#These events were pretty close in quest and it looked pretty strange (for me) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fallingdownhell · 8 months

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Hello hello hello there, good writer! I was wondering if you'd be open to writing platonic HCs for the currently playable Archons in the game. Basically, way back when during the Archon War (or in Nahida's case, some point early on when she was instated as Sumeru's new Archon) the Archon's save a baby dragon's (the reader) life.Now, centuries later, at some point following the events of the Archon quests, they encounter Dragon!reader reader- now a fully-matured dragon (Dragon is the same element as each Archon. Individually, I mean, they aren't multi-elemental). The Archon recognizes them through any number of factors (a scar in a very particular area of Dragon!Reader's body, a discolored patch of scales, etc.) And as for how they encounter each other, maybe the Archon is accompanying the Traveler on a commission, and dragon!reader saves the Traveler or Archon's ass when the situation gets dicey, maybe the Archon senses a familiar presence and investigates, perhaps paths cross and they find themselves saving (or assisting) dragon!reader yet again, or maybe it's just a chance case of the stars aligning in just the right way. Apologies for the massive word dump, just thought I'd give you some prompts in case you have trouble coming up with ideas for this, if you want to do it, or course!

That is such a cool idea! And I really appreciate the word dump, it really helped me out a great deal this time around, so thank you, kind anon<3

Characters Included: Zhongli; Venti; Nahida

Content: gender neutral! dragon! reader; platonic headcanons;

Word count: 2,2k words

I hope this comes somewhat close to what you had in mind. Hope you enjoy<3

Zhongli

Zhongli often looks back fondly at the times where he had adopted this strange baby dragon

the Archon War was a though time period, both for him and the people at his side, but having that baby to take care of by his side and teaching it all sorts of things made it somewhat bearable for him

he would often play around with it, sometimes even play fighting to show it a few moves and tricks and the dragon seemed to enjoy that a whole lot

though cuddling sessions always seemed to be the dragons favourite, especially when a certain spot under his chin was being scratched

it was a difficult spot for others to reach, seeing as it was surrounded by brown spikes, indicating your resonance with the Geo element, but seeing the happy expression on the baby's face made it worth it in the end

When the dragon later got older and grew up in Zhongli's care, it would often join him in various battles while the War still lasted

On one such battles, the dragon got hurt pretty badly in it's left eye, ultimately loosing it in the process. But it adjusted rather well to living with only half it's eyesight

Later, when the Archon war ended and peace had returned to Liyue, the dragon was all grown up now as well. And one day, without any prior indication, the dragon had just left, never to return again

Zhongli wasn't sad or anything. He understood that this is simply how nature works and he only wished the best unto his foster child

Sometimes, the Ex-Archon wonders if that dragon is still alive, but those thoughts always leave him rather quickly again. It's no use pondering about the unknown

And yet, imagine the surprise on Zhongli's face when he saw another dragon roam the sky just as he finished dealing with Azhdaha alongside the Traveller

Finding an opportunity to slip away from the group, he began traveling in the direction he saw the flying creature

it took some time, but he eventually found the dragon as it rested besides a small lake, soaking in the rays of sunshine onto it's scaled skin

fascinated by it, since dragons were a rare sight to see in this day and age, he decided to approach the creature, silently as to not startle it too much

as he got closer to the dragon, the creature soon picked up a new scent in the area and opened it's big eye, now spotting the approaching Zhongli

quickly, the creature got up and began roaring at him, and that's when Zhongli noticed a particular scar on the left eye of the dragon

Could it be... was it actually you?

Your name slipped past his lips and it made you hold in the middle of your actions. Zhongli could see the uncertainty in the dragons form, so he said your name again, staying still in his spot, only a few steps away

the dragon, still unsure, took another sniff of the surrounding air, taking in the scent of the new arrival, and suddenly, memories from its time as a baby came flooding into his mind, and you recognized the man in front of you

now seeming much calmer, you got closer to Zhongli, your long neck extending towards him so that your head was right in front of him

with a smile, the Ex-Archon extends his hand as well to scratch that certain spot under your chin, like he had always done many, many years ago

at this, the dragon closed its eye and a low grumbling sound could be heard deep within it's throat.

Zhongli almost couldn't believe it. His old friend was still alive and apparently doing pretty well for itself..

for some time, the two of them just sat down in the grass, enjoying the light of the still shining sun, while Zhongli just began talking, telling you of all the things that had happened while you were gone

And you were listening to every single one of his words, feeling happy to finally be reunited with him again..

Venti

Most people know about Dvalin - or Stormterror - and his connection to the anemo Archon. How he was one of the four winds that protected the nation of Mondstadt

but what the people did not know, is that there was a second dragon with the anemo Archon that had been taken in by him when it was only a small baby

as a result, the baby dragon has been raised both by Dvalin and the anemo Archon at the same time. While it learned typical dragon behaviour from Dvalin, Venti provided the baby other lessons important for its life ahead

the little dragon has always been a playful and adventurous one. It was getting into trouble quite frequently as a child, but such was the nature of freedom

Venti had always adored looking at this little dragon baby as he found the light green colour of your scales to be quite mesmerizing. He liked to think that the colour represented your connection with the Anemo element, and himself.

But what he found even more adorable was the little patch of white scales, right between the beginning of your legs and your hind legs. It was about the size of the palm of his hand, the colour never really coming through on that spot

While Venti and Dvalin engaged in the Archon war, you always decided to stay behind, rather enjoying the serenity that the nation of Mondstadt brought to you than to engage with bloody battles all the time

As time went on, you grew older and older, and Dvalin knew that the time would come where you would leave them behind. To find your own place within this world, without them by your side

and sure enough, one seemingly peaceful day, you went up to them one last time, seemingly telling your goodbyes with your eyes before you turned your back to them and flew off into the distant world ahead of you. Excited to see what was liying ahead, but also sad you had to leave them behind

many, many years have passed since that fateful day and a lot has happened since then. A mysterious traveller has appeared in the world of Teyvat, helping Venti to bring his old friend Dvalin back to his senses

Since that incident, Venti couldn't help but think back to the old times quite often, reminiscing of the memories all three of them shared. He would often wonder how you were doing these days, if you were well off..

on one such days, when he was laying beneath the tree at Windrise, thinking of old times, he did not notice a bunch of Abyss mages and their underlings approaching

when he did, it was already too late and he was surrounded by enemies. Though he tried fighting his way out, the number of enemies just seemed to increase, instead of decreasing

Venti began to worry and just as he was about to summon his old friend Dvalin for some help, a roar echoed from above the sky. All heads turned up as a huge creature descended downwards, instantly attacking the abyss mages and their hoards

for a second, the colourful scales made him think of a certain dragon, but he quickly shook off that feeling, concentrating on the battle at hand

it didn't take long until the enemies were dealt with, and as a moment of peace came to them, Venti turned and took in the familiar colour of light green scaling..

But.. that couldn't be, right? It surely was just a coincidence.. another dragon that just happened to have a similar colour to the one he once raised..

But, as the dragon remained on the ground, patiently looking at Venti, he couldn't shake off that feeling of familiarity

And then, the dragon turned to its side, showing Venti the undeniable truth of a missmatched patch of white scales among a sea of green..

It really was you...

Joy spread over Venti's face as he realized it really was his old friend that had come back to see him again

It didn't take long until he was on your back and you began ascending towards the sky again. Up there in the sky, with only the winds holding you back, Venti also summoned Dvalin to him to complete this reunion

Many roars sounded all throughout Mondstadt on this day as there were now two dragons roaming the skies of this nation...

Nahida

As the god of Dendro, Nahida had always liked the nature and all of its inhabitants

she would always try to sneek away to find a spot somewhere within the rainforest where she could just sit down and listen to the sounds of nature all around her

while the sages at that time did not approve of her behaviour, she continued to do so with the excuse of wanting to form a connection between her and her nation as well as it's people

one day while she was out again, she stumbled upon a tiny dragon baby. As she got closer, she noticed that the baby appeared to be hurt quite badly, yet it still backed up when she got closer, scared of her

it took some time and gentle reassuring from Nahida's side, but eventually, the small dragon let her get close, inspecting the wounds inflicted to it

deciding that she wanted to take care of it, she used her powers to build a sort of little hideout where she nurtured the dragon back to health over the course of a few weeks

while doing so, the baby dragon began trusting her more and more, until eventually, they formed a kind of bond between them

once the baby was all healed up, it didn't dissapear like Nahida thought it would. Instead, it decided to stay with her, playing around and growing up with her

every single time Nahida managed to slip out, the two of them were always together. Either laying in the grass, listening to the nature around them, or playing around and sometimes, she even helped the little dragon in learning how to fly

when they got tired, they lay together on the ground, the dragon having it's head on Nahida's lap as she carefully caressed the top of its head where the beatiful, deep green scales where less sharp than everywhere else on its body. The colour reminded her of the rainforest itself sometimes..

but what she found almost a bit more beautiful were those missmatched eyes of the dragon. One in a beautiful, piercing blue colour while the other was deep red, a stark contrast between the two

But then came the day where Nahida was whisked away by the Sages and sealed into the Sanctuary

it took hundreds of years until the traveller arrived in Sumeru and with the help of some others finally freeed Nahida of her everlasting prison

Thankful to have finally escaped, she did her best to handle everything by herself the best she could. She guided her nation into a new direction and took care of everything that the Sages had taken over

which led to her not once having left the city since she has been freeed. Though Nahida yearned to just go outside and sit in the nature again, she had obligations to take care of, that required her urgent attention

until the Traveller came around another time, insisting on her taking a break for once. In his words, all those problems would still be there once she returned from the break, but her well being was important as well, especially for her people she needed to be in good shape

so, taking him up on the offer, the Traveller, Nahida and Paimon went into the rainforest like she wanted to. While wandering around, they passed the old hideout Nahida had once built for that baby dragon

Memories flooded her mind upon seeing it and she smiled a bit, though it appeared to be a bit sad. The Traveller noticed, but before he could ask Nahida about it, they heard some rustling behind them

Weapon at the ready, the Traveller was prepared to attack should the need arise

And then, from behind some trees, a dragon emerged, eyes fixed onto them

and Nahida instantly recognized you. Not because of the deep green colour of your scales that only seemed to have become even more beautiful over the years. But because of those disscoloured eyes that she was never able to forget

you seemed to recognize her as well, showing no signs of aggression at all, which made the Traveller lower his weapon again

finally reunited again after so many years, both of you seemed happy to be within the presence of each other again

you gently pressed the tip of your nose into her face, gently blowing air into her face which made her giggle a bit. She then climbed onto your back, resting there while the now four of you continued this walk through the rainforest

And even after that, you continued to stay by Nahida's side, always there to protect her should anything ever happen to her again. You were ready to make them regret their decision if people decided to ever mess with her again...

#genshin impact #genshin scenarios #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact headcanons #genshin headcanons #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact platonic #genshin platonic #zhongli headcanons #genshin impact zhongli #platonic zhongli #venti headcanons #genshin impact venti #platonic venti #nahida headcanons #genshin impact nahida #platonic nahida

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hyperfixation-symposium · 8 months

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A1 Quests- plant flowers near the adoption center and tell the baby a story about sharing.

(short fic)

From day one, the void creature was pretty sure they had off put the other parents enough that they'd never see the egg again. It wasn't intentional, most people just found something to be unsettling about the void, and opted to stay away from them.

Apparently, mortals found it "terrifying" when one lurks in the shadows with a sketchbook, or stood silently with flowers outside of the kids events. To be honest, they were just nervous, and didn't know much about socializing.

Regardless of all that, they still had an incredible fondness for the kid they saw in the distance. They had cleaned up the house, set a room aside, all decorated with things the other children they'd encountered had enjoyed. Just in case.

It was their own nervousness to approach that kept them away from the others, but even so, they didn't know how to fix it. So they'd be prepared when the day came.

The knock at the door came when they were stitching a torn stuffed toy, repairing the small holes from which the stuffing escaped. The Void's attention quickly shifted to it, seeing a face through the door. Oh, they recognized that person! It was one of the few who waved at the creature they were.

The project was set aside as they quickly headed to the door. They opened it carefully, only to be met with the excited bouncing of an egg.

"Ai!" Their excitement was unmatched as the kid placed a sign. The adult with them chuckled.

"Void! It's been a while."

"It has been. You've all seemed quite busy keeping an eye on the little one." They reached down to carefully pet the egg's head. "And some of the others... Well, they don't seem to care to have me too close."

"Nonsense, I'm telling you, that's all in your head!" The other parent replied. "You should spend more time with them, I'm sure they'd enjoy it."

"Ah, I'd love to, I just don't wanna startle the others.." they sighed. "And I'm quite bad at combat."

"Ai has actually been doing quite well in combat! They might even be able to protect you!"The adult commented, before the child tugged at their clothes to get them to look at their sign.

Hello ama Void! I've missed you!

"you missed me?" The Void's voice seemed to break.

The egg nodded quickly, and the adult snickered.

"I told you."

After a second, the void scooped the kiddo off their feet, setting them on their shoulder. "Well, we can't have you sad, can we, cornflower?"

The egg kicked their legs in excitement, while the adult's expression softened.

"You know their favorite flower?"

"How could I not?"

The two co-parenting shared a moment more of conversation, Ai crawling to sit comfortably on their parents' shoulders before the topic of their arrival came up.

"oh, Void, I was wondering if you could watch them the rest of the night. They still have a quest left, but a lot of people have schoolwork and such."

"Oh, well, that would be no problem!" They smiled. "Please, focus on school, I can handle Ai."

"I sure hope you can! They've taken up doing some water bucket clutches, yaknow."

"As long as I'm not expected to survive a fall, I can catch the kiddo just fine!" They laughed.

With that, Ai hugged their other parent goodbye, and Void gave a wave as they ran to get to their own work.

Once the other figure had faded into the distance, the Void stepped out of their humble home, kneeling by their kid.

"So, Cornflower, what quests do you have left?" The colors that made up their form swirled in strange patterns, a sign that they were happy. Well, if anyone had been able to figure that out.

Flowers and Story, Ama!

"I see..." They hummed, pulling off their backpack and digging through it for their waystone. "Do you wanna go pick some flowers then? I know a really good field."

The egg nodded, bouncing up and down as they spun. The void couldn't help but smile, petting them on their head.

"Alrighty then, I'll put down a share stone for you!"

Within a moment, they stood within a lush flowering field. The grass swayed in the wind, and birds chirping at lazy bumblebees pollinating flowers of every color of the rainbow. The sun was probably an hour from setting, but the coolness of night had still begun to seep into the environment.

With a flash of purple, Ai appeared alongside their parent, before they carefully broke the cyan waystone, pocketing it.

The egg seemed to take in the environment, the smile in their parents eye clear as day.

"Well, Cornflower, which ones do you wanna plant outside the adoption center?"

A sign was placed. The void knelt, keeping a keen eye as they wrote.

Can I use all of them, Ama?

"Of course!' They couldn't have beamed brighter, and the egg was quick to dash into the grass. Void followed, chuckling happily.

"Ai, don't go too fast!" They chuckled. "I don't wanna loose you!"

The egg slowed down at that, but regardless it didn't seem to matter. They were starting to collect any flowers they came across, readying them to be transferred across the world.

The Void sat down as well, picking some flowers they loved to go out front of the adoption center. They were building a gradient, soon absorbed enough in their work that they almost didn't notice the small nudge Ai gave them to get their attention.

"hm? What is it, cornflo-"

They stopped speaking as their child grew closer, setting a small okay bouquet of blue orchids in their hands.

"Ai..." Their voice melted, eyes softer than butter set on their kid. "How did you know that these were my favorites?"

You told me, Ama! You gave them to me on my first day.

"oh, my dear, you were so overwhelmed I would have sworn you would have forgotten...' They set everything aside, scooping up the kid in their arms. "Thank you Ai, this is the best."

For a moment, they savored the moment, holding their beloved kid in the warm sunset, attempting to hide the tears that fell from their cheeks. The wind even seemed to hold its breath to let parent and child have their moment.

But every good moment has to end, and soon Void sat quietly next to Ai as they typed another sign.

Ama, why do you always pick those flowers that way?

They looked at their own flowers, a blue to red gradient with a flush of purple in the middle.

"hmm.. why don't we have that be your bedtime story tonight?" They smiled. "After we plant these. It's getting dark anyways, so we need to hurry."

Ai nodded, and the two quickly warped alongside the wall. The sunlight was starting to fade behind the large federation building that dominated the area, but there was more than enough time to plant.

Alongside the other flowers the parents had left, the void and their child planted a rainbows' worth of flowers right alongside the wall. The gentle gradient swayed in the night air, illuminated by the nearby lanterns.

By the time the work was finished, parent and child covered in dirt, Ai was yawning. The Void's eyes softened, gently picking up Ai and assuring them they didn't have to do any more running today.

"Come on, Cornflower, it's bedtime."

The egg sleepily nodded, the void walking back to their house as the stars began to appear above them. They could have sworn Ai dozed off during the trip, however, when the Void went to tuck them into bed, the child's handed them a book.

Ama, you promised me a story

"Oh, cornflower, I haven't forgotten! I'm so sorry." They sighed, taking a seat at the end of the child's bed. "alright, I'll tell you about sharing and about the flowers, okay?"

The child nodded, sleepily holding a stuffed animal close, eyes fixated on their parent.

"You see, before your ama came to this island, they were a storyteller. And they loved telling stories with others, but they were almost always too scared to share their ideas with others.

When your ama got the confidence, they joined in groups where people would play pretend with their characters from their stories. And one day, while playing pretend, your ama's character met someone very interesting.

You see, ama's character was blue, just like me. This character was red, and so was the person who controlled them. However, they learned quickly that sharing their stories and their characters with this red person made a stunning shade of purple.

It wasn't always that easy, of course. Because Blue and Red don't always mix well. But..."

The soft snoring of their child stopped them from speaking. Ai was asleep.

A smile spread across their face, and Void carefully stood up. They put their head close to their egg, their glowing seeing to make the child smile in their sleep.

"I'll tell you the rest tommorow, Cornflower. Maybe your ama just needs to learn to share again...."

Carefully, they closed the door of the sleeping egg, picking back up their sewing project. The stuffed friend, red as ever, smiled up at them.

"Yeah. I just need to learn how to share."

#qsmp #qsmp a1 #a1 adoption project #void cubito #qsmp writing #void writes #Oh this was actually so fun to write. Im gonna need to do more of these akdbsjdbs

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bekoobove · 9 months

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Fazbear Fears #14: Find For Foxy

…Lane takes advantage of a new mobile game to keep his son busy while he works, but begins to notice strange events occurring around the house…

“Daaaaaad! I’m bored.”

Lane quickly muted himself in the video meeting as Eddie barged into his office. He glared at the energetic boy. “What do you want to do about that? I’m in the middle of a meeting.”

“Mom always plays games with me.”

“Well, Mom didn’t have to work!” Lane groaned. “Now she does. Please, leave. This is important.”

Eddie, deflated, left the room. As he did, Lane began to feel guilty about his overreaction. But what was he expected to do?

Lane had worked from home for years, but recently the family had run into some money troubles. His wife, Sara, had managed to get a job, and they were making ends meet now. Still, that left Lane to keep an eye on Eddie once he got home from school, which was no small task. The kid could barely keep his focus on anything- toys, books, video games- and needed to be constantly entertained. Lane couldn’t work and play at the same time, leaving both of them frustrated with the new arrangement.

Finally, the meeting ended, but Lane still had something to do. Apparently, the higher-ups wanted them to download some new communications app so they could stay up to date on projects.

“Seriously?” Lane muttered as he opened the app store. “I don’t want to have homework. If you can’t tell me during the workday, then how important…”

Lane trailed off as he noticed the app the store was featuring: some sort of mobile game featuring the character Foxy the Pirate Fox.

Seeing the character made Lane think of Eddie. He loved Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and all the characters, but none more than Foxy. He’d even gotten mad when Fazbear Entertainment cut him from the new band in favor of some wolf character. It was for that reason that Eddie had no interest in going to their new, big attraction despite it being pretty close. Instead he preferred their small town’s Pizzeria which still prominently featured the scallywag fox playing the drums and telling tales from the high seas.

That train of thought led to another- Eddie had never been bored in the slightest by Foxy. Maybe this app could keep him entertained? Lane went to the app’s page for more detail. In the description, there was more information:

From the development team behind the Princess Quest Trilogy comes an exciting collaboration with Fazbear Entertainment: Find For Foxy, a unique AR experience!

Foxy may be the world’s greatest pirate, but now he needs your help on a new treasure hunt! Foxy will present you with a household item that you need to find. Once you do, scan it with your phone. Find enough items, and you could even win fun Freddy Fazbear prizes!

Download for free today! You’ll never be bored again!

Lane grinned. This sounded like exactly what he’d needed!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Argh, matey! It’s me, Foxy the Pirate Fox! Will you help me on the treasure hunting adventure of a lifetime?”

Eddie squealed with excitement as he looked at the phone he held in front of him. There, superimposed on the living room on the screen, was Foxy, dressed in his finest blue overcoat and pirate hat. Lane, looking over Eddie’s shoulder, was impressed- the AR blended with the real environment really well.

“That’s splendid!” Foxy said, the designers clearly having banked on excited kids responding to him. “The first thing you need to find is a chair! Scan it with your device, and I'll make sure it’s the right object.”

“Go on, bud.” Lane encouraged Eddie, nodding towards the nearby armchair.

“I’ll get it, Foxy!” Eddie cheered. He moved closer and focused the phone’s camera on the chair. The image on the screen lit up, and Foxy appeared in front of it.

“Well done, Matey! That’s a chair if I’ve ever seen one!” Foxy patted the chair with his hook.

“Now, it’s time to look forward, and choose the treasure that waits at the end of this hunt!”

A new screen popped up on the phone, revealing a list of missions. They were mostly the same, simply tasking the player with finding more objects depending on the quality of the prize. Eddie could win Faz-Coins and merch coupons, redeemable at any Fazbear Pizzeria.

Lane rolled his eyes. “Lure ‘em in with free stuff, and the kids demand you buy a bunch of other things in the game...” he muttered under his breath. He hid his annoyance and clapped Eddie on the shoulder. “What treasure are you gonna go for?”

Eddie gasped. “The Foxy Visit!” He selected the mission.

Lane looked at the screen and gasped. “You need to find five hundred things to win that prize. Are you sure?”

“Yeah! The Foxy Visit sounds great!”

Lane remembered a party they’d had at the restaurant once where they’d reserved a visit with Foxy. He supposed this was the same thing.

“Alright, bud.” Lane smiled. “It’ll take some time, but I know you can do it.”

Eddie and Lane heard the garage door rumbling open. “Sounds like Mom’s back from work. Let’s get some dinner ready, huh?”

Eddie agreed. When Sara walked through the door, Eddie was already so excited to tell her about Foxy talking to him.

Lane mentally patted himself on the back. He’d made the right choice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next week was a busy one for Eddie and a peaceful one for Lane. Not only was he able to work without interruption, he had enough time to read and watch his shows. It seemed he’d have even more peaceful days, too.

Lane avoided talking to Eddie about the game too much (most conversations about it ended with incessant requests for a ten dollar skin for Foxy) but from what he understood, the hunts got harder as time went on. Now instead of chairs, he’d be asked to find a book with an animal in the title or a yellow flower. That’s right, some of the hunts even needed him to go outside. In one fell swoop, Lane had permanently ended Eddie’s boredom and made him get some fresh air! It was almost too good to be true.

On Sunday evening that week, Lane was feeling peckish. He decided to grab some Cheezy Squares, his favorite chips, from the pantry to snack on. But when he looked inside, he realized they weren’t there.

Eddie was coming down the stairs, and Lane shouted to him. “Hey, Eddie, did you finish off the Cheezy Squares?”

Eddie shook his head.

“Well, what happened to them, then? Mom doesn’t like them, so she didn’t eat them.”

“I don’t know.” Eddie scratched his head. “I haven’t seen them since this afternoon. I found them for Foxy, but I didn’t touch ‘em or anything.”

Lane chuckled. “Well, maybe Foxy ate them. I bet pirates love cheese.” He was a little disappointed, especially since he had to settle for some pretzels.

“Maybe I did something with them.” Lane thought to himself as he snacked on the salty twists. “I can sometimes be forgetful…”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“But not this much.” Lane stammered as he stared at the empty spot where his TV usually hung on the wall.

Things had been going missing all the time for the past few days. Books, kitchenware, food- they’d all disappeared without a trace. But this made it clear there was more to it than bad luck and a spotty memory.

“Aww, man.” Eddie groaned from the couch. “I wanted to watch the ninja show.”

Lane sighed. “Eddie, I don’t suppose you’ve seen it recently…” Lane braced for the answer he’d received at least two dozen times this week.

“I found it for Foxy.” Eddie explained. “But I’m not doing anything with them other than scanning with them, like I told you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Lane said, annoyed. He couldn’t truly be mad at Eddie, because his idea was ridiculous. It wasn’t like Eddie had actually been stuffing the missing objects in his phone or anything. But it felt like too much of a coincidence. “Listen, Eddie, Mom is getting scared. She’s worried people are breaking in, and I’m starting to feel the same way.”

“Breaking in to steal cups and Cheezy Squares?”

“Fair.” Lane admitted. “So you promise you don’t know about any of this?”

“Yeah, Dad. Geez.”

Lane took a deep breath. “Ok. I’m going upstairs to watch the TV in the bedroom. Go to bed soon, it’s almost 10:00.”

Lane trudged up the stairs in a daze. He pushed open his bedroom door, only to hear a strange noise: a rough scraping from above.

Lane slowly looked up. There was nothing directly above him- instead, it seemed to be coming from the attic.

Lane had always despised that place. Hardly the most mature fear a man could have, but who cared? To him, it was nothing more than a labyrinth of forgotten junk covered in cobwebs and dust.

“Maybe something just fell?” He desperately tried to convince himself. Nope- the scraping continued, and it seemed to be moving.

Heart racing, Lane walked over to the trapdoor, on the ceiling near Eddie’s room. He pulled the cord, opening the door and causing the retractable ladder to shoot towards him. It hit the floor with a BANG. The scraping stopped, and there was the new noise of an enormous CRASH- like now something had fallen.

As he began to climb, Lane called out. “Hey! If you’re up there, show yourself.” He tried to sound threatening, but struggled to keep the panic out of his voice.

He gripped the attic’s wooden floor and pulled himself through the hole. Above him, there was another cord, this one for the light. Hands shaking, he turn it on, looking to where he’d heard the crash-

And saw a pile of random stuff. Confused, he looked around the musty room. There was no sign of an intruder or a break in.

Eventually he focused back on the pile, and realized something. The objects were the things that had gone missing all week.

It was the box of Cheezy Squares that first alerted him to this, crumpled under the weight of all the other items. A few cups came loose from the pile, and rolled down it. An umbrella, a fireplace poker, and a rusty shovel poked from the mass. There were items that seemed to have come from outside- dried up leaves and plants, an old dirty baseball, and even a small frog, which looked dead. And, sitting on top, the most recent addition to this bizarre collection, the TV.

From behind him, Lane could hear someone else coming up the ladder. He turned to see Eddie. “Dad, I heard the crash, what’s- woah, what is all that stuff?”

In a rage, Lane turned and grabbed Eddie by the shoulders. “Oh, don’t play dumb! You know what this is. This is all the stuff you ‘found’ for Foxy.”

Eddie looked at the pile. “Well, yeah, I guess. How did it get up here?”

“Clearly you put everything here!” Lane yelled right in Eddie’s face. “You thought you needed to steal stuff for that Foxy Visit, because you’re a dumb kid who can’t go ten minutes without messing something up!”

Tears formed in Eddie’s eyes. “B-but I didn’t do it. How could I move a huge TV?”

“Don’t know, so how about you tell me! It couldn’t have been anyone else.” He spotted Eddie’s phone hanging out of his pocket, and snatched it from him.

“What are you doing?” Eddie gasped.

“I’m deleting this stupid app! It’s messing with your head.” Lane held his finger on the app until the X icon appeared in the corner. He pressed it, preparing to watch the app blink out of existence.

Instead, there was a strange popup: Error: Action Failed.

Confused, Lane clicked on the X a few more times, but kept receiving the same popup. Trying to sound unbothered to Eddie, he said, “Well, until we can fix whatever’s wrong with this, you can’t have this phone.”

“But Dad!” Eddie begged. “I’ve almost earned the Foxy Visit! I just need to find one more item.”

“Well then you shouldn’t have ripped our TV out of the wall.” Calming down a little, Lane tried to reason with him. “If you really wanted to visit Foxy at the Pizzeria, you could have just asked. We might’ve taken you.”

Eddie quieted for a moment before speaking. “But Dad, the prize isn’t us visiting Foxy. It’s Foxy visiting us.”

Lane stared, suddenly creeped out. “What do you mean- like in a private party room?”

Without answering, Eddie turned, walked over to the trapdoor, and climbed back down the ladder. Within seconds, Lane could hear him climbing into his bed and flicking the light off.

Lane gazed at the phone, at the app, with its icon of Foxy grinning roguishly. He’d never noticed just how sharp the character’s teeth were.

Lane left the attic, closing the trapdoor behind him (he’d bring all the junk down tomorrow). When he returned to his bedroom, he tucked the phone away in a drawer. Exhausted, he fell into bed beside his already snoring wife, and was overcome by sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lane jolted awake. He swore he’d heard a noise.

He turned to look at the digital alarm clock on his bedside table. In glowing green numbers, it read 11:18.

As he rubbed his eyes, Lane stumbled out of bed and stubbed his toe on something. “Arghhh- crap!” he said reflexively, trying to be as quiet as possible. He looked down, and realized he’d hit a drawer that’d been pulled out of the dresser.

It was the one he’d stored the phone in, and it was missing.

Lane growled. “Eddie, I know you took it!” He stumbled out of their bedroom, scanning the hall outside it for the boy. “I don’t care about your stupid Foxy quest, all that matters is that you’re in big trouble!”

Sure enough, the phone sat on the ground, its screen still glowing. But Eddie was nowhere in sight.

Growing worried, Lane kneeled down and picked up the phone. Foxy was congratulating the player for finding a box of tissues- and the one that normally sat on a nearby table was missing.

“Argh, matey!” the fox cheered. “Ye found all 500 items, and so ye won the treasure. I’m on my way over right now! This visit will be fun- you’ll never be bored again!”

From behind him, Lane heard a crash. He turned to see the attic trap door had slammed open, and the ladder fell out. Then, another object fell from the hole- a box of tissues.

“Is that you up there? Eddie?” Lane called out- a call that represented his last hope, that everything was normal and the family was safe.

A hope that was quickly shut down.

A tidal wave of junk- all the found items- came tumbling down from the attic. But the objects weren’t content to slouch into another harmless pile- no, they began shifting, twisting around each other, creating an oversized, beastly form.

A black goo bled out from the objects, acting as a glue to hold the horrifying creature together. Finally, the groaning and shifting stopped, and the new junk monster was complete. Appropriately, it resembled Foxy- if Foxy was a couple of fox animatronics torn to pieces and put back together again in a nine-foot tall display of mechanical horror. The mass stumbled forwards on several skinny legs, waving its hooks and arms at Lane. It had at least two heads he could see, which gnashed their teeth formed of sharp pencils, needles, and small knives.

From one of its mouths, a gravelly, grinding version of Foxy’s usually cheerful voice spoke. “YER OL’ PAL FOXY’S HERE, MATEY! THANKS FOR ALL THIS RAW MATERIAL, I’LL MAKE THE MOST OF IT!”

Horrified, Lane stuttered. “W-where’s Eddie? What did you do with Eddie?”

The junk Foxy was silent until it was within a foot of him, cornering him against a wall. Eventually it answered: “NOT YOUR PLACE TO KNOW, SCALLYWAG. BUT I CAN PROMISE YOU THIS- HE’LL NEVER BE BORED AGAIN. AND NEITHER WILL YOU!”

In one sudden movement, it wrapped its jaw around Lane’s neck. For a moment, just a moment, Lane felt the cold black ooze dripping from its mouth and fangs. He wondered what it was.

There was a horrific CRUNCH, and it was GAME OVER.

#fnaf #anthology #fazbear frights #five nights at freddy's #horror #foxy fnaf

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silentmoths · 2 years

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Strange Arcade? 500 Follower event!

In a strange little strip mall, you stumble across a strange little arcade.

In that strange little arcade, you find a claw machine.

'Winner every time!' it touts in bright neon above the machine, beside the crank sits a funny little moth, seemingly staring up at you, expectantly.

You cannot see the contents of the machine, each prize is hidden away inside opaque little gacha balls, and the machine takes no tokens, cash or coins, the coin slot having long since been taped over with masking tape, and words scribbled across it: Make a wish, see what comes out!

Do you dare tell the little moth your wish?

"Best hurry" the gruff tone of the grizzled strip-mall janitor tells you as he shuffles past.

"Arcade's shuttin on the 20th"

Rules/Info below

Hello and welcome! this is my first time doing any sort of follower event so please bare with me!

This writing event is currently only for: Genshin Impact~

So how do you wish upon the strange arcade moth and their machine? pretty simple! below is a list of 31 weird prompts, pick one of them out, bundle it up with the character/characters you would like it written for, and include a short prompt of your own; it can be one word all the way up to one sentence, but keep it short! you may also include a general 'genre' (angst, fluff, comedy ect), or alternitavely, you could pick just a prompt from the list and not provide any context, just to see what you get~

Dont forget to tell the moth if your wish is NSFW~

Losing composure but everything is mundane

Who gave you the right?

S H U T-

Look how pretty- oh wait no.

*Robot having a heart attack noises go here*

wait, you're HOW old!?

Puzzle peices

Not my circus, I'm just the monkey.

The fine art of bullshit

In which everything goes wonderfully wrong

Human again

I did something terrible

All is strange and vauge

Let me guess, you caused it

Who broke it?

Open door

Outside? Really?

I just bought this top-

You're lucky you're so hot

In front of my salad!?

Water and I never really got along

cursed picnic

do it for the vine

what the hell were we meant to be cooking again?

A trip to the dollar store

can we keep it?

Casual witchcraft

Coffee quest

tales from the depression den

Pure of heart, dumb of ass.

Strange arcade

Rules:

Must be 18+ to wish for anything nsfw, I will be turning off anon until the arcade closes. Minors and Ageless blogs will not have their wishes granted this day.

Don't be greedy! this moth might have four arms but only two of them are for typing!

I'm willing to write most things, if your prompt has something within that I'm not comfortable writing, I will let you know in private.

Please do not rush the moth~

This event is accepting prompts from today, 13/10/22 until 20/10/22

#Silentmothwrites #strange arcade event #moth is not silent

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calyxaomphalos · 2 years

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The Ghosts of Windy Ridge

Turn #21, three components location #14 - Spring Lake (2) neighbor #8 - Inge Ziminia - human who is very strong (4) event #4 - strange noise only I seem to hear

I'd had the Spring Lake location noted on the map I drew for a while.

Inge I pictured as a Germanic/Slavic woman, mid-30s, a competitive weight-lifter.

6 April 2022, Wednesday Morning

I got up and had a hearty breakfast with my coffee and then decided to go have a look at the Spring Lake. It's a short drive to the lake (everything's a short drive or a long walk around here). The route took me past Timmy's which looked pretty busy. But this was the first time I'd continued down the road that Timmy's was on. I knew it'd hook up with the highway again, and that's where I'd turn back to to the north, but then duck out right away to the right on the little side road which headed out to the lake.

When I arrived, it seemed more like a pond than a lake. Its claim to fame is the mountain spring which feeds it. I ought to be able to walk completely around the lake in maybe ten minutes, assuming the footing isn't too bad.

I turned back to my car to make sure I'd closed it up and locked it, because I thought I heard the car door beeping that it was open. The door was indeed shut tight. I listened again and heard the faint sound, a beeping, but not as regular as I'd thought. Three beeps, a pause, a single beep, another pause, another single beep, something like half a pause, and then it repeated. I looked around again to see if I could figure out where the sound was coming from, but saw nothing obvious.

There was, however, a person down at the other end of the lake. They were squatting down, wrapping their arms around a large rock, then standing up and lifting it. Once lifted, they turned and took the rock a few steps and placed it at one end of a slowly growing cairn. The ground was much rockier than I'd thought, so my ten minute estimate was very optimistic. In between picking my steps carefully over slick and sometimes loose stones, I looked up to watch the person building the cairn.

They spotted me just after having placed another large rock and gave a wave. "Hullo!"

I was going to reserve judgement until getting closer, but my first instinct was that this was some enormously strong woman. I paused to wave and answer with a "Hello!" of my own. The person was walking toward me much faster than I was approaching them, and soon we were just a few feet apart.

"Hullo there! I am Inge. Welcome to Spring Lake!" Inge held out a hand, as much for me to shake as to help steady my footing.

"I'm Serren, nice to meet you," I said. "Kind of a weird question, but what's that beeping sound?"

"Beep? I do not hear any beep, just the burbling of the spring and the songs of the birds. Perhaps it is a bird you hear?"

I wasn't going to argue. And as much as I was curious about the reasons behind Inge's rock-moving, I lead in with my main quest. "Eh, the beep isn't that important. What I'm really wondering is if you've been a local for a long while, and if so, did you know Maurice Forrester?"

"Ah, no. I have only lived here a few years. He was a friend of yours?"

"Business partner might be a better way to phrase it, but yes, we were friends too."

Inge turned back to her strange pile of rocks and then back to me. "I cannot help you, and must get back to my weight training. Good luck to you!"

"Nice to have met you. I'm in town for the rest of the month, perhaps I'll see you again." Inge turned and strode off. I turned and headed back to my car, picking my way carefully over the rocks and hoping I wouldn't twist an ankle.

#the ghosts of windy ridge #writeblr #nanowrimo #over the mountain

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cno-inbminor · 3 years

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iterum vivere (childe/tartaglia)

a/n: wow, it’s been fucking forever. first genshin fic featuring childe/tartaglia!!! a very huge thank you to @suspensin for reading this over and being my rock and support, and i love her so fucking much. I couldn’t have finished this without her!

plot: reincarnation and modern/uni!au ft. afab reader!traveler with she/they pronouns x childe/tartaglia

-- in which meeting childe is a bit of a dangerous game of push and pull

wc: 12.1k; angst + fluff

warnings: DOES CONTAIN IN-GAME SPOILERS (1.5? 1.6? + story quest and idek) and NSFW MENTIONS (mdni to be safe). there’s no explicit smut but thoughts do run a bit wild here and there

EDIT: Altered ChiLumi version now posted on AO3 here!

“Haven’t we met before?”

The shine in your eyes does nothing to hide your curiosity, head even tilting a little in observation. He watches them scan his face for any recognizable features, but attempts to focus on the strange, taut string of déjà vu that pulls him toward you. In a moment of absentmindedness, he had heard a faint voice call out his name from your direction. Confusion overtook him as you weren’t looking at him, but something inside his brain said that it had to be from you. And so his feet redirected his path towards your figure in the student union building, as if on a mission.

“A fucking whale, Childe?”

Oh.

“I don’t think so…?” You trail off, curiosity now replaced by perplexed feelings. “Do we have a class together?”

I think I would’ve noticed you by now if you were.

“Ah, what’s your major?” Childe asks quickly to avoid listening to the little voice in his head.

“History and anthropology, you?”

“Economics, but I’ve taken a history course for core credits. Maybe it was then?”

“With Dr. Zhong?”

“Yes!” He snaps his fingers. Part of his brain decides to usefully function and scan his memories to see if he remembers your face or head of hair in the lecture hall then. “Last year? Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 11:20?”

“Actually, yeah,” you affirm in surprise. You think you would remember the relatively attractive ginger in your class, but honestly, it had all been such a blur and you were often pretty sleepy during class. Dr. Zhong didn’t quite appreciate it, but you made up for it with your exam and essay grades, as well as paying better attention in some of his other courses.

“Did you need me for anything?”

“I’d like for you to come visit and meet my family.”

He’s really not appreciating this extra voice speaking for him.

“Well…uh…” Childe stammers and looks away sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of his neck. He honestly had no reason for approaching you, and now, he just looks like a desperate idiot. Think quick, he tells himself, floundering for some shitty excuse.

“I wanted to, uh, take another history course as an elective and um, wanted to know if you had any recommendations?”

“Oh,” you blink. That’s a first. When he meets your gaze, the swirling shades of sapphire strike something deep within you. Flashes of events you can’t make out go by in the blink of an eye, but then you realize you’ve been staring for too long. Blood rushes to your cheeks because you don’t exactly want this guy to get the wrong idea from you, because how are you supposed to explain, “I’m sorry, but I think we have met before, but just a really, really long time ago, and we might’ve been more than just acquaintances because that’s what it feels like?”

“I think you’d like Teyvat Mythology,” your voice wavers on the verge of cracking. “Dr. Zhong might have a TA this time around, but Xiao’s a great teacher. Doesn’t have long, rambling anecdotes, but explains things well and gets straight to the point.”

“C-cool, I’ll look into it,” Childe replies and smiles brightly. “I’ll head out then,” jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, where he just realized he left a grouchy Scaramouche waiting by a vending machine, newly purchased Starbucks Tripleshot drink in hand. “Nice seeing you, (y/n).”

He scurries off before you both realize that you never told him your name.

“Who’s that?” Scaramouche asks, jutting his chin in your vague direction.

“Someone from my Intro to Liyuean History course last year,” Childe waves off. “Come on, let’s go before the line at the pasta bar gets too long.”

The next time you see Childe is by accident, traversing across an open field of grass that many students like to sit out on to relax with friends, sunbathe, hold events, or play casual team sports if room permits.

You had your earbuds in and were scrolling through social media when laughter rang above all other sound, causing your head to snap up and swivel around to find the source. And while it might’ve been strange to an outsider, your steps immediately slowed as you watched the man of your tiring, vivid dreams sprint in your direction, eyes pinned on a frisbee heading towards him.

He’s wearing a grey sports tank and basketball shorts, headband holding back his bangs as he makes a slight jump in the air to catch the plastic disc between his palms. His feet plant into the grass as he looks for someone to pass it to, and you watch (with embarrassment) the muscles in his throwing arm relax and tighten with practice, frisbee steadily soaring through the air in a beautiful arc towards a teammate. He then lightly jogs to get closer to his group, but then his back stiffens.

Before your instincts kick in for you to turn and bail, he looks over his shoulder and stares straight at your now stunned self.

The sole ruby earring that glints in the sunlight catches your attention, and you recall your dreams of terrifyingly dark, violet electric power, blades of water rushing toward you, and then the stomach-churning sensation of falling from great heights pours concrete into your veins—

Childe looks a little amused for having your sole focus, hand lifting up for a quick wave. And as you numbly return the greeting, your heart beats out, “Run from him.”

And so with the flight response pulsing and firing from your synapses, you abruptly speed walk away, almost breaking out into a sprint towards your dorm. You ignore his pointed, confused look, and pretend you don’t feel the two holes of imaginary fire searing into your back. It isn’t until you’re laying back in bed that you release a huge sigh of relief and pray to a deity you don’t believe in that those eyes of mirth will not haunt you tonight.

But of course, with a deity that doesn’t exist, the prayers go unanswered.

“Do you believe in any of the mythology you teach?” You ask Xiao about a few days later when you stop by his cubicle. Luckily, no one else is around for this conversation, and Xiao has always been kind enough to humor your thoughts. Granted, he might feel obligated because you had asked Dr. Zhong to be your advisor for your undergraduate Honors thesis, and Xiao was directed to be your receiver of some general questions and source of information if he wasn’t around.

A quick scan of your complexion tells Xiao everything he needs to know. Your eyes are overtaken with rumination and exhaustion, haziness clouding them as you seem to ponder over your own question. It’s not often that you ask him anything not related to your thesis or coursework.

“Perhaps there’s some sense and truth to the tales passed down,” he softly muses. “What makes you ask?”

You lift yourself to sit on the clean area next to his computer, legs slowly swaying back and forth. “It might sound crazy but...I’ve been having dreams lately. They feel too real, too natural to be anything that my mind would make up. I’ve never had the most creative imagination by any means, which is why there’s some comfort to me being a history major, but I can’t shake these.”

“So why ask me about the mythology?”

“...the Archons are there. I even dreamt that I met the Geo and Anemo Archons. And they controlled various elements, just like we were taught.”

You don’t notice that Xiao has ceased his rapid typing, fingers hovering over the keyboard before one hand removes his glasses from his face. He uses the other to rub his eyes and softly pinch the bridge of his nose before sliding the frames back on. Dark, golden amber eyes survey you as you grapple with the unfathomable possibilities of your nightly visions, at least until you shake your head in disbelief at yourself and lightly scoff.

“Who am I kidding?” You ask no one in particular. “Maybe I’ve been doing too much research and everything’s mixing together.”

“You’re ahead of schedule, if that provides any consolation.”

“Some.”

It takes Childe a grand total of one minutes and 53 seconds to sign up for Teyvat Mythology for the spring semester.

WInter in Liyue is only slightly miserable, being so close to the ocean. It’s chillier than usual on this dreary day, yet something compelled you to exit your dorm and shakily make your way to the campus coffee shop for a warm drink. Coffee, hot chocolate, you haven’t quite decided yet, but just as you let yourself bask in the warm building, familiar ginger hair and blue eyes wash away the comfort.

Or do they douse you in security?

They remind you of your recent dreams that now have shifted away from stress and violence to easygoing summer days by the oceanside, running barefoot in the sand while collecting beautifully patterned azure starconches. Sometimes, you thrust a hand towards an oversized four-leaf clover on a wooden stake with the power of wind and catch yourself in the air, soaring and looking around to find more of the little shells. Other nights, they consist of climbing steep cliffs, only to sit at the edge in the clouds with fatigue wracking through your system and marvel at the view before you.

Someone’s always with you though, ruby earring and maroon mask and cobalt blue gem hanging from the waist, sprinting with you, playfully tackling you down, pulling you up towards mountain peaks, laying their head on your shoulders, brushing their lips against your cheek--

You welcome the change of peace in those dreams, but only because they don’t leave you quite as tired the next day, as if you’d been avoiding an inescapable dark force.

Part of you wants the burning question of why this person, this man, in all his glory and brightness, affects you so fucking much when you barely even know the guy -- why looking at him sends your heart to lodge itself in your esophagus, why your lungs feel like they’re so close to being completely collapsed under the weight of his stare, why feeling like you’re trapped and caught between wanting to run towards yet away from him. It makes no sense, and you’re tired of trying to make sense of anything you don’t exactly want to remember from your dreams for some, once again, inexplicable reason.

But there’s no time to think as he quickly ambles towards you, your own feet shuffling forward to meet him in a warped reference of a distance that constitutes to “the middle” before you can stop yourself. Your shivering hasn’t quite stopped yet, and Childe seems to take notice of it.

“Pretty cold out there,” he softly states. It’s cute, the way you’re curling in on yourself to retain some warmth.

“Y-yeah, not sure why I decided I really needed something warm to drink right now,” you reply and avoid his gaze. He watches you peer over his shoulder to squint at the menu display hanging from the ceiling, seemingly contemplating on what you should get.

“How about I get yours today? My treat for your class recommendation last time.” Anything to keep you here longer. Childe doesn’t realize how much he’s missed you, which confuses him, and chooses to ignore the fact that he’d been camping himself at the study tables in the building where the history department is located in hopes of even just catching a quick glimpse of you.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” you immediately attempt to subvert his generous offer, hands shooting out from your jacket pockets and waving in rejection. “It was nothing.”

“Please?” Childe puts on his best puppy eyes before reaching for one of your wrists, gently tugging you to the register. “Just this once?”

You want so badly to squash the tiny flare of disappointment that erupts in your chest from the newly acquired knowledge that this was just a one time thing. Do econ majors hate to feel in debt? That they must be even with everyone, or would rather have people indebted to them than the other way around?

There’s no time to think when Childe gives the cashier his order before turning to you, and without wanting to waste anyone’s time, you rattle off your usual beverage. He’s quick in fishing out his student ID to spend some of his campus currency, shooting you a boyish grin when you pout at your half-opened wallet.

“Go take that table over there,” he says, pointing to one in the corner by some windows. “I’m gonna tell my friends to go on without me.”

“I didn’t mean to intrude or pull you away from them,” you slightly panic. The sooner you can leave, the better. Right? “You don’t need to sit with me, I was just gonna head back to my dorm.”

“I insist. Go ahead, I’ll be right there.”

Why your brain takes his orders over your own is a mystery in and of itself, because before you know it, you’re plopped down in one of the lounge seats and staring off into space, mind reeling over the last two minutes. You pretend you can’t hear the way Childe’s friends nudge his arm playfully with their shoulders, wiggling their eyebrows suggestively as Childe tries to get them to stop being nonsensical.

“You’re gonna scare them off,” he hisses at them, hands pushing at their backs so they could finally leave him to his devices.

“Not before you do!” One of them laughs and Childe groans at their antics. “All right, all right, we’ll go. They’re cute though, might steal them if you don’t make a move.”

The darkening of the aura surrounding Childe is too quick for them to fully process, not before he dampens any of their fleeting hopes with a, “Don’t even fucking think about it.”

But it disappears just as fast when his and your drinks are called out, and he gives them one last shove before retrieving your to-go cups. Childe directs all his focus towards the seat diagonally from yours as opposed to the one that’s straight across, and you’re sharply ripped away from whatever reverie you let yourself slip into.

“Thank you,” you murmur, hands cupping the drink and feeling the heat seep into your fingertips. “You really didn’t have to, it was nothing big.”

“Can you blame me for just trying to find an excuse to finally talk to you?” He asks without a skip and you can’t tell if the quickening of your heartbeat is from a looming sense of doom or excitement. Those eyes, the tiny swirls of the ocean, blue like those shells buried in the sand--

It takes three seconds too long for you to understand where he was going with in his words, and part of you feels unamused at his smooth talking. You’ve always guarded yourself against guys like Childe, devilishly handsome who know their way around language semantics, ready to pull you in and just as ready to push you away. That (possibly unfair) bias, coupled with everything else you’ve been feeling for him, sounded the alarms and set the walls up around your heart. Perhaps you need to stop wearing your heart on your sleeve, because Childe immediately retracts his forwardness.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I promise I’m not looking for anything in return and you don’t owe me anything, but I really did just...want to sit and talk and...get to know you?” Childe trails off a little towards the end. Your body loosens up and relaxes just a tiny bit, feeling bad for your snap judgment. Let the guy do something nice, don’t look into it too much, you tell yourself. It’s a coffee, not a five-course dinner.

You reach out a hand towards him, small smile across your lips, ready for his to join yours in a quick handshake. “I’m (y/n), senior history and anthropology double major. It’s nice to meet you.”

The pounding of your heart against your ribcage has nothing to do with the shimmering of his eyes, nothing to do with the fact that his hand fits with yours just right, and nothing to do with the fact that an eerily similar voice from your dreams whispers, “I love you.”

You learn a number of things about Tartaglia in the four hours, like his family members and their respective interests, which classes he did and didn’t enjoy taking, certain takes on Schnezhnayan politics, his own various hobbies, crazy accidents from the occasional college parties, and more. He’s a bit of an open book, probably telling you way more than any regular person would, and definitely more than anything you revealed during all this time. Everything you tell him seems surface level, nothing too deep. The walls are still there to protect you from the unexplainable, profound feelings his presence seems to elicit, and luckily, he doesn’t prod any further. Childe feels the resistance and respects it, which just adds more brownie points in your book, and you almost feel bad for having given so little in return.

“I wish we were taking Teyvat Myth together,” he sighs when walking you back to your dorm, hands stuffed in his pockets. His ruby earring catches the light from the sunset, the shade almost complimentary to the golden amber rays that streak across the sky. “Would’ve helped having a history major in there.”

“Is that all I am to you, an answer bank?” You jokingly ask, but he watches concerningly as you shoot your gaze to the ground, mindfully stepping over the cracks between concrete slabs.

“Of course not,” a gentle sincerity reaches you, giving you the confidence to make eye contact with him. “I’m sorry for making it sound like that, it wasn’t my intention. I really just meant it as a way of saying if the professor or TA ended up being a total bore, then well, having you would make it more fun.”

“I’m sure I’d bore you even more,” chuckling, speeding up to get away. You’re growing too comfortable in whatever atmosphere Childe has created, like an enclosed air bubble bobbing gently in the depths of the sea and letting the waves carry you both to whichever ends of the earth.

“Hey,” he interjects, hand reaching out to stop you with a soft yank of your wrist. There is no resisting force from you, feet stepping backward until he meets you eye to eye. It’s unfair in the way that he can render you motionless by standing just an inch from you, arms brushing with his head tilted closer to your own. “Seriously, I’m glad we did this today. Are you?”

No, because now I don’t know what to think, I don’t know who you are, I’m not any closer to figuring out why you terrify yet leave me so enamoured with you, I’m torn between punching and kissing you and--

“Yes,” you subconsciously answer, brain immediately short-circuiting to scold yourself. “I had fun.”

His grin, charming, devilish, is so so bright, bright enough to rival the Liyue sun that sits on the pier, on the edge of the ocean, bright enough to rival the love that your fraternal twin showers you with on a daily basis. You want time to stop right here because you’re almost sick of the voice settled deep within your heart that screams, “Don’t get comfortable, you must run from him!”

“Good. Let’s do this again?” And you nod, of course you do. Foolish you. “Don’t be a stranger!” He calls out as he turns on his heel and waves over his shoulder, hand raised in the air, and you’re suddenly transported to another scene, a less refined version of the Liyue Harbor, watching as the head of ginger hair with a red mask in a flashier attire of grey and maroon walks away from you and onto a roaring, magnificent ship; big, ivory sails only seen in books and museums. It’s the same gesture of “see you later”, and just before he turns, you blink, and you’re back to seeing your campus again.

But Childe does look back once, warm and content that you’re still standing there, watching over him, and he can’t help but think about when he can spend time with you again, because suddenly, it truly feels like there’s not enough of it anymore.

“Excuse me, what’s a Red Bull?”

The last thing, or person rather, you expect to see on the last day of finals for the fall semester, is a small boy who looks way too young to be here, tugging on the sleeve of your windbreaker. He’s at most eleven, ten maybe, but he has eerily similar characteristics, as well as an accent that doesn’t quite belong to most Liyue natives. Still gathering your bearings from your own perusing of the fridges that hold all the possible beverages a college student could consume, you kneel down until you’re at eye level with the child.

“Repeat that for me? Are you looking for a Red Bull, you say?”

“Yes!” He beams and holds out a student ID that most definitely doesn’t belong to him. “My brother asked me to grab him one because he was busy with something.”

Your eyes flit over to the top shelves where the aforementioned cans of caffeine are located, and definitely too high for someone of his height to reach. “I’ll grab one for you. Did he ask for a specific flavor?”

“Nope, he said regular. Thanks, you’re really nice! Do you know my brother?” He asks, waving the ID at you so you can get a better look at the name. That’s definitely a face you recognize, but the name leaves you confused.

“Yeah, um,” glance over again, “I know...Ajax…”

“He’s the best toy seller in the whole world!”

Somehow, it suits him much better than Childe or Tartaglia, and you’re not quite sure what toys have anything to do with the matter at hand. Speaking of hands, the little boy grabs yours in sheer delight. “Can you take me back to his room? I kinda forgot the directions he told me, and everything’s so big around here.”

“Sure, just let me buy something, too, and I’ll take you.”

“Okay!”

The cashier isn’t the least bit fazed by the little brunette at your side -- it’s always common for family members to come in around the end of semesters to pick up kids or visit, and being an open building with snacks and drinks and a stopping point of most tours, they’ve seen it all. You even let him pick out a bag of chips and a candy bar for himself for being so polite and not a complete menace, paying with your own campus currency.

Teucer, as you’ve learned in the last two minutes, likes to point out things and ask you questions. Luckily, you have answers to most of them and do your best to pad the time, enjoying the feeling of a tiny hand wrapped around three of your fingers. It’s sweet to any normal passerby, believing they’re witnessing an older sister doting on their little brother around the holidays, but to Childe, seeing the tender sweetness on your face as you nod along to whatever Teucer is rambling about to you, sets his heart aflame. He’s already constantly on the verge of wanting to hug and kiss you and never let go, but you haven’t made any indication that you could potentially like him back, and this is just torture.

“Look what they bought me!” Teucer shoves his rewards in Childe’s face as if he had extremely poor eyesight, and you can’t help but laugh a little as you set his Red Bull down on his desk, clutching your own preferred beverage while looking around his room. Finals must have gotten to him with the unusual lack of tidiness in the small space, some laundry strewn here and there, a couple boxes of eaten microwave dinners in the metal wire trash can, some textbooks left open and marked with more sticky notes than you’ve ever seen. You’d only been here once before to drop off some food that he desperately messaged you about, stuck doing a project that he just couldn’t step away from.

“Pretend you don’t see the mess,” Childe pleads, handing a kid tablet to his brother but holding on before Teucer can take it. “What do you say to our nice friend here for buying you these snacks?”

“Thank you!”

“It was nothing,” you shyly smile, ruffling his hair. “I enjoyed meeting you.”

“Wait, what’s your name again?”

“It’s (Y/n).”

“Okay, (y/n)! Wait…(y/n)..as in…”

Teucer trails off and gives a look to his brother, one that spells curiosity and trouble, before he grabs your hand and pulls you into a corner. Any movement Childe makes to leave his desk chair is immediately squashed by Teucer’s disapproval, and the older man is left to helplessly worry when you’re told to squat down so secrets can be whispered into your ear.

“He talks about you a lot whenever he calls home,” and you want to laugh at Tecuer’s attempt to sound as scandalous as possible. “All the time! I think he likes you, like, like like.”

Oh. Oh dear.

“What makes you say that?” You whisper back, indulging both yourself and him, yet also internally snickering at how troubled Childe looks.

“Sometimes, he video calls mama, but we’ll all sit around and talk, and whenever he’s talking about how he saw you or something, he just looks...happy. Really happy.”

The surprise on your face does nothing to settle Childe’s nerves and he’s about to start wringing his hands together. Whatever Teucer was telling you couldn’t be good, probably embarrassing, like the one time he unceremoniously fell on his ass while ice skating over a frozen lake, or when he tried fitting fifteen marshmallows in his mouth and nearly choked on them when their mother caught them in the act, or--

“I think he just thinks of me as a good friend,” you try to inform Teucer, not letting yourself get any semblance of hope. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“If you say so,” Teucer pouts. But then he stops whispering and bounds over back to his brother, grabbing the tablet before plopping down on the half-made bed.

“Look, I was overconfident and thought I could execute a perfect single loop on the ice, but there was a rock and I lost balance and--”

“I wasn’t being told any stories about you falling on ice, but do tell me more,” you chuckle and take some joy in watching the blush spread across his cheeks. It’s easy to tell that he’s mentally berating himself for jumping to conclusions.

“Well, first off, thanks for buying him all that, and my drink, too,” he sighs. “I spoil him enough as it is.”

“I can see why it’s hard not to,” you smile knowingly. “So is it just him here? Where’s the rest of your family?”

“Funny story, he somehow managed to convince my parents to let him come here on his own as his first ever plane flight, so I had to pick him up yesterday from the airport. He’s flying back with me tomorrow.”

“And the RA?” You ask with an eyebrow raised.

“Ah...well...what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him? Speaking of, what was Teucer whispering to you about?”

There’s a pensiveness that overtakes you when you look at Teucer again, who’s happily playing some sort of game and completely oblivious to the rest of his surroundings. You won’t, can’t, take his words to heart, and will take them with a grain of salt at most.

“Nothing important. Although I did learn something new...Ajax?”

“Say my name -- fuck, say it, please--”

“I guess cat’s out of the bag,” he chuckles and looks away, absolutely unaware of the flare of heat that swirls in your stomach from the fleeting vision just now. “I came up with other nicknames as a kid to seem cooler, and they just stuck with me. Plus, the business world is full of people who just want something from you, or just a transactional relationship. I’d rather not give my real name to them, if you know what I mean.”

“That’s fair,” you nod and lean to sit on the edge of his desk. A thought pops into your head and you turn the words over in your head like a washing machine on the spin setting, teeth gnawing on the flesh of your bottom lip. If Teucer hadn’t been in the room, he would’ve been this close to kissing you.

“But if it’s worth anything,” your voice slowly, softly starts, cautious and wary of your thoughts. “I think...Ajax suits you best.”

Curse fate. Curse the legendary Archons. Curse karma and deities and spirits because all he wants to do right now is stand and tower over you, trap you between himself and his desk so you can’t escape, take those pretty lips between his until they’re bruised and swollen because of him, hear you call out his name in the throes of pleasure so he can finally replace his fantasies with tangible memories. The unnatural, magnetic pull that draws him to you is unbearable now -- he feels like he’ll lose the last tendrils of his sanity if he doesn’t do something.

You can’t stop him from slowly reaching out to grab one of your hands, lifting it towards him until he’s close enough for you to feel his breath ghost over your knuckles. It sends a shiver down your spine and blood is pounding in your ears because you can’t begin to fathom what he’s thinking about while doing this, even more so when his lips make contact with your skin and your breath hitches, stuck in your throat as he languidly peeks at you beneath his eyelashes with a heated gaze, then lowly confessing, “My name sounds best when you say it.”

Good heavens.

It’s difficult to swallow and keep your composure, especially when Teucer yells out in glee over, what you can assume, beating something in his game, and Childe drops your hand. But his dilated pupils don’t retract in the slightest, refusing to let you look away so that maybe, you can understand what he’s trying to convey to you. He’s taking the first step because he’s terrible and can’t contain his self-control anymore, pushing the ball into your court, ready for you to either play or exit into the sidelines.

When you do blink, there’s a vision of your naked body wrapped around another, limbs clinging desperately to a sturdy and panting frame. Lips, much like the ones that have seared themselves onto your knuckles, are at your neck and sucking, biting, before moving to your ear and laying filthy words into them that drive you closer to the edge. It all happens so fast that you feel you’ve just experienced whiplash, yet also feeling secondhand embarrassment at how lewd some of these thoughts have been.

You can’t stay here any longer.

“I-I have to go,” spills off your tongue before you can really think about it. The way the haze shatters in his eyes is heartbreaking in its own way, but there’s no time for you to explain. Your brain is in overdrive and eager to run, run, run. It detects danger on all fronts, but you muster out a, “H-have a good break, come find me next semester, mmk?”

And you’re out the door with inhuman speed. When the door clicks shut, only then does Teucer look up from his screen and frown at the lack of your presence. “Where’d they go?”

Chlide doesn’t seem to hear him, and Teucer has never seen his big brother look so sad and confused before.

He holds on to that last tendril of hope, because mark his words, he will find you come January.

After about a week at home, enjoying the festive time with his family and mildly unconcerned about next year’s courses because that was a problem for another day, Childe has his first, crazy, nonsensical dream.

At least, that’s what he tells himself when he snaps awake and his body aches with exhaustion. Not only are his joints in agony, he also feels like he’s sporting unforeseen bruises, which makes absolutely no sense because he hasn’t done anything that would warrant them, no matter how much he and his brothers do some rough-housing. His night of sleep was all consumed by flashes and scenes of weapon fighting, lucid enough to remember feeling his arms flex and wield bows and double-headed polearms and being cognizant of all the enemies??? surrounding him. They ranged from deranged looking monsters, floating beings with soulless masks, and large humans in electricity-padded armor, to behemoth machines in the sky that could leave you within an inch of your life thanks to a drill for a hand?!

But what’s even worse is that you seem to have managed a deal with Morpheus himself and infiltrated his dreams. You were there, too, sometimes fighting with him, sometimes against him, much to his dismay, and while it was nice, he just didn’t get it. Why the friendliness and hostility? Why was there an anger that overtook him when looking directly at you, parrying your blade and sending harmful arcs of water toward your figure?

Why did he relish the fear in your eyes when he darted towards you with electricity cracking through the air?

There’s an overwhelming sensation now to grab his phone to text you and apologize -- for what, he can’t fathom and there are no words to accurately convey what he’s thinking. “Hey, sorry for wanting to kill you in my dream :( “? Or “Sorry for being a friend but then stabbing you in the back, but then being nice to you again”?

And the only thing that really made sense was the serenity and contentment that would course through his veins as the two of you danced around on ivory sandy beaches, picking up shiny blue starconches and taking down more weird creatures; the breathlessness when you would fall back into the water and re-emerge to reconfirm his beliefs that you were one of the most beautiful humans he’d ever laid his eyes on; the love--

Hold the fuck up.

He doesn’t love you. He likes you a whole lot and he’s severely and deathly attracted to you, but he doesn’t love you. Your existence has only been made known to him for about two months, and he didn’t really start talking to you until three weeks in. So no matter how comfortable he feels with you, no matter how much he wishes that you were sleeping peacefully next to him so his nights wouldn’t feel so lonely, it was too early, too hasty, to say that he loves you.

“I’ve been wondering, why didn’t you bring them home?” His mother asks him out of nowhere during breakfast, all to add to this extremely tumultuous roller-coaster morning he’s been having. All he wants to do is eat his bowl of milk and cereal, then potentially go back to sleep before fulfilling his promise to go with his siblings to the nearby skating rink. It takes everything in him to not choke on his spoon of grains.

“Agreed, didn’t you mention they didn’t really have any family to go back to and that the move to Liyue was semi-permanent?” His father chimes in, laying a quick peck on his wife’s temple. “It’s never fun to spend the holidays alone.”

“They would’ve felt like they were intruding,” Childe replies quietly, stabbing his bowl a few times before scooping up another spoonful of cereal to his mouth. “I know we’re friends, but we haven’t known each other for that long, and maybe they’d be uncomfortable because that’s a lot honestly…”

“You don’t know until you try,” his mother sings and pats him on the shoulder. “We do have a guest room after all.”

“For them and their twin?”

“And quite a comfortable futon with enough blankets.”

Childe smiles fondly at his parents’ kindness. He can only imagine what this winter break would’ve been like now -- you and your twin floating around, trying to help out with certain chores, sitting by the fireplace and watching TV, huddled up with mugs of hot chocolate, playing board games with everyone and engaging in all the shenanigans…

Laughing. Loving. Grinning. Basking.

Handing over one of his hoodies to you as a sick way of torturing yet blessing himself for seeing how lovely you look in his clothes, standing silently in the doorway as you attempt to help out with mealtimes next to his mother, watching you run around in the backyard and dodging his siblings’ snowballs while lodging a few of your own -- how wonderful it all would be.

But he squashes it down as quickly as possible, because you escaped his grasp. You ran away from his advances temporarily and even though you gave him permission to seek you out come the spring semester, he worries that you might take it back. Something will wake up inside of you to keep him out of your heart and your life, and he’s not confident enough at this point to believe there’s a good chance you will come spend the holidays with him and his family next year.

“Maybe next year, ma,” he sends her a hesitant, yet somewhat broken purse of his lips that’s just the least bit curved. It tells her everything he’s thinking, and the quick patting of his cheek lets him know she understands.

Half an hour later, Childe finds himself curled up on his side under the sheets, phone in hand as he stares at a blinking cursor. It shouldn’t be so hard to send a text to convey his holiday greetings, because that’s all it is -- part of him is becoming desperate and aching for some interaction with you, even if it’s just a text sent back for conventional social pleasantries. He’ll take it for now, right?

Before he can totally chicken out, his thumbs quickly type a, “Happy Holidays, (y/n) :)”, and it’s a little embarrassing how quickly after he hits the ‘send’ button that he tosses it over his shoulder so he’s not directly looking at it anymore. His heartbeat is too quick and he prays for no phantom vibrations or phantom sound notifications to avoid any disappointment of thinking he got a reply. It was a harmless text, yet he’s treating it like he just got assigned on a mission to go and murder someone for the first time. What will he do if you never text him back? Does that mean you really don’t want to talk to him? Are you dead in a ditch somewhere? Did you change numbers and not tell him? Did your twin get all the details and make the executive decision to block his number? Will he never get a chance to talk to you again, even if it’s about something in the Teyvat Mythology class next semester? Will you--

His shoulder screams in protest when he quickly flips himself over at the text notification sound, hands shakily unlocking his phone and opening up your conversation again. His heart rate significantly decreases, reaching back to its normal pace, especially as he reads the little words on his screen.

“Happy Holidays, Ajax ^^”

There is hope.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”

You’re huddled under the comforter of your twin’s bed, phone just peeking above the edge as you stare at it with a brightness in your eyes. For the most part, you had been sulking there, apart from meals and going back to your own room to sleep, and mentally berating yourself for the way you reacted to Childe the week before.

“He just texted me to say happy holidays,” shrugging to put on a facade of indifference. It’s stupid that you’re trying to hide your feelings from your twin of all people, who could pick apart and identify your emotions in a heartbeat. A roll of his eyes lets you know that you haven’t fooled him at all.

“So you think that whatever comment he made, which was very suggestive and indicative of clearly non-platonic feelings, was just something...friendly? Remind me again how you came to that conclusion?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking!” You whine, looking around to see if there was anything you could toss at him. “It’s just, with everything, all the dreams and stupid gut feelings, I just -- I don’t know, okay?? I can’t tell you enough how much I wish I had just kissed his stupid face and see where it goes from there.”

“Okay, gross, but don’t beat yourself up. Though...I do have a good idea on how to maybe get a good reaction out of him. You wanna go to the New Years’ celebration at Xiangling’s?”

“I think she’d threaten me with a knife if I didn’t. She wanted to go shopping at some point, too.”

“I’ll drop the overprotective brother act for one night, okay? One night, just to let this happen, and for your peace of mind.”

He does a fair amount of conspiring with Xiangling, a friend they met one time at a restaurant a couple years ago, even tagging along on the shopping trip. Together, the three of you find yourself a dress that Xiangling swears would make any person drool over you, including Childe, because at the end of the day, he was a person with the possibility of being attracted to you.

You think it’s a bit silly, but honestly, what do you have to lose at this point?

At 11:57PM on New Years’ Eve, Childe is standing outside in the freezing cold with his family, arms lifting up bags of sparklers and fireworks. They’ve driven out closer to the wild like they do every year, and everybody excitedly gets lighters ready, making sure someone’s got a clock out there that tells the seconds. As the younger kids open up the packaging and argue over which one to set off first, Childe’s phone vibrates in his coat pocket.

It’s 11:58PM when he manages to fish the device out and thank himself for buying gloves that are touch-screen friendly, excited to see that there are two texts from you, the latter reading, “Happy New Year!”. It doesn’t matter that you’re a little early, but he’s mainly intrigued by the fact a photo came before it. In his mind, you’re probably curled up with your twin brother, hopefully a selfie because wow, he misses your face.

He gets something else instead, and he is so glad that it’s dark outside and the electric lamp they have is too far away from him to draw any attention.

You have your arm around your brother’s waist and another girl’s that he doesn’t recognize, but it’s a full frontal view of your outfit, one that hugs your curves beautifully and shows more cleavage than he’s ever seen from you, sophisticated and elegant, yet fun and leaving enough to the imagination. There’s a bright smile coming from all of you, and you look like you’re at someone’s house or apartment with plenty of other people milling around in the back, but they don’t matter, not when all he can focus on is you.

Gorgeous, breathtaking, arousing, mind blowing, and gods, he wishes he could teleport to Liyue at this moment, find you, and kiss you right at midnight. Fuck the fact that he doesn’t exactly believe in superstitions like, “Kissing your significant other at midnight means you’ll last forever!” but he’s willing to take the chance with it on this night and the ones after, if he’s allowed. He tries not to think too much about pinning you against the wall and letting the world dissolve -- wants to be the one with the privilege to drag down that zipper and feel his bare skin on yours, and --

As Teucer starts yelling there’s only a minute left, he instinctively locks his phone and shoves it away out of anyone’s view. The last thing he needs is his family teasing him about ogling at your photo for a straight 50 seconds, wide-eyed and pupils on the verge of dilating, the visible breath leaving his mouth just a smudge more dense and prominent than usual.

The only thing he can do to distract himself from popping a boner in front of his parents is to join in on the countdown, making sure all the fireworks are set up correctly and grabbing a sparkler for himself. He waves it around with Tonia and promises to fulfill her wishes of taking one of those pictures right as she draws a pattern in the air. Their excitement is palpable and addicting, and even though the larger fireworks set off a few seconds after midnight hits, the nostalgia fills his lungs with fond memories and future wishes that they only continue this tradition for as long as possible, and hopefully, with you at his side.

When it’s 12:04AM, you get a picture message back of Childe bundled up in a black paletot coat, matching beanie and all, a gloved hand holding a sparkler and lips curved upwards, with a caption that says, “Happy New Year’s! See you soon :)”. You show it to Xiangling and your brother, both taking it as a win in their books, although the former does tipsily protest that there should be a better indicator of Childe’s brain breaking at how amazing you look right now. Maybe she’s prophetic, because another text chimes in and the words set you aflame, as well as suggestive whoops into your ears.

It’s a simple, “You look incredible btw”.

If you didn’t want to properly savor this moment, you would’ve found the nearest shot of the strongest liquor and tossed it back with abandon. But you want to remember the warmth in your veins that wasn’t from the alcohol or the heating, the fluttering of your heartbeat, the teeth-baring grin that you couldn’t fight off, the constant re-reading of those four words -- because they’re so different from everything you had been feeling before with him, the need for protection, the need to escape. Instead, you’d like to be in his arms right now and see for yourself how he’d look at you in this moment, and if he would take any action.

You want him to. So, so bad.

Childe spends his last week at home hating the fact that you’re just sitting around somewhere in Liyue, doing whatever you’re doing, probably doing some light preparation for your last semester of classes, and he’s not there to take advantage of all this free time and hang out with you. When classes start, it’ll be busy and hectic. You still have your thesis to finish and revise, and while that won’t eat up all your time, it’s still some that he’d want to fill in with his presence if he could. He debates whether or not he should ask for your schedule and compare it with his, maybe set up meetings every other day or propose that they all eat one meal together every day. Childe’s not quite sure of what you plan to do after graduation, as it hasn’t come up in conversation yet, but either way, he’s determined to stay in contact and make things work out. Long distance isn’t ideal, but with technology now, he’ll take it.

He feels a little bad for how excited he probably looked to be leaving home, uncharacteristic for the most part. His older siblings have already gone back to their respective homes, and it’s mainly Teucer and Tonia that worry and tear up when he starts packing his belongings. Tonia finds it unfair that Teucer got to meet you first and the latter makes sure to rub it into everyone’s faces. It’s hard for Childe to sleep on the plane because he’s thrumming with excitement, yet somehow even more nervous than usual when the plane hits small bouts of turbulence, and he doesn’t seem to relax until he sets foot back on campus.

He’s here. It’s January, and you’re physically closer to him than ever in the last two weeks.

“Found you.”

On the first day of classes, you’re sitting alone with some salad greens in a bowl, poking your fork at some scraps while you watch something on your phone, earbuds in and back towards the entrance of the canteen. It would explain the unannounced entrance of the very person who’s been at the forefront of nearly every thought in the last 96 hours, his fingers gingerly removing an earbud to surprise you as best as possible, and you startle in your seat.

Your heart kicks into overdrive when he hands you back your earbud and pulls out the seat next to you, setting his own plate of food down as he plops down in his chair. But then he says nothing afterwards, instead choosing to send you a cheeky grin before digging in. You’re left to slowly phase out of your state of shock, stuck between either running away or frantically texting your twin to come and save you even though he was off on a date with Keqing.

It’s not that you weren’t elated at the fact that Childe had done exactly as you told him last month, you just weren’t...prepared? It’s a shitty excuse and a cop out -- you’re mainly just having trouble with racking your brain to find the right words. What are you supposed to say? What should you do? Is it socially acceptable to lean over and kiss him on the cheek because that’s what you’d like to impulsively do at this very second??

“So you did,” you settle and steal a roasted potato wedge from his plate. It’s his turn to be taken by surprise, but he gets over it much quicker than you do. In fact, he spears two wedges and drops them in your bowl, smiling at you as best as he can with a mouth full of food. You give them your thanks before the silence settles in again.

“Did you have a good break?” He asks before his next bite.

“I did. You?”

“It was nice. My parents said I should’ve brought you and your twin home to spend the holidays with us. Can’t say it didn’t cross my mind before finals.”

Holy shit, what? “We couldn’t intrude like that, but that’s really nice of you guys.”

“That’s okay, there’s plenty of chances to visit later.”

You tilt your head and furrow your eyebrows. “But we graduate this semester?”

Childe challenges you with one of his own eyebrows raised. “And? Are we never gonna see each other again?”

Honestly, the possibility had occurred to you. You aren’t entirely sure of Childe’s plans after graduation, and if that meant he was staying in Liyue or going back to Snezhnaya or even moving to Inazuma or Mondstat. While people preach on and on about how lasting friendships and relationships are often formed during college, you believe it’s more common to slowly drift apart as life gets busier. And if Childe moved away, or if you did, it’d be hard to consistently keep in touch with 10 hour workdays.

The thought saddens you, regardless. You like him so much and you’re glad that he was even in your life to begin with, because as unbelievable as it sounds, seeing him was almost akin to the feeling of coming home. Amidst all your nerves, your confusion, your spiraling thoughts, something deeply sated in your heart was a comfort that you found with very few people in your life whenever in his presence.

The thought of leaving and never looking back somehow doesn’t feel new -- it’s bittersweet, but the air in your lungs feels like it’s surrendered to something, like it was to be expected.

“You can’t just leave without telling me--”

“It was last minute! I had no choice!”

“You could’ve written up a message, anything--”

“Can you imagine the position you’d be in if the message got intercepted? I wouldn’t have been safe, she’d make you come after me--”

“As if you’d be any safer in Inazuma of all places! That’s the one place I can’t easily get to!”

“I can take care of myself, Childe, I don’t need you to protect me.”

“This isn’t about me protecting you, (y/n) and -- stop walking, will you?!”

“Then what is this about?” You spin on your wheel with eyes aflame. “Why are you so angry with me? It’s normal for me to disappear for weeks at a time, why was this any different?”

“Because you could’ve died!” He yells back in despair, chest heaving. Your silence is his cue to continue. “You could’ve died and I wouldn’t have known until much later. You could’ve died and all I’d ever think about were the things I never got to say to you, and how I wish I had treated every day with you like it was our last.”

It isn’t hard to tell that you’re stunned and at a complete loss for words. Childe often hides behind facades of charm and wit, and only when he is truly weak does he choose to be this vulnerable, baring his heart for you to see.

“I only have two nightmares in this world. One, my family being harmed in any way. Two, reading in a report or hearing from an agent that you’ve been captured and killed.”

“I like to think that we will.”

His hand reaches out to lay on top of yours, giving it a quick squeeze. “Well, let’s make the most of it this semester.”

Conversation afterwards is easy, filling each other in on holiday activities. Childe speaks extensively about several family traditions and you listen with rapt attention, basking in how fond he is of all of them. Even as you both bring your dishes to the return belt and leave, he immediately offers to drive you both somewhere to get boba, noticing your reluctance to part ways. But boba shops have to close, and you both have class tomorrow morning, and you’re both finding any excuse to keep talking, even if that means sitting outside your dorm building on a nearby bench.

You eventually bid each other good night’s and see you later’s, him refusing to walk away until the heavy door locks shut behind you after you swipe your student ID, and you looking over your shoulder to watch his figure disappear into the night.

True to his intentions, Childe makes great efforts to meet you at least once a day, and he can’t get enough. Each parting from you tugs and tugs at his heart, as if there’s a high possibility you’ll never want to see him again the next day, and he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Your twin and Childe get along well for the most part, and he even meets Xiangling on one of her shifts at her regular restaurant, who sends you a salacious wink and an eyebrow wiggle over his shoulder that nearly causes you to burst from embarrassment.

February rolls over without a hitch, even if you’re a little disappointed that Childe didn’t make a move for Valentine’s Day. Granted, you two still spent time with each other and he’s so darn physically affectionate and he bought you a carnation from the event his dorm held, but you wish you had the guts to fess up and just kiss the man.

It’ll happen some day, you tell yourself. You have time before graduation.

Two days before the end of the Friday that would signal the start of Spring Break, you wake up in a cold sweat, mind reeling and head splitting, heart so so heavy, as a connection is made between your present and your dreams. Not long after, there are tears streaming silently down your face and into your open palms placed in your lap, and you sit in shock as everything comes back to you. Memories are such treasured burdens, you realize.

For the most part, you had gotten used to the dreams, choosing to take charge of what you know and feel now with Childe over succumbing to some strange neurological premonitions. Especially in your dreams when many people’s faces were blurred over and hazy, and the only things you could rely on were voices, touch, and other physical features. You thought that maybe your mind was just playing tricks by transposing Childe’s hair onto a body that was also strikingly similar to his, but for the first time last night, you could see each defining feature on his face as clear as day.

The sight of his figure arching gracefully over yours, the water arrows that appeared out of thin air, the back that protected you from some military men, the voice that said, “Hey girlie, hold still.”

And that was when you had snapped awake to your current state.

Past the initial shock and uncontrollable tears, you soon bent over as sobs wracked your chest, overwhelmed by all the emotions and the pain the memories brought you; losing your twin, finding him to only be left with even more questions after roaming for decades and decades, meeting all your loved ones throughout Mondstat and Liyue, fighting yet falling so hard for Childe, feeling the fear when facing his Foul Legacy form, hating him for Osial, loving him, breathing heavily as the tip of your blade was pointed at his neck and his own just centimeters from yours, tendrils of water inching closer and closer--

Everything makes sense now.

When you meet your twin for lunch at the cafeteria, you pay no mind to the fact that you’re in public and hug him harder than you ever have in years. He’s already a little alarmed that your eyes seem swollen and you look like finals came two months early, but when he asks what’s wrong, all he gets is a shake of your head and nothing more than, “Just a bad nightmare. I love you, y’know that?”

“I love you too?”

“Don’t sound so unsure, now let’s go and get in line before they run out of Jueyun Chili Chicken.”

Even when you meet Xiao later in the early evening to talk about your thesis, you find yourself holding back more tears just two minutes in, reminded of his past and his own life, and he’s moderately concerned, hesitantly handing you a tissue from the corner of his desk when a stray tear escapes. “Is everything okay?” He hesitantly asks, really hoping that he didn’t do anything to make you cry.

“No,” you almost wail and sniffle while dabbing at your eyes. “Sorry, it’s just been a really long day.”

Xiao’s inquisitive gaze softens, remembering how hard undergraduate life could be sometimes. Graduate school was a whole other level, but that shouldn’t discount your own personal difficulties. Plus, in all of the year and a half that he’s known you, you’ve never broken down like this before in front of him.

“You work really hard, Xiao,” you continue, and he’s not sure where this is coming from. “You’re always so helpful and willing to work with me and answer my stupid questions and like-- you practice self-care, right?”

Xiao nods as a white lie, but it seems to comfort you. Maybe too much because you pull him in for a quick and unexpected hug, and you both decide to reschedule this meeting for tomorrow.

As per usual, you wait for Childe to join you for dinner since you finished up earlier than expected. It gives you more time to think about everyone from Mondstat -- Kaeya, Diluc, Lisa, Jean, Amber...funny to think that some things never changed as you compared their past version to the ones you know now.

“Mora for your thoughts?”

There’s a peace that warms your heart when you hear Childe’s voice, one that forces you to smile at him as he sits down next to you. “Just thinking about old friends.”

“I have to admit, I’ll be a little jealous if it’s another guy taking up more space than me in that pretty brain of yours.”

What a flirt. This man isn’t good for your heart. “Who said you had any to begin with?”

He dramatically places a hand over his heart. “You wound me, (y/n). How will I ever recover?”

“You’re ridiculous,” you snicker. Childe reaches over to pinch your cheek and you bat at him in protest. Easily, he grabs one of your hands and simply pulls you towards the food lines, knowing that you’ll stop fighting back soon.

Part of it feels strange now to feel and see his hands with no leather gloves on.

“Childe,” you start halfway through your meal, continuing after he hums back in reply. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

He freezes briefly, but recovers so quickly that if you hadn’t been watching so closely, you wouldn’t have noticed. “I think it’s neat, the idea of having past lives. Why do you ask?”

What he really wants to ask is if you’ve been having those dreams, too; if he’s starring in your nights like you have been in his.

“Just a thought, especially since you’re taking Teyvat Myth now, too.”

“Do you...do you think if there was a past life, that we knew each other?”

There’s something about the look of content on your face before you meet his gaze -- he thinks that you know more than you’re letting on but you’re holding back for some reason. He wants to know what’s going through your brain right now, why the fondness in your eyes sends a jolt through him like he’s been searching for it all his life, if you know anything about this magnetic pull between you two.

“I like to think that we knew each other well.”

Even though the first day of your returned memories was somewhat eventful, you couldn’t help but feel yourself wanting to pull back from Childe -- at least, until you can successfully compartmentalize which emotions belonged to you past self and which ones belonged to your current mindset. You didn’t quite agree with his duties and his affiliation with the Fatui back then, even if he had his reasons that did make sense, to some degree.

The killing, the threatening, so intent on stealing Rex Lapis’s Gnosis in the name of the Tsaritsa, summoning Osial as a mean to an end -- and you definitely can’t forget how stubborn he was in not listening to your protests, so caught up in his brain that you had betrayed him and sent you plummeting to a near-death experience despite his earlier promise of no intention of killing you specifically.

Everything had been toeing a faint, thin line with Childe then. Undeniable chemistry and tension, guarding yourself for yours and Paimon’s safety, slashing at Fatui agents, whispering out pleas and affirmations of “I’m yours” while riding him, sometimes having to sneak out in the mornings…

The only thing you don’t remember is how everything ends -- maybe it’ll come back to you eventually, but for now, you think you’re okay not knowing.

If Childe still doesn’t remember anything from back then, you think it’d be unfair to spend time with him in all your conflicting emotions, even when it’s spring break, where you have so much more hours in the day to be with each other than normal. Fun plans around Liyue had been made, like a two-day one-night trip to Yaoguang Shoal, and you’re this close to cancelling on him.

But he had been looking forward to it so much, even made most of the preparations for it. Who are you to rob that joy from him when it was you who couldn’t figure out your own shit? Are you self-destructing?

Perhaps.

Before you know it, you’re sitting in the passenger seat of his car, staring out the window at the scenery. Somehow, it pleased you to see that the nature of Liyue had been carefully preserved over the many centuries despite its development into the modern age. You get lost in picking apart the differences between then and now that you don’t notice how quiet you’ve fallen and Childe looks over worriedly when you show no reaction to your favorite songs playing on the stereo.

Even when he calls your name once, twice, nothing gives as you clearly have tuned everything out. So he leaves you be until there’s about half an hour left on the drive, unable to hold back and succumbing to reach over for your hand. You startle so strongly that he almost feels bad for having done it unannounced. But what’s even more disturbing is that this isn’t really the first time.

You’ve been talking to him less, often sitting quietly and staring off into another world that he can’t seem to reach. His texts are answered less frequently and with less wit and enthusiasm, so much so that he just appreciates you still show up to see him. Each time he asks if you’re okay, you always affirm that you are. He’s had a hard time believing you, but Childe believes you’ll tell him when you’re ready, surely.

It’s a little ironic yet fateful that Childe planned to bring you here, of all places. In the past, you had spent many days and nights running around in the sand with him, fighting slimes and hilichurls and collecting starconches for him. You remember laying on a large towel next to him as you both looked up into the sky, pointing out stars and constellations while sharing endless kisses away from prying, spying eyes.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve zoned out,” you sincerely apologize.

“It’s okay, I just wanna make sure you relax while we’re here. This is supposed to be a vacation.”

“You’re right,” you agree and squeeze his hand. “Let’s make the most of it before we become adults who are too busy to have fun like this again.”

And you do. Childe rented a small beach cabin (rich boys) closer to one end of the shoreline, just big enough with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen with a dining table. You help him bring in your bags and some groceries bought the night before, setting them down quickly so you can peer out the window again to take in the view. Childe picked a good time, too. Although it’d be a little chilly at night, the day was still warm and mainly overcast with clouds.

“What do you say we change into our swimsuits and head down to the water?”

“Sure.”

Childe hadn’t really been expecting for you to step out in a large, casual tee and gym shorts, one shoulder exposed. He might have been hoping to see a little more skin, but his mother didn’t raise a chauvinistic pervert for a son.

The light in your eyes as you both approach the water is everything he had been missing the last few days, your excitement and joy contagious. As soon as you place everything down on the sand, you kick off your flip flops and leave him behind to step into the water, giggling at feeling the waves crash over your ankles and bring sand between your toes. Childe approaches you from behind and starts smearing sunblock on the back of your neck, to which you just grin beautifully at him in thanks and he has to fight off the desire to kiss you right then and there.

You’re too caught up in embracing the ocean afterwards to feel the shrinking distance between you two, mistaking his warmth for the general spring air. It isn’t until he’s done with your shoulders that he hands you the bottle to leave you to do the rest of your body, and when you turn to thank him, he’s much closer than you remember. His eyes are gentle, holding your gaze and almost daring you to look away first.

But if there’s one thing you can place without a shred of doubt, it is the unmistakable look of love, because you had seen it many, many times before without knowing until later what it meant.

How so incredibly lucky you were to have Childe back in your life now, loving you all the same, and with no life-threatening barriers. Fate or the Archons have given you a second chance, and you’d be damned to take it for granted.

Childe welcomes your lips against his, wasting no time to bring you into his arms so you’re pressed against him as much as possible. He can’t care for the overt public display of affection because this is everything he’s wanted for months now, waiting patiently for you to give him permission to make you his. Your lips are incredibly soft and pliant against his as you first kiss him patiently, then applying more force and desperation to taste more of him. He mirrors you, one hand cradling the back of your head and the other on your neck with a thumb extended to your jawline, teeth moving to nip at your bottom lip. It’s dangerous, the way you smile against his lips, and when he sinks his teeth in deeper before pulling back, your quiet mewl nearly drives him over the edge.

But you’re in public, and this was an amazing first kiss. You two have a beach to enjoy and a fun night planned, and now that he doesn’t have to hold back on his affections, it’ll be even better.

His lips part from yours regretfully, his eyes languidly opening to meet yours. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a blue starconch in the sand and freezes.

It’s not that he’s never seen one before, but something clicks. You. The shore. Starconches. Starry nights. His dreams. Monsters. Gods. Fighting. So much fighting. Training. His family. Dragons. You. Falling. You falling. You fighting him. Yelling. Kissing. Loving. Chasing. Him chasing you before you disappear at a teleport waypoint that somehow you only can operate. The abyss. Your twin.

Oh, Archons.

“ -ou okay, Ajax? Ajax?”

He snaps to look at you again. How does he go about this? How does he ask?

“(Y/n)...have you ever heard of the Fatui Harbingers?”

He has to admit that it’s a bit amazing to be able to identify all the emotions that cross your complexion, from curiosity to realization to conflicted. You’re actively trying to piece everything together without revealing too much on the off-chance that you’re wrong, that Childe hasn’t regained his memories and is just asking about something from class randomly and completely out of the blue.

Wait.

“You haven’t reached that material yet in class,” you whisper, heart in your throat at the realization. Could it really be…

“I was once Tartaglia, eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, who possessed a Delusion and used my Foul Legacy Transformation with you several times,” he murmurs back, tucking a stray tendril behind your ear. “Is it too late to apologize again for summoning an ancient god and letting you fall about five floors with no warning?”

He should’ve been prepared for you wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him in for a tight embrace. “No, never, but I spent weeks after kicking your ass so you’ve been long forgiven.”

Childe burrows his face into your neck, breathing in your scent and basking in this moment. There was so much to talk about, but you two arguably had more time in the world than ever with nothing holding you back. There was no impending war looming over, no one on the run, no opposing forces. His silent wish for a different life with you seems to have been answered finally. If running into you had been the event to set everything in motion, he only wishes he’d done so earlier.

All that matters now is you’re here together in this plane of existence, given a chance to love again, and experience everything you couldn't before.

As written in the stars, take my soul for it is forever yours.

fin

#childe x reader #tartaglia x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin scenarios #genshin impact scenarios #genshin imagines #childe #tartaglia #childe angst #genshin impact #genshin angst #genshin impact angst #this fic maybe took two years off my life

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citowon · 3 years

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spring troupe and gender neutral s/o watch horror movies

about time i finally write for this blog... i was hit with the image of masumi watching a horror movie with his s/o, thought how lovely it would be if there was content of that, then realized i have that power now

word count: 1,935

tags: established relationship, non-detailed mentions of horror themes (gore, monsters, etc)

sakuya sakuma

🌸 when the topic of a horror movie date first comes up, he’s a bit scared. he’s only seen a couple, one of which was for mankai play research.

🌸 when it’s actually showing, though, he’s pretty calm! the anticipation was the worst part, and he somehow doesn’t get scared even during the most terrifying movie of the year. he’s great at reminding himself it’s just fictional in the end

🌸 vampires? not scary. aliens? he thinks they’re cute! gore? well, yeah, it’s unnerving at first but it’s all fake, and once he reminds himself of that he’s fine

🌸 he gets scared at the littlest things though. there might be a continuity error where a knife is in its holder on the counter in one shot and then removed the next, and no one in the movie acknowledges it nor is it supposed to mean anything but he can and will psych himself out thinking about just what moved it

🌸 king of predicting plot twists! he might be very good at spotting continuity errors, but he’s even better at picking out little bits of foreshadowing and putting together the mystery

🌸 gets spooked the most by jumpscares. every time he squeaks a bit (on really bad ones he might scream) and every time he always does the same embarrassed sigh afterwards and goes to squeeze your hand to calm himself

🌸 psychological horror is definitely the best pick for sakuya. he thinks a lot about what’ll happen next in the movie and loves to discuss about movies with you regardless of the genre, so with thought-provoking psychological films it fits him like a glove

🌸 and hey, if things ever get too intense he loves b-list horror movies! he thinks the bad acting is endearing and always finds something to compliment even with the trashiest, corniest flick

🌸 if you ever get uncomfortable, he might commentate in the movie and try to poke fun at it- i mean, the killer clown is kind of funny! look how bright and colorful it is compared to the rest of the set! he keeps his voice light and sunny so you have something comforting to concentrate on

masumi usui

🎧 he loves the idea of horror night. cuddling with you, holding you protectively as the suspense rises, stealing kisses to distract you from the monster and erase your fear...

🎧 he’s only seen a few horror movies in his life, less than the fingers he has on one hand, but whatever. it’s a movie. it’s not real. if he got too immersed he could just tell himself it’s fake and be done with it.

🎧 spoiler alert: he didn’t.

🎧 masumi did not, and i repeat, did NOT expect to get so invested??? even if you’re scared, he’s definitely the most terrified

🎧 that’s not to say he’ll show it. he’s doing everything to keep a neutral face, and you’ll probably assume he’s holding to you tighter during the scary parts like he’s protecting you.

🎧 (it’s actually because you’re the one [1] thing grounding him. you’re protecting him, not the other way around! in hindsight, he likes being cared for even when he thought he’d be the one spoiling you, not the other way around. he just wishes it didn’t have to be during such a scary movie, that’s all)

🎧 will take his fear to the grave... unless you ask him directly about it. please hold him and tell him the monsters aren’t real, even though he’s a heavy sleeper he will stay up until 3 am, his mind reminding him how creepy the movie was every time he’s about to drift off

🎧 so does not fuck with ghosts, if he didn’t believe in them before he certainly does now. the poor guy looks up how to ward away spirits and ends up carrying around a salt packet on him for the next two weeks

tsuzuru minagi

📖 tsuzuru’s not exactly a horror fan. he claims it’s brainless and pointless

📖 (admittedly he’s a little scared of them, but he still thinks they’re dependent on shock alone, and have zero rewatch value since the writing is more focused on in-the-moment spooks than actual plot.)

📖 he’ll roll his eyes and tease you a little but eventually he’ll go along with watching a horror movie

📖 to psych himself out of his fear tsuzuru decides to watch them critically and note what plot points to do (or more likely not to do) for future plays

📖 this works out for the beginning but by the middle of the movie he’s enraptured. he can’t tell if it’s actually good or if it’s a car wreck he can’t help but watch

📖 does the corny move where he yawns and wraps an arm around you, and you’d almost buy it from his earlier cynicism but then the killer shows their face and he tenses up like hell and you just know

📖 gets embarrassed every time he’s scared- he even turns pink, and gets even redder if you try to hold his hand or cuddle him closer (even though there’s nothing he’d want more after something that creepy)

📖 by the end he’s got a few new ideas that might go to autumn or winter troupe’s latest plays, and admits okay, fine, maybe horror isn’t so pointless after all

itaru chigasaki

🎮 screw movies, you’re playing horror games instead!

🎮 most of itaru’s horror games are single-player, so one of you takes the controller while the other sits next to the player, but itaru’ll drape his arms around you from behind in a back hug the entire time you play

🎮 he doesn’t really shut up. the entire time, he’s either cracking a joke or trying to freak you out more, if only so he doesn’t get in his head and overthink the creepy atmosphere

🎮 asshole only quiets down when the game gets tense, and then suddenly puts his hands around your shoulders or neck to scare you. regardless if you fall for it or not, he always laughs at himself and just-so-happens to break the tension as a scary cutscene plays

🎮 still commentates when he’s the player, but gasps or jumps even at small atmospheric scares

🎮 itaru definitely overthinks the game. he gets super cautious over tiny details and makes the missions way harder than they should be since he keeps overestimating the enemy line of sight and how noisy the avatar is

🎮 if you happen to be playing a co-op horror it’s a constant “no u” battle over who should do the scariest tasks

🎮 “reader, we need to cleanse the room next. you should do it” “no, you should do it. you have the quartz item remember” “i can give it to you since you have the ghost ward” “the ghost ward doesn’t apply to this quest, besides, you’re better at this ghost attack quick time event than me” “no it does, and you’re more optimized” “i can just give the items to you-“ “no you should do it” “no you” “no you” “no you” “no y-”

🎮 you both lose

citron

🍋 citron loves horror movies! he thinks they’re... comforting?

🍋 turns out he’s only seen movies about cursed dolls and b-horror, which explains a lot- he loves dolls too much to be scared by them and he thinks b-list horror is hilarious- but he’ll still proudly proclaim he’s unflappable and swear to protect you from the bad guys

🍋 when you’re actually watching the movie you can’t tell if he’s faking his reactions or not. he’s very noisy

🍋 he gets scared enough during the gruesome and horrific scenes to hold you close and tight like a teddy bear, and during the worst of it he might muffle a scream by diving into the crook of your neck, obscuring his vision until the scene changes

🍋 and yet, he laughs at the next scene’s unrealism, and manages to poke enough fun at the movie that you giggle and his terror disappears, he loves your laugh way more than he can be afraid of monsters

🍋 can’t do gore for the life of him, but when it comes to the actual plot, he’s rather critical of characters acting dumb. he catches on to nonsensical writing quick, but usually asks you to clarify the plot holes before realizing that he found a loophole in the writing

🍋 whenever you’re scared and not even his goofy reactions and commentary can help, he plants a sweet kiss on your cheek, strokes your hair, and holds you close to his chest until the fear goes away. he’s surprisingly good at protecting you from the movie

🍋 after the movie he’ll say his country has a similar legend to the movie monsters, but he claims the legends are true in zafra, and zafrans have a very specific tradition to prevent the monsters from attacking them

🍋 the movie also gave citron the idea of creepily standing behind you silently until you turn around and get startled, or occasionally chanting in a strange, cultish language and pretending he didn’t say a thing, or making a doll with the same markings as the clown puppet from the movie...

🍋 citron continues to be even scarier than the actual horror movie, but can’t wait until the next horror night! maybe watching it was a bad idea after all...

chikage utsuki

🌙 chikage just doesn’t get the appeal of horror. it’s just a fake movie, why do people get so creeped out by terrible sfx and unrealistic monsters?

🌙 he’s seen scarier things than any werewolf pack, zombie outbreak, or witch coven can throw at him. if you insist on watching a scary movie, fine, he’ll be happy to let you sit on his lap, just don’t expect to creep him out as well, or else you’ll be sorely disappointed.

🌙 he analyzes the movie more than he watches it, but doesn’t speak up even though the fight scenes look pitiful. if this were real life, he’d sweep the whole brood of shambling monstrosities in record time and be back home in time for izumi’s curry

🌙 chikage runs his hands under your shirt whenever the monster’s on screen to scare you. it’s actually really creepy- his fingers are light and quick and always makes you flinch, even if you know it’s just your boyfriend

🌙 he’ll listen to your thoughts about the movie, but doesn’t have strong opinions himself. he thinks the scares are mediocre at best, even without considering his background, but won’t mention how unrealistic it was unless you mention it first.

🌙 psychological horror, however, is a whole different story

🌙 maybe chikage can’t get scared by generic spirit halloween monsters but once you introduce thought-provoking plot, questions and dilemmas, now he’s hooked

🌙 he really likes wondering if the protagonist is actually the good guy and making theories about the origins of the monsters and why they’re so destructive, even if he forgets about them once the movie’s over.

🌙 love love looooves the “the monsters were harmless creatures before humans dished out the first blow” trope. he knows how common it is, but there’s a lot of ways to go about it, especially on a subtextual level, and he just can’t get enough

🌙 the deeper the plot is, expect a longer conversation about the ins and outs of it. they get surprisingly thoughtful and introspective, even if chikage throws in a few bullshit stories related to the movie just to watch you squirm

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juminly · 3 years

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First Sight (Arthur Conan Doyle x Reader)

Summary: Going through a rough patch in your life, your friend thought of the perfect solution to help you through it. And that's how you found yourself spending a night with one of the most reputable men of Yoshiwara.

Tags: Yoshiwara/Courtesan AU, Fluff, Bittersweet Fluff, Some Mutual Pining, Obvious Canon Divergence, Some Historical Inaccuracy. –♥– Had she not convinced you to come with her to take a look around the infamous red-light district of Yoshiwara, you would have never witnessed something as mesmerizing as you had on that evening. It was the walk of the Yoshiwara courtesans, where the different courtesan establishments would flaunt the highly demanded and regarded men and women of the district, both genders falling in awe and captivated by their beauty as they walked the streets around Sunset, before the nights of unholy pleasure began. Looking at your friend, her eyes practically bulging out of their sockets as she waited to see the courtesan that she had been frequenting for a while, Dazai. Spending heaps of money on the dark haired fellow with golden eyes, you could definitely see why she had become too obsessed with spending countless nights with him, even as it dried her pockets. Shaking your head, you sighed and rubbed your temples, still wondering why you were even there and why she brought you with her. Yes, you were going through a major slump in your life but the trust that you had in her methods to cheer you up was not at its highest point then. You watched a silver-haired man followed next, kind crimson eyes looking at everyone that watched the parade but at no one in particular, an obscure sense of poise surrounding him as the softest of smiles painted his lips. He was certainly beautiful but... you had yet to see and witness more. Feeling the air seeping from your lungs, your eyes were met with the most mesmerizing jewels you've ever seen, gleaming sapphires outlined by long dark lashes, strands of wavy midnight blue hair boldly acting as unruly curtains that swiped over them with each strut of the man's body. Pale skin brightened under the blush light of the sunset, pink lips stretched into a sure smile, a smile that did not reflect in his eyes. His collar attracting your eyes to the long slit created by his kimono, loosely hanging over his broad shoulders, the belt pulling the fabric together only accentuating the musculature of his lean physique. A loud scream startled you, one of the girls standing next to you practically hyperventilating as he had winked at her, all the while, he kept his head high and turning to keep his gaze forward, his posture picture perfect as he slowly faded away in the distance, yet his presence still remained.

As your friend bumbled on about how she didn't want to spend the night alone in the courtesan house, forcibly strung along in her whims, you found yourself standing before a counter where bills of cash were laid flat on the wooden surface, your eyes widening as you realized that she had booked you a room with one of the courtesans. "I-... I didn't ask for this! I could've just waited for you in the lobby! You b-" Pressing an index against your lips, she grinned widely. "My treat. Believe me, with this one, you'll definitely thank me later. I have a good feeling you will."

Clicking your tongue and practically fuming at her insolence, you felt your blood boil but what was the point? You weren't sure who you were going to meet, unfamiliar with their names, having only your eyes laid on them as they gracefully walked before you. You didn't have anything to lose... So you'd just go wherever the wind took you. It wasn't like you had anything better to do for the rest of the evening anyways. Making your way to your appointed room, the loud thumping of your heart grew louder in your ear. This was not something you have done before nor were you familiar with, but sliding the door open, you were meet with the bare back of a man who had been in the middle of dressing himself back in his kimono. You stuttered a low 'sorry', still hesitantly standing by the door when you heard a tuneful chuckle. "Don't worry about it, love. I am not a shy one." Turning his head around, the flickering light of the candles surrounding the room illuminating his striking features, a surprised gasp escaping you when you realized who it was. The blue-eyed courtesan with the beauty mark right by his playfully quirked lips."You are more than welcome to come in. After all, I am at your beck and call tonight." Swiftly standing up, inching closer to you, he reached over you, shutting the sliding door, the colourful smell of wood and spices filling your senses in the most intoxicating of ways. Smiling down at you, the confidence in him was not arrogant, yet playful and teasing, the trepidation in you decreasing as you realized, this is no different than meeting a man you’re interested in for the very first time. Other than the fact that you were meeting in a bedroom and just... Shaking your head, you tried not to dwell too much on your thoughts, focusing on the beauty that was towering over you. “What a lovely dove you are...” You felt the top of your cheeks heat up, with every word that he left his lips. It was his job to flatter his clients, of that you were already sure, but that did nothing to deter your weak heart from being struck by his sweet nothings. “Hello there, first timer. It will be my utmost pleasure to serve you on this beautiful evening, love. Make yourself comfortable, dearie.” With a shaky smile, you stepped further inside, noticing that there was no other place for you to sit but on the bed, not even a chair, nothing. You didn’t have many expectations yet considering how favorable he seemed to the public, it would be only natural to witness more extravagance than there already was. Finding a spot on the edge of the bed, you sat and looked up at the courtesan, a nervous giggle escaping you. “This is my first time and I wasn’t planning on even coming here. My friend booked this room for me and I’m just... here now.” Walking across the room with barely audible footsteps, he glided to your side, light a feather, bearing a small cup in one hand with another intricately ornate bottle. “It is kind of you to say that you had a 'room' booked for you and not a 'courtesan'... 'myself' booked for you.” He teased, pouring a clear magenta liquid into the cup, filling it close to the brim and offering it to you. “Raspberry sake for your nerves, dear.” Whipping your head to the side, the corner of his eyes crinkled lightly as he grinned at you, your heart completely melting as he flashed his pearly smile at you. How was he even doing this to you? Just by the sound of his voice, he had you feeling like your entire body melted. Still keeping your fingers linked together, as if they were still stuck in each other's hold, the blue eyed courtesan placed the bottle on the nearby nightstand, still keeping the hand offering you the liquid filled cup to you. "I promise on whatever ounce of dignity that I may possess, the sake is for your own comfort. It is my rule within my profession not to force advances upon clients. Fear not, pretty dove. For tonight, I am yours, as no one could ever be mine." Finally taking the cup from him, your fingers brushing against his long slim digits, a faint shiver coursing through, your heart crumbling at the seams at the dauntingly sinister words of the courtesan, masked by his cheerful tone Taking a long sip, throwing your head back lightly as you emptied the liquid, a light scorching trail paving it's way down your throat before you finally found a bit of courage, hoping the pink sake had given you some. You were usually much more confident that this. What was happening to you? "Would it be okay if you told me your name? Since we are spending the night together, I think I should at least know what to call you." You inquired, an attempt to make the best out of your night somehow. His name was probably a good way to start. For a split-second, the courtesan was completely caught off guard, not only were you a first-timer, you didn't even know his name and by the looks of it, you had absolutely no plans in taking advantage of the money that your friend had spent on 'him' keeping you company through the late hours of the night. Crossing his legs, he chuckled at the way your eyes took in the sight of his exposed legs, the length of his pale and soft skin on display for you, the slit of his kimono heeding any client's quest to assess the goods they were paying for. As your eyes skirted away, locking with his mesmerizing sapphires, Arthur took the liberty to lay back on the bed, angling his body to the side towards you, hoping that with time, you would also do the same. "There is no need for formalities with me, dearie. Call me Arthur. That is my name. Yet, all my clients are also free to call me whatever they wish, as well." In that moment, you were certain that Arthur couldn't hear how wistful his words rang, how every time he spoke, his voice was laced with a palpable sadness, your very being feeling an inexorable need to reach deep inside him and fill it with... You were not even sure. You didn't know him, so why would you assume all these things about him? After going through your small round of introduction, it only took a few minutes to find yourself laying on the opposite side of him, mere inches separating your bodies, the close distance oddly intimate yet comforting while you quietly filled the room with the sound of your voices and light laughter, drowning out the distant thumping and the unmistakable din of pleasure that erupted within the establishment. Strange emotions rose within him, sensations that he had never sought or found with other clients before yet had coincidentally stumbled upon as you recounted the current events in your life that were plaguing your mind and eroding the happiness in your heart. The malaise ringing in your voice mirrored his own, which he had buried in the depth of his heart. Asking you questions, stirring you away from the darkness that shrouded you, Arthur lead you away from what encumbered your soul, the light in your eyes almost brightening in the course of your exchange, implicitly guiding you through your qualms, coming to your own realizations about where you were headed, where you wanted to be in your life. He aided in tending to matters of the heart... and not of the flesh. Neither of you could have anticipated to undergo such an enlightening experience, by simply opening your heart to a stranger. A beautiful stranger who teased you with his words, refraining from giving you even the lightest of touches, yet still playfully able to make you squirm, blush and laugh as the night went on. It seemed like you were both taking turns, unveiling the secrets hidden behind your smile, the seemingly iridescent aura surrounding Arthur still present yet changing in colour, in texture... almost sensing the presence of someone other than the courtesan that you had seen being ceremoniously paraded before the eyes of the willing, the impassioned and the greedy. "I can spend an entire lifetime recounting my simple aspirations in life, love. Yet, for a man such as myself, the price is much too steep, proving to be..." He paused for a moment, looking at both your hands that were placed between your bodies, a tingling rising on the tip of his fingers. Could he just brush them against your hand softly, just to feel the kindness through your warmth... help him through his words? Was it too much to ask, to find an intimacy that did not involve being used? You didn't urge him to reveal more, already sensing the way he bared himself to you in the same manner you did with him, yet still... the both of you remained in the same position you had been from the moment you entered the room. While everything surrounding you emanated of sensuality and unadulterated passion, here you were... hearts connecting in the most unexpected of places. "May I touch your hand?" He murmured softly, his voice cracking lightly at the last word, the corner of his lips turning up in a sheepishly gentle manner. Now it was your turn to giggle, your hand finding purchase in his large one, linking your fingers with his as you brushed the tips lightly on his palm. Silly man... after everything that you shared, he still thought that holding your hand would be asking for too much. In your case, it absolutely wasn't... especially when it gifted you with the sweet sight of pink tinting the top of Arthur's cheeks. “I think I’d like us to stay like this for the rest of the night, Arthur.” You reassured him, lifting your hands to rest between your hearts, neither of you realizing how they beat in time. Together. “That would certainly make me happy, darling.” His melodic voice rang soft and low, as if throwing a blanket that warmed your body, heart and soul. For the first time in forever, Arthur had found a grain of happiness, with you... seeding an innocent and fervent hope that it would blossom into something... into much more. –♥– A/N: this is legit so all over the place but I couldn’t resist writing a little courtesan AU with Arthur. Also, this one is for you, waifu @theweebrises 💜 Tagging: @nafeary @kisara-16 @delicateikemenmemes if anyone wants to be tagged or untagged, let me know <3 Please feel free to leave some love in the comments or some feedback!💜 You can also check out my Masterlist !

#ikevamp arthur #ikemen vampire #ikemen vampire fanfic #arthur conan doyle

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soyeahitsmiddleearth · 3 years

Text

Elmer's Glue pt.1

Éomer/Reader

God you just can't get his name right, and it's a shame cause's he's cute af

Awkwardness Humor and Fluff

----

Someone like you shouldn't have survived nearly as long as you did.

You first came tumbling into Middle Earth a few days before departing for some big important quest to destroy a powerful ring, having landed yourself in a place called Rivendell that's full of elves and lovely scenery.

You were presented at some meeting and urged to join this 'Fellowship' and became a valuable member of the group even despite your lack of fighting knowledge, because you somehow had some sort of 6th sense regarding things that have yet to happen.

Just barely did you and your friends survive Helms Deep, The Hornburg, after all of those horrible events (losing Gandalf, Merry and Pippin being captured, and Frodo and Sam departing to continue on on their own), but once all is said and done, you're ecstatic to finally have a moment of rest and celebration.

A grand party is thrown in the royal halls of Rohan, but you're none to interested in the drinking or dancing.

Instead, you opt to watch everyone else enjoy themselves.

At some point after Legolas wipes the floor with Gimli in a drinking game, the prince, and brother of the sweet woman Eowyn, ends up meandering over to where you idly sit.

You remember riding with him to and from Isengard during your journey to reclaim your hobbit friends, though the two of you didn't speak much. It was kind of embarrassing for you to sit so close to him and attempt to share a conversation while looking straight ahead, so you didn't speak much at all, and he didn't engage himself often either.

It was surprising to you how comfortable the journey was, though, all things considered.

His horse was huge and he was just as large, but you never felt afraid or feared falling even once during the ride.

It's not a big deal, but it still stuck out to you since he's so clearly a very skilled rider.

Even after all that, however, you still totally blank out on his name when he suddenly approaches after helping Legolas bring Gimili to the resting area.

Your mind begins to race as you try to remember the name that belongs to him, and all too soon do you realize that you're both staring at each other and he's waiting for your to say something (probably after greeting you, which you did not catch).

"L-Lord... Elmer..." You say slowly after a moment, praying to god you got it right since you took inspiration from your favorite brand of kids glue.

He raises an eyebrow when you say his 'name', and a smile creeps on to his face. "Elmer?"

Ah, shit. You definitely didn't get it right.

"Elmo?" You mentally kick yourself for that one, he's definitely not a small red puppet monster, you would've noticed if he were.

He shakes his head this time, amusement painting his features as you struggle to come up with his actual name.

"Emir?"

Another head shake, and also a full on smile.

"It's not Edgar, is it?" It definitely doesn't sound right, but maybe you'll get lucky.

At this point, you know for a fact that your face is on fire, this is so embarrassing, but you simply can't remember.

"Would you like me to tell you?" He offers after you don't guess again for a time, leaning his arm on the table next to you, leaning closer to you.

Getting help at this point would be mortifying, so you deny his offer for the proper answer and take another crack and guessing. "No, no wait. I've got it! Your name is... Elinor..." You mentally smack yourself in the face for that one; he doesn't even look like an Elinor (mostly because he's not a woman).

"Not quite. Eomer is my name may I remind you."

So your first guess was the closest, but still so far away.

"W-Well, this is extremely embarrassing." You stutter out, adverting your gaze from his eyes which have suddenly become so close.

Eomer can't help but to laugh, and the smile that graces his lips is positively dashing.

You glance back up at him and notice right away, and once more your face begins to burn like a furnace.

"I-I didn't mean to forget, I swear! And I definitely wasn't trying to make fun of you either!"

His chuckles die down when your slightly panicked speech betrays your concern of being disrespectful, and he wastes no time in assuring you that it's perfectly fine. "If you are worried that you've upset me, then do not fret. I'm not offended, simply amused."

Well, that's a relief.

"Um... well, that's good- I guess," you tell him your name, then continue, "I feel so bad. You took me on your horse and everything and I didn't even remember your name! Gosh, I suck."

The tall blond-haired man looks at you oddly when you insult yourself so strangely, and you realize that you forgot to keep your other-word slang to a minimum since it can be hard to understand.

"Right, well, I came over to ask if you would like to join me on a walk outside. Are you interested?" He leans down a bit closer when he asks you this, acting as if he doesn't want anyone else to hear.

Typically you'd be more cautious than this, but you find yourself nodding along regardless.

---

Lord Eomer (you'll definitely remember his name this time, you swear it) took your hand in his and led you outside after you nodded your assent, and while you'd normally dislike being grabbed so casually, you allow it for some reason.

He releases you from his gentle hold once the both of you are beyond the party halls and outside in the cool night air at the bottom of the steps, and you finally find your voice to ask about his intent.

"So... did you want to talk to me about something or...?" You look up at him curiously with your hands clasped in front of you, twisting your heel in the dirt to ease the anxiousness.

"No, nothing in particular. I do have questions, but I simply wanted a moment alone with you," he pauses, then adds slyly, "Your friends have taken up al your time since we arrived, so I had hoped to steal you away for a time."

You aren't sure if you should be flattered, flustered, or both.

"I-I see... well, you've got me now." You mean it as a joke but it's hard to sound humorous when you're so flustered.

He only smiles and nods his head once, "I do."

Cue the awkward silence.

It appears that he's once again waiting for you to say something, so you decide to pull no punches and go straight for the heavy hitting topics.

"So, hows about that battle, huh? Crazy..."

His eyebrows knit together as he thinks over your strange speaking mannerisms, but he doesn't question it and only nods his head instead. "You could say that. The men fought bravely and we lost many, but our victory does not go unrewarded."

"Are you talking about the party?"

"Yes. That, and the knowledge that some of my men get to return home tonight and see their families."

His words bring a small, sad smile to your face, and you speak much more softly this time, "I'm afraid it isn't over, though. With everything going on, it's only a matter of time before we're all sent away again."

"We?"

Oh, right, he doesn't really know about your role in this merry group of misfits.

"Um, yes. I fight, er, kind of. I do my own thing really, but I can't afford to stay behind." It's hard to explain since you aren't sure what the extent of his knowledge is.

His uncle, Theoden, knows almost all about your deal, but does Eomer? He should since he's a key part of this whole Rohan operation, but it's not necessarily your place to tell him either.

"A shield-maiden?" He wonders aloud, taking a seat on the stone steps next to you two.

Even when he's sitting down he's taller than you, and it shoots an arrow of envy through you. The bigger you are, the more intimidated your enemies are, after-all.

"Not quite. I'm not the best at fighting really." It's kind of a lie, actually, because you've got some hidden skill that makes you pretty good at that kind of thing, but it has to do with your foresight to you choose not to explain much further.

Your answer seems to only confuse him more, however, for his eyebrows knit together and his smile tugs downwards into a frown. "You are not? But they bring you into battle regardless?"

Well, shit, now you're making them sound like negligent, reckless idiots.

"N-No- I mean, I'm okay but, uh, it's hard to explain." It's like you somehow just know how to affectively fight; it's like something inside of you just takes over and keeps you from dying, and it proved to be both extremely useful and also unexpected.

They found out about this 'hidden ability' (for lack of a better term) during the battle in which Boromir was slain and you first lost your hobbit friends. You were surrounded and everyone else was fighting for their lives, and in that moment of hopelessness, something inside of you snapped and the floodgates were opened.

Your skill lies in defense, not offense, but it was all you needed to make it through the fight alive and intact.

"I-I know it seems like they were being irresponsible, but there's more to the story- I swear!" You try to defend, taking a step closer to his seated form, "Really, they need me, so it'd be even more irresponsible if they didn't bring me along."

He doesn't seem to get it, for his doubtful expression remains and his frown deepens, but he tries not to judge too much either. "I... see."

A subject change seems like the best course of action, so you decide to ask him a question of your own. "W-Well... anyways. Why'd you want me to come out here with you?"

"I simply wished to learn more about the beautiful newcomer that graced our halls, and I find that I'm even more entranced than before."

Lord Eomer's words bring a flush to your face and leave you flustered, and it seems you can't get your brain to form a coherent thought either.

"Have my words troubled you?" He asks when you still don't manage to find your voice.

"N-No, it's not that..." You trail off and cover your mouth and nose coyly, looking off to the side when you find that you can't meet his gaze any longer. "I'm just not sure how to reply to that. I've been here so long I don't even remember how to flirt." Your words are, of course, an embarrassed joke, and it seems to land well for he chortles with amusement.

"If that is all it is, then it must be fine that I say you've caught my eye, and I'm afraid I cannot get it back until I know more."

"Know more about... m-me?" You repeat slowly, simply trying to wrap your head around it all, "Like... Like what?"

Another dashing smile brightens his handsome features, and this time your heart flutters nervously when he does, "Anything."

You twiddle your thumbs in front of you and dip your head down, racking your brain for any information that would be interesting but not super telling in terms of your 'earth of origin.'

"Um... I can do this-" You raise one of your hands and bend your fingers all the way back until they're perpendicular with your palm, displaying your double jointed fingers effortlessly.

He stares at your hand trick for all of 5 seconds before he's standing up and worriedly asking, "Have you broken your hand?" He takes your hand in his own, delicately turning it around in search of bruises.

"N-No," you pause and look at his larger hands taking yours, then add shyly after, "It's just a trick. I'm double-jointed."

"Double-jointed?" He repeats slowly, not releasing your hand though he does cease his search for damage. "I... see."

He sure does say that a lot.

"I can also do this." You take back one of your hands and reach into your pocket and pull out a lighter that you've had with you all this time, then you ignite a flame and brandish it proudly.

The blond-haired man looks on with wide eyes, and he reaches out towards it, asking with amazement in his voice, "You created fire so effortlessly!'

"Yeah, this little device has, er, oil in it and it ignites it using a spark." It has been helpful many a-night when everyone else has been out and about doing stuff and you were left to tend to the fires. "Don't get too close though, it's hot."

He nods his head once and drops his hands to his dies, watching the small flame dance on the lighter before you blow it out and place it back in your pocket.

"Where did you find such a magnificent contraption?" He asks once it's out of sight, looking down at you with curiosity sparkling in his eyes.

"I, um... made it." You think it best to lie, though he doesn't appear to fall for it, and change the subject. "So, how about that weather we're having?"

Your sudden and shitty subject change makes him raise an inquisitive eyebrow, but after a moment he starts to laugh, "Yes, the night sky's are very clear tonight. As it should be the morrow after a raging battle."

It's strange and none too awkward since you're no good at this, but this normalcy actually almost makes you forget all the shit you've seen up until now.

"I would very much like to see you again." He says suddenly when the conversation dies down and you both just stand there in silence.

You look back up at him and offer a small smile, repeating softly, "Sure. I'd like that as well. But I'm still here, so we don't have to talk about later just yet, right?"

"I suppose not." He reaches down and grabs your right hand gently, raising it up while he also leans down, then he presses a feather soft kiss to the middle of the back of your hand.

Eomer looks up at you while he does so, and you find that your face has begun to heat up once more.

When he doesn't move to stand normally and continues to look up at you expectantly, you ask uncertainly, "Am I supposed to kiss your hand too, or...?"

It seems you're quite the comedian to this guy, for he stands up straight again and bursts into joyful laughter, reaching down to pat your shoulders, "No no, but if you wish to offer me one somewhere else then I would not deny it."

People in this place really waste no time beating around the bush, though you suppose they can't afford to waste much time when things like the Battle at Helms Deep happen every so often.

There are murderous orcs everywhere and danger at every turn for them nowadays, do you actually feel a sense of appreciation for his forwardness.

This time you find yourself laughing too, and you readily reply, "Maybe next time, Lord Eomer. We only just met, you know. I could be trying to steal a place in the royal line, for all you know."

His smile does not waver despite your warning against yourself, for he only shakes his head and squeezes your shoulders gently, "No, such motives always make themselves clear early on. Unfortunately for me, you're honest."

"Unfortunately?"

"Unfortunate for my heart, yes."

#eomer x reader #Eomer of Rohan #lotr eowyn #lord of the rings #lotr #reader insert #reader #lotr fandom #lord of the rings fanfiction #romance #fluff #humor #awkwardness

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ac-liveblogs · 2 years

Text

The Snowy Past, Act I

Well, I for one love this whole “Paimon randomly decides she wants something and an event just happens to kick off” model. It’s not jarring at all.

Even I admit this is nitpicky, but we’re seriously trying to work out how to preserve food in a world where people have ice powers.

“Albedo is NOT the kind of person that would just ignore you if he’s in a bad mood!” yeah, he’s ACTUALLY the type to just walk away and leave you without warning if you annoy him

Wow, it has been awhile since we last saw Amber in any decent capacity. I think she cameo’d briefly in Eula’s quest, but she hasn’t done anything substantial since the prologue, I think.

omg, teucer, where’s your hat

Eula is not the one to lecture someone about being too formal when speaking to others. It’s... strange that she’s showing some self awareness about it now given that she was unable to do so in her quest, even if she gives a decent enough justification for it. Also, the Lawrence stuff... really happened far too long ago for me to be able to take it seriously. It also comes across as strange when the rookie adventurer partnered up with her seriously has no idea who she is and is totally fine teaming up.

I’d also like to make a crack about Fischl ditching an event because she had something else to do again... and man we forgot about Albedo quick!

Albedo is kiiiind of a bitch these days. Which, I will be honest, is a massive improvement. But Paimon makes it impossible to have a natural-sounding conversation between her voice acting and her clunky, forceful dialogue completing overtaking the Traveller’s role in any conversation. That Paimon gets the bulk of dialogue with people that are pretty ambivalent about her but supposedly extremely close with you is not to this game’s benefit. I couldn’t tell you what your dynamic with Albedo is supposed to be, really. Also, we sure forgot about Amber quick!

and man does this game condecend to you sometimes. is it really searching for footprints if the map tells you where to look AND there’s an arrow pointing at them...

You know, I’d thought Paimon’s completely random insistence on the Traveller learning to paint was just extremely clunky dialogue, it was actually extremely clunky foreshadowing!

god, what do the fatui even do in their spare time. the hell are these guys getting paid for.

Wow, Albedo just sprung his backstory on you out of NOWHERE. It wasn’t even relevant to anything that was happening, he just decided to dump it on you and didn’t even tell you why it mattered that you know. Issue being that you’ve met Albedo a grand total of four times in this game, and you didn’t spent a lot of time with him except the first, and suddenly you’re the only one he trusts with this amazing info about himself, apropos of nothing? When I predicted that MHY wouldn’t even bother trying to work backstory info into the game in an interesting way bc it was already revealed in stories, I wasn’t expecting to be so dead on.

“Let’s meet back up in a couple of days!” is turning into a bad joke. We have an imposter on the loose attacking children. You want to compare in a few days? Even if I didn’t work in childcare, I would be losing my shit trying to apprehend this jackass.

Honestly, I appreciate that Genshin is trying harder to write event narratives, but they’re still not any good at it. Or consistent characterisation. Or exciting storylines. I can’t help but feel that Albedo has a lot of potential that’s being squandered in this game, and I know if he were written more competently I’d absolutely adore him, but Genshin makes him about as interesting as toast.

The worst part of this game is that there’s solid ideas here, but they clearly can’t stick the execution. I guess I should just be glad they’re not pulling a Xiao/Lantern Rite scenario and we’re actually addressing any of this stuff at all.

Also:

god the event shops suck in this game!!! fgo seriously spoils me. at the very least can they implement infinite currency farming????

#ac plays genshin impact #this game quite likes the albedo and aether duo huh #shame aether's a nothing character and they don't hang out much #its annoying bc this ship could ALSO be good #i'm still surprised kaebedo does better ao3 numbers #like. based on what

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theloverofdragons · 3 years

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The Void War

The stars in the deep purple sky of the Void winked down at Tomix as he leant over the railings of one of the balconies of the Void Ship. They were close, so close, to reaching Envy and he could finally complete his quest, even though that meant he had to…

The sound of approaching footsteps made him turn his head, and despite his sombre mood, his lips quirked up at the sight of the Hero. "Hey. How's Pandora?"

"She's…calmer," the Hero rubbed the back of their neck. "She's still pretty emotional after regaining her memories – and as she's the Elemental Spirit of Woe, she tends to feel that particular emotion pretty strongly – but she's determined to help us stop Envy."

"I'm glad to hear it," Tomix nodded, turning back to watch the sky.

The Hero bit their lip as they examined him, noting his paler skin and dimmer eyes, concern for the wellbeing of one of their closest friends welling up inside them. "How are you holding up?"

Tomix sighed deeply, hanging his head and closing his eyes. "I'm tired, Hero. I'm so very tired... I've been on this quest since I was just a kid. Thirteen years. Thirteen long years and my journey is finally at its end. He's the only one left." Opening his eyes, he raised his head again and inhaled deeply. "You know, I sometimes wonder what my life would be if I had not released them. The six corrupted spirits and... Aspar. I'd graduate from Edelia, travel the world, find a partner." His lips curved into a small smile. "We'd get married, open up a small weaving shop, age together, get fat and have many children."

The Hero snickered.

The smile vanished and Tomix sagged against the railing, looking as tired as he said he was. "And instead my life is a series of unfortunate events."

The Hero stepped forwards so they were alongside him. "Surely there must have been at least one good event?"

Tomix paused before turning to look at them. "You."

"Me?"

The small smile returned. "Yeah. After we met, during my hunt for Greed, I was always looking forward to your arrival in Ravenloss. I've really enjoyed adventures with you. It was good having someone else watch your back."

The Hero blushed slightly before grinning. "Hey now, we'll have many more new adventures ahead of us after we banish Envy!"

Tomix's expression dropped again and he turned back to face the Void before his eyes widened. "We're here!"

****

The Void Ship circled the strange building of towers and corridors, with the swirling purple and black Void Core situated in the middle, sending up a beam of lighter purple light. The ship was keeping its distance and Tomix had sent Aegis to have a look at the building's layout, so the crew could plan their next move.

A flash of icy blue light alerted the Soulweaver that his SoulAlly had returned. "Good, you're back! How are things?"

"Give me a second," Aegis raised his hand and began to draw a birds-eye map of the structure from ice, revealing several large corridors circling around the open centre, with the Void Ship at the entrance. "There. No one has spotted me, and I got a good view of the entire structure. This is how it looks like from the top." At Aegis's direction, the open centre began to glow softly. "The core is here." The square block in front of the centre began to glow. "The chamber is the only way leading to it." Next to glow was a block of ice connecting the ship and the chamber. "This corridor goes straight into the main chamber." The two corridors on either side of the main corridor lit up. "These two corridors on both sides do not connect to the main chamber itself, however...The door leading into the main chamber appears to be enchanted by Envy. It is engulfed by a weird, swirling green energy."

Aegis dissipated the map and turned the face the rest of the crew. "All the corridors are swarming with void creatures. And... that's not all. These two corridors that I've mentioned... there is an ‘unlocking mechanism’ at the end of each of them..."

Tomix frowned. "How can you possibly know this? Envy wouldn't be that daft."

Aegis sighed, his expression twisting slightly. "Because... it literally says 'unlocking mechanism' in big, bright letters...over the two human beings who are connected by this weird green energy to the door."

Izaac gasped, his eyes widening in horror. "Oh Avatars, I know what Envy did..."

"What?" Riadne asked in trepidation

"Seal of Ativa!" Izaac choked out. "He used the very existence of those two people in order to lock the door shut. The only way to unlock them is to– "

"–Kill those two people..." Tomix finished, expression tightening.

The Hero snarled. "That's sick!" Through their bond, they felt a pang of intense sadness from Pandora and they brushed their fingers over the cube by their side. ‘It's not your fault Pandora, I promise. He did this himself, and we will stop him!'

"There has to be another way to unlock it!" Riadne insisted.

Izaac shook his head. "No, you don't understand. Seal of Ativa is one of the few legendary and forbidden magics. Magics like this don't have any loopholes. You can't break their rules."

Tomix clenched his fists as Aegis rested his hand on his shoulder, sending support through their bond. "We are too close to back up now! I am aware that this whole situation is sick, but we have to do this... we are too close..."

" I will do it," Yashta intoned solemnly.

"Blimey! And so will I," Captain Mazurek added. "I did worse thin's than that."

Riadne whirled round to face them. "I... can't believe you people are even considering this! What's wrong with you?!"

Mazurek scowled. "Sweetie, leave sailing t' the sea legs."

"Stop fighting!" The Hero broke in. "We have to be united, now more than ever!" Once things had calmed down, they nodded and turned to Tomix. "Okay. We all need to do this together. Tomix, what's the plan?"

Tomix watched the building in the distance. "I'm fighting my way through the middle corridor to the door. Hero, Aegis, you're in?"

Aegis and the Hero nodded determinedly. "Absolutely."

****

As Aegis had promised, all three corridors were packed with Void spawn. Izaac, Riadne, Yashta and the Soulweavers had gone down the left hand corridor and Mazurek, her crew and Vaal had taken the right, leaving the Hero, the Dragon, Tomix and Aegis to go down the middle.

A Void elemental lunged at the Hero, but they dodged out of the way. "Oh you, stop ticking me!" they smirked before finishing the elemental off. Next to them, Tomix was completing his retribution attack to defeat a Decadere youngling.

A group of Void monsters decided to charge at once at the Hero, hoping to overwhelm them but in a flash of white and yellow light, Pandora appeared before them, armed with a large scythe with a rainbow blade and her sigil in the middle of it. Twirling the scythe in her grip, she proceeded to hurl in at the approaching enemies, with the scythe turning into a spinning disc that sliced through them all before returning to her grasp.

"Wow!" the Hero whistled appreciatively. "Nice moves, Pandora!" Their SoulAlly smiled in thanks and the Hero turned their head to check on Tomix before their eyes widened as another Decadere youngling tried to attack the Soulweaver's turned back. "Tomix, look out!"

Tomix whirled around but before the monster could attack him, Aegis appeared and batted the Void creature away with his shield. "Thanks, Aegis."

The elemental spirit grinned. "I've got your back!"

A flicker of pain passed over Tomix's face and he lowered his head as memories of when he and Aspar were bonded, when he thought his best friend had his back the way that Aegis did now, filled his head. Fortunately, he was jerked out of the painful trip down memory lane as one of the communication balls that Eirn had given them on the ship crackled into life.

"Hello? Is this working? Hello?"

"Yes!" Tomix replied. "Izaac?"

"Tomix, bad news. We lost a few Soulweavers and the majority of them are injured. Riadne's patching them up and Yashta is doing his best to keep us safe, but there are simply too many Void creatures. We have to go back!"

"Izaac, please... you can't..." Tomix implored. We're so close…we have to stop him…I have to…

"What's going on?" The Hero asked, fighting their way over to Tomix as Pandora and Aegis kept any approaching Void monsters from attacking while the two of them talked.

Tomix hung his head. "Yashta's team isn't doing well, Izaac wants to retreat."

The Hero glanced at the two elemental spirits. "Could Aegis help?"

Tomix exhaled shakily. "You're right; he could. Are you alright with that, Aegis?"

"Of course!"

Tomix nodded and turned back to the Hero. "I don't know why I didn't think of that…"

"You're under a lot of stress," the Hero reassured him. "You take a moment to catch your breath while I sort this out, then we can get back to fighting, okay?"

"Yes…thank you, Hero."

"IZAAC, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" the Hero turned to the communication balls.

"Gaaah... yes!" Izaac yelped. "You don't have to yell!"

"Oh, okay. Listen, we're sending Aegis over to you, he'll make an ice wall between you and the creatures. You'll be able to rest and gather your strength."

"That would be very helpful master!" Yashta's voice sounded over the speakers.

The Hero scowled. "Stop calling me master!"

"Apologies. That would be helpful, Hero."

Aegis gave Tomix and the Hero a thumbs up before teleporting away with a flash of ice.

"Now, excuse me," the Hero turned to Tomix and grinned before calling their dragon. "Let's go!" The two of them charged towards the enemy lines and Tomix allowed himself a small smile before returning to the communication balls.

"Maz?"

"I be a wee busy dear."

Tomix frowned slightly. "How are things on your side? Is Vaal helping at all? Is he fighting?"

"Oh, he be fightin' alright..." Mazurek replied, sounding very amused. "But wit' his Soul Lass."

Tomix blinked. "His... what?"

From the background of the speakers he could just about hear a very irritated female voice. "...And you're summoning me after five years, expecting me to help you?!"

"Alee, this is NOT the right time for this!" Vaal protested. "I need Transcendence! I need my weapon to defend myself! Or would you rather let me die?!"

"I really don't care."

"TRANSCENDENCE!" Vaal bellowed.

Evidently, Vaal's SoulAlly acquiesced as Mazurek gave a hearty laugh. "Yarr, we be doin' great darlin'."

"Erm... alright," Tomix shook his head as his brain raced to catch up with what had happened. "Keep me updated." Allowing himself another small smile, he raced to catch up with the Hero as they continued to defeat the Void monsters with their Dragon and Pandora by their side.

"Everyone okay?"

"Yes; Aegis will help Izaac's team and Mazurek's team is good to fight together, now that Vaal has stopped squabbling with his 'Soul Lass', as Maz put it."

"I…see," the Hero raised their eyebrow before grinning. "You'd never catch me fighting with my Soul Lass, would we Pandora?"

For the first time since the island that held her memories, Pandora let out a tinkling laugh.

Tomix let out a small chuckle (how long had it been since he had laughed? Not since he had found out that…) as he and the Hero ran forwards together into battle. "We're halfway through, let's go."

****

They didn't know how long it took to defeat the rest of the Void creatures but eventually, Tomix and the Hero reached the doors to the chamber. Aegis had rejoined them a while back – with Pandora returning to her cube so her presence didn't cause any mishaps, although she would emerge every so often to deal with a group of Void creatures with her scythe – and Izaac and Mazurek had alerted them over the communication balls that the seals had been lifted, although Mazurek's message had come with the added problem that Vaal had run off.

"Tomix, the doors!" the Hero pointed as they paused to catch their breath. "They're open!"

Tomix hung his head sadly. "But at a cost of two innocent lives..."

The Hero placed their hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "They will be remembered, and they will be honoured. We can't save everybody. But their demise will not go unnoticed. Envy will pay for this, Tomix. He will."

"The Hero is right," Aegis nodded solemnly. " After all this is over, I can search for their souls and notify their families."

Tomix inhaled deeply, collecting himself, before raising his head again and adopting a look of determination. "Let's go–"

"You can't," a voice broke in, and three figures stepped into the doorway, blocking their path.

Tomix scowled. "More of Aspar's minions?!"

The Hero folded their arms. "Let me guess..." They looked at the dark green humanoid gargoyle, the one who had spoken. "You are Green..." Next they turned to what looked like a fusion of a basilisk and a human. "You are Brown-ish- Red..." Finally they turned to the final minion, a moglin with a human face. "And you arOHMYGOODNESSWHATAREYOU?!"

"I'm very sorry," Green intoed. "But we can't let you through."

Tomix snarled. "Well I'm sorry too, because I don't care!"

The battle that followed was long and hard – Envy had obviously prioritised fighting skills in his minions that made it very inconvenient for whomever they were fighting – but eventually they were defeated, Red and Blue having dissolved the way Yellow had.

Green had sunk to his knees. "I have failed...but it's okay..." A wry smile formed on his lips. "I'm free."

Tomix looked down as Green shattered into pieces. "Now we can go, come on!"

"Tomix, I think we should wait for the rest of the crew," the Hero cautioned. "We don't know how exactly strong Envy is..."

"I think that is wise," Aegis added. "I shall go and check to see how far away they are."

"Okay…" Tomix nodded reluctantly as Aegis vanished. "But we can't wait too– "

Before he could finish his sentence, the building shook with an ominous rumble.

The Hero glanced around them. "That doesn't sound good. The more of us there are to confront him, the more likely we are to be able to stop him."

Tomix's chest was heaving and his eyes flashed about wildly. "No…NO! AEGIS!"

A block of ice materialised and fell away to reveal Aegis, looking rather confused. "Is everything–?"

"Synchronisation!" Tomix yelled, desperation colouring the edges of his tone.

Aegis frowned in concern. "Tomix, we've never tried it. Besides in your current state, synchronisation would be very unwise…"

"PLEASE!" Tomix begged, his voice breaking.

Aegis met Tomix's eyes before bowing his head and nodding, resting his hand on Tomix's chest. There was a flash of icy blue light, as it looked like Aegis melted into Tomix's body before it cleared to reveal the Soulweaver standing there, eyes and hands glowing white and blue, the colour back in his face but the corruption from his shattered SpiritLooms having worsened and spread down to his elbows.

"I don't care if there are more minions in my way," Tomix declared, voice echoing slightly and sounding like a mix of his normal voice and Aegis'. "I'M GOING!" With a flash, he shot off into the chamber, only leaving behind the faint blue glows of his figure.

"TOMIX!" the Hero yelled after their friend. "Damn…we need to go after him. Are you two with me?" The Dragon gave a determined chirp and Pandora murmured 'Always' over their bond. The Hero nodded before running after Tomix. "He doesn't have to do this alone."

****

Disclaimer: DragonFable is owned by Artix Entertainment. Dialogue taken from ‘Void War Intro’, ‘Halfway Through’ and ‘Through The Door’.

Also on AO3 and FFN

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yostresswritinggirl · 3 years

Text

Scholars’ Chit Chat Prologue Submission

XXX

Cyno x Reader (Platonic, possibly romantic in the future)

*Lore dump warning

*Spoilers for all the Archon Quests and speculations of Teyvat

*Really it’s all serious talk

XXX

This is basically how you and Cyno met

XXX

The libraries of Sumeru are quiet, like how they’re suppose to be.

It is a new semester after all, the freshmen are still getting a grasp of the large campus, though Cyno does guess that soon enough they will be awed of this place.

Walking among the tall shelves, he tries to locate the section he had been researching on, but a voice calls out to him, breaking his concentration.

“Hey, you ever thought of why were you given a Vision?”

He turns to the source of the voice, only to see you there, sitting on top of one of the book shelves as your legs dangled from it.

“I would say that it is a question worth discovering with my entire life.”

“Huh, to think that you would answer so naturally… Wouldn’t one first ask who I am or ask why would I want to know that?”

“Because, first, I know who you are and second, those who come to this place seek knowledge.”

“Oh, so I had become the talk of school despite me being here for the first day?”

“Indeed, you were known as one who had declared to not take part in any sort of Mysticism studies yet aim to unveil the mysteries of this world. They called you naive yet you had earned the highest scholarship obtainable. It’s kind of hard to not let such news spread out.”

“Well, there are certainly advantages and disadvantages with this commotion, but that’s not my main focus anyways.”

“And may I ask what that would be?”

“To search for answers to fulfil my contract with the God of Wisdom.”

“Contract?”he questions, not capable of following your conversation, you slyly smiled at this.

“Unfortunately, this upcoming topic requires a fee to unlock~ I don’t mind sharing my findings to others, but when it comes to something as rare as words from an archon….”

“You get the idea, a price is required for everything after all.”

“…”

Cyno stared at you as if you were pulling his leg, but his reaction made you smirk even more.

“Oh, I won’t be asking for much, something like… Your name, perhaps?”

Suddenly realising that he hadn’t introduced himself yet and was reminded in such a playful matter, Cyno couldn’t help but let out an embarrassed chuckle.

“My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Cyno, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hmm… You know that one’s name is important, right? Names hold power, not necessary the one given by your parents but the one that defines your soul. There are quite a few stories mentioning that giving your name to someone is the same as giving a part of their soul to them.”

The male however lets out a laugh at your advice.

“Thanks for the warning, I’ll keep that on mind.”

“It was nothing, and to the end of my bargain, yes…’ you began as you jumped off the shelf, landing right in front of him. “Well, it’s more like a bet than a contract if I’m being honest.”

“Which is?”

“To find out the truth behind Khaen-riah’s fall, or more specifically, the reason behind the alchemist Gold’s fall, before I graduate.”

“?!”

The kingdom that had technology and Mysticism developed greatly even without an archon, then was destroyed five hundred years ago.

Not much is known about Khaen-riah, and yet...

Cyno, was shocked, no, shocked isn’t enough to describe how he’s feeling.

“That’s... nearly impossible, isn’t it? Just what sort of offer did he gave you to tip the scales-”

“If I succeeded, he would answer me anything I want to know about.”

“A-Anything?”

“That’s right~”

...

“What happens... If you fail?”

Everything comes with a price, as you had said.

“Then my life would be in his hands, for him to decide my fate.”

Despite only knowing you for not long, Cyno cannot believe what you had risked.

“Are you out of your mind?! What would you possibly want to know that you’re willing to-”

“To understand the laws of this world.” You answered one a simple matter.

“It has been so long that the human race had been existing and yet none of us came close in finding the truth of the world...”

“Or perhaps someone did, and they failed to tell anyone?”

“Even Khaen-riah itself is advance with Alchemy, history tells us that their greatest alchemist Gold fell and became quite a threat... But why...?”

“...”

“What I’m trying to say is that we’re too trusting towards the gods cause we’re told to do so since we were born, you know what I had learnt after being tricked once? Doubt everything when you first see it, question it’s existence and see if you can use another point of view to perceive it.”

“Why do you doubt the gods?”

“That’s because I believe in humanity’s wisdom. I believe that even without the gods, humanity can still take care of themselves as fine.”

“If you need to rely on someone else in order to live, then what’s the meaning of living in the first place?”

“This is... quite a lot...” Cyno mumbled.

“It is a lot to take in, I agree.” You nodded as you leaned against a shelf.

“Our senior Lisa left this place after mere two years and went to Mondstadt to be a librarian despite her being a genius the Academia hasn’t seen for 200 years... Is it because she saw something that nobody else realised?”

“So what you’re saying is... There’s more to the bigger picture?” Cyno guessed as you snapped your fingers. “Bingo.”

“But that being said, questioning the gods is the same thing as raging treason against this world... “ Cyno pointed out with worry. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Indeed, *I’m trying to understand the rules of this chess game, so that humanity, the supposed audience of this game gets the chance to participate in it.”

“And if we can win this chess game or not, is entirely up to our legacy...”

“You have too much belief in humanity... Or should I say you have no intention of losing in the first place?”Cyno predicted with a sigh.

“Hm, seeing that you’re being so interested in our bet, perhaps you would like to become my partner in crime?”

Hearing this, Cyno finally realised that he was tricked at the point when he answered your question about his Vision.

“So that was what you were going after for all along, huh?”

“Haha, yup~ I mean, our archon didn’t state anything about not able to team up with others, so why not?”

“Able to ask anything from the God of Wisdom himself, what else more can a scholar wish for?”

Cyno understand that your words are trying to lure him, but in truth, who can give up this opportunity?

“I mean, even if we fail, I’m the only one who would lose anything so it really sounds like a pretty good deal to me~”

“And would you mind me asking for a warrant from you for the time I would be spending on this?”Cyno requested, surprising you for a bit.

“Well, how about my name? You’ve heard about me but haven’t known that yet, correct? With a part of our souls in each other’s hands, no one can run off easily, don’t you think so?”

“Alright I accept the of your con-”

“It’s a promise, not a contract.”

Cyno pauses at your sudden seriousness, he then takes notice of the frown on your face.

“...”

“You want this partnership to be built on trust and not just a piece of paper?” He guessed.

You softly nodded, trying not to meet him in the eyes.

But there’s no way that he would accept that, you two only just met after all-

“Then I promise, that I will be your partner in crime upon this bet against the Dendro Archon.”

Wha-?!

Cyno offers you a small smile. “Everyone has their own reasons, I too wish that I can understand you better within these few years... That is if you wish, of course.”

I’m glad.

“Yeah, likewise, Cyno.”

“I also by offering my name, promise that we will find out the laws of this world and allow humanity to earn the chance to be a part of this chess game.”

“My name is-“

XXX

*The chess game is referencing The Feynman Lectures on Physics, it is also referenced from Honkai Impact 3rd (another game of MiHoYo) Honkai Quest event by the character Delta, it is possible that it works as well for the world of Teyvat.

(One way that's kind of a fun analogy to try to get some idea of what we're doing here to try to understand nature is to imagine that the gods are playing some great game like chess. Let's say a chess game. And you don't know the rules of the game, but you're allowed to look at the board from time to time, in a little corner, perhaps. And from these observations, you try to figure out what the rules are of the game, what [are] the rules of the pieces moving.

You might discover after a bit, for example, that when there's only one bishop around on the board, that the bishop maintains its color. Later on you might discover the law for the bishop is that it moves on a diagonal, which would explain the law that you understood before, that it maintains its color. And that would be analogous we discover one law and later find a deeper understanding of it.

Ah, then things can happen--everything's going good, you've got all the laws, it looks very good--and then all of a sudden some strange phenomenon occurs in some corner, so you begin to investigate that, to look for it. It's castling--something you didn't expect.)

And welp, Exiled, mind me adding this?

-To their future child(ren)

And this is how your parents met//slap

With the Gnosis shaped as chess pieces and with MiHoYo’s other games referencing this...

Well theories will be theories until they’re truly revealed.

Until then Snowdrop’s gonna freak out on what the heck I just wrote

There will be continuations... Just please don’t look forward to it... OwO

Oh I do NOT mind AT ALL, Snowdrop. CONTINUE. This series looks so freakin cool and refreshing even!

#exiled community #genshin impact x reader #Cyno x reader #Snowdrop anon #exile.flower #exile.pocketwatch #Good shit #gender neutral #submission

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warrioreowynofrohan · 3 years

Text

Today in Tolkien - March 14th

Minas Tirith, despite exceptionally strong defensive fortifications and extensive food stores, comes to the brink of falling to the enemy after only two nights and one day of siege, largely due to a collapse of morale.

“There is no news of the Rohirrim. Rohan will not come now. Or if they come, it will not avail us. The new host that we had tidings of has come first, from over the River by way of Andros, it is said...They hold the northward road; and many have passed on into Anórien. The Rohirrim cannot come.”

The Rohirrim, in fact, are very near the city, passing through the Drúadan Forest on ancient and little-known roads, led by Ghân-buri-Ghân and his folk. They set off near dawn and travel all day; by noon they are already near Amon Dîn. In order to arrivd at Minas Tirith rested and ready for battle, and since 7 leagues (21 miles) of open ground still lie between them and the out-wall of the Pelennor, they rest and sleep in the afternoon and set out at night, aiming to arrive the next day near dawn.

Aragorn, too, is on his way to Minas Tirith, travelling upriver with the captured fleet; there is no wind, and the men row all day and into the night to come to the city as fast as possible. It is 42 leagues (126 miles) from Pelargir to Minas Tirith via the river. But in the night a wind comes up from the sea, and their pace increases.

This illustrates the vast significance of fog of war to everything that is going on. All the necessary forces for Gondor’s victory are already in place and close approaching the city, but the defenders of Minas Tirith know nothing of them and think their cause is hopeless. This is one of the reasons (there are many others) why the ability to hold onto hope even beyond reason, and to keep going even when hope is gone, is such an important virtue in The Lord of the Rings. Despair is a form of pride (as expressed in the later exchange between Gandalf and Denethor) because it assumes your own omniscience, that you already know everything you need to know and can perfectly judge that there is no chance. Moreover, it disregard the will and volition of others. Tolkien’s ideal of virtue, in this situation, is to do your duty to the best of your abilities, even if you don’t know what anyone else is doing, and leave it to others to do theirs to the best of their ability.

This form of faith in other people is seen in many places, not least in Frodo’s determination to continue with the Quest even after he sees the army rude oyr of Minas Morgul and thinks evrwhere else is doomed, and Aragorn’s march against Mordor to distract Sauron and give Frodo a fighting chance (and, for that matter, Aragorn looking in the palantír to challenge Sauron, and trusting that Minas Tirith can hold out until he can get there). And that last-mentioned gambit is a massive and crucial success - today and yesterday, the forces of Mordor actually have the Ring-bearer (though not the Ring) in captivity, Sam is walking around Mordor wearing the Ring, Sam gets past the strang Watchers of Cirith Ungol (which is highly unusual) and Sauron - who can generally sense when the Ring is worn, as with Frodo on Amon Hen - doesn’t even notice because he’s so focused on fighting Gondor.

Conversely, Denethor’s despair is the flip side of his previous firm self-reliance, because when his own resources and plans give out and everything looks hopeless (granted - again, he thinks Sauron has the Ring, and if that were true things would be pretty hopeless), he doesn’t trust in the initiative of others to make any difference. But his assumptions about what he knows are still based on the assumption that he’s not being deceived or manipulated in any way.

Not that I think Sauron specifically orchestrated Denethor seeing Frodo’s capture in the palantír - as I mentioned, Sauron at this moment is not aware of the capture or its significance. Rather, there’s a general air of malice and deception around the palantíri that are under Sauron’s influence (the Orthanc-stone is safe for Aragorn to use once Aragorn has taken control of it) that will manipulate their users and influence both the things they see and their interpretations of what they see, in ways that broadly serve Sauron’s purposes.

(Nonetheless, it’s hard for me to blame Denethor for using the palantír in the first place. The very fog-of-war that I mentioned makes long-range intelligence-gathering immensely tempting.)

Returning to Sam and Frodo, the narrative gives us a sense of concurrent events when Sam wakes from unconsciousness:

Out westward in the world it was drawing to noon upon the fourteenth day of March in the Shire-reckoning, and even now Aragorn was leading the black fleet from Pelargir, and Merry was riding with the Rohirrim down the Stonewain Valley, while in Minas Tirith flames were rising and Pippin watched the madness growing in the eyes of Denethor.

This is the closest Tolkien comes in his story to genuine narrative contrivance (rather than the real sense of eucatastrophe in the arrival of the Rohirrim at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and even later in the the victory at Mount Doom, which are very much founded on the characters’ prior choices combined with actions of divine grace), in the orcs of Cirith Ungol killing all of each other off and enabling Sam to rescue Frodo. That said, it is fairly typical orc attitudes, exaggerated by a prize of phenomenal value in the form of the mithril-shirt. (Or, if I wanted to be glib, I could say that orcs were once elves and retain their general magpie-like predilection for shiny objects.)

Sam’s song in the Tower is one of Tolkien’s most beautiful poems, and it and Frodo’s reply is almost certainly inspired, for Sam, by the tale of Beren and Lúthien, which he and Frodo were discussing only a few days ago. Even Sam’s song is similar to one later in the Leithian recalling the beauty of nature as talisman against despair (compare In western lands beneath the Sun the flowers may rise in spring to Farewell now here ye leaves of trees, your music in the morning-breeze!). I’m not suggesting a romantic connection between Frodo and Sam, but rather that Tolkien doesn’t see anything fundamentally less close or less important or less moving in a deep and close friendship than in Middle-earth’s greatest epic romance. The centrality and strength of friendship in his stories is one of the things I love so much about them.

#tolkien #the lord of the rings #today in tolkien #aragorn #denethor #frodo baggins #sam gamgee #sauron

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callboxkat · 3 years

Text

Second Chances: Slumber Party

Author’s note: It’s been a while, but guess who finally has some free time to write? I hope you enjoy! :)

Summary: Roman goes on a quest for a glass of water in the middle of the night, and finds Patton sleeping on the sofa.

Warnings: Insecurity, nightmares/intrusive thoughts, past homelessness, food mentions, white lies

Word count: 2588

Second Chances Masterpost!

Writing Masterpost!

...

Roman stretched and let out a big yawn as he walked down the hall to his room.

Today at the café had been difficult, to say the least, and he was tired, even though he’d gotten home hours ago. He hadn’t even been meant to go in today, but there had been a bit of an incident. The fridge had gone out while it was just Virgil and Thomas working, and Roman had been called in as back up. Since it couldn’t be fixed right away, they’d decided to sell everything refrigerated at a sharp discount, and once word got out, the crowd in the shop quickly became alarming. Thomas had eventually needed to tap out and go home, apparently worn out by all the chaos. So then Roman and Virgil had been left to try to sell as much of their stuff as possible before it could no longer be sold. The throng of customers was eager for cheap goodies, although some of them didn’t seem to understand why the unrefrigerated menu items that they weren’t racing against the clock to sell were still full price. Which, yeah, Roman could understand that it was strange for a cappuccino to be cheaper than an americano. But the coffee and water would have still been usable at the end of the day

He passed the other two bedrooms as he shuffled along, remembering the events of the day. From Val’s, he could hear quiet music—he’d noticed she liked to put on classic rock before she went to sleep—while from Logan’s and Patton’s, he could hear the sound of dresser drawers opening and shutting. They were probably still getting ready for bed.

Roman opened the door to his room and stepped inside, not bothering to turn on the light. He put away his toothbrush and toothpaste, toed off his socks, and crawled into bed. He reached to set an alarm, only to be struck with the happy realization that he didn’t need to, since the café would be closed the next day due to the refrigerator incident.

Smiling at the thought of getting to sleep in, Roman snuggled down into the bed and closed his eyes.

…

Roman rolled over and stretched, opening his eyes.

2:24, read the alarm clock.

He still had plenty of time to sleep and still get up at a socially acceptable time, but… Roman licked his lips and frowned. His mouth was a little dry.

Reluctant to leave the soft bed, but also unable to ignore his parched mouth now that he’d foolishly let himself become aware of it, Roman let out a quiet moan of complaint and sat up, pushing the blanket to the side. He got up, grabbed his socks, and padded to the door, hopping a little to pull them on as he went.

He opened the door quietly and left it slightly ajar for when he returned. The fewer noises he made, the better, in his opinion. Roman tended to be a heavy sleeper, but he knew not everyone in the house was, and he didn’t want to disturb them.

He crept down the hall and then the stairs, heading into the kitchen without turning the lights on, since there was still enough light to see. He opened a cabinet for a glass and then filled it at the sink, wincing at how loud the water seemed in the quiet of night, and doing his best to minimize the noise. He took a couple of sips of the water, then refilled what he’d drunk of the glass, and turned to go back to bed.

As he walked through the living room, he heard a quiet “mmph?” and then a shape on the couch sat up.

Roman jumped slightly in surprise, then slowed to a halt, squinting in bewilderment. “Pat?”

Patton turned around and looked at him, blinking drowsily, his hair rumpled in a bed head. “Oh… hi, Roman,” he said, sounding tired. “What’re you doing down here?”

Was he sleeping on the sofa? Roman frowned, seeing the pillows and blankets that Patton must have brought down from his and Logan’s room.

Roman held up the glass so Patton could see. “I got thirsty,” he explained.

“Oh,” said Patton. “I guess that was the sink, I heard, then.”

They looked at each other for a moment.

“Did something happen?” Roman asked hesitantly. “I mean, it’s none of my business, but… did you and Logan have a fight?”

“Huh?” Patton shook his head. “No, no, me and Lo are fine. I just….” He didn’t seem to know what to say.

Roman shifted. “Late movie night?” he offered, to give Patton an out.

Patton didn’t take it. The poor guy hated to lie. “No,” he said. He sat up a little straighter. “Uh, Logan and I just decided this would be better for tonight. We didn’t fight, it’s just… it’s complicated.”

Roman couldn’t think of many reasons why Patton would be sleeping on the sofa, if they hadn’t fought. Patton had definitely gone to bed in his and Logan’s room, so it wasn’t as if he’d just decided not to go upstairs. Roman was also pretty sure neither of them snored, so that didn’t explain it either.

Patton was looking a little flustered. “Please don’t—Logan didn’t do anything. It’s nobody’s fault, he just….”

He thought Roman would be mad at Logan, he realized.

Roman held up a hand. “Hey, like I said, it’s none of my business,” he said, carefully choosing a light tone. “I won’t pry. But, Pat… you don’t have to be on the couch. There’s the bed upstairs.”

Patton furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

“You could have woken me up,” Roman clarified. “I don’t mind.”

“What? No, Roman, that’s your room. I’m not going to steal it from you.”

Right, Roman thought. “It was your room first,” he shrugged, anyway.

It was dark, but he was pretty sure that was a fondly exasperated expression on Patton’s face. “It’s your room,” he repeated firmly.

Roman shifted again. “Okay, well… I still don’t want to make you stay on the couch.”

“You’re not making me,” Patton said, shaking his head. “I’m fine here. You should just go back to bed, okay? Don’t worry about me.”

Roman took a hesitant step towards the stairs, but continued to hover. “…I really don’t feel comfortable taking a bed while you’re on the couch,” he admitted. He honestly didn’t think he’d be able to sleep, knowing that.

Patton, who had started to lie back down, paused, and looked over at Roman, who rubbed one of his arms.

“Please take the bed?”

Patton took him in for a long moment, sat up again, and said, “Well, I don’t really feel comfortable taking the bed while you’re on the couch, either, kiddo.”

Roman sighed, looking down at his water glass. A few seconds ticked by. He took an awkward sip of water.

“…It’s a decent-sized bed in there,” Patton said finally. “I guess we could share, if you’re okay with that.”

“Wouldn’t Logan be upset?”

Patton shook his head. “No, he won’t care. It’s just a bed. And he knows I love him.”

Roman nodded slowly. “Okay, then.”

He and Patton scooped up the pillows and blankets and headed up to Roman’s room, both doing their best to be quiet on the stairs and in the hall. While Val was actually the lighter sleeper, Roman couldn’t help but notice that Patton tried even harder to be quiet when they passed Logan’s room.

“Any preference on which side I take?” Patton asked, once Roman had closed the bedroom door.

“Um… right side, maybe?” Roman suggested, since he’d been sleeping on the left side before going on his quest. He set down his glass of water on the nightstand. “But either’s fine.”

Patton nodded and put down his pillows and blankets there, arranging them before he got into the bed. Roman hesitated before also lying down.

“I’m sorry about this,” Patton said softly once they were both situated, turning so he was facing Roman.

“It’s okay,” Roman replied. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“Logan tried to take the couch, too,” Patton admitted with a little smile, his eyes already closed. He yawned. “He felt really bad. But I fought him off.”

“I knew you could take that little nerd.”

Patton’s lips twitched as he tried not to laugh. “He’s not a nerd.”

“I mean it in a good way. But also… have you met him?”

“I sure hope so, he’s my boyfriend.”

Roman laughed quietly. “Fair enough.” A beat passed. “Thanks again for giving me a ride to the café today, by the way. I think Virgil would have lost it if they’d had to wait for me to walk there. And thanks for the ride back, too. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Oh, you’re welcome. It was no bother. And Virgil seems nice.”

Roman smirked. “They can be, when they want to be.”

Patton cracked open an eyelid, smiling a little at him.

“So… want me to braid your hair?” Roman whispered. “Since we’re having a slumber party.”

Patton giggled quietly. “I would let you if it was long enough.”

“Guess you’ll have to grow it out, then. You can join the man bun trend.”

Patton sounded amused, even as sleepiness bled into his voice. “Oh, gosh, can you imagine?”

“Or Viking braids,” Roman suggested. “You could put beads in them and everything. Really go all out.”

“I don’t know if that’s really my style.”

“Maybe not.”

Patton yawned. “We could paint each other’s nails. That’s a slumber party thing.”

“I used to paint my nails in high school,” Roman shared. His nails looked rather rough, now, though. It had been a while since he even held a nail file.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Gold, usually.”

Patton’s eyes were closed again. “I think Val has some that color. She’d probably let you use it. I don’t think she wears it much.”

“Hm.” Roman would think about it.

They lay there for a few moments. Roman adjusted himself so he was lying more on his stomach than his side, and let out a small sigh.

“G’night,” Patton mumbled sleepily.

“Good night.”

When Roman woke in the morning, Patton was already gone, along with his pillows and blankets. Roman suspected his own blanket had been pulled up a little higher. There was a note on the bedside table that just read, Thanks for the slumber party -P.

Roman glanced at the clock, and then climbed out of bed himself. He got showered and dressed, and then went downstairs.

He’d expected to have the house to himself for most of the day, since Val and Logan had work and Patton had plans, so he was surprised to see Logan at the kitchen table, a half full mug of tea in front of him.

Logan looked up as Roman approached, and for a second he froze, like a deer in headlights.

Roman smiled easily at the other man. “Hey, Logan,” he said.

Logan blinked, and there was a soft, nearly inaudible whir. Roman glanced down to see that Logan was quietly spinning a black ring on his right hand. He’d seen the other man wearing the ring, occasionally, but usually he left it alone.

“Good morning,” Logan said, looking less panicked, but still unsure.

Roman walked over to fridge and grabbed an orange. He returned to the table and started peeling it. “Got plans for today?” he asked. “I thought you had work.”

“I did,” Logan said. He stopped spinning his ring and took a drink of his tea. “I decided to stay home, today. I’m afraid I didn’t sleep well.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

Logan nodded vaguely.

Roman popped one of the orange slices in his mouth. He liked to eat fruit slowly, to make it last longer, so he could really appreciate it. It was a habit he’d started when he was homeless, but he kept it now, seeing no reason to change it.

Logan cleared his throat, sitting up a little straighter. He didn’t quite look at Roman as he said, “Patton told me you allowed him to stay in your room last night.”

Roman paused, halfway through separating another orange slice. “I just thought it’d be more comfortable than the sofa.”

“Thank you for that.”

Roman shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s not a big deal,” he said. “I’ve stayed in shelters that were way more crowded, and Patton doesn’t snore or try to steal my things. We just made some jokes about having a slumber party.”

“…I’m not sure what explanation he offered you,” Logan said hesitantly.

Roman shrugged. “He didn’t really say. I thought maybe he fell asleep watching The Office or something, and didn’t want to wake you to go to bed. I used to do stuff like that. My mamá would get so annoyed if she found me. She’d tell me I was gonna get scoliosis and make me go to bed.” Roman did not actually believe that; but he was also pretty sure that whatever the real reason Patton had been sleeping on the sofa was not his business, if Logan didn’t want to share it.

Logan spun his ring twice, then stopped.

“I appreciate your help,” he said. “It is reassuring, to know Patton wasn’t too inconvenienced.”

“It’s no problem. I’m always down for a slumber party.”

It was clear that Logan didn’t want to say more on the subject, and Roman certainly wasn’t going to push him, but Logan cleared his throat anyway. “I suppose I owe you some explanation.”

“Not if you don’t want to. I don’t think you owe me anything,” Roman said. He popped another orange slice in his mouth.

Logan glanced at him. He raised the mug of tea to his lips, then set it down without taking a drink. “Regardless….” He considered his next words, his face reddened lightly. “I am… occasionally prone to certain intrusive thoughts. They are unwanted, and do not reflect my own desires. They are unpleasant every time they occur, but last night’s was… especially unsettling. It… involved Patton becoming injured.”

Roman could read between the lines. “Okay.”

“My apologies if I disturbed you. I became rather upset, and unfortunately did not think to lower my volume. Val came in to check on us. I assume you decided to stay in your room, which… I appreciate.”

“I didn’t hear you, actually,” Roman said. “Guess I was pretty tired, after the coffee shop thing. And I probably stayed up too late.”

Logan looked briefly skeptical, then rather relieved to hear it. “I requested that we sleep separately, for my own anxiety. I had intended to be the one to leave, but Patton can be rather insistent.”

Roman nodded.

“I hope you do not think less of me because of this,” Logan said. “I try not to be swayed so easily by my emotions, but—”

Roman waived a hand, dismissing Logan’s justifications. “It’s fine. It’s okay to be human sometimes, you know.”

Logan tapped his fingers on his mug. A few moments passed.

“So, do you want to hear about the Great Refrigerator Disaster of the Sanders Café?” Roman asked. He’d told a condensed version of the story the night before, at dinner, and Patton had seen the chaos first hand, but Roman hadn’t told Logan all the juicy details yet, which was frankly shameful on his part.

Logan smiled despite himself, and latched onto the change in subject. “That does sound like a story I would enjoy.”

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