#sentient fic

[to-myalphonse]

Sentient Chapter 2 ~ Selfish

Team Comp: Wanderer, Kazuha, Nahida and Shinobu

I tend to refer to Kuki Shinobu as “Kuki”

Wanderer is given the name “Masha.”

Story takes place in January

Fic is either 1K+ or 2k+ don’t remember

I worked very hard on this, so I hope you enjoy it!

If you would like to be tagged for this series just let me know~

This is my beta reader @bornofchalk (thanks for the help)

If you have trouble finding the next chapter, check the tag at the bottom called "Rene Genshin Fics." You should be able to find it there.

Previous Chapter

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Selfish(adjective)  arising from concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others

The night screen of Genshin flashes in the darkness of the room. You sit at your desk, as the game loads.

 The camera pans in on Wanderer, now known as Masha, fighting the Nobushi.

You watch him stomp down his enemies, collecting the handguards that he needs.

 Nahida's voice chimes in, as the camera pans towards her. "(Player name), you're here." 

"What happened while I was gone, Nahida?" As she explains, Kazuha and Kuki appear behind her as they walk into the cutscene. They pause for a moment, noticing you; they wave as they disappear off screen again.

As you go to click on Masha, you see the new mail indication.

 Rosaria gives a message for her birthday and presents. Returning to the screen, your missing party member appears next to Nahida.

Masha glares in your direction as you click on his name. He is brought to the front as the leader as your other three-party members go off screen and back into their positions.

 You nudge him forward with your keyboard as he takes flight. He stands in place, as a text box appears.

Masha: I was farming handguards so I could ascend. You need 14 more to level me up.

 The bubble dissipates, leaving you in silence. Normally, this would have freaked you out; however, this new play style has become normalized over the past couple of weeks.

 You pass by Byakko Plain, taking down the Nobushi and gathering as many handguards as you can.

 Looking down, you see the speech bubble appear again.

 Masha: You need 10 more. There is more Nobushi by the ocean near Ritou; go quickly!

 You roll your eyes, ignoring his attempt at ordering you around. You did not spend money on Masha for him to boss you around.

 Reaching the beach, you roam around trying to find the Nobushi. Unfortunately for you and Masha, they were nowhere to be seen.

 "Did you kill them today?" Masha shakes his head, turning to face you.

 "No, only the ones on the outskirts of Inazuma City." You hum while teleporting to a different location.

   The sounds of the beach fill the speakers as the game loads Watatsumi Island. Taking Wanderer to the cliff, you see two Nobushi chatting and others meditating underneath the waterfall.

 "Alright, let's go!" Your front door dings just as he's about to take off. Sighing, you rise from your chair to check the door.

 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 When you open the door, you see your friend standing on the porch.

F/N smiles, trying to ease the tension. You take a step back, greeting them in the apartment. "Hi, Y/N."

 "Hello F/N." Your eye twitches as they sprawl themselves out on your couch.

 "So, what brings you here?" You frown at their concern.

 "Y/N, I haven't seen you in weeks since the Wanderer incident." You laugh nervously, closing the door.

 "That's because I've been busy." You smile, making eye contact with the wall.

 "Busy with what? Kissing Wanderer through the computer?" You glare at their smug look.

 "He's not real, so why would I kiss him?" F/N laughs. "Really? Reality didn't stop when you were crushing on Sugawara Koushi or Alphonse Elric." Your face burns as they continue.

"I remember you acting like, "F/N, I don't care if they're fiction, I adore them more than anyone else in this world."

 "Can we please stop talking about my teenage crushes?" F/N grabs one of the photos from the table, mocking you further.

 "Alright, alright!���  “So, I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party with me." They show you the invitation they were sent.

 You grimace, looking away. "Uh, I don't know; I'm not really one for parties." They laugh lightly, but you can't help but notice the look of disappointment on their face.

 "Oh, come on, Y/N! You don’t know if you don’t go." F/N clings to you childishly, trying to persuade you.

Between the two of you, F/N is more extroverted. They’re the ones that get you involved in activities other people your age is into, as sad as it is. But despite their enthusiasm for trying out new things, you're hesitant to join them this time.

 "Maybe next time? I'm really not in the mood for socializing." F/N frowns as they stand up and grab their things.

"Geez, you’re such a bore; why do I even hang out with you?" The door closes as you hear them enter their car and leave.

 As you watch them drive away, you felt a twinge of guilt.

'"I’ll take care of that later." You sigh, going to lock your front door and return to your room.

   As you approach the computer, you see the phrase, "Your account has been logged out."

 "What the hell?" you mutter as you approach the computer. As you click on the game, it reloads into the main menu.

Clicking on the door loads you back into Teyvat. Masha and the company become perplexed, and before they can inquire, you are logged out for the second time.

Could this get any worse?!

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 "What the hell?" He mutters, seeing an unknown person staring down at them in excitement.

"How much money would they be worth on eBay?" he hears in the distance. The person goes through the menu, checking through “(player Name’s) things.”

 The menu flashes away as they are dropped back down in Inazuma. Masha blinks as he's forced behind Kazuha.

 "A Kazuha?'' Masha watches them run Kazuha into place. Clicking again, Nahida was now the main leader. "The unknown player" gushes over her before rushing her off the cliff and into the ocean. She forcefully swims in circles. Masha sees the exhaustion hit her face as she is dragged down.

 "Stupid loli." The “player” mutters as Shinobu is brought out last. Masha turns seeing The Dendro Archon slumped on the ground.

 Shinobu barely gets a glance before she becomes the leader. She gets pushed forward to fight the Nobushi.

 As they approach, she uses her ult to electrocute them killing them quickly.

 The camera pan closer to her as a shriek was heard. Masha hears their scream of excitement as they check her artifacts and constellation.

 " A C6 Shinobu? Let’s go test out how strong you are.” They barely had time to think before they were teleported.

  The staff of the Golden House eye them, before allowing them entrance. Turning back to the screen the symbols were loading much slower.

 "Is everyone okay?" Kazuha breaks out of displacement, exiting the group. He pulls out a medical kit inspecting everyone's injuries.

 Masha shakes his head when Kazuha reaches him.

 "I'll be right back." Masha enters the golden house leaving Kuki and Kazuha. Walking further inside, Childe spawns in the middle of the bank.

 "Ah, you're breaking the system again, comrade?" He approaches, flicking Masha's hat.

 "The (player name’s) game got hacked." The smile dropped from his face.

  He scowls as his expression grows serious. "Today?" Masha nods. The domain chime catches their attention.  Kuki, who is being controlled, rushes forward, trying to strike down the Harbinger.

 Chide jumps back, gaining distance from them. He draws his bow and shoots at the sky, causing the player to scramble. Instead of doing his usual side step, she teleports from behind smacking Kuki before backing away.

 "The fuck?" The “player “exclaims as Kuki’s health depletes.

 "How amusing! Are we getting tired?" He mocks breaking his dialogue.

The whale appears, hitting Kuki and turning her into stardust.  Childe laughs further enraging the player.

   Masha stands on the sidelines with a busted-up Kuki, who is clutching her head. Kazuha walks over with his first aid kit.

    Masha stares defiantly at the screen as "the player" clicks on his name. Instead of moving, he stood, adding further to their anger.

 "Work, you stupid game!" Masha, Kuki, and Childe stop to watch the distressed hacker try to fix the game. Masha winces at the keyboard being banged and the excessive clicks. 

The hacker stops moving when they notice Childe wasn’t attacking. As they make eye contact, The hacker shuffles back, falling out of their chair. Childe, Kuki, and Masha stare in disbelief at the "player’s" behavior.

 "What the hell?" Childe holds his stomach, laughing at their pain. Masha scoffs, his gaze drawn to the sidelines, where the awakened Dendro Archon and the Samurai are conversing. The "player" stares back at them in bewilderment.

 The player slowly gets off the floor muttering to themselves. They walk in a circle seemingly trying to make sense of the situation.

 "The player" lets out a small laugh.''Holy shit! I can become famous from this.' Masha frowns at the greed their eyes reflected.

The "player" rushes out of the room, coming back with a camera in hand.

"Hey guys, I just discovered something weird that happened to my game." They press the camera against the screen. They point at each character, explaining the different dialogue they had. 

"Childe and my team either have new dialogue or are self-aware.” The player chuckled mockingly, noticing the characters' upset expressions.

  "I've got you now,the whole world will know." They tease further. The others look at each other in worry before turning to Masha, who in turn glares at the player.

 "Log out and turn the video off now." Masha responds angrily. The player simply laughs and smiles.

 ''Or what? '' Masha opened his mouth to speak when the screen turned blue. An error message popped up on the screen with a sad face.

"What the hell?'' They bang on the keyboard trying to restart the computer.

The computer loaded slowly until it turned off completely.

"Is it still filming?'' They check their camera that was still filming the table. Tapping on the on switch, the computer loads normally.

"Come on, Come on." They mutter signing into the computer again.

After multiple attempts they restarted the game. Just when the door appears an error message pops up as well.

 "Error 4201. Failure to connect to the server? "Please check the internet and try again."

"What?!''

 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

 "Y/N I said I was sorry." Rolling your eyes, you avoid the pleading expression f/n wore.

 "What are we, 11? Spreading rumors? " As red appeared in their cheeks, their humility faded.

 "I'm trying to be nice for once, and you're going to sass me?"

 F/N was always like this; they didn't like whatever you did. They would find a way to gaslight you into doing what they wanted. Unfortunately for them, this trick can only work a handful of times before it gets old.

 "Goodbye." You deadpan locking the door. Not even a footstep later, you hear shouting from F/N. Hesitantly, you turn to grab the door handle, before walking off to your room ignoring her.

 Entering the room, you turn on the game to try to log in as the error message pops up.

Just what in the hell did you do for your account to get hacked?

You go over the reasons others have gotten their games hacked, but none apply to you.

 Most said it was co-op sessions, which you didn't do. Others claimed it was from their "hoyolabs" account getting hacked, which also wasn't something you had.

 A ping from your email caught your attention. A message from Hoyoverse was brought up.

  "Congratulations, we have retrieved your account."

  A smile broke out as you went to log in with the password, they gave you. After changing the password and reconnecting your email and phone, you logged into the game.

 As the symbols loaded, you saw your characters and Childe having a picnic in the mountains.

 Masha stares in irritation at Tartaglia's teasing, while the others three watch in amusement.

 Nahida greets you gathering everyone’s attention to the camera. The look of relief passes over almost everyone's faces. 

  Masha rolls his eyes, standing up. "You took too long."

 "Sorry, I was talking to a… friend." His eyes narrow at the hesitance in your voice.

 You smile, changing the atmosphere of the group. “So, what happened to the hacker?"

 Taglist: @akirasgalaxy @leftdestiny-posts @teyvattales @pochipop @the-psychotic-blueberry (reminder if you want to be tagged for this series ping me or ask me in dms)

to follow the tag for this story its going to be #scara sentient

It will be listed below

[izzystizzys]

TW: discussion of something approximating suicidal tendencies but with the usual crack programming of this blog

“Ah, High General Windu”, says Fox, pleasantly. “So we meet again.”

High General Windu raises an unimpressed eyebrow at him, Fox thinks, though it’s getting hard to tell with all the blood rushing to his head. “If I let you go, will you try to throw yourself out of another window?”

Fox makes a vague shrugging motion - or tries to, anyways. It’s hard to tell where any of his limbs are going, hanging upside down in the air as he is. “I am willing to discuss terms.” A bridge will do just fine.

Impossibly, the High General’s eyebrows climb even further up his forehead. “A compromise, then, esteemed Commander.” And so, he righths Fox the head way up in the air, but leaves him floating just above the ground, at which point several painted shells come skidding around the corner followed by billowing robes and screeches.

“WHAT”, says Kote, calmly, “THE BANTHA-KARKED, FORCE-LOVING KRIFF, FOX.”

“You’ll short out your helmet mic”, Fox advises him, sagely. Fondly, he thinks back to decimating his own on only his second time in the newly-christened official Coruscant Guard Scream Closet. He’d just received the comm about the Zillo Beast being transported to 000, and made sure to take his bucket off thereafter to improve the quality of his closet time.

High General Windu’s face does something complicated between sympathy and constipation.

Because the Galaxy doesn’t hate Fox enough already and Cody wasn’t enough on his own, Wolffe elbows his way through their batch to plant himself in front of him, shoulders squared and shaking with repressed rage. “If you try that again, dickhead”, he begins, in a low growl that quite frankly sounds more cringe that intimidating, “I’m going to resurrect you and then kill you again.”

“Ah, Wolffe”, Plo Koon says, in his deep, shivery timbre, “Remember our conversations about effective conflict resolution and communication of needs?”

Wolffe’s eyes narrow at Fox, because all non-Guard are sweet summer children who walk around buckets off on 000 like absolute lunatics. Fox prays they never have to find out why that’s a bad idea. “I feel”, his ori’vod presses out between clenched teeth, “that if you make me watch you throw yourself out of another window, I’m going to jump after you and strangle you on the way down, you little bitch.”

“That’s fair”, says Fox, and watches High General Kenobi bury his face in his hands. Wolffe twitches in place and makes an aborted groaning noise, the hypocrite.

“Excuse me, High Marshall Commander Fox, but I fail to see what’s so dire about this situation that the Jedi High Council and your brothers cannot help you solve”, says Windu, the only sane one left on this Force-forsaken bloated corpse of a planet. Behind the gaggle of Jedi and ori’vode already gathered in front of Fox, the rest of them come veering around the corner in a commotion that’s quite frankly embarrassing. High General Yoda is mounted on Skywalker’s back like he’s a race-Eopie, which is Fox’ only consolation.

He got up this morning at 0300, bleary-eyed and with a pounding headache as always, and all was right in the world. And then Fox got called into the Jedi High Council’s chambers and was ceremoniously informed that in the wake of Chancellor Palpatine’s unfortunate demise (hah), and through the emergency state of the Senate, as well as several invented promotions foisted on Fox to make the delegation of any and all paperwork less shady, he was now next in the chain of command and-

Well, Fox is the acting Chancellor, in short.

Haha, he had said, and been meet with several seconds of silence, until it got both awkward and exceedingly painful. Wait, he’d said. You’re kriffing serious.

Kriffing serious, we are, had said High General Yoda, and thus Fox launched himself out the first best window with a maniacal cackle of, you’ll have to catch me first!

And catch him, High General Windu sure did.

“The will of the Force this is”, Yoda interrupts Fox’ train of thought. He scans him thoughtfully from beneath his wizened brow, and hems to himself. “Shake things up, this will. Determine the fate of the Galaxy, this shall. A feeling, I have, that a good Chancellor you will make. A better one, hmmm.”

“That’d be high praise, if not for the fact that a dead lemming would make for a better Chancellor than the last one”, says Fox, drawing and indignant gasp from Skywalker. He doesn’t bother with either that or the green goblin’s cackle, lost in the deep sense of resignation that settles over his shoulders like a suffocating blanket.

“Alright, then, get me Thorn on the comm. As my first act in office, I’m firing all the Jedi. No offense, but you’re kind of a disaster. Then, someone get me to the Chancellor’s office, I’m calling Dooku to let him know the war’s off. And please get me Judicial, they’ll be up all night working on my datafolders - I’m having the Senate arrested.”

“Who - is - arresting - “, Bly pants, hands on his knees from where he’s just come sprinting around the corner with his Jedi.

Underneath his bucket, Fox smiles a smile that’s all teeth. “The Senate”, he says, sweetly, wondering if he’s just imagined the shiver that’s gone through the room. “I’m suing the Senate, and taking them all into temporary custody for abuse of sentient rights.”

[kyuyua]

Nerds nerding

[sentient-trash]

Some fanart for @steves-strapcollection fic here I have found some peace of mind

YIPPIE

Steve is talking to a very enthusiastic Chri- I mean Eddie 🫶🫶

[wayfayrr]

hey uh. if requests r open. would it b possible to request a follow up to that self-aware-twi fic. if not thats ok i just wanted u to know i havent stopped thinking about it since i read it. altered my brain chemistry, touch-starved twilight princess link my beloved, etc etc. ur writing is top-tier <3<3<3

I think the best part about this ask is - I've had this written since early January. I actually wrote part two as a birthday gift for a good friend of mine @glowyskull <33

So this is more just me finally posting it sfbgdfbgdb. it's also funny to think that the twilight fic is my most popular fic now considering how the self aware au really started as just a really guiltily self indulgent fic - something fun to write that I didn't think could get as big as it did on my blog. and I'm glad that you liked it so much <333 whimpery touch starved twilight princess link is just so AUGH love him so

[masterlist]

“Oh you’re finally wakin up then darlin’.”

“...hmm?”

“C’mon darlin’, you can’t have forgotten what happened earlier already? Can you? Your fever - cold isn’t that bad so you can't have…”

Who’s rambling… and why does it sound so familiar?  Wait does that mean - is everything that happened earlier all real then, did link really crawl out of my tv just because he was lonely. Because I left him there, left him all on his own to rot in his own solitude. 

“Link? You - that - everything was real then? All of it?”

“All of it darlin’, from how I got out to how I’m never gonna leave ya.”

“Huh..? I could’ve sworn that you didn’t even mention anything like that…”

“Mhm, well you’re ill and still a little out of it darlin’ so you probably just forgot, you did agree though.” 

It does sound like something that I would agree to, I mean I’m the reason that he’s sentient. It would be cruel of me to throw him to the other wolves, he isn’t from here but besides even that, he isn’t from here. He doesn’t know how this world works, it would be worse than sending a dog to a shelter. It would be his death sentence for certain, and after all that I put him through for a simple pause in playing. The way he’s petting my hair like this though, it’s enough to simply just wash the rest of my worries away, if I could I would spend the rest of my life right here easily.  

“About your illness though, do you have any red potion anywhere?” 

“No, no things like that don’t exist here link and the painkillers I have aren’t worth moving for.” 

“If you’re sure… I’ll go and get them for you the second you change your mind.”    

“You don’t even know where I keep them.” 

His hand paused at that, causing me to let out an involuntary whine. I couldn’t even think to stop it with how it slipped out instantly, which he seemed fond of. Cuddling me closer to his chest and resting his head on top of mine, with what felt like a giant smile on his face. 

“I can look for them, It’s not like I won’t need to learn where everything is now that I’m living with ya… besides I’ve already put you through so much stress when you’re not well.”

“You didn’t mean to link, how could you have known I was sick?”

“...I don’t know - I just - it shouldn’t have been hard to know with how you looked when you opened the game. I’m sorry love I just wasn’t even thinking I just wanted to be out, but I should’ve been more considerate to you.”

With how silent he is in the game you could never have guessed how much he likes to ramble, it’s the second or third time it’s happened since he crawled out of the glas- the glass. Are his bandages holding up, he seems fine but he’s not from here, any infection could be deadly. He wouldn’t even see it coming with how much he’s fawning over my comfort right now. 

“Link?” “Yes, darlin’?”

Oh wow, he - well he’s whipped already. Is it real love or has all that time trapped alone twisted him into this. I’d look into getting him therapy but… if he mentioned the truth then it would be a matter of seconds until he’d be diagnosed with something inaccurate. No one. No one at all would ever believe that a video game character actually broke out of their game - especially not someone like Link falling for an exhausted student like me.

“Are you feeling alright? You have so many cuts and wounds right now.”

“It’s nothing that’s worse than anything else I’ve ever had. They do feel more real though.”

“...real?”

“They feel like real wounds, not something that could be healed away in seconds and they’re just tiny scrapes.”He sounds so giddy as he’s talking about being hurt - it’s unnerving when he starts holding me even tighter when he’s saying it. I don’t think I’m ever going to be getting away from him ever again… if I wanted to. Why shouldn’t I take a chance at having a relationship though. He cares about me - he really does even if it’s unhinged - it would be so nice to come home to him, to be able to spoil him and be spoilt by him. Even being held like this feels so unreal, so impossible that I shouldn’t be here with him. So much so that I want to stay here and fall back asleep without any argument. Didn’t he even say he wanted to be my lover? Why look over a gift too closely?

[k1ngyuyu]

The Breathe Of First Life

A sentient Dan Heng hsr fic

--

Dan Heng felt eyes burn on the back of his head.

His companions, the Cloud Knight and the merchant doesn't seem to feel it, let alone alone notice it.

It was unnerving, maybe even frightening, so much so that he decided to keep quiet -- earning himself the nickname, "Silent But Deadly," from the Cloud Knight girl. Atleast it's not as bad as Cold Dragon Young.

When in combat, Dan Heng's moves are calculated. But when the mysterious, staring precense, he suddenly feels light. It feels like something or someone is telling him to attack, to target. He feels stronger.

Dan Heng feels as if he's being puppeteered. He should be mad, rightfully so. How dare someone control him? It doesn't matter if it was an Aeon or anything. But then again, it feels nice, sort of.

The moment his conversation with Caelus through the phone ended, the precense suddenly ceased -- it was as if it evaporated.

He should be glad but all he feels is numbness. It was like part of his soul was ripped away, and he didn't even know if he had his soul complete in the first place.

The precense came back when he was fighting the familiar Stellaron Hunter and the Xianzhou's Lieutenant. Instead of controlling him like he was used to in the previous battles, the precense just watched him. It was lingering all over the place. Sometimes its gaze was on him, sometimes it wasn't.

--

As he split the sea, revealing Scalegorge Waterscape, the precense watched intently. He felt quite a bit of pressure, both from the people below him and the mysterious precense. It didn't really matter as he executed his task, perfectly.

Maybe when this all blows over, he could ask Mr. Yang about this strange phenomenon. After all, the Data Bank seemed to be a bit empty.

--

The fight with the Emanator of Destruction, Phantylia went off without a hitch... Is how the others would have described it. But Dan Heng knew better.

Phantylia struck the General, leaving him on his knees, blood seeping out.

And everything stopped.

Then everything went back into place. Everyone was in the same position whe the battle first begun. It was as if he had turned back in time. He wanted to ask someone what just happened but Phantylia attacked before he could get a word out of his mouth.

There was one time when all of them were on their knees, defeated by the Emanator. Then it stopped again, everything just stopped.

Then he was back again, fighting Phantylia with his allies he swore were on the ground drawing their final breathe.

The battle repeated three or four times before Phantylia was eventually defeated. General Jing Yuan was nearly turned into a member of the Anti-Matter legion, but thankfully the Emanator failed in doing so.

This is his chance, now is the time to ask what the hell's going on. What is it with the precense staring at him? What is it with the timeloop during the battle against Phantylia?

He asked, yet received no answer.

It was only when he asked Caelus that same question.

"Do you feel.. that?" Dan Heng asked after approaching the silver-haired boy. "Feel what?" He spared his companion a confused glance. "A precense, eyes," He responded, looking around them cautiously.

"Precense? Yeah, what about it?" Caelus answered a he crossed his arms, ignoring the oddity of the situation or maybe he just didn't know it was odd.

"You feel it too?" Dan Heng asked again, his eyes widening. The trailblazer nodded, "Yeah, the others can't seem to notice it," Caelus added, glancing at March and Mr. Yang briefly.

Dan Heng felt a bit reassured that he wasn't going crazy, but then again the Trailblazer was a bit crazy... some people just have trashcan searching as a hobby, he supposed.

"Mm, what about the timeloop when we were fighting Phantylia? Does it have anything to do with it?"

"..."

"...?"

"What timeloop?"

--

A/N

AAAAAH!! This is my first time writing a short fic in TWO YEARS, can you believe that!? Sure you can. But anyways, please excuse my writing as you can see, I am awfully rusty and in need of shaping up. I hope you liked this first post and I'll hopefully see you on my next~♡

[little-annie]

Just a little drabble inspired by @sentient-trash and this beautiful piece of artwork.

Since last night everything around him just seems a little bit brighter.

The sun, the sky, the light in Eddie's eyes when they met Steve's just this morning.

Even working at Family Video with the musty carpets, crackling speakers and Robin's constant nattering. It all seems a touch more bearable with the taste of Eddie's good morning kiss on his lips.

“You're in love? Steve, really?”

‘Yeah,’ he thinks to himself as he enters another returned tape into the system, forgetting to answer Robin completely. ‘Fucking yeah he is.’

It's just… last night was perfect. Something out of the movies. Eddie's hand in his, the feel of his calloused skin against Steve's palm. Their laughter and how it was accompanied by the gentle chitter of crickets in the grass, their melody carried away by the late night breeze.

It wasn't supposed to end up that way.

Smoke a joint. Yell at the moon. Go home.

Not dancing in the din of the moon and the stars. The lights of Eddie's van casting their shadows over the open grassy field as they swayed in each other's arms. The silhouettes of their bodies cascading over the land.

“Dingus?”

All it took was for Steve to hum the tune of Faithfully and Eddie to admit he actually liked the song, and then suddenly they were dancing. Steve was pulled from his position in the tall grass and up into Eddie's arms where they laughed and sang and eventually settled against each other until they fell quiet. And then the evening turned into something else entirely as they swayed and the grip they held on one another grew tighter.

“Do you even hear me?”

It was there in Eddie's arms, the moon as his witness, that Steve thinks he fell in love. He never wanted to leave that moment. If he could live eternity in Eddie's grasp, in some long forgotten field with the light of the moon and stars raining down on them, he would. He'd dance in fields of fireflies and live with the knowledge that even their glow was nothing compared to the fire burning in his heart. Let it scorch his soul and alight his veins only to live a few mere seconds more with Eddie's breath against his neck and arm around his waist.

He'd let the fire consume him completely to feel Eddie's lips press to his for the first time again.

“You're a lost caus-” Distantly Steve hears the ring of the front door's bell, and the beginning of Robin's bored company mandated greeting, “Welcome to family- oh, hey Eddie.”

Eddie

Never has Steve's attention been grasped so fast.

He doesn't even realise he breathes the man's name out himself. Lost to the trance that's amber eyes and a striking smile.

“Light of my life!” Eddie crows happily in response, moving with an uncharacteristic sort of grace to the checkout counter Steve's still standing behind, forgotten return tape still grasped in his hand.

His knees feel a little weak as Eddie approaches, eventually leaning with an elbow on the red formica and pillowing his chin on a ring clad fist.

His eyes are just as beautiful as Steve remembers, the glow of burning embers locked away in his earth toned gaze.

They're both silent for a moment, ignoring the way Robin's fake gagging only a few feet away. But eventually Edsie speaks again, this time though, voice low enough for only Steve to hear as he asks, “You want to do that again?”

Only for every night for the rest of my life

Cheeks suddenly so much more rosy than they just were, Eddie reaches for Steve's hand and whispers, “I could live with that.”

[ravenlilyrose]

Gotham does not want to lose one of Her children again. She's already gone to the trouble of bringing him back to life (a challenge to be sure, it took her months, but worth it for him, for them) and She was not about to let this... this... woman take him from Her again.

(She would not kill the woman, for the sake of the boy--tiny still and not yet fully Hers---the boy who was Her child's child and who would one day, she knew (because time was not linear, not to Her), also be one of Hers. For his sake, his mother would live.)

So, at the border of Gotham City (a purely political line; her true influence spread several miles more, and Her children would never be fully out of Her reach), Talia al Ghul steps over the city limits without so much as a thought, but Jason Todd--catatonic and being led by Talia's hand around his wrist--is stopped, as though he ran into a solid wall.

They are, for now, unobserved, and Talia tries thing after thing to get him through, getting more and more frustrated. Up until this point, she has not harmed Jason, but the moment she goes to grab his arm hard enough to bruise, a bubble pops up around him and she is thrown back. While the 'wall' at the city limits could not be seen, this bubble shimmers in unnamable colors. (Jason's eyes dart from place to place, following patterns and movements only he, so far, can see.)

Talia doesn't stop trying, but they now start to attract a crowd. Maybe Talia wasn't being as careful anymore, maybe her plan had depended on having been gone by now, or maybe Gotham drew some of Her people to this spectacle.

They watch, for a while, and a few even try to step through the bubble. It is fairly clear that the woman was trying to take the boy somewhere and that the boy was in no state to even realize what was happening. So, a few try to step in, but they also cannot pass through the bubble.

This is when Tim Drake comes along. I don't know when, exactly, Jason's resurrection falls in the timeline, so maybe he already has a plan, maybe he's already started to put it into play, but today, for once, he is doing something entirely mundane. Maybe he's on his way to school, or to the skate-park, or to a friend's house, but it has nothing to do with the local vigilantes.

Tim, the obsessive little stalker that he is, recognizes Jason immediately. A true Gothamite, he takes no more than a second to wonder about the resurrection before accepting it and moving on. Talia al Ghul he doesn't recognize, but he's fairly certain he would recognize anyone who should be taking Jason anywhere. Which means this woman shouldn't be. So Tim decides he's going to take Jason home to his dad. That should fix Batman.

Having decided that, Tim tucks his skateboard under his arm and walks toward Jason. He passes through the bubble like it isn't even there, and comes to a stop mere inches from the boy who would soon be his brother. (Bruce Wayne, elsewhere, gets an itch that would, were he in a better state of mind, have him starting to prepare the adoption papers.)

Despite not having been thrown into a Lazarus Pit, Jason is still taller than Tim, though by less here than he would be in other universes. So Tim is looking up at him. Jason's eyes drift to somewhere just over Tim's shoulder, but when Tim looks behind him, there's nothing there, so he figures that's just Jason acknowledging his presence as best he can at the moment.

"Hi, Jason. I can take you to your dad, if you want. Bruce?"

(Tim's planning to take him to Bruce whether or not he wants to go. It might be a little harder if Jason objects, but Tim has calculated, and it is the best plan for everyone. Still, it is polite to ask.)

At Bruce's name, Jason makes a soft humming noise and his eyes drift to Tim's forehead. Tim decides that's a yes.

Tim hooks the arm that's not carrying the skateboard through Jason's arm, and turns in the direction of Wayne Manor. (Talia, furious now, starts after them, but Gotham locks her into a bubble now, and moves it until it's outside the city limits. She can try all she wants, but Gotham is not going to let her back in.)

Probably, the citizens watching should stop the preteen? young teen? from wandering off with the older boy. Anywhere else in the world, someone would have tried. But this is Gotham. And these are Gothamites.

It was obvious to everyone that this was Gotham's doing. They had all gotten a sense for Her, one that Outsiders really didn't understand and Gothamites couldn't explain, but understood perfectly. This whole incident was clearly Her doing, and if She let that boy into the bubble, then She was perfectly happy to let him take the older one.

And none of them were going to argue with Gotham. To them, to every Gothamite, She was the highest authority. Over the law, over parents, over those pesky little things called morals. (Those who believed in a god would be hard-pressed to decide who they would obey if it came down to a decision between God and Gotham. It went against most of their religions to put anything above their god, but they were Gothamites.)

In any case, Gotham had let the boys through, and they weren't going to argue.

In fact, Tim was not the only one who could have gotten through. The criteria to get through the bubble were, in this case, that you had to be one of Her favorite children and you had to mean Jason no harm. So Steph could also have gotten through, though she had not yet put on a cape and wouldn't have tried. Dick could also have, or Bruce, or Alfred, or Barbara, but none of them were there and Gotham thought it would probably go smoothest with Tim being the one to find Jason.

(Some of the Rogues probably also could have. Not the Joker or Bane, but if the Riddler or Harley or Ivy were having one of their less murderous days, they could have done it. They probably would even have returned him to Bruce.)

But right now, Tim is leading Jason toward home (Jason's home, and soon Tim's too) and the Gothamites watch them go. Talia rages outside the city and Bruce and Alfred sit at the manor, unknowing that everything is about to change. Dick and Barbara still go about their usual lives, a light haze of grief about them that will soon explode into so many more infinitely complicated emotions.

Here we leave them, but Gotham doesn't, and She never will. She is happy to have them together, though, and will work on getting the rest of them gathered. But she's prevented one from being stolen, and that's a day well spent.

[wangxianficrecs]

Looked so alive, turns out i'm not real by KatAnni

Looked so alive, turns out i'm not real

by KatAnni

M, 36k, Wangxian

Part of the MDZS Big Bang 2024

Summary: "Nothing leaves the Burial Mounds alive." Lan Wangji goes on a side mission night hunt with Wei Wuxian during the Sunshot Campaign, and finds out just how true that statement is. Inquiry rings through the room, and Wei Wuxian answers. This of course, has consequences. For the MDZS Big Bang 2024, Collab with Sweetlittlevampire Kay's comments: This story was meant for WIP Rec Week but it posted quicker than I was able to rec it! But it had me aboslutely hooked from the first chapter. Stunning writing and art! A story in which Wei Wuxian maybe doesn't really return from the Burial Mounds alive and Lan Wangji finds out during the Sunshot Campaign and I'm so hyped. Had some really strong cliffhangers in this story and the built-up to the happy ending was devastating. Featuring beautiful art by @sweetlittlevampire Excerpt: As if his strings were cut, Wei Ying crumbled to the ground, his head meeting the floor with a sickening sound, and Lan Wangji was on his feet immediately, Wangji clattering to the ground with a dissonant sound. “Wei Ying!” He sat next to the prone form, his hand shakily reaching for a shoulder, the other a wrist. So still. Not moving. No pulse. “Lan Zhan?” His voice was groggy, as if from far away. Lan Wangji was still holding his wrist, and tried to still his own heartbeat at the lack of one from Wei Ying. “What- Hey!” Wei Ying was on his feet within the next second, his hand withdrawn, and Lan Wangji stared up at him. “What did you do?!” His voice was suddenly sharp, accusing, unforgiving. The flute, that cursed black flute, was in his hands, pointed at Lan Wangji like a knife. Lan Wangji stared, unblinking, as realization seemed to dawn on Wei Ying, as his brows drew together. “You made me say that, with that song! How- Why-”

pov lan wangji, canon divergence, temporary character death, sunshot campaign, major character death, sentient burial mounds, hurt wei wuxian, hurt lan wangji, not actually unrequited love, wei wuxian's three months in the burial mounds, fix-it, somebody lives/not everybody dies

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[invader-reggie]

Can human!Bill tags be used more when writing bill having a human form cos the disappointment I feel when bill turns human halfway through a fic I'm reading is immense.

No hate to human Bill lovers but I genuinely cannot get into human bill fics no matter how good the plot is like I NEED triangle bill and it's always super helpful when it's tagged so I can easily exclude it instead of going through immeasurable disappointment every single time I find a promising fic and it ends up having human bill when I've already invested alot of time into reading it.

Shout out to Blood Chains by Fooeyburr on Ao3 for not only having Bill remain a Triangle throughout the entire fic but also changing my life @kindafooey the themes of that story were incredible and i LOVED bill's characterization

[bananasofthorns]

“He betrayed your trust and you aren’t more upset?" Helsknight scoffs. "Pathetic.” Wels rolls his eyes. “It’s a death game, Helsknight, that’s kind of the whole point. I should’ve seen this coming, honestly.” “You’re naive.” “Iskall’s my friend. It’s not naive to trust him.” “He broke that trust!” “Well, yes, and I plan to get him back for that someday, but also: it’s a death game. We all agreed to it. I’m not mad at him for killing me, I just wish he’d been a bit more upfront about it.” If he’d been more obvious about trying to kill Wels, then maybe Wels wouldn’t be dead, also. But Iskall’s whole goal was to kill him, so he can understand the deception. “You’re infuriating.” Wels shrugs. He generally tries not to be, but in this instance, he finds that he doesn’t mind. “Maybe so. Look, can we finish this later? I need to go get my stuff back from Iskall, and your presence would probably freak him out.”

you know when you get to that point of dealing with intrusive/self deprecating/etc thoughts that you're just like. "yeah okay. consider: you're stupid and wrong. also: go away, i'm busy"? that should be wels and hels

read on Ao3

[raileurta]

Pacific rim x tf

I love just the idea of the autobots and deceptions coming to earth to try recruiting the sentient jaegers, but being harshly declined. Why? Well for one they're already busy dealing with large monsters on a regular basis and two they love their humans too much. With plenty of evil robot related movies fueling paranoia among engineers they hardcoded into the jaegers that they want to protect humans.

So they are pretty reasonably pissed at the bots for dragging their people into their war. Anyways they force the autobots and decepticons to make up. (All this because of a messy breakup? Jeez and you call humans violent.)

So now with the Cybertronians new free time the yeagers will reach them the joys of human beings.

[izzystizzys]

The war doesn’t end with a bang, strictly speaking. It doesn’t even end with a political forum, or peace talks, or a slow, wheezing death of the Banking Clan’s pockets running dry, even though all of those are valid possibilities. Some more than others, Cody has to admit.

No, the war ends with an article in the Galaxy’s least reputable news source, Coruscant Rotational. Splashed on the front page for all to see is Cody’s little brother, next to the Chancellor.

CLONE MEWS CHANCELLOR TO DEATH IN MOGGING MOVE FOR THE AGES - LOOKSMAXXING TAKEN TOO FAR?

“What”, says Obi-Wan, eye twitching, fingers massaging over the bridge of his nose at double their usual speed, a real sign of an impending nervous breakdown if Cody’s ever seen one, “the kriff does that even mean?!”

Rex shrugs helplessly with one shoulder, other arm raised aimlessly. “No idea, General. I only understand about half those words. Maybe we’re all having a collective stroke? Maybe Fox is having a stroke? Whatever he’s doing with his jaw in that picture can’t be healthy.”

“Well, not for the late Chancellor, anyways”, says Cody flatly, in the long-suffering tone of one who’s seen too much Jedi banthashit in too little time. He screws his eyes tightly shut, scrubbing the backs of his knuckles in hard enough to see galaxies explode. Nope, still the same words on that datapad.

“It can’t be true”, says Skywalker, who’d gone white as a shitty military-issue sheet and has been steadily pacing the room ever since the equivalent of a sonic bomb hit the room. “I mean - think about it, this could just as well be a Separatist ploy, it would play right into their hands, and Coruscant Rotational isn’t exactly the most reputable source -“

“True enough”, says Obi-Wan, thoughtfully. “They do like getting their facts mixed up. In fact, I’ve seen about six articles just this month proclaiming our dear friend Senator Amidala’s super secret pregnancy. They even falsified hospital records, can you imagine?!”

Somehow, Skywalker loses another shade of colour, gulping soundlessly, and resumes his pacing more frenetically than before. Weird guy, that.

It’s Rex who breaks the awkward stillness of the room, perking up suddenly. “Oh, I know! Why don’t we call in Commander Tano?! She’s about the right age to understand some of this dribble, right?”

“I was going to suggest calling Corrie HQ, but sure, let’s ask the teenage soldier from the space monk order who spends all her spare time hunting your legion for sport”, says Cody, dryly. Rex deflates, and Thorn’s tinny voice sounds through Cody’s comm before he can make his reply. “Marshall Commander, I assume this is about the News.” Ominous capitalisation, ooooh, mouths Rex, and receives the nearest datapad Cody can reach to the face for his troubles with a squawk. The fact that he can read that sentence off his lips means their legions have spent far too much time together, and also that Cody’s grown soft in his old age.

“Good to hear you too, Thorn, and yes, we do have some questions concerning why the kriff my vod’ika is accused of murdering the chancellor through what I can only assume is some secret Sith magic?!”

“Oh, you mean when he defeated the actual Sith on the Senate through the power of his superior mog and made the kriffer explode in a thousand wrinkly pieces? You’re welcome, by the way”, says Thorn, instead of literally anything sane.

“Commander”, begs Cody’s General, with something glistening that might actually be tears in his eyes. “Commander, please. I do not understand any of those words. I am begging you to put me out of my misery.”

PALPATINE??? SITH?????!!!, screams Skywalker in battlesign, somehow spelling out each individual question and exclamation mark.

“It’s a game we’ve started playing in the Guard, sir, to pass time on patrol”, says Thorn, sheepishly, cowed by nearly driving the High General Kenobi to tears. “We’d do stupid faces we found the holonet, and, uh - well Fox is so high on black-market morphine most of the time cause we don’t get bacta that he sleepwalks on assignment sometimes, and, uh, he started making them at the Chancellor during a holocall meeting with Count Dooku and then the Chancellor tried to electrocute him again but accidentally blew himself up-“

“Breathe, Commander”, says Obi-Wan, and then - “That is SO much information I don’t know what to do with, Force preserve me. Why is Commander Fox on black-market morphine, or sleepwalking, or making faces at-“

“He signs reports in his sleep too, sometimes”, Thorn interrupts the General. “It’s actually kind of impressive if, y’know, it didn’t make Stabby bust another capillary in pure rage.”

“Who’s Stabby?”, asks Obi-Wan, confused.

“Meeting with Count Dooku?!”, bursts out Skywalker.

“Congratulations on Amidala’s pregnancy, General Skywalker”, says Thorn, like a man who wants to see the world burn.

[princington]

Ava laughs into the kiss, then wraps an arm around Bea and tugs until she shifts to rest her body against Ava’s chest, familiar and grounding. The Halo hums in all the places they’re touching, and Ava sinks into the feeling of it, into the comfortable weight of Bea on top of her, against her skin and breathing her air and in her heart.

who needs comfortable love ch 9 by @the-ominous-owl

[sentient-trash]

I 1 MILLION PERCENT FORGOT TO POST THIS COMMISSION I DID A MONTH-ISH AGO FOR @steddieas-shegoes AS A GIFT FOR THE AUTHOR ( @thisapplepielife ) OF A FIC: Tuesday’s Gone With the Wind

[wayfayrr]

Self aware tears in stardew -

Just got a set of headcanons here that started as an idea with @h4wari on discord - just a few headcanons to ease myself back into writing as I start on the raffle prizes!! Just the idea of what if one of the links could find their way into a different game?

[masterlist]

✦ It started a while after he’s already self aware, having slowly ‘come to his senses’ over the course of you playing TotK. picking up on small details like the quest signs and buttons like the flurry rush prompt. 

✦ but… you finished his game, sure you still played it occasionally but not as often as you used to. Leaving him desperate to be with you again. Willing to do anything to be able to hear your voice again. 

✦ It isn’t exactly hard for him to get out of the game and into the switch proper, and after that it’s easier again to get onto your wifi and into your pc. It does take him a little bit to poke around in it, to find whatever it was that you abandoned him for. And more importantly find his way into it.

✦ Stardew wasn’t exactly what he expected to find, something this cozy? It’s almost dreamlike to him. But with how many mods there are already? It wasn’t exactly all that hard to make himself a mod to add an NPC - people love TotK anyway, how hard would it be to believe that there is a mod for it?

✦ The painful part is waiting for you to download it, because he knows that installing it himself would give it away to easily. 

✦ Thankfully he doesn’t have to wait too long, a few days at most till you get the mod, and your happiness makes it so worth it.

✦ He blends in surprisingly well, having coded himself a small winery similar to the Blue Moon vineyard. Seeing as it’s something he thought would be interesting to do when the game isn’t actively running, and wouldn’t you prefer the expensive gifts? 

✦ it’s not quite the same as being with you or having you with him, or even the same feeling as having your control over his body. But he can’t say that having you try to max out his hearts isn’t lovely, he just wishes that there wasn’t still a screen between you.  - There’s only a matter of time until he deals with that though, he'll have you in his arms before you know it