#rain us in comments it keeps us partially going

[sakkiichi]

CASTLES CRUMBLING.

Memories of you are both cathartic and painful when he visits your grave.

ft. Kaedehara Kazuha, Xiao, Scaramouche/Wanderer, Lyney, Neuvillette x gn! reader.

cw/genre: angst.

if you enjoy this, reblogs and comments help more than likes !

✧ KAEDEHARA KAZUHA

Autumn. The time of year that brought warm memories to the wandering samurai despite its chilly winds.

Shades of scarlet coated Inazuma’s grassy plains, like a rain constituted by droplets of dawn light when the maple leaves swayed to the ground.

And amidst this scene, you.

You, who danced to the tune of the foliage floating in the breeze; you, who snuggled his red scarf closer around your neck when he wrapped it around you, taking in his sweet cinnamon-like scent; you, whose hand used to fit perfectly in his, as you ran your thumb over the scarred skin under his bandages.

Kazuha finds himself staring at those now. He remembers all too well how you used to wrap them around his hand. Your lips brushed over every indentation in his burnt skin, overwriting storms with sunlight and blue skies.

“All healed now.” You sing-sang, the tenderness of your kiss over the wrapped scars.

It feels empty now, his grasp, still searching for you every morning, but you’re out of reach.

Even now, as the wandering poet’s head rests against you, he can’t quite feel your touch.

“Hello, my dove.” He begins, fingers brushing over the dendrobiums surrounding you. Moondust lashes kiss his cheeks when the sunsets in his stare cloud over, the image of your smiling face behind his lids. “It’s already autumn, remember how you called it our season, my angel?” He softly says, turning his head slightly, so that his forehead partially leans on you. “The leaves are turning red already, I’ve picked some for you.” Kazuha utters, as he gently threads them around the stone.

Hard. Cold. So unlike the warmth you radiated. He sighs, opening his eyes, tender hearths to warm your paralyzed heart.

“I’ve been writing too…” Dampness pools around his lashes. “Haikus, poems, because I know you love them, hummingbird…” The samurai’s voice cracks, vision blurry, as he traces the letters of the name he used to breathe in between kisses.

Your name. The only one that will forever echo through his sweetest dreams, double edged now.

Droplets of molten moonlight slide down Kazuha’s cheeks, colliding with the earth separating you from the world.

“We will meet again, my dove.” He vows, kneeling on the grass, moist by his tears. “In some corner of the next life. I promise, love.”

As he stands up, retracing his steps, the wind picks up.

Kazuha clutches his red scarf closer to him.

Your scent still lingers.

✧ XIAO

Spring had never felt so cold.

The sun over Liyue’s mountains is too dull; the glaze lilies appear closed off; the days feel too long.

The conqueror of demons makes his way through Guili Plains, his steps slow, as if that would keep away a cruel reality that’s set in stone.

He’s coming to meet you, and yet he’s never felt so far away from you.

In the few steps that separate the yaksha from you, an infinity of memories and bittersweet dreams seem to wash over him. They mingle with the scent of morning dew over qingxins bloomed anew.

Qingxin. What he used to call you.

“Xiaooo!” You cooed, a smile sweeter than the treat you offered him alight on your lips. “Dessert’s ready, love.” You called, offering him the plate of delicious almond tofu.

It was always his favorite, especially the one made by you.

His cheeks took on a tint not unlike the lipstick marks you left on him when you felt like teasing him, peppering his face with your honeyed kisses. You always used to chuckle at the sight.

“Qingxin…” his voice quivered, in awe, gaze of gold widened, sparkly. “There is no need for you to go through this trouble for me…”

“Nonsense!” You cut him off, hands cradling his cheeks. “I love making your favorite food for you, baby.”

Now he brings one of his own scarred hands to his face.

It’s so cold in comparison to your comforting warmth.

Yet even colder is the grey hue of the heavy stone that comes into view: the one marking the spot where you were laid to rest for good.

Slowly, resigned to the inevitability of reality, the vigilant yaksha reaches you.

Even though he knows he will no longer have you.

Xiao’s whole form trembles when he leaves the handmade butterfly over your gravestone. Its petal wings are all crooked, his grip vice-like in his anguish.

Now the flower-made insect will never fly again. A crystal bubble, lit up on his darkest nights, inside which dreams warm and sweet were recounted, as long as the adeptus stayed in your embrace; now shattered, only sharp fragments left to pierce his heart.

“I’m sorry…” is all the demon conqueror can manage as greeting, the moment he sits before you, head hung low.

The karma he bears had never crushed him this badly.

✧ SCARAMOUCHE

Winter squalls leave nothing but ashes behind.

The layers of snow have started melting, decrepit twigs following, the aftermath of a furious gale, death in its wake.

The wanderer seems to verse in the bony hands of it often, after all. This life, this world… they only ever took from him, shattered mirrors as the only remains of promises to never come.

He rests the back of his head on the frigid stone. He doesn’t care about the last remains of snow seeping into his very crafted bones.

Scaramouche’s hand closes into a fist, dirt and melted ice on his skin.

“They took you away too…” The puppet breathes, inexistent puffs of his words sifting against the blackened skies in the cold. His indigo gaze is clouded over, despite stars littering every corner of the midnight above.

A lie.

Make believe. Like thinking he could be happy for once.

Turning around, Scaramouche presses his forehead against what’s left to symbolize you.

“Why?” He asks, teeth gritted, to stop the helpless quiver of his lip. “Why you too?”

The softness of your human embrace takes ahold of his memories, as you both lay beneath the endless firmament above.

“Have you ever wished upon a star, Kuni?” You asked, your warm fingers combing through the distant nights contained in his shiny locks.

“Pft, are you serious?” He used to retort, the mirrored galaxies of his stare coming into view as his eyelids opened.

“Very.” You stated, without stopping your movements, eyes never leaving the starfields above.

“Why?” He asked, focused on your profile, as if a part of him knew how ephemeral instants like this would become, committing to memory the only constellation that lit up his hollow heart.

“Because it’s nice, to hope, to believe in things… wouldn’t you agree?” You smiled down at him, tender hands cradling the coolness of his jawline.

“Huh, if you say so…”

“You know I’m right!” You chuckled, poking his cheek playfully, his nose scrunching up in feigned annoyance.

“Ugh, whatever.”

“Make a wish?” Your fingers found his in the night breeze, entwining together, the warmth of a small sun just for him.

“Fine…” He sighed, closing his eyes, lashes of concealed dreams leaning on his perfect cheekbones.

“I wished for forever with you.” He croaks out now.

An almost god brought to his knees by the treacherous fate written in devious stars.

His vision blurs, headed skyward, the universe above, a multitude of molten wildfires to him, raining down in flammable rain, his own tears the match to ignite them.

The failed god weeps. Winter burns.

✧ LYNEY

“You never know what can happen in the blink of an eye.”

Those were the words the magician once uttered, as your eyes lit up in wonder. He believes to recall it was a summer night, when his dusky gaze set on you for the first time.

Beaming and shining with excitement, you marveled at his sleight of hand, as the lumidouce bell on the performer’s hand vanished, only for its petals to have tinted in rosy shades of rainbow when the bloom next appeared in your hair.

If anyone had told Lyney, in that moment, that you’d end up putting his heart under spell, he wouldn’t have quite believed it.

But thinking back on it now, the time spent next to you certainly feels like mere seconds.

A peculiar figure sporting a top hat makes his way towards Fontaine’s graveyard.

His steps are monotone, the usual cheshire-like grin on his visage is nowhere to be seen, and in his hands, flowers abound.

Lumidouce bells.

The color of goodbyes, separations.

And the summer nights under which he used to kiss you.

“Please, Lyney! I want to see another one!” You begged, hands clasped together, eyes reflecting the last rays of the setting sun.

Your lover hums, his gaze, the backdrop against which the sunsets in your stare sparkled.

“Well, mon coeur,” the magician leaned forward, “I’ll have to charge you for it this time, you know.”

You pouted, marcotte colored lips irresistibly sweet, a bite of sugary peach in the heat of an early midsummer’s night.

“Close your eyes, my rose.” Lyney breathed, in the little dusk-lit millimeters separating you two.

“Okay.”

Warmth flooded around him the instant his lips enveloped yours, akin to fairy lights in the coziness of a familiar room, fiery arrows that linked two hearts. Your lover’s hands cupped your jawline, spells written in the caress of his gloved touch over your skin.

A new breed of magic, with the sun dipping behind the nation of hydro’s mountains to give the lovers privacy.

When he next opens his eyes, the allure has faded.

No trace of you remains, save for the emptiness and cold beside him.

And the only nightmare he can’t undo; your tombstone all too palpable, too real.

“You really never know how everything can change in the blink of an eye, huh?” Lyney utters, his voice raw, hoarse.

Despite the lumidouce bells’ petals shifting from dusk to dawn the moment he lays them to rest over you, the magician feels like he’s shooting arrows made of shadows; there’s no fiery beacon to light up this night.

The curtain closes when he steps away, rainbow roses bleeding and lonely in his wake.

The sun has set.

✧ NEUVILLETTE

Off-key birdsong and steely skies.

Those are Fontaine’s Chief Justice’s companions today.

Alone, he sits next to the ghost of someone he used to adore.

Someone he still loves.

Crystalline amethyst eyes scan the horizon. Even the seas seem turbulent today, relentless waves colliding against jutting rocks, as if by persistence alone they could cut through them.

The wailing ocean mirrors Neuvillette’s actions; as if by staring in the distance, he could somehow conjure you up back into the world, on forgotten dreams and pieces of flashbacks alone.

“It looks like it will rain soon, my dearest.” He softly says, the words lost in the monsoon overcasting the heavens.

Naturally, no answer follows, except for the agonized cry of a fallen sparrow.

The Iudex of Fontaine sighs. An upheaval in the blowing mistral combs through his hair, the sensation unlocking the pages of a diary once rose-colored, now only scattered petals over a lake that’s gone still for good.

“Isn’t the weather so nice lately, Neuvi?” You chirped, knees folded over the azure flowerbeds. Your hands were carded through your lover’s long locks, silver seafoam running almost hypnotizingly between your fingers.

Sunbeams glittered all around you when his eyes opened up to you, enigmas from the depths being laid bare for you alone.

“It is, darling…” He trailed off, one of his hands touching the side of your face, eliciting giggles from you.

Pink dusted over the pallor of his cheeks whenever you did that.

If only all days could be sunny, if only he could have kept the symphony of your laugh forever playing…

The sea’s surface turns charcoal, undulating with the low whistling of uprising gales.

Dark spots start appearing over the stone where your name’s been eternally put to sleep.

Beneath the blindfold, Justice mourns.

It’s raining again.

[nonbinairyboi]

Nothing Left: Chapter 6

Fic Summary: You hadn’t spoken in years. Technically, you had the ability to, though as the years wore on, you weren’t so sure. You’d settled in Jackson over a year ago and now it was fall again. You are drawn towards Ellie and her ‘not-dad’, but you had always assumed any relationships deeper than surface level were beyond you at this point.

Chapter Summary: Eugene comes over to help with pain relief.

Pairing: Joel Miller x nonbinary!Reader/OC (afab, dimples, has multiple nicknames but none are their name)

Word Count: ~2.3k

A/N: The poll on whether I should do a masterlist or chapter by chapter of ASL signs or a combo was mixed, so I think I'll do a combo! I am hoping to work on that this week and also going back and editing some small mistakes in previous chapters as well. I really appreciate the comments and interactions I have been getting. It really motivates me, so thank you!

Series Warnings: This is my first fanfic and I plan to go into some dark stuff including some in-depth discussion of SA that was done to the main character (not by Joel) and the mental impact it has. Eventual Smut MINORS DNI!

SERIES MASTERLIST

Read on AO3

Chapter Warnings: Talk of injuries. Concussion recovery. Weed use

Chapter 6

When you woke up next you were alone. You could hear someone moving around the kitchen, pots clanging in that way that you were sure only happens when someone is trying to be quiet and the cutlery refuses.

The sunlight streaming through the window was slightly dimmer than before. Sitting up, you grabbed onto the furniture as you made your way to the window. Clouds that foretold rain soon hung in the sky, partially obscuring the sun. You gave up trying to estimate what time of day it was and began the walk out of the room. 

As if the creaking of your door was as loud as a car alarm, startled steps quickly made their way to you. Maria rounded the corner and looked about to scold you for being up without help. You quickly raised your hands in surrender, pointed toward the bathroom and signed ‘bathroom’ for good measure. Maria didn’t speak despite looking like she wanted to, and nodded for you to continue, retreating again around the corner. 

You resisted the urge this time to look in the mirror as you washed your hands. Your vision felt a little blurrier than normal and you knew that if you looked now, your brain would fill in the blanks of your eyes with more gruesome images than were truly there. Opening the door, you jumped a bit at Maria’s figure outside of the door. You hadn’t heard her come back.

”You aren’t getting off that easily. You need to let us help you.” Maria said disapprovingly. “Ask next time.”

You raised your eyebrows in a light challenge and signed ‘how?’ with a deadpan look.

Maria let out a puff of laughter and said “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll find you a cowbell to hang around your neck.”

Laughing in surprise, you let Maria help you towards the kitchen. 

“I was just heating up a little of the soup I made the other day,” Maria explained. “Could I get you to eat a little? I could make you some more tea as well.”

You nodded in reply as you were helped into your seat. You could hear babbling coming from the living room and Maria excused herself, coming back with Benjamin on her hip. 

You spent the next twenty minutes slowly taking spoonfuls of soup in between sips of tea and trying to keep it down as you smiled at the baby who was slowly becoming ‘milk drunk’. Maria took the baby to put him down for a nap and you cupped your hands around the new cup of tea that Maria had given you, warming your hands by curling them around the mug. 

You wondered how different life would have been if you had somehow been able to have been pregnant in Jackson now instead of Illinois back then. Would the birth have been easier? Would people have searched for and made you supplies as they had for Maria? Would Grace have liked it here?

Your nose burned as you tried to keep back the tears that threatened to show themselves in the gloomy afternoon.  If Grace was here, if the baby was here, you would have chosen a different home. A bigger one. And in your daydream, the vastness didn’t scare you. A different timeline. A different universe. Quantum Mechanics and string theory and all that jazz.

You inhaled through your nose in surprise as a knocking sounded at the door.

You heard a muffled, sing-song ”Don’t you dare get it! I am on my way!” from Maria and laughed to yourself, pulling yourself back to the current place and timeline you resided in. 

The door creaked open and you heard Maria say “Eugene! …What a lovely smell… Follow me.”

Chuckling, you turned in your chair so you were facing the entrance, smiling as wide as you could without hurting yourself as Eugene came into view.

Maria stood between the two of you with her hands on her hips.

”I’m not going to say anything,” She began. “But please only outside. And be discreet if you could. I have no problems with what you do, but I don’t want it getting around to the teenagers. I have enough on my hands when the parents complain about contraband liquor as it is.”

”Yes ma’am.” Eugene said, saluting her and making her crack a smile. 

“And if Tommy comes home, don’t let him have too much. I need help around here.” Maria comments. 

You smirked as Maria helped you up and into your coat before handing you over to Eugene.

“I gotcha, never fear old grasshopper.” Eugene mumbled to you as you went out back, causing you to smack him across the chest with the back of your arm. “I know, I know, I’m older, but for once I feel like the younger one with how wobbly you are. Oof-” You smacked him again as he helped you onto the bench on the back deck. 

Once settled, you closed your eyes and took a breath in to try to keep on top of the pain coursing through you. You heard the clink of metal and glass and looked over to see Eugene packing a bowl next to you. 

“Still don’t look like you’re feeling great.” Eugene commented. “I was hoping you’d be in better shape after you rested, but no offense, you look worse now.”

You scoffed in reply, focusing your eyes to the backyard. Playfully, you signed ‘same’ back at him. 

“Touché.” Eugene said, holding up the now packed bowl to you. You took it and inhaled as he lit a match and lit the bowl for you. Taking a few deep inhales, you passed it back to him and, after a moment, exhaled. 

It was silent for a few minutes as you passed it back and forth. You were grateful at how content Eugene was in silence, despite his talkative nature. He never made you feel pressured to communicate, but he had also tried harder than anyone else to learn as many signs as possible. Because of this, he knew more about you personally than you had communicated with any other person since you stopped talking, though he only shared it with your permission. He had built it naturally, asking how to do basic signs that would be helpful on patrol and around town before moving to more personal signs about family and locations. At this point, he could hold conversations with you, but he never pressured you to hold up your end. He seemed to understand that communication in general was vulnerable, even though it was helpful. 

“They might pair me with Joel while you heal. Won’t be the same on patrol.” Eugene noted. “I’ll have to see how easily he can be persuaded to stop by my garden on the way so I can check up on my babies. Otherwise, we might find ourselves in a situation with this” Eugene indicated the weed that he was grinding for a second bowl. “Maybe if I mention that it would be helpful to you he would give in easier” Eugene said, wiggling his eyebrows.

You were puzzled by his meaning and tapped him, asking ‘what?’. 

“Could be nothing. Never you mind” Eugene muttered, focused on his task. As he packed the second bowl, you leaned on his shoulder, needing support for a moment. Eugene was kind enough not to draw attention to it and simply kept going with his work. “I brought some brownies too so you can have them when I’m not here. They taste like shit but they’ll do the job.”

You were both startled by the creaking of a door behind you and whipped your heads around, with some pain on your part, to see a surly-looking Joel step outside. 

After glancing between the two of you for a moment, he asked “Mind if I join you?”

“Be my guest.” Eugene expressed at the same time as you signed ‘of course.’

Joel pulled up a deck chair a little closer to where the two of you were huddled.

”We were just talking about you actually. But now that you are joining, I feel more confident that you’ll let me take care of my flowers out on patrol while Charlie heals.” Eugene said.

Joel glanced your way before he said “As long as it don’t take too long. I don’t like being late back since I’ve got Ellie.”

”I wouldn’t dream of putting you behind schedule,” Eugene said, winking and lighting the bowl and inhaling before passing it to Joel.

Joel was silent as he smoked before meeting your eyes purposefully and handing you the bowl. You nodded in thanks and savored the burn on your inhale.You continued passing it around in relative silence. 

“How’s the headache?” Joel asked.

You signed ‘a little better now’ and pointed to the weed. Eugene interpreted what you had said to Joel.

“How did you learn that?” Joel inquired a few moments later.

“They were close with their cousin growing up, who was Deaf.” Eugene replied for you, having learned a while ago.

Joel nodded in acknowledgment and turned to Eugene. “How’d you learn?”

“Patience, time, and lots of questions.” Eugene replied. 

You let out an involuntary giggle, thinking about how awkward it had been at first at times. Both men turned their eyes to you.

“Looks like the meds may be working, Doctor.” Joel drawled, causing both you and Eugene to start laughing. 

Eugene stared at Joel for a moment after everyone got themselves under control.

“I didn’t take you for a smoker.” Eugene said.

“You don’t know me very well.” A more relaxed Joel replied. 

“Guess that’s true.”

“So, can you teach me some basics?” Joel asked.

You nodded your head a little more enthusiastically than you had intended and ended up clutching your head in regret.

“Easy, tiger!” Eugene exclaimed as you waved him off. “Why don’t we start with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to prevent further injury?”

You turned to Joel slowly and demonstrated ‘yes’ and ‘no’ a few times, urging him to mimic you as he said the words aloud. You realized that you were a little higher than you would have liked for this endeavor when Eugene asked “What next?” and you signed ‘weed’ in reply, making even Joel chuckle, the meaning being obvious. 

You spent the next 15 minutes laughing as you tried to think of more useful signs to teach Joel, with Eugene chiming in with a few phrases and words he felt were important, notably ‘bar’ ‘beer’ and ‘whiskey’. Joel couldn’t quite get ‘whiskey’ as you generally finger spelled it and it was clear the alphabet would take him a while. 

The fall chill had started to set in and when a few drops started to fall from the sky, you all moved inside, Eugene grabbing your arm and moving you inside to the couch, where you continued to try to teach the alphabet to Joel despite how high you were. Joel sat on the chair to your left and Eugene sat on the couch facing yours. Forgetting your normal boundaries when it came to touch, you reached out and grabbed Joel’s hand, helping him form ‘g’ and then ‘h’. Realizing what you had done, you glanced up and met Joel’s eyes, scared that you had overstepped. He looked surprised, but not angry or annoyed. You slowly smiled at him while retracting your hands, glancing at Eugene for support, who looked like he was holding back a laugh. 

You drew your brows together in question, but before Eugene could reply or Joel could turn to see what you were looking at, the sound of the front door opening drew all of your attention. You turned to see a slightly soggy Ellie slamming the door shut, at which Joel exclaimed “Hey! Don’t slam the door. The baby could have been sleeping!”

Ellie paused for dramatic affect and looked around before replying “Doesn’t sound like I woke him up. Also, why are you here?”

Eugene chuckled and patted Joel’s back. “Hand’s full with that one, huh?”

Joel grunted his assent as Ellie plopped down beside you and then sniffed you.

“You smell weird.” She said, wrinkling her nose. 

Joel coughed. “Ellie, it ain’t kind to comment on how people smell.”

Ellie raised her eyebrows and all three adults in the room tried in vain to hold back smiles. Ellie looked confused and said “Adults are so weird.”

Joel went back to staring at his hands, trying to go through signs he remembered.

“Hey! Did you get to start learning without me? No fair!” Ellie exclaimed once she noticed Joel’s movements.

Eugene chuckled. “I’m sure they’ll teach you both. They usually start with a spiel about how they don’t know everything and their grammar isn’t perfect, but I’ll save you guys the time and tell you now.” Eugene then turned to you. “How’d I do?”

You playfully glared at him before signing ‘fine’ with a smile.

Joel and Eugene went through some of the basics with Ellie that they had been over already, skipping over ‘bar’ and ‘weed’ for now, before turning to you for the alphabet.

You were starting to get tired again by the time everyone was getting to the letter ‘f’. 

‘I’m tired, I’m sorry’ you signed and Eugene interpreted. You noticed both Joel and Ellie slowly copying those signs as well.

“Of course. We’ll get out of your hair.” Joel replied, standing up.

“Wait!” Ellie said “Do you have pictures anywhere? I don’t know how I’m going to remember all of these without you.”

‘I have a book.’ You signed ‘Only 1.’

Once Eugene had loosely translated what you had signed, Ellie perked up.

“I like drawing.” She said timidly. “Maybe you could help me and I could draw some from the book too? I could make some extra copies in case anyone else wants to learn.”

Ellie’s words touched you deeply and you felt your eyes well up. You took a moment to breathe to stop yourself from openly crying, especially since Ellie seemed to be turning red already in embarrassment.

‘Yes’ you signed. ‘I’d like that.’

Taglist:

@powellssaturn

@silas-aeiou

[dawnisdreamlanding]

CHAPTER 3

Ghost x Reader x Konig

Neighbor!au and Roommate!au

About me | Masterlist |

Author's note: Hey hey hey! It's been a while hahahs I actually have chapter 4 and chapter 5 planned out but i havent got the energy to write them :') All i can say is that everything in this story has been going too well right now... >:)

(Also if you have any fanfic ideas/ asks feel free to send an ask or dm me :D)

You’re waiting once again for Simon to pick you up from work. It’s now become an almost daily thing for a month now, the two of you. You’d finish work, Simon would show up in his pickup truck and occasionally the two of you would eat dinner together.

Okay, you do partially feel as if you’re cheating on Konig in some way by having dinner with your neighbor (Konig said he had a work emergency and he was going to be gone for a month or two), but your roommate wasn’t here to keep you company anymore and you weren’t willing to eat dinner alone after being so accustomed to the company you had.

Today, the atmosphere in the car seems a little different than the rest. Just a little, though. You decide not to comment on it and buckle your seatbelt before he starts driving. “How was work?” Simon would ask the usual question. “Fine,” you would reply tiredly with a sigh. The two of you would fall into a domestic routine in such a short time, yet neither of you ever really questioned it.

The patter of rain provided a relaxing white noise as the two of you sit in comfortable silence, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. The streetlamps glisten and you turn to see Simon in his balaclava that he wears only when going on missions.

“I’m going to be deployed. Tonight.” He finally breaks it to you. “Oh.” You reply, but you can’t be sure if it sounded sad or understanding. Maybe both. “Do you know when you’re coming back?” He shrugs, eyes still fixated on the road. “I’m thinkin’ 2 months at least.”

There’s another silence that follows, but this time around it’s filled with a lot of unsaid words waiting to be spoken into existence. Simon turns to look at you. God, he wishes he didn’t because the red from the traffic light paints your features in the best way, and he doesn’t think he could forget this moment anytime soon. “You’ll be fine without me yeah?” Simon finally asks. You feel like there’s a secret message lying hidden somewhere in the question by the way he looks at you, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

---

You spend your days without Simon and Konig counting. Counting how many days it’s been since they’ve been gone, and the times you accidentally cook food for two. Today marks the 2 month mark, and to be honest, you still haven’t gotten used to your apartment engulfed in darkness when you get back from work. You sigh.

---

Simon spends his days counting unconsciously. He takes another long drag from his cigarette and watches the smoke slowly disappear into the night sky outside of a bar the team decided to celebrate their victory at. It’s a little chilly. Winter is approaching, and he hopes you’re warm and tucked into your apartment right about now. Soap stands beside him, accompanying him. “You goin’ home for Christmas, L.T?” he says. Soap expects Ghost to say no, or to say something along the lines of spending the holiday alone.

Ghost gazes at the stars which is something he doesn’t really do since he was a kid and god, he swears he still sees your face as the stars twinkle. He hums. “Got a Christmas gift for someone. Gotta give it to ‘em somehow.” Soap’s taken aback at his answer but chooses not to pry too much into his private life. Not this time at least. Suddenly the bar cheers with happiness and the clinking of beer bottles. “Happy for ya, L.T.” Soap says as a small knowing smile spreads on his lips.

---

Ghost spends the time taken for the trip back to his civilian life decompressing and when he reaches home, he wants nothing more than the dinners the two of you had before he left for the mission. But he decides the moment his duffel bag hits the floor, that he really, really needs to sleep first. That doesn’t stop him from thinking about you though, cause he dreams of the moment when he picked you up from work in his pickup truck.

You’re ecstatic when Simon tells you he’s back. You prepare dinner, finally making food for two (or three, with how much this guy eats). And you’re basically skipping when Simon knocks on your door.

Dinner with Simon is calm yet filled with excitement and happiness. You both catch up on each other’s lives, and you tell him about everything he’s missed out on since he left. You tell him about the stray orange cat that found its way into your apartment once (you still have no clue how) and has now become a visitor occasionally — you leave out the part where you subconsciously named it after him.

You’re washing the dishes and Simon’s keeping the leftovers for your lunch tomorrow when the topic of long distance relationships get brought up. “I mean, it must be hard to maintain relationships, right? Especially since you don’t get to see each other for ages.” Ghost hums in agreement, a sign that you’ve learnt to understand that he’s listening to you intently. “I can’t imagine working in the military is any easier. Hell, I felt a little sad when you left too, I can’t imagine what your girlfriend would be feeling.”

“Don’t have one.” He says. And you smile a little. “Yeah, but imagine if you did. It’ll be like one of those old war movies.” You giggle at the thought and Simon joins you in washing the dishes. “Oh, my darling,” you say in an exaggerated voice of a lover. “I don’t think I could love you anymore. The pain is too much to bear!”

Your theatrics tugs the corner of Simon’s lips upwards and he looks at you softly, arching his brow. “Y’ love me?” his voice rumbles, and it sounds something akin to the taste of vanilla ice cream with caramel drizzled on top which is weird, because you’ve never really liked the taste of caramel. Well, not until now.

There’s a certain softness in this moment, you tell yourself. There’s this feeling that you don’t think you could forget this look on his face. You blink and he’s taken the soapy cutlery from your hand and starts to wash the soap off them. “I forget how much I miss my soft bed when I come back. And being able to sleep in a little longer.” He sighs and it’s your turn to hum along. “And I missed your cooking.” He says a little softer this time, eyes focusing on the bubbles as they get washed away from the water. I missed this, you think.

Taglist: @gojo-mochi

[colderdrafts]

if it's not a bother, can we know Morgan's reaction to us saying:

to me, your eyes are beautiful! I like to look at them and laugh if you want, but they give me a comfortable feeling, even when you act crazy, they shine in a way that takes my breath away, beautiful like jewels..

Let's say Morgan did something good that deserves praise and we being nice to them, R would probably never say such praise but humor me pls lol

You're never bothering me, and sorry I'm so away lately 💙

Careful hitting them with sentences like that, they might just return the favor. If this came out of nowhere they'll probably wonder if you've eaten too many fermented berries, but realizing you mean it would leave them wordless for a second. Then they'll tease the hell out of you, lmao. Is that so? Maybe I should act 'crazy' more often.

Thanks for the inspo, I did a lil thing below the cut. In which Morgan for once does a good thing on your request, despite being a red-eyed menace.

"It sure is going fast," you comment, arms out to help you keep balance.

Morgan hums in agreement. "It's been raining a lot more than usual lately. The rivers here tend to overflow."

As proof of the statement, the dense forest you're currently passing through offers no easy routes to follow. It's spring. Presumably a combination of rain and melting of snow has been a contributing factor to the abundance of inaccessible flowing water.

You've braved the weather so far, both you and Morgan's clothes still damp from your last exposure to the elements. You follow the river as best as you can, but presumably you'd be unable to cross the deeper waters without being swept up by the current.

Instead, you cross over the outsprings from said river. Though even here it's not easy to stay partially dry when wading through. It has evolved from discarding your boots, to discarding your pants, to considering simply giving up - but that would mean an even longer trek back, and Morgan loathes staying in one place for longer than absolutely necessary.

You look back at your companion once you've reached somewhat dry land again. Morgan wades through the same area you passed easily enough, reaching shore just after you. Their eight long legs gives them an annoying, and very much unfair advantage in this terrain.

"Would you please just let me carry you?" Morgan complains once again, impatiently watching you dry off and pull on your pants. "My legs are long enough, and your added weight will keep me better grounded here."

You start putting your boots back on and glance up at them. Red eyes are staring into you, and you can feel their gentle pull writhing under your skin, trying to encourage you to change your mind. You quickly shake off the sensation to shut them out.

"And your legs will continue to do just fine without me," you retort, ignoring the exasperated sigh Morgan heaves. You finish up and get to your feet. "Let's just move aroun-"

A loud yell from further up the river interrupts you. Morgan steps close to you instantly and looks around, disregarding the argument in favor of locating the threat. Another yell follows, but this time it's high-pitched, not unlike the yell of a child. Looking up, you find the source of the sound.

Rapidly flowing downstream, swept by the river, you see a pair of feather-clad arms waving around in the air, desperately trying to break the surface to breathe. The strong current is flowing over the small body of the child, forcing them along.

Further up the river you see a bigger bird-person giving chase, yelling in distress.

Morgan chitters and squints at the display, curling a pedipalp around your shoulder. "We should move."

You stare up at them, incredulous. "We should help!"

Morgan continues staring dead ahead a while, analyzing the pair. Then, their stoic expression cracks in a vicious smile.

"Well. We shouldn't get in the way of a hunter's noble quest, should we?" Morgan mocks and laughs lowly.

You look at the adult again and, true enough, a spear is firmly attached to his back, jumping around along his movements. If he's a hunter, you'd do well to be out of the way.

But, hunter or not, there is a child in danger. And he's rapidly approaching where you're standing. Morgan might be contend to let him float you by, but you're certainly not.

You think it through. You're no help going in after the kid yourself, you'll be swept under just the same. But if you want Morgan to do anything, you'll have to do so fast. You grit your teeth, prepared to strike a quick bargain.

"Get the kid safely out of the water, and I'll let you carry me until we're out of the forest," you state, glaring up at them.

Morgan cogs their head at you, and smiles wickedly. "I do adore your proposals. Hm. Make it until we reach the mountain."

"That's a day more away!" you protest.

Morgan casually glances up the river, watching the kid's fast approach. "So it is. And it's my final offer. The wet bird has almost landed."

You pinch the bridge of you nose and groan. Of course they'd take advantage of this. "Fine! Until the mountain. Just do something!"

Morgan eyes you again. Purposely drawing out their response. "Do you promise?"

The kid's almost there. You pull at Morgan's pedipalp in urgency, dragging them toward the river. "Yeah, sure, whatever, just grab him now!"

Morgan sweeps past you and strikes their legs into the water, barely making the split second the kid would have passed you by. Thankfully, their aim is true, and they have the kid securely grasped by the collar of his shirt. Morgan hisses, grips the ground beneath them for better purchase, and pulls.

In one smooth curve, the kid is hauled out of the water, and dragged onto the bank of the river. Morgan leaves him lying there, flat on the ground, and steps back over to you.

"Can we please go now?" They ask impatiently, shaking off the excess water. For good measure, they also wipe off their claws in the wet grass.

You ignore them, and quickly kneel by the child's side to check on him. It's a little hard to tell his specific age, but with his small size you presume he's very young, not even close to adolescent. He's not moving, so you put your head to his chest to listen for his breath. Though, a second later, he starts coughing roughly, and you move back to give him some space.

Another shrill yell follows, and you look up to see an adult male bird, presumably the kid's father, rushing towards you. His eyes are trained on his lost child gasping for air. Morgan instinctively hisses at his rapid approach. With practiced ease, you put a hand out in front of them, before they can make the situation worse.

The man falls on his knees next to his child, palming over his face, cooing and babbling apologies. Completely disregarding the potential enemy in the face of crisis. Reassured his son is alright, he holds him tight, and stares at you with beady eyes. "I - I told him to be careful and - blue moons. I'm so relieved. Thank you."

Morgan's hands find your shoulders shortly thereafter, a soft but firm grip. They're not keen to hang around too much longer. But this might just be an opportunity. Maybe Morgan should have a taste of what happens when you try to do good.

"Don't thank me, I didn't do anything," you explain, pointing over your shoulder at your arachnid companion, hovering inches behind you. "They got your kid out of the water."

The parent frowns and looks up at Morgan then, visibly struggling to meet whatever facial expression Morgan has decided is appropriate to wear. You don't blame him. Taking their agitated stare head-on is not for those faint of heart.

The parent subtly leans his child behind him as this goes on, while his son grips his shirt tightly. Nevertheless, the parent nods in acknowledgement, and when he speaks it almost sounds sincere. "Thank you, then."

Morgan sneers at his gratitude. "You're fortunate my sentry still has a soft heart."

With that, they promptly lift you off the ground, and sets you on their back, quickly moving away from the couple remaining on the bank of the river. Your protest is ignored, and you're have to hold on to Morgan's torso for balance as they rapidly leave the scene. Suppose that's all the interaction you'll get out of them.

"That was good," you say after a bit, watching the forest slowly pass you by. Morgan remains quiet, wading through the deep, overflown waters with relative ease. You keep your feet resting high on their sides to keep dry. "Hey. You did a good thing."

"You made me save the child of a hunter. He'll grow up learning the best ways to kill me," Morgan chuckles darkly. "I only made sure we'll have another enemy to worry about."

"So, what, you would have just let a kid drown?" you challenge.

Morgan shrugs. "They would have done the same to me."

"You don't know that."

"I do, actually. My eyes are red, sentry," Morgan counters. "Generally my kind's not someone they wish to save. But especially not someone like me."

"And why does 'red' have to mean anything in this?" you ask. "It's just a darn color."

Morgans hand's absentmindedly trace over your arms around their torso as they think for a beat. You've half a mind to move them, but the warmth of their hands are strangely soothing.

"Truthfully, it makes no difference. You're right. It's just a color. But common-folk seem to believe that it makes me exceptionally nasty," Morgan explains. Then they chuckle. "Well, they're right, of course. So maybe there's some logic to it."

"No logic, except whatever's been cooked up in that frazzled mind of yours," you argue. "I don't think your eyes do that."

Morgan chitters. "Then I'm eager to hear; what do you think?"

"I think your eyes are great, actually," you state. "Pretty when you're calm, pretty fucking scary when you need them to be."

Morgan turns their head to stare at you for a second. Then they splutter, falling into genuine laughter. Their laugh is raspy and low, causing the hairs on the back of you neck to stand on end. "My dearest. You think my eyes are pretty?"

You groan and tug at their hair. "Not what I meant. Don't let it get to your head."

"Oh, it's already deep, deep in there. This will be with us forever," Morgan purrs, leaning back into your hand. Then they focus on you, a more calm look in their eye. You find the red shining there again, obnoxiously alluring as always. "But just so I know for sure. Could you come a little closer and tell me again?"

You grab their chin and forcibly turn their face away from you. "Focus on the road, you weirdo. You're driving."

"And I think your eyes are pretty, too," Morgan teases, and resumes your journey through the wet forest.

[wonuwrites]

We Can't Be Friends Song Reaction

Inspired by Ariana Grande's song: "We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)

hyung line version. Maknae Line Version

Warning: This is angsty and sad af, slight cursing, mentions alcohol, Minghao's has an Ice Spice lyric reference, hate comments, Mingyu's is a bit suggestive so respectfully: Minors fuck off and don't interact LMFAO. tbh this is more angsty and emotional than the hyung line and I'm only partially sorry.

A/N: using a song lyric as a prompt for each of the members. Decided to break this up from Hyung Line (Seungcheol - Jihoon) to Maknae Line (Seokmin - Chan). I already did 95/96 Line now it's time for the youngins. Like the hyung version, The parts are written in order from where the song lyrics show up. I tried to do different lyrics from the hyung line xo I hope you enjoy.

✫ Seungkwan: "I don't wanna tiptoe, but I don't wanna hide. But I don't wanna feed this monstrous fire."

Neither of you ever wanted to admit how much of a dumpster fire Seungkwan and your relationship was becoming. However, it was. Day by day, it was becoming more and more clear your once perfect relationship was close to ending. You knew that Seungkwan wanted to make it work out and he truly thought it was just a bump in the road. However, you just knew it was time to end. Seungkwan and you were sat in his car in front of your house while the rain was pouring down and you just felt sick. You had called and told him that you wanted to talk but the words just wouldn't come out. You didn't want to hurt him but you also did not want to tiptoe and hide your true feelings anymore. With one look after an uncomfortable few minutes of silence, Seungkwan knew what was going on started to get teary eyed which made you teary eyed as well. "Kwannie, I'm so sorry but you know it's for the best. We had a good run." You managed to get out. Seungkwan did a shakey sigh before looking out the windsheild. "It was a great run, (Y/N), thank you for all the precious memories. I will always love you." "I will always love you too, thank you as well." After that, you braced yourself for the storm and for this next chapter of your new life. You opened the door and got out before running to your front door. You turned around as Seungkwan drove off and that was when you finally let go and finally broke down. You were so scared to enter this next chapter but you knew it was what you were supposed to do.

✫ Dino: "Wait until you like me again. Wait for your love."

You felt your heart shatter into a million pieces as Chan stood in front of you with a defeated look on his face. He could have said anything, but telling you that he's realized he's starting to fall out of love with you was probably the most devastating thing he could have told you. "When? What? Why?" was all you could say while trying your best to stay strong. You thought you both were golden. "I don't know, all I know is I want to keep loving you but it's just hard to." "I'm hard to love?!" "I didn't mean it like that, (Y/N)." "Then how did you mean it Chan?" Your voice finally cracked and then you looked away so he could not see you cry which absolutely broke his heart. "I- I don't know but--" you then just sighed then walked past him toward the door and opened the door for him. "Well until you know, here's the door. I rather not waste my time with someone who only pretends to love me." He started to walk toward you to give you a hug but you put your hand out so he wouldn't be able to touch you. "Don't you dare complicate this. Just come back when you know what you want. I will wait for you to try to like me again but I don't want to be there while you figure it out."

✫ Minghao: "Know that you made me, I don't like how you paint me, yet I'm still here hanging."

"(Y/N) only dated Minghao for 15 seconds of fame." "(Y/N) thinks they are the shit for dating Minghao. They're barely a fart." "Minghao could've done WAY better. There is more attractive people and he chose (Y/N)? God I'm so happy he finally got a brain and dumped her gold digging ass." Normally hate comments made you laugh. When Minghao and you were together and saw hate comments you both would giggle at how much time they were wasting while you were both just living your life and being in love. However, now that Minghao and you are no longer together the hate comments hurt. What hurt is that after the breakup, Minghao and his company did nothing to stop the comments. You both had a pretty clean and fair breakup so the fact that they just let the comments attack you felt unfair. Your company tried everything in their power to stop the comments with threatening lawsuits, to mass deleting comments, to offering to manage your socials so you wouldn't have to read it. The offer was nice but when you were welcomed with boo's and slurs when you went to an event you couldn't help but try to put on a brave face but mentally curse Pledis and Minghao. Also yourself for even agreeing to date Xu Minghao to begin with. Life would've been so much more peaceful if you never even knew his name.

✫ Mingyu: "Not what you made me, it's something like a daydream. But I feel so seen in the night."

It was supposed to be a one night stand. However, Mingyu and you developed an emotional non committed relationship and it was pretty nice. A little too nice. You knew it was a dangerous game to get this involved but you couldn't help it. Something about Kim Mingyu was so addicting. He was the best drug you could be addicted too. The way he made you feel so seen on your nightly adventures. That's why it hurt a little bit when you saw him out and about and he ignored you. As if you were only good enough for a fuck but not for a casual 'hello' in the daytime. It broke you when he came over two nights after the incident and he scoffed at your hurt. He had assumed you knew what this was. "Is this not enough, sweetheart?" no. No it was not. However, you couldn't bring yourself to admit it to him so at that moment you realized if you wanted anything to do with Mingyu, you had to play by his rules. No matter how bad it hurt.

✫ Vernon: "So for now, it's only me. And maybe that's all I need."

Hansol and you were so codependent for your whole relationship. You were with each other every second. You didn't have to talk, just being in each others presence was enough. Or so it was. One day, you both just grew apart. He started getting busy with Seventeen and you started getting more and more projects at work. The distance was affecting both of you but you both were too scared to say anything. That's when the fight happened and both of you wished you said something sooner because maybe... just maybe you both would be in each other's arms or sending each other cursed TikToks that plagued your FYP. However, neither of you did and you both were just too damn stubborn to say something. After suffering for what seemed like an eternity, you decided to try to explore independence a bit more. You took a much needed shower, and started to curl your hair and put on some makeup. As you were getting dolled up you did some daily affirmations. The more you told yourself, the more confident you were becoming. Maybe being solo for awhile was a good thing.

✫ DK: "My love, I'll wait for your love. I'll wait for your love."

Seokmin woke up in a cold sweat and looked around. He saw he was in an empty bed and the nightmare he had of losing you was way too realistic. He quickly stood up and called out your name but heard nothing back. His heart was racing when he heard the silence. Where were you? He rubbed his eyes and and looked around the room a bit more and that's when he remembered he was in a hotel room for a schedule. He sighed before laying back in bed and grabbing his phone. He squinted as the light hit his face and couldn't help but get teary eyed as he saw your smiling face smiling back at him. He loved you more than words could say. He said it constantly but that still didn't mean that you both weren't going through a rough patch. He didn't leave on the best conditions with you before he left and regretted it. Instinctively, he dialed your number and pressed the phone to his ear. He just needed to hear your voice. "Hey baby!" He heard your voice say which made him tear up even more. "Hi," he whispered while smiling. "Seokmin? Baby, are you okay?" A tear fell down his cheek as he heard the pet name for the second time and his fears were calmed a bit. "Seokmin?" "Oh yeah... Sorry I- I um, I'm sorry." "It's okay, baby... what's going on though?" He sighed before sitting up and telling you about his nightmare and how he just loves you so fucking much. This made you lean against the wall as you listened to him explain his fears and your heart broke at his anxiety. Sure when he left it was rough but that's relationships. Relationships aren't all sunshine and rainbows all the time. When you explained that you heard him sniffle which made you tear up. "Thank you, baby." He whispered. "Of course, love. I'll wait for you to come home. Five more days right?" "Yes, just Five more days." "I'll wait for your love, my love. I love you always." "I love you, always."

ღ

A/N: whoops I accidentally wrote a novel for Seokmin's. Pls don't hate me lmaooo

[autobot2001]

The Cold Embrace of Fate

Author: Autobot2001 Genre: Fanfiction Fandom: NBC's Hannibal Rating: E Warnings: None Pairing: None Description: During a winter rainstorm, Hannibal spots Jamie walking home. He takes her to his home.

Day 3; @feveruary: caught in the rain @febuwhumpw: pinned down @fluffyfebruary: ice @fluffbruary: uncertainty | pause

Ao3 or under the cut

Jamie walks home from work in the middle of winter. She knew she had to watch for ice patches on the sidewalk, but Jamie didn't think she'd get caught in the rain. Great. Jamie thinks as she walks down the sidewalk until she slips on the ice and falls on to the sidewalk. Someone pins her down before she can get up. "Get off me!" Jamie yells as she struggles to get them off her. What the hell? This should be no problem. She thinks. Jamie pauses and looks at the person who has her pinned down. Poor lighting and heavy rain hinder Jamie's observation. The person gets up and pulls her onto her feet. "What are you doing walking home in the rain?" The person asks. "I could ask you the same thing, Hannibal." "I was driving by and saw you walking," he argues. "I was going to ask if you wanted me to drive you home before you slipped on the ice. Are you ok?" "And you had to pin me down?" "Let's get in my car. I'll take you to my house." Hannibal leads Jamie to his car and opens the door for her. She gets into the car. Hannibal gets in and starts driving.

The drive is quiet for a while. "Why did you walk home?" Hannibal asks. "My motorcycle needs repairs, and I didn't know it would rain today." "You could have told me or Will. You know he wouldn't mind driving you home, or you could have taken the bus," Hannibal says. Jamie ignores him. Hannibal sighs, frustrated. The rest of the drive is quiet.

The two walk into the house. "Remember when I suggested keeping some clothes here?" Hannibal asks. "In the first guest bedroom, or as I call it, your room." Jamie says nothing about what Hannibal said. She goes upstairs to the first guest bedroom.

Jamie finds the clothes she left placed in a dresser drawer. "You should take a shower first," she hears Hannibal say. "it'll help warm you." Jamie nods and goes into the bathroom. Once she has finished showering and dressed, Jamie goes downstairs.

She finds Hannibal in the kitchen preparing ingredients. She sits at the island counter. Hannibal stops cutting and looks at Jamie. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you planned all this," Jamie comments. "You think I would sabotage your motorcycle knowing you wouldn't ask Will to drive you home or take a bus?" Hannibal asks. "Yes, also how you must have figured out how to pin me down that I couldn't fight back. Which is impressive." "You're right. I would do something like that, but not this time. As I already told you, I saw you while driving by. Since you're here, you might as well stay for dinner," Hannibal smiles. Hannibal resumes making dinner. Jamie stays seated at the island counter, pulls out her phone, and finds something to do to keep busy. "You know it's rude to ignore me?" Hannibal says, partially joking, knowing Jamie isn't used to conversations, even with friends. He smiles as Jamie looks at him, "There must be something you want to talk about?" "No." Hannibal sighs, hating his difficulty getting Jamie to discuss anything with him. He focuses on making dinner. "We need to work on your inability to converse with people," Hannibal says. "I know why it's hard for you to talk to anyone, even friends, but this isn't healthy for you. Let's eat dinner now, and I'll take you home."

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 30

Let’s leave Irie for a minute shall we? I think we’ve had enough of that guy for now.

One, two, three, four

I know we haven’t seen the gaming club hardly at all this chapter, but I promise you they are coming. They’re coming, and they have the writer on their side.

Rude. Although, thinking about it I’m kind of with Ooishi in regards to these two. What does Takano actually see in Tomitake? Is it just a purely physical thing? I think it dives into what she sees in him later on in the chapter, but I don’t remember off hand. I don’t think they’re sleeping together yet, and I don’t think we see very much of the courtship between these two, but she likes him well enough I guess, and vice versa.

Maybe it’s just a personal thing, but even with what he gets up to later I really can’t bring myself to say Jirou Tomitake is cool. He’s just such a dork, always has been. From his humble beginnings in Onikakushi all the way to when he does stuff towards the end of Matsuribayashi I just think he’s a dorky man.

Come on Tomitake, I don’t think it could be any more obvious short of her just coming out and saying that she’d hurt you if you mess with her research.

The following text was spread across three screens, but I decided to just type it out, in an effort to be more economical with what screenshots and fragments are done in which part.

She said… “If you create problems for my research…” I wonder what she wanted to say after that…

I can’t help thinking she wanted to say something terrifyingly merciless.

I kept my promise with her and we never talked about the issue again after that.

I suppose it makes sense to assume that she uses this as partial justification for injecting him with H173 in the other chapters.

A roll of a one

I know it’s kind of late to say this, but I don’t particularly care for the dice metaphor that keeps getting trotted out. I don’t know what could’ve been used in its place, but there’s just something about the constant dice comments that makes me roll my eyes somewhat. It’s not annoying necessarily, but I just kind of go “yes yes, get on with it.” when it comes up later on.

Man, when it rains it pours huh? Just as a heads up, the next two or three fragments will be a protracted session of just dumping on Takano. In case you don’t care about her or her seeming fall from grace.

On the one hand it’s kind of commendable that Takano wants her loved ones to live on forever as a result of her research into Hinamizawa Syndrome. But on the other I kind of feel that there’s slightly less than noble intentions on her part. This is entirely a fiction of my own creation, but it just strikes me that she wants to bring in the names of Hifumi, and Koizumi to potentially deflect from any future criticism of her handling of the research you know? I know her name would be on whatever paperwork future generations would read, but I just kind of get the feeling that this is a “we all rise, and fall together” type of arrangement. Again though, this is kind of just a very small feeling I had while reading this, and most assuredly isn’t the case.

Another thing I can’t help but wonder is if what Tomitake is saying is all just an act, and he’s fully aware of whats going on behind the scenes. During the injection scene in Minagoroshi Tomitake mentions “that faction” making it clear that he’s not in with the Koizumi faction or the mysterious traitor group Takano’s with after this. So I just wonder if he’s in fact fully aware that other factions are planning on shutting down Takano’s research and is just trying to ease her into the idea that it might happen? I also wonder if he’s really in favor of shutting the research down, but he just can’t say that to her since they’re together.

Based on a short conversation I had with @felixcloud6288 I am aware that this fragment, and the two or three after this are meant to take place closer to June 1983. Even at the time I was vaguely aware that I am most certainly playing these fragments out of chronological order.

Regardless, I was quite surprised when it was revealed that the government plans on shutting down their research. Given the way Minagoroshi ended I assumed they were fully supportive of all of the research, even though they were probably unaware of the ritualistic killing of Rika.

Also I lied, there’s a little tiny bit of Irie here.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 20- Part 1

Here we are again and…it’s still raining? After all this time? What, is the rain scripted to always be there for the sake of Cal’s fight? So he can do that Rainbow Road thing?

Well, regardless of that, it’s pretty clear Cal’s team relies on sunlight. Not only because of the boost given to Fire-type moves, but Solar Beam- which most fully-evolved Fire Pokémon can learn- fires off instantly in the sun. And that’s especially a problem because all three of Fire’s weaknesses- Water, Ground, and Rock- are weak to Grass. So…we just need to change the weather ourselves! 

Rain Dance is probably the best choice- and I’ve got a Pokémon that can do the job quite well…

Now, Meteo isn’t the only Pokémon I’ve got that can naturally learn Rain Dance. The other would be Lake the Ducklett- however, Ducklett learns Rain Dance at Lv. 34, which is too close to the level cap (while we're not at the Gym battle) for my liking. Meteo is a more comfortable choice, he learns Rain Dance at Lv. 20.

Of course, I'm sure Cal’s team is gonna have some Electric moves to deal with any Water-types I try to use in the rain- I know Torkoal did- so some more Ground-type would be helpful. Fortunately, I've got more options for that now, it's not just Crater anymore!

So in the end, the team looks like this:

Meteo to set up rain and do Weather Ball shenanigans, Riptide for extra Water coverage (and because I always bring my partner), Ravine and Cobalt for resistances and Electric immunity, Crater for her own unique resistances, and Glare for some extra utility.

Now, I doubt Cal is going to have any Pokémon above that Lv. 34 Magmortar, so I'd say Lv. 33 is a good place to be. So, time for some more grinding!

(One partial grind session later-)

So anyways, this happened also-

Nice!

Oh, by the way- I've been doing my grinding against the Unown in the Grand Stairway, and not too long ago, I looked into that Field Effect Read-Out I saw last chapter. Initially, I just wanted to see when was the earliest place I could obtain it, and…imagine my shock when I saw I was intended to pick it up as early as after the second Badge! And imagine my further shock when this information was confirmed elaborated upon by one of the folks reading and commenting on this Let’s Play!

So I looked into it further as a result and…well, let me show you.

So that flavor text is more than just flavor, it turns out. It's a…hint? Of sorts? Well, just get into a wild Pokémon battle first.

Oh look, it's Cobalt's brethren! Too bad it has to die in the name of science!

If you'll recall, Magnitude is a move that can break up the crystals and change the Field- and that's exactly what I'm gonna have Cobalt do!

Yeah! So it turns out, out-of-battle environmental interactions are a thing in this game too! That's…great, cool, something else to keep in mind, alright-

Also, turns out those stairs that I thought were Rock Climb spots actually are just normal stairs, even if they look a little off. Which means we're free to take the Read-Out!

Awesome! Now with that quick errand out of the way, let's get back to training.

(Another partial grind session later-)

Okay, now this is a thing-

Sure, I guess we'll catch it, why not, Shiny’s a Shiny.

Ring because of the sound effect- like, ringing bells and such. Anyways-

(Yet more training later-)

Lemme tell you something. This training session…it was not easy, and it was not fun. 

I used up almost all my medium Exp. Candies and my small Exp. Candies, fighting Unown could be tough because they might have a certain type of Hidden Power that Meteor, Ravine, and/or Cobalt were weak against, and the Grand Hall Trainers? There was only one of the three who was somewhat safe to train against, and even then he still had a Lv. 37 Pokémon- what happened to the balancing of those Trainers? Why do I keep running into these guys with Pokémon stronger than the current level cap? I assumed the balance and Trainer selection was based on which Gym you were at, but maybe not??

But even with all of that…I persisted, and in the end, the team now looks like this:

I gave Ravine and Cobalt Rawst Berries to make sure they can avoid getting burned- I don't want their Attack stats being hindered in any way for this.

So now, it's time for some sweet revenge! The first part of the battle is the same as before- lead with Riptide, switch to Crater to take the Electric Hidden Power, one-shot Torkoal with Earth Power.

And Magmortar is where we're gonna set up the rain. In comes Meteo!

Magmortar is probably charging up a Fire Punch, Meteo can take that due to being Fire-type at the moment. Which means Rain Dance goes up without issue!

Now, it's entirely possible Magmortar knows an Electric-type attack, likely Thunder Punch, so we'll swap to Ravine next.

Feint Attack…? Um- okay, Ravine can take that as well. In the meantime, she'll set up Stealth Rock just for-

Oh, well, okay then- rude. At least Stealth Rock is up for the rest of the battle. Plus, Ravine actually trained against a guy's Quilava at Grand Hall, so we're prepared for this! Rock Tomb should deal good damage and lower Quilava’s Speed for a follow-up!

…Oooor not…

Okay, new plan- Meteo! Water-types are just as effective and resistant to Ice!

Let's see how much Weather Ball does, huh-?

Oh, Quilava outspeeds? And its Hidden Power is also Electric-type? Okay-

Okay, note to self for another attempt- use Crater for the Quilava as well. I'm really getting tired of your bull, Cal!! This has to end eventually!!

Next

[radarsteddybear]

Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @rose-of-pollux. Thank you!

(I tag everyone and anyone who wants to do this!)

How many works do you have on AO3? 74

What's your total AO3 word count? 222,374 words

What fandoms do you write for? A lotta DuckTales (2017), a good deal of Hogan's Heroes, some Singin' in the Rain, and a smattering of other stuff. Though I'm not really writing DuckTales anymore (nor am I writing the smattering of other stuff).

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Ducktober 2017 (DuckTales 2017)

Numb (DuckTales 2017)

An Old Letter (DuckTales 2017)

A Phone Call and a Visit (DuckTales 2017)

It All Fades to Black (Encanto)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to reply to comments left on AO3. Since you have to respond to reviews on ff.net via PM, I find it a lot harder to keep track of which I've responded to and which I haven't, so I usually don't anymore.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Most of my angst comes with a happy ending, and on top of that, I don't have the greatest perspective of how angsty my angst is, but I'm going to go with Exchange (Scrooge has to pay a price to get Lena back from Magica).

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Jeez, I don't know. Most of them have happy endings. The two that come to mind are:

Things My Heart Used to Know (Louie has discovered who he is and not only found his family but also put it back together again)

Ashes (Cosmo gets to live out his happily-ever-after with the two loves of his life, Don Lockwood and Kathy Seldon)

Do you get hate on fics? Not quite hate, but I have gotten complete non sequiturs, people who don't seem to understand that I like to write scenes over full stories, and a couple of arguments over my chosen characterization of a character in one specific story (which I stand by).

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I've never written any, though that doesn't stop me from thinking about them. Lately I've been thinking about Captain Carter visiting the 4077th.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? The closest I've ever come to co-writing a fic was when @eggs-arent-real wrote me a one-shot and I wrote her a sequel. We didn't post it, though.

What's your all-time favorite ship? Probably Cosmo/Don/Kathy from Singin' in the Rain. I'm also partial to Stucky and Aziraphale/Crowley.

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Good question. I've not given up on any of these, mind you, but my Darkwing Duck plot bunnies may fall into this category; it's just that I have to rewatch a significant portion of the show to pull them off, and I have no idea when that's going to happen.

What are your writing strengths? Back in high school, I was told by multiple people that I was really good with imagery. I also tend to like my dialogue, and I've had a lot of practice writing whump and hurt/comfort scenes, so I'd like to think I'm pretty good at those, too.

What are your writing weaknesses? Coming up with full plots (as opposed to random, out-of-context scenes). And also endings. And getting characters from point A to point B without any/much dialogue.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? If that's how a character speaks, then that's how a character speaks. Personally, I try to avoid it unless it's a canon piece of the character and/or it's plot relevant. I think I've only done it for Panchito and Jose of the Three Caballeros. And also Mark Beaks, who canonically peppers his speech with Spanish when talking to Fenton because he is awful.

First fandom you wrote for? Liberty's Kids. There's a good chance I still have it, too, though I'll never post it (I never finished it, anyway).

The first fandom I wrote for and posted was Iron Man: Armored Adventures, which is also the only fic I've ever deleted off the internet.

Favorite fic you've ever written? I've gotta go with these two:

Things My Heart Used to Know

“We’ll meet up in Duckburg,” he heard Scrooge say. “I’ve got a Bin there, and…” Another explosion, the biggest one yet, shook the Bin, and large chunks of plaster fell around them. “We have to go,” Donald said. Scrooge turned to Louie and pressed something small and solid and round into his hand. “Guard it well,” he told him before disappearing into the smoke. Or, Louie gives a new meaning to the nickname “Captain Lost.”

Ashes

Cosmo drinks his sorrows away after Kathy discovers that he and Don are more than just friends.

[recordstellar-official]

Sandwiched in Time

Scene 3: A wall of caskets above the shore

Dulni breathed deep as they approached the storm. The waters foamed around the airboat's hull. It was there before even Kellarin's eyes could register it: a massive tidal wave at ninety degrees of angle. The instruction came far too late as it rose above the Mother Goose and crashed towards it. The deck rippled as Dulni kept herself balanced. The boat was pushed back, and the sea foamed once more.

"Unreef the sails," Kip yelled from the wheel.

"Are you crazy!? We turn back," Dulni replied.

Water splashed around them as the sky above them darkened. It didn't just rain, it poured. Dulni skated across the slick surface and towards the mast as the sea rumbled ahead of them.

Shezerin knew how to tie rope that was for sure,she thought to herself as she struggled to get enough grip on the knots he had tied.

"What's taking you so long?" Kellarin shouted after a few heartbeats.

The wave rattled the boat, almost capsizing it.

"Unreef the-!"

In one slick motion, Dulni cut the knot, partially unsheathing and re-sheathing her tachi in the process. She snatched the slack rope and tied it back into the spar. The Mother Goose sped forward, deeper inside the storm. Dulni fell forward as the boat was shunted upwards by the wave. Kip wrestled with the wheel, trying to guide the ship safely down the watery shockwave.

"We need to get to the eye of the storm," Kip shouted over the shrieking wind.

He turned the wheel starboard, keeping the boat on the crest of the wave.

The wave leveled and the boat landed safely on the open ocean. The skies were clear above, but the storm still raged behind and ahead.

"Well, what now?" Dulni asked.

The lean elf dropped his arms at his side. "I guess we just go with the flow," Kellarin replied. He could see an island, or at least what appeared to be one, but it was a speck in the distance. He could barely make out rows of pillars eerily shaped like caskets peeking from the edge of the blur that lay before them. Elf eyes had a way of seeing past physical limitations.

Dulni felt surprisingly rejuvenated,her magic crackling through her bones, tingling from the tips of her fingers, up the small hairs of her arm and shoulders, up and down the spine and up the top of her head.

"You feel it too," Shezerin commented.

"I'm no arcane caster, but Abreol's been kind enough to share secrets with me. It's about as confusing as gender," he continued. "I know that we're not near Chiang'long, but I feel that we need to check what is on that island," Shezerin suggested to Dulni.

"Kellerin, what do you think?" She asked. He shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me. How's food?"

"I can make extra if we need it, at least for this part of the journey. I expect that continent proper will have us needing our energy for more combat and divination based need," Shezerin countered.

"Absolutely not! We have a strict timetable!" Kip shouted storming up from beneath decks. He was wearing coveralls, covered in soot and tinged with the smell of burnt oil. Padded sleeves were drenched black with grease.

"Don't touch me" Dulni said. Immediately she was disgusted by her whimper. She braced herself, scowling at the scholar.

"I am not going to have my mission delayed and sabotaged by a teenager's morbid curiosity." Kip's face was beet-red and looking as if it was ready to pop.

"Kip are you alright?" Dulni asked unnerved by the aggression on display.

"Day after day, having to put up with your antics. What was I thinking, hiring you?"Kip threw up his hands. "I don't know who's worse, you or the urchin," he said as he gave Shezerin a quick glance.

"I am a great assistant as I have proven." Shezerin replied.

"You got me her. That cancels out you sorting this ship and fetching me Kellarin." Kip countered.

"She's vouched by the guy you wanted, who has a reputation for being, well... point is, let me finish sir, if you can't handle her, how did you expect it to go with such a man?" Shezerin asked.

"I don't want to be anywhere near the Lid of Abymalm," Kip admitted. "Sailors claim those islands are connected directly to his Labyrinth of Terrors."

"Well, I suspect that we will have to deal with them whether we'd like to or not," Kellarin interrupted. "They probably see us. The longer we sit here, the more time they have to prepare. Defender's advantage." The elf moved up to the prow of the ship. "Kip, when's the quickest we can make landfall, and how much booze are you insisting we sacrifice for the survival of our lives and a gamble on this craft?"

Kip gulped.

End of chapter 2

[that1notetaker]

jamie watch out! oh no he can’t hear us he’s got his airpods in

*spams self-promotional fic art after a month of no content* hi may i introduce you to our religion

@imdeadtiredtm and I bring you Chapter two of Apotheosis, Wreckage Wrought, aka The Bennett’s Take Charge: In which we introduce Mrs Joyace Bennett as a spunky mom and hell of a woman, where Jamie is a little shit and a nerd for all things spooky, and Sophie is a mastermind who can’t talk but makes herself heard anyways. Go check it out, our souls are for sale :))

[drabbles-of-writing]

May i ask for Luz and Raine headcannons (plz their interaction single handedly undid most of the trauma from the rest of the episode)

your so right anon. i love them. stepparent and stepdaughter energy to the max. desperate for more interactions between them in the episode tomorrow I'm begging

Luz, as evidenced, thinks Raine is the coolest person ever. partially bc they're really important to Eda, partially bc she has Heard The Tales and how can she NOT think they're cool?? the first hour in the new rebel camp is spent following Raine around and pestering them with questions. Raine was a teacher for some time and genuinely likes kids (obv they have like 3) so even when they were doing other work they were listening to every word while adding in their own comments/questions in brief brakes. at some point Luz apologizes for all the questions n Raine is like "??? we've been answering each others questions wym"

Raine was pacing in circles the entire time it took for everyone to rescue Luz after they nabbed Eda like "oh titan im gonna mess this up. im going to mess it up SO BAD" bc this is Eda's kid and they very much want Eda's kid to like them. course they ended up meeting King like 2 hours early cause Steve popped in with him and Raine managed to Mostly pull it off. they went through. a lot of different 'scenes' with themself in their head before they got Luz back. Darius may have bonked them over the head and told them to stop worrying so much, kids actually like them. this did nothing for Raine's nerves, but they hid it well

all the BATs kids swarm Luz whenever there's nobody else around. they have some of their own separate reasons (Katya knew Luz from her first day in the Isles, Derwin rlly wants to learn about glyphs, Amber wants someone closer to her age to talk to) but the base reason is This Is Eda's Kid and also Raine Likes Her. and back in their day, Raine deciding to hang around a kid usually meant the kid was about to be a new member of the BATs, so they kind of defaulted to the 'welcoming vibe' on instinct. Raine keeps trying to shoo them off insisting that the BATs aren't even a thing anymore please leave Luz alone but they are PERSISTENT. Raine tries to apologize for them but Luz is absolutely THRILLED bc the kids tell her all kinds of things Raine did as a rebel that Raine was either 1) embarrassed about and 2) forgot. it's an interesting time

Raine is vibrating in the corner trying to restrain themself from asking Luz if she wants to learn bard magic. Obviously she kind of had, shes in every track of Hexside, but Raine is quite actually One Of The Best and also they really want to see what kind of instrument she'd play best (they're best bet rn is a ukulele, but that might be the 'hey what if me, eda & luz all played strings' talking) until eventually they just. start playing their viola. its like late as hell and everyones still a bit high-strung so Raine plays something soothing to 1) help everyone out and 2) work on de-stressing themself. among some others, Luz is there who hangs out around Raine until they're done playing and then excitedly asks to b taught, cause she's still just in the basics of bard training. and Raine practically Lights Up

Eda was a little bit resentful that Raine got along so instantly and eagerly w Luz when it took her a while to get used to the kid. obviously it's not like Raine was trying to be the Better Kid Person™ that's just how they are but it still made Eda feel a little shitty for a bit. she tries to casually ask Raine when they got so good w kids, aside from the fact they're a teacher n Raine is like "first of all I had, like, 3 other kids before this. second of all I still genuinely have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just doing nice things and hoping it works I have absolutely no clue anything abt Luz I'm just trying to copy what I thought you would do" and Eda is in SHAMBLES over it

Luz and King have the whole "you BETTER make it up to Eda for lying abt remembering her she was a mess over it :(" and course that makes Raine feel even shittier but Luz is immediately plopping down next to them like "dw I gotchu we're gonna make SUCH a good apology gesture" and the first ten or so are completely over the top and not something Raine would ever do for obvious reasons and also bc they know that wouldn't do anything w Eda, but Damn if they aren't touched by how much Luz is trying. as if Raine and Eda weren't making longing heart-eyes at each other from across the room like half an hour earlier. points for effort

[yesimwriting]

The Promise of Rain

A/n finally writing that Kaz Brekker x reader angsty-fluff where the reader is all sunshine-y and Kaz is dramatic as always lol 

Might make this a blurb series bc i like this dynamic so much lol

Pairing: Kaz Brekker x sunshine-y reader 

Summary: After a mission gone wrong, Kaz has a conversation with the reader (who’s a runaway princess) about what happens to people who stay near him. 

-- 

He once said that he didn’t believe in Saints. A moment later he conceded that perhaps they existed in order to appease Inej, but he was quick to tact on that if Saints existed they didn’t care about him. Inej and I had exchanged a look, she pleaded with me in silence to let him be. I opened my mouth despite the look in her eyes, but he had walked away before I could get any words out. 

He believes that the Saints don’t care about him, but as soon as he was dragged in by Jesper, bleeding and more broken than usual, it had started to rain. The rain is a promise. The rain is a sign that he will wake up. 

I tap a finger against the forgotten book on my lap, ignoring the dried blood I’ve been too anxious to wash off. When Kaz wakes up he’ll either scold me or partially tease me for waiting here by his bedside. The rain continues, cascading down invisible hope. 

“Save your prayers, even for you the Saints won’t regard me.” Kaz. His voice is raspier than it should be and his slight condescension is blighted by the tired flatness of it. But it’s him. He’s speaking. 

I tear my gaze away from the window, almost forgetting to tamper down my relief before finally looking at him. I haven’t known him long enough to see him in any level of defeat, but I’ve heard enough stories. The fictional exaggeration of those that fear him have made him seem so immortal. Some part of me must have internalized that because to see him like this, to see him so human is too intimate. 

“Don’t be so narcissistic.” Something about Kaz always leaves me feeling challenged, like each comment is some kind of dare. I adjust my posture. “I wasn’t praying because I knew you’d be okay.” 

His expression is unchanging. “So much faith in me?” 

There’s a soft edge to his words, an attempt to twist some kind of awkward denial out of me. Some days I don’t think Kaz enjoys anything and then other days I think he enjoys any misstep in my words. 

I shrug, pushing down the flood of relief still attempting to crawl out of my chest. “You’re always okay.” I scratch the back of my wrist idly. “It seems the safe bet.” 

“Don’t tell me you’ve been taking gambling advice from Jesper.” 

I half roll my eyes. “No--Jesper and I don’t play together anymore.” I let out an easy sigh. “Last time I beat him he bordered on a hissy fit.” There’s the slightest hint of upturning at the corners of his lips. “I should go tell Jesper and Inej you’re awake.” 

“I think you should change out of that dress first.”

He was more likable when I thought he might die at any second. “Wow--Kaz Brekker the professional stylist.” He has no right to judge the formal gown I’m in. Yes, my outfit is ridiculous, but I’m only wearing it because the Crows needed someone they knew at a merchant’s party for a part of some scheme they wouldn’t share the details of with me. “Yes, I’m aware that this dress is more tulle than anything else, but I’m only wearing it because I was helping you.” 

I wait for some retort about how he could have managed without my assistance or some kind of comment about how I didn’t need such a large dress to flirt and distract the guards as the Crows snuck into the merchant’s private office. “You fit in there more than you said you would.” 

From anyone else, I’d consider this an insult. “I was making an effort for the sake of your plans.” 

“I saw you before I went into the office, you knew the dances, the man took your hand.” 

That’s the weirdest observation I’ve ever witnessed someone reflect on. “That’s how those dances tend to work.” I don’t hide the confusion in my expression. “How much blood did you lose?” 

Kaz’s piercing gaze drops to the blanket on his lap. “Not a concerning amount.”

“Why do I feel like we have different definitions of ‘concerning’?” 

His eyes flit upwards, a partial smirk playing at his lips. “We define a lot of things differently.” He pauses, “You defined the life you slipped into so easily tonight as something you could never do.” 

“I can’t.” What is his problem? “One dance is different than an eternity of planning teas and marrying some man who only keeps me so I can rear his children.” 

“You’d end up marrying someone who could give you things.”

He better not be implying I should be having children. I’m seriously starting to hope he did lose a significant amount of blood because that would be some kind of explanation. “I don’t want anyone to be giving me children right now, but I guess your concern is ni--”

“No, no,” he screws his eyes shut for a long second, “You know what I meant.” I stay silent. “You’re technically a princess, y/n, you could have more than the Barrel.” There’s an odd silence as he pauses. “Someone like you should have more than the Barrel.” 

He speaks like his word is law. That’s the one habit of his I can never seem to forgive. Is Kaz telling me to go home? To go back to a mother who dreams of marrying me off and a father with a temper that often leads to violence? He may be Dirtyhands, but he is no one to tell me who to go back to. Not after I risked my anonymity to get him into that merchant’s office. 

I shut my book and stand in one swift motion. “I’m going to tell Jesper and Inej that you’re awake.”

“Y/n.” I ignore him. “Y/n.” Again, I ignore him, approaching the doorway. The rustling of sheets leaves me frozen, hand on the doorknob. “Y/n.” 

Without thinking, I turn on my heels while glaring. There’s no way he’s proud enough to have climbed out of bed wi--and he’s standing. Standing almost directly behind me. 

“Kaz Brekker, I am going to say this one time and one time only.” I keep my words measured and my tone flat. No room for argument. “You just had nine stitches put in near your heart, get your ass back in bed before that is no longer your only injury.” 

He pauses, lips pressed together into a tight white line. And then his mouth opens, pried open by an oddly light sound. Did he just--Did Kaz Brekker just laugh? He doesn’t laugh. I didn’t think he was physically capable, and now he laughs while I’m threatening him? I should hit him on principle alone and damn the consequences. 

“Did you--” I’m gaping at him with a rage I am not accustomed to. “Did you just laugh?” 

Kaz is quick to shut his mouth. “You did swear you’d get me to laugh one day.” 

Saints--now he chooses to have some kind of sense of humor. “Not while I was threatening you for being an idiot after saying my lineage means that I’m meant to be trapped in the life I desire least.” 

“I didn’t say that.” I raise an eyebrow. “You don’t deserve more than this because of your family, you deserve more than this because--” He cuts himself off with a sharp sigh. “Do you remember what happened the day we met?” 

He had wanted to return me to my father for the money. I had managed to convince him I could be more useful working for him without profit. The first day had been tense, I had sworn to myself that I would hate him forever. 

“I remember really hating you.” I remember thinking him beautiful despite his darkness. “I remember it started raining on our way here.” 

“You had a hood, but you pushed it off your head to feel the rain.” I don’t remember that because indulging in the rain is instinctual to me. “You looked at the rain, and you smiled--and then you saw a woman with a child and you took off your hood and gave it to them.” 

“What does that have to d--” 

“Watching that felt like intruding on an intimate moment I had no business knowing about, but it wasn’t that to you. That moment was nothing to you because that moment was who you are.” 

I don’t understand what he sees in something I can barely remember. “Kaz, what does that have to do with anything?” 

“I’m the monster that children believe live under their beds, I’m the bastard of the Barrel, I’m someone who gets blood on everything near them.” His gaze is harsher than I’ve ever seen it as he focuses on the dried blood splotched across my hands and arms. “And then I can’t even help you wash it off.” 

Those last words are the closest to broken I’ve ever heard him sound. “Kaz--”

“And you’re the girl who looks at the rain like it’s a gift from the Saints.” 

Is he implying what I think he’s implying? Even if I believed him such a source of evil, even if I felt like touch mattered that much--why would he care? I keep the much more frightening implication at bay as I exhale. Clarity will only make this conversation worse. “That doesn’t matter.” The words leave me in a low whisper. 

I stare at the ground until his silence is something I can no longer bear. Looking up as cautiously as possible, I take in his expression. I’ve never seen him look so--so enraged. “It doesn’t matter?!” He doesn’t bother hiding the fact that he’s practically seething. “I’ve viewed your presence here as temporary since you first came and despite that, when I saw you there…” The breath he lets out is practically pained. “When I saw what your life is meant to be--I didn’t want you to go.” 

The admission breaks something hard in my chest. “I never wanted to go.” My eyeline drops to the ground. “I didn’t want to go when you were trying to make me, I didn’t want to go when it was only for that evening.” I swallow a lump of emotion restricting my throat. “When you were bleeding out and Jesper had to carry you back here I let myself imagine what it’d be like if you died. And it hurt. It hurt so badly I asked myself if I would rather never know you than feel that pain.” 

“Would you?” His voice has gone hollow. 

I finally look up again. “No.” That word leaves me more bare than any physical touch ever could. 

“I stain everything that stays with me,” his voice has seamlessly shifted back to a tone meant for business, “Me wanting you to stay is more than enough reason for you to leave.”

My chest aches as emotions I’ll never be able to place a name to pound against my chest. “I’m a princess that ran away from her family and tried to befriend her kidnapper--you can’t possibly be narcissistic enough to believe that you’re what’s corrupted me.” 

“Y/n,” his voice is gravely again, the way it was when he first woke up. 

“No. What could you possibly think I’d say to that?” He’s insane--I’m not even sure I understand what he’s implying. “You know I’ll never agree with what you’re saying, so I have no idea what kind of reaction you’re looking for.”

“Maybe a genuine one.” 

The comment is so frustrating I can’t help but roll my eyes. The irony of Kaz Brekker asking for a genuine reaction to an emotionally heavy comment is almost laughable. “My genuine reaction is that you’re acting like an idiot because I don’t agree with anything you’re saying, but calling someone an idiot after they’ve been stabbed in the chest is a little insensitive so I can’t give you my genuine reaction.”

Kaz half-scoffs, “You don’t agree? Y/n--are you hearing me!? I want--I want you to stay.” Even angry, the admission warms me. He lets out a frustrated sigh. “More than that I want--” 

“What?” 

He shakes his head once. “I want something that can never be because I can’t give what needs to be given to get it.” 

“Kaz, if it involves me staying you don’t need to give anything for that because I don’t want to go.” 

“I-want-you-to-stay-with-me.” The admission is pried from him by some invisible force. He speaks so fiercely the sentence comes out as one angry word. 

He speaks so quickly a part of me is convinced that I misheard him. I watch him as he moves back to the bed, sitting down in a way so resigned I wonder if I blurted something out on instinct. 

“Kaz,” this is embarrassing, “I wanted to stay with you even when I wanted to hate you.”

I take in his measured expression, the only thing implying any kind of reaction is the way his eyebrows draw together. “Don’t say that, you don’t understand what that means.” 

“Why? Because you’re convinced you’ll ruin me?” 

“Y/n, we’d be together with a wall between us, keeping us from ever touching.” 

“I will tolerate any amount of damage you’re so convinced staying with you will bring, I will stay with you and never touch you and think nothing of it--but I will not stay with you just to stand in front of a wall.” I let out a tired breath. “I will stay with you but my one condition will be that you have to let me know you.” 

Kaz’s intense gaze wavers. “The first thing you’ll know is that me allowing you to stay is a testament to my greed.” 

I give him a sharp look, “It’s not greed if I want to be here.” 

He half sighs, leaning against a pillow as he turns to look out the window. “It’s raining,” he muses, “The Saints must have done that for you.” 

The sentiment is so soft my heart feels like it’s constricting. “I thought you didn’t believe in the Saints.” 

“If they exist, they do so for people like you.” 

I push past the emotion in my chest as I move to sit in the same chair I was in earlier. “I was honest when I said I didn’t pray for you.” I scratch the back of my arm, a coldness passing over me. “I didn’t pray because I knew you would be okay because you had to be.” 

“They wouldn’t have saved me,” he mumbles, “Or maybe they would have for you.” 

I shake my head once, staring at the rain with more fascination than before. 

--

General Taglist: @theincredibledeadlyviper @grishaverse7 @lonelystarship

[lampmanliveblogs]

Sticking to the theme of there being a contradiction between the coven head's magic track and their personalities - neat freak Darius being able to transform into gunk, emberwolf becoming an animal themself, the healing head being decisively ok with harming- it's hinted that Adrian, the supposedly most powerful illusionist in the track, actually isn't that powerful himself. He takes a director's role and organizes his minions to cast the magic rather than doing it himself, he regularly used that illusion-amplifier artefact to perform fears like stabilising Gus' illusion, and he's overwhelmed like the rest when Gus unleashed a burst off as mental magic at the end. Adrian is arguably a weak illusionist on his own merits, but crafts the illusion of being the top dog in the coven

Don't forget the Bard Raine with their crippling stage fright.

(Or the Plant witch Terra who is A-OK with killing. Or the Construction Head who is helping bring about the destruction of the Isles. Or the Oracle who did not see Belos' betrayal coming)

Now that I think about it, did we see Adrian Graye Vernworth cast a single spell without using his magic amplifier? Maybe some of his invisibility spells, but we never saw him cast those, so... who knows?

Not to defend him or anything, but I will say this: there is something to be said about Adrian's approach to illusion magic being more effective. He doesn't go for any big spectacles, he prefers a more subtle approach, playing mind games with his enemies. Now, that might be because he lacks the power to pull off large-scale illusions like disguising the entire school, but still. Keep in mind, the trick with the branding glove very nearly worked, and disguising Severine as Willow would have worked if Hunter hadn't been there.

Also, there is always the possibility that he got his high position not because of his power or skill, but because of his loyalty to Belos.

More asks below

And it's ironic since we see during the Day of Unity, he really did get roughed up after going through Gus' Negative Hollow spell.

And much like how Adrian ended up looking like the illusion in the end, even after all his efforts to hide it, Philip ends up reverting to his scarred appearance after the slightest bit of setback.

You're right, that is the exact same trick. I guess Philip got a taste of his own medicine in more than one way, huh? And of course, it wouldn't be a villain downfall without him being at least partially responsible for it himself. He hunted Hunter away, he pushed Kiki out of the room, and he literally threw The Collector off a bridge. All three of them, who would have stood by his side and could have seen the deception, were gone. And now they also hate his guts, which came back to haunt him even more.

I'd call this absolutely bonkers, if not for the fact that it fits surprisingly well.

I feel like I should add something, hmm...

Eda's gold and black eyes in her harpy form come from her reaching an understanding with the monster within her. It represents the truce between them and she displays it proudly, adoring her new form.

Belos' gold and black eyes come from him putting on his mask, hiding his face. It also represents his hatred of witches, being the same mask he wore as a kid playing his witch-hunting games.

Right, someone pointed it out in the comments as well, that Gus fell for the deception at first while Hunter saw through it because they befriended Willow at different points of her character arc. In some way, Gus kinda made the same mistake Amity did in this episode, forgetting Willow had grown from the meek girl she used to be to the powerful and confident witch she is today (though at a smaller scale).

They are both absolute disasters around their crushes but in completely opposite ways. It's good to see they have more to bond over than their... less than ideal upbringings.

As a fellow Big Brother, I can confirm, that stuff is genetic.

[jt-artsandfics]

Jealous and protective pt3.

This one's gonna be a lot longer then normal just becuase it has alot more charcaters but since Bi-han already has his own with this I'm leaving him out of this lot. (As much a it pains me) I'm keeping these all with the gender neutral them becuase I find it easier writing that in a whole unless someone partially ask for a set gender. So without further delay enjoy.

Warnings: swearing, curssing, gore (it's mortal kombat), nsfw hinted in some spots, Sex. Talk of sexual harassment.

Rain- Jealous and protective

-Rain despite what he believes, he is a very jealous man. Not to mention he is very over protective borderline possessive.

-He as killed people for the fact he does not like them nesr you and has made it clear on multiple occasions to others. But Rain can be quite sweet when alone.

- he may be egotistic but he also has a soft spot of his S/o.

-He loves showing his partner off but at the same time wants no one to know about them. It was very much a learning curve with his S/o very different cultures, life experiences and such.

-This man hasn't had the best experience with lovers, has been turned down on multiple occasions.

-So once he has you, your gonna have a hard time getting him to let go of you.

-this man gets it many fight becuase of you.

-does not like other Kombations being near you, and has made it very clear to everyone to stay away from what is his.

- for someone known for being a traitor he's loyal as fuck to you as long as you do not betray him.

- man radiates bratty bottom energy an the knows he does.

-------

" Hello my treasure" Rain whispers as he pulls his lover into his embrace. They smile lightly as he rest his head in the crock of their neck.

"Hello my Prince, where have you been off too?" They ask lightly running their hands up to his masked face and slowly remove it. He smiles lightly as his lover runs their hand over a bruise in the side of Rain's face.

"Babe did you get into another fight?" He lets out a huffed breath while trying to look away from his lover only to have them grab his face and force him to look back at them.

"Rain baby, look at me" they say softly as his eyes flick to then. They smile lightly at him and press a soft kiss to his lips. He hums in contentment arms snaking around his lover. His lover pulls away gentle running their hand up to pull away the rest of his head gear.

"So.. who pissed you off and how badly do They look now?" They ask lightly making him laugh gently. His S/o runs their hands thought his hair pulling at the soft strands

"I discarded his body, you will not find anything left of that wretched man." He huffs pulling them closer as he holds them.

"Now what did he do to piss you off so badly Rain?" They ask pulling him in for another kiss. He hums lightly once again enjoying having ha I lover in his arms and indulging in the moment.

" he called you my Whore, and he bragged about how he could make you scream, as you can guess. I did not take kindly to that" it's quite between them again as she sighs into their shoulder.

"I do not enjoy degenerates who do not know their places, they will learn to respect you or end up dead" he said moving away and grabbing his lovers hand. They walk thought the quite corridors together.

"Rain, thank you. I know you might not understand it from my side but thank you for telling me. I know I'm not the easiest to love and I know you are trying your best too. So knowing that you're willing defend me over something like that, it.. it means alot to me" They say to their lover. Rains eyes flick over to his treasure. Pride filling him.

"No one gets to touch you, you are mine. To love to make scream and to claim" he can see their face go bright red at his comment.

"Love you too my Prince"

Johnny Cage - jealous and protective

Younger Johnny is alot more jealous then older Johnny. But older Johnny is more protective.

Young Johnny- this man could rival Rain with his Ego. He gets jealous when people take your attention away from him.

-He is kinda an attention whore.

-he likes making sure people know you are his weather that be thought leaving marks on you, giving you gifts or always hanging off you.

-he's very hyper, he does calm down as he gets older but this man is very energetic and wants to fight any and everyone who flirts with you.

- man radiates the " I'm a kick your ass becuase I want to show off and so they can stare at my ass"

Older Johnny - older Johnny has alot more life experience, he doesn't get jealous as easy as he used to but he is very protective.

-Man's a Dilf he's knows what he wants and knows how to make people back off and leave you alone.

-will wrap a protective arm around you, place a kiss on your cheek and as you if this guy is annoying you.

-unlike his younger self he radiates "if you hurt my S/o I'm going to deck you into next Tuesday"

-------

Young Johnny

"Johnny!, Johnny are you ok?" The man looks up and smiles his face bloody. He pulls them into a hug kissing their forehead as he stands victorious.

"You know you don't have to fight every person who talks to me babe" they sighs wrapping their arms around his shoulders. Johnny laughs lightly as he picks his partner up and heads for their seats.

"Baby!, that guy slapped your ass what else what's I suppose to do, stand back smile and wave?" His lover gives him a worried smile. He leans down to kiss them into for them to push him away a little.

"Nuh uh your lip is busted you have a black eye, before anything, I am patching you up you gonk." They say to him as the pull out a handkerchief and begin to wipe the blood off his face.

"You know one to these days Johnny your gonna get into a fight that your not gonna win, and I'm gonna have to pick you broken and blooded body up and put you back together" they sigh givign him a quick peck on the lips. Johnny smiles brightly pulling them closer and deepening the kiss.

"Well as long as I have you to put me back together sweetheart then I'll happily enjoy every moment of it" he says which earns him a punch to the shoulder from his s/o

"Hey what was that for!" "Becuase your an idiot, but I guess your my idiot huh?" Johnny gives a lopsided smile to his lover pressing another kiss to thier lips.

"My hero huh?" He asks earning a snort from his lover before they cover their mouth.

------

Older Johnny

Music plays in the background of the little area that had been converted into an office for Johnny. Both himself and his S/o are working away filling out reports and fixing up files for his daughter.

"Baby do you have those report for me?" Johnny ask turning around to face his S/o. A small smirk crosses his lips as he sees them bent over a desk digging thought some boxes. He gets up quietly making his way over to them.

" already on your desk hun, along with the incident report from yesterday" they call back to him. They only forward feeling a set of hands grip their hips.

"Hum.. well I see another incident report coming up soon" he chuckles pulling them closer as the stand back up.

"Oh well you, get to do the paperwork this time babe" they say giving him a kiss on the cheek as they continue working thought files.

Johnny pulls them away front he table gentle and spins them around to the music softly dancing and swaying hips.

"Johnny, holding out on the good moves are we?" They ask with a chuckle pulling him in for a gentle kiss. He picks them up and sits them against the table hands roaming lightly.

" Yo!, I didn't know older me was getting it on with that hottie!" A very familiar voice calls out front he door way making both johnny and I groan.

"Kid you have five second to get the fuck out or I'm decking you into next tuesday" he says turning around and giving his younger self a death glare of a life time. His younger self take the hint and disappears but can be heard in the distant going off about it.

"God i hate him, he so insuffable" Johnny grumbles earning him a laugh from his partner. "Is that jealous I hear baby, do you miss your golden days?" His lover says trying to get under his skin.

"Not a chance, besides I doubt he'd be able to keep up with you" he chuckles. "Well I do have to say younger you is very much a brat. Glad to see you aged like fine wine" they reply pressing another kiss to his lips.

"Keep that up baby and I'll be railing you into tomorrow, this old man still have some life in him" he jokes earning him a look from his lover.

"Bring it on then hot stuff"

Kabal- Jealous and protective.

- kabal gets jealous when people over step their boundaries when it comes to his lover.

- he doesn't take shit from any one who wants to try and flaunt their good looks. He knows he looks like shit but he'll be damned if someone takes the one good thing he still has.

- he loves showing his S/o off. And spoiling them, but some people (Kano) decided to make cracks about it and he loses his shit at them.

- he loves cuddling with his partner to make sure they are safe.

- he hates having to leave for missions becuase he worries about them.

-has and will beat the shit out people who don't back down from flirting with is S/o even after they have stated they are claimed.

-been in to many brawls with Kano over the mans foul mouth when around his partner.

-sweet beef jerky man. You look after him and help him with things and he's gonna be puddy in you hands.

- please give him love man's been thought alot.

-------

"Sweetheart! Have yo uy seen my moisturiser?, I'm starting to flake again and it ain't pretty" Kabal yells our from the bedroom. His s/o quietly makes their way to the door way.

"Big box on the top shelf has a collection of them in it, I got a whole lot for you when I was shopping so we don't have another accident" they say walking up behind him and pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

"What would I do without you" he says leaning back into them lightly. They laugh lightly pressing a kiss to his neck and pulling away.

"Trip crash and burn, no pun intended baby. But that's mostly how it would go" they chuckle. He shakes his head and heads to the shelve with the box of lotions, moisturizers and pretty much any available skin care thing in it.

"Would you mind doing my back while I get what I can reach?" He ask lightly even tho he knows they would never pass down the opportunity to touch him. He strips off his shirt leaving on only what was necessary of his gear.

His s/o hovers over his back gently pouring moisturiser onto his back and lathering it up. Kabal sighs feeling his lovers hands gentle run over his back pressing into sore spots and flakey areas.

"Hey babe, I have some of the guys coming around tonight, just let me know if any of the bastards step out of line ok?" He ask looking over his shoulder to them.

"Ok baby, I'll let you know if I need you to knock Kano out again" this makes Kabal laugh as his lover continues to take care of his back.

After finishing up on his shoulders and back Label roles over onto so that he can face his lover. "Gods I love you, you know that" he says pulling them down to lay on his chest.

"Baby let me finish doing you moisturiser then you can cuddle ok" they say beginning to repeat the process again.

"Kabal you Cunt!, where you at?" Kano yells put from the kitchen before malign his way to the bed room to find Kabal laying down with his S/o on top of him. Kano leans against the wall taking a mouthful of beer before staring them down again.

"Your beers shit, get something decent like fucking XXXX gold or Iorn Jack becuase ethos is like drinking piss" Kano huffs as he finishes the bottle.

"Good to see you too Kano, you only one here so far?" Kabal as he sits up. His S/o moves from his lap and gives Kano a small wave.

"Hi Kano" "hey love, and yea only me here so far other fucks are probably pissed out of their guys, might show don't know wirh them fellas" Kano replys before heading back to the kitchen.

Kabal throws on a shirt and he and his S/o make their way to he kitchen to find Kano making himself at home.

"So you gonna break anyone else arm tonight becuase boys and I have bets it being Wade who has a go at em" Kano says, he opens another beer and puts his feet up on the table.

"Kano, feet off table. And if he decided he's gonna try it he's gonna get broken. Y/n is already aware" he explains earning a smile from his S/o.

"My bets on James, man's been getting hands. Remember Kano if he has a go and I break his nose you'll owe me" Y/n says wirh a bright smile.

"Hahah Kabal you got yourself one of a kind"

--------

Hasashi Hanzo- Jealous and protective.

-when Hanzo gets jealous a part of scorpion shows it's head. He's death glare is a killer.

- he tends to distance himself more becuase he does not wish to hurt his S/o

-other times he with become clingy becuase he just want to be close, he wants to tryvand prove to Himself that he is aloud to be happy again.

-his jealous stems from a few things but mainly his own thought. Nightmares and dreams cause him the most pain with it.

-and after all who wants to try and hit on Scorpions S/o other then Johnny. (Man ahs no care for his life)

-very beefy and warm man, needs a good hug and to be told he's doing well. He just wants someone to tell him he's doing great.

- man's a grumble blanket, his glare tells people to fuck off as it is. And not only that it's very well known that you are the partner of the Grandmaster of the Shirai Ryu.

-------

Hanzo's brow twitches as sweat roles down his face as he sleeps. Eyes flickering under his lids as he fights in his sleep. His S/o peacefully asleep beside him as he fights his dreams.

The room begins to heat up more then normal. Blankets scatter as Hanzo shoots ups his eyes glazed.

"You will not touch them!" He yells. His s/o shoots up blanket throw off them as they look to their lover.

"Hanzo!, baby, hey it's just a dream your ok" they say moving to him. His head shoots to them. His glazed eyes focused on them.

" Scorpion?, scorpion I need you to let Hanzo come back to me ok?" Their voice is gentle as they place their hands on his chest.

"I can not, you will get hurt, we must protect you" he says voice filled with pain as he continues to scan the room.

"Babe, we are in the fire gardens, in your room. Come back to me honey. What are five things you see?" They ask, scorpion twitches under their touch.

"I see you, Satoshi's baby blanket, the walls, our blankets, Harumi's orchid" he says as he pulls them closer his lover rest against his chest and his eyes fade back into the sweet chocolate brown.

"Now handsome four things you can hear" they say kissing thier lover softly. " I can hear cicadas, your voice, the wind and my heartbeat" he whispers. His lover runs thier hands thought his hair untangling small knots and curls in his hair.

"Now three things you can feel baby" they whisper to him as he pulls his lover to lay on his chest as he falls back onto the bed.

"Your lips, your heartbeat, your skin" he says curling up around his lover. "Baby, talk to me are you ok?" They ask kissing Hanzo softly on the cheeks and then his lips.

"Forgive my sweet love, I did not mean to scare you." He replys, they move to lay on top of Hanzo straddling him. "Hanzo, baby you don't very have to apologise for something like that, understand. You have been thought so much and I am never going to hold that against you. They are both quite for a moment.

"My dream, you were taken from me, forced to love another. I became jealous that someone had taken you from me, I let scorpion take over. But no matter how close I came to you I could never reach you" Y/n can see the tears shimmer in his eyes.

"Its ok hun, I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here with you. And I know you will fuck up anyone who tries to take me from you." They smile pressing their lips to his. Both humming in contentment.

"Let's go back to sleep baby, I'll keep away your demons" they whisper as he rest his head against their chest.

---------

Kuai Laing- Jealous and protective.

- Kuai out of the lot is a lot more closed off to jealous, he does experience it but stays quite about to msot times.

- he becomes very cuddly for the fact he doesn't wish to lose his lover.

- man can be scary when needed.

- he really is the definition of a polar bear. Cute cuddle but also ready to rip someone's face off if they hurt his family.

- kinda man who is really shy in person but is a monster in bed.

-him being jealous transfers to that he may not say it with words but his actions speak very loud.

--------

"Kuai, I've been looking for you" the cryomancer peaks up hearing his lovers voice. He turns to see them walking towards him. He's smiles lightly patting the spot beside him.

"Forgive me I've been meditating most of this morning" he says lightly. His lover moves to sit close to him, they place themself in his lap and wrap their arms around his shoulders.

"Now a little bird told me that you might be feeling down, am I correct?" Kuai smiles shaking his head.

"My live I have you now why would I be feeling down about the most precious thing I love" he says pulling them a little closer.

"Hmmm... well then I believe your shadow of a brother has been spreading rumours babe, sad you were a little jealous of him being back" at that Kuai sighs leaning his forehead against his lovers.

"I do not knwo why he spread rumours, I am quite happy to have him back, I do not particularly like the way he 'whores' himself out" the cryomancer replys earning him a small giggle.

"Has he tried to make a move on you?" It hurt him to ask, he didn't believe his beloved would go for his brother after choosing him for his personality and enjoying his company but he still wished to be sure.

"He's made a few.. comments but no hasn't tried to get in with me baby, besides I happen to enjoy my cryomancers shy, easy to rile up and a sweet kisser" they remark leaning down to pull him into a kiss. He returns it before pulling away.

"As much as. Would love for this to continue beloved, I do have work that had to be done." He sighs.

"I'll see you tonight them my handsome, strapping and gorgeous man" they say giving him one last kiss before disappearing.

"Bi-han we need to have a word"

[silvysartfulness]

I posted 7,130 times in 2022

That's 205 more posts than 2021!

149 posts created (2%)

6,981 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ebonykain

@chigrima

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I tagged 2,361 of my posts in 2022

#the untamed - 516 posts

#smile with tear emoji - 120 posts

#asksilvy - 105 posts

#refs - 99 posts

#i laughed - 89 posts

#note to self - 69 posts

#the happy songxuexiao roadtrip story - 68 posts

#blorbo from my shows - 52 posts

#beautiful - 45 posts

#oh tumblr... - 37 posts

Longest Tag: 104 characters

#you are in fact autistic please try to get help so just trying to live won't leave you disabled for life

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Chapter 48 - As The Waters Flow of Heaven Has A Road But No One Walks It is up! :D

The rains caught up with them at last, and any hope that it might ease the sweltering heat was thoroughly dashed – the air was so thick with humidity, it was worse than the mists back in Yi City, thick and heavy and hot.

And yet, despite the discomfort of damp, clinging robes and the relentless heat... there was a comfortable familiarity, a sense of peace to simply walking.

“I have been thinking, lately, about the flow of water,” Xiao Xingchen mused out loud, unthinkingly letting a nudge from Xue Yang's elbow steer him around yet some other puddle or muddy patch. “And I've realized that by setting my heart so firmly on what we hoped to achieve in Jinlintai, making it the one goal above all others... I blinded myself to the greater truth of what it is I – we - actually hope to do.”

“Of course,” Xue Yang amiably agreed, and he really should have seen the bad joke coming, he should have, “you are blind, Daozhang.”

—————————

Things are heating up, and it's not just the weather. 💚

I'm having a rough time with my creativity lately - please know that your comments and asks and fun tags are literally what keeps me going. If you enjoy this story and want more of it, please tell me so..? 🥺

Maybe even come hang out in my discord server? 💚

113 notes - Posted October 21, 2022

#4

See the full post

134 notes - Posted August 23, 2022

#3

Can't help but oblige and ask about your hc for the origins of Song Lan's mysophobia👀

I know I outright encouraged the question, but wow. 😂

So this was a headcanon I picked up for Heaven Has A Road after actually writing the events that partially gave rise to it.

When I was on vacation a couple of months back, I found myself without hand sanitizer after visiting a store, and after the last two years of pandemic and the super-strict regulations at that particular location, being unable to sanitize my hands for those few minutes before I got back to the hotel really made my skin crawl. Like there were potential pathogens all over them, to the point I could almost feel it.

And so logically, I thought to myself "Wow, this must be how Song Lan feels at all times."

And then my next thought was "Huh, and he was the one who immediately picked up on the abandoned zombie village having been devastated by a plague..."

So, a Song Lan who knows to spot the aftermath of a plague, a Song Lan obsessed with staying clean, avoiding closeness and touch... A Song Lan raised by a temple, because he had no family of his own...

Maybe the first plague he saw was his home village. Maybe toddler Song Lan was told by terrified relatives not to approach strangers, not to touch, wash your hands, keep clean - or the sickness will get you, will get us all...

And then it did.

Maybe Song Lan was taken in by Baixue because everyone else was gone. Dead. Their bodies twisted and swollen and festering, ruined and tainted by sickness. Uncleanness. And if you touch, if you get dirty, if you don't stay clean... It will get you too. Get you, and all those you care about.

He was too young to consciously remember any of it. In his mind, there's nothing before Baixue.

But after that, he never stopped compulsively washing his hands.

And he still can't make himself touch.

230 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

#2

Happy birthday, Xue Yang!

There will be happy endings in your future yet! ♥♥♥

253 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Just your casual reminder that when faced with an enemy knocked flat on his back, Xiao Xingchen’s reaction was to go straight for the heart.

No demanding he surrender. No using the spirit-trapping rope he carries in his sleeve to restrain him. No hesitation, no quarter.

In that moment, beautiful Bright Moon Xiao Xingchen was 100% down for ice cold murder, and you can’t tell me Xue Yang didn’t fall in love then and there. ♥

512 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

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