixture of the sharp grating of steel on steel and the wail of a rabbit being crushed by a predator’s jaws. But it was still a laugh, and it seemed to echo around them. Only after swiveling on his heel, dagger in hand to survey his surroundings did he notice a small tiefling boy, whose head popped up over the windowsill inside a decrepit house.

Astarion hadn't even noticed the house, so lost he had been in his thoughts, his eyes cast low watching the ground beneath him. But the dilapidated house was rather large for the area, despite falling apart. The only life, if it was truly alive, was the boy peeking out at them from the paneless window. The vampire drew up beside Halsin, who had frozen in his tracks, and nudged the druid slightly.

Halsin had seen the blonde-haired boy long before Astarion had. He was staring at him, his thick bushy brows furrowed deeply as if in discernment. His lips were pursed, the lines on either side of his mouth etched deeply with concern.

"That’s him. Like an echo of Thaniel, remolded by the curse," he said, his voice wavering slightly as he spoke. “We need him, if we’re to put a stop to all of this." His words were under his breath, unintelligible by the boy, who emerged from the doorway of the ruined shack.

Astarion couldn’t hide his shock, his scrunched nose and narrowed eyes once he got a better look at the boy. Though still a child, he had been twisted by the curse, from the tips of his curling horns to the blackened and gnarled claws at his toes. It was so tragic that Astarion nearly laughed. A child. A picture of innocence. There was no justice in this world, truly.

"Thaniel?" Astarion asked, looking mostly at Halsin, but jerking his head of silver curls towards the boy. He slipped the dagger back into his drowcraft bracer. Sadly, not all problems can be cured through stabbing, he was learning.

"My name is Oliver. Not Thaniel," pouted the boy, crossing his arms and stamping one foot. Either dust or shadow spiraled into the air with the motion - Astarion wasn't sure which. It unnerved him, as the motes swirled around the boy’s body.

"Okay, Oliver," said Halsin, crouching as he stepped closer, his palms low to the ground and open - as someone would approach a fearful dog in an alleyway. "I am Halsin. I'm a friend of Thaniel's, and I think Thaniel was your friend too. Would you like to see him again? Play with him again?" Astarion's ears perked up at the slight crack to Halsin's voice as he questioned the boy. His soft, warm voice had an uneasy edge to it. An undercurrent of pleading, begging, that was so unusual for the typically stoic druid.

The boy growled and balled his little hands into fists at his side, shadows swirling behind him. Astarion eyed him down the bridge of his nose as he looked on. Could spirits be manifest by his very will alone?

“No!," Oliver shouted, stamping his foot into the ashes again, "Why should I go back to him? He abandoned me! But here... I’ve made a family, and I can play all the time! Just leave me alone." His words were a jumble, so fast in his squeaky voice, echoed by a deep monstrous growl that seemed to come from the shadows behind him.

"What a temper this little brat has," Astarion muttered to himself, sneering at the child. He was dirty, looked full of mange, and frankly too far gone to help. He was thankful Halsin didn't hear him - or didn't act like he did, anyway, and that Halsin knew how to handle delicate situations and people with smokepowder bombs for hearts. The boy paid Astarion no mind, and glared daggers at the druid who inched ever closer. Halsin had drawn so very close to the boy, within an arm's length. He kneeled and leaned onto one knee to remain at eye-level with the child. 

"Oliver, nobody is making you leave. This is your home. But it is dark, empty… lonely," Halsin's voice dropped an octave lower at the last word, and if Astarion wasn't mistaken, nearly seemed to break with emotion. The druid cleared his throat, and continued. "I know your pain, I truly do. Thaniel is my friend also. I played with him, and he was ripped away from me, same as for you." 

The boy seemed intent on Halsin's words, his eyes' eerie glow flickering with emotion. It was a stark contrast against his pale skin as the boy’s face contorted in multiple different ways over the next few moments. He seemed hurt, then confused, if the vampire were any judge of body language, and the cloud of thick tension settled between them all seemed to lighten. Astarion was agog at how Halsin knew exactly what to say in what moment. It was inarguably impressive. The boy remained silent, watching Halsin like the cornered dog, unsure if the hand reaching out towards it would feed it or beat it. "But you need not be alone any longer," Halsin said, continuing with the same tender tone, a soft smile causing the corners of his eyes to crinkle, "You need not invent friends. Thaniel is back, and is real. He is waiting for you."

Astarion stood silently, watching the boy. Waiting for his decision. He heard sniffles and little whimpers coming from the boy before Oliver finally peered up at Halsin, his glowing eyes brimmed with tears… and the faintest of smiles on his face.

"Fine, I’ll do it. it might be nice to be with him again," Oliver said, still with a hint of a pout. But now, his words lacked the echoed edge of the shadows. In fact, the whole boy lacked shadows overall, and had begun to glow a soft golden-green. And had also begun to levitate. His ruby eyes darted between the boy and Halsin, unsure of what to make of the scene, until Oliver disappeared in a dazzle of gold.

When Halsin turned to face Astarion, his smile was so bright, that the pale elf felt his expression alone might radiate enough joy to banish the shadow curse. The vampire tried to compose his face, to twist it from an expression of being completely perplexed, into one more neutral. Either way, Halsin didn't seem to notice; he was too busy nearly launching himself at Astarion. Both his large hands gripped onto the vampire's arms, gripping them firmly, giving them a little squeeze. Astarion couldn't help but grin back at the druid, whose smile was, quite frankly, contagious.

His grin was interrupted by the press of Halsin’s lips against his, and the pull of his body to Halsin’s bulk. Astarion kissed back tentatively, a bit confused but pleased nonetheless to be a recipient of Halsin’s affection despite the druid being so preoccupied by Thaniel and this boy recently. After a few exchanged breaths and gentle nibbles to Halsin’s lower lip, the druid pulled away and beamed down at Astarion.

"It's done at last," Halsin said, his voice ebullient with joy, "Soon the land will be unshrouded. With the oak father’s blessing, the shadow curse may soon be no more. Come, let us check on Thaniel and see how he fares." 

Astarion was pulled into another bear hug, his face pressed to the cool leather of Halsin’s armor. He couldn't nod or shake his head in agreement or disapproval, with how tight of a hug Halsin had pulled him into. He was thankful that the thick muscle of the druid's chest and his armor obscured his lopsided grin.

******

Halsin was disappointed, but not surprised, that restoring Oliver and Thaniel together did not result in an immediate end to the Shadowcurse. Rarely in nature were things so easy to rectify; balance was something that was not easily attained, nor easily broken, nor easily restored.

As Thaniel had stirred, he had described to Halsin and the rest of the party how an anchor still held the shadows in place. Most of their excitement had faded when he revealed that the anchor itself was Ketheric Thorm. Nothing good comes easily, indeed, Halsin thought to himself bitterly. Even getting honey requires the risk of a few bee stings. 

Still, he couldn't help but argue with the insistence of their group - starting with Karlach, echoed by Wyll and Gale, and later agreed to by Lae'zel and Shadowheart, that they should take the evening to celebrate Thaniel's recovery and the opportunity that is so tantalizingly close. Astarion, always one for luxury, had also immediately echoed the sentiment of deserving of a little treat.

Halsin couldn't disappoint the party with his nagging concerns; in the realm of shadows and fight against evil, every little victory should indeed be appreciated and celebrated. He'd offered to speak to Jaheira to get the Last Light Inn properly prepared for the celebration, and had left prior to any of the other adventurers. It was only a half-lie, because it would be prudent to inform the Harpers and others to expect their ragtag crew of adventurers. Being the bearer of good news was also always welcome, and he was sure that the Harpers would appreciate having a morale boost. But mostly, Halsin suspected that Jaheira could provide aid for some additional tasks he wanted to complete; he would also need solitude to do so.

***** Halsin's head jerked towards the entrance of the Inn as he heard jubilant chatter echo from outside. Karlach had arrived, he presumed, and was proven correct when she rushed into the inn with a cry of "Cold ale for all!", arm linked with Shadowheart. She had her tail wrapped around the wrist of a sheepish, blushing Wyll behind her. Lae'zel followed the three with an expression less severe and uninterested than typical. After her strode in Gale with his typical good-natured cheer, waving to Jaheira and the others. Astarion took up the rear, ending the party's entrance with less boisterousness and more subtlety. The adventurers had gotten the camp tidied up before joining Halsin; after several rounds of ale at the Inn, and a likely hangover, they wouldn't want to deal with it later, that was for certain.

Halsin had plenty of time for both of his side-tasks before nestling into the corner of the inn that appeared much like a library. One of his side-tasks had included acquiring a book regarding infernal pacts. Jaheira and her Harpers were clever and studious, and an old dusty book on just that topic was available for the druid to borrow. He hadn't intended to make a fuss of looking into the topic, but the choice was taken from him as soon as he felt Astarion lean over the armchair in which he had settled. The vampire's cool breath lingered on his cheek, and Halsin tilted his head gently to press his forehead against Astarion’s jaw. A slender finger came down on the tome and slowly slid across the lines as, Halsin assumed, Astarion read over his shoulder.

A scoff from the vampire ruffled his stray hairs, making them fall into his face.  "Halsin, you’re not reading that on my behalf are you, darling?" Astarion said, nearly spitting his words as he’d shot upright after skimming only a few sentences. He placed his hand on his hip and sauntered over to sit in the unoccupied armchair beside Halsin, separated only by a tiny round table on which he placed a glass of wine. He arched an eyebrow at the druid, studying him down his nose. 

Halsin shot him a crooked grin, shrugging his broad shoulders at the question. "No matter how long I live, I will always strive to remain a keen pupil. Only a fool would think he could absorb all knowledge of the world. There is always more, infinitely complex," he spoke with his hands, gesturing towards both the book and Astarion for his next words. "Additionally, it behooves us to prepare for the challenges ahead. Both yours and Wyll’s… Infernal dealings are one subject of which I have not studied deeply,” he admitted with another shrug. He had spent too much time trying to rectify his mistakes with the Shadowcurse to fuss with fiends in the hells below. 

And he currently wanted to spend his time on a more worthwhile pursuit - chatting to Astarion. Halsin's fingers slid up the edge of the book and folded the page in half to mark his place. His hand jerked away as a small droplet of red wine landed on the page.

Astarion had sputtered in his wine cup and tried not to choke. Halsin's head tilted to the side as he watched the vampire's vexed expression. Though Astarion didn't need to breathe, this was the second time Halsin had somehow made him choke on his wine.

"Halsin, what in the hells are you doing?!" Astarion gasped, his voice shrill in shock. One slender hand was pulled to his chest, as though he were on the verge of heartbreak. "I was going to let it slip that you're insisting on doing research on my behalf, but I cannot abide by you defiling a book!" He clicked his tongue in disappointment, and reached towards the tome in Halsin's hands. The druid snapped the book shut and set it beside him on the armchair, chuckling to himself about Astarion's dismay for dog eared literature.

"Ahh a purist, are you Astarion?" he said, winking at the vampire, whose face flushed with a tinge much like the color of the wine he sipped again, glaring at Halsin over the rim of his cup. The druid just grinned wider, his crows feet deepening, and continued. "I must admit, books that show no shelf-wear are visually appealing, and the smell of new books is intoxicating…but do tomes bearing visible markings not intrigue you more than those unmarred by use?" 

Astarion lowered his wine glass a bit, narrowing his eyes to study the druid, and seemed unsure of what Halsin was trying to get at. Or, Halsin figured, perhaps still offended by the dog eared page. "But think of it, Astarion, a dog-eared book means it has been well loved. What information did it share to their reader that was so valuable? What is the story contained within, and even is the story of the book itself? Just as a person's skin bears sun spots and scars, books marked by their readers have fascinating stories to tell,” Halsin explain.

Astarion had perched on the edge of his seat, leaning heavily on the armrest with his chin in his hand. He had sat quietly during his monologue, one silver eyebrow arched up to his coiffed curls. He had even taken another sip of wine to keep his sharp tongue busy on something other than a retort, Halsin assumed. The beautiful elf was always quick with a witty remark; his intellect was something Halsin greatly admired. The vampire set his wine glass back down and brushed at his trousers, flicking away at imperceptible dust that Halsin didn't see at all.

"Well," Astarion started, his words heavy with his unmistakable pouty tone, "you always have a wise response to excuse your habits." Astarion crossed his arms, tapping his fingertips on his biceps, watching carefully as Halsin picked the book up and opened it back to the page. "Still, I knew you had plenty of faults, Halsin," he said, counting on his fingers as he spoke, "your stubbornness. Your bleeding heart. But mutilating the books?”

The shadow of a grin crossed Astarion's face; his words were heavier with tease than the threat of a tantrum. It was endearing, and it made Halsin's heart soar to see some playful banter come from the vampire, who just recently had been so distraught after the run-in with Raphael.

Halsin ached to make the playfulness last. He licked his finger agonizingly slowly, and flicked the book to the next page, dog-earing that page as well. He grinned wickedly and watched the vampire from the corner of his eye - blood was rising to his face, but clearly not out of anger. This side of Astarion - the baffled, caught-off-guard side - was delightful, and Halsin enjoyed finding it. The sound of his calloused finger on the book’s rough parchment was accompanied by an overly dramatic harrumph from the pale elf. 

"Well, did you find anything out, at least, in your tome-torture?” Astarion said, with very little venom, but his eyes glittering with curiosity. He brought his wine to his lips again and drained the glass.

It was Halsin's turn to sigh, and he snapped the book shut again, laying it flat on his lap. "Very little, unfortunately," he admitted, angling his broad body to face Astarion better. He shook his head, his auburn braids falling in front of his shoulders, whispering across his collarbone. He noticed how Astarion's eyes constantly shifted, exploring his body, his surroundings. They darted back up as Halsin continued to speak. "I wish there were more information on the topic, but devils aren’t in the habit of bestowing insight into their trickery."

Astarion scoffed again, and waved his hand as if dismissing the idea. "Of course not," he said, his eyes rolling once before settling back on Halsin's face. The vampire, too, had angled his body in the armchair and had leaned forward on the armrest, his hands dangling over the small table between them. One hand fidgeted with the empty wine glass, a long nail clicking as it flicked back and forth over the rim. The vampire had many nervous tics, small things he did when deep in thought, or when anxious. This particular moment seemed to be full more of  anxiety than his own mulling, but Halsin didn't feel it appropriate to disturb Astarion's thoughts. The vampire finally spoke again, after a moment of silence which hung heavy between them.

"I appreciate you. Looking into this, I mean," Astarion said quietly, raising his eyes to Halsin's and peering at him through pale eyelashes. "It's a cruel irony, you know. Having been given my freedom by a parasite, given hope that it might not turn me into a monster… and then to learn that my mas-... Cazador might have etched something even more nefarious into my very body. And the only way to learn more about it is to work with a literal devil." His voice was soft, low, and almost seemed to break at times. It lacked any of his ebullience or drama that he so liked to sprinkle into his speech.

Halsin sat patiently, nodding while listening, studying Astarion's expression. It pained him to see how pained Astarion was as he described his exhilaration of freedom that so soon fell to agony, then hope, then complete uncertainty. And how his former master still haunted him. Halsin frowned, his lips pursing tightly together. Of course Cazador plagued the vampire’s mind. It had only been a handful of tendays since he had broken free from his imprisonment. Halsin swallowed at the thought, choking down his own anger at the inhumane cruelty of slavery which Astarion, and many others, have had to bear.

“Though it is distasteful to deal with fiends…finding out more is an opportunity that you must pursue," Halsin replied, his kind hazel-green eyes meeting Astarion's. He reached out, slowly, and curled his hand under the vampire's, encircling it and rubbing his thumb softly over the top of Astarion's hand. He cleared his throat, steeling himself for a level of vulnerability and honesty that he had not shared with anyone in over a century. “I too have had the unfortunate experience of being at the mercy of someone else.”

'Unfortunate experience' was a misnomer, Halsin knew deep down, because merely recalling his imprisonment made his stomach lurch. And yet he had told himself it was a youthful misadventure for decades upon decades to avoid deeper reflection. Until discovering so many parallels between his past and Astarion's. His thick brows knit together as he pondered on how to explain the whole escapade. Lost in his thoughts, he was unable to see how Astarion's eyes had widened, his brows raised. Unable to realize that the pale elf's cool grip on his palm suddenly tightened, fingertips pressing firmly on his hand.

Halsin nodded a few times as he allowed himself to creep into the deep recesses of his memory. He hardly noticed how he had inhaled and held his breath to steel himself against the memories themselves until he began to speak.

"I was a foolhardy young druid at the time, intent on seeing the beauty of the Underdark's otherworldly fauna and subterranean glow for myself. The botanical illustrations truly did not do them justice, I’ll admit,” he smiled softly at Astarion, recalling one of the only positives about the journey. He cleared his throat to push down the lump he felt forming there. “In my explorations, I had wandered too close to one of the larger Drow cities and…" his voice trailed off, but his mouth was slightly open as he looked for the best way to phrase the predicament he was in for years. "I found myself in the position somewhere between a guest, a prisoner, and a consort of a noble drow house for a time. The house matron took an interest in me and the patron also. They saw me as a…novelty."

Astarion's eyes narrowed at Halsin's expression and words. "Rarely do the drow have guests, darling. Do you care to explain further?" His words were minced, as sharp as the daggers he hid in his drow-crafted armor. The air between the two was palpably heavy, as Astarion seemed to pick apart Halsin’s words with surgeon-like precision, digging deeper into the meaning behind them.

The druid's throat bobbed as he swallowed, thinking of how to phrase it most carefully. It had been a trying time, for him, as a youngster. Once in which he feared for his very life. It was perhaps the most dangerous and unpredictable few years he'd ever experienced, and yet, he realized, he'd been shoving it to the back of his mind and classifying himself as a 'guest'. He realized how his jaw had begun to ache, so intense was his frown.

"I was chained in their bedchamber for nigh on three years," Halsin explained, his eyes darting away from Astarion's briefly, before meeting again for his next words. "During that time, I did what was necessary to survive." The vampire's eyes widened, his porcelain brow cracking as his expression twisted into something like pity, if Halsin had to place the emotion. He nodded to himself as he recalled the memories, the sights of his time trapped in the stalagmite prison of the drow matron. 

"The preserved skins of surface elves hang on the walls of noble Menzoberranzan homes for display as trophies. I did not intend to add a bear skin to their collection," Halsin said, shrugging as if the weight of the memories was on his shoulders, as if they did not burden him. He liked to think they did not; they didn't affect his current day-to-day existence, so the experience must not have been too bad, he had told himself for over a century. Certainly they did not haunt him as severely as the shadow curse.

"So you were a slave," Astarion said, his expression unchanged, "used for their perverse pleasures." The pale elf sat so rigidly he could have been made of stone. With how cool his hand was, Halsin could have believed he was indeed carved out of alabaster.

"I… cannot argue against that. For two centuries I've thought of it rarely, whether that was intentional or not," Halsin said, his lips thinning in another frown. "I feared for my life and, lacking freedom, I was indeed enslaved to my masters." His voice was softer at the end, lighter, as though the wind had been knocked out of him.

The pale elf's expression softened, his brows knitting upwards in what Halsin assumed was curiosity. "However did you manage to escape Menzoberranzan? Let alone find your way from the Underdark?" Astarion asked, his voice lacking its usual teasing or sarcastic tone. He seemed genuinely intrigued, leaning towards Halsin further. He seemed enraptured by Halsin's story, unaware of how his nails pressed into Halsin's large hand. The druid didn't mind, and gently squeezed back.

"Patience, mostly. Biding my time. My moment eventually came, when some rivals of my hosts sought to unseat them. In the midst of the fighting was pure chaos, and in that moment I took my chance," Halsin looked at Astarion, his expression more severe and serious than the vampire's, for once. "I never looked back until I breathed fresh air again…and I never learned what became of my masters." His large shoulders lifted and dropped again.

Astarion hadn't seen his shrug most likely, as the vampire's eyes were downcast, darting back and forth, as though he were formulating a conversation in his head. Or perhaps simply deep in thought. Either way, Halsin sat patiently waiting for his reply. No need to rush. Nor was there awkward silence, as the background noise of clinking glasses and happy chatter filled the inn - at least most of it, save for their quieter corner. Karlach had made a bet and was armwrestling someone, Halsin overheard. As well as the unmistakable voice of Gale, so generously sharing his endless knowledge and stories. Finally, Astarion raised his head to look at Halsin.

"You had family, though. And no one.. ever came to look for you?" Astarion asked. Halsin was surprised by the humanity in his tone, his concern. He sighed softly and offered a weak half-grin for the vampire.

"The Underdark is a vast network of caverns, so it would have been almost impossible to track me. And exceedingly dangerous," he explained. It had hurt, though, the years he was down there, knowing that no one was likely coming to his rescue. The pain resurged slightly, causing Halsin's stomach to flip and his skin to become hot. He shifted in his armchair uncomfortably. "This was also well before the Grove became my family. I've long had the tendency to roam and travel, instead of settling down. So as far as anyone knew…I was simply traveling."

Astarion shook his head, as if in disbelief, his beautiful brow wrinkled in dissatisfaction. "A pity," he said, squeezing Halsin's hand before pulling his own free of the druid's grasp. "But I am glad that you escaped. And to have met you." Halsin's heart leapt at the admittance, at the slight tinge of Astarion's ears and cheeks turning red, before the vampire realized what he had said, that he had let his mask slip.

"I certainly would hate having missed the opportunity to try bear blood," Astarion said, his voice full of that false mirth. His high pitched giggle filled their little nook off the main part of the inn. He winked at the druid. Halsin chuckled to himself and grinned, shaking his head slightly. He wouldn't push the matter further; Astarion's deflection queued the end of the conversation.

Or that topic, at least.

**************

Astarion was still stunned at Halsin's revelation of his sexual slavery; and appreciative that the druid knew when to keep quiet and leave him to his pensive moods. He struggled with the idea of Halsin under the thrall of anyone, let alone a diminutive Drow matron. As soon as Halsin shared his experience, Astarion's mind had run amok, conjuring the image of the large druid bound and tethered against his will… it made a knot tangle in his stomach. Astarion disliked both the knot and the fact that it had formed so quickly. Loathed how quickly his mind could so easily launch into a thousand scenarios of bound hands, sharp knives, and blood-stained floors. He hadn't realized he'd been staring into the distance for quite some time until Halsin spoke his name, and he had to blink rapidly to get his vision to refocus.

"Astarion, are you alright?" Halsin asked, tapping his forearm lightly with his thick fingers, resting his heavy hand on Astarion's delicate wrist.

As though by instinct, Astarion's other hand flipped in the air, as if batting away Halsin's concerns. "Of course, darling. Just the wine you know," he lied. Wine tasted of vinegar to him, and largely left him unaffected by intoxicating effects. "Although everyone else is rather…exuberant." 

Karlach was a doll, but gods could she be loud. Lae'zel of course, besides her blasted sword sharpening, wasn't obnoxious. Gale being endlessly verbose coincided with Wyll's chatterbox nature. Only Shadowheart knew when to keep her mouth shut, besides Halsin. The inn was full to bursting with songs and laughter.

It was rather annoying, and made brooding even more difficult. Yes, of course, they'd rescued the boy, there was hope for a cure of the tadpole… for the others, at least. Astarion's jaw clenched thinking of what could happen if the tadpole was removed. Would Cazador so quickly take power back over him? He had to get answers about those wretched scars before that could happen.

His thoughts were interrupted - again - by Halsin, this time by a gentle squeeze. "Would you like to go somewhere quieter, Astarion?" Halsin asked, his voice as gentle and reassuring as it had always been.

Ah, quieter, of course, Astarion thought to himself.

Halsin's expression darkened slightly and he shook his head. "Seduction is not my intention this evening, Astarion. Truly, I thought that you might appreciate someplace different to rest for the evening other than a camp bedroll."

Astarion hadn't realized his expression had changed enough for Halsin to notice. The vampire tried to reset his face to neutral; that mask of seduction melted like snow from sun-warmed stone. Old habits, dying hard, etcetera etcetera. He would like to have some place to repose in peace, though he enjoyed wanton parties as much as any good deviant. Still, some place better than his threadbare blanket - not to mention sharing more time with Halsin, was an opportunity Astarion couldn't pass.

He nodded and stood, stretching his arms overhead as he unfolded himself from the armchair. Halsin offered his arm Astarion's way, and nodded his head toward the room to which they'd retreated after Raphael's literal dressing-down. 

"Such a gentleman," Astarion purred as he slipped his hand into the crook of Halsin's arm. He couldn't resist gripping the druid's thick forearm muscle in a squeeze before relaxing his hand. Halsin's body heat, his strength… the memory of how he had been at Astarion’s request - no, the command - and so obediently followed the vampire’s lead to their mutual ecstasy… it sent a shiver down Astarion's spine, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to raise.

Halsin seemed not to notice as he waved a 'goodnight' to the rest of their companions, leading Astarion to the room he must have reserved when he had come earlier to Last Light, prior to anyone else's arrival. Though it was the same one they'd been in just a bit earlier, Astarion felt as though he were seeing it for the first time. Perhaps that truly was the case; he had been in distress the first time they'd been here after all, and sight-seeing hadn't been his priority. He raised his chin, surveying the room with curiosity and pleasure. Two clicks behind him signaled that Halsin had closed and locked the door.

"Well now, this is more like it! It’s quite a fine guest suite after all, even in the middle of a wasteland," Astarion chirped, loosening his hand's tether to Halsin and roaming about the room. He appreciated the thick fur and hide rugs that cushioned his footsteps as he took measure of his surroundings. His fingertips danced on fine antique wooden furniture - possibly as old as he was - that was clean and aged with a nice finish. A sideboard was laden heavily with candles, all lit and making the room smell faintly of honey. The side tables of the room also had candles, as well as a carafe of water and two goblets. The bed seemed plush enough, with pillows both decorative and functional at its head.

Astarion chose to settle himself at the head of the bed, kicking his boots off onto the floor, and shrugging off his armor. "So darling, what possessed you to reserve this room, hmm, if not for more of what we enjoyed the other night?" he asked, one slender eyebrow arched. Atop the copious pillows, Astarion reclined in the easy manner he had practiced over centuries.

Halsin's genial chuckle brought warmth to Astarion's cold chest as he settled beside the vampire, slipping off his own sandals and sitting cross-legged on the bed. "I've no ulterior motives, Astarion, and have been fully transparent with you," he said, his tone and grin as affable as always. "I thought it may be a fitting way to show my appreciation for you, and all you've done for me. For Thaniel. For the good of this land and the nature within it." He leaned forward and placed his large palm on Astarion's thigh, and raised one of the pale elf’s hands to his lips. Halsin pressed a gentle kiss atop his fingers, then settled his hand back down.

A shiver ran down his back again, and Astarion wiggled his shoulders further into the goose down pillows to will it away. "That's… very kind of you, Halsin," Astarion offered, brows rising in surprise, a slight flush growing at his cheeks. "It is rather nice to lie on an actual bed instead of the ground. I'd dare say we deserve a bit of comfort after all of our efforts."

The crow's feet at Halsin's eyes crinkled with his grin. "I thought you might. Comfort doesn't come naturally for me," he said, his voice a bit lower, softer. His hand traced along the surface of the soft linen quilt below him. "I am restless, and roaming. Comfort is for the farm animal, snug in its pen. I live for the wilderness." A large shrug of his shoulders blocked the candlelight from his side of the bed, then revealed it again, outlining the druid in an orangey golden halo.

Astarion couldn't resist snickering and rolling his eyes. "Oh I'm well aware darling; if you had it your way, we'd be lying naked in a field somewhere, gazing at the stars." He gestured with his hand at the ceiling, though he could only keep his eyes on the druid. How handsome he was, how striking. How full of delicious depth. His soft nature despite his inner beast. His wrinkles from age and experience. His hand on Astarion's thigh, calloused from hard work. He indeed was not made for creature comforts.

Halsin grinned and inclined his head towards Astarion, leaning in close and peering at the vampire through his dark eyelashes. "You read my mind, Astarion. But I thought of an adequate compromise for each of our comforts," he explained. Astarion's head tilted as he studied Halsin's face. "Could you humor me, dearheart, and close your eyes?"

Astarion's eyes narrowed. "Oh? Do you have some sort of lewd trick coming my way?"

"Not at all, Astarion. Just a surprise, on my honor." He squeezed the vampire's thigh softly and rose to stand beside the bed.

Astarion harrumphed and crossed his arms, wiggling further onto the pillows and crossing his long slender legs. "If you insist," he drawled, tapping his fingertips on his arms. "I do hate surprises. But I suppose I can grant that much at least." He closed his eyes and the fine linens, the candlelight, the large druid, all disappeared behind his eyelids. His sensitive hearing picked up the soft padding of Halsin's feet along the floorboards and rugs. 

For once, Astarion didn't want to break the silence with his own voice, for that would prevent him from picking up hints of what the surprise was based on the small sounds of Halsin's movements. The sound of blowing; he was snuffing the candles. The click of the lock on the door. And, oddly, the soft hum of a spell of some sort being cast. It was almost painful, the ache to open his eyes and see what on earth the druid was doing. His curiosity was never sated; and yet, he ached just as badly to please Halsin by humoring his desire for this surprise, whatever it was.

He heard Halsin pacing back towards him, the soft exhale of breaths as he slid onto the bed beside Astarion. He felt the larger elf's arm slide behind his lower back, Halsin’s warm hand wrapping around his waist to pull him closer, pressing him to his side. Astarion flushed again, wriggling slightly to nestle into the crook of Halsin's arm.

"Well? Are you quite finished?" Astarion asked, his patience wearing thin, but his curiosity growing.

He felt a soundless chuckle rumble in Halsin's chest. "Thank you for your trust, dearheart," he said. Astarion noticed he didn't mention patience. "You may open your eyes now."

As soon as Astarion opened his eyes, his mouth dropped open as well. How had he not noticed? Had he been too preoccupied with the allure of an actual bed to bother to look at the ceiling? Or was it that Halsin had used some sort of druid magic to mask their presence? Astarion wasn't sure, nor could his thoughts linger on the confusion he felt as his eyes roamed the ceiling, his fangs glinting in the reflected light from above.

All along the ceiling glimmered hundreds of tiny stars; each no bigger than a gold piece. They shone like gold, too, just as the sun glinted upon coins cast into a water fountain in a Baldurian street square. They twinkled and pulsed with magic, creating a dazzling starscape above him. It  mirrored beautifully the stars in the night sky that he hadn't seen in the entire time they'd been in the Shadowcursed lands.

His mouth was dry from hanging open; Astarion licked his lips and swallowed, his hand crawling towards Halsin, grasping his tunic in wonder. He felt Halsin's warm hand lay atop his, a soothing weight grounding him despite feeling as though his head swam in the stars above. Halsin had to have prepared this when he came to the Inn earlier. And also planned the candles, the timing… the minor cantrip of 'daylight' that he must have cast on each individual star. Astarion squinted, his night vision finally adjusted to the dimmer light. Each star appeared to be wooden; they had been whittled. By hand - by Halsin.

“What…what is all this for, Halsin?" Astarion asked, his eyes fixed on the wonders above, "How long did it take you to carve…?" He felt himself being pulled closer to Halsin, their torsos pressed together, Halsin's strong arms encircling him, sending goosepimples all down his body and a warmth in his chest and belly.

He couldn’t hold back the smile that tugged at the edges of his lips as he felt the press of Halsin’s soft lips against his forehead, and how they were curled into a smile. "I've been working on it for quite some time… despite only mentioning it recently," Halsin said, his contentment warm and solid, radiating from his deep voice. "Even if we cannot admire the night sky in these lands…I wanted to lie with you under the stars and feel your skin against mine."

Astarion felt as though his heart had started beating, with how fiercely his chest tightened as he realized that though he had never even considered it, he wanted that too. He wriggled his body against Halsin's, aching to be closer. "This… is nice," he said. And he meant it.

[paradimeshifts7]

All my things, all in one place 🌱 ↴

Twitter | ao3

All my fics, mostly steddie:

Desperado (You better let somebody love you)

Rated E | 164k | Exes to lovers

Twelve years after tire tracks and shattered trust, Wayne's illness brings Eddie back to Hawkins.

Once Bitten (Twice Shy)

Rated E | 22k | Christmas fic

Steve’s relationship with Christmas had always been tenuous, to say the least, but it didn’t help that this was the first Christmas he would be suffering through since his ex-girlfriend had snatched up his self-esteem and taken off running the year before.

He knew it was the intrinsically romantic quality of the holiday season, and nothing more. Just his lonely bones after a year of healing from heartbreak.

But Eddie's arms around him when he needed them most were starting to feel a lot like love.

Silk Chiffon

Rated E | 6k | Library smut

Steve and Eddie visit Robin and Nancy at Emerson, and a casual stroll through the library stacks turns into the best blowjob of Steve's goddamn life.

Tooth and Nail

Rated E | 113k | Punk pop slow burn

Eddie told himself that he was done, because he wouldn’t survive another heartbreak at that boy’s hands. But he really, really needs someone to open for them on tour.

Steve has a fist full of letters by the time he arrives in Los Angeles, but the Eddie Munson he knew is nowhere to be found. Left to make sense of this new version of the friend he once bared his soul to, Steve’s just trying not to fall off the fucking deep end again.

Lover, Come Over

Rated E | 15k | EMT Eddie/Divorcee Steve

Steve Harrington is the last person Eddie expects to see sitting on the curb when he responds to the call, but there he is, looking like absolute hell.

Sometimes, love is right on time.

Apple Pie (Baked Just Right)

Rated M | 4k | Food as a love language

Three times Steve silently says "I love you", and the one time Eddie says it back.

This Little Light of Mine

Rated E | 4k | Dad fic

It begins with a cough.

Just a dry, brittle thing that starts up one Friday morning over rice cereal and apple juice.

One look at Rosie, and Eddie knew she’d pull through just fine. Kids get sick, a simple fact of life. Something Steve, surely, is aware of.

Right?

Star Light, Star Bright

Rated E | 4k | Soulmates, Dreams

Steve swore he never dreamt before the age of sixteen, his nights spent swimming alone through dark, formless slumber until suddenly — he was no longer alone.

At age twenty, he finds himself staring into a pair of familiar eyes.

The Very Thought of You

Rated E | 65k | Jazz AU

The jazz music scene explodes when world-renowned pianist Eddie Munson is spotted getting cozy with a mystery man in New York City. Journalists have managed to link the pretty face to the prestigious Harrington name, an old money family with business all over the globe and a direct link to Diana Harrington, famous jazz starlet. But reports of bad trades and schemes gone wrong are beginning to muddy the waters of this particular love story, and it’s only a matter of time before the real origins of this torrid affair emerge.

The Poem You Make of Me

Rated E | 7k | Touch-starved wlw

“Could I?” She asks, barely a whisper.

“Could you what?”

“Take care of you,” Eddie says, ducking down to press a slow kiss to Stevie’s shoulder, pausing to murmur against her skin. “Make you feel good.”

Soft as Sin (Let Me In)

Rated E | 2k | pwp

Steve Harrington was drunk, although not as drunk as he wanted to be. Definitely not drunk enough to distract him from the fact that Eddie was sleeping no more than six feet away, the curves of his body laid out on the twin bed blurred in the dark. Despite the constant swimming in his head, Steve lay still, having to remind himself to breathe every couple of moments lest he pass out from the sheer apprehension.

Sugar’s Sweet (And So Is He)

Rated E | 42k | Sugar baby Steve/lit professor Eddie

The sugar baby!Steve and lit professor/author!Eddie au, wherein Eddie is a disaster at fine dining, and Steve helps him out.

Among the Wildflowers

Rated E | 28k | Steddie BB ‘23

It was easy, letting go. At least, that’s what Eddie told himself as he watched Hawkins fade to a tiny smudge on the horizon, his whole life packed into the van and Wayne’s old truck as they fled the Indiana tree line for the high mountain valleys of Idaho. Amidst the hot, dry air and sweet sagebrush, Eddie’s mind wandered, crawling back night after night under a blanket of stars to the golden boy he left behind and the chasm in his chest that used to house his heart — whistling and waiting, a near eternal ache.

Home came together slowly, and then all at once when Steve Harrington showed up on his doorstep a year later — haggard and worn, searching for something among the wildflowers.

A tale of death, birth, and the promise of green.

Some Kind of Angel

Rated E | 6k | Accidental subspace

The one where Eddie yells at Steve, and Steve accidentally goes into subspace about it.

Strawberry Fields

Rated E | 19k | Small town romcom

So close to earning his Emmy and the life he's always wanted, Steve sets off with a cameraman to the tiny town of Mt. Harding, hoping to catch a glimpse of a winter solstice phenomenon held secret by locals. It’s not exactly the gig he’s always dreamed of, but he’ll make it work. The only problem is that he has to do it with Eddie Munson.

The Moon Doesn’t Mind

Rated E | 14k | Unconventional omegaverse

Stuck in the Upside Down, Steve and Eddie are forced to reckon with what they’ve become, and what they’ve always been.

Monster. Inhuman. Changed.

In the Garden, Under Your Hand

Rated E | 23k | Community garden au

Thrown into community service after a bad run-in with his dad, Eddie is hardly expecting the next few months to be anything of note. That is, until Steve Harrington emerges from behind a patch of sunflowers at the community garden, claiming to be his supervisor.

The Winner Takes It All

Rated E | 32k | Romcom (My Best Friend’s Wedding AU)

Later, as he was sitting on the toilet, he remembered what Steve had said: February. The wedding was in February. Eddie checked his phone, confirming his suspicion.

“Fuck,” he swore softly, and then again, “Fuck.”

A little over two months until Steve said I do, binding himself to a total stranger. Eddie wasn’t about to let his best friend get snatched up by someone who was likely not good enough for him, let alone someone Eddie had never heard of. Steve was too kind to be taken advantage of like that — too special.

How things had ended up as they had, Eddie couldn’t be sure, but one way or another, he was going to get to the bottom of it.

On the Living Room Floor

Rated T | 1k | Stobin minific

The end of the world happens on a Tuesday.

Kalahari Down

Rated E | 11k | Small town country singer Steve/Rockstar Eddie

When his tour bus breaks down just outside of Hawkins, Indiana, Eddie Munson isn’t expecting the tiny town to offer up anything more than a cheap drink and a few side eyes.

He isn’t expecting Steve.

Tempest Entire

Rated E | 20k | Lighthouse/amnesia

The shape loomed dark and odd in the middle distance, flat on the sand like some dead thing, ominous in its unrecognizability. Through the lash of salt, Eddie squinted, walking toward the shape with morbid curiosity. He felt himself pale as he came closer, a knot of dread drawing tight in his stomach, because it wasn’t a seal or any kind of plant-based lump that lay motionless on the beach.

It was a man.

Impossible Not To

Rated E | 2k | Stommy collab with @tone-mariie

Except for Steve, it had always been more than that.

I’ll Show You Hands Ready to Bleed

Rated E | 5k | Vampire Eddie

It was meant to be a casual offer.

“You could drink some of my blood, I don’t mind.”

But the moment Eddie’s pupils began to narrow at the notion, Steve knew there was going to be nothing casual about what happened next.

Evermore

Rated E | 50k | Magic/fantasy au

The blight spread quickly, ravenous in its hunger as it stretched toward the high seat of the royal city, its evil already well-known to the farmlands where the earth lay dry and cracked — where magic and its ruin had no friend.

Steve knew the labor he put forth on his father’s land would amount to nothing, but still he toiled, knowing not what else to do, the oath he’d sworn a noose around his neck.

That is, until a stranger stumbled into his shed and into his life.

Until Eddie.

Come a Little Closer

Rated E | 10k | ren faire, omegaverse

Waylaid by a surprise rut, Eddie is certain he won’t be able to get through the ren faire without making it tragically weird for everyone involved. Steve is convinced he can get him through it — what are his stupid pheromones for, after all? Everything will be fine. That is, if Steve can keep his own feelings in check.

Dollhouse

Rated E | 9k | lingerie, collab with @glitterfang

Forced to house sit for his parents after being kicked out, Steve is thinking he and Eddie are going to watch a movie. Maybe fool around a bit. What he isn’t expecting is how Eddie in a bit of black lace is going to make him feel.

[cheerycherrycandy-resurrected]

What You've Done, You Cannot Undo (Medieval AU)

Chapter 17

The ghouls settle in some more, and Rain opens up to Dewdrop about his final big secret.

A bit of fluff, a bit of angst, a lot of "just kiss already!" I hope you enjoy <3

Rating: M Content: flashbacks, mild descriptions of violence Words: 7217

Links to full fic: Tumblr | AO3

Hi tag pals! @everybodyshusband @revengeghoulette

Read below, or on AO3!

Sunshine had pulled out all the stops with the picnic she brought; Dew had to wonder how she managed to fit as much into the basket as she did. They lounged around in the midday sun, chatting about their mornings and listening to the gentle lap of the lake against the feet of the dock. Rain had eventually put a shirt on, to Dew’s relief and disappointment, but he could still picture how he had looked climbing out of the lake; the type of figure the ancient Greeks carved statues of, the type that poems were written about. He spent the first minutes of their meal pretending to be incredibly interested in the sandwich he was nibbling rather than the press of the water ghoul’s knee against his, but he quickly found something more interesting to watch.

Swiss and Mountain were sat incredibly close to each other, so near they were practically in each other’s laps – Dew chose not to think about how him and Rain were sat in equal or greater proximity – with their elbows knocking together each time they raised their arms to eat. Dew wondered again what had transpired that morning that had led to them acting quite so cosy.

Rain was keen to see some more of the Abbey, seeing as he had been in the infirmary whilst the others had been shown around, and so Sunny offered to take him to the greenhouses on the way back to the Abbey. Mountain and Swiss followed too, seeing as their visit had been cut short by the pandemonium of Rain’s recovery the previous day.

“You coming too, Aeth?” Dew asked, turning to the quintessence ghoul. He shuffled his feet.

“I think I’ll go back to the library for a bit, Copia was showing me around before Sunshine fetched me for lunch.”

Mist raised an eyebrow.

“Wow, either the old guy’s got a lot more fun, or you really like the books.” She remarked.

“I’ll see you later, don’t worry,” Aether smiled at Mountain’s concerned expression, “seriously, I’m good. He’s really interesting to talk to.”

Dew made a mental note to check in with him.

Sunny had led the rest of them up to the greenhouse complex, Mist giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off with Aether back to the Abbey. Rain was mildly intrigued by the strange sheds made of glass panels, and even more interested when Sunshine explained how she had enchanted some of them to grow summer produce all year round. However, what he was most interested in was Dew’s rapturous expression as he followed her around. In a greenhouse that was almost stifling in its humidity, he had spotted a collection of small plants with long, red fruits hanging from them.

“Chilli peppers,” Dew gasped in delight, “they didn’t grow these before! We only had the dried ones.”

“They’re a new crop,” Sunny smiled, “we traded a few seeds from down south, and now we can grow them in here ourselves!”

Dew nipped one from the plant with his sharp claws, happily biting into it. Rain made to follow his lead, but the fire ghoul shot out a panicked arm.

“They’re really hot, Rain. Hotter than anything we ate before, try a tiny nibble of mine first.”

Rain eyed the bright red pepper in Dew’s hand, unsure how a plant could be hot. Before he could reach out a hand to take it, Dew raised it to his mouth, offering to feed him. He sniffed it, and shot out his forked tongue for a delicate lick, trying not to think about Dew’s own lips touching it moments prior.

He didn’t have a chance to worry about his face blushing red: the tiniest touch of it on his tongue left it burning, and he flinched away from it with a hiss.

“It burns! What is that?”

Dew tried not to laugh, sympathetic to the water ghoul’s pain.

“It’s a chilli pepper. They’re spicy, it makes them taste hot.”

“They’re evil.” Rain countered with a pout, drinking from a stream of water he summoned that cascaded from his hand.

Dew failed to keep a straight face and giggled. The sound was infectious, and despite his still-burning tongue Rain found himself doing the same.

While the two youngest ghouls messed around, Mountain had wandered off to investigate a tall plant with waxy yellow and white flowers he didn’t recognise and swiftly got chatting to an elderly earth ghoulette tending to it. Swiss was left looking around, wondering who he was supposed to tag along with, when Sunshine sidled up to him, following his gaze towards Mountain.

“Looks like you’ve caught yourself a nice one there,” she purred, before looking Swiss up and down, “although he’s not done too badly himself, either.”

Swiss stared down at her, too scandalised to speak.

“Relax, I’m just messing with you!” Sunshine cackled.

“We’re not even together.” He huffed back, bemused by the ghoulette’s behaviour.

“What!” Sunny shrieked, clapping her hands to her mouth to stifle the noise when Mountain glanced their way. “What’s in the water where you lot come from? First those two idiots,” she gestured to Rain and Dew, the latter now trying to see how many chillies he could fit in his mouth at once while the former continued scraping at his tongue, red faced, “and now you? How come none of you talk to each other!”

While Swiss spluttered, at a loss for words, she turned back to bark at the two youngest ghouls.

“Stop wasting all my damn harvest, Dewdrop!”

“I’m gonna talk to him,” Swiss huffed, “I just need to find the right moment.”

“When’s that, next century?”

Swiss gave in, chuckling along with her as he let Sunshine lead him along an aisle of plants, away from the rest of the group and out of their earshot. It was nice, he thought, having someone new to talk to, even if she seemed to be having far too much fun laughing at his expense.

“So, you’re a multi too,” Sunshine said as they strolled, the teasing gone from her voice but the cheerful attitude still there, “I haven’t met another one of us in years.”

Swiss nodded. “I haven’t either. Not since I left my birth clan.”

“How’re you settling in here?” Sunshine asked casually, but Swiss could feel the question was loaded.

“I don’t really know,” he sighed, “everyone else seems to be finding their place really quickly, but I don’t know where I’m supposed to fit in here.”

Sunshine pursed her lips in understanding.

“It’s hard. The other ghouls all seem to have their roles laid out for them, don’t they.”

The pair watched Mountain talking animatedly with the earth ghoulette through a gap in the foliage. Of all the ghouls, Swiss would have thought that the introverted earth ghoul would be the least likely to fit in so soon in a busy community like the Abbey. However, Mountain seemed to be doing better than Swiss so far; a strange experience for the ghoul who had always felt like the ‘face’ of the pack before.

“How did you find your niche?” He asked eventually. “I feel like I’m just tagging along with everyone else for lack of anything else to do.”

“It kind of just happened,” Sunshine mused, linking her arm through his and starting walking again, “I overheard a group of fire ghouls complaining that they were struggling to enchant a warm climate greenhouse because everything was just turning crispy, and I offered to help. Things seem to be doing better now I’ve added more light and humidity, so this has become my main task.”

“I worry I’m just a bit useless here,” Swiss sighed “back home I made predictions and stuff for the people in the town, but there’s air ghouls here who can do that so much better.”

“For the humans?” Sunshine stopped again, and swung round to face him. “That’s something that could be useful! Talk to Copia, he has all kinds of plans for something he calls ‘community outreach’, but no ghouls to help him.”

“He does?”

“Uh huh. I came from living with humans too, and he got really excited about some sort of project to ‘spread His message’? I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned it to you already, knowing your background.”

“Didn’t Dew say there are humans here who could do that? Why does he need ghouls to do that?”

“There’s a few, yes. You probably haven’t seen much of them, they stay in a totally separate wing to us ghouls. They’re the current ambassadors for the Ministry, but they’re not very successful.” Sunshine gave an exaggerated look over her shoulder, as though to check no errant human had snuck up on them in the last few seconds.

“They’re a bit useless if you ask me,” she whispered conspiratorially, “and so boring. They’re scared of their own kind, and they’re so bad at recruiting that they’re outnumbered by ghouls almost five to one.”

Swiss tried to imagine being a human preaching to their own kind about the wonders of the Dark Lord. That sounded like a one-way ticket to the gallows or the stake.

“Copia thinks us ghouls would do a better job,” Sunny continued, “even glamoured, we’re not human enough to fully pass, and he thinks that our slight otherworldly appearance might attract the interest of humans more suited to our cause, while scaring off those who oppose us.”

“I can see where he’s coming from,” agreed Swiss, “before I joined the pack I used to travel around with my guitar, singing in taverns and such. People were wary of me, but I think that added to the allure for some of them.” He flashed a dazzling smile to demonstrate, slightly-too-pointed teeth glistening next to his lone gold fang.

“Oh nice!” Sunny clapped her hands in joy. “I used to do something similar, I’d go round villages singing the humans’ folk songs in exchange for food and shelter.”

“Huh. Maybe Copia should think about spreading His word through music…” Swiss thought out loud.

“If our voices don’t get ‘em, that smile of yours sure will,” Sunny laughed, “it certainly seemed to work on your earth ghoul, look.”

They glanced over to where Mountain, having finished his conversation with the earth ghoulette, had drifted back over to Dew and Rain. He was hovering behind them, his eyes watching Swiss and Sunshine and he looked guilty at having been caught staring. Steering him by the elbow, Sunny led Swiss back over in their direction, beaming angelically.

“So, where next boys?”

The ghouls ended up in the library a while later, where they found Aether and Copia in a pair of armchairs, surrounded by books and deep in conversation. The quintessence ghoul looked up at the commotion caused by their entry and waved them over happily.

“See you nerds later.” Sunny gave them a mock-salute, and vanished back down the corridor.

“How were the greenhouses?” Aether asked as they dragged more chairs over, thoroughly disturbing the peace the two had been sat in.

“We saw Sunny's tropical one,” Mountain enthused, “it was very interesting. I got talking to an earth ghoulette called Delphinia, she's offered to give me a proper induction to working there if we choose to stay!”

“Spicy.” grumbled Rain, so quietly only Dew could hear him. He was still pouting about the betrayal of the pretty red fruit even now, and Dew thought it was simply adorable. His lower lip jutting out, Dew wanted nothing more than to kiss it and wipe the expression from his face. He saw Rain watching him, the slightest twitch in the corner of his eyes giving away that he had noticed Dew's stare, and he forced his eyes away, embarrassed at being caught.

“I've been telling Copia all about our travels before coming here,” Aether continued, “especially our early ones, Mount.”

The earth ghoul chirped in interest.

“They sound fascinating,” Copia gushed, “and not just the environments you saw, but the people too! As you can probably tell, we don't have a large human populous right now, especially not people who have come from any distance away.” He gestured around the library as he spoke, the lone human sat in a corner looking scared for their life as five pairs of ghoulish eyes suddenly landed on them.

“What's so interesting about the people?” Mountain asked, curious.

“For starters, how their attitudes to our cause are changing over time. Are they more accepting? Or are they frightened instead? These are all questions I have wanted to ask!”

“You want to talk to Swiss really,” Mountain said, looking at the multi ghoul who seemed surprised at his involvement, “he's got the most experience interacting with humans out of all of us; Aeth and I tended to steer clear of them when we could.”

“I travelled around with my guitar for many years,” Swiss explained, “playing in taverns and the like. I was just telling Sunshine about it. Most humans acted similarly, but there were always a few who were... more receptive listeners.” He tried diplomatically to describe the humans, men and women alike, who would practically throw themselves at his feet for a few sweet words and a honeyed smile.

“How wonderful,” Copia beamed. The intense focus he was listening with surprised Swiss, “I would be honoured to discuss your experience with us more mortal folk at greater length!”

Swiss shrugged, bashful. After the last few days of seeing his packmates slot into place here, he hadn't expected to feel needed in any way, least of all by their leader.

“I have a goal, you see,” the man explained, his face seeming to regain its youth in his excitement, “to spread His message far beyond these walls, far beyond the distance any missionary could carry it. The problem is, of course, the method.”

Swiss thought back to his conversation with Sunny.

“How about music?” he asked. “At least as a way to lure people in, it always worked for me. Then you'd have a captive audience to preach to.”

Copia nearly leapt to his feet in excitement. Instead, he simply gripped the edges of his chair and pitched himself forward.

“What an idea!” Several others in the library looked round, disturbed by the noise. “You said you played guitar, correct?”

Swiss held his hands out in front of him to defuse his enthusiasm.

“I do, but you must understand we are very wary of humans right now.”

Copia deflated somewhat, but his face was one of understanding.

“Yes, of course. My apologies Rain,” he turned to smile at the water ghoul, half hidden behind Dew, who shrugged at him, “I would never force any one of you do anything against your will.”

As he was looking at Rain, he seemed to remember himself suddenly.

“Why, we haven't been properly introduced! I am Papa Emeritus the Fourth, leader of this Abbey and sanctuary, but you can call me Copia.”

Rain looked uncomfortable as he became the sudden focus of the man's attention, but he held a cautious hand out to shake.

“Rain.” He said, softly. Copia took it and smiled, softer now he had calmed down somewhat.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Rain. I am most thankful our Dewdrop was able to save you, and I hope your recovery is going smoothly.”

“Yes, thank you. Mist has been helping me.”

“Ah, Mist. With her in charge you will have no choice but to get better!” He laughed at his own joke.

Sensing Rain's discomfort, Dew surreptitiously snaked his tail out to twine around Rain's. The water ghoul's tightened back in return, glad of the comfort. Luckily, Copia's attention was soon diverted back to quizzing the more senior ghouls, and Rain could relax again.

Eventually, Copia seemed to run out of questions and the ghouls were able to make their escape. As they left, Dew made a point of walking alongside Aether.

“Hi Dew, have a good day?”

Dew nodded offhandedly; he was here to question Aether, not the other way around.

“Are you alright?” He asked, in his usual blunt fashion. “Swiss and Mount are clearly worried about you too, afraid you felt left out while they went to go flirt in the woods earlier.”

Aether wanted to point out that Dew had also run off for similar purposes, but refrained.

“I thought they were,” he sighed, “they don’t need to be though, I’ve had a really great day. Copia is a fascinating man, and I bumped into Astra from the infirmary earlier who offered me a position there.”

Dew raised an eyebrow: Aether truly did seem happy today.

“I could really see us settling down here.”

That really did shock Dew. He had assumed Aether and Mountain would have the most difficulty figuring out their place here, but they seemed to be finding their feet best of all. He smiled up at the quintessence ghoul.

“I’m glad, Aeth. Really.”

That dinnertime, they decided to brave the main dining hall for the first time. The ghoulettes led them along the maze of corridors, taking them into a large wood-panelled room with a giant fire burning in the grate. Finally they got a glimpse at how large the Abbey’s population actually was. There were about half a dozen humans, all sat together in one corner, with the rest of the long tables occupied by ghouls. A gentle hubbub filled the air, but it was by no means unpleasantly loud. Cumulus led them over to an empty table in the middle of the room, and gestured for them all to take a seat. Dinner would be served buffet style, she informed them, but only once the kitchen staff themselves were ready to eat. Mealtimes were taken seriously here and there would be nobody left hunting for leftovers at the end, especially if they had a hand in preparing it.

Spotting Astra across the room Aether waved hello, happy to see a friendly face amidst the sea of strangers. The meal was as chaotic as ever, maybe even more so with the overall good mood of the pack and ambient noise in the room, but nobody seemed too bothered.

The ghoulettes led them up to the serving hatch to help themselves to food. Dew happily sprinkled more dried chillies all over his, reaching out an urgent hand to stop Rain from automatically copying him.

“It’s chili,” he laughed as they sat back at the table, “the spicy plant, only these have been dried.”

Rain was unimpressed.

“How can you eat that?” He pulled a face, as Dew began shovelling the mountain of red-freckled food into his mouth. “It’s trying to hurt you!”

“I’m a big strong ghoul,” Dew grinned at him, “let it try.”

“Sure you are.” Rain purred, rolling his eyes and bumping Dew gently with his shoulder.

The ghouls made casual conversation the rest of the meal; Cirrus and Cumulus asking about their days, and Sunshine about their conversation with Copia.

“He really liked the music idea,” Swiss told her, “I don't know if it will go anywhere, but it could be fun.”

Sunny seemed vastly more enthusiastic than him, so he let her excitement buoy him along as they chattered with the others about it. While the ghouls were still highly sceptical about interacting with humans, their memories of nights in the tavern or just around their own farm with Swiss and his guitar were full of fondness.

Back in the Den, the ghoulettes diplomatically left the common room to the newcomers for the evening, knowing they had an important discussion to have: whether they wished to stay at the Abbey for any length of time, or move on. As they peeled off, Cirrus pointed out all the empty doors, telling the ghouls that all the remaining rooms were made up ready for them if they wished to separate at last.

The pack spilled into the common room, occupying the colourful collection of chairs. The hubbub of the conversation from the hallway soon died out and they looked at each other, unsure of where to start.

“So,” Mountain began eventually, jumping straight to the point, “are we staying for now?”

Aether broke the silence that followed the earth ghoul's words.

“I'd be in favour, yes.”

Rain nodded exuberantly, clutching onto Dew's arm with hopeful eyes.

“Yeah, same.” He chuckled, making Rain beam.

“Me too.” Mountain cast his own vote.

They all turned to look at Swiss.

“Sure,” he forced a smile and shrugged, before answering truthfully, “it's the best place for us as a pack.” He would find his place eventually, he figured, and he trusted Sunny's optimism. Besides, where else would he go? He didn't dislike it here, and Copia's plans sounded interesting. Really, he just wanted to be wherever his pack were happy, and if that was here, he figured he would be too, in time.

"So, it's settled then: we stay for a while and try to make a go of things here.” Aether looked around at his pack, the mixture that they were, with pride and hope. They had all come a long way; from the antisocial wanderers he and Mountain had been, to the frail and frightened ghouls Rain and Dewdrop had been when they arrived, they had become a real pack, as strong as family.

Like any family though, they still needed time to themselves, and Aether for one was itching to stretch out in a bed, alone. As much as he had loved their piles over the last few nights, the weeks of camping had taken their toll on his back. He stretched his arms above his head, his spine making a flurry of popping noises, and he knew when he stood his hips and knees would do the same.

“Bedtime?” suggested Mountain with a laugh, slapping his knees before staggering to his feet from the impossibly low armchair he had landed in earlier, like a baby deer learning to walk. The antlers really added to the mental image, though Dew with a snicker.

Back in the hallway, the ghouls looked at the doors in front of them, at a slight loss for what to do.

“The one next to mine looks pretty much the same, the ones opposite have bigger windows and a balcony.” Dew summarised, waiting to see which dithering ghoul chose which. Mountain shrugged and opened the door to the room he had showered in previously; the wooden panelling like in Dew's was perfect for protecting an earth ghoul's energy, especially in the winter. Aether did the same opening an opposite door, keen for the view of the sky the tall windows would provide and already imagining evenings sat watching the stars. That only left the rooms next to him for Rain and Swiss. The latter waved goodnight to the pack, and sent an additional smile towards Mountain directly opposite, leaving only the water ghoul who made no move to leave Dew's side.

“You good with the last one?” Dew asked, concerned he'd overlooked some crucial issue. Rain dug his claws into Dew's arm, tugging him towards the fire ghoul's plain door.

“Oh, you don't want your own?” Dew tried to colour his voice with concern, but was secretly delighted to keep the water ghoul close, and all to himself. Rain shook his head vehemently and tightened his grip.

“Ouch! Okay, I get it, roommates it is.” Dew laughed, and let himself be pulled into his own bedroom.

The pair did not stay there for long. Whether due to the nervous energy that buzzed around them at the realisation that they were truly alone for the first time, or just from the lingering excitement of the day, it was barely half an hour before the two ghouls were sneaking back out of the dormitory, giggling like kits. They ran hand in hand towards the lake, pulling each other along as the light of the waning moon gleamed off Dew's champagne hair, making it appear lit from within.

Their footsteps slapped lightly on the dock as they ran along it, heading for the spot where they had sat earlier, right at the end. Rain looked like he was debating leaping straight in, grabbing at the hem of his shirt, but thought better at the last minute and tested the temperature with his tail first.

“Fuck that's freezing!” he hissed. How did it feel so much colder now that it was nighttime? Dew giggled next to him, lying on his front instead to look down into the dark water. Rain joined him, their shoulders bumping together as Dew reached out a hand to swirl the dark liquid around. The moonlight reflected off every little ripple he made, spreading out in hypnotising circles.

Dew's mind drifted. He imagined them swimming alone in the lake, dressed only in darkness with the moon the sole witness to their pile of clothes laying abandoned on the dock. He could probably keep a patch of water around them warm, if they stuck close enough together...

Glancing at Rain, his blue-tinged skin glowing luminescent in the moonlight, he suddenly felt very exposed, and rolled onto his back to stare into the dark abyss of the sky. It wasn't empty though, he realised. The myriad pinpricks of light from stars competed for his attention with the moon that hung there, mocking his inaction with her beautiful kin laid next to him.

“It's almost unbelievable,” Dew mused, distracting himself as Rain rolled over to join him and maintain their closeness, “that the moon caused all of this. It looks so small up there.”

Rain followed his gaze and hummed in acknowledgement.

“I knew it controlled the tides, obviously, but I didn't think about it affecting ghouls too,” he agreed, “it seems almost obvious now Mist's pointed it out.”

“You didn't know at all?” Dew asked, surprised. Rain shook his head.

“I don't know why no one ever told me,” he sighed, “was it really obvious to everyone else, and I'm just stupid? Or was there some super-secret club for powerful water ghouls where they talked about all this, that I was left out of because they thought I was useless?”

“You're not useless,” Dew answered automatically, “I hadn't heard of anything like it either, it seems almost unbelievable.”

Rain hummed again, thinking about Dew being half water but with no knowledge of what that meant at all, not even a connection to the element to hold on to.

“Is it strange, having a part of you that you know nothing about?” he asked finally.

Dew thought for a moment about the half of him laying dormant before answering with a shrug.

“I guess. I don't know how else I'm supposed to feel about it, it's not like I've lost anything, y'know? I'm mostly a normal fire ghoul without it. It's always just been this tainted thing about me.”

It was so sad, thought Rain, that the thing that had drawn him to Dew in the first place – his faint familiarity – was something he saw as a negative, just a stain. He was sure the sorrow was clear on his face, as Dew's began to mirror it when their eyes met again.

“I'm still sorry, for taking my resentment about it out on you,” Dew continued, almost whispering now, “it felt like the universe was taunting me by presenting me with such a perfect water ghoul. Showing me something beautiful, but that only made me feel uglier inside like some sort of cruel joke.”

Rain made sympathetic noises, Dew having already apologised enough for his previous actions, until it suddenly dawned on him that Dew was describing him.

“What do you mean perfect? I'm as far from perfect as you could get, everyone in my clan thought I was a pathetic excuse for a water ghoul, even as a kit!”

Dew snorted; he'd never heard anything so silly.

“Look at you though, look at your pretty fins!” Dew gestured to Rain's arms, the lacy fins on his arms glowing a thousand shades of blue and rolled to point at his tail moving lazily through the water, leaving a bioluminescent trail in its wake.

“We all look like this!” Rain laughed, incredulous.

“Yeah, but I don't,” Dew sounded sad again, “all the water in me did was douse the fire some. The worst of both worlds.” He stared at Rain's tail some more, not wanting to meet his eyes. Sensing the beginnings of the familiar slide into self-pity, and not wanting to put a downer on their otherwise pleasant day, he forced himself to pull the topic back into lighter territory.

“Not to mention, that apparently it makes me smell like fish!” He reached out into the dark lake to splash Rain lightly, making the water ghoul squeal in shock at the cold. In retaliation, Rain fixed Dew with a wicked smile, and pulled a column of water up from the ripples below, making it arc menacingly over him.

“Okay, okay, I take it back!” Dew shrieked, not wanting a drenching in the icy water. “I can tell you your fins are pretty again, just please don't soak me!”

Rain carefully guided every drop back into the lake with a pleased trill. The tension utterly shattered once again; the pair sat giggling uncontrollably to themselves. Dew had to wonder if they were becoming slightly delirious; he couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so much.

They finally regained their composure enough to continue talking, the atmosphere of openness that the dark night provided still surrounding them in her comforting arms.

“Do you have anything at all that links you to water?” Rain asked, curious. “Anything that links you to the moon?”

Dew thought hard. He definitely didn't have the true elemental magic, that followed what Mist had explained too, but he thought about any of his behaviours that had been seen as odd for a fire ghoul.

“I never noticed much,” he mused, “but I guess I like fish a lot more than the average fire ghoul? My clan never really ate it unless food was tight, and then we barbequed it beyond recognition anyway. They all preferred red meat. I don't know if that's a water ghoul thing though or not.”

“Swiss likes fish too?” Rain thought out loud. “Maybe that's also his water element.”

“Maybe the three of us just have more refined palates.” Dew laughed.

A comfortable silence fell again.

“Can you swim?” Rain asked after a while. He realised he'd never actually seen Dew swim, only bob around with his feet on the ground.

“Not properly,” Dew shook his head, “I never learned as a kit, and I just got by without knowing until now.” He met Rain's gaze with shy eyes. “Could you teach me?”

The water ghoul positively beamed at him.

Eventually, the two ghouls found themselves in their earlier position, lying back on the pier and watching the celestial bodies above. Out here in the stillness of the night, the gentle noises of nature were reassuringly constant. Everything felt just a little bit easier, Rain thought, when the sounds of the world carried on regardless of his actions. Nothing he could say would stop the humming of the insects of the periodic hooting of the owls, no matter how monumental it sounded to his ears. The moon shone down at him, imploring him to tell Dew his final secret under her protective gaze.

“It wasn’t just the moon, that day.” He said finally, eyes fixed on her glowing shape in the heavens, so as to not have to meet those of the fire ghoul beside him. Rain could feel Dew’s stare boring into the side of his face, unsure of both where the conversation was going, and where it had come from. He kept looking up, lest he lose his nerve.

“I told you about the ghoulette from my home clan, remember?” Rain felt, rather than saw, Dew nodding next to him. “I’ve been having nightmares about her, ever since I left. They’re usually pretty similar, just variations of her calling me useless, pathetic, that sort of thing.”

“Was that what the nightmare the other day was about?” Asked Dew sadly, unable to stop himself.

Rain debated how to answer. ‘No more lies’ he reminded himself.

“Sort of. She was in it, but that dream was different,” he continued quickly, before Dew could ask a follow up question, “the important one is the nightmare I had that morning.” Rain took a deep, shuddering breath, determined to get the words out fully. “The morning I killed three people.” His tongue felt like lead as he spoke.

Dew reached out a comforting hand, and Rain gripped it like a lifeline before continuing, his eyes still fixed forward.

“It was the same as most of my nightmares usually went; she called me useless, the fire ghoul next to her laughed, I woke up. Only that morning, I couldn’t shake it off like normal. She was in the back of my mind from the moment I woke up. Then when I got to the farm, it was like I was seeing a ghost.”

Rain tore his eyes away from the moon to look at Dew, and wished he hadn’t when he saw the deeply earnest expression on his face.

“Wait, do you remember the girl I–” Rain tried not to choke on the word this time, “killed?”

Dew shook his head. “Not really. I remember Farmer Wilkens had a daughter, but I couldn’t recall her face.”

Rain laughed wryly, but there was no humour in his tone as he focussed back on the moon above.

“She was the spitting image of her. It was like I’d been transported back in time to when I was an adolescent, like I was looking at the version of her who’d said she loved me, rather than the version in my dream who said no one ever would.”

He felt the squeezing round his hand grow tighter, grounding him.

“Seeing someone who looked so much like her from back then, combined with the nightmare still in my head, I panicked, and then I couldn’t stop the magic flowing through me.”

Rain could feel hot tears running down into his hairline, unbidden. Recounting the event like this, dwelling on how he had felt, how he had hurt. However it also felt cathartic, like by telling Dew, the moon and the whole night sky, he could begin to ask the universe for forgiveness, or at least understanding.

“I just wanted her to stop,” he cried, sobbing now, “I just wanted her to be quiet, to leave me alone and get out of my head. Then I saw that poor girl, and I couldn’t stop it coming out! The water just wouldn’t stop, and it was going straight for her.” Rain’s whole body shuddered in horror at the recollection of how the unstoppable tidal wave of his power had felt; how he’d seen the girl’s painfully familiar face and lashed out, desperate to make his endless night time suffering end.

“I saw her get dragged away by the flood,” he gasped between stuttered breaths, “I couldn’t stop it and I killed her!”

He’d seen her body crumple to the floor as the water released her, finally seeing her as the true innocent stranger she was. As the life left her fragile body, the light behind the eyes of the ghoulette who lurked in his mind and haunted his dreams faded too. Rain let himself be pulled into Dew and comforted as his cries of guilt and grief wracked his body.

Dew had tried as hard as he could to hold his tongue while Rain spoke, seeing how much pain he was putting himself through. He could tell how important it was to Rain that he got the words out however, so he tried to provide all the unspoken comfort he could. When Rain finished, he wasted no time in clutching the water ghoul close and letting him sob for as long as he needed. What he had gone through that morning was even more traumatic than he could have imagined; Dew couldn’t even begin to picture how much guilt he must have been holding on to. No wonder he had appeared to lose his mind in the aftermath, he thought. Rain’s constant and recurring need to blame himself made sense too, given the harrowing circumstances.

When Rain appeared to have run out of tears to cry, simply shaking in his arms, Dew shuffled even closer, nuzzling his way into getting his head onto Rain’s chest. He didn’t know what to say, but it seemed he didn’t need to; Rain’s reaction to his closeness clearly showed it was enough for him to just be there for him. The peace was much-needed, it seemed, and Dew was happy to provide.

They could have stayed that way for minutes or hours, it was anyone’s guess. Long past the time Rain had stopped quivering, past the time Dew’s leg had begun spasming with disuse, until the water ghoul started shivering from the cold instead. Dew heated himself up and happily let Rain hold him closer for warmth, like a sentient hot water bottle. Eventually, it wasn’t enough however.

“Do you want to go back inside?” Dew asked in a whisper, twisting to raise his chin and look at Rain for a response, but not fully lifting his head from his chest.

Rain nodded, and released Dew to scramble to his feet where he held out a hand to help the water ghoul up too. He kept hold of it the whole walk back to the Abbey, needing to feel the closeness after the raw emotion of baring his soul. He only released him once they had tiptoed back into the Den, with the bedroom door closed behind them as they went to change into pyjamas.

The pair both blushed deeply with their backs to each other as they stripped, and stumbled into their sleep clothes. Dew turned around as soon as he was finished to see Rain stood with clearly no intention of putting a shirt on over his sensitive exposed gills. He thanked whatever deity was listening for the dim light of the fireplace as they climbed into his – or he supposed it was now their – bed, grateful that the deep flush on his cheeks was camouflaged by it. Letting Rain manhandle him back into the position they were at down on the dock with Dew halfway on top of the him, the two ghouls slipped very swiftly into sleep. It had been a busier evening than either had anticipated, with far more vulnerability from the water ghoul than Dew had been expecting given their light-hearted joking just before. He supposed it was all things Rain had needed to say, and he could only hope that it would help keep the nightmares from continuing to torment him. For good measure, he wrapped his arms tighter around Rain’s torso: no bad dreams were getting past him if he could help it.

Next door, two of their packmates were in a very similar position.

Swiss had gotten ready for bed in the cold, empty expanse of the unoccupied room that was now supposedly his, every move he made echoing loudly off the bare walls. His footsteps sounded like a giant thudding around, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the whole hallway could hear him. Laying in the nest he had tried so valiantly to build, he felt a bone-chilling cold despite his limited fire power heating the blankets around him, and the fire burning in the hearth. He stared at the high ceiling, and tried to distract himself from the feeling of the stone walls closing in on him. They reminded him of Rain’s jail cell, and left him half-paralysed in fear.

Eventually he could bear it no longer; the wind racing past the tall windows was beginning to sound like screams in his ears, the yells of the bloodthirsty mob from the village, and he bolted from the room. He paused outside Mountain’s door, unsure if he could just burst in on the earth ghoul. What if he was asleep? Calmer now that he was out of the room, he considered his alternatives: going back wasn’t an option, he could barely stand to be in there for another minute, let alone sleep a whole night there. Aether had a similar room to his, and no amount of company would make him feel comfortable in the veritable stone prison. Besides, the quintessence ghoul desperately needed more sleep and he wasn’t going to take that away from him over a mere sleeping arrangement issue. There was no way in Hell he was going to disturb Rain and Dewdrop, and he couldn’t just stay in the hallway in his sleep pants, leaving him with no other option.

Quietly he pushed open the emerald green door. Maybe Mountain would be asleep and he wouldn’t even have to explain himself – he could make that a problem for Morning-Swiss. That plan was immediately foiled however at the sight of the earth ghoul staring straight at him, two green eyes glinting in the darkness and the dim firelight flickering on his unglamoured antlers.

“Hey Mount.” he whispered softly, apologetic.

“Can’t sleep?” rumbled Mountain, a sleepy smile on his face.

“How’d you know I don’t just want a cuddle?” Swiss tried to joke, but his voice rang hollow to both of them.

Mountain, however, very much liked the sound of a cuddle, especially with how haunted Swiss was looking as he spoke now. He hadn’t been able to sleep either yet; against all of his prior experience, he was missing the company of his pack. Especially one packmate.

“C’mon,” Mountain hummed, beckoning Swiss forward, “bedtime.”

He pulled the multi ghoul tight to his chest, resting his chin on Swiss’ piled up hair.

“Is this okay?” Swiss whispered into the dark. The room here was so much more comforting already with it wooden interior, although he suspected his specific company helped.

“Course it is, Snapdragon.”

A short while later, the room was reverberating quietly with the sound of their harmonising purrs as they fell into a sound sleep.

Across the hall, Aether was also just drifting off to sleep. He had sat up for a while, wrapped in a heavy blanket and watching the stars from his balcony. The constellations above were familiar: the same unwavering cast of characters telling the same stories they had told for millennia. It made the multitude of changes that had occurred recently easier, knowing that some things remained totally static in the world.

The quiet in his room was blissful; he felt bad thinking it, but it was nice to have a moment of peace to himself. He loved his pack mates, more than anything, but his brain needed the alone time to decompress sometimes. The calm stillness of the room welcomed him, absorbing the loudest of the thoughts that rattled around inside his head like marbles in a jar.

Back in bed, he let the gentle rushing of the wind around the corners of the building lull him into a deep sleep.

[thewolvesof1998]

AO3 | Redbubble | ko-fi

Art and Sticker Commissions are open!

My Fics:

You can see all my posts about my fics/WIPs by searching the tag 'thewolvesof1998 writes'

I ain't proud of all the punches that I've thrown (826, T, Buddie): Post AO3

You with the dark curls, you with the watercolor eyes (1.6k, M, Buddie): Post AO3

asking all these questions, just to be polite, while dying inside (1.2k, T, Buddie): Post AO3

Tapping Morse Code into your heart (2.8k, E, Buddie): Post AO3

I want you to be selfish with me (4.6k, M, Buddie): Post AO3

You bring me comfort (4.2k, T, Buddie): Post AO3

I Can See You (3.1k, T, Buddie): Post AO3

Alright, Cowboy, Go Get 'Em (2/3 Chapters, 16.9K, E, Buddie): Post AO3 Masterlist

Under the Guise of Violence (3k, E, Buddie): Post AO3

nicknames, supernova similes and the family we make (798w, G, Buddie): Post AO3

let me cradle your body (be a safe place to rest) (1.9K, G, Buddie): Post AO3

even when the heat breaks I'm still yours (6.1k, E, Buddie) Post AO3

We might end up real close (2.2k, E, Buddie) Post AO3

They don’t know (your name is already mine) (7.6k, G, Buddie) Post AO3

A good ally (2k, E, Bucktommy) post AO3

Fic Writing Review 2023 (which includes a list of all my current wips and links to post about them.)

Masterlist of ‘I don’t mind if we fight, If you make me bleed.’ posts

My favourite writing tool

My Original Writing:

Someone to be Gentle- Original Poem

Water Burial -Original Poem (trigger warnings)

My God is a Woman - Original Poem

My Edits:

You can see all my post about my edits by searching the tag 'thewolvesof1998 edit'

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow - LOTR inspired Buddie

Evan Buckley Icons

Eddie Diaz Instagram Post

What Was I Made For x Evan Buckley

Buck's Tweets inspired by Oliver's own Tweets

RWRB Buddie Movie Posters

Ryan Guzman Twilight poster

My Art:

You can see all my post about my art by searching the tag 'thewolvesof1998 art'

Cowboy Buck inspired by my fic Alright, Cowboy, Go Get 'Em

Sad pumpkin Buckley

Buck in short shorts and crop top pt. 1 (wip)

Buck in short shorts and crop top pt. 2 (wip)

Rodeo Star Buck (wip)

Rodeo Star Buck (finished)

My Stickers

'I do not panic' Eddie Diaz sticker

Grog Mayo Sticker

Wolf Pack Dispatch:

1/12/23

1/01/24

HOW TO WATCH SEASON 7 OF 9-1-1

[altruistic-meme]

welcome :]

woohoo. time for an actual like. intro post. let's go 👍

[ wonderful previous blog summary by @cozy-fish-crow <3 ]

hello, i'm Abram. or Acee, if you wanna use that. he/they, but generally speaking i don't mind any pronouns. i'm queer in basically every direction and i could explain what i mean but i'll just leave it there for now. currently i'm 22. i'm usamerican and from the south.

i am a very big fandom nerd. some of my biggest fandoms include:

- Young Royals

- All For the Game

- Captive Prince

- Bungo Stray Dogs

- Haikyuu!!

- Good Omens

- Dan and Phil

- Yuri!!! On Ice (dormant)

+ many, many more

i'm a fanfic author and you can find me on ao3 @ AmericanCanada

i also crochet and occasionally i post about it. tag: #crochet

i draw occasionally -> @aceedoodles

i have a sideblog for helpful/reference posts -> @forthesadadult

all personal posts are tagged #shh ac

i love asks so much please never hesitate to send me an ask, especially about my fandoms and/or my fics. i will think of you fondly for the rest of my life if you do.

my three idiots cats <3 JJ, Anka, and Blue (here is a helpful guide!)

okay that is all from me for now! have a fantastic day!

[ links to fanfictions + their tags below the cut! ]

FANFICTION ROUND-UP:

All For the Game:

(why is there) joy in this poison (WIP)

tag: #(wit)jitp

for the hopes and the fears and the dreams

tag: #(wit)jitp

go low (WIP)

tag: #wip: go low

the scars are poems (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: the scars are poems

figurative ghosts (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: figurative ghosts

heartbeats carved in flesh

i said i wouldn't call, but i need you now

Young Royals:

I've Got You, Brother (WIP)

tag: #wip: fuck he said a pronoun

Dare(d) To Do It (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: dare(d), #wip: parallels

Not Supposed To Know (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: nstk, #wip: parallels

swaying as the room burned down

LVOE.

we all need a soft place to fall

Captive Prince:

laurent stabs damen [name undecided] (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: laurent stabs damen

Carpe Noctem (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: carpe noctem

Bungo Stray Dogs:

blackhole time fuckery [name undecided] (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: blackhole time fuckery

Will You Be Mine? (No Sir) (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: will you be mine? (no sir)

it's a safehouse, right? (WIP, unpublished)

The Port Mafia Boss's Most Loyal Dog (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: loyal dog

abo au [name undecided] (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: abo au

selfish (WIP, unpublished)

tag: #wip: selfish

what you can learn from a bowl of soup

tag: #wip: torturing kunikida

- fics are linked where possible!

- not all WIPs have been blogged about and thus not all of them have tags, but I will try to keep this list updated as i work on/post about them.

- italicized fics are ones i consider to be "critical"; aka the fics that i am putting the most effort and care into writing, or my personal favorites

- this is not a comprehensive list of every fic i have written, just the ones i felt like pointing at specifically! there are more fics on my ao3 account (such as all of my yoi fics) and there are also WIPs that aren't mentioned here.

- i love questions i love questions sooo much please ask me about my fics i would love to talk about them PLEASE ASK-

[pinkykats-place]

BakuDeku supernatural au

AO3 Fanfic Recommendations

Disclaimers!

None of the stories linked on titles are mine.

Some contain mature content. Read tags.

Art work by @veve {twitter}.

Note: If you read any of these stories and like them please let the author know with a kudos and/or comment!

Under the Full Moon

by shalia_earante

Summary: Katsuki is finally ready to propose courtship to his nerdy ghost Deku, but the boy is nowhere to be found!

One Shot | SFW

Werewolf Baku x Ghost Deku

A Cat Named Deku by silentsongbird

Summary: Bakugou begrudgingly takes in a stray cat that has been hanging around his home. He says he's motivated by the weather turning colder, but he just can't resist the little fur ball. One night, Deku decides to let him in on a little secret.

One Shot | No Quirks AU

Rated - Mature

Cursed Shifter Deku x Human Baku

Blood Oath by Kolista

Summary: “Being alive ain’t worth shit if you don’t got something to live for,” I tell her with a sneer.

“Yes,” she pauses with a knowing tilt to her head. “To bad I am not alive.”

I laugh at her then. A deep one that has my chest shaking and when I settle down a little I start to feel a bit woozy. Whatever the fuck that old man puts in that brown water he calls ale has finally caught up with me. Or so I think.

The vampire bitch leans in close to me. Those disgusting red tipped finger nails graze my inner thigh as she whisper in my ear, “you’re going to make such a fine pet once we’re done with you. I bet you look splendid with a collar wrapped tight around that pretty neck of yours.”

— — —

Or Baku is kicked out of his pack and forced to make it on his own. He doesn't get far before he's scooped up and held prisoner at The Shelter, a supernatural black market where you can purchase anyone for any price. Bakugou is purchased by Izuku, a vampire prince whose in need of a bodyguard and the enemy to Kat's people. Now he must choose between his people or the one person he's supposed to hate.

Complete | 40 Chapters

Rated - Explicit

Vampire Deku x Werewolf Baku

The Morning-After Pill Doesn't Work On Werewolves, You Damn Deku!

by greatcloudninja

Summary: “All Supes have a secondary gender separate from the regular gender spectrum: alpha, beta, and omega. Alpha Supes—even non-werewolves—develop knots. And omega Supes, even those who have male genitalia, develop certain characteristics as well… like the fact that all omega werewolves can get pregnant if they have sex with an alpha during the full moon.”

Recently-turned vampire Midoriya Izuku wakes up in a hotel room, naked and vulnerable to encroaching morning sunlight, with a stranger on the other side of the bed. Except the stranger isn't a stranger at all—Bakugou Katsuki was his babysitter growing up, the older boy Izuku idolized and crushed on. Now he's getting a very... hands-on lesson in what separates the supernatural community from 'normal' humanity, as he realizes he's become very intimately connected with Bakugou in a way he never imagined.

One Shot | OmegaVerse

Rated - Explicit

Vampire Deku x Werewolf Baku

my love is always bitter/yearning

by lovemepidge

Summary: Two vampires get drunk and describe each other looks as they cannot use mirrors

{One Shot}

Rated - Teen & Up

Vampire Baku x Vampire Deku

Not Enough Time With You

by schrammashley1

Summary: Bakugou and Midoriya have already spent more than two lifetimes together yet, Christmas remains Izuku's favorite holiday and Katsuki realizes the nerd always gets what he wants.

{One Shot}

Rated - Teen & Up

Vampire Baku x Vampire Deku

An Aching Desire to Find

by psycovibes

Summary: It's been years since he last saw that freckled face, those viridian eyes that looked at him as if he was the most beautiful poem ever written.

The pull on his heart had only grown stronger with his will to find him. He would do anything to hear that voice say his name again.

He would give anything to find him.

One Shot | Victorian AU | Not Rated

Vampire Baku x Vampire Deku

Vampires Versus Wild by skyfallgar

Summary: Izuku barged into their shared home, panic written across his face. “Kacchan! we have a problem.”

“No,” Katsuki said. “YOU have a problem.”

He then pointed a finger at the intruder. “I have an idiot who keeps getting into one.”

“Mean, Kacchan,” Izuku pouted.

“So, what is it this time?” Katsuki asked.

“I told vampire hunters we were vampires,” he blurted.

“You did WHAT??”

— — —

OR Vampires bkdk keep pranking each other every 50 years or so.

One Shot | SFW

Vampire Baku x Vampire Deku

Lovebites by mynameis152

Summary: Katsuki Bakugou was going to hate this summer.

He thought he'd hate it because he was being forced to leave home and work for his mother's friend in a small, seaside town. He thought he'd hate it cause he was being punished for burning his room to a crisp. He thought he'd hate it because he hated change.

But it turns out, he hated the Supernatural Turfwar between four species that shouldn't exist but do a whole lot more....

— — —

Or The one where Katsuki is forced to move in with Inko for the summer and finds himself falling for a particular bloodsucker....

Complete | 57 Chapters

Rated - Explicit

[strwbrryfire]

hehe was tagged by the lovely @wisteriagoesvroom thank u dearrr <33

How many works do you have on AO3?

Only 16 total, surprisingly

What's your total AO3 word count?

70k. a lot of what i write is under 4k words lol

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

they're all genshin fics so i am nottt listing those lmao

(& one of them is dead poets society fic i never finished whoops)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to! it normally takes me a bit to muster up the courage to respond tho lol but usually yes, as comments are really the only thing that keep me motivated to write

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

again its a genshin fic and i will not be linking it bc it is very cringe . i havent deleted it or anything but im not proud of it so as far as i know its gone . but yeah i killed off childe bc hes my lil punching bag

Do you write crossovers?

no but ive really thought about doing some sort of weird dsmp/f1 thing to connect the ugliest of my brainworms. mostly because c!wilbur & c!tommy's relationship really reminds me of how i perceive lando and max, at least in terms of their friendship.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

yep, back when i wrote stranger things stuff, but all the things i wrote for that fandom have been deleted off my page lolol

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yes ..,.and the most basic shit youve ever seen in your life

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

yes? it was a stranger things one i think

Have you ever had a fic translated?

yep! yet another ST one. think it was byler iirc

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no but i would love to!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

very basic, i know, but destiel and also thanzag from hades.

but from f1 specifically, it will always be landoscar . there is So Much potential in those herbs and i love them dearly

What's a WIP that you want to finish but you don't think you ever will?

the rest of profezia del destino, mostly bc lestappen doesnt move me as much anymore. i might make it into maxiel somehow but we shall see

What are your writing strengths?

fuck if i know lmao. i've been told i'm good at imagery.

What are your writing weakness?

mainly, and annoyingly, dialogue. i try too hard to be waxing poetic but i never know how to translate that into dialogue. and also long plots/anything thats multi chaptered. my train of thought just goes somewhere else completely lol

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i love to do it but i am not good at it, as im One Of Those People who just uses google translate. im definitely trying to improve on that though

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

if i recall correctly, im pretty sure it was 5 seconds of summer. but it could have also been the hunger games. that was a decade ago so i dont super remember lol

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

god. i want to write brocedes so bad. and also norstappen bc the vibes are just so rancid and i love it

and also dsmp

What's your favorite fic you've written?

i suppose through sharpened teeth. but in terms of poem fics, ferrari's satisfaction survey is also a fave of mine .

im too shy to tag anyone so if u see this u have been royally tagged!! thank u again wiz <33

[cooking-with-hailstones]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tags y'all! @mistresslrigtar @zeldadiarist @ladyhoneydee y'all go read their stuff it's so good

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Just 8, but it's about to increase! ;)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

58,767!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Legend of Zelda - All BOTW so far. I have some ideas for other Zelda games but they remain as ideas for now.

I also have a short Marvel story from my Steve/Bucky days circa 2013.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Shadows - An Epistolary Poem from Steve Rogers to Bucky Barnes

Is that a yes? (Zelink oneshot, NSFW)

That child of mine (my beloved longfic - I promise I'm coming back to this story soon! I miss it so much)

Silk and moonlight (with art from the magnificent @bahbahhh)

A chance encounter at the blood clinic (modern Zelink au that is very silly but you gotta be ok with blood donation)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely! I am a sucker for attention and I love talking about stories with people.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh DEFINITELY That child of mine. It's not even finished yet but there is some goooood angst coming, and I already know how it's going to end (I've actually written a good chunk of the finale already) and it's gonna be heartbreaking.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably A chance enounter? They get each other's number and the promise of a cute date.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! I've only gotten some (requested) constructive criticism. I do have a fic planned that I anticipate being kinda contentious? But I'm already planning on limiting comments on that one lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yee! I've never written anything hardcore but I do really like writing and reading sexy scenes. I'm not much of a PWP kind of person (give me all of the emotional context) but I'm a big believer that sex and intimacy are fundamentally human experiences and can serve a story in so many beautiful and interesting ways.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I continue to chip away at my Deep Space 9/TotK crossover idea. It's gonna happen one day... maybe...

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but maybe I'll try re-writing one of my stories in French sometime as a project.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but I would LOVE to. The closest is when B and I collaborated and I wrote a story and she did the art.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Zelink, definitely. People whose souls are inextricably bound to one another and keep finding each other, lifetime after lifetime? That's the good shit right there. Obsessed.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

The story that walked into my head that made me start writing. It's a crazy ambitious story - Basic premise is that instead of the Sheikah technology being banned by the ancient king, the Sheikah themselves were banished from the lands of Hyrule. In the interim, Hyrule has been through many wars, dynasties and factions have all risen and fallen, and the bloodline of the Goddess has been forgotten. No one remembers any of the old stories. Zelda is a farm girl training to become a healer like her mother, Link is the son of the king who won the throne after lead a successful campaign against the Zora, and into all of this comes a young Impa, drawn back to Hyrule after thousands of years away, tormented by visions of calamity, a prophecy her people have passed down for millenia, knowing that Hylia would recall them to the land of their ancestors when the time was right. It's anti-monarchy, it's about climate change, it's about falling in love and renouncing power in order to fulfill a greater purpose, it's about knowing yourself, it's about righting ancestral wrongs, and I do not think it will ever be finished but I do like to come back to it every once in a while.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Coming up with interesting concepts!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Executing interesting concepts?

But in all seriousness, I know I still have a lot to learn as a writer. I'm overly descriptive, I have long run-on sentences, dialogue tags are my nemesis, and I struggle to write with real depth of character.

I do think I'm a good storyteller. I am just still honing those skills.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it's great! I am obsessed with conlangs - I think they're so fucking cool. For writing in existing languages, as long as you're familiar with the language, or getting someone to look it over and not just running things through google translate, I think that's wonderful.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Captain America.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

That child of mine my beloved

This was really fun, thanks y'all!

Tagging @louwhose @newtsnaturethings @wanderingnightingale and @bahbahhh ! I'm sure y'all have already been tagged but add me to the pile of fans who want to hear more about your work :D

[writerswhy]

I present a small look into my collection of “this reminds me of aihina”:

A song of the poorly loved by Guillaume Apollinaire

(I reread the poem after stumbling upon two great aihina fics. I won’t link them here because I know some creators aren’t comfortable with that, but you can find them on AO3)

I thought of those happy royalties That night when love betraying and She whom I loved and do love still Beset me with their sleight of ghosts Contriving my unhappiness

Because you love the sunshine Recall well I took you sunning Somber spouse beloved darling You are mine while being nothing O my shadow for me mourning

(A snippet of a lil’ something I wrote while on the train):

He buries his fingers in her hair with a hiss, and shudders with defeat. She has found his.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Jane Brontë

If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.

Spiritbox - Ultraviolet

Mirror image staring back into a thousand lifetimes Fearing what the light finds I can see it shining through the trees

Cherry blossoms by Toi Derricotte

All around us the blossoms flurry down whispering, Be patient you have an ancient beauty. Be patient, you have an ancient beauty.

Chelsea Wolfe - The Waves Have Come

Creation was the only word That made you feel you never were An endless hope is all it was And holding sacred all were And don't forsake the way we were And don't tell me you never would

[peppered-imps]

Oh wow, what a quick response! Yeah, Obidala and Star Wars related resources would be amazing. (Never ever thought I'd be trying to write anything in the SW universe. Lol. But I just adore the pairing that much.)

and heres a very late response! I hope you're still around, anon. so sorry it took me so long. this isn't an exhaustive list, but I hope it's enough to get you started!

for general star wars:

my favourite resource by far is Wookieepedia. it's just an online encyclopedia of nearly every single conceivable thing in the SW universe for both canon and legends. Most articles feature a tab that can switch between canon and legends material, which makes organizing info really easy.

I also love @gffa for their incredibly well-informed posts, especially under their reference tag. But truly, the whole blog is a wealth of information and thoughtful takes.

I really enjoy Fit For a Queen a lot. its an extensive catalogue of outfits and costumes (mostly Padme's, but there are a few others) and how they were made, what their background is, etc. If anything, I find it really interesting, and it helps when I need to reference a certain outfit for art, fic, or whatever else. It's also a great source of Padme concept art!

I haven't used this one yet but I'm excited to. I was recently sent this post which features a link to transcripts from every episode of The Clone Wars.

I also highly recommend @nabooro, which is ran by my very brilliant friend. it's not a source of canonical info, but it is a really fascinating exploration into the culture of Naboo.

for obidala:

again @gffa because they have a really great obidala tag, with art, fic recs, etc.

@your-dose-of-obidala is a great source for art, edits, and fic (original and recs) as well!

@shierak-inavva is probably my favourite obidala artist and I often find great inspiration in their work (ie this post inspired part of the premise to this fic of mine, as well as a concept in another WIP). they do lots of other art too, and it's all very lovely. here's their obidala tag.

I personally track the obidala tag here on tumblr you'll find tons of really wonderful creators in it as well. I have found so many artists, writers, and friends there. At the risk of leaving any out, I will refrain from tagging anyone else and simply recommend you explore the tag.

and I keep an obidala tag on my blog as well, if you wanna check it out!

for general writing (which I know you didnt ask for but I thought I'd include a couple things):

@writingquestionsanswered is a phenomenal source of writing advice

this really helpful post about some of the basics of tagging on Ao3 if you ever decide you want to share your work there

aaand at the risk of sounding too self-promoting: I keep a reference tag on my blog where I collect various references and sources on writing in general. I also keep an inspiration tag of quotes, poems, book excerpts, etc that personally inspire or motivate me. feel free to check either out or use them as inspiration to create your own tags to help you!

i also have other random sources I use (most of which are saved onto my devices and not anything I can link), so please feel free to message me any time you need some assistance or advice and I'll do my best to help you out!

best of luck and happy writing!! 😊

[redrosesartcabin]

6.Scenario: Poetry

Megatron x reader fanficition ( can be found here as well https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrosessoulcabin)

Link to the previous chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/redrosesartcabin/722531581594583040/5scenario-an-unexpected-visit-from-the-past?source=share

Link to the first post: https://www.tumblr.com/redrosesartcabin/722529797578833920/double-posting-my-fanfic-now

Link to the next chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/redrosesartcabin/722531904486850560/7-chapter-a-cool-secret-to-keep

—

Curious of his discovery, Megatron lifts the little booklet off the barn-floor and carefully opens it up, somewhere in the middle.

There was a text written, a little differently structured then he had seen so far in human written books.

It read:

 “The cats sleep on the humming tune

My ear aches for as well

Warmth spreading like burning coal

 You are their shelter

As you are always mine

Huge and kind

Like my house

Here rests my heart

Right beside yours

Glowing like a star

I’ve seen it before

And there in it’s pit

I could see the years just pass

Before my eyes

And I’ve seen glory and pain

Destruction and death

And once pierced through

 What pretense has let you live before?

Letting you live now?

Again, with me?

But I shall be so blessed to believe

That fate has wanted you

Dancing in my chest

Singing ‘I’m in love with you’

A crest of strength

Tattooed on our souls

And no brittle ire

Will take you anymore”

 Megatron traced the words again and again with his index finger, feeling his spark whirring incessantly.

He suddenly remembered that one very sunny day in spring, where he had lain in the freshly, after winter-born grass and tiny flowers dancing in the breeze and automatically, his optics had closed, dozing into stasis. When he had awoken again, Ying and Yang had lain on his chest, purring contentedly. “Well, hello there, little ones” he had greeted them, carefully petting their little heads, and seeing them there, he just couldn’t bring himself to up and leave, even though he wanted to stretch his numbed limbs. Stirring them from their slumber felt like disturbing good-hearted but powerful ancient gods. You must’ve seen them then, he thought, though had felt the same need not to disturb the scene and instead let it unfold and end in its own time, which eventually it did of course.

Megatron turned the page, reading over the next poem:

 “I call it head

You call it helm

I call it chest

You call it chassis

I call it heart

You call it spark

 But when its hard and broken apart

When it thinks, and cannot quieten

When it beats, but cannot speak

It becomes all the same

Differences peacefully disintegrate to dust

 And one quiet sound, envelops us in clouds

Brings us to a heaven

That belongs to only you and me

Sweet and polite like honeybees

Making liquid gold to feed our souls

Right here were we will grow to be

As one

Where you began I will begin

Where I ended you will end

Where I began you will begin

Where you ended I will end

This game, a delight for eternity

Having been

and becoming

all that ever is”

Here Megatron remembered how you had shown him honey.

“I wish you could try it”, you had said, “It’s like liquid gold, but you can actually consume it. It’s sweet, sometimes even too sweet but delightfully so. It’s something I could consider a miracle, made so easily by such small, pretty, little creatures”.

At that Megatron had smiled and said, “Sometimes that’s how I feel about you. Such a small creature, capable of miracles”.

“Well,”, you had answered to that, a little flustered, “I suppose we are all connected. Where you end, I ended, where you begin, I began and so on and so forth.”

“The circle of life”, he had said-

 -and that was also the title of the poem he now saw, written in small, neat letters on top of the page.

He decided to stop reading for now, instead wondering how long you’ve written poetry about you two and your moments. He was so deeply touched by them he felt he had to just do something.

And then suddenly, he had an idea…

*

It was 5:30 a.m. when you awoke. The birds chirped to the silent tune of the rising sun. You awoke, slowly opening your eyes, the world one blur until the contours of your surroundings became sharp edged and visible, reality coming into fruition.

After you got ready, you headed to the kitchen, planning on making yourself a cup of your self-brewed coffee over a real fire, outside on your little fireplace made of a simple stone circle. As you wanted to open the cabinet where the kettle resided, you saw a little post-it-note on the cabinet-door. Curiosity peaked, you removed it swiftly, bringing it closer to be able to read it properly. It said, “With a pink sunrise, an elated wish for dark, bitter essence to touch blooms within. And so, beauty decides to make it, blessing the day with that arrival”.

You cocked an eyebrow, not quite understanding what this meant, though at the same time feeling that you very much did. Not quite awake yet, you didn’t think about where this might lead and who, quite obviously, wrote this, so you just decided to keep going as you had planned.

As you headed for the front door, you saw another post-it-note there.

“The blessed being moves in graceful strides towards the outdoors, longing for the cold morning breeze. The breeze will bring company the being knows but does not expect. Someone residing in the spark, and he hopes you won’t mind this gift as he has tried to give back what has been started.”

“Megatron?”, you asked yourself now. What does he mean? For some reason you were a little nervous now, going out. But there had been no reason to be, there was only wonder. A path of light-pink flowers built a path towards the fireplace that you couldn’t but excitedly run on and towards your desired destination.

And there, as expected yet much better, sat Megatron, already having prepared the coals just like it was necessary for the coffee to brew right. Aside from that though, he had prepared little bowls of fruit and other little breakfast snacks that stood on a small wooden table you kept in your junk-room as back-up for when guests came.

“Am I still dreaming?”, you asked him in disbelief, “Or do we have some anniversary I forgot?”

He laughed, “Can I not just do something nice for you for once?”, he asked, but you just raised your eyebrows.

“Darling, I love you, but until a few days ago you absolutely refused to make any sort of art and now you write poetry, you didn’t want to make grand romantic gestures because it still irked you to be too kind-“

“You know”, he interrupted you, “I have realized that despite how much I’ve grown, I still can seem a little harsh when it comes to human mating costumes, and I still have this pride in me that sometimes makes it seem like I can never give you what you need and deserve. But yesterday I found something of yours that made me realize, that I want to at least try to give my all to you”

It only took you a few seconds to realize what he meant.

“My poetry”, you murmured.

“Yes”, he said, “It made me want to write for you too”.

“You aren’t so bad at this, mighty lord”, you teased.

“There is still much I don’t know about myself”, he answered, much more serious than you would’ve liked. He now stared contemplatively at the coals, unable to hold back a few tears, running over his face plates and he didn’t dare to speak, he was embarrassed enough you saw him in such a weak state.

Understanding of his position, you carefully sat next to him, laying a hand on his arm.

“It’s alright, my dear. You will learn in time, and you have so much of it. Don’t rush or force yourself to be something that you aren’t or aren’t yet. If you want it enough, you will become it eventually”.

He only nodded in answer, still afraid to speak.

“Thank you”, he was able to say after a while, where you had started brewing the coffee and had eaten a couple of the neatly placed strawberries- Megatron had even remembered to wash them!

“No, thank you”, you simply said.

“I hope”, he continued, “You can trust me now in the future to show your poems, I want to cherish each and every one”.

You only nodded, sitting down next to him, pulling out your cellphone out of your pocket, typing something in for only maybe a minute and then grinning up at him.

“I wrote a Haiku about this moment”, you simply stated with a wide smile adorning your gorgeous features.

“What is that?”, he asked, genuinely wanting to know because by Primus, he wanted to know everything about the things that made you glow like that.

“It’s a Japanese kind of poetry. The rules are, that you can only write three lines. In the first line there must be 5 syllables, line two has 7 and line three has 5 again so that in total, one has 17 syllables. Don’t ask me why it is that way, but it works well… with Haiku’s you can express a lot, even though it’s so short and technically says so little”.

Megatron had hummed at each information with interest and immediately as you finished the explanation, he inquired about it.

“Read it to me”, he demanded, “…please”, he added, and you patted him gently in encouragement.

“One moment”, you said, noticing the coffee had finished brewing.

You made yourself a cup and settled back into place and read:

“Once there was a void

Metal demon, angels call

Hope came in flowers”

You had been right. It said so little, but somehow, he understood, better than ever. He decided to shrink for a moment, taking you in his arms, and you complied, melting into it.

You would read to him each of your poems now.

‘Every fear broken, stones of trust lain down, the complete foundation of love’, you thought to yourself and smiled. The next opportune moment of poetry was already riding towards you, and you were more excited than ever, because you could share it with the one you loved most.

[arlecchno]

oh good lord , h i hope you know what youve gotten yourself into by asking for the fic … [insert evil laughter here] okay okay now actually , the fic series doesnt focus on serial killers it was just that one fic in the series , but the serial killer fic is Blind Mirror (linked) by StrangeDiamond on Ao3 !!!! i have the print copies of the series (behold my collection) i think i also have to mention that its not an xreader fic lol

songs of resistance isnt part of the series but yaknow whatever . the ragnvindr brothers are a passion of mine and theyre my favorites i love them so much SHIDJSKDKD AND WHILE WERE ON THE TOPIC OF FIC RECS if you just so happen to have my horrid taste in men (/hj ?????) and like alhaitham , heres another one of my absolute favorite fics , i just call it Summers Fic (i hope these links are working properly lmao) and its got our favorites !!! murder / crimes , slowburn , (kinda) enemies to lovers (i fucking love the banter the author writes between mc and haitham) , + forensics stuff !! which is totally my jam because im a stupid little science gremlin .

you saying my board looks cool is so funny to me because like its a literal stock image , and while i couldve gone without it , low quality stock images just make me giggle for no reason so .. its also a little surprising you think its detailed because when i was making it i felt like i had to condense so much information for textbox space😭😭

i actually do a handful of things in the arts department , ive written my own little short stories and poems , and every once in a blue moon (when i have enough motivation) i make games ! granted theyre not very good , because im pretty sure im jackshit at characterization LOL heres a silly authors note i put in one of my short story docs just cuz why not honestly

also , YES I AM A DAIN LOVER IM ACTUALLY HIS BOYFRIEND (REAL) /j . all the khaenriah boys in general are my little sillies (i say as if they arent older than me) SO IF YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TALK ABOUT DAIN WITH MY MESSAGES ARE OPEN (and i am more than willing to spout theorist nonsense about him and the other khaenriahn boys as well)

also you absolutely do not have to worry about your wording of anything , none of it came off negatively at all ! i think youre very nice lmao

heres a little question to end off because im running out of creative ways to signoff , do you kin anyone from genshin ?

hoping the images dont glitch out ,

- jellyfish

OHHH WAIT i think i've heard of that kaeya and diluc novel thingy??? i'm pretty sure i've seen them around twitter or tiktok some time ago and omg i should check them out then!!! those covers look so good maybe i'll actually get around with the whole series now that you've mentioned it

and omg that summers fic you just linked is already so amazing. you've captured my taste in genshin men perfectly (i say as i drool over alhaitham). i just finished with the first chapter and the author have really captured my heart with the bits of forensics and crime, adding on with the tinge of arab culture too!!! i'm gonna go ahead and read them when i have the time hehe

you do short stories... poems... AND GAMES???? hello am i seeing this right

(p/s: i low-key do those kinds of a/n in my google docs draft for ma too... but they just never made it to the finalized version 😔)

and actually dain is in bed with me rn idk what you're talking about 🙄🙄🙄 /j

me personally i am very interested in khaenriah lore but i really haven't gotten to it (tbh the overall lore of the game is a lot to take in) but i probably will someday,, if i am not lazy /hj

and honestly... i don't exactly know who i kin in genshin tbh. so i have decided to take this VERY extensive genshin kin quiz (as per what they've named their site) and surprisingly i got... collei?

though when i read this, it made me realize that, maybe i do kin her. whoops

okay i'm heading to bed now it's 1 am and i'm busy tomorrow 😔 it was nice talking with you again jellyfish !!! have a nice day 🫶

[kinomiakai]

I posted 1,192 times in 2022

165 posts created (14%)

1,027 posts reblogged (86%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dark-naruto

@snsmonth22

@narudoodles

@kinomiakai

@lilium-sns

I tagged 1,192 of my posts in 2022

#artbyop - 768 posts

#ep3otp - 690 posts

#canonverse - 335 posts

#textpost - 247 posts

#kinomitalks - 195 posts

#notsns - 174 posts

#notnaruto - 159 posts

#sastag - 147 posts

#writingstuff - 145 posts

#snow124-art - 122 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i also spent my whole day researching how not to be unbelievably screwed over when self publishing so that was fun and not at all depressing

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Self-Promo Saturday!!

Hey friends!! I’m trying something I’ve wanted to do for awhile today - it wasn’t that long ago that I didn’t have too many people visiting my ao3 account, and I honestly don’t know what would have happened if not for Rebuilding & the sns month event that brought a lot of you to me. So! For those of you starting out on ao3 or elsewhere, if you want a bit of a boost, reblog this post with your links and I’ll reblog them! And maybe we can all spend a bit of time checking out each others’ work :> Sound good?

This is just an informal thing, so don’t worry about your numbers or if you count as starting out or not. Just go for it, if you’d like to.

(I’ll tag all these posts with SPsat, so blacklist that if it gets too spammy for your liking 💕 )

25 notes - Posted January 29, 2022

#4

I had no idea how to reply to this ask without confirming or denying so I tried out blocking the bits that might be spoilers and made the funniest blackout poem in the world

33 notes - Posted January 10, 2022

#3

Hi! You often write Sakura as a lesbian, but do you actually think she is one? I’m curious why you write her this way (to me she seems extremely straight). I hope I’m not offending you, I just really want to know your thought process?

Aw hey anon! No worries, I’m not offended at all. I’m totally open to different headcanons about characters, I know we all have our preferences. Honestly, a lot of mine boil down to the pieces of canon that speak to me, and what I find the most fun to play around with - and Sakura being a lesbian is one of those for me.

Honestly the whole break down of Ino and Sakura’s relationship I find fascinating interpreted in this way - because Sakura is totally starstruck by Ino, she’s talented and beautiful and confident and I think the line is something like “compared to her, I’m…” And then Ino seems super jealous/hurt that Sakura admits she has a crush on Sasuke, and in the same breath sort of ditches their friendship for it. So in canon I think there’s a lot of pining/angst to work with from Ino’s perspective, because she’s never even really confirmed to originally have a crush on Sasuke if I remember right? Sakura hears it as a rumour after she says she has a crush, and then is like “you know that means we’re rivals then” and it sort of seems like Ino just went “well, fuck it. okay. I’m gonna kick your ass in loving sasuke then”.

So if I’m looking at it logically, there’s probably more to saying Sakura is bi or pan than a lesbian, but Sasuke as an object of affection is so,,,,safe. He doesn’t show any romantic inclination, he pretty much rejects all relationships in general, doubly so after the massacre, so it sort of reads, to me, like she picked a safe target to seem straight. And then I love your language, because she is totally extreme with it. She is SO straight. She is The Straightest. And that has me a little like hmm. Okay missy. Sure thing.

But I do really see some attraction to females in there, largely because of the way she talks about Ino reaaaallllyyy reads the same way I used to think about girls I had a crush on before I knew anything about myself lol. I’m not gay, they’re just amazing! Look at how beautiful and smart and out of my league they are, I just want to be like them! I want to be as good as they are, that’s what this is! Narrator: it was not.

So a bit of bias, a bit of fun, & a bit of liking the relationship & how it parallels to SNS (although it is very different). Hope that makes sense anon!! Thanks for the ask :>

38 notes - Posted March 18, 2022

#2

Next Bite Me Chapter Up!

Ch5 time!!

54 notes - Posted December 31, 2021

My #1 post of 2022

Happy SNS month, friends!!

I’ll be participating in my own little way, whenever I can! I’ll update this when I do :> Here are the prompts & announcement post if you need them!

Day One: Cuddling or Rivalry

101 notes - Posted October 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[plzu]

Before I once again convince myself that making a text post about my thoughts and lessons learned from writing & completing my first multi-chapter fic is stupid and a waste of time, let me get this out real quick:

‣ It is satisfying to say I completed something, even though it is imperfect, because I'm aware that ending a story is a weak point of mine. It's why I always preferred writing one-shots, poems and short stories and personal essays and whatnot. ‣ Despite the satisfaction, I am relieved that it's over. I was very anxious the whole time I wasn't pumping out a new chapter every month. Given there's 11 total chapters and it took over 2 years to complete.... I was anxious about it for a very long time lol ‣ When/if I decide to write another multi-chapter fic, I don't think I'll post them to tumblr. I'll probably just stick with posting to AO3, and maybe promoting it here if I'm super excited about it. It's a very tedious and cumbersome process to keep a multi-chapter fic going here, with the constant updating of links and such. (tbh i still need to go back into each chapter of Large Iced Americano and add prev and next links lololol) ‣ The biggest takeaway I got from this is that, despite being super excited to share updates, I should have most (preferably, all) chapters finished before I start posting, and probably stick with an update schedule. It'll probably save me a lot of anxiety. That being said, I'm not sure how I'd stay motivated to continue writing if I'm not posting and getting people's feedback and reactions as I write. ‣ Ultimately, I feel like a better writer for it. I got back into writing fic and felt so damn rusty, I didn't think I'd ever comfortably get back into the flow of writing (in general) and find my voice again. But I did! Fanfiction did that for me! (and reading. i knew i needed to get back into reading more if i wanted to improve my writing. fanfiction did that for me, too ♡) ‣ Also, sticking with writing for one character is so. Much. Fun. I went from being super uncertain about writing Adrian Chase, to having his character come naturally to me. And to receive compliments for it??? People telling me they enjoyed the way I wrote our favorite murder boy??? I don't think I'll ever be able to express how much that means to me. High praise that kept me going on the days I had doubts.

Anyway, I think that's it. I highly doubt I'll do a multi-chapter fic anytime soon. My story ideas are more suited for one-shots here and there. But it's comforting to know that if I did it once, I can probably do it again. :]

[eicenrellarchives]

Welcome to Ky of Sonder's Eicenrell Archives!

Like the description says, this is a side blog for @kyofsonder that's specifically focused on my writing. While I enjoy mixing my writing work with more passive reblogging and not-fiction-related personal posts on my main blog, it can get frustrating not having a central archive of the stories/poems/writeblr things I've posted to Tumblr. To solve this problem and give readers a place to just easily rad what they want from my works, I've created this archive.

There's no requirement to follow my main blog in order to follow this one, and I couldn't enforce it if there was. It's also perfectly fine to address writeblr ask and tag games here, but know that if you ask anything that's not writing related I'll answer it on my main blog (or another side blog if I make others).

Content Notice:

All writing will have content warnings where applicable, if I ever forget or if a reader has a specific thing they would like included in these warnings (ex: I don't think birds need a warning, but someone with a phobia of them might prefer bracing themself before reading descriptions of them) please send an ask or message and I will fo my best to add it to my warnings in the future.

Commission Info:

I'm currently rebuilding my writing habits and haven't had time to do research on standard commission rates, but I'm open to taking a commission or two from those willing to discuss price in messages until proper rates and slots can be decided. Thank you for your patience, and please reach out if you are also willing to be patient about price negotiations.

Tag System:

Spoons providing, I tag my work for organization purposes first and give my thoughts in the tags after. These tags include

sonder stories - all prose, including any asks or tags involving prose, and OC development

sonder songs - all poems and lyrics, including any asks or tags involving poetry, and poetry development

sonder solos - all prose created/assisted by playing solo TTRPGs involving mechanics like flipping over playing cards, rolling dice, drawing straws, etc.

sonder snippets - all excerpts and short content taken from longer works and/or works in progress

story link - all fully finished stories presented in the form of an external link to a site such as google docs or AO3 or somewhere else

eicenrell archive - all archived copies of writing, most posts should have this tag

analogue media - all screenshots of handwritten prose, poetry, etc.

eicenrell info - all worldbuilding related to the eicenrell universe where my stories take place

eicenrell worlds - when specific worlds from the eicenrell universe are mentioned by name

eicenrell magic - when specific magic systems from the eicenrell universe are mentioned by name

night write - all transcriptions or photos of prose and poetry handwritten in a journal on a (mostly, spoons and other factors permitting) nightly basis

sonder speaks - announcements and personal info, while this is largely restricted to the main blog it'll come up here sometimes

tag games - all content responding to or joining in tag games from various corners of the writeblr community

ask games - all content responding to or joining in ask games from various corners of the writeblr community

a place to return novel - all content related to a novel wip of mine titled A Place to Return

apricots novel - all content related to a novel wip of mine titled Apricots

to be honest novel- all content related to a novel wip of mine titled To Be Honest

stray identities novel - all content related to a novel wip of mine titled stray identities

love as indicated wip - all content related to a story collection/novel wip of mine titled love as indicated

Other Tags Pending...

OC Masterpost

Pending...

[rosenongrata]

Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land

⋯ 𓆩♡𓆪 Summary. Two sides of the same coin—the divine man and the accursed lady will one day intertwine.

⋯ 𓆩♡𓆪 A/N. short chapter. but it's sweet too! anyway, crossposting do be takin long time.

⋯ 𓆩♡𓆪 AO3 Link.

⋯ 𓆩♡𓆪 Chapter W.C. 653. ⋯ 𓆩♡𓆪 CW. the abyss order are blatant bastards, no shame fr. eventual romance. blood & injury & violence. trauma/mental illness exploration. slow burn. OC-CENTRIC, OC-INSERT. OC X CANON.

Chapter 4 — Invitation to Windblume.

Colorful petals fall from the flowered garlands high above, floating through the soft breezes. And chatter fills the air as adults and children alike populate the town square of Mondstadt, exchanging gifts and words of love to one another. Some eat together at Good Hunter's or share love poems, and even exchange bouquets of flowers…

Every year, Hauteclaire is struck by the beauty and romance of the Windblume festival. Even the cheer brightens her weary smile. And seeing the Müller family so happy makes her even more elated. While Piep and Eduard take a romantic getaway to Cape Oath, she babysits their three little girls—Maria, Elizabeth, and Ramona. They tug her around all of Mondstadt to try everything out.

When they make a stop by the grand statue of Barbatos, the cheerful music of a plucked lyre fills the air. And soon, two of the older sisters dance about the petal-speckled courtyard. Hauteclaire dozes off, her eyes fluttering shut as she relishes in the pleasant breeze and sunny warmth. She sighs, and then she feels a tug at her clothes.

Eyes flickering open, she looks down to see little Ramona. She's smiling and holding a lyre up to the older woman. Hauteclaire smiles and plucks the lyre from her small hands.

"Now, where'd you get this, hm?" She inquires.

"That man over there let me borrow it." Ramona points to a short, young man clad in green clothes and a hat with a Cecilia pinned to it. "Can you play me a tune? Please?" She asks shyly, a nervous fluster on her cheeks.

"Alright, I'll give it my best." Hauteclaire nods, a smile touching her lips as she looks down at the young girl. "Hmm… Let's see…" She muses, plucking the strings randomly before a tune comes to mind.

The song is slow and melancholy—contrasting the high, joyful energy around them. Her fingers waltz across the strings as her voice follows along with the sweet tune. Her cords float away with the breeze brushing past as fluttering petals drift past, littering the pathways of Mondstadt.

"He once was a true love of mine…" She finishes, the melancholy on her tongue dripping. Her eyes a tinge glassy with building sorrow, and she hands the lyre back to the little girl, "Now, go return the lyre, alright?"

"Of course!" Ramona spins on her heel and runs into the young man she pointed out before, "I'm sorry…"

"Ehe, no worries! I was the one who sneaked up on you." He reassures with defensive waving of his hands, "I merely desired to come compliment your friend here."

"Oh! Isn't she the best…?" Ramona whispers while she hands him his lyre.

"Why of course! The best I have ever heard!" He takes his lyre with a sunny smile on his soft cheeks, "You did magnificent, ma'am. Have you ever considered becoming a bard?" He inquires, shifting his gaze to the woman that towers over him.

"I don't like being in the spotlight." She flusters, her tan cheeks tinting a shade darker. "Thank you, though. I appreciate the kind words…" She shifts nervously, glancing away from the swirling power of his Anemo-hued eyes. That knowing gaze makes her stomach churn.

He notices, yet chooses to not speak about it.

"Well, if you ever would like to become one, I can introduce you to the scene!" He nods, "And with that, I bid you adieu. Do have a lovely day."

The two girls watch him leave; he strides up to a group of people to play his own much more cheerful tunes for them. Hauteclaire scoffs, and Ramona notices her discomfort with ease—taking her hand into her own and smiling up at her.

"It's okay… I thought he was a little goofy, too." Ramona remarks before giggling.

"More than just a bit goofy, I think." Hauteclaire snorts, her dampened mood quickly drying up to reveal a layer of warmth below.