#she's already niche

[kumeko]

Prompt: Tsubasa, bamboo : loyalty, strength, steadfastness

A/N: I had written this for a CCS/Tsubasa zine that sadly got cancelled. ☹ I’ve always loved Tomoyo’s/Kurogane’s relationship, the utter steadfastness of Kurogane’s loyalty and her confidence in him.

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Sake cup in hand, Tomoyo stepped out onto her bamboo-lined balcony and took a deep breath of the cool, sweet air. It was a pleasant night for a moon-viewing and she leaned against her balcony rail to watch the party below. Bright, colourful lanterns shone in defiance to the night’s gloom, lighting up the palace’s courtyard. Below, she could make out a drunk Syaoran energetically fighting the ancient sakura tree while Fai and Mokona cheered him on.

It was cute. They’d no doubt forgotten just what they were here for. Her attendants and sister were seated a short distance away, their half of the party a more dignified one. The only ones missing were Sakura and Kurogane: a princess who could no longer afford the cost of travel and the latter which was standing behind her right now.

“I thought you would prefer drinking with them,” she said, glancing over her shoulder.

Dressed in a black and red kimono, Kurogane regaled her with surprise, his eyes widening slightly before he shook his head. “I thought you didn’t have the sight anymore,” he asked as he stepped out of the shadows.

“I do not need that or even your senses to know where you are.” Tomoyo smirked, moving slightly so he could stand next to her. A bamboo leaf brushed her shoulder. “You are very predictable.”

“Am I?” he questioned, taking a sip from his own cup. There was nothing graceful about the way he drank and even in this he couldn’t hide his brash nature.

“Very much so.” Tomoyo chuckled, cupping her cheek with hand. “You’re like a little puppy.”

“Puppy?” he repeated, aghast.

“A cute, little puppy,” she confirmed, mischievously. She glanced at Fai and Syaoran once more. Classical music drifted through the air. “And with that group, it is very helpful, I imagine.”

“It’s very annoying,” he grumbled, giving Fai and Mokona a flat glare. Despite his words, there was no bite in his tone, and she wondered if he could see how much he had softened over the years. Even his profile wasn’t as hard as it used to be, his sternness of a gentler type now.

“Your inflexibility can be,” she agreed innocently, ignoring how his glare now swung to her. “You could just enjoy the party with them, you know.”

“I did.” Kurogane smiled faintly, the limit of his honesty. “And now I’m here. To renew my vow.”

Tomoyo regarded him for a moment. “We do not have to do this every time, you know.”

 “We do,” he disagreed, finishing the last of his sake before resting the cup on the railing. “Until my mission is over, until I can stay here, I want to.”

“What is the point if you aren’t here?” Tomoyo winced. That sounded harsher than she intended. Rephrasing, she added, “It is not that I doubt your loyalty. I can see it in the lengths you go to find that other Sakura and Syaoran.”

He didn’t say anything, just regarded her with dark eyes as he waited for her to finish. And that much hadn’t changed over the years either, how he knew when she had more to say.

Tomoyo glanced up at the moon, so much brighter than the light reflected in her sake. After taking another sip, she quietly set aside her own cup. “This vow is not meant to chain you, not if you no longer need it. You may return here as much as you like, but…”

When I sent you away, I understood that you might never return.

Tomoyo couldn’t voice those last words. Cowardly, she looked away. The tall stalks of bamboo on her right glowed faintly in the moonlight and she took solace in their rigidity. There was a price to pay for every wish, and hers was his company.

It was an insignificant thing in comparison to his life.

“I remember your laughter when this started,” Kurogane said. She glanced at him, but he wasn’t looking at her anymore. Instead, his gaze was locked on his companions.

“Your expression was funny,” she murmured.

He didn’t frown or even growl at that; he’d grown up in ways she hadn’t expected. “Yours will be funnier when I finally return home.”

Home? She stared at him, surprised.

“Yeah, just like that.” He grinned, all teeth, as he kneeled before her. “Like I said, I want to do this. After I find those two, I’m done with travelling.”

“What if that day never comes?” she asked, trying not to hope.

“It will come.” There was no doubt in his voice. Then again, he’d never been a dreamer, had he? Kurogane always took action with the uttermost confidence.

Tomoyo studied him for a moment. She couldn’t see the future anymore, couldn’t know if he was right, if it would take decades before he was right, but it was hard not to believe him. He’d stopped the universe from unravelling, travelled through time, and fought fate itself, after all. What was finding two people compared to that?

Giving in, she raised her hand. “Very well then, Yoo.”

Only the cold moon and steadfast bamboo witnessed her blessing.

Hopefully, the next time they did this would also be the last.

[wish-upon-the-universe]

Mirabell instarsandtime is so smart you guys!!!! Don't discount her!!!!! When you first get her shield, she blasts siffrin with so much technical craft jargon he can't keep up in the slightest!! Even Odile on had a faint grasp on the CARROT method!!!! And she was the first to bring up that Time Craft would actually kill you from the energy it needs!!! Guys she's a craft genius!!! Can anyone hear me!!!!!

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

A Tempest of Tea

first in a YA fantasy duology

follows a young immigrant woman in a fantasy Victorian city who runs a tearoom that doubles as an illegal bloodhouse for vampires at night

when their business is threatened, she gets a chance to save it by teaming up with her best friend, a rich girl with a talent for forgery, a vampire artist, and a mysterious city guard to do a heist to infiltrate high society and collect a logbook that may reveal the extent of the corruption in the city

fantasy city with a masked ruler, arthurian elements, themes of colonialism

[grahamcore]

girlhood is convincing your irls who have never read fanfiction to read atyd

[nostalgia-tblr]

how have i not written Scheming Queen Mother Frigga yet? i mean she's halfway there already that's like someone already starting writing it for me.

[devilsskettle]

fright night 2011 remake 🤝 heathers musical adaptation

changing the characterization of the protagonist to recently have fallen in with the mean “popular” crowd at school abandoning their “uncool” childhood best friend for social clout only to realize that they were wrong after their friend almost dies, presumably to make the protagonist more relatable/likable because they are the audience-insert character while still aligning them with a group of characters that the audience is supposed to hate for plot reasons

[francy-sketches]

Who IS your favorite character then? 👀

cersei :3

[triglycercule]

UGH i wrote another stupid small thing 4 swapinverse.... idk whats wrong with me why am i writing so much swapinverse stuff when i havent even finished it. anyways swapinverse killer here take this (this one is much vaguer bc it takes place before a lot of the more like obvious events happen??? idk only i understand what i'm talking about here)

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open eyes. greeting by the dark ceiling again. get dressed. typical routine for him… nothing new. nothing interesting. papyrus will knock on the door soon. he should probably prepare for that. no need to stay in bed. that won't do anything anyways. he’ll still feel nothing. like normal, he knocks after the jacket is put on. and he opens that door, to be greeted with the enthusiastic, smiling face of his brother.

sans smiles. obviously, he has to. otherwise paps will get worried, and he doesn't wanna have to deal with a worried paps. it just makes things worse for everyone. they walk through the forest, paps leads him to the guard station, and he sits. same as usual… the exact same. the same routine, nothing new. nothing new. the same. it's all the same.

sans had long since gotten tired of this monotony. soon, chara would come out of that door. he’d introduce himself to them, and they’d play that short game of pretend where they pretended not to know each other. like they always did. chara mentioned something about it being scripted or something, but sans couldn't be bothered to care. besides, the human always mumbled random stuff like that. it meant nothing. nothing new. they’d kill the rest of the underground, he’d fight them because he has nothing better to do, and die.

although they did mention that deal they’d been talking about? what was that? join them? yeah, no. he wasn't gonna do that. no matter how many resets passed.

oh. here they come. better get on track. or onto script, like chara says. for some reason, they say that. the saying gets stuck a bit in sans’s head. just a bit though, since it’s a new thought. and they turn, and sans shakes hands with chara.

he’s long since ditched the whoopee cushion. despite them still doing what was practically a ritual at this point, that was the only change that ever happened. nice that he chose for the newness, but it didn't change much. but… something was off. something was wrong. and sans could feel it. he could feel it. and that was what was wrong.

it wasn't with the way chara smiled, or their posture, or how their hand was outstretched. not the strange, expectant excitement in their red eyes, although that was a bit new. it wasn't even all of the dust covering them, certainly from the ruins. no, the issue was from sans himself. he could feel something wrong. like some sort of internal dread? no, something worse… an ache? he’d gotten used to all the one’s he normally felt, so what was it?

once the human’s hand left his and walked through the gate, he knew what it was. something… that something he could feel. that something that passed through the barrier of apathy he’d built all this time. an itch? sans scratched at his head, just idly. physical or not, he didn't know. he had to figure it out. and so, he followed after the human.

after a while of watching them, chara, do their… usual business, sans had came to a conclusion. it was both. and also, neither. the itch was something that he could feel, but not physically. so it was a mental itch. and that itch managed to effect him so badly he felt it on his bones. strange. and for some reason, as he watched chara slaughter one after another, kill and murder another one of his kin, sans couldn't wrench his eye lights away from the sight. for some reason, he couldn't stop watching as chara singly handledly destroyed his species. for some reason, he followed.

"it's not that bad, anyways. just… morbid curiosity. it wouldn't hurt to just… scratch that itch a bit. nothing will come of it."

and sans made sure to say that one out loud, just to convince himself.

-

oooh pal buddy you do not know what you are in for!!!! you are about to experience terrible suffering at your own hands!!!! sucks to suck lmao at least your chara is just as confused as you are during the process haha! i love swapinverse this is so fun i keep on saying that but i really should write more

[nervocat]

ferris and devil are indulging my interests too much. I love you guys for it honestly.

[tarn-ati0n]

I showed my sister the post with me getting lost in the woods and she asked me "are you famous or something?" Because she was wondering why so many different people messaged me. How the fuck do I explain my situation to her.

[dangerous-advantage]

thinking about how raph, april, and mikey are less focused on by the fandom than donnie and leo, the only two main characters in rottmnt with white voice actors

[magnusmodig]

||. finally going to bed thinking about lore - keeper asgardians . thinking about how intelligence and wisdom are one of their favored traits. thinking about how thor is the best of every asgardian ideal . thinking about how he is wise . thinking about his street - smarts . thinking about how he is also knowledgeable in legends , lore , and folktale. he is adaptable . he takes this knowledge , adapts to it , and crafts himself into something stronger. he is ever growing , and one of those ways is how he seeks out knowledge , and knows well to keep a sharp mind on the tales told by word of mouth or written on a page.

[uhohproblems]

i think after settling into the pack a little circe starts loudly saying things like 'you know i think going evo really influenced my relationship with my gender' and all these grown ass evos around her go huh? what? your what with your what?? but she will not stop until these obviously transgender ppl understand that they are trans gender

[cuteniarose]

No thoughts head empty only Kuviren rendition of That Hürrevran Dream Sequence on my mind

[la-cocotte-de-paris]

okay i'm curious: i know mutuals posting about something specific can often lead to other mutuals checking out the same thing and even liking it by osmosis. so i gotta ask: have i ever encouraged/influenced someone here to check out or like something/someone as a result of me posting about it/them??

[mistninja]

me @ myself: nooo dont get into another niche fantasy series ha ha your so sexy