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secondhand-trash · 4 years

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Work of Art

A/N: Oh boy, here we go again with my tries at getting out of my comfort zone. The only reason why this is happening is because @lady-bakuhoe got me thirsting on main feeling things for Hawks after sending out something she wrote a while back and I was suddenly reminded of this idea that lurked behind my head.

Pairing: Takami Keigo x reader

Description: Your boyfriend had a beautiful body hiding beneath those layers, you could not be blamed that you wanted to trascript that sight into actual art.

Warning: nsfw below cut

Word count: 2932

“Can I tie you up?”

“What?” Keigo tensed up from where he was standing, couldn’t quite believe his own ears.

“Can I tie you up?” You repeated with such a casual tone that sounded more like you were asking him what he wanted for dinner than you were with your actual request.

Seeing the stunned look on his face, you realised that perhaps you had worded it too vaguely and not given enough details as to what you actually wanted him to do. “It’s for my sketching class, I need to practice my anatomies. I want to tie you up for...” you thought of what ways you could possibly rephrased it to get your point across, “...aesthetic purpose.”

“A sketch, huh?” He smirked as he walked closer to you, his wings leaning forward to circle around your frame, “You know, normally people have to pay me to model for them.”

You lifted an eyebrow at him, twirling the pencil in your hand. “So you’re saying?”

“Are you planning to pay me back in some sort of way for my contribution to your aesthetic research?” The suggestive look on his face did not falter at all even as you snickered at his teasing.

“That’d depend on how you behave in the process.” You lifted your hand and traced a finger along the sharp line of his jaw, “So what do you say, pretty bird? Are you gonna help me or what?”

You knew you had the answer you wanted when the corner of his lips lifted up.

With the white shirt he was wearing discarded on the floor, he kneeled down in front of the chair as you instructed him to. As you gently twisted his arms to his back and held his wrist together, he chuckled and earned him a playful glare from you. “I’m starting to think that the whole ‘do it for the arts’ thing was an excuse.”

“If I want to have you half naked and kneeled down, all I have to do is ask, isn’t it?.” You retaliated with an amused twinkle in your eye, “Now shush and let me do my thing.”

Pulling out the velvet rope that he didn’t know you own, you carefully wrapped it around his wrist and tied it with a knot. With one hand smoothing the restraint, you tugged at it to make sure that it sat snuggly around his skin as you pulled it to the front of his torso. You were no expert at this but you had done enough reearch to know just where each knot should be in order to get the image you wanted. With the rope travelling around the side of his arms and down his upper body, you tightened each trail and knot with attention, carefully setting the loops right above and below the base of his wings.

Facing him as you leaned back, you admired your handiwork. No matter how many times you had seen that body of his, you would never fail to be amazed at how much beauty there could be to the human body and the position he was in only heightened your admiration.

You were not lying when you said that this was intended for your venture into the arts, only now you were starting to have doubts on whether your skills could do justice to the view in front of you.

The red rope was a huge contrast to his skin, the colour an odd resemblance to the feathers behind his back. The way his arms were folded to his back gave his toned arms even more definition, pulling at the muscles of his forearm with a barely visible vein adorning it all the way up. Each breath he took, everything pulsation made him flex unintentionally, only adding to the defined curves of each muscle. It was a shame that his torso was usually hidden from the rest of the world, if only they knew what they were missing out on. You had carefully positioned the rope to hug every dip and dent of his chest, the way it pulled against his skin with each exhale of breath could only be described as utterly tempting. You had to resist the urge to run your hand down his toned pecs and traced the v that dipped all the way down to a much more sensitive parts of his body.

What a sight to witness, really. It was like he was carved out of marble but only there was life to each, his flushed skin under the chilly air together with his beautiful form making every piece of artwork pale in comparison. If art could come to life, you were sure what you were blessed to see in front you right now would be it.

“Is the rope too tight?” You asked, reaching out to touch the edge of the red restraint and fixed the places that were moved.

“No, just alright.” Keigo tried to maintain his usual chirpy tone, ignoring the itch he had started to feel ever since you put one hand on his lower waist to arch his back just a little just when you were about to finish with tying him up. Even with his greatest effort, he could not stop the goose bumps from forming on his skin as your fingertips nearly brushed against his skin when you went to slide it across the rope, every hair on him standing up at the mere contact that only made him sense more alerted. He was pretty sure that he would only get more sensitive as time passed by.

“How long do you think it’ll take you?” He asked tentatively as you got up to fetch your sketchbook from another room.

You tilted your head. “Not more than an hour, I assume.” You did not catch onto the faint groan your boyfriend let out when you turned around.

Staying still and pushing the discomfort he was feeling to the back of his head appeared to be more difficult than he had expected it to be. With each second passing by, Keigo was only feeling more and more tensed. The rope that was tied around him so snuggly did not help with his shiver as the cold air hit his skin, only tightening with even the slightest of movements. The rough material brushing against his already hardened nipples only made them more sensitive and feeling the friction of the rope to the fullest effect. It did not help that there was pleasure mixed into the pain he felt as nothing came in contact with him but each breeze of the ventilation of the room.

The rubbing of the velvet against his skin he could stand. The ridiculously low temperature of the air conditioning he could try to ignore. But what truly got to him was the way you studied his figure with such intensity. Keigo had always been aware of the appeal of his own physique and he would never shy away from the appreciative stares you sent his way whenever he undress, but it was nothing compared to how you were looking at him right now. It was like no corner of his body could escape your gaze as you took into each and every feature of him. He felt exposed, like he was completely under your control and one look was enough to put him in his place.

Dear god, was that look doing things to him.

He had to physically restraint the feathers at his back from standing up as he recognized a familiar twitch at his crotch. The desperate attempt at self-control only made the rope rubbed against him even more, sending yet another rush of blood down south.

“Don’t move.” You pursed your brows in disapproval at his movements and bent down to fix his posture. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry when the warmth of your palms came in contact will his skin that almost went numb from the chilliness and sensitivity.

“Are you near finish?” He managed to hide the choked whine at the back of his throat and forced the words out of his mouth in the most decent voice he could pull off in his current state.

“Kinda?” You said. If you had bothered to look up, you would be able to see the clear discomfort that was showing on his face. The redness at the tip of his ears was starting to spread to the rest of his face, his jaw clenched as he tried to hold onto the remaining calmness that was there in his mind. “Only the shading left, so just stay still.”

Forcing out a hum in response, his knuckles already turned white from how hard he had been fisting his hands to get more grasp on his own sanity, the pain he felt from his nails digging in wasn’t even that much of a bother to him anymore. Right now, his main focus was to ignore that dull ache in his pants and the shiver on his skin.

“You have been oddly quiet today.” You asked as you glided the lead across the paper one last time, being utterly content with what you had managed to create as you put the finished drawing up to your face.

It was when you put down your pen and was about to undo the tie on Keigo that you noticed just why your usually talkative lover had been in silence the whole time you were sketching him. You immediately picked up on how his breaths were heavier than usual with his lips pursed tightly together like he was trying to hold back whatever sounds were threatening to escape if he didn’t. His knees were trembling from kneeling for too long and as your eyes travelled upwards, there was no way you could pretend that you didn’t saw the bulge in between his legs.

So that’s what it was.

Keigo knew he was gone for the moment you sank down onto your knees to be eye-levelled with him and smirked. “I was going to untie you but now I’m having second thoughts.” You said, mockingly tilt your head as you pretended to ponder as you ran a finger along the rope, very barely touching the skin underneath.

He did not say anything but you could feel his breath getting more rigid at the contact. You leaned in closer and watched as his body shook once he could feel your warmth against his chest. He was holding back and you were determined to make him break.

“If I knew that you like being tied up so much I would have offered much sooner.” You whispered into his ear, your finger roaming dangerously close to his nipple and the spare hand holding onto his shoulder. The closer you traced to the sensitive, the more his was trying to squirm under your touch.

His back arched the moment you placed the first touch on his nipple and you immediately forced him back onto his previous position with your firm hold on his shoulder blade. Your lips lingered on his ear as you rolled the tip between your fingers, giving it a soft pinch. It only added to your amusement when you heard the heavy swallowing at his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as you did not slow down the movement at your hand for even the slightest.

Just your fingers, you were too cruel to even spare him the touch of your palm.

“You look so pretty all tied up like this, so pretty for me.” You cooed in his ear, sliding your palm down his chest to give some attention to the rest of his body that you had been aching to touch. Feeling each mound under your hand, you could feel your own arousal building up at just how his entire body was begging for you to give him more. But the tensing of his muscles were not enough, the quickening breath was not enough, the bite back whimpers you were only hearing because you had your face pressed to the side of his neck was not enough.

You would like to think that as an artist, you were naturally attracted to beautiful things. There was nothing more appealing to you than the lovely reactions he was capable of giving and you could never be ashamed of being greedy towards such beautiful things.

Keigo hissed when your hand stopped at the top of the fabric that was covering his bulge, his entire body heated up as you traced circles just above where he craved your touch the most. Peppering kisses up his neck, you grinned as he very eager closed the gap you had painfully left between your lips and his as your face hovered above him. Nothing could compare to the stir at the pit of your stomach as you heard him moan into the kiss when you had slowly undid the fly of his pants. Only pulling the band of his boxers low enough to release his hardened cock from the strain of fabric, his length slapped against his lower stomach and the sensitive skin around the area rubbing against the material of his pants only added to his desire for a relieve.

Running a finger along the vein at the underside of his shaft, you gently yanked at his hair to expose his neck and placed many wet kisses along his chin down to the valley where his neck met his collar bone. While your other hand slowly ghosted over the slit at his tip, the one that just gripped onto his blonde locks now travelled down the back of his neck to where his wings grew out.

Keeping up with the teasing at his length, what you would only consider as whimpers grew louder when your hand smoothed over the red feathers but you were yet to be satisfied. Feeling his uneven breath at your neck, you searched for the one spot that you knew would had him crumbling in an instant.

Where was it, where was it?

Ah, found it.

Your hand found its way to the much softer feathers at the base of his wings and the moment you scratched down, the last but of self-restraint in him snapped as he let out a loud, delicious moan.

Beautiful, exactly what you were looking for.

No longer holding back, you were satisfied with the loud noises that escaped from his flushed lips. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as your thumb toyed at his tip, collecting the pre-cum that was oozing out. You collected the droplet at the tip of your tongue when it slide down his jaw, the saltiness that spread in your mouth only elicited your own desire even more.

Slowly pumping his cock with the help of the sticky liquid on your hand, you pressed yourself against his chest as you sped up the movement of your hand. His hip bucked against your hand and you clicked your tongue in disapproval as his cock twitched. A loud whine slipped past his mouth when you suddenly paused whatever you were doing all while pushing him down from moving against you himself.

“I should really just leave you here like this,” you said as you pulled back, you chuckled as you were now looking right at his very flushed face, “my pretty bird that is tied up for me and under my mercy. Perhaps I can even make you sing for me.”

The skin underneath the rope was now much paler comparing to the rest of his body, lines of redness starting to show from how much he was tensed up. The corner of his eyes were tearing up from the stimulation and your denial of his release, the feathers at his back pulsating and the tip of his length in nearly the same shade of red.

Again, what a sight. But no matter how much you liked when you were seeing, you could never be so cruel as to keep your birdie in pain.

“As much as that thought tempts me,” you said as you leaned in close to him once again, "I guess you deserve a reward for being so well-behaved.”

He yelped when your hand circled around his shaft and started jerking him off. The loud sound of skin slapping echoed off the walls and the whiny sounds he was making was erotic to hear.

You knew he couldn’t last much longer when you felt the twitching in your hand. “Such a good little bird. Are you going to make a mess for me?” The way you licked the piercing at his ear lobe as you said such profanities was what gave him the final push as he reached his high.

Strings of warmth spurted out, covering your hand and stomach as you pulled away. He was still trying to catch his breath as you looked down at your shirt that was now covered with cum and scrunched your eyebrows together.

“When I said ‘making a mess for me’, I definitely didn’t mean it as ‘on me’.”

“Yeah, yeah, my apologies.” To think that mere seconds ago he was like putty in your hands. As he came down from his high, Keigo’s composure was quick to return as a slight smirk now graced his features.

“Now get me out of this.” He said as your hands went to tug at the knots against his torso, “I feel like you still haven’t fully repay me for all that posing I did for you.”

#hawks x reader #hawks smut #hawks imagine #hawks #takami keigo #takami keigo x reader #bnha imagines #bnha imagine #bnha smut #bnha x reader #takami keigo smut #mha imagine #mha imagines #mha smut #mha x reader

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yellowcanna · 4 years

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Promise of a Lifetime

Summary:

“Where have you been, Xiao?! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Hu Tao shouted, grabbing Xiao’s hand and dragging him into the parlour where Zhongli was waiting.

“Master,” Xiao dipped his head towards Zhongli who was standing there looking at him…apologetically?

Xiao instantly had a bad feeling, and that feeling came true when Hu Tao went on a ramble about how they received a huge sum of mora. The green-haired youth gritted his teeth and took a deep breath in an attempt to stay calm.

“Young master,” he stopped the girl who wasn’t getting anywhere other than mora. “These mora you mentioned…were they by chance given by Tartaglia?”

“Yep!” Hu Tao answered cheerfully, not the slightest bit ashamed in admitting that she had once again sold Xiao to the bastard.

The corner of Xiao’s lips twitched, but he controlled himself as to not show any form of disrespect towards Hu Tao and Zhongli.

“May I ask what is requested of me this time?”

“Simple! You just have to attend a party as his lady partner!”

Xiao was going to kill Tartaglia.

[AU where the gods and adepti are humans in Teyvat and Xiao was a former assassin of the Abyss Order]

Genre: Fluff, Canon Divergence, hurt/comfort, touched-starved, Enemies to friends to lovers, shounen-ai

Rating: T

Pairing: Childe/Xiao

Author: Canna / Yellow Canna

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Available on AO3!!

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It was a bright sunny day in Liyue Harbour.

The green-haired youth sat on the open windowsill with one leg propped up and his elbow resting upon his knee. His bright, cobalt yellow eyes gazed out to the endless blue sky without a speck of cloud.

He closed his eyes when a warm breeze blew by, carrying the scent that was exclusive to Liyue. Feeling something settling down onto his elbow, he opened his eyes and was greeted by a little brown sparrow. The tiny bird chirped and hopped around his arm. Xiao didn’t move. He quietly observed the bird jumping all over him. And then, the serenity was ruined by the sound of footsteps before the door was rudely opened without any knocks.

The sparrow squawked and flew away while the youth heaved out an irritated breath.

“I figured you’d be here, Xiao!” A cheerful voice greeted, but the youth on the windowsill didn’t move.

He stared at the sky, determined to ignore the nuisance behind him.

The intruder didn’t mind the silent treatment. He sat down by the table at the center of the room where there was a teapot and a cup of half-drunken tea that had already gone cold. He picked up the ceramic cup and drank the remaining content.

That earned some reaction from the youth who glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowing.

“The master is away,” Xiao finally spoke. Although he tried to keep his voice indifferent like he usually does, there was a mild irritation which the other man was keenly able to pick up.

“I know,” the man smiled around the rim of the cup before setting it back onto the table. He reached for the teapot and poured himself some more tea. “I’m not here for Mr. Zhongli.”

“Young master Hu is away as well.”

“I’m not here for your young master either,” the brunet took a small sip on the hot tea and frown. “I don’t get why the people of Liyue prefer hot drinks when their climate is so warm. Wouldn’t cold tea be more convenient?”

Xiao didn’t respond and turned his attention back to the outside. Instead of looking at the sky, he was now eyeing the street below.

“Hey now, don’t be so eager to leave!” The man chuckled, easily seeing through what Xiao was thinking. “Aren’t you at least curious what I came here for?”

“No.”

“You’re no fun,” the man lamented with a soft sigh. “Someone is after my life.”

“I see,” Xiao turned around to fully face the man. “The Wangsheng Funeral Parlour will accept to host your funeral. Come back once you've brought the necessary funds.”

“Hahaha!” The man laughed. “Looks like staying in this old place has rubbed off on you! I didn’t think I would ever hear you crack a joke!”

Xiao just stared at the man impassively.

“Fine, I’ll get to the point. I need your help.”

“I refuse.”

“Aw, don’t be like that!” He pleaded. “Help a friend out.”

“I don’t recall ever being friends with you.”

“How could you say that after all of our bonding time?”

Xiao’s brow twitched upon remembering what this man viewed as bonding time. This man would keep pestering him, keep pushing his buttons, keep crossing the boundaries until Xiao couldn’t take it anymore and in the end, they would always clash with their blades.

Xiao could still clearly recall his first meeting with the man around this time last year.

As an envoy from Snezhnaya and one of the Eleven Harbingers—Queen Tsaritsa’s Royal Knights, this man known as Tartaglia was a formidable opponent.

The first time Xiao met this man was through his saviour and master, Zhongli. Xiao knew little about the world of business, so Zhongli brought him outside to see the world.

When Xiao first laid his eyes on the Harbinger with ochre brown hair, he knew he wouldn’t get along with him and he was right. The next time they met, this man came up to him and brought up his past.

This envoy from another nation had dug his claws deep into Liyue and pulled out a secret that was meant to be buried, and that was the Yaksha.

For as long as Xiao could remember, he was already walking within the darkness—chained and broken. Perhaps there had been a time when he was freed, but it was a time he couldn’t remember anymore. With a slave mark engraved into his soul, Xiao was powerless against the creature he was forced to acknowledge as master. Without his master's command, he couldn't even take his own life.

The Abyss Order was the name of the organization and Xiao was one of their few human slaves that survived. Since young, Xiao was trained to become an assassin and spy so that the Abyss Order can keep their eyes on each nation. Because he was originally from Liyue, that was where they assigned him to. Due to the demon mask he wore whenever in a battle or assassination, he was given the name of the Yaksha by the citizens of Liyue as a symbol of their fears and hatred.

Xiao could no longer remember how many people he had killed. All he knew was that two years ago, all seven nations combined their powers to finally rid Teyvat of the Abyss Order. During that battle, Xiao was naturally called upon the battlefield where he met Zhongli.

Though the man claimed to be a councillor from the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour, he was in reality part of the Qixing. Zhongli was the only person who saw through the slave mark binding Xiao and freed him from the chains that had bound him for so long instead of slaughtering him like the rest of the Abyss Order.

The name Xiao was the new identity given to him and since then, Xiao had settled within the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour.

Xiao never understood why Zhongli would go through so much trouble when it was easier to kill him. Even though Xiao may not want to be saved, he was nevertheless grateful for the man’s kindness—as well as Hu Tao’s for giving him a place to stay. Xiao was never one to take anything for granted. Since they extended their kindness to him, he must repay them.

It was as simple as that.

A year following that battle, he tried to live putting the past behind him, yet talks of the Yaksha would still be heard from time to time. There were still people investigating the origin of the Yaksha, for that the demon mask in Xiao’s possession oddly resembled the mask of an ancient clan of exorcists that was annihilated twenty years ago.

Though Xiao heard the rumours, he never bothered to investigate the truths behind it because it did not matter anymore. That clan was no more and even if there were survivors, Xiao doubted they would accept him—especially when he was the one who had killed so many of these exorcists during his time in the Abyss Order.

For a whole year, Xiao’s real identity was only known to Zhongli. Not even the other Qixing or Hu Tao knew about his identity.

No one had ever linked the Yaksha to Xiao.

No one but the Eleventh Harbinger, Tartaglia.

Tartaglia had found out about Xiao’s identity as the Yaksha and confronted him at Tianqiu Valley when Xiao was sent there on a task. He even used his identity to provoke Xiao. Enraged by the man’s action, Xiao drew his spear for the first since the battle that ended the Abyss Order.

Xiao had gone all out, even donning the mask Zhongli had specifically told him not to bring out. Tartaglia had put on a mask of his own, wielding both Vision and Delusion. The whirlwind summoned by Xiao’s power mixed with the violent rain and lightning from Tartaglia created a storm Liyue had never seen before.

Had Zhongli not arrived in time to stop their fight, one of them would surely die that night.

The third time they met was two days after when the man waltzed into his room as though nothing had ever happened. Needless to say, another fight broke out between them and half of the parlour was blown apart.

Hu Tao was hysterical when she returned to find the second floor of the parlour completely gone. However, that matter was swiftly settled when the Fatui shamelessly offered to reconstruct the entire building and even expanding it as compensation.

Since then, whenever Tartaglia dropped by, the young master would look at Xiao with stars in her eyes, desperately hoping for the two to start another fight.

As much as Xiao tried not to, he was still provoked into stabbing the man on multiple occasions. Each time something within the parlour was destroyed, Tartaglia would pay for it. Eventually, this became a pattern and Xiao’s fight became the highest source of income for Wangsheng Funeral Parlour.

“Leave, I have no interest in fighting with you.”

“I’m not here for a fight this time.” The brunet rested his chin into his palm. “I need your help, Xiao Xiao~”

“Do not call me that,” Xiao gritted.

“But you let the young master call you that—Ah! Wait, wait!” He called when Xiao had already gotten up, crouching on the windowsill and preparing to jump out any moment. “I got information that someone is plotting against me and there’s a high chance of assassination. Unfortunately, the mastermind’s identity is covered up pretty well so my men are having trouble locating them. I want to hire your help as a former assassin.”

“I reject.” With that, Xiao leaped out the window and was gone in a gust of wind.

Knowing how persistent that man could be, Xiao took his time strolling around the outskirt of the city. It wasn’t until the sky became completely dark and the lanterns on the street lighting up that he returned to the parlour.

“Xiao Xiao!”

What greeted him when he stepped through the front door was the excited young master of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour—Hu Tao. The raven-haired girl ran up to him, eyes sparkling in a way that Xiao long learned to be wary of.

“Young master Hu,” he greeted politely with a bow.

“Where have you been, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” She gasped, grabbing Xiao’s hand and dragging him into the lobby.

“Master,” Xiao dipped his head towards Zhongli when he spotted him standing there looking at him…apologetically?

Xiao immediately had a bad feeling, and that feeling came true when Hu Tao went on a ramble about how they received a huge sum of mora. The green-haired youth gritted his teeth and took a deep breath in an attempt to stay calm.

“Young master,” he stopped the girl who wasn’t getting anywhere other than mora. “These mora you mentioned…were they given by Tartaglia?”

“Yep!” Hu Tao answered proudly, not even the slightest bit ashamed in admitting that she had once again sold Xiao to the Fatui.

The corner of Xiao’s lips twitched, but he controlled himself as to not show any form of disrespect towards Hu Tao and Zhongli.

“May I ask what is requested of me?”

“Oh, that’s easy! You just have to attend a party as his lady partner!”

Xiao was going to kill Tartaglia.

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Xiao sat in front of the mirror and stared at his own reflection. He fixed the Glazed Lily ornaments on the left side of his hair before picking up a piece of red Silk Flower paper and smeared the colour onto his lips.

He put on the pair of emerald earrings, slipping them through the earholes which he had not used for a long time. He then picked up the pair of black satin gloves on the table and slipped them on. The long gloves reached to his elbows, leaving his upper arms bare.

Xiao skillfully wrapped a piece of thin red string around his Vision before tying the string around his neck, creating a necklace. He tucked the necklace under his cloth with his vision hidden under the fake chest he made.

He buttoned up his top and closed the collar over his throat to conceal the budge on his throat that woman would not have. Once he was done, he stood up and headed for the door. His elaborate green and black qipao with Ameno pattern flowed down to his ankles and each time he took a step, the qipao would flutter, splitting at his hip showing off his long, milk-white legs.

“Eeeh? Why can’t I go in?” Xiao heard the familiar whine of Hu Tao from outside his door.

“Xiao said he can dress on his own, young master Hu,” the deep voice of Zhongli’s explained.

“But what is he needs help? And do you really think he would put it on? For all we know, he could have already shredded it and—”

Xiao opened the door. The raven-haired girl who was facing Zhongli spun around on her heels, mouth already open to say something, but her voice never came out. She stood there, her eyes as wide as her open mouth as she gawked at Xiao.

“Xiao Xiao?!”

Xiao heaved out a sigh and let the girl inspected him. He looked over to Zhongli and bowed respectfully. “Master.”

“You look beautiful, Xiao,” Zhongli complimented with Hu Tao hurriedly nodding in agreement before her eyes fell to the B-cup swell around the man’s chest.

If possible, her eyes widened even more and she reached out both hands to start groping them.

“T-they feel so real…!” She gasped in awe as she squeezed and kneaded the softness on Xiao’s chest. “Don’t tell me…Xiao Xiao you’re actually a—”

“It’s made with condensed slime,” Xiao deadpanned, not even wanting to hear the rest of that sentence. He took a step back and angled his body away so he could save his fake chest from her devilish hands.

“Ahem…young master Hu,” Zhongli coughed into his hand. “I believe Childe has been waiting long enough.”

“Huh? Oh! That’s right!” Hu Tao clapped her hands together. “That guy’s already waiting for you in the lobby and—oh, shoes! Let me get your shoes!”

The girl rushed off and came back with a pair of black heels with the same Ameno pattern that matched the qipao. Xiao slipped his feet into the shoes, finding it odd how well it fitted, just like this dress. At first, he thought these clothes were something Hu Tao prepared, but considering her personality, that now seemed highly unlikely.

Zhongli couldn’t have prepared these for him either, since if it was Zhongli, he would have bought all the clothes the store had to offer and piled them into Xiao’s room.

“Young master Hu, may I ask where you got these garments?”

“Oh, Childe gave them to me!” Hu Tao said happily and immediately veins started to stick out from beneath Xiao’s pale skin.

To the side, Zhongli lightly shook his head.

With another bow to the two, Xiao headed for the lobby, his heels clicking as he went.

As he was descending the stairs, he spotted Tartaglia in the lobby, dressed in the same clothes as usual. Hearing the sounds of heels, Tartaglia looked up and froze. For a split second, the man was taken back, looking completely stunned, but he recovered the next moment with a weirdly serious look on his face.

That made Xiao’s step slowed just a little. He had expected the man to come up to him and tease him, but not eye him with such stoic expression. Xiao kept his face blank and finally arrived in front of the taller man.

He crossed his arms, waiting for the other to speak.

He waited for five long seconds and Tartaglia still didn’t say anything. Instead, the man turned to the attendant that was beside him.

“Bring the good.”

The attendant looked a bit dumbfounded at first, but when he realized what his master was asking for, he hesitated.

“But Master, that’s the gift for—”

“Do I need to repeat myself?” Azure blue eyes narrowed dangerously. In an instant, the attendant bowed down and hastily excused himself.

Xiao watched the man ran out and came back only seconds later with a beautiful ice blue box. From the unusual design on the box as well as the material, the green-haired youth knew it was a box crafted from Snezhnaya.

The attendant presented the box to Tartaglia who opened it up to reveal snow-white fur within.

“This is made by the pelts of the snow foxes that dwell within the mountain of Snezhnaya,” Tartaglia explained, pulling out the long white fur with great care. The pelt sparkled under the lighting and even looked as though it was emitting breathes of coldness from its origin.

Tartaglia ran his fingers over the pelt before he walked up to Xiao and wrapped the pelt around his shoulders and over his forearms. The rest of the pelt flowed down his side, the soft fur tickling his exposed hips and stopping just a couple inches below his knees.

Xiao was stunned by the man’s act. His previous anger was forgotten the moment the fur touched his skin. Never in his life had he ever felt something as soft as this. He looked down at the pelt hung around his arms, able to feel the strange coolness seeping into his skin despite how fur was known to do the opposite.

From how stiff the attendant was standing behind Tartaglia plus his previous behaviour, Xiao could tell that this pelt was meant to be for someone else.

“Master, then the gift…” the attendant began meekly.

Tartaglia spared the man a sideways glance and waved him off. “Just replace it with something else in the treasury.”

Tartaglia looked over Xiao up and down as his hands reached for Xiao’s face. Xiao stood still, watching the man warily as those hands disappeared from his vision and he felt his earrings being removed. The brunet didn’t say anything. He took off the right earring first, then the left one.

After that, he tossed the two earrings to the attendant and reached up to remove his red earring hanging off his left earlobe. Xiao was quiet the entire time, even when the man leaned over him and slipped his earring through Xiao’s ear.

“Does it hurt?” Tartaglia suddenly asked.

“…No,” Xiao replied, feeling the weight of the new earring before looking up at Tartaglia. How odd of the man to question him such a thing considering how many times they left each other injured after a fight.

“Good!” Tartaglia wrapped his arm around Xiao’s elbow and pulled him outside where the carriage was waiting. “Then let us depart!”

The ride in the carriage was quiet.

Xiao was always one to enjoy the silence, yet silence with Tartaglia was never a normal thing. He glanced over to Tartaglia who was blatantly staring at him which made Xiao shift in self-consciousness.

“If you have something to say, just say it.” Xiao finally said after a long while.

“Hm…” Tartaglia hummed, eye drifting down Xiao’s form then shifting back up to meet the other's irritated gaze. “I thought you would at least try to punch me by now.”

“Because you made me dress as a woman?” Xiao huffed, turning his head away and stared out the window. “I am not unfamiliar with such disguises.”

“Past experience?”

“…Due to my build and face, I was required to dress as a woman many times to approach my targets.”

“I see…” Tartaglia’s voice was quiet and distant, yet there was no form of pity or sadness in that voice. It was the one reason why Xiao always found himself comfortable with talking to this man about his past.

That and the fact that even if he didn’t say anything, this man will dig it out anyway.

“What did they do?”

“Surely you don’t need me to answer that,” Xiao said dryly.

The Snezhnayan did not try to pry anymore, because he knew the answer. While it was obvious these people could never get far because Xiao wasn’t a real girl, some level of intimacies were still inevitable.

“You look gorgeous.”

Xiao glanced back at the man with narrowed eyes. The distrust in those golden orbs was as clear as day.

“I’m serious,” Tartaglia chuckled before his smile fell again. “More than I ever thought you’d be. I’m just disappointed. These clothes don’t fit you at all.”

“What do you mean?” Xiao bristled lightly at what he assumed was an insult.

“For one thing, they pale compared to your beauty,” Tartaglia lamented. He reached out and pinched his fingers around the tail of the fur. “Even the finest fur of Snezhnaya failed to match up to you.”

“Enough with your empty flattery.” Xiao shot the man a sharp glare. “How did you know my size for the dress and shoes?”

“How many times do you think we’ve fought?” The man laughed. “I’m a keen observer! I’ve memorized how your body moves in order to predict your next attack. Knowing your size is hardly anything special.”

Xiao didn’t believe that kind of explanation, but he didn’t bother trying to find out the real answer and instead got down to business. “I assume the one after your life will be attending the party?”

“Yeah, most likely.” Tartaglia nodded. “I have a few suspicions, but I can’t be certain yet. As an assassin, I like to hear your input.”

“You’ve hardly given me any information for me to have opinions.” Xiao crossed his arms and looked back out the windows. “But…I can think of some methods they may use. Halfway through the party, find an excuse to leave me alone and I will identify the perpetrator for you.”

“How dependable!” Tartaglia clapped. “But if you’re alone, you’ll need to talk. Can you take up that task?”

Xiao’s brow twitched, but he softly cleared his voice and spoke in a higher-pitched voice, “naturally.”

It was a beautiful sound with no signs of forced or strained as fake voices generally have. If Tartaglia hadn’t heard this voice coming out of the apathetic man before him, he would have believed the voice to be a real woman’s. He laughed, looking thrilled and extremely interested at how Xiao was able to change his voice like that, but the former assassin was done humouring him.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the dock where Xiao saw people dressed in fancy clothes being escorted onto a ship. So the party will be in the sea…

Xiao was now a hundred percent certain the assassins would come for Tartaglia after they return to land. With this, Xiao was now certain what kind of method they would use to take Tartaglia down, but decided to keep that to himself. Tartaglia hired him for protection, so he will fulfil it to the contract.

The door to the carriage opened. Tartaglia stepped out first before turning to Xiao and offered his hand. Xiao didn’t hesitate to reach for his hand. He placed his hand upon the larger one like a woman would and allowed himself to be guided out. Once standing side to side, he wrapped both of his hands around Tartaglia’s arm and pressed his body close to the man.

Tartaglia’s attendant was already waiting there. At the sight of his boss, he hurried over and presented the same fancy box that once contained the fox pelt. The Harbinger opened the box a little, taking a quick glimpse inside and snapped it shut.

“It will do,” he said, putting on his smile and led Xiao towards the boat.

At the appearance of the young handsome man with a beautiful female companion, eyes were automatically drawn towards them and whispers of the pair began to travel. Neither of the two at the center of this attention cared as they boarded the ship after Tartaglia showed the guards his invitation.

With the sun long set into the sea, the ship was lit with large lanterns, brightening the dock with waiters walking around carrying beverages. When Tartaglia made his appearance, these people swarmed towards him like bees to honey. As the Harbinger who oversaw all the Snezhnaya banks across the nations and establishes trades, Tartaglia has made quite a name for himself in the business world.

Every merchant in Liyue knew about him and was all too eager to establish a relationship with him. That and there was also the fact that the female companion he brought was simply breathtaking. Many men ogled Xiao, though none dared to look too long in fear of being discovered.

With Xiao latched onto Tartaglia’s side and Tartaglia taking control of any conversations that came their way, the green-haired youth didn’t need to participate in any of the interactions. While pretending to not care about everything around him, Xiao was cautiously eyeing their surroundings and checking on all the people that came up to talk to Tartaglia.

The boat has now set off into the sea and the host of the party was making a long speech on the stage.

Xiao was staring at a group of people talking not far from then when a glass of wine came into his vision.

“I don’t drink,” Xiao said quietly, keeping his voice low so no one would overhear.

“Try it, you’ll like it.”

Xiao frowned but knew this man would probably keep pestering him if he didn’t. He took the glass by the stem, swirling the fluid inside around to release the aroma. He took a small whiff before putting the glass against his lips and tilted his head back to take in the fluid.

There was a very unusual taste in the wine—one that was foreign to Xiao.

“I told you you’ll like it,” Tartaglia said with a knowing grin. “It’s Dandelion wine from Mondstadt.”

“…I prefer not to drink, especially during work.” Xiao handed the glass back to the man.

Tartaglia chuckled, bringing the glass to his lips—exactly over where Xiao’s mouth had touched—and took an elegant sip.

Once the speech was over, the guests started to go up one by one to hand their gifts to the host of the party. It was then that Xiao—having not paid any attention to the speech, realized that this was a birthday event.

“Come now,” Tartaglia wrapped his arms around his waist and guided Xiao up the stage where he had his attendant offer their present. “A small gift from Snezhnaya, for the beautiful Madame Zhang.”

The attendant opened the box to reveal a large green gemstone that Xiao had never seen before.

“Oh my!” The woman who Xiao assumed was Madame Zhang gasped at the sight of the gemstone. “Such beautiful emerald! This is the first time I’ve seen one in such quality!”

“We offer you only the best, for you are the star of tonight,” Tartaglia replied smoothly.

“That is very thoughtful of you, master Childe,” Madame Zhang giggled while her servant took the box and set it aside with the other ones. “Though I believe that there is a lady that shines brighter than any stars or emeralds I’ve seen. What is your name, young miss?”

“I am Xiao, Madame Zhang.” Xiao dipped his head and spoke in his fake voice. “It is an honour of mine to be invited to your party.”

“You two sure make a lovely couple.” Madame Zhang hid her smile behind her paper fan. “Reminds me of when I was in my youth!”

“What are you talking about, Madame? You’re still in your youth.” Tartaglia commented, earning another round of giggles from the old Madame.

They left the stage soon after, making room for others to step up.

After all the guests had their turns presenting their gifts, the party resumed.

More people came to speak with Tartaglia and Tartaglia politely spoke back while making lighthearted jokes. When one man came up to the Harbinger and requested on speaking to him about business ideas and proposal for the bank, Xiao knew this was a chance.

Just as he thought, Tartaglia smoothly accepted the man’s request to talk privately.

After telling Xiao to wait here for him, he walked away with the man to discuss the matter somewhere more private and away from the rest of the people. He didn’t go too far on the deck, but far enough where the light of the lantern did not reach. Many people took notice of the two men’s distance, but the people that gathered here are high in social status. They all knew better than to walk in or interrupt a private conversation.

Xiao stood by the banquet table with his arms crossed and eyes closed, acting disinterested in everything that was happening around him—which was not so much of an act.

With Tartaglia gone from his side, men around began to openly stare at him. Many had the desire to approach him, but the cold aura Xiao was emitting created a barrier that only few dared to cross.

Those who managed to gather enough courage to speak to Xiao always ended up walking away seconds later, discouraged by the lack of conversation yet they dared not to bad mouth him due to him being Tartaglia’s companion.

“Miss, I couldn’t help but notice you are alone,” another man said, walking up to Xiao as though he did not notice all the other men that were sent away. “If I may have the pleasure—”

Xiao just turned his head and tune the man out. After a long minute of not receiving any response and being ignored, the man walked away defeated like many others.

Just as Xiao was getting tired of these useless people trying to approach him, a glass of wine came into his vision. It was a familiar sight, except the glass of wine was held by an unfamiliar hand.

Xiao stared at the wine for a long moment before his bright Aureolin eyes shifted to meet the man standing in front of him. He was dressed in foreign attire, but Xiao had little knowledge of anything outside of Liyue so he didn’t know which nation those clothes were from.

“Pardon me, my lady.” The man bowed, taking off his hat and placing it over his chest. “I couldn’t help but noticed you seem to enjoy Dandelion wine.”

Xiao’s eyes dropped back to the wine held towards him. He reached out and took the glass, their gloved hands brushing as he did so. This was not the first time a man came up to him with drinks. Some of the men that Xiao brushed off earlier had as well, though all of them offered him women’s cocktails instead of actual wine.

He swirled the cup around under his nose and took a whiff of the aroma. There was a very light and bitter scent coming from the wine that Xiao was quite familiar with. His lashes fluttered lightly, yet his face betrayed nothing.

“I don’t dislike it,” he said, lifting his eyes to meet the man’s. “How did you know I enjoy this wine?”

“You were so beautiful I could not help but stare,” the man admitted bashfully.

Xiao softened his gaze and for the first time that night, he smiled. It was a fake smile that didn’t reach his eye, yet that was enough to cause those who saw his smile blush—including the man in front of him.

Xiao pressed the rim of the cold glass against his lips. Just as he was about to drink the content inside, a gloved hand came in and took his glass away. The former assassin was immediately alarmed, but he couldn’t show it with so many eyes on him. He just pretended to look annoyed and turned to glare at Tartaglia who appeared behind him with an arm around Xiao’s waist.

“My apologies, my partner here isn’t good with alcohol, so allow me.”

Xiao placed a hand over Tartaglia’s chest and pressed his body into his side. In the eyes of other people, it was a very seductive and affectionate move, but in reality, Xiao was pressing his palm hard into Tartaglia’s chest.

The Fatui’s smile didn’t even falter as he drank the entire glass in one smooth motion.

He didn’t even leave a drop behind.

“Master Childe can certainly hold his alcohol!” The man complimented, raising his glass and also downing the wine inside.

The two happily chatted for a short while before the man walked away.

Xiao on the other hand already couldn’t be bothered with that man anymore. He tightened his grip over Tartaglia, only to feel a hand overlapping his in a reassuring gesture. Tartaglia didn’t say anything and continued greeting other people.

As time slowly passed, Xiao began to see sweats forming over the man’s forehead. Tartaglia’s face was becoming even more flushed and the grip around Xiao’s waist tightened. Eventually, some of the guests noticed Tartaglia not looking well and asked if he was alright, but Tartaglia just laughed and brushed it off as being a little drunk.

Tartaglia managed to keep up his appearance to the very end as the ship returned to the dock.

The moment they got back into their carriage and closed the curtain on the windows, he collapsed into the seat.

“You fool!” Xiao hissed, face distorted with rage. “You should have let me drink that, my body is capable of withstanding poison!”

“They wouldn’t use poison. They’re not so stupid to kill me with so many witnesses,” Tartaglia laughed as though this was something he could joke about. “Though…ngh…this is some potent stuff.”

“Which was why you should have let me drink it,” Xiao retorted and looked down to see the noticeable bulge in the man’s pants. It was impressive of the man to hold his hard-on back for so long. “Shall I drop you off at a brothel?”

“You’d abandon me?” Tartaglia groaned, cracking open one eye to look up at him. “How cruel...”

“I’m trying to help you.” Xiao clicked his teeth, not sure why this man was being so difficult. “If you had let me drink it, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“Your body might be able to stand poison, but not aphrodisiacs, am I right?”

Xiao paused a bit before he let out a small huff. “I would have been fine. I’ve endured through it plenty of times.”

Now, both of those blue eyes were open and staring at Xiao. Xiao knew the man wanted to hear more. If this was normal circumstances, he would have ignored him, but…

“Events that required me to dress as a woman were always messy. Uses of drugs were not unusual. We were all trained to fight while enduring the effects of strong aphrodisiacs to see if we would succumb to pleasure.”

Xiao paused when Tartaglia let out a quiet, barely suppressed groan.

“You’re going to a brothel.”

“What if the assassins are waiting there to finish me off?”

Xiao pressed his lips together, unable to deny such a possibility as he had done something similar in the past. Finally, he let out a deep sigh before he ordered the carriage to bring them to a secluded alleyway where there won’t be any civilians or Millelith passing by.

Xiao took in a deep breath and glanced down at the person lying on the seat. “If you ever speak of what I am about to do, I will peel your fingernails off and shove them down your stomach along with your tongue, am I clear?”

“Hmm…then let’s do a pinkie promise," Tartaglia suggested, not the slightest bit fazed by the threat.

“…A what?” Xiao blinked at the man, wondering if the drug was getting to his brain.

“Pinkie promise.” Tartaglia raised a pinkie at him. “I do it with my siblings all the time. Come on, hook your pinkie around mine.”

Xiao was skeptical but did as he was told and resisted the urge to pull his hand away when the man hooked his pinkie around his.

“You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life.” He began, lightly swaying their hands back and forth. His voice was quiet and calm, but Xiao could hear a strange tenderness within it. “You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again.”

Xiao stared at their linked fingers until Tartaglia finished the strange vow and pulled away.

“Is that a custom of your home?”

“You could say that,” Tartaglia smiled wearily before gritting his teeth to swallow back another noise threatening to come out.

With the man giving him such a vow, Xiao felt a little more at ease and undid the collar of his qipao to free the restrain around his neck.

Once the carriage arrived at its destination, the coachmen scurried away with his face flushed in embarrassment. The carriage was rocking lightly despite not moving anymore. Inside the carriage, moans and huffs of two people echoed softly, accompanied by the sound of rustling clothes.

Dark figures crept along the shadows and surrounded the carriage. With the curtains on both sides of the carriage down, the inside couldn’t see what was happening outside.

“Haah!” A woman’s voice cried, followed by an indecent wet sound. “Ahn!”

The men edged closer and closer to the carriage. The moment they were within range, the ground beneath their feet shook with green spears made from condensed Ameno power shot out from the ground below them.

The spears pierced through their flesh and shattered their bones. In a blink of an eye, half of the assassins were slaughtered on the spot. Those who evaded the attack instantly realized they had fallen into a trap. They pulled out their weapons and aimed for the carriage, but all they saw was a flicker of green light before their heads flew off into the air by a strong current of wind. Flying up along with the detached heads was the top of the carriage that was sliced clean from the body.

The blast of wind swirling around the carriage vanished, revealing Xiao who stood with one foot on the seat of the carriage and his Jade Winged-Spear glowing eerily within the darkness.

On the floor of the carriage behind him…was Tartaglia.

The Harbinger was shaking all over and curled up like a shrimp in boiling water. He was red in the face, but Xiao knew it wasn’t due to the man being under the influence of the drug…but that he was trying to hold his laughter in.

The former assassin felt his veins throbbed and clutched onto his spear even tighter. Thanked to the man’s reaction, his cheeks were slightly red from embarrassment—which he had never felt until now. He briefly pondered the possibility of silencing this man and dumping him amongst these corpses but knew that even if he was drugged, Tartaglia could still put up a fight.

“Since you now know who the mastermind is, my job is done.” Xiao was about to leap out of the carriage and go home when his hand was grabbed.

“W-wait, wait—pfft…ahahahaha!” Tartaglia was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down his eyes. “That was the best! Hahaha! I didn’t know you could put on a show like that all by yourself! And those sound effects were—”

“Enough!” Xiao stabbed his spear into the carriage floor, missing the man's head by half an inch “Another word and I will make sure you won’t have a mouth to laugh with!”

“D-don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” Tartaglia let out another good laugh before finally sobering up.

He snapped his fingers and a man dressed in black and red cloak appeared. With just a simple glance, Xiao knew this man was also an assassin, one that worked for Tartaglia.

“I’ll leave you to deal with the bodies,” Tartaglia ordered before he stepped out of the carriage and pulled Xiao into the dark alley.

“Let go,” Xiao said after a while of being pulled around. He finally had enough and jerked his hand out of the other’s grip. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the droplet of sweats rolling down the brunet’s face. “If you have subordinates around, you should let them take care of you.”

Tartaglia turned and gave Xiao a small, tired smile. “Tell me, Xiao. When was the last time you were able to sleep peacefully, knowing that the world around you is safe?”

Xiao stiffened at that. He looked up at Tartaglia who was looking down at him seriously. Xiao understood the meaning behind the man’s word. Despite those being his subordinates, Tartaglia didn’t trust any of them. At least, not enough to allow them to witness or be near him during his moment of weakness.

Xiao let out a quiet sigh. “What do you want?”

“Let me crash at your place for a bit.”

“And you trust me?”

“Yes.”

Xiao was taken back. He didn’t expect Tartaglia to answer that without even giving a second of thought.

“You think I won’t stab you in the back?”

“I think if you were to stab me, you’ll do it when I’m awake so I would know who stabbed me,” Tartaglia pointed out.

Xiao couldn’t argue with that. Despite his many dislike of this man, he also couldn’t leave him here like this when he was so vulnerable. In the end, Xiao reluctantly brought him back to his room. He used his Ameno power to carry them there while avoiding the eyes of the people in the streets. He didn’t inform anyone within the parlour and slipped inside through his room’s open window.

Xiao laid Tartaglia onto his bed before locking the windows and door.

Tartaglia’s condition was worsening by the seconds. Large beads of sweat were coming down his face and soaking through his clothes. His face was red and his breathing was harsh. He was even grunting in pain due to the tightness of his clothes—pants especially.

A normal man would have lost it long ago. They would have long thrown away their clothes and rubbed on anything that could provide them with relief, but Tartaglia didn’t do that. As someone who had periodically undergone those pain, Xiao could sympathize with what Tartaglia was going through.

He thought back to those long and cold memories, the burning pain of needs and wants…but most of all, it was the fear and loneliness that broke him. The fear and horror was something he remembered clearly even to this day.

Xiao lowered his eyes and sat down on the edge of his bed. He leaned over Tartaglia and reached a hand towards the brunet’s pants when a larger hand seized him by the wrist in an iron grip. In an instant, Xiao was thrown onto the soft mattress of his bed with Tartaglia hovering over him, pinning both of his hands over his head.

“What were you trying to do?” Tartaglia demanded, his blue eyes darkened and lips pulled into a thin line. At this moment, he was every bit as expressionless as Xiao. Beads of sweat dripped from the tip of his nose and splashed onto the youth’s pale’s cheek.

“You’ll feel better once you get enough relief,” Xiao stated the obvious.

Tartaglia’s expression turned even colder and Xiao felt the hands on his wrists tightened. “So you thought to offer yourself to me? How selfless of you.”

“It’s nothing I have not done before.”

That made Tartaglia stilled and the coldness in those eyes gradually melted away. He leaned down until their noses were an inch apart.

“Had you done a lot of such things?”

“Only with my mouth and hands,” Xiao replied in a tone as though they were talking about the weather, not his sexual experiences. “I have no knowledge other than that.”

“…I see.”

Xiao let out a quiet gasp when the man lowered his entire body onto him, pushing him into the mattress.

“What are you doing?” He inquired, looking down to see the Fatui rubbing his cheek against his fake chest with his arms wrapped tightly around his back.

“Hm…these things are in the way. What are they anyway?” Tartaglia complained, unwrapping one arm to poke at the jiggly object. Xiao slapped the man’s hand away. He undid the top of his qipao, reaching inside to pull out the slime essence paddings and tossed them across the room. He also pulled out his Vision that was hidden there and set it onto the nightstand.

Tartaglia hummed happily and rubbed his face against his now flattened chest. “Much better.”

“What are you doing?” Xiao asked again. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought the man was going to…

“I’m going to sleep this off, what does it look like?” Tartaglia mumbled tiredly. “But of course, if you offer to spar with me, it might let me work off this drug’s effect even faster!”

“Exercising will do nothing but make your condition worsen,” Xiao stated dryly. He stared at the man on top of him. In this short moment, he could already feel the man’s sweat soaking onto his skin and clothes.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable lying down like this, Xiao used his elbows to push himself up. The brunet was latched onto him like some sort of boneless animal, refusing to even budge. At this, Xiao created a gust of wind that swirled around his room. His pillow and blankets that were neatly folded on the corner of his bed were picked up by the wind and placed against his back to prop him up.

Xiao then looked across his room to see there was a pot of tea sitting in the middle of the table. He used the wind to bring the teapot into his waiting hands.

“Open your mouth.”

Tartaglia opened his eye to look at the teapot and did as he was told. Xiao carefully poured the cold tea into the man’s open mouth little by little. It was a good thing that the tea Xiao usually drink was made with Qingxin flower that replenishes the body’s moisture.

Once the man drank every last drop of the tea, Xiao let the wind pick up the teapot once more and placed it back onto the table.

“You’re asking for needless pain.”

“If suffering through this means I get the infamous Yaksha to take care of me, I think I'm getting a pretty good return.”

Xiao frowned but didn’t say anything as he stared down at the man.

“Xiao…” Tartaglia muttered against him. “Did you know that when you accepted that glass of wine, you had a particular look on your face?”

“…Look?” Xiao frowned. Had he made any expression when he noticed the wine was spiked? No, he shouldn’t have. He always had a good grasp over his expressions.

“Your eyes became hollowed, like a child who can no longer cry.”

Xiao’s eyes flew wide and flinched upon the feeling of something touching his cheek. When he looked down, he realized that was Tartaglia's hand which was raised halfway in midair. There was a small smile on the man's lips as his hand moved again.

This time, Xiao didn’t flinch away and allowed the hand to cup his cheek. Through the thin layer of the man’s glove, Xiao could feel his unnaturally high body heat.

“So you pity me?” Xiao questioned, yellow eyes carefully searching the blue ones for any signs of lies.

“Of course not,” Tartaglia chuckled, brows furrowed with pain from the effect of the drugs. “You’re strong. You’re the last person I would ever pity, Xiao.”

Then why…?

Xiao opened his mouth, but instead of asking the question on his mind, he asked something else.

“When was the last time you were able to sleep peacefully, knowing that the world around you is safe?” It was the very same question Tartaglia had asked him in the alley, and now Xiao threw it back at him.

“When I was fourteen,” Tartaglia replied.

Xiao stared into those eyes that held so much darkness and secrets, yet he was unable to hate it because his own eyes were the same.

Xiao lifted his hands. He hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms and clasped his pale legs around his hips. Tartaglia froze, obviously not expecting the former assassin to suddenly embrace him like this.

He tightened his right arm around Tartaglia’s shoulder while his other hand was behind Tartaglia’s head, pushing him into his chest with Xiao dipping his head down until his soft cheek was pressed against the brunet’s forehead.

It was a very protective embrace rather than intimacy. It was as though Xiao was trying to wrap himself around the man so no outside danger could ever reach him. For someone in a vulnerable state like Tartaglia, it was a very comforting gesture.

The Harbinger felt like he was going to melt within this warmth…

“I will watch over you, I won’t let any harm befall upon you, so sleep for that I will be here to protect you.” Xiao softly spoke out his promises with his warm breath tickling Tartaglia’s face. “May you fall into a dreamless slumber, yet should you dream of nightmares, call my name.”

Xiao tightened the hold onto the man, using his action to prove that he wasn’t going to go anywhere. He didn’t know what expression Tartaglia was making, nor did he look. He raked his fingers through the ochre brown lock and waited.

None of them spoke again that night. The only thing that could be heard within the silence was the man’s laboured breathing. Xiao understood all of his pain, yet this was the only thing he was able to offer, but Xiao knew this small gesture was what Tartaglia needed. Because this was what Xiao always wanted when he still lived within that nightmare.

All he wanted was simply for someone to hold him…that was all he wanted.

So now, he will give that to Tartaglia.

At some point in the night, Xiao found himself beginning to hum a soft tune. Because of Xiao’s limited use within the parlour, most of his tasks were to go around gathering the items for the funeral. Wild Glazed Lily would be one of the traditional items needed. Due to the…unique requirement when picking these lilies, Zhongli taught Xiao a song to sing before picking them. It was the only song Xiao knew. Of course, Hu Tao taught him some songs too, but they were songs Xiao swore to never sing and threw them into the back of his mind to be forever sealed away.

Xiao hummed this song to the Snezhnayan while occasionally conjuring some wind to provide him with a bit of comfort. He didn’t know how long he had been humming that same tune for, but it must have been a long time, for that the sunlight was shining through the rice paper covering his window, brightening the room.

The body in his arms had gone completely quiet sometime in the night. The only sound Xiao could hear from the man was his soft breathing. He never let go of the body in his arms. He kept a secure hold onto the man, his face still pressed against the Fatui’s forehead.

The brunet’s hair was now stuck together in clumps from his dried-up sweat. Some of that brown hair was sticking onto Xiao’s skin, but Xiao didn’t mind the itchiness on his skin or the stench. He had smelled way worse than sweat back in his days in the Abyss Order.

Xiao looked down at the man’s closed eyelids and the way his lips were neither curving upward or down. He threaded his fingers through the messy brown hair and wondered which side of this man was real.

The one who was always smiling and making jokes, or the one that was every bit as expressionless as Xiao?

Xiao only thought over that question for a brief second before deciding that it didn’t matter at all. Whichever side was this man’s real side, they were equally as annoying.

He continued to hold the man as the sun rose to the highest point in the sky before dropping back down.

Throughout the day, Xiao would sense people coming towards his room, trying to see if he was there but a small gust of wind would always send these people away. No one thought it was weird, for that Xiao had always been like this when he didn’t want to see anyone. The only one who would barge into his room other than the man in his arms would be Hu Tao, but the lack of the young master's voice told him that she most likely went out somewhere to play and wouldn't be back any time soon.

Xiao didn’t drink.

He didn’t eat or sleep either.

He kept holding the man until night came once more and the rowdiness from the street quiet down.

It was late into the night when the city was asleep did Tartaglia finally stirred.

Cobalt yellow eyes shifted down to the man in his arms. Xiao brought a hand to the man’s face, brushing aside those brown bangs and was greeted by the sight of those azure blue eyes.

“Hey there…” Tartaglia grinned, voice raspy from his long sleep. He turned around in Xiao’s arms and reached up a hand to touch Xiao’s cheek. “Were you with me this entire time?”

“I do not go back on my words,” Xiao replied.

“Yeah…” Tartaglia whispered and soon noticed something was off. He brought his hand down and took a sniff of his sleeve before breaking out into laughter. “I can’t believe you were able to hold me like this when I smell so bad!”

“If you realized, then get off.”

Tartaglia finally sat up. He stretched his arms over his head until he got some satisfying pops from his joints. “Aah, I haven’t had a sleep like that in ages.”

He hopped off the bed, taking Xiao’s hand and pulling him along.

“Come on!”

“What are you doing?” Xiao frowned, but still followed him.

“Bath. I think you and I both need one. And I’m sure you’d want to change out of those clothes?” He said, making a show of looking over Xiao who was still dressed like a woman.

Xiao huffed but was unable to argue with that. The two of them went into the parlour’s bath that night. Since it was in the middle of the night, everyone was asleep so both baths they had were unoccupied.

Tartaglia insisted on sharing one bath, but Xiao ignored him and went into his own before locking the door shut. Once he rid himself of the Snezhnayan’s scent and dressed into his usual clothes, Xiao walked out to see Tartaglia already standing there waiting for him.

“Where did get those clothes?”

“The guest rooms.” Tartaglia smiled cockily. “Since I crash here so often, I left some of my clothes behind.” He replied as though leaving his clothes in other people’s homes was the most natural thing to do.

Xiao made a mental note to speak with the young master the next time he sees her. He tossed the red earring back to the man and walked past him. "Since your business is done and the culprit identified, leave. I will inform young master Hu that my duty is over.”

“Always so eager to leave,” Tartaglia said with a light smile. “You’ve stayed with me all this time so you didn’t eat or drink anything, right? At least let me treat you to a meal.”

Xiao paused and it was then he became aware of how empty his stomach felt.

Reluctantly, he agreed and followed the beaming man out the parlour. They arrived at the Liuli Pavilion where Tartaglia booked a private room for them and ordered an entire table of food. Xiao was dumbfounded by all these food considering there were only the two of them, but since it wasn’t his mora they were spending he had no complaints. During the entire meal, Xiao ate quietly with Tartaglia chattering next to him and introducing him to the dishes he picked. Though Xiao didn’t want to admit it, Tartaglia had good tastes in his choice of menu. If there was any fault Xiao was to comment on, it would be the fork in the Snezhnayan's hand.

After eating a hearty meal with Tartaglia paying out of his wallet, they were back on the street, heading towards the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour. The entire journey, neither of them spoke. They just enjoyed the silence and each other’s presence.

When they arrived at the main door of the parlour, Xiao was about to go inside when Tartaglia said something unexpected.

“I will be returning to Snezhnaya very soon.”

Xiao turned to the man who was gazing back at him as though he was expecting him to say…something.

The green-haired youth opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what he could say to that. He had almost forgotten that this man was a diplomat, that his stay in Liyue was temporary. The fact that he had stayed for a whole year was already surprising enough.

Liyue would never be home to someone like him.

His place will always be in Snezhnaya.

“I see…” Xiao’s gaze unconsciously shifted away from the man. “I wish you a pleasant journey.”

Tartaglia laughed weakly at the expected response. “So cold…and here I thought we have something special.”

Xiao stiffened at that last part. Before he could figure out what Tartaglia meant by special, the man took his hand into his and pulled him inside. As a frequent guest at the parlour, he knew his way around the building—especially Xiao’s room which he frequently intruded upon.

Once they were back in the room, Tartaglia sat down on Xiao’s bed and pulled the smaller man into his arms. Xiao hastily put out his hands onto the mattress to stop himself from falling against Tartaglia, yet he couldn’t pull away with the man’s arms wrapped around his waist.

“You—”

“I’m just returning a favour.” Tartaglia’s fingers brushed over the tender skin beneath the mesmerizing golden eye. “You should get some sleep. It’d be a pity if such beautiful skin gets ruined.”

There was hesitance in Xiao’s eyes, but the warmth being emitted from the brunet’s body and the weight of the arm over his back was extremely tempting. A longing Xiao hadn’t felt for a long time burned him from the inside and he found that he was too exhausted to fight against it.

Xiao knew he wasn’t thinking straight, but he couldn’t help but cave in. He hesitantly lowered himself against the man, like a cat testing the water.

Tartaglia waited for him patiently, watching him with a gentle look on his face. It was only when most of Xiao’s weight was put against him that he moved. He wrapped Xiao up in his arms and pulled the blanket over them. He leaned his back against the wall next to the windowsill and held onto the smaller body protectively.

Xiao closed his eyes and let out a small breath at the warmth and comfort surrounding him. Pressed up against the man’s chest, he could hear and feel the heart that was beating beneath the other’s ribcage was strangely calming.

“Xiao.”

Xiao didn’t respond, but Tartaglia knew he was listening.

“Come with me to Snezhnaya.”

Aureolin eyes snapped open in surprise. The body in Tartaglia’s arms shifted, but the man held the other tighter and continued.

“The Wangsheng Funeral Parlour gave you a home, but you and I both know this isn’t where you belong. Blades are meant to be sharpened and used on the battlefield, not to be locked away in the shed to rust, don’t you agree?”

Xiao dropped his gaze. He knew that for a long time, but he was saved by Zhongli who gave him a place here. Both Zhongli and Hu Tao were important people to him and leaving them would feel like he was betraying them.

“I…cannot answer you at this time.”

“But you’ll think about it?”

Xiao hesitated before answering with a small nod.

“Good.” Tartaglia smiled and buried his face into the silky green hair. He rubbed his hand up and down the curve of Xiao’s back while his other hand gently rubbed his nape.

“Rest, Xiao. In the name of her majesty, the Tsaritsa, I promise I will always protect you.”

Xiao felt something inside him trembled at such promise. He knew Tartaglia well enough to know that this man always kept his promises no matter how ridiculous that promise may be. But even so, this was the first time he heard the man use his Queen’s name when making a promise. Moreover, Xiao keenly caught how Tartaglia said always protect, and not just for tonight.

Xiao parted his lips but quickly close them again. He knew there was nothing he could say at this moment—not when he didn’t know what his own feelings were. He wasn’t so cruel as to give the man a half-hearted answer.

So Xiao closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep.

Xiao didn’t actually think he would fall asleep, given the heavy promise Tartaglia gave him, but he did. He fell asleep listening to Tartaglia’s voice that was softly singing a lullaby to him.

For the first time since he could remember, Xiao fell asleep feeling warm and safe.

When Xiao woke up, he was still bathed in the warmth of another living being. Even though his mind was still muddled by the sleep, every part of his instincts was screaming to him that something was wrong.

The first thing Xiao noticed was the weird rocking feeling and the second thing was the smell.

Being in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour, there was always the smell of incense and because Xiao’s room was always so dull and empty, Hu Tao took it upon herself to always fill his room up with flowers. Right now, there was no scent of flowers or incense anywhere, only the smell of old wood and the saltiness of the sea.

In a split second, Xiao was up, eyes snapping open with the thick quill slipping off his body from the movement, causing his exposed arms to come into contact with the chilly air.

“Careful now,” the Harbinger’s voice came from the darkness before the Xiao was pulled back against the body with the blanket wrapped around his back once more.

“Tartaglia? What is this?” Xiao demanded, looking around the unfamiliar that was most definitely not his. It was a luxurious room, but the style of the room and furniture was not the style of Liyue.

There were no windows in the room, but the constant rocking motion gave Xiao an idea as to where he was. He leaped out of the man’s arms and in a flash of green light, he was across the room, tearing the door open and running out. He sped down the narrow hallway and up the staircase.

In a matter of seconds, Xiao was standing outside on the deck with the bright afternoon sun beaming down at him. He winced at the brightness and had to bring a hand up to shield his eyes from the unusually strong sunlight.

The cold assaulted his body, but Xiao could barely feel it when he saw all these people walking around him, moving the cargo of the ship. These people were all dressed in Snezhnaya clothes with some members of the Fatui as well.

Xiao’s breath came out of his open lips in a visible puff of white. His eyes scanned over the sea before stopping at the land in the far distant—covered by a sheet of white.

“Underestimate the cold and you’ll die in Snezhnaya,” Tartaglia said, coming up from behind Xiao to wrap a thick layer of white fur coat around the fragile-looking youth. Unfortunately for him, his gesture wasn’t welcome when Xiao whirled around and seized him by his collar, pulling him down until they were eye to eye.

“What is the meaning of this?” Xiao snarled, his eyes nearly dilated in his rage.

“Well, you’ll have to ask your young master Hu about that.”

“Young master Hu?” Xiao was taken back, not expecting such an answer.

Tartaglia held out a letter to him with Xiao’s name written at the top. Xiao snatched the letter from his hand and unfold it to see Hu Tao’s familiar handwriting.

He read through the long letter which basically came down to one thing.

Hu Tao had sold Xiao to Tartaglia for ten billion mora.

To be precise, Hu Tao has sent Xiao to Snezhnaya to work with their business partner as a diplomat at the contract agreement of ten billion mora.

Xiao ripped apart the letter. As though that wasn’t enough, he even used his Ameno power to shred papers until it was nothing but dust that was blown away by the ocean wind.

Where in Teyvat had anyone heard of a funeral parlour needing diplomats?!

“You!” Xiao glared at the man who had the audacity to look amused. “I did not agree to come with you to Snezhnaya!”

“Didn’t you say you’ll think about it?”

“That did not mean I agreed!”

“But if I don’t bring you here, how will you think about it?” Tartaglia laughed before he pulled Xiao into a tight embrace. The green-haired youth was mulling over whether or not to toss this man overboard when he heard the following words. “You’re not a prisoner, Xiao. You’re free to leave any time.”

Xiao frowned, trying to figure out if this was another trick.

“The contract I made with Hu Tao only says for you to help me out. As for when this help ends, that is up to you. If you want, you can end it right now and return to Liyue. The money has already been paid in full and by the rules of the contract, I won’t be able to ask the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour to give it back.” Tartaglia slowly released him and took a small step back.

Xiao stared at the man, his anger of being lied to had already faded into nothingness. Despite having pulled him here without asking him, the man was now presenting him a choice to leave.

“What’s your purpose of bringing me to your nation?”

“…I guess I just really wanted to show you my family,” Tartaglia laughed. “They’re the most precious people to me, so I wanted you to meet them.”

“Why?”

“Do I have to spell it out?” Tartaglia tilted his head and smiled at Xiao.

Xiao shook his head and looked back to the land of white the ship was heading towards.

“…Three months,” he finally said after a long time.

Xiao suddenly realized that when it came to this man, he was surprisingly lenient. Had it been anyone else that had kidnapped him into another nation, he would have killed that person already. “You have three months to convince me to stay. Otherwise, I will go back to Liyue.”

“That’s more than enough.” Tartaglia smiled before he held up his hand. Xiao watched as his fingers curled up, leaving only his pinkie behind.

“There is no need for a promise,” Xiao stated.

“Give me your finger.” Tartaglia waved his hand to urge Xiao to do the same.

The green-haired youth slowly held out his hand, raising his pinkie and hooked it around the man’s. Xiao only felt the pinkie around his tightening before Tartaglia pulled him into his arms through their linked fingers.

“I promise that I won’t make you regret this choice you made today, Xiao.”

#genshin impact #genshin impact fanfic #Childe #xiao #childe x xiao #tartaglia #genshin fanfic #genshin xiao #genshin childe

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loyally-unfaithful · 4 years

Text

pairing: rengoku kyojuro x gn!reader

genre: fluff

a/n: henlo is me again, i’ve never owned cats and it shows i made this into headcanon format, but if you were looking for something feel free to resend a request c: alrighty hope you like it

edit: i know this is a super long time since this ask was actually sent to me?? and i honestly have no excuses to give. i’m really sorry to whoever sent the request: i was just procrastinating and then covid hit and my motivation plunged even lower. i know this is not much, and it’s probably ooc to all hell but i do hope you like it.

so ok, here’s the premise: you just moved out of your old residence, whether it was a flat or a house—you’re outta there! you is gone !

and ur friend or flatmate had a litter of cats and u just couldn't help urself but adopt one. they were just that cute.

so u did.

got that bad boi for free too, what a bargain!

and anyway u love that bastard with all ur heart.

it's just a bastard but she’s your bastard so it's all good.

very adorable dainty catto, and you took her to the vets to get her checked up, vaccinated, dewormed, and all that good stuff to make sure she will have a long and healthy lifespan.

u recall that u need to bring her in within 6 months to get her spayed so that there wouldn’t be an accidental litter. the operation is postponed since rn she’s too small, and ur like.

ok, i'll see u in 6 months.

that was 3 months ago.

now u moved out into a new apartment, with ur precious catto in tow.

after u finished bringing in all your boxes and furnitures and such, you thought to yourself, “hey, why not start this new chapter in life with a good start by acquainting myself with my neighbours”.

and that's exactly what u did: u gathered like, a packet of strawberries, and went over to the flat directly in front of urs while rehearsing what you will say in your head.

as you reached the other side and pressed the doorbell, you wondered who lived behind those doors…

first you’ll introduce yourself by name.

maybe it was a married couple? maybe even with a family?

and after that, you’ll tell them that you just recently moved in.

or perhaps it would be some elderly gentleman or lady?

and then, you will hand the gifts over and express that you hoped that the two of you will get along—something like that.

worst case scenario, the person is some weirdo… you hoped not…

the door finally opens with a click and you begin to recite what you had practiced:

« hey my name is... » your voice tapers off as you fully took in the person greeting you.

your voice disappears, meeting someone you absolutely did not expect. out of all the possibilities, you did not think for a moment that your neighbour would be the handsome young man with piercing golden eyes, lustrous locks of bright yellow hair, and an even brighter smile, standing before you.

were you staring? you were staring weren’t you? you realised in embarrassment that you were staring at the man, who was probably confused to all hell as to why you appeared on his front doors.

fighting your urge to combust and run away, you introduced yourself following the script you made up (though with more stutters than originally intended) and brusquely handed the berries over.

he happily takes your gift, repeating your name, assuring you that he was listening. it’s so stupid, but the way he says your name makes your stomach do flips. « well, welcome! he says enthusiastically. i’m rengoku kyojuro! i hope you enjoy it here! »

and that was that.

you mechanically went back to your flat, face burning and nervousness still clawing at you.

you’d say that you got adjusted to this new life pretty quickly. you seldom visited kyojuro as you were too embarrassed to pop by and chit-chat as often as you would’ve preferred to—dreading the thought of crossing him on your way to your own flat whenever you went home—but otherwise everything had been good.

alas, your cat was now 5 months old and oh boy.

something tells you your cat was entering its heat cycle or something—you were a first time cat-owner, but you had an inkling.

if your cat’s sudden affectionate, or over-affectionate, streak and unexpected attention seeking behaviour was anything to go by. she would roll on the floor, rub herself all over you and leave fluff all over your clothes, and yells.

she screm!

most stressful of all was how she absolutely wanted to escape to the outside, but you were not having it. you did not want kittens. one cat is enough thank you.

but nope, your wishes were in vain as one day, she just fucking disappeared—god knows where she is , she’s just somewhere.

understandably, you lost your shit and panicked because holy hell your cat escaped!!!

you went around to look for her, with no luck, and you were absolutely heartbroken.

that was until like??? 2 months later and you went to open a drawer to get some socks and lo and behold!

A CAT

and not just any cat! your cat! AND NOT JUST YOUR CAT! but also a bunch of other smaller cats, also known as kittens!

at this point, you weren’t even upset at the thought that you fucked up and ended up having kittens—you were just happy your cat is back and alive and well and back home. who knows how she entered back into the house.

who cares??

your cat is back!!

you’ll just have to spay her once she’s done nursing.

but as you watched over the litter, which looked like your cat but also another cat, you began to see a resemblance between their orange fur and caprisun, kyojuro’s ginger maine coon!!

and now everything makes sense…

body working on autopilot, both because of how tired you were after watching over the cats and also because you were still dissociating from the realisation, you stiffly made your way to your neighbour and ringed the doorbell… ignoring the fact that this was now 2 in the morning.

you had to tell him, or confirm or do something with this new knowledge. his sleep can wait.

surprisingly, he answered the door without you having to ring him a second time. unsurprisingly, he looked tired and was ???? at you summoning him at such an odd time in the evening.

« i know that we don’t really talk, you started. but i need to show you something: i think your cat might have gotten my cat pregnant?? »

that caught the blond’s attention enough to wash the grogginess away from his face, and he followed you back to your flat.

normally the idea that a stranger, a good looking stranger no less, was going into your flat would fluster you, but right now you were a man with a plan, you had something to do and that was to show kyojuro the litter of cats.

he was surprised when he saw them, but confirmed that you were probably right, and that his male cat had probably gotten to your cat during her disappearance.

at this point you were a little bit (a lot) overwhelmed by the responsibility that came along with being a parent (and a grandparent), so you were about to ask him to help you coparent for the little buggers.

but he suggested it before you had the chance to, taking initiative:

« then! he expressed emphatically. we must raise this little kitty family together! kyojuro declared. »

and thus began your misadventures together as cat parents.

even though you both had work and a multitude of other things to do during the day (kyojuro still has his own cat to take care of, for that matter), you made it work—perhaps through sheer stubbornness and desire to make things right.

if anything, this whole ordeal cemented the fact that you were officially put off from having real children: if taking care of kittens was this demanding, imagine a whole actual human baby.

no way, no thanks.

you’re good.

hard pass.

funnily enough, after taking turns to take care of the cats and after the shifts to watch over them, you two had become fast friends. despite your reluctance with meeting him again after your disastrous greeting, you found yourself being very comfortable being in his presence and getting used to having him over in your flat (for the cats, of course).

but you would be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy spending time with kyojuro, conversing with him and learning more about each other as you both opened up to one another.

it was when he beamed at a joke you made, wearing his signature exuberant smile and laughing a laugh that you found so adorable, that you realised that you were in too deep. that you were definitely catching feels.

sometimes, you wished that you two would’ve been more than just friends. you wince at the thought that the two of you drift apart after this whole mess was over. but you pushed that inevitability away from your mind.

for the most part, nothing noteworthy ever happened as you took care of the kittens as the two of you fell into a comfortable rhythm.

one day, while you were both taking care of the cats, his exhaustion got the best of him and kyojuro fell asleep. you found him dozing off on the couch when you walked in, and you had to stop for a moment and tiptoe in the piece because of how peaceful he looked as he was resting. it was incredible how impeccable he looked, awake or asleep.

secretly, you took a picture, capturing this moment forever. he looks adorable. you’ll probably show the image later and tell him that he can take it easy for a while seeing as he was worn out and that you just received a few days off.

speaking of sleeping on duty, you’ve caught yourself passing out once or twice (ok a few times, more than just once or twice), but the weirdest part of all was that you would always wake up on your bed instead of wherever you fell asleep.

butterflies would go feral in ur stomach at the implication that kyojuro had been carrying your sleeping form to your bedroom.

but that was what has been happening right?

you think that at some point, you had fallen asleep on kyojuro… but to save yourself from the embarrassment, you chalk that up to your imagination running wild or a dream.

a few months into this ordeal, he pulled you over to another room to talk privately to you (ignoring the fact that there wasn’t anyone else in your apartment except for the cats).

he seemed to carry himself with a hesitance or shyness that was never there, and you found yourself dreading what he was about to tell you. what kind of bomb was he about to drop on you?

before starting, he paused for a moment, resolute… or was that a look of determination in his eyes? you didn’t know what to expect and it made you worried.

« i have something i need to tell you, convey to you! he started, confidence not lost in his voice. there is a burning passion in my heart, and it was about time that i listened to it! i know we’ve only met just recently, but after our time together i realised that i have feelings for you! he uttered your name again, with such gentleness and softness that it made your heart tighten. i like you! »

« i like you too!! you responded quickly, too quickly. you winced at how loud you unintentionally were, but he didn't seem to pay attention. »

instead, a radiant smile graced his features as he realised that you shared the same sentiment. and the same smile spread on your face, happy that he returned your feelings.

slowly, he moved closer to you and like a magnet, you mirrored him.

perhaps a bit hesitant, you could feel the ghost of a kiss over your lips as he leaned towards you, inching ever closer to each other.

but as your lips were about to connect, you hear crying from the other room…

the cats!

you two jerked away from each other, alerted by the sound, before looking back at each other, dumbfounded.

after what felt like an eternity but also an instant, a chuckle escaped you as you began to laugh uncontrollably—overwhelmed by giddiness and the sheer absurdity of this entire situation—and the blond followed suit, laughing along with you.

as you calmed down, your eyes found each other and the two of you just smiled.

the both of you wore brilliant smiles, and you were floored by the tenderness he held for you.

you look like a mess.

and he looks like a mess.

and you're both tired beyond belief.

but you’re both really happy.

and really happy to have each other.

(and your cats of course).

you’ll have to thank your cat later for helping you meet this wonderful person.

LIKE MY WORK? CONSIDER BUYING ME A COFFEE // CHECKING OUT MY MASTERLIST | LINKS CAN BE FOUND ON MY DESC

#Kimetsu no Yaiba #demon slayer #rengoku kyoujurou #rengoku kyojuro x reader #kny rengoku #kyojurou x reader #kny kyojuro #falselywrites #fluff #headcanon #cats #domestic fluff

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darkdevasofdestruction · 4 years

Text

Soft Tunes, Warm Hugs - Worick Arcangelo

(( I hope you enjoy this little thingy with this cute dork, @ittokan <3 ))

Nobody knew, and truthfully, nobody even had to know what they were going through. It was none of their business, was it? It was their life, their tragedies, their problems and everything that they had to deal with, so nobody truly knew what was going on behind those cheerfully playful and mischievous facades of theirs.

Y/N knew Worick since before he called himself that...She knew him from his days as the Young Master Wallace Arcangelo. Ah, such grim days...Days that she curses every time she had the occasion whenever she somehow has the misfortune to remember, by some unknown and unexpected means.

It wasn’t fair...It wasn’t humane...None of it was.

They were just children back then.

Her, Worick, Nicolas...

They were just children.

They deserved better.

But that’s the dark world that they live in, and nobody can really change that.

Such a cruel world they had to grow up in...And why...? Because adults made it that way for them. Instead of witnessing all the beauty of the world, they had to be locked up and forced to succumb to a darkness completely void of anything. They were empty. They were just shells of their former selves.

They went on their own ways as soon as they were able to escape that hell. Worick became a Gigolo, Nicolas was a hitman, while Y/N managed to get out of the town to earn herself a proper medical degree.

By the end of it, when she got back in that town, at least she was happy she managed to accomplish something for the first time in her life. Something that was her doing, that she did on her own, without anyone else on her back.

She was finally proud of herself.

When she started exploring the town again, she realised that barely anything actually changed, and that he absence of 10 years was most likely not even noticed by anyone.

That’s what she thought, at least, not realising how much the platinum haired man was yearning for her, to see her again, to have her next to him again, to hear her voice again.

Worick didn’t realise how much she cared for Y/N until she was no longer there with him every day and every night. It was weird...So weird. So unusual, no unexpected.

But Worick had to earn money, had to build up his reputation around the town, as Benriya, along with his associate, Nic, so his days as Gigolo weren’t over even now, in his 30s, although they were vastly diminished.

Every girl he put his hands on, he imagined her. Every pair of eyes he was gazing on from above, he could only see hers. Every time he would hear his name being called by a woman, he’d turn around, hoping to see her.

But all of these were his bittersweet daydreams going on. He was, at least happy, knowing that she escaped this terrible place and hopefully, managed to find herself a nice guy to treat her like a jewel and can live a decent life, at least.

Sometimes, he wished he would have nightmares, since they were always about his childhood days, when she was present as well.

But who would have thought that one normal day, when nothing was out of the ordinary and he was just walking around the city, he would hear his name being called, and when he returned, he would see a woman looking so much like the girl he once knew.

She had the same hair colour, but the length was much longer than the girl he once knew. She had the same eye shade, but her eyes were sparkling with life and glee, unlike the dull eyes of the girl he knew, whose eyes only sparkled with tears. Her voice was calming and melodic, as if she was speaking honey, unlike the timid voice of the girl that was too afraid to speak. Her smile was dazzling, twinkling like the stars, unlike the little girl who would bite her lips until she drew blood. She wore a beautiful flow-y sundress, showing off just enough of her flawless skin, unlike the girl who would cover all her skin, ashamed of the bruises, scars and wounds she was plastered with. And she...She was radiating...She was glowing...She was happy...Unlike the little girl who resembled a mouse hiding in a corner, afraid to get abused again.

Who was this angel, calling out his name so beautifully, looking at him as if she knew him? She couldn’t possibly be one of the girls he’d hook up with, he’d definitely remember her. So...Who...?

“Worick? You’ve been staring at me for the past 5 minutes or so. Are you okay? Is the heat getting to your head?” she blinked in surprise, leaning closer to his face, her hand gingerly put on his forehead to feel his temperature. “Who are you, miss?” his voice was betraying all his emotions. “Oh...You don’t remember me, do you? Well, a lot of years passed, and I...I guess I changed a lot, huh? You changed a lot too, you know? But your eyes are not something to forget.” she chuckled, a tint of disappointment in her voice. “No...You can’t be Y/N. She’s in a better city, living a better life.” he muttered, looking away, almost as if he didn’t want to believe his eyes. “Wait, so you knew it was me, but couldn’t believe it? Aww, aren’t you adorable...Wally?” she giggled, teasing the man in front of her. “W-Wally...?! Y/N, come on, don’t use that nickname with me! I’m not a kid anymore!” he whined childishly, his fair cheeks becoming the same colour as the pink roses that bloomed. “There we go, that’s the cutie I know! Get here and give me a hug, big guy! You grew up so much, Worick, you’re literally towering over me!” she laughed without a single care in the world, something that filled his heart with so much joy that he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her into a tight embrace. “I missed you a lot, Y/Nickname. You have no idea.” he muttered softly into her ear, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “I missed you too, Worick. I couldn’t stay forever without you and Nic around me, that much was pretty easy to figure out. You are like some really nice kind of parasites, that are always on your mind and heart, you know?” she chuckled, looking up at him fondly. “I’m not sure how I feel, being compared to a parasite, y’know?” he laughed mirthfully, ruffling her hair, like they used to, when they were young. “Wanna see my new apartment? I just finished fully furnishing it, I’m very proud of it.” she pulled out of the embrace, hooking her arm to his. “Lead the way, my lady.” he flashed her a charming smirk, which he wasn’t sure worked in any way, but the smile on her face was worth everything.

It was great reuniting with Worick and Nicolas, even with little Theo, who also became a doctor, and everything was really nice, there were no more worries, no more problems, no more regrets.

Well, almost everything was nice.

The nightmares were not something from the past’s domain, unfortunately, for either of them, and yet, they were too afraid and ashamed to lean on each other for emotional support, despite the fact that they both knew what the other went through the best.

Neither of them wanted to burden the other with more sorrow than needed.

They tried to be strong, like they’ve always been, but one night it was just too much, and the girl couldn’t sleep at night for a few nights, and the exhaustion was beginning to take a toll on her to the point that she couldn’t focus on anything, and she was becoming weak...Not to mention the headaches were atrocious.

That cold night, the girl left her apartment in only her oversized Tshirt, shorts and a pair of slippers, making her way on foot to the Benriya’s apartment, hurrying and trying to stop herself from thinking, letting her legs go to the set location by themselves.

She already had a spare key, so she got in the house, locking it, and made a beeline to Worick’s bedroom, opening the light and crouching next to him on the bed, poking his cheek and softly calling out his name to wake him up.

As soon as the man opened his eyes, he screamed in shock, being met with another pair of eyes so close to his face, and he used the blanket to shield his body from being exposed.

“Wh-What are you doing here, Y/N?” he asked, confused and surprised. “...Can I sleep with you tonight?” she muttered, standing up. “What happened, Y/N? Are you okay?” he asked, his face washed with worry. “I’ve been having nightmares for years and I thought I was used to them...But these days it’s gotten so bad that I can’t sleep...I look like a zombie, I feel even worse...But I’m afraid to go to sleep because of another nightmare. I guess I didn’t want to be alone, you get me?” she tried to explain herself, but Worick needed no explanation - He understood her so much that it hurt. “Let me get proper sleeping clothes and-” he began, but the girl already turned off the light and got in bed with him. “Don’t worry, I’m a doctor, I had to see more genitals than I know how to count...And trust me, that’s not the best thing in the world.” she snorted, making herself comfortable in his embrace. “Okay, you got me. Do you want to talk about your nightmare?” he asked, playing with her hair soothingly. “No...I just want to sleep. Besides, it’s nothing that you don’t already know.” she sighed, burying her face in the crook of his neck, already feeling drowsy from his body heat. “I understand. I wish you sweet dreams, my dear Y/Nickname.” he planted a soft kiss on the top of her head, praying for at least her to have a restless night.

---

And that’s how many of their nights were spent, either Y/N sleeping over at theirs, or Worick sleeping at her place, having no inhibitions and no shame to get in each other’s room, just to ask for a hug or to cuddle to sleep.

Years passed quicker than imagined, and while they never spoke out to being together, everybody knew there was nothing that could pull them apart - Not his part-job as a Gigolo and neither her being busy most of the time with the clinic.

It was more confusing for poor new comer, Alex, a former prostitute that Worick and Nic saved from her abusive pimp. Ah, she was so confused about everything, obviously because of the pills, and because she never had anyone behaving with her normally and treating her like a normal human being, so she mistook some of the signs, believing that she was in love.

That was until one day when she found Y/N and Worick coming out of the same room and she freaked out, not having any idea how she managed to get there without her knowing. Well- Not that it was difficult to go past Alex, since she was a heavy sleeper...

But Nic having to explain that Y/N and Worick have been together since childhood was... An outright shock for her, who knew Worick for being a carefree Gigolo who doesn’t let emotional bonds get the best of him.

Even so, she found them cute together, and could see, at least hypothetically, how they lasted so long together.

At least in theory, since she doesn’t actually know that their feelings strings are unbreakable.

---

One night in particular was extremely bad for Worick, and he couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t even something that happened - It was something based on a trauma he experienced, but much darker and more gruesome. Worick was shaken to the core.

Just like usual, he hurried to Y/N’s apartment and went to her bedroom, and upon entering, his mind almost seemed to forget every bit of agony he experienced, as her soft sleeping expression vanished everything in his mind.

Almost, but not quite.

The blue eyed man gently woke her up, kissing her forehead, caressing her face and calling her name until she fluttered her eyes open, which was pretty fast, considering she was a light sleeper.

She needed no explanation, she already knew what was going on.

She got up, gesturing to him to get in bed, undressed as usual, since that’s how he would sleep most comfortably, and taking out a music player and some scented candles, she played some soft jazz tunes, letting the aroma of vanilla and cinnamon sooth their senses.

Y/N took off her shirt, knowing how he needed body heat to be able to calm down and relax, and got in bed, hugging his head close to her chest, playing with his long, gorgeous hair, to help him fall asleep easier, while his arms were pulling her to him, caging her in a warm embrace.

“Thank you, Y/N. These damn nightmares are sure something else...” he muttered with a tint of annoyance in his voice. “I know, darling...I know...But I’m here for you. I’ll fight them for you.” she kissed his forehead once again, making him chuckle. “Well...At least one thing’s not bad from all this. I get to feel your soft chest...Ahhh, it’s like a cloud.” he giggled like a school boy, making the girl sigh, but grin nonetheless. “You’re such a dork, Wally.” she used her free hand to softly caress his arm and side, putting the blanket around their waist and back, so they won’t get a cold. “Admit it, you can’t resist this lovable dork.” he sniggered, making her hum in amusement. “I suppose that’s true. I love you, Wally.” she tightened his grip around him, and he did the same. “I love you too, Y/Nickname. I’m really happy that you came back.” he spoke in a voice, barely above a whisper. “So am I, Wally. So am I.”

Letting the music settle a peaceful atmosphere around the room, she unconsciously hummed a soft tune, along the music, as she played with the man’s hair until she herself fell asleep.

It wasn’t much that they did, but for them, every little thing meant the world.

#gangsta imagine #gangsta x reader #gangsta #nicolas brown #worick arcangelo imagine #worick arcangelo x reader #worick arcangelo

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nothisis-ridiculous · 3 years

Text

Take Me Home Now: Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven: To The Place I Belong

Set after the events of ME3.

A rewrite. Ao3.

FemShepxKaidan

Evelyn ripped around the Recruit; the endless stream of energy the kid displayed was a thing of envy. She was an old soldier indeed- growing exhausted from just watching the child play about excitedly. Once she swore never to become that person, but it had progressed subconsciously. It was far more than a physical tired; emotionally and mentally, she was a strange form of exhaustion that taxed her brain to move on a typical day- on the worst days, it was immobilizing. "Please, just one more lift," the mousy-haired girl begged. "You're going to get me in trouble again." Evelyn pouted, "she's not watching right now. Plus, Rahna said she isn't mad it just makes her sad, which makes her act mad." "So you want to make her sad?" "No," but there was still a little bit of defiance in the utterance. "Plus, don't you want some of that energy for Pater?" "Ugh, we won't be there for forever ."

"You could try napping in the Mako," Jane retreated as the kid threw her a cross look, "or you could write another log." The kid was precocious, but Jane liked that about her. She was only privy to the existence of the log because of her Spectre status. Evelyn had believed what all others would take as a lie at face value. Claiming a secret mission, the kid was more than onboard to keep mum about the existence of a previous life. Though Evelyn may begrudge her later, Jane hadn't utterly lied to her. "But, you're doing dangerous things," Evelyn whined. Super dangerous if they allowed the seven-year-old to bother her, no doubt, "I suppose I am. How about you help me keep an eye out for any baddies?" It kept her entertained for a while, at least until Jane started to recognize some of the roads again. Her detail was ornamental at this point the route had been quiet. Who would disturb a company of Makos and Kodiak shuttles? Having boots on the ground was only required because of the state of chaos the city was under from reasons that ran from collapsed structures to faulty ordinances. The medical equipment was worth far more than creds; it was a step toward rebuilding. Jane paused once the building crested the horizon, the corpse of Harbinger in rest behind it. Her hand raised, bringing the caravan to an immediate halt. "What's the holdup?" the 2nd lieutenant buzzed over her comm. "I want a scan of this area, "Jane couldn't quite place the exact threat, it was an absurd tingle that whispered caution, "get behind me." The woman's demeanor bid the child to comply. "Mec-" Jane's pistol fired a split second before the comm's warning, blasting the processing 'head' clean off the LOKI unit. "Woah, Woah, Woah," a figure shouted from between the buildings, the white-haired figure raised his hands, "just mechs, Recruit." "Pater!" Evelyn cried, running from her side without a hint of caution. Half tackling the man with the ferocity of her joy, but he recovered quickly, spinning the girl around before setting her down. Holding her hand for the rest of the trip to the convoy. Roy's forehead knocked against her's, hands holding her face, "fucking hell, Recruit." "LT." "Jane, you-" his voice quivered before it left, pushing her aside with unintended belligerence. His steps were wobbly as he approached the short woman wearing a sour expression. They stared at one another. He stopped just out of arms reach from the woman. "I'm not going to smack you, you old geezer." The LT muttered something unintelligible as he swept the woman up into his arms. Cue the crying and all the grotesque cuteness one could endure from the scene. Jane had to look away; it was like watching her parents kiss. It was something better left unimagined and unseen, and sure it happened just somewhere else. The pang of envy was also unbearable, despite how happy she felt for them. It was time to look for an exit. Apparently, after trouble ran into her- "It's nice to see some of the Alenko family reunited." "Is this a joke to you?" envy helped pull a simmering anger into a seething mass of it. Rahna remained gentle, undaunted, "it would be good for all of you to have some closure." Logic bid that Strawberry couldn't have known that her Roy was the Major's father. While she knew who Helen was, Jane hadn't been exactly willing to spend any time with another person during her recovery. It all seemed obvious now if she hadn't been so clouded with grief and self-gratifying misery. "Please, let me go," Jane begged. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ Harbinger's warm (for London) breath collided around her form. They sat in a prolonged stalemate of silence, the Reaper judging the creature before him. What was a flawed creature of flesh compared to a collective intelligence? This ant was pathetic, hardly able to pose a threat to itself. Yet here it sat, thinking it was worthy of words. But it wasn't without pithy for the small things. "Death wouldn't claim you." Why would it? The real punishment was surviving. Reliving the guilt without a

barrier to stop the whole barrage of the tide. While she fought and campaigned against forces that seemed impossible, she had a way to hold back the pain. A reason to forget, a goal that kept her focused on what was forward and not on the past. The failure of losing one homeworld seemed small compared to the loss of all advanced life in the Milky Way. But now, with time, without a goal to keep her focus forward the weight of Thessia, Earth, The Citadel, Palavan, and countless untold colonies compounded together. Her personal failures insult to the injury. If only she could have provided more evidence about the Reaper threat. If she had tried harder, been louder, would they have listened to her? Was it a mistake to abandon Cerebrus? They were evil, no doubt, but could those resources have made the difference? If they had managed to find the Catalyst earlier, the galaxy would have suffered less loss. Instead of the Illusive Man needing to make her an enemy, would her compliance have stopped the indoctrination of the organization? Had she pushed them to that extreme? Was it a mistake to not take the Dalatrass's deal and fool the krogan? Even if for a short while. Was her moral qualm worth the lives and time it took? There was always more she could have given. Her repentance must be witnessing the Galaxy struggle to rebuild after what she had brought upon it. "Who would believe you were Shepard?" Just another facet she wanted to forget. How could she face his parents? Was it wrong to stick around? Helen was a nominal presence in her life, but the LT... him she couldn't forsake. Roy's company brought her peace, likely out of familiarity, a brief reprieve from the current of guilt that swept her under. Guilt she didn't want to bring into their relationship, shame that her attempt to save his son had failed. She wasn't ready to talk about Kaidan or the Normandy. It was still too much of a burden, the force petrifying her humanity. What would it change between them? Or the way everyone looked at her? Would they shun her for what she could no longer be? Couldn't she steal a little light? At the time, she hadn't saved the man for Kaidan, but at least she could protect them now. Or try her damnedest as Jane, as much would not be expected from her. "I see we found Harold again," a graveled voice chided disapprovingly. Jane flinched at the physical contact, finding her words to come out in a tumbling mess, "shouldn't you be shacking up with your old lady?" "Who's to say I haven't." Now, this was super gross, "you picked a fun one." His eyebrow raised, but he otherwise ignored the undertone of Jane's statement, "Alenko men always pick a partner far out of their league. I think my son really took the cake, though." Jane tensed, waiting for the inevitable. He knew. He had to. Rahna wouldn't keep quiet, not now. Why else would he leave his wife? Nearly two years' absence was nothing compared to a stranger disappearing for a month. "A Spectre is a Spectre, and never for an arbitrary reason," she retorted defensively, no longer waiting for the blow to come. It was also a little personal- she loathed whenever someone implied Kaidan simply rode her coattails. Yes, he was monumentally important in her crusade, but the man was his own force to be reckoned with. He was capable, intelligent, level-headed, and most of all kind. It was rare to have someone never ask anything of her, as he had. Rarer to not be put on a pedestal, the Major had always seen her as human. As a person and not the title. Despite how challenging the distance between them had been, she would always respect that he never wavered on his choice to act independently from her. "Heh, did someone have a celebrity crush?" Roy shook his head, "I didn't come here to reminisce. I wanted to speak with you about something." "Okay, let's have it." He took in a deep breath, folding his arms in a manner that made her question how she had missed the resemblance, "about that day, the raid. Look, I appreciate what you were trying to do for me, but never do

that again." "I can't promise that," she returned flatly. "You know," he drew in a steadying breath, his tenor turning into a heartbreaking rumble, "it's possible you have people out there that care about you. You're a stubborn shit, but you're becoming like one of my own. Maybe you can't imagine someone coming back for you, but one day someone's going to thank me for keeping your sorry ass alive for them." "You can lecture me all you like then," she quipped, but the hot tears slipping out from the corners of her eyes betraying her true feelings. Roy's hand returned to her shoulder, letting the woman release in complete silence. He waited a few minutes after her shaking had stopped to speak again. "But you should come inside, there may or may not be a banner with your name on it awaiting you," he said wryly, "while I think Evelyn may not mind all the attention on her, she does not need that much cake."

#shenko #fshenko #mass effect fancition #kaidan alenko #take me home

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whumprincess · 3 years

Text

World of Pain: Ch. 2 - Juliet Takes the Stage

Word Count: 2352 words

CW: Creepy/Intimate/Possessive Whumper, Lady Whumpee, broken bones, torture, body control/human marionette, dehumanization, death threat, begging, mild horror, True Fae

Summary: Clara learns the misfortune that falls upon anyone unlucky enough to attract the attention of a True Fae obsessed with theatre.

Related Content: Intro, Chapter 1

Clara’s wakefulness came as erratically as a skipping record. There was an unsettling tune playing in her mind, one that was both familiar and unknowable. It steadily grew louder and more intrusive with every passing second.

“Rise and shine, Juliet!”

Their speech was nothing more than a mess of music notes escaping into the air and yet she understood all the same. Her vision was blurry as her eyes fluttered open.

“My, my, how precious.”

She felt woozy and captivated with every… word. However, even amidst her haziness, it was abundantly clear that something was wrong. Horror sank deep into her body when her eyes focused on thin, translucent wires wound taut around her flesh. Instinctively, she fought against her bonds only to be interrupted by an aggravating pitch she just knew was a laugh.

“And such fun too!”

“FUN?!” Her voice pierced the air, addressing the presence that seemed to be simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!”

“About you, Juliet!” The strings entangling her shifted to prop her up onto her feet and then concentrated around her elbows and knees. “Most of them don’t notice until…”

The sound of snapping harp strings accompanied the sensation of snapping bones. In an instant Clara lamented every object she had ever broken. The screech that left her lips was impossibly loud and pathetically quiet.

“Ah, such a beautiful song.”

Her joints gave way, but she remain standing. A delicate thread slowly creeped its way under her chin.

”Now… let’s take a look at your pretty face.”

Gently, her anguished expression was directed upwards. She nearly drowned in her own tears as she came face to faces with an abomination of reality.

“Perfection.”

This wasn’t happening… it couldn’t be happening! What she was looking at wasn’t even possible. The only way she could interpret it was as three large masks that didn’t fit in her field of vision, made up of an ever-shifting number of eyes. Their eyes conveyed emotion by warping smaller ones into crescent brows. Each face was connected to a large smile that resembled a harp… or perhaps it was the other way around? The “teeth” were the very same wires that were holding her up. She had wanted to refute its existence, to tell it to burn in hell, but every time she opened her mouth her voice was replaced by cries.

“Still conscious and singing? You must be trying to impress us!”

Clara’s anger overrode her pain and fear, “I-!”

“Oh?”

The eldritch horror reeled her in, eagerly awaiting her response. She was lost in their presence, but made found by the countless amount of eyes that gazed upon her. The need to breakdown was immense, but she fought it with the entirety of her will.

“PUT ME DOWN!”

Their screeching laughter nearly made her pass-out, “Now why would we do that? You can’t even move without us!”

“I DON’T CARE!”

“Now don’t be cruel.” They let out a sorrowful note.

“CRUEL!?” Surely even in this godforsaken place irony must exist.

“We went through all this trouble to welcome you home. You should be grateful to be ours.”

The mere insinuation made her blood boil, “I AM NOT YOURS!”

“Of course you are!”

“I DIDN’T AGREE TO THIS!”

“Agree? You say the cutest things!” Their smile extended beyond their faces. “Surely you understand a plaything has no say over who owns them.”

The weight of their words sat heavy on her broken bones. She was preparing to retort, when they abruptly gave each of their cords a twist. Agony once again robbed her of her words and forced screams out of her throat.

“We knew you’d understand, Juliet! Now, let’s get you ready!”

Clara must’ve succumbed to her overwhelming torment because the next thing she knew she was in what appeared to be an extravagant dressing room. Her earlier memories started to trickle back in causing her to panic. She jolted forward, attempting to escape, only to be met with the harsh reminder that her limbs were no longer hers to control.

The melody of her wail put them at ease, “Good, you’re finally awake! We were worried you’d be late for the show.”

The pounding of her aching body was ear-splitting; she shouldn’t have been able to hear that monstrosity as clearly as she did… there truly was little mercy in the world. Obstinately, she endured the rush of queasiness that threatened to send her back to sleep. She had to collect herself, she had to show them she would not be toyed with!

“What the hell do you mean: show?”

“Come now, Juliet, don’t be silly! It’s the reason you’re here.”

She was confused for merely a moment, before she caught a glimpse of herself in a nearby mirror. In the glass she saw reflected her fragile frame strung up and decorated like some hapless marionette. Her heart plummeted as she fought the invading realization, “No!”

“Yes!” They responded, all their eyes lighting up with joy.

“I won’t do it!”

“Oh, Juliet,” they sighed. “You’re so eager to make things difficult.” They puppeted her towards the mirror, ensuring they were visible right behind her. “You’re forgetting…” Their tone was low and accompanied by strings coiling around her neck, “we’re the ones who run the show.”

Her heart was beating like a hammer, she couldn’t run even if she wanted to. As her mortified eyes stared into their soulless ones she recognized death was as close as she wanted it to be. “I-“ She considered her next words more carefully than her outfits, “I don’t know the script.”

Their amusement echoed throughout the space, “Of course you do!” They spun her around and waltzed her across the room to where a script lie on a table. “Go ahead, pick it up!”

They extended her arm towards Romeo and Juliet. For whatever bizarre reason, whenever this thing moved her around there was no pain; in fact it was almost soothing. With a scowl, she took the paper in her hands and flipped through it. Surely there must be some sort of demented twist. It came as a complete shock when, not only did this appear to be an ordinary telling of the story, but she also did indeed know all of Juliet’s lines flawlessly.

“How?” her question was halfway amongst demanding and disbelief.

“I’ve known you a long time, Juliet…” They moved a string to rest on her shoulder. They delighted in the vibrations of her shudder, “You were made for this role.”

She felt lightheaded. She was stuck between wanting to pry for further answers and wishing she had never asked in the first place. However, one thing was for certain: All this stress would not be good for her performance.

“When is the show?”

“Whenever we want it to be.”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at their smug attitude, “Well then, could I persuade you to postpone indefinitely?”

They gave a deep chuckle as they caressed either side of her face with their cords, “Careful, Juliet.” They ominously inched closer to her pupils, “It would be a shame if we had to hold your pretty eyes in place too.”

Reflexively, she shut her eyes tight. She wanted this villain to touch her as little as possible, which was already a challenge considering they hadn’t let go of her since she arrived at this horrid place. “Right, well…” she cleared her throat, “What time suits you?”

Pleased with her change in demeanour, they rearranged their strings to maneuver her towards an ornate door. “Immediately.”

She had a sinking feeling that’s what they would say.

The stage was hotter than hell and the audience looked like they belonged there. Beings appearing even more sinister than her captor were among the crowd, fervently awaiting to witness a show, where she could only assume, no one was a willing participant. She felt sick considering she could be connected to all the other actors on stage via that thing. Her vindictive urge to ruin this damned play boiled to the surface, but before she could indulge it, its voice filled the auditorium.

“Fair folk and accompanying unfair folk, we thank you for coming to the greatest show in Arcadia!”

Cheering erupted from the crowd and in an instant Clara was reminded of home; her real home up on stage, where she was revered and she could do no wrong. A home where the applause harmonized so perfectly with the rhythm of her heart, she knew it belonged solely to her. Her instincts as an actress took over; she was determined to get her praise.

And she did.

Her performance was immaculate. Every line spoken from her soft, tantalising lips was angelic; every movement she was forced to complete was made her own by the flourishes of her fingertips and fluttering of her eyelashes; every minute she spent in the spotlight was blessed by her poise and passion. By the end of the show, she had undoubtedly earned the standing ovation offered by the cursed spectators. She fell so deep into the sound, the fame, the adoration that it was all she could remember, all she could dream of until…

They could never possibly tire of the sweet refrain of Juliet’s cries. As much as they loved seeing her be their perfect little puppet they were overcome with fondness whenever she writhed for them. They had waited with anticipation for the inevitable reminder that their kindness was a gift they had graciously given to her; one that could be easily taken away.

She didn’t even believe she was the one making those mangled shrieks until the unrelenting pain tore her from her dreams. All too vividly, she felt the twisting and turning of her bones as they attempted to fuse with something that was not her own. When she clamped her eyes shut, an intense image of thorny vines drilling deep into her flesh filled her mind. She watched as it scraped the length of her bones and spread out to contort around her broken parts.

“What’s the matter, Juliet?” They asked, teeming with glee.

As its sound danced its way inside her head, she attempted to close them out- to pretend she couldn’t hear them, but it was impossible to ignore the feeling of infinite eyes leering at her; making a spectacle of her suffering. She felt exposed. Exploited. Violated.

Overindulging their enjoyment, they pried her dripping eyes open, “Let us see those pretty eyes!”

She was utterly helpless as her last semblance of control was ripped away. Gawking at her nightmare, reality set in like cement: there was no escape. The violent convulsions of her healing body were the only means of protest she had left.

“Aw,” they cooed with mocking sympathy, “Is it too much for our plaything to take?”

Defiance mixed in with all the other hellish sensations housed within her. Her weak voice was dragged out of hiding, “N-o…”

“Hm, what was that? We couldn’t quite hear you.”

With all the energy she had left she shouted, “NO!”

“BRAVO! SPLENDID!” They played a congratulatory tune as they lifted her off the ground. “You can still sing!” They twirled and tossed her around from string to string until she was chaotically ensnared. “That means we can hear what we want.”

Being thrown around like some ragdoll should have aggravated her wounds, but it didn’t. Just like when she was performing, being connected to their cords brought her peace. Betraying her desire to flee from her tormentor, she let out a pleasant sigh of relief.

“There’s our Juliet.” They mused softly.

Although she was undeniably in less pain, she was sick to her stomach. The thought that it had any claim over her was revolting. She was seconds away from ordering it to unhand her before fear told her to hold her breath.

“Is there something you want to say?” They urged deviously.

She bit her tongue until it bled, maintaining a hateful glare. It was excruciatingly obvious they wanted her to lash out, to expel curses that would be used against her, so she practiced a new form of rebellion: silence.

“No? Just as well. It’s important you listen to what we have to say.” They intentionally began to rub their wires over her tender joints. “We have spoiled you, Juliet; Chosen to show you kindness without so much as asking for a please or thank you, however…” Without warning, they applied pressure, “We think it’s time you begged for our mercy.”

Unable to restrain herself, she spat blood and vitriol, “OVER MY DEAD BODY!”

Euphoric at her response, they cackled while jostling her around. Eventually, nothing but a single strand of string remained, precariously wrapped around her slender ankle. “That can be arranged!”

Vertigo set in as she faced the threat of plummeting to her death. Unfortunately, it wasn’t strong enough to overshadow the pain that impatiently returned to occupy its natural place in her body.

“So what will be?” They asked with a tightly strung note, “Would you rather beg or die?”

Just when she thought she might accept death, a pining voice resounded inside her mind:

“I’ll miss you, Doll.”

Why? In this world, where she was reduced to nothing more than an object; where she was certain to be subject to more misery; where there was no hope of escape; did she hear her? And why, oh why, did it fill her with such melancholy resolve?

With a heart torn more viciously than any part of her she sobbed, “Please…”

She remembered the brightness of her hair.

“I’ll do anything…”

The inviting hue of her eyes.

“Anything for you…”

The allure of her smile.

“So please…”

The warmth of her hands.

“Let me live!” Her desperation came to a crescendo. By the end of her pleading, she found herself enveloped in the villain’s embrace.

“Oh, Juliet.” They played with the red locks of her hair, “We didn’t know you loved us so.” They gently squeezed every cord surrounding her, “How could we ever let you go?”

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liliability · 4 years

Text

Day Two: In the hands of the enemy

(Eh, kinda. This piece is a nod to the prompt I wrote back in September, set in the same universe of Day One: Let’s Hang Out Sometimes)

CW: lady whump, pet whump, dehumanizing language, collar, caged whumpee, captivity, blood mention.

Timeline: Late 90's, 20 years before Max abduction

Every year, Emma attends Trevor Harding’s luxurious ball uninvited. A nice excuse, she thinks, to wear a tailored suit and flirt with absorbed ladies all night without bringing attention to herself.

An even better annual excuse to keep her eyes on Harding’s closest friends, the infamous elite of magic timekeepers that hold all the cards in this part of the city.

Trevor had reacted with mild annoyance at the first, but quickly took up the challenge to surprise his most intriguing guest every year with his latest purchases. Usually, the acquisitions are older than the immortal host himself.

This year, unlike the last few decades, Harding’s precious asset isn’t on display in the main hall, and that’s enough to make Emma a little wary of the nature of his acquisition.

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

“Well, it’s not exactly a new acquisition, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it took me years to get improve my project. I wouldn’t settle with an unfinished piece of work.”

The loud Vivaldi that entertain the guests in the ball room is slowly replaced by a faint ringing in her ears as Harding leads Emma to the biggest cellar she had ever seen. The place looks more like a warehouse from a horror movie, or even an old-fashioned dungeon, than the underground of a sumptuous castle. She wonders if anyone can hear her if she screams.

The answer is probably no, or else Harding wouldn’t lock any living creature down there. Emma knows they’re walking towards a living thing, because the ringing is replaced for a low groaning as they run down the cellar.

“Don’t get too close to the cage. My girl has quite strong teeth.”

Emma notices the big cage hidden by the shadows in one corner of the cellar. The reinforced bars hold whatever pet Harding got his hands on this time, and it mustn’t be very well-trained, but this isn’t Emma’s biggest worry.

The cage is too big for a dog.

The dark Harding whistles to bring the attention of the creature.

Emma hears a rattling of chains, followed by a loud growl, before the pet draws closer to bare it’s teeth at them and thrash violently at the bars of the cage.

The woman nearly falls back when the pet snarls at her, and in the darkness of the cellar it takes her a while to notice that the figure locked in the cage is not an it, but a bruised young woman, bound on her hands and knees, that thrashes back and forth against her restraints like a startled animal.

The sounds she made doesn’t sound human at all. Distressed and strangled whimpers come out from a throat that is as restrained as her limbs.

She’s wearing a fucking dog collar.

“What...What the fuck, Harding? This is a- fuck- how long do you have a person in your cellar?”

Trevor puts himself between Emma and the cage, doing quiet shush motions. Behind him, the woman stares at them with wide icy eyes and bared teeth. There’s a thin layer of sweat covering her face but no flush reddening her hollow cheeks. No freckles, no blush, despite the paleness of her skin. The only color in her face are the dark circle under her eyes and the dried blood spattered on her cheeks.

She looks sick. Damn, if she wasn’t panting so much, Emma would think she was fucking dead.

“I know, I know what you’re thinking, but let me explain. Do you see the runes in her arms?”

Emma lowers her gaze, looking at the elaborate knife-made marks in her arms. She had heard about the forbidden runes, made by greedy mortal beings who want immortality- or perhaps corrupt timekeepers who lost their powers. At the end, their craving is the same, but these years of life are not simply granted. They are stolen, and that’s the purpose of the runes.

The lines are neat and straight, the work was clearly slow and deliberate. The woman must have stayed still- or unconscious- but if the point Harding is trying to make is true, she did these runes of her own volition.

“So, the rumors are true. Are you sheltering strays now, Trevor? I thought mortals like her had their own gang, or something like that”.

“Well, what could I do? She asked me for help, and I turned her myself.”

The woman snarls at them again, pulling at her restraints with smudged red fingers and shouting something that sounds quite like “Go away!” Emma would guess she’s in her twenties, but there’s no way to know with the runes-

One awful question pops in her mind.

“How long... for how long do you have her?”

Harding grins at the question.

“Now, that’s a nice question! I found her at ‘91, so let’s say... seven years?”

Emma’s going to throw up. There’s no way the poor thing in the cage had known the fate reserved for her, there’s no way she would agree with this.

“This...this is wrong, how can immortality be worth all this?”

“Oh no, she didn’t trade herself for immortality, that was only a collateral. Do you see how the pattern in her arms is different from the standard rune?”

There’s a mark in her arms that resembles a chain, the rune used to bound a mortal’s life to a Timekeeper’s powers. No matter who this woman was, she gave herself to Harding to be able to extend someone’s life.

Emma is paler than usual. “What could she possibly use these powers for?”

“About that...”

Harding leads her back to the crowded ballroom. The caged woman doesn’t seem to relax even when they got more distant. Instead, Emma can see her growl to a shadow and rub her face in the bars, removing the matted hair that gets in front of her eyes.

Dozens of servants move around the room with plates full of champagne glasses. One of them is visibly younger than the others, and particularly nice looking. His icy blue eyes and messy dark hair caught her attention immediately, but she can’t stop thinking how similar he is with the feral prisoner downstairs.

He walks with his head cast down, a tired frown in his face, but despite his careless expression his uniform is flawless, except for the wrinkled fabric in his arms were the sleeves are rolled up to expose the runes.

Anyone could see the carved marks at meters of distance, and Harding’s closest guests would certainly know about its meaning. A sign of danger and unnatural in any other place out of a timekeeper’s territory, but here? In Harding’s own ball, serving guests and cleaning tables? The rune is a sign of ownership. A brand marked with no iron.

“Is that a...?”

“A bound mark, exactly. The siblings made a deal with me, some years ago. His darling sister dropped dead in my door some years ago, and he came for me to trade his life for hers.”

“I won’t say he looks very alive, but he’s clearly not dead, at least.”

“I got a little turn in my arrangements. His sister wasn’t very pleased when she woke up. She begged me for a deal, and I granted her new powers to keep her brother alive, as long as she can buy him more time.”

Trevor doesn’t say the rest of the sentence. From someone, buy him more time from someone, harming innocent mortals to extend her own life- or someone else’s, in this case.

“But she’s not one of us, she can’t steal without killing her targets.”

Harding’s smile widens. “I’m very aware of this” The trail of blood is no inconvenience for him.

This is absolutely sick. She knew some timekeepers could be corrupt, but Harding is in a whole new level...

“What would you get in return, huh? Betraying your own people, using forbidden magic? Brennan lost his powers for much less.”

“I beg to differ, as I was the one who removed his powers, in the first place. With your connivance, if you don’t remember.” Harding shrugs, following the dark-haired servant with his eyes. “But what did I get in return? As you could see, I got myself a gorgeous brand-new toy, and the best hunt dog I could hope for.”

Emma doesn’t think about all the laws Harding had broken behind her back. She doesn’t think about the inappropriate comments the half-dead man gets from the guests and their even less appropriate touches that only stop when the guests see the runes.

But mostly, she tries not to think about the bared teeth pointed at her, and kicks herself whenever she wonders about what Harding would consider a hunt.

#whumptober2020 #no.2 #collars #OC #fic #pet whump #lady whump #dehumanization #captivity #restrained #caged #whump #Emma Rosenblum #Trevor Harding #Isadora Ortiz #Timothy Ortiz #creepy whumper #blood mention

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sxfterhearts · 4 years

Text

8. [8:24 pm]

The crowd was roaring and chaotic as you entered the gymnasium, clearly invested in the intense basketball game that was unfolding before their eyes. Your school was playing against a rival team to fight for a spot in the semi-finals, and it seemed like nearly the entire student body was packed into these four walls.

You weren’t much of a sports person, admittedly. In fact, sport was the only subject you consistently scored a C- in. But you were here to be supportive of your school’s efforts, and because your cousin-slash-rising basketball star, Jackson, talked you into watching his game.

Jackson treated you like his baby sister, despite the small age gap. Your mum and his mum were the closest of sisters, so it was only natural for the two of you to get along like true siblings. Petty fights over the remote controller, skipping school to get ice cream and even pranking your grandmother by swapping out mayonnaise for whitening toothpaste – whenever you were together, you were up to no good, but Jackson always made sure that you never got into real trouble. Being close to Jackson also meant spending lots of time with his six other best friends – the seven of them came in a package deal. You weren’t complaining though, you fit into their tight-knit group perfectly because of your genuine, playful personality that resembled Jackson’s.

Amongst the blur of whites and blues, your school colours, you managed to spot five figures seated near the front row, pumping their fists in the air enthusiastically. You wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart from the rest, if not for their light-coloured hair ranging from dark shades of brown to eye-catching blonde. You hurried over, hoping that they saved a spot for you.

“Y/N!” Yugyeom yelled in greeting, swooping in for a bear hug as though he hadn’t seen you in ages. That wasn’t true though, you had just sat through two excruciating hours of physics with him, but you returned his hug eagerly while greeting the rest of the boys.

“Hey, hands off the goods.” Bambam’s voice sounded loud and clear amongst the noisy cheers. He pushed Yugyeom away and encircled his fingers around your wrist, pulling you towards him. You were the closest to Bambam amongst the boys, excluding Jackson, mostly because you saw him nearly every single day, whether it be at your part-time job in the local café, or studying together during and after your classes, or helping out with the student council. Officially, there was nothing going on romantically between you, but recently you started to overanalyse his flirty actions and charming comments after spending one too many drunk nights with the gang.

“I’m a human being, Bam, not an inanimate object.” You side-eyed him in feigned annoyance, purposely ignoring his glances and rather focussing on catching up with the scoreboard. You squinted to catch the neon numbers, having misplaced your glasses sometime after study period in the library, but to no avail. Instead, you tried to follow your cousin and his teammate, Mark, as they whizzed around the court, chasing the orange ball.

“You know I was just kidding. Here,” Bambam tapped you lightly on your shoulder when he noticed you shifting your weight from one foot to the other in an attempt to soothe the effects of your five-hour shift. You glanced over your shoulders, questioning him with a raised brow. “Take my seat.”

You scoffed light-heartedly. “You need it more than me, it’s fine.” You pointed at his bandaged, sprained ankle, thoroughly amused by his choice of footwear: black fluffy slides. “You’re injured, I can’t take advantage of the handicapped.”

The crowd yelled in unison as your team scored another point, courtesy of your cousin. As he paraded around the court with glee, slapping the arms and palms of his fellow teammates, Bambam guided you back towards him with his hands on your waist. “How about a compromise, since you’re such a considerate person? I know your feet is sore, just share the seat with me.”

You opened your mouth in protest. “But how-”

“Stop being stubborn and sit.” He instructed, spreading his legs and letting you sink into the space in between. “You’ve got a morning shift tomorrow; you need to rest your legs.” It wasn’t the first time you were in such close proximity with him, heck, the two of you woke up on the sofa next to each other after one of Jackson’s parties, but it was definitely the first time doing this sober. Bambam didn’t know where to place his hands and he was uncertain about how comfortable you were in this position.

You were taken aback by his actions, which were anything but subtle but also somewhat caring. You sat still, afraid to move as your mind raced at the intentions behind his actions. You wondered, is it normal for friends to sit like this?

“I have something for you.” Bambam spoke, his velvety voice sounding extremely close to your ears, causing your heartrate to speed up. He searched around his pockets before appearing at the edge of your vision with a cheeky smile. He pulled out your glasses from behind you and placed them on you. “So forgetful.” He chastised as he booped your nose.

“Where did you find this? I’ve been looking all over for it.” You took in your surroundings, now crystal clear, with a grateful smile.

Bambam shook his head, watching your excited expression with more interest than the basketball game behind you. It was like the two of you were in your own little bubble. “The librarian passed it to me when I went to return a book. You know, the older one with the purple sweater and tight bun?”

“She’s not that old, Bam.”

“Okay, the middle-aged lady. She told me to return it to you.” He corrected with a roll of his eyes. “She keeps thinking that we’re together or something.” Bambam muttered under his breath, his fingers distractedly playing with the hem of your shirt.

You blushed at that, having heard every word. It wasn’t the first time that people have mistaken you two for a couple, but this librarian was always calling you out on it. Whenever you and Bambam snickered at some funny meme or drew patterns on each other’s arms, she would always magically appear behind a bookshelf and warned you to keep a “one and a half metre distance away” from each other.

“Ew!” Yugyeom jeered towards your seated form. “Public displays of affection aren’t allowed on school grounds and students have to keep a one and a half meter distance from each other at all times!” He practically quoted the school’s rulebook to a tee.

“Yugyeom, leave them alone.” Jinyoung’s voice pierced through the noise as he reprimanded the youngest boy, coming to your rescue when he noticed Bambam falling silent. You made a mental note to treat him to coffee the next time he visited the café.

“Fine…” He huffed, sticking his tongue at Bambam.

When the others preoccupied themselves with the game once more, you risked a peek at the boy sitting behind you. Bambam looked almost bashful as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair, and you fought the sudden urge to feel the soft locks under your fingertips. “Listen, Y/N, I know this is a bit lame, but do you want to grab coffee with me tomorrow? At seven in the morning?”

Giggling, you felt your cheeks warm up. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Depends, do you want to go on a date with me?”

“We’re working tomorrow morning, Bam.” You gave him a playful shove.

“I know, I can pick you up at seven and drive us to work. You know, I make the meanest caramel macchiatos.”

“Well, I don’t know. They are my favourite.” You pretended to be deep in thought, purposefully delaying your answer. “I don’t think I trust your driving, though. You did sprain your ankle two days ago.”

“Hey! Don’t make fun of the wounded. That was my left ankle, thank you very much, and it’s nearly healed now. My right ankle is working just fine.”

You hummed, a teasing smile working its way onto your lips. “Okay then. But no accidents.”

“No accidents. I promise to take you there in one piece.” Bambam lifted his pinky and you hooked it with yours, sealing the promise.

True to his words, the blonde boy made you a caramel macchiato with a caramel heart on top of the foam, and sometime between the morning rush and the afternoon lunch hour; amidst the clinking of cups and the periodic hisses of the coffee machine, he asked you to be his girlfriend.

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thurilostiel · 4 years

Note

Do you mind talking about your Blind Oracle? She looks very interesting and beautiful!! I really love her design!!! 🥺🙏

Ok so first of all @cringeyvanillamilk @one-leaf-grimoire @shinyshammie cuz you all seemed interested in the OC of mine. Sooo.... *looks over at like 30 pages of written text for BO’s backstory and pet guides* I’ll start with most basic things, in a short list so that you can choose whenever to read all of this or just the summary. Also Thank you for the name suggestions, they’re really fun and I had Lilith in there as well, but for like a slightly different meaning of the name. Name used by her: ‘Oracle’[after getting her grimoire], Thana Nickname given by Nozel, as she said she wasn’t given a name upon birth: Gulisa, and later Libi Full name: Lilith Razili Graddfa'r Ddraig Title: Blind Oracle Status: Of well respected Diamond’s Kingdom noble familly DOB: 20th of April Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: [???] she might be ace, but that’s due to a trauma, still questioning Height: 164cm / ~5′4 feet Weight: 54kg / ~119 lb Eye colour: Deep forest Green -green that goes into grey’ish colour spectrum the farther from the center Hair lenght and colour: Long -while down they get past her shoulder blades, longest part goes till her waist- Dark brown with highlights [of slight reddish tones] Skin colour: Delicate carmely tan [typical Central EU skin tone] Special marks/scars: has lots of little scars on her arms and upper back, her eyes have a visible markings on the irises [will include pic later] Magic affinity/magic’s name[as the one written in the grimoire]: Light / Fallen Luster Magic type: Supportive summonings Favourites: food- fresh fruits, ice minties, a big meaty meal, mint ice cream drinks- fruit juice[apple and orange juices], water with frozen lemon/grapes and mint dos- hum melodies, take long walks with her companion[s], experiment with her eyes, making things for her pets and/or others dear to her don’ts- arguing, being descriminated, being in big crowds, having others play heroes for her [i.e. pretend there are robbers nearby and shove her inside an alley to ‘protect her’] Magic Knight Squad: She’s blind so she’s not that confident to get herself into this bussines Race: Half dragon (don’t @ me, you gave me this idea guys, you know where this came from) Personality: kind and shy pesimist, who always looks at the worst possible scenario to be prepared for anything she can think of. Known pets of hers : Emrys - an aftereffect of her father’s experiment, was with her from her 3rd birthday till May5th after her 18th birthday. Unidentified under-race of, what everyone assumed was, a wolf and fox mix, with low nobility mana levels, allowing him to use few ‘spells’ of flower magic. His favourite flower was a Pond Lily, and he loved to snack on freshly cought fishes. Died on May 5th. [need to finish his visuals, tho he’s inspired by a pet in a browser game Eldarya write down ‘Eldarya Rowtsya’ into google and this is really close to what Emrys look[ed] like] Mer - foundling Crystal Eagle of Oracle. He dropped out of a nest on top of a tree under which the girl was resting. He was a little hatchling then, not more than 2 weeks old, the smell of chocolate cookie brought him to such a brave act. Mer was too small to fly back up ot the nest, also Oracle hadn’t noticed that he’s an eagle untill about a month after he joined her on the adventure, and moved on right after giving him the rest of her cookie, making the smol birdie confused as he was never that far away form his nest and decided to stick to her. Mostly because she still got more cookies to feed him. He’s a little grumpy, but he helps her getting around on her travels. He loves chocolate cookies, corn, and ice minties. He’s getting mad really easily, while mad will refuse to eat and fly, instead will be stompin’ angrily on the ground so Oracle will hear him being mad. Meanings of names: Lilith - night monster, monster mother; also believed to be the name of first wife of Adam, a succub that brought fear to little children and pregnant ladies Razili - of Hebrew’s origins meaning ‘Lord’s secret’ Graddfa'r Ddraig - that’s just her father attempt to act human. ‘Dragon Scale’ in Welsh. Due to her mother’s pasing she wasn’t allowed to wear the noble familly name. Gulisa - Little[as in Weak] Heart [Georgian’s origins] Libi - My heart [Hebrew’s origins] Thana - Arabic name meaning ‘Death’ So the backstory goes a little like this: Lilith was taken out of her mother’s dead body about 2h after her death and put into the coffin on her mother’s chest as she was a silent one and not one of servants believed she’d still be alive. Her father was the one to react to her cries and open up the coffin to see his daughter trying to feed herself but getting nothing above few droplets of blood from now uncovered breasts. This caused her to be of a weak heart and health in general, would scratch easily, get exhausted from simple tasks... The father[a dragon and an idiot when it comes to human interactions] somewhat took care of her, not knowing what to do with babies he just stuck to giving her bottles with milk whenever she cried and if that didn’t work get a servant to change her daiper. Her real name was never used inside the castle, her father was using her [draconic version of] middle name or ‘shortenings’- he meant sweetheart but was saying weakheart, meant sweetie when saying hatchilng, you get the point- as everyone took her as a sign and incarnation of missfortune and death, thus called her Thana instead. Their explanation was that no child would be still alive while it’s own twin[brother] was born already half eaten by pests and parasites, and mother having her heart rotten due to a sickness. Last time she saw her father was around her 3rd birthday, month after that he was never seen by her, but they did met a few more times after Lilith was made blind. For years she was left to herself, only cared for in ways of giving her some food and preparing baths and clothes to wear. She wasn’t allowed to study things other than law and the ways of beautiful speach, yet she loved music. She missed her father dearly, but Emrys took up his place greatly, cuddling up to her whenever she was scared, hurt or cold. Her magic started showing around her 5th birthday and since then the elders started getting a bit suspicious. All was going normal, everyday lessons of law and how to speak in front of politicians, break for a meal, then the rest spent with Emrys on a walk around the gardens or in a library stealthy listening to the music lessons on the upper floors. Upon the day of her 15th birthday the elders took her to old ruins, where they marked her eyes with a ‘new emblem’ that was supposed to start a rebelius movement to throw the king from his throne, but after seeing Lilith crashing down with tears of blood and a new moon forming upon the sky they flew away in fear, leaving her there, unnecessarily taking away her sight from her. As the moon started forming, crimson fog hugged the dying girl, a single string of shimmering mana started leading the fog into the noble family castle. Before reaching the gates the unidentified experiment rushed into it and the fog moved back, leaving the castle alone for this day. Emrys cuddled up to her and covered her with his own mana, focusing on her bloodshot eyes. The fog began cleansing itself, becoming shimmery, as if stardust created it. It later formed her grimoire, the book that would once be called Last Hope, as it’s light was powerful in means of healing and defending, but never there to harm, yet it’s magic was tricky and therefore never the same, no more was it to pleasantly sit back and observe the battle. There was a small peasant village near those ruins, they saw the great light and weird creatures, small circular beings surrounded by silvery feathers and hoops, and some creatures looked like those of stories of old times, the biggest shimmering creature resembled Pan, the great horror of forests. All the creatures dissapeared within a minute and peasants rushed to the ruins. Seeing the young girl in shambled yet definetly expensive clothing and tears of blood streaming down her face they called to her “Oracle! Oh great Blind Oracle! Send upon us a blessing of rain” and so her grimoire started glowing and send upon them the first spell “Moribound wish” which brought the clouds and flooded the noble castles of Diamond Kingdom for whole month. The people heard about an Oracle in old ruins and began coming to her, offering food and crops for a blessing or a prophecy. Her spell was limited, she oculdn’t use it however she wanted, and it called for rest quite often, so people became impatient, rude, envy of such power and ‘luxurious life’ of Oracle. Oracle was inside the ruins for more than 2 years, yet less than 4, she could never tell the time by herself, she always relayed on the good hearted people to tell her what time of the year it was. Few peasants told the nobles about mysterious Oracle and the blessings she was able to perform- healing some of the elders, bringing rain and storms, and they decided to take her for their own happines. They took her from the ruins on May 5th, after a small battle that she decided to put against them, they killed Emrys as he tried to help her, and put Lilith inside the cage, forced a mask upon her face so they wouldn’t have to see the markings which some of the nobles recognised as the sign of rebelion. After half a year they got bored of her ‘miracles’ and let her go into the wild. She was somehow able to get into Clover Kingdom, her mask easily telling others that something was wrong with her. But the little bird on her arm was an easy distraction, especialy with how many children would pile up just to be able to pet him or give him some food, so she was able to steal some food from the stands and sometimes money to survive living under the sky. One day she unfortunately tried to rob a Magic Knight Captain, of course not knowing who he was or what a Magic Knight was before that. Nozel Silva was his name, she made a note to remeber that name and upon hearing her explain why she tried to steal from him he actualy took great interest in her story. After a small series of questions which she answered truthfuly, greateful he wasn’t going to put her to jail, He made a decision to let her stay for a week in Silver Eagle HQ where she was able to create few little artifacts helpful in dungeons and unknown areas as well as develop a spell that allowed her to regain sight for a brief moment of 4 minutes. During the week he called her Gulisa, as she told she wasn’t given a name upon birth, and if she was it was long forgotten. Gulisa later turned to Libi which confused the girl, upon asking why he changed his mind he said that it may suit her better, but he’d still prefer to know her true name. Thanks to Nozel’s help she was able to gain money and buy herself a small house which the members of SE often visit after missions in which they found new artifacts. Often times while practising her magic she’d find a dungeon and explore it with Mer. Few times while in Raquey she was stopped by some male who always asked her for a tea, and would tell her stories about folk-tale creatures, guardians of forests, oceans, skies and mountains, the devils and angels, the dragons and their homes of treasures. He presented himself by name ‘Lonan’ yet seems unsure each time he brings the name up, as if hesitating. He’d always pay for the tea and dessert and leave a package with crystals and some metal parts she’d been looking for. She still travels, but mostly around the borders of Clover and Heart Kingdoms. Searching for new artefacts that could maybe, just maybe, help her regain her sight. “The fact I’ve gotten used to being blind doesn’t mean I don’t want to see someone that I have but meet” “You have your spells don’t you?” “But they don’t allow me to see how I used to. Back then I saw people smiling, now when i use my spell you’re always frowning...” And that would be a brief summary of my OC. *Looks over at the pile of papers* Have I forgotten about something? EDIT: Forgot to add: She can’t fully see by using her spells, they allow her to see the basic outlines and few colours, they depend on her mood and levels of mana she got left, so she’s going blind 99% of time. Her mask was put onto her forcefuly and she was unable to take it down before going to Clover Kingdom. The nobles put her into the half-face mask and stiched it to her face, and she started wearing the ‘butterfly’ one after meeting with Nozel, it was first artifact she made in SE’s HQ. She knew the meaning of name Thana and that’s why she didn’t use it when she was free of elders’ will. Also I might need your opinion on this @thespiralgrimoire

#black clover #oc #Blind oracle #mentions of Nozel Silva #Diamond Kingdom #answered #DPS AU #dragons

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yukiwrites · 3 years

Text

New Years Bonding

Thanks for the support as always, @breeachuu! Here’s to Pashmina’s second appearance filled with sin! `v´)!

Summary: Kaden and Selkie team up to ask Pashmina for a family outing on New Years to enjoy a human tradition of visiting a temple, though once the little kit is asleep, it’s time for the big foxes to play...

Commission info HERE and HERE!

______________________________

Although the Kitsune Hamlet had always prized itself from always being well hidden from other races -- especially humans -- with the passing of the years following the end of the war, the peaceful atmosphere made it so that the kitsunes could be seen much more frequently in human lands. Especially so in Hoshido, since the Hamlet and the Kingdom’s capital were relatively close.

Of course, the Hamlet itself was still very much hidden from human’s prying eyes, but the same couldn’t be said about its inhabitants. It was to a point that seeing a kitsune walk amongst hoshidan streets was basically a daily occurrence.

Pashmina herself, now not only vice-chief in her position, but accumulating the rank of the Chief’s -- Kaden’s -- wife, had many an errand to run in Hoshido, with what the commerce picking up between their peoples. Of course, most of her time was still used in keeping the Hamlet in good shape, since the social butterfly genes of the family were only on Kaden’s side.

Selkie, their adorable fox kit toddler, inherited that social trait from Kaden as well, being an extremely outgoing little girl who enjoyed going with her father whenever he had to go down the mountain either on business or to repay favors. Whenever Selkie wasn’t tagging along with her father, she would be wandering the forest, playing pranks on oblivious humans who wandered too deep into the mountain or playing with the other kits her age.

It was astounding the amount of energy a little girl her size had, honestly.

Because of that, her days usually ended early -- since she spent all of her stamina running around during the day, Selkie was an early sleeper and riser. Yet, for the last few weeks of the year according to the human calendar, Selkie pushed herself to her limits to be able to stay awake long past her bedtime.

“See, Selkie can do it! Mommy, Mommy, pleaaaase? Please, let’s go to the festival! It’s gonna be SO much fun!” The little girl’s fluffy tail ruffled itself behind her as her ears drooped beside her face in an oh-so-characteristic puppy-eyed look that somehow was a hundred times more effective on a little fox girl instead.

… And on a grown kitsune man, as well. “Yeah, Mina, c’mon! Don’t say nooo!”

Twisting her lips as she was suddenly the villain in this scenario, Pashmina sighed. “I never said ‘no’ in the first place, so what is it with the begging? I was simply cautious since Selkie would probably fall asleep through it, is all…”

The little girl puffed her chest and cheeks, putting her hands on her hips to display her vigor. “Selkie can do it! See? It’s wayyyy past my bedtime, but I can do it if I want to!”

Indeed, it was so late the moon was almost at the center of the sky, though that so-called ‘festival’ that they wanted to go was not really one in the true sense of the word.

According to hoshidan custom, it was said that the humans would go on their first visits of the shrines dedicated to the Dawn Dragon on the night of New Years, while wearing very special kimonos so as to pray for the year’s good fortune. It only so happened that since this was a popular thing to do, there would be food and drink stalls all over the place, giving it a ‘festival’ feeling of sorts.

Actually, Kaden had been meaning to ask Pashmina to go with him to one of these much sooner in their marriage, but with her pregnancy and Selkie being too young to be able to stay up late enough (and control her instincts whenever a firework exploded so she wouldn’t be frightened), he never had the chance. Now, however, his daughter and accomplice would help him convince Pashmina to go on this family outing.

“Then that’s a ‘yes’, right?” Kaden smiled brightly, showing his fangs on the corners of his mouth.

Pashmina simply crossed her arms, knowing in her heart that she could never say ‘no’ to her husband when he brought in his puppy face, especially now with that face doubled up in their daughter. “Of course it’s a yes, you silly man.”

“Yayy!! We’re going!” Selkie started hopping, then took Kaden’s hand, “we’re going, Daddy! Yay, Yay!” She started jumping around, taking Kaden along.

“Yesss!” The kitsune pulled his daughter up, almost throwing her into the air so he could grab her in his arms and turn to his wife to place a kiss on her lips. “It’s gonna be amazing, Mina, you’ll see!”

Smiling softly, Pashmina patted Kaden’s cheek as he and their daughter laughed merrily. “It already is.”

On New Year’s Eve, Kaden showed up with three sets of kimono -- something he had gotten in return for a few favors -- so that his family could go to the festival in celebratory clothing. He spent an hour longer than usual grooming his fur, helping Selkie with hers once Pashmina had dressed the little girl in her light-colored kimono.

It was really convenient that, although human-looking, the kimonos were tailored with people with tails in mind, as there were convenient spots that would hug their tail heads, allowing for their easy movement. Pashmina’s was a two piece composed of dark hakama pants combined with red and white sleeves, and a comb decorated with an orange flower.

What struck Pashmina the most about the clothing Kaden chose for her was that the fur stole that went with it was made with a very familiar someone’s fur: It was Kaden’s. Both of their kimonos had similar designs, what with the tassels of their fur stoles or the general stamp, but the attention to the detail that her husband never ceased to show made Pashmina’s heart squeak a bit. To think that the overcoat he would use on top of his own kimono would be of a color resembling Pashmina’s hair… It was like they were wearing each other for such a special moment.

The fact that his bare chest was exposed was an additional bonus, yes, but Pashmina still worried that he might end up catching a cold since they were at the peak of winter. Though Kaden didn’t seem particularly bothered about it.

“How is it? Don’t I look dashing?” He opened both arms to expose himself, then twirled around to allow his tail to follow behind him with grace.

Pashmina bit her lower lip as she looked at her husband from head to toe -- he truly looked wonderfully dashing, to the point of making Pashmina’s cheeks flush. She felt all mushy inside, somehow compelled to stick her hands inside his clothes if only to touch that familiar abdomen with not unfamiliar impure intentions.

“Indeed, you do look… dashing.” Pashmina let out the compliment with a strangled voice, a sign that Kaden knew very well where it sprouted from. The kitsune’s ears perked up, his eyes slitting as though he was immediately ready to pounce on his wife when Selkie’s exclamation of surprise popped the lovey-dovey bubble they got into.

“Yayy! Daddy looks so pretty! How about Selkie? Daddy brushed brushed brushed till I was all sil-ky, heeheehee!” She covered her mouth with both hands, loving to bring up the origin of her name whenever she could.

Shaking off any impure thoughts, Pashmina cleared her throat. “Yes, my little kit, you look wonderful as well. How about Mommy? Aren’t I pretty like Daddy?”

“Mommy is prettiest than everyone! Daddy also said so!” Selkie threw herself on Pashmina’s arms for a tight hug before taking her mother’s hand. “Let’s go, let’s go! It’s gonna start, right?!”

“Mhmhm,” Pashmina chuckled as she booped her daughter’s nose, getting up from her crouching position. “Very well, then, shall we?” She reached her free hand to her husband, asking for his arm so he could guide them to the shrine they would visit after the moon reached the middle of the sky.

“Of course, my lovely ladies! We’ll have a blast tonight!”

The walk to the shrine was a large one -- they did live on top of the mountain, after all -- and it felt like a waste to transform to go all the way down after going through all the trouble of dolling themselves up, so the family took their time leisurely venturing out of the forest.

Selkie got used to her new garments astonishingly easily, running ahead of them quite a few times to show this or that thing she discovered along the way. They knew the clock had struck midnight once the fireworks started -- something that although they had grown used to, was still rather unpleasant to go through due to their heightened hearing -- which brightened the forest in many colors as they started to reach their destination.

Rather bothered by the exploding noise, Selkie asked for upsies so she could hide her face into her mother’s chest during the last trek out of the forest, though her pouty face and foul mood made a complete turn once they stepped into the temple’s grounds: it was absolutely bustling with people. It was a sight Selkie had never seen yet -- since their hamlet was on the small size and she only came down the mountain with Kaden during early mornings, the little girl had never seen so many people together in one place.

“Whoaaa! Look, Daddy, it’s really a festival! It is!” She started kicking her legs, wanting to go down and explore, but Pashmina’s hold on her was firmer than before.

“You might get lost if you go off on your own, Selkie. Stay here with us, okay?”

“Yeah, Selkie, c’mere to my shoulders!” Kaden snatched the little girl, sitting her on top of his shoulders so she could see from up high before she could complain about wanting to run around.

“Daddy, it’s so high up! So many people!” She bounced up and down excitedly as they mingled with the crowd. Kaden held one of Selkie’s legs with one hand, giving his free arm so pashmina could hold on t as they huddled themselves against the wave of humans.

The kitsunes had to roll their tails around their bodies so they wouldn’t be squished as they pushed through the crowd, taking in all the new colors, sounds and smells. There was even a sound that, although really loud, didn’t hurt their ears at all -- it was when the head priest started to hit the bell in honor of the Dawn Dragon.

Perhpas knowing that this land wasn’t only inhabited by humans, the Dawn Dragon had made it so the bell’s gong wouldn’t be unpleasant to all sorts of hearings.

There were food stalls, amazake and warm sweet drinks stalls, fortune telling and fortune drawing stalls, not to mention priests and priestesses doing all sorts of ceremonial dances at every corner. It was almost overwhelming!

They followed the crowd to the middle, throwing uncertain prayers at the prayer box and laughing a bit about it since they really didn’t understand what they were doing. Yet, as long as their little family was together and, most of all, having fun, it didn’t matter what they were doing.

It was decided that it was time to go back once Selkie started to lose the battle against exhaustion, falling asleep in Kaden's arms. They decided that they would go back to the hamlet in their kitsune forms -- not only it would be faster, it might be better to take the little kit away from loud noises lest she woke up with a start.

“Is your tail okay, Mina?” Kaden whispered behind his wife as she placed Selkie on her bed, watching as Pashmina’s tail waved behind her. “I saw how tightly you wrapped it around your waist back there, so I hope all that hustling didn’t damage it…” he poked on the soft fur, watching how she immediately tensed under such an intimate touch.

“Hiya!” Pashmina squeaked as Kaden’s hands went up her tail towards its base, hidden away inside the kimono. “Kaden!” She hissed under her breath, glacing from him to their daughter.

Saying nothing but pulling the tip of her long tail up towards his lips in a warm kiss, Kaden never broke eye contact with his wife, in a way that made her all hot and bothered inside.

“It’s-” she stuttered, “it’s fine. The tail is fine.” She whispered with flushed cheeks, whisking her tail away from her predator- er, her husband’s hands. She started to walk out of Selkie’s room. “I’m more worried about you -- with an open chest in this cold…”

“Hmm? I’m quite warm, though, Mimi. Do you wanna make sure?” He whispered over her ear, making her hairs stand on end as his hands hugged her from behind.

By the heat of his hands alone, she could confirm that he was nothing but cold, that naughty fox she had as a husband. With a low sigh, Pashmina leaned her back on his chest, turning her head to welcome his lips into a kiss.

Her tail went under his kimono, tickling his legs with her fur until it met his own tail, sending all sorts of signals to Kaden’s body.

“Mimi, you were so cute today, wearing my fur like that… I couldn’t wait to eat you all up.” He confessed as he licked her lower lip, his hands untangling her obi’s decoration before loosening it entirely.

Huffing as the heat spread from her lips to her heart and from Kaden’s hands to her inner thighs, Pashmina could only turn around to face her husband and wrap her arms around his neck so as to kiss him properly.

“Mhhm, Mimi, Mimi…” Kaden whispered over her lips, slowly guiding her towards their room without ever letting go of her. She was so cute, so cute, so cute…

Although Kaden was masterful in clothing in general, he was uncharacteristically clumsy in his attempt to take off his wife’s obi, and that was only the first part of her clothing to take off before he could have his way with her!

Feeling Kaden’s impatience on her back, Pashmina could feel a growl rise within his throat as his kisses got more and more urgent. It made her weak in the legs, honestly -- look at how burning with desire he was, to the point of not even being able to tease her as he usually did. Pashmina closed her eyes to dive deeper into her husband’s tongue, raising one leg and putting it around his waist in preemptive anticipation to him having his way with her right there and then, in the middle of the corridor.

Pashmina could feel the heat of her body clamor for Kaden’s might, in whichever position it might come -- just hurry, hurry, hurry…

Kaden could feel his wife’s desperation mirror his own, their hearts beating so fast they were in unison. Pashmina could feel his erection poke at her stomach, which only made her legs weaker than ever. It was when he lowered his hands from her obi to the base of her tail -- a place she always, without fail, squealed when he touched -- that he remembered how a kimono was tailored for a kitsune. It wasn’t possible for a hole to be sewn in there and call it day -- there were many shapes and sizes of tails, so a way to customize how it fit into the body was to simply make it into a long slit that would converge into two sashes to be tied under the obi to make it seem that there was no opening at all, when in truth there was only a ribbon separating the kitsune’s rear from open view.

The kitsune hurriedly reached for the ribbon under her obi and Pashmina squealed under his kiss, her fangs grazing against his eager tongue to give voice to a tiny moan. “K-Kaden…” She huffed as he undid the ribbon and immediately dove his hand under her tail, towards her innermost parts. “Ah…!” She gasped with delight as she felt his declawed hands reach her wet folds, digging her claws onto his shoulders.

“Mimi, Mimi… turn around for me, please?” He sucked her lower lip, gripping on her buttocks to help her turn back in her lustful haze. Nodding, the kitsune obediently raised her hips as she pressed her chest onto the wall, tilting her tail to the side so Kaden could have a full view of her exposed rear. “You’re so cute, Mimi, look at how you already know what I want,” he huffed, as he scrambled to free his erection from under his much simpler kimono, prodding it by her vulva with a thirst that could only be quenched by her warmth.

Pashmina covered her mouth with one hand as she rolled her eyes the moment Kaden slid it in slowly, muffling a long moan. “Mhm…” she tilted her hips even upwards, as though asking for more, as if her insides weren’t already warm and welcoming enough.

“Hahhh, Mimi, Mimi…” Kaden groaned with pleasure as he held his wife’s hips so as to thrust more safely, enjoying how he could clearly see how he disappeared inside of her with each movement.

“K-Kadeahn…” Pashmina huffed, clutching Kaden inside herself as though this was their first time. They were so hot, so impatient, so… hungry for each other that Pashmina knew that this wasn’t going to end with only one round. She wanted him to kiss and touch all of her body, under all of those layers of clothes.

Each time a louder moan escaped her throat, Pashmina covered her mouth more closely, the rhythm of her husband’s thrusts making her slowly lose strength in her legs. Kaden rested his forehead on the back of Pashmina’s head, his low groans of pleasure mixing themselves up with his occasional nips at her ear, making her forget even her own name deep in pleasure.

“Ahn, hah…” Pashmina wanted to beg, to plead, to ask him to do it faster, to eat her up entirely, but her head was so hazy with pleasure that it took everything she had not to scream his name there and then. Kaden’s movements slowly accelerated as though in sync with his wife’s lewd desires, his thrusts turning into pounds as their most primal desires took ahold of them.

Pashmina bit her fingers to keep her voice down, feeling the heat of climax envelop her from her womb to her entire body, sucking all the strength she had left in her legs as Kaden liberated himself inside of her, holding her by her hips so she wouldn’t fall.

“Mimi, hahh, hahh… Mimi, my Mimi... “ Kaden panted, hugging his wife from behind as he licked her ear, action of which made her clench herself around him in clear arousal. “Mimi, you’re so cute, I just can’t get enough. I wanna eat you alll up.” He said with a growl that only served to make her roll her eyes in anticipation.

The ordeal of taking off her kimono would be well worth it in the end, Pashmina could sense it quite literally as Kaden’s erection grew once again inside of her. All she could do was roll her tail around Kaden’s waist, never wanting him to get out of her.

#fire emblem fates #fe14 #kaden fire emblem #fatesona #a sin a day keeps the thirst at bay #selkie #my writings #yuki's commissions

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space-------kid · 4 years

Text

can’t keep my hands (off you).

Anime/Manga: One Punch Man Pairing: Garou/fem!Reader Additional pairing/characters: platonic Metal Bat/fem!Reader, Zenko, mentions of other heroes such as Saitama, Watchdog Man, etc. Genre: Romance, comedy Warning: Absolute silliness. Language – Garou and reader both ate rainbows for breakfast. Dumbassery. Teeth-rotting fluff, maybe? Reader is hella strong like Saitama. Half-assed spice because you’re good at cockblocking Garou despite being low-key thirsty for him. And LOTS of dumbassery from the reader, most probably. Additional tag: Dream-based fic, canon-divergent, Garou is horny af A/N: This is supposed to be a lengthy one-shot, but I’m a dumbass who can’t keep my word so the supposedly one-shot isn’t a one shot anymore. Now I have to worry how I should properly divide all those parts (I mean, they’re already divided, but--) 😅

Establishing yourself in their world.

Summary:

Your life had its general ups and downs, pros and cons, the good and the bad.

You were admittedly a coward and afraid of being targeted by people for it. Following the advice of your (best) friend you trained hard, like, FUCKING hard, and now you’re blessedly, utterly strong you can take down enemies with just one hit. A good thing, really. Can’t let any bad guy harass you or something.

But-

You were probably cursed with the biggest, baddest of luck. Not only were monsters chasing you, suddenly there was this fucking hot bastard weirdo who kept on calling himself the Hero Hunter. “I’m not a hero, goddamn it!”

iii. and iv. | v. | [more to be added]

“i can’t keep my

hands

off...!”

- can’t keep my hands off you/simple plan

If anyone who knew you could pick a single word to describe you, it had to be coward.

But it wasn’t like you could blame them, the choice was easily justifiable with how you always seemed to cower whenever a threat - even the smallest - popped out to inconvenience you and disturb the hopefully peaceful life you wanted to live.

You though that having a hero as your best friend would be enough to keep you safe. But considering his busy schedule, you were left with no choice but to fend for yourself.

“You just gotta get strong, ya know!” Badd (aka the one and only Metal Bat) told you countless of times whenever you would run to him, either telling him that some creepy guy was harassing you or a monster was chasing you.

It might have been the ‘what the fuck are you on about?’ look you had given him that day that left you sporting red, aching cheeks for the remainder of the afternoon, Badd having pinched and squished them - so hard you actually cried - for having the gall to non-verbally question him.

Fearing for the safety of your cheeks (Badd might pull your ears next, something you couldn’t afford to experience), you followed his advice.

Day after day you would lift weights, do some core exercises. You even went as far as to following some guy in a blue tracksuit’s training regime (he saw you training, you asked him on a whim on how to be strong, he nonchalantly answered your question) which consisted of doing a hundred push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and a 10-kilometer run every day. It was gruelling enough, and most of the times you would only find yourself waking up to Zenko’s glare, the girl telling you how Badd found you unconscious somewhere around the city.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?” Badd asked you one day, brows pinched with concern when you woke up in his arms.

Huh. You must’ve passed out again while working out.

“You told me to get strong, stupiiiiiiid,” you whined pathetically, hitting him on the face and chest with a trembling hand.

The recently minted S-Class hero snorted at your weak and pathetic display of attempted violence. “Yeah, I did. But I didn’t tell ya to train ‘til you’re on death’s door.”

You threw your head backwards dramatically, exposing your neck and making Badd drop you when he got an eyeful of the tops of your sports bra.

“Ow! Bat, what the heck!?”

“I can see your- y-your- ew! I need to wash my fuckin’ eyeballs! And why are you even wearing those in the first place when you don’t have any boobs?”

“I will fucking murder you in your sleep, Badd!”

You ended up in his arms again, only because you fainted once more due to exhaustion.

But you continued with your training nonetheless, slowly building up both stamina and strength to the point where you could finally make it home and collapse on your own bed after a long day of hard work.

Your parents were worried at how far you were pushing yourself, but they never stopped you when – for the first time in your life – you insisted that you had to do this for your own betterment. Never had they seen you so determined, your eyes still filled with fear but were now mixed with the fires of fortitude, and the way you settled the discussion made them relent. But that didn’t mean that they would stop worrying for you, often pleading for Badd to look after you whenever he could. Your parents might always be busy and far from home most of the times due to their jobs, but you (Badd and Zenko included) were always in their heart and mind.

For a year and a half, your training had been one of your constants.

You bawled like a kid the first time you punched some weird mushroom monster into oblivion - its legs the only evident of its existence after that one hit - because finally, your hellish (to you, anyway) training finally paid off!

Badd had hugged you and cried a little, telling you how proud he was of your achievement and how you could finally be strong enough to look more effectively after yourself. Being an S-Class had demanded more time from him and you couldn’t exactly come running to him every time you find yourself in a pinch. Aside from being a hero, his greatest priority was his precious little sister, and you would never have the heart to take away Zenko’s onii-chan from her.

“So, [Name]. Wanna be a pro-hero?” Badd asked you one night when you were out eating ramen with him and Zenko. “You’re pretty strong now, and you can take on monsters on your own. Man, I haven’t even seen you pummel one, now that I mentioned it!” he added, looking at you excitedly.

Your ears turned red from embarrassment at being praised. “I’m really not... at least not on your level. The monsters I meet by accident were all weak, thank god for that,” you replied. You returned his gaze, eyes narrow, and clicked your chopsticks at him. “And nope, I don’t wanna. Why would I want to be a hero? Why would I actively seek out those that I try to avoid at all costs?”

Zenko, who was seated between you and Badd, shot you a questioning look.

“Why did you get strong, then, [Name]-san?” she asked.

You chewed on your bottom lip, gaze zeroing on the steaming bowl of ramen in front of you. You could feel the siblings’ eyes on you and you flushed a bright shade of red under their scrutiny.

“Well, I did because I’m scared of monsters,” you replied. “What if there’s no hero nearby to help me when a monster appeared? I don’t wanna get eaten, you know, or worse-” here, your voice turned hysterical and caught a few fellow customers’ attention “-get killed and have some creepy, gross monster do lewd things to my body!”

“Eh? Lewd?”

A flustered Badd covered Zenko’s ears a little too late and made her turn her gaze away from your disgusted and scared expression.

“No, no, don’t bother with that, Zenko,” said the S-Class, eye twitching at the insinuation of your words. “Just eat your ramen while it’s hot.”

“But I was asking [Name]-san a question-”

“Just eat your ramen,” Badd gently pressed his sister who rolled her eyes in return.

“Teenagers,” the little girl huffed exasperatedly.

Nevertheless, Badd kept on asking you if you wanted to be like him. He would tell you the privileges you could get as a hero, not to mention the salary you would be earning. You, on the other hand, would never get tired of telling him no. As if a coward like you would actively fight monsters as a job. You were better off staying as a civilian, no matter how strong you finally had been.

You just weren’t cut out for that hero gig.

---

ii.

Yeah, you trained to get strong so you could defend yourself from monsters and creepy people who would harass anyone they fancied. And like you told Badd time and again, you would never be a hero.

But you wouldn’t deny the fact that helping others when there weren’t heroes around would put a huge smile on your face and a fuzzy, warm feeling in your chest.

Growing up, your parents taught you that helping other people didn’t need a licence or a title. One just needed to have the drive and compassion to do so, lending your hand not because you’re a hero but because you’re a decent human being.

And wasn’t that what capable people should do regardless of their job or title?

However, helping people required courage - and you were sorely lacking on that department.

And truth be told, your aid would always be purely accidental. Well, more like your fight or flight instincts have switched your mind into autopilot whenever monsters come crashing wherever you were.

A monster resembling a humanoid iguana showing up in the shopping district while you were out buying groceries? Fight. You had kicked its head off its shoulders because its long tongue freaked you out.

Some giant and evil sentient tree started terrorizing the children at the park you usually frequented? Fight. You punched it to kingdom come when you felt some of its vines trying to creep up your shirt.

A weird humanoid octopus, harassing the ladies at a spa you once visited? Fight. What was left of the monster was a bloody smear on the walls after you’re through with him.

And perhaps your favorite was an honest-to-god giant fire-breathing worm which threatened to destroy the forest you had camped on when you felt like leaving the city for a few days. F i g h t. You blinked back into awareness bathed in the purple blood of the monster, its remains scattered as far as your gaze could reach.

The worst (or best?) part was that you were unaware of how you defeated them - your only confirmation that you yourself had beaten the monsters were from eyewitnesses themselves. People would ask you if you were a newbie from the Hero Association, and you would immediately shake your head no.

You even received an invitation from the Association itself to join their ranks, to which you gave an easy “nope!” as your reply.

Your main concern, however, was not H. A.’s incessant invitations for you to become a hero.

Alarmed at how you would seemingly black out before facing any monster who would disrupt your relatively peaceful life, you sat on your bed and put your head on your hands.

Was it really a fight or flight instinct that guided you during those moments, or was it just plain fight, your mind blanking out and your body moving on its own accord while you finish off any monster that came to your path?

What controls your body during those moments? Instinct? The primal urge to survive?

But how come you couldn’t remember even just a single moment of the fight?

You rubbed your face with your hands and nodded to yourself. Of course you remembered something. That fleeting moment of feeling fear grip the entirety of your existence, when thoughts of surviving another day no longer filled your mind as a monster turned its malevolent gaze on you. The feeling of wanting to throw up your swiftly beating heart out of your own seizing throat, and you breaking out into a cold sweat. Your hand closing into a fist for a punch or lifting a foot to deliver either a stomp or a kick in a hopeless attempt to defend yourself.

And then your world would turn black.

And always, automatically, you would return to awareness once your auto-piloted mind deemed the monster for the day well and truly dead.

Looking back on the times you were still a weakling, you had never experienced undergoing a fight or flight instinct as odd as what you were having now. If it had always been flight for you before, the former now seemed to overcompensate for your spinelessness now that you have gained more than enough physical strength to back it up.

(If you had come across a certain Dr. Genus and he had come to witness your power, he would go as far as to claiming that you were the second person he met to have removed their limiter.)

(And if you would ask him if it had affected your fight or flight instinct, he would have said yes: your instinct to flee had been erased by your instinct to fight, and your id would not stop until it had the pleasure of witnessing your assailants’ death.)

You disliked fighting, you were too cowardly to face it, even. And while being strong had given you a little reassurance that you could now go outside of your house without having the need to get Badd check up on you for your safety every now and again, you still avoided getting attention to yourself either from creepy guys or monsters. A huge scaredy-cat at heart, you kept your head as low as you could muster.

There was, however, one thing you seemed to be forgetting, something you seemed to have been born with and you wanted to live without.

You were the human equivalent of a magnet for the biggest and baddest of luck.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

And so you spend your days being chased by monsters, blacking out as your fight instinct took over, and wake up somewhat drenched in monster blood.

Man, when would heaven give you a break?

---

to be continued

#garou x reader #platonic metal bat x reader #garou #garou the hero hunter #garou the human monster #metal bat #badd #zenko #opm x reader #one punch man #one punch man season 2

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miss-pearlescent · 5 years

Text

Grim Reaper’s Duties (1/2)

(1/2), (2/2)

Kai swung his scythe onto his back, making it disappear until he needed it again. Now was not the time for reaping souls.

He morphed into regular human clothes, a plain black t-shirt and jeans. They weren’t uncomfortable, but they left him feeling naked. He was used to a heavy cloak that shielded eyes from the plethora of lethal weapons strapped to his body. Now they were all simple tattoos lining his skin that waited until their master called on them.

He flexed his empty hands and strode inside the office.

Sitting at the desk facing the window was just the person he was looking for. She was buried in her work, the bun on top of her head bobbing away as she recited some text.

Kai cleared his throat.

The girl dropped her pen with a little gasp and spun around in her seat, her eyes wide. For a moment, he knew that look. It was a look of recognition but was quickly concealed by hesitant confusion. The girl stood up, her toned legs crossing over to the door in quick strides.

“Sorry, you scared me.” Her chest heaved with her intake of breath and he caught a glimpse of her tight black bathing suit underneath a baggy red tank with the word LIFEGUARD on the front. Clearly wanting him out of her office, she met him right at the threshold, keeping a hand on the door. “How can I help you?”

Kai was mildly amused at the way she was trying to be polite and shoo him off at the same time. He must have caught her at a bad time. If only she knew who he was. “I’m here to inspect the pool.”

Her eyes narrowed for a second. “Inspect the pool?”

Out of thin air, Kai produced a badge from his back pocket and handed it over.

“Kim Jongin,” the girl read out loud. He could almost see the gears whirring in her brain. “Oh! For the company meeting this weekend?”

Kai nodded, though he had no idea what this meeting was and why it was held in a pool, let alone who this Kim Jongin person was. “Call me Kai.”

The girl flashed a smile and held her hand out for him to shake. “I’m Lily.”

And Kai...

Kai almost staggered back.

He stared down at this girl and suddenly had the urge to protect her. It was wrong. All wrong.

Stiffly, he shook her hand, his brain racing. The Grim Reaper didn’t protect anything but his job.

“Come, follow me this way.”

Kai blindly took step after step behind Lily, barely noting the thick textbook and pile of notes on her desk. His nose made the slightest of twinges when they walked through another set of doors and the smell of chlorine hit him like a wall.

“This is our pool,” Lily said, walking ahead of him.

He didn’t hear much of what she said after that as she showed him all the amenities that came with the hotel pool. He was too busy noticing the way her legs disappeared under a pair of shorts that really highlighted her butt, which moved in such a hypnotic way when she walked.

Kai gave himself a mental slap in the face and pretended to look around.

No, he was not thinking about Lily’s butt. He was busy trying to piece together everything he knew about her.

Six months ago, he had flashed to one of the biggest accidents in the country on a busy highway. Multiple vehicles were involved, including a coach bus and an oil tanker. Kai was drawn to the scene by the call of imminent death. Many of them.

And when he arrived, he saw the fire and breathed in the smell of charred flesh. There were many deaths indeed.

Almost everyone involved had died, and Kai dutifully sent their souls off away from the human realm. He was almost done with the job when suddenly he felt a hand on his arm.

It was warm, yet it stung his flesh.

Nobody had touched him in thousands of years. He had no idea what skin to skin contact even meant anymore.

He remembered whipping his head around, ready to lob the hand off with a swing of his scythe, but he was stopped when he saw the sooty mess hanging onto him.

“Hi, mom?” The girl coughed the words into her phone as she clung to his arm for balance. “I’m okay.”

Kai froze, wondering if he was in some simulation. He heard the voice on the other end desperately ask “How?” and Kai wondered the same thing. This crash took out almost a hundred humans and stretched on for miles. Bodies were being extracted with zero resemblance to their owners, so burnt and mangled they were.

Yet this girl got out with just a dusting of ash.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I was using the bathroom in the back of the bus when it happened.”

Nobody else had survived the coach bus.

Kai squinted at the girl as she told her mother about how perhaps the disgusting toilet water that had splashed onto her had actually saved her. He peered at her aura for an angelic blessing but could find nothing.

Why was she spared?

She rubbed her eyes and Kai realized she still did not notice she was clinging onto him hard. Quickly, he sliced the bottom of his sleeve and handed the makeshift handkerchief to the girl.

She took it with a shaky word of thanks and rubbed her eyes clean.

When she opened them again, Kai had left the scene.

He spent the rest of the week checking his abilities, making sure that he was still invisible to humans when he reaped souls. That girl shouldn’t have been able to see him. But when nothing out of the ordinary happened after that single event, he marked it off as a fluke.

Until he found he was being drawn to the girl nearly every other week. Week after week, he found himself in her vicinity, yet nobody was dying. He ignored it at first, concentrating on the call of death that always drew him out of the Underworld.

But after six months, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. He had spent enough time in the human realm without a true purpose. He needed answers.

And Lily with her hypnotic behind was going to give it to him.

Lily needed to get laid.

Pronto.

Because while she was leading her client around the pool, showing him how the jacuzzi would be perfect for the non-swimmers at his company, all she wanted to do was strip naked and jump into the freezing cold deep end of the pool.

Yeah, her choices were either get laid or take a cold shower.

The moment Kai had walked into her office fifteen minutes ago, her brain and lady parts screamed “That’s my type!” but she tamped their voices down and took on her professional role. The hotel was counting on her to book this man’s reservation because it meant extra overnight bookings for any company members who would be too drunk to drive home after their party.

And if she was lucky, she’d be able to earn some tips from this party. Hey, a girl had to pay her student loans somehow.

“How long can we book the pool?” Kai asked, casually leaning in to inspect the jacuzzi.

For as long as you want, Lily wanted to say. “Free swim time for hotel goers ends at 6:00pm. You’re free to book the entire pool with the saunas anytime after that.”

“And there will be a lifeguard on duty all night?” He looked up at her, his gaze sending a wash of warm tingles down her spine.

She didn’t speak lest her voice cracked from being—oh, she couldn’t deny it anymore—horny, so she simply nodded.

She must have been blushing or looking like a lovesick puppy, because his lips curved into an all-knowing smile. “Good.”

Lily had to look away before she melted under the intensity of his gaze. “After midnight, the fees will be a bit higher due to the night premiums for workers.” She gave a nervous laugh. “You know, labour laws and all that.”

She began rounding the jacuzzi, back toward the office, when suddenly, she felt a sizzle on her arm. Lily yelped at the pain and jumped away, rubbing her shoulder. Her flip-flop caught on the grate and she fought to regain her balance.

“Lily!”

She felt a hand graze her flailing arms as she fell into the jacuzzi. Great, what a perfect show of how competent she was as a lifeguard. And it had to be in front of a hot client too.

Pushing aside her thoughts, she twisted her face toward the surface of the water. After a couple of futile attempts, something yanked at her scalp, causing her to nearly scream in pain.

Her feet touched the bottom and if she just stood up, she could punch through the surface, but something was keeping her down. Her hands reached up and found that her hair had come undone from its bun. She followed the strands down and realized they were being sucked into one of the filters.

No, no, no.

She wanted to cry for help but she knew she needed to stay calm in order to reserve her oxygen. Out of fear and shock, her fingers fumbled as they tried to unknot the tangles of her hair from the filter. Thank goodness the water was warm and not freezing cold like the pool.

Then someone jumped into the jacuzzi beside her, their huge shadow blocking out the fluorescent light on the ceiling. She couldn’t tell what was happening anymore until a strong arm wrapped around her torso and for some reason, she suddenly felt safer.

It was the same feeling she’d often had every few weeks when she was scared or anxious. It had started six months ago after that huge crash on the highway, and she was thankful that her brain could give her a sense of calm whenever she needed it. She attributed the calmness to the meditation exercises her therapist had taught after the crash.

Without the break from flashbacks of the crash, her mind might’ve gone awol.

Now, she watched as a great hand held onto both her hair and the filter, yanking the plastic out of its hole in the concrete with one great pull.

Then Lily was thrust into the air, where she clung onto her saviour and gasped for oxygen.

“Th-thank you,” she coughed and sputtered, her hands moving wildly over Kai’s shoulders to make sure he was real and she wasn’t already dead and moving onto the afterlife. “You saved me.”

A reassuring hand stroked down her back as she continued to hack up the last bit of water. “Someone tried to kill you,” he growled.

“What?” She couldn’t have heard that right. Swiping the wet hair out of her eyes, she pulled back and looked Kai in the eye. “No, I slipped.”

He shook his head, his gaze so angry, she thought she could see flames in his pupils. “Someone came into this realm and pushed you into the water.” Lily’s eyes widened because he wasn’t making sense, but also because Kai’s hand was suddenly on her butt and she wasn’t sure if he even realized it. “Someone wanted you dead.”

“Hold on, you need to explain—” Her words cut off with a little scream as a crack of thunder ran out indoors.

Why was there lightning and thunder inside the pool?

Lily realized she had wrapped her legs tightly to Kai’s as the water began to whirl around them. Her arms were basically superglued around his neck. Nobody could pry her away from him at this moment.

She was freaked out and he seemed to be the only one with answers.

She heard a snick in the air and suddenly Kai had a scythe in his hand. She stared in awe. The man was wielding a freaking scythe. All while his other hand gripped her by the ass.

She didn’t know if she felt like a woman or like an infant.

Either way, she felt adequately protected, and that was all that mattered.

Come on, the man had a scythe.

“What’s happening?” she asked, raising her voice over the storm that was brewing around them.

Kai shook his head, an indication that he wasn’t sure. “I think we’re about to get some answers.”

---

Hello again! I have been on a big writing slump because all of my favourite authors had back-to-back amazing releases during the summer and then there was NOTHING for months :’( But yesterday I finished reading Larissa Ione’s Reaper and I cried so much because it’s the end to one of my favourite series! SO I HAD TO WRITE until midnight even though I had to be up at 5am for work the next day. If you have read the book, you will know that I took a lot from her world. Namely, the main character’s name (her main character is Lilliana and I just really love the Grim Reaper and Lilliana T_T) and the idea of someone being stalked for certain reasons that shall be revealed in the next half of the short story :) I really love reading paranormal fantasy especially when it’s so SMART. Like you can do so much with a world and just the fact that one author can create all that along with intricate plot that leads to crazy consensual sex?!?! Where stalking isn’t creepy and there is always a SMART reason for forced proximity aka one of my favourite tropes ever?!? Sign me up!!!!

Anyway, I’ve been rambling. Thank you guys for reading and have a great week :)

PS: KAI LOOKED SO GOOD WHILE PROMOTING IN LA! I JOP EVERYDAY FOR HIM!

PPS: Do you guys like the gif in the beginning of the story?? Hate it??? It feels bulky to me but it also sets a ~mood~ so let me know :3

#exo #kai #fanfiction #exo scenarios #kai scenarios #kim jongin #jongin #kpop fanfiction #kpop #paranormal #fantasy #grim reaper

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jbbuckybarnes · 4 years

Text

Distant Connection - 3/11

Pairing: Bucky x Harmonia (OC) Warnings: a bit of angst, a lot of domestic fluff Summary: After an unknown group of goons took her mom’s life and tried to get her for the dark magic powers she possesses, this untaught witch is saved by the Avengers and brought to the compound where her new life unfolds.

MASTERLIST || Distant Connection Masterlist

She had been practicing her magic skills for the last hour before somebody came into the training room. “They did something to your DNA or the DNA of your ancestors. Didn’t they?” Wanda's voice echoed through the room. The green energy ball she had been forming in her hands disintegrated. “I don’t know. I wish I knew. I’ve always been interested in witchcraft and felt different every time I did it. That’s how I found out I have powers but I don’t know where they came from, how they found out or why they killed my mother to get me. It’s all so confusing to me.” she said with her chest getting heavier. “I want to help you find out more. I want to keep you company learning magic. So much about it isn’t controllable and just intuition. You shouldn’t go through this alone. I’m sorry I’m just talking to you now but it was...weird for me to have someone else here with magical powers.” Wanda said with a soft and regretful voice. “It’s okay. I’m already getting better, but I was about to take a break. Later maybe? I still need to...talk to someone.” Harmony tried putting it into words. She was uncomfortable and exhausted and she really needed to get something done. “Of course, you’ve been in here for a long time. Just tell me whenever you’re ready.” Wanda smiled at her very understanding of her conflicted feelings.

Harmony went to her little room she had in the compound and grabbed the bag she had totally forgotten about overnight. She grabbed Steve’s art supplies out of it and went down the hallway to his room. He was still gone and she didn’t want to make a bad impression for forgetting about it. She quietly opened the door, stepped inside and saw his room for the first time. There were shelves with a lot of 40s things, pictures on the wall and boxes filled to the brim with his old stuff and his closet was color coded but chaotic. Just as she stepped forward to put down the art supplies the door behind her opened and both stopped in their tracks. “Sorry, I was just bringing your stuff back because-” She was interrupted. “No, it’s totally okay. Just wasn’t expecting you standing there.” He smiled, came at her and gave her a small hug. “That looks like it hurts.” She said with a grimace and pointed at a cut in his cheek. “I’m used to it.” He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “While you’re here...could you?” He pointed at his back that had a zipper going a little bit to the left side that made it easier for him to get out of the suit. “Uuuh, sure.” She said, a bit confused before opening the side of the suit. “Just realized how weird it was to ask you for this...hope you really didn’t mind...but I’m kinda in pain and that helped a lot.” He said after realizing the situation. Reacting like the dumb dork he was sometimes. “What hurts?” She asked alert. “Bruised arm.” He said holding his right arm up. She took his shield out of his hand and looked at him with a little frown on her face. “Show me your arm.” “It’s not bad. My cells rebuild faster than yours.” He said smiling a little at how concerned she was. “Show me your arm, Rogers.” She said a little bit more demanding and he wiggled himself out of the top part of his suit to satisfy her demands. She walked past his right grabbing a shirt from the half open closet and putting it into his other hand while inspecting and holding up his arm. It was blue, yellow and red. Almost resembling a watercolor painting of kinds. “How are you not screaming in pain from me just holding your arm?” She was in front of him again and lifted a brow. “I’m trying not to, don’t wanna scare you away.” He chuckled. “Put on a shirt you dork.” She said rolling her eyes with a smile and he did as he was told. She was still looking at his arm with concern after he put on the shirt and he pulled her into a hug to hide her concerned face on his chest. “Thanks for telling me to stay safe.” He said into her hair with closed eyes. “You have no means of self preservation. You need to hear that frequently and apparently nobody is telling you what a dumbass you are so I’m taking the position.” She said into his chest and giggled. She smiled up at him. “I request from you not to die and I think I should leave you alone now ‘cause I’m not your personal wardrobe assistant.” He let her go and got his hair ruffled by her before she left the room.

She left the room and James, who was walking down the hallway with his coffee, stopped and looked at her in confusion. “Brought him his art supplies. How was the mission?” She asked him. Sam, James, Steve, Nat and Tony were on the mission and she hadn’t seen them since the morning the day before. “Was interesting. Steve getting his own shield thrown at his arm sounds funnier than it looked.” She shuddered. “What?” He asked, lifting a brow and taking a sip. “I saw his arm. Could be a freaking watercolor painting if you ask me.” She said, clearly feeling uncomfortable about his state. “You’ll not even see it by tomorrow morning.” He smiled cupping her face with his free hand. She almost fell into him to finally hug him. That was the only thing she needed right now after her exhausting training session. “You okay?” He asked, a little bit concerned. “I trained for over an hour today. I need to recharge. UGH.” She almost yelled into his shoulder with him acknowledging it with a little huff, a smile and another sip from his coffee. Without a warning he got down a little bit and put his arm around her thighs to pick her up. “Fall asleep if you want to. I planned on reading a book anyway.” He said without minding her grabbing onto him like a koala. “You’re the best, do you know that?” She mumbled on his shoulder. “I’m the only reason why you fall asleep in seconds. Yes, I think I know.” He smiled before taking a last sip, putting the mug onto the table in the common area and going to the part of the room that had a little couch and a few books laying around. After he sat down and she readjusted herself to be more comfortable. It really only took seconds for her to fall asleep. Nat walked in with wet hair and a smile at both of them but she stayed silent and grabbed a snack from the fridge before sitting down with it at the coffee table in the corner of the room. After that Sam came in wiggling his eyebrows “Bucky getting all the ladies, huh?” Which was met with the ultimate death glare and a throat cutting gesture from Bucky, which ended up looking hilarious with Harmony’s face smushed on his shoulder. Finally Steve came in and at the sight of his best friend giving her comfort, his heart made an extra jump so he decided to sit down next to them and play with his phone. James didn’t change his position for hours and the others kept moving, leaving the room and went to their rooms as it got darker.

Her eyes slowly opened to see his metal hand laying on a closed book in the dark and she instinctively put her hand on his which made him stop his calm breathing pattern. She went over the little patterns in his fingers one by one and he just kept watching her hand while trying to not change his breathing again. Her head went up to where he could see her expression. There was a mix of comfort, fascination and empathy in her sparkling eyes. “I think...this is what makes you human.” She whispers softly not taking her eyes off of his metal hand. “A metal arm makes me human?” He asked with a smile at her. “It shows that you’re vulnerable. That you have a story to tell.” She whispered and met his eyes with hers. There was a silence between them that he couldn’t describe. Something about what she just said made his heart go a little faster. There was a confusion if she felt that too. “Do you hate that part of you?” She broke the silence suddenly putting her guards up again but still staying vulnerable enough for him to notice. “It reminds me of everything bad that happened to me...I hate touching people with it.” He answered honestly. “Your past is what makes you the person you are, right? Even if it was a bad one.” She asked and got a slight nod. “I like the person you are now. That’s a part of it too.” She continued and went over his arm with her fingers. He couldn’t decide if it made him uncomfortable because he thought of it as possibly dangerous or if it made him relax because she touched it without any harm expected. She dragged it onto the leg she had still around his front and made little circles on his forearm with both of her hands. Now his mind decided on finding it relaxing and his whole body just visibly got less intimidating. “I’m not scared of you. I never will be. I trust you, James.” She said with her hand and his hand open against each other showing him how small her hands were. There was a feeling in his chest that he hadn’t felt in 80 years suddenly blooming freely. He couldn’t speak, his heart was beating faster than ever and his vision was focused on her beautiful concentrated face. She became nervous not hearing a response and looked back at his face. His eyes were glued to her and his mouth stood open in awe. “Did I do something wrong? I-” She started but got a quick and intense head shake back. How was he going to tell her this? Was he going to tell her this? Should he even do it? “Do you trust me too?” She asked shyly. “Of course.” He blurted out like a shy little boy. “Is everything alright?” She looked at him concerned. “Yes. I just...had a little thought spiral.” He tried to put it into words. She smiled at him “About what?” “Uuuh. I don’t know if I should talk about this with you now. It’s...it can wait.” He said anxiously. “You’re nervous. I’ve never seen you nervous. Is it that bad?” She asked staring him down. “It’s nothing bad. Just very...conflicting, I guess.” He really tried his hardest not to tell her how he felt right now and how weird it was. She was only here for a few weeks and really started talking deeply in the last few days. He didn’t want to overwhelm her but the connection they had was special from the beginning. “I never keep secrets from you. I told you everything about me. It concerns me that something makes you nervous.” She was really worried. “Did I trigger your PTSD because I touched your arm? Please, tell me!” Now she was getting upset. “Harmony. I said it wasn’t a bad thing. Just something you made me think about. Relax, I’m fine.” He said more serious and calm before pulling her waist closer for a hug. “I really don’t want you to feel bad. If I ever do please stop me, okay?” She said still upset. “You didn’t make me feel bad. You made me feel good actually.” He said running his hand through her hair. “Are you concerned and nervous about feeling okay? ‘Cause I know that from when I had depression. It’s-” She broke the hug apart. “Listen! I need you to calm down right now. I feel fine and not worried. There is nothing to be upset about and I just need a little bit of time to process what you said to me about me. Okay?” He interrupted her and it broke his heart a little to do that. “Did...Did nobody ever tell you that?” She whispered looking him straight into his soul. At least that’s how it felt like to him. “Not...really?” He answered slowly. “Can I uuuh, try to give you more thoughts of mine like this?” She held up her left hand with a little bit of blue lighting up in it. “I don’t know. I- It- Yes, I think that’s actually not a bad idea.” He said after processing it. She was the only person he ever trusted doing something so close to the torture he went through. His mind was guarded at all times but something about her just made him say yes every single time. She went into his brain again and it felt like he was bombarded with validation and positivity. As if she uploaded reminders into his brain but he didn’t know what she might see again. When her hand left his head again she smiled at him awkwardly and stood up. “Um, I think I should go to my room now.” “Wha- Why?” He asked confused. “You said you had to process what I said a bit.” She acted weird and it concerned him. “Harmony. Did you see something bad again?” He asked frowning. “No. Don’t worry. I’m gonna go and paint a bit...if you need me I’m probably up ‘till 4.” She said with a soft smile and left the room shortly after.

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mrneighbourlove · 4 years

Text

Into the Darkness and Unknown: Ch 6. Poking the Bear

The previous skirmish had Echidan doctor’s scrambling about. Luckily, most of the warriors escaped with minor wounds. The other extreme were so who weren’t so lucky as to keep their lives. At the infirmary, Leere was sweating buckets. Her leg twisted with pain from the injuries of the battle against Dio and her demons. Her femur was broken, and she trying to keep her breathing steady.

A Kokyangwuti approached Leere, all eight of the legs tapping against the stone floor. Very gently, she touched the sides of Leere's head. A voice followed through her mind.

"Mother said this spell should help me communicate to you since our tongue is unknown to you." She introduced herself. "I am Nomusa, the younger sister of Negasi and Morowa. You know them as Blue and White." Going around to the side of the bed, magic crackled in her hands. "I will heal your wounds now. This will not hurt. However, you might feel a slight pressure. Are you ready?"

“I’m glad to hear it’s someone I’m somewhat familiar with. Whenever you’re ready good doctor.”

Nomusa repaired Leere's side wounds and her broken leg with ease. The process took several minutes of flesh mending itself together and bone reforming to its usual shape. There was, of course, pressure upon the areas. It felt like someone was putting too much weight on the princess' body. Though, once Nomusa was done, there was not even a scar left from the horrific injuries. It was oddly similar to Bonegrinder's healing magic, or Leere’s own blood magic, though not as dark as the latter.

"Is there pain anywhere else?"

“No. You heal with the care of a blood practitioner. Thank you.” Leere didn’t think a headache counted as pain.

"You do need to eat, hydrate, and rest. I would recommend that you do no strenuous activity for the next few days." Nomusa gently helped Leere into a sitting position. "Do you think you can walk?"

“I can try?” Leere took a few deep breaths, psyching herself up to stand. “This mean no running, fighting or sex for a while?”

"No running, no fighting, no sexual activities, you know how it goes." Nomusa offered a hand to Leere to help her stand. "And make sure you eat meat high in iron for the couple of days to replace what you lost in blood."

“I’d love that.” Leere steadied herself with Nosuma, walking her way across the room. “You know, I actually know your older sisters.”

"Yes, Mother told me you are acquainted very intimately with them." Nomusa grinned. "They have a weakness for females with very large... milk glands."

Leere felt so incredibly small and flustered at the drop of that comment. “My milk glands? ... wow, no ones called me out in that term...”

"Aww, look at that, my sisters were right! You do blush so red with your fair skin." Nomusa giggled in amusement. "In all the times they talked to me, they mentioned how much they adored you. Their 'tiny human princess with the big milk glands'. They brag about how loud they made you moan. Oh! And that you had the best jiggle of an ass anyone had ever seen."

A switch flipped in Leere that took her beyond simple embarrassment. “That’s- I don’t- young lady that is not appropriate of your sisters to boldly talk about me that way.” Leere was mortified that they’d share such intimate knowledge of her.

"...? Why?" Nomusa blinked all eight of her eyes. "We Echidans always speak of intimate issues. It is a beautiful thing! It is how life is formed, how we express our love and lust for one another. It is nothing to be ashamed of! To be the highlight of your partner's sex life is always wonderful!"

Leere’s emotions flared up, her minds racing and disgusted that her trust in the sisters would be abused in her eyes. “You don’t brag about that kind of thing! Not without their consent. Holy gods. They make me sound like a conquest instead of a lover.”

"Conquest? Never! They absolutely adore you." Nomusa said with affirmation. "They always speak highly of you as well. Is this not a thing that Hylians do?"

“Only when they want to be assholes who want to colour someone as a slut. Sex is a modest, personal, and wonderful thing regardless if it comes from lust or love. You should keep what you do between the partners. If you want to know if I moan or have a spankable ass, you can have sex with me yourself to find out. Shame on Blue and White. God damn them! How could they do that to me?”

"Oh... I'm... I apologize, I'm sure they didn't mean anything by it." Nomusa actually looked a bit frantic, thinking she had ruined her sisters' relationship with the pretty human. "Please don't think badly of them, it is normal for them to brag about their lover. The prettier, the louder, the better they are to please their lover." She then paused and said. "If you weren't recovering, I'd take you up on that offer. But you must rest first."

Leere was incredibly miffed, with her sarcasm pouring out bitterly. “Oh, so I’m just pretty and loud to them. Great to know.”

She hobbled down to some earth in the ground, putting her hand to the dirt. She tried to sense where her Dead Hand was. Feeling it out, she felt a very weak presence. Must have been critically injured by the demons. Perhaps even other Echidans.

"No, no, that's not what I meant at all... goodness, I'm not the best with human affairs. Maybe I ought to let Bonegrinder explain it." Nomusa ran her hands down her face. "My sisters adore you because you're not afraid of them, and that you treat them... normally. Most humans scream and run when they see us."

“So, I respect them but they can’t respect me? Why wouldn’t I treat them normally? They couldn’t think the same of me?” Leere focused more on all the dead bodies still on the battlefield in the distance. There souls had since moved on. Shame. Terrible shame she couldn’t help these victims. “Where’s Mother, Nomusa?”

"Of course they respect you, they just... goodness, cultural norms for humans and Echidans are so different. Please don't be angry at them, I'll be sure to tell them to stop speaking of their nocturnal activities pertaining to you." Nomusa apologized to the human. "Mother is watching over Modoc. The one you know as Bonegrinder. She's in her nest."

“I’ll let her attend to him.” Looking up to Nomusa, she raised her brow. Leere shouldn’t direct her anger at the young Kokyangwuti. While it still festered, the necromancer thought of a subject change to bury that anger for now. “How old are you Nomusa?”

"How old I am? I'm 271 years. So... I guess in human years, that would be around... well... an old person," Nomusa sheepishly admitted. "But here, I guess it's the human equivalent to a teenager."

“Is that so? Why didn’t you travel with your older sisters?”

"Our father, Kiume, is getting older in years. I worry for him, and I have found a mate here. Potential mate, really." Nomusa explained to Leere. "I really had no desire to leave home. I'm happy here."

“Potential? You have a crush?”

"Let's just say that my father wants him to prove himself a little." Nomusa shrugged lightly. "I am the youngest, so he's pretty protective of me."

“You have a lover before?”

"Lovers? Yes. One I was interested in being mated to? Not really." Nomusa sighed, almost dreamily. "Until Gebhuza... he has the biggest muscles and is so fast, and spins such lovely webs. He even brings me fresh kills so I can feast on the blood. His dick is awfully nice---oops, sorry, I forgot human didn't like to talk about that."

Last thing Leere wanted to think about was monster dick at the moment. “Right… If you love him though, why offer your bedside to me?”

"Echidnans are not monogamous unless specified." Nomusa told Leere. "Gebhuza has had many lovers before too. If he desires me as a mate, then yes, I will only breed with him. Though sometimes, we cannot resist a good foursome. It's more fun for all the parties involved. My sisters used to share lovers all the time."

“I know a thing about that.” Echidnans were so wild. The cute arachnid wasn’t too tall, so to appease her own curiosity, Leere cupped Nomusa’s cheeks, giving her a sudden and deep kiss. Another truth was she was festering an anger at Blue and White for not keeping their threesomes and orgies to themselves, and wanted to get back by tasting the youngest sister. Once again, she was a fuel source of lust to monsters with her touch. “That means you’re ok with something like that?”

Nomusa purred. Loudly.

"Yes, very much so." She then returned the affection with a kiss of her own, sliding her tongue over Leere's. "You know, some of kind make such lovely aphrodisiacs... if you ever want to try one."

“I might. Too bad you said that sex is off the table for now. You should know I AM the aphrodisiac.” God, that tongue was so thick. With a light teasing purr herself, Leere sat herself down on a bench. Maybe she’d fool around, maybe she wouldn’t. Either way, it was magnificent kiss.

"Yes, sex is off the table until you recover." Nomusa reminded Leere. "At least for three days. You need time for your body to recover for the blood loss. I can heal you, but replacing blood is very tricky."

“Well, I suppose it would be humane to wait and not rely on sacrifice to restore my energy.” Leere chuckled, putting one leg over the other. “Don’t know how much longer we’ll be staying in Omisha for.”

"If you are staying for a few more days, I'd be happy to show you around---!!!" Nomusa heard yelling from the other private infirmary room. With a deep sigh, she told Leere. "Excuse me, one moment..." She skittered off in the direction and yelled. "Zubeka! What did I tell you about trying to undress the human male?!"

"I'm trying to get him to take off his armor so I can inspect his body for injuries!" Zubeka was a Kokyangwuti like Nomusa, but absolutely huge. She resembled that of a tarantula. "He's being stubborn!"

Malik happened to be sitting for an update on Leere, when the large arachnid insisted and, out of no where, tried to disrobe him out of his bloody armour. For her efforts, she had one of her hands twisted, having only taken a single gauntlet from him. “Touch me again and I’ll see to that your Matriarch finds out you tried to handle me on your own without my permission. Or I tear the hand off if you find that less dangerous.”

"Mother told me to check on you, you stubborn little brat!" Zubeka was certainly more outspoken than Nomusa or her twin sisters for that matter. "Hmph. He needs a spanking."

"He's not one of your cocoonlings, Zu."

"Still! He has no manners!"

"Just politely ask him to take off his armor and then he might listen---"

"Are you kidding me? Males never listen, they're all hardheaded."

"Good goddesses, I'll do it then." Nomusa approached Malik with a slight bow. "I apologize for the misunderstanding, Malik. Mother is simply worried for your well being. Might I examine you?"

“I’m over five-hundred years old you fat Skulltala.” Malik shifted his gaze to the younger doctor. “I have no sustained injuries. The most I took was being thrown into some rubble. You may not examine me. Focus on the princess that I brought here.”

"See? Ought to be his ass into the ground." Zubeka huffed with crossed arms.

"And wash his mouth out with ghost peppers."

"Leere is all well, she is fully healed. She only requires rest." Nomusa was going to try to mull the situation over as best she could. "Please, Malik, I do not understand the concept of human modesty, but I do know that if you do not allow me or Zubeka to examine you, Mother herself will do so. I only ask that you allow us to carry out our orders. I will not even lay a leg on you, just merely allow me to look to ascertain there is no internal bleeding."

As a point of defiance, he grabbed a blue potion from his pocket. He lifted his helmet up just enough to pour the contents down his throat. He left out a long, content sigh, his body being physically and magically healed. “I’ve never felt better. Thank you doctor for looking after Leere.”

"... a healing potion? Against demonic magic? Girl, this one done knocked himself silly," Zubeka scoffed. "He a fool if he thinks that will help. Come get me if he starts convulsing." With that, the larger spider-woman tapped off into the hallway.

"Good goddesses help me..." Nomusa sighed in irritation. "Very well. Mother will do this one herself. You may go see the princess now if you wish it."

“Good.” Malik made his way down to Leere, grabbing a few more potions. “She fixed your bones and internal bleeding?”

“Yes. What was the yelling for?”

He handed her two more potions, one red and one green. “Take a health and stamina potion. This should shave off your waiting time. We’re going to see Bonegrinder.”

The princess did so, feeling like she could walk briskly now. She was still in a sour mood from the battle and the breach of trust she felt. “I unsure if he’ll want to see us.”

“We have matters to discuss. Let’s go.”

Back at the temple, Mother was on her throne, magic sprawled across the air in front of her. She was making sure to reinforce the barrier, stretching it over Omisha's border once more. Now, it kept not only Malus separate, but most of Al-Daida as well. This was a difficult task, and one which required much energy. Yet, if it kept her children safe, she would see to it every single day. When Malik and Leere entered the room, she was pleased to see both of them were up and without pain. Yet, she did not smell healing magic on Malik. "... hm... did Zubeka nor Nomusa check you for injuries, Malik?" Mother waved away the magical particles and approached the pair. "Demonic magic, even if not a direct hit, can still effect a living being in a negative manner."

Malik bowed his head respectfully. “They would have found a trace of demonic presence they could never remove. I deemed it best to not worry them since I lacked injuries. My concern was for the princess.”

"Nevertheless, you will allow my healers to at least inspect you the next time there is a possibility of injury. Is that clear?" Mother's voice held no room for argument. "I will not have an ambassador of Hyrule dying on my doorstep because of his ego. Do you understand, Lord Malik?"

Malik bowed his head once again. “Understood.”

With that matter sorted, he looked up to Mother, a more serious aura felt around him. “What in blazes is Bonegrinder. He held the same magic as Teufel.”

"Bonegrinder is an Anagari and is not only that. He is more. This knowledge will not leave this Temple, Malik and Leere. It is critical to keep under wraps until the time is right... however much more time we may have on this earth." Mother used her magic to display a figure of the brother gods, Maker and Destroyer. "He is a deity bound in flesh form. Yet, his mind is scrambled. Between his life as a god and his life as an Anagari, he cannot process the two at the same time. Thus, accounting for random bursts of magic, visions, and confusion."

“He’s another god. Yet one that’s failed in bonding with a mortal.” Malik found this information highly intriguing. “Do you think he’s a threat to any of us?”

"Modoc... Bonegrinder, is the host. The memories did not even resurface until an attack hundreds of years ago." Mother frowned. "It was not supposed to happen then. His memories were supposed to return at a later time, but the recesses of Modoc's mind cracked when he spiraled into insanity, thus allowing his true nature, the deity to leak through." She paused when Malik asked if she thought the Anagari was a threat. "Why? Do you believe him to be dangerous?"

“I know he’s dangerous. I’m asking if you think he’s a threat to our realm.”

"No." Mother answered Malik. "But I sense you do not believe the same."

“I’m wise enough to know that gods, meaning to or not, bring destruction and death to life. Either he be passive or bloodthirsty will remain to be seen.”

"Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Only time will tell." Mother then said. "Modoc is still recovering from battle. You will have to speak to him later when he is conscious."

"Believe me, I will. Given that we do not know what time we have, I will start to build my forces in Hyrule to contend against Teufel or whatever God deems that they can destroy our world. Mother, as Lord of Hyrule, I ask for a change in our partnership. I am the only one who understands the length of Teufel's danger. Not only that, but I don't believe King Covarog or Queen Zarazu will ever be ready in dealing directly with you. I wish that you come directly to me with matters that concern the relationship of Omisha and Hyrule."

Leere glanced to Malik, caught completely off guard that he'd throw her brother and sister-in-law under the bridge like that. "What?"

"I have been a monster myself. I understand us. I can easily believe that given your mannerisms and presence, the King and Queen would not be able to maturely handle negotiating with you in person. They are jaded to monsters given their experiences with Vul'kar and his Abyssians. The King has always been cautious in dealing with outside nations. With this said, I believe that until one of their children can take the throne with clear, fresh eyes, I should reign as Hyrule's head negotiator for Omisha. Is this acceptable to you?"

"Hrm... I have heard the Queen of Lorleidians is less hotheaded than her husband, though I have heard rumors of the king being... biased." Mother tapped her claws on her throne's arm, thinking. It was a bit of a predicament, what Malik was suggesting. Keeping this alliance in the dark from the leaders of Hyrule was a risky tactic. One day, the nation would be a key player in the battle against Chaos. "You truly deem her unable to discuss such matters with me?"

“I do. She’s kind, but I suspect she’d be fearful of your appearance.”

"Of me? When she has a dragon at her side?" Mother thought this was odd. "It always struck me that dragons were the more fearsome creatures... then again, she is probably used to the dragons."

“I think she’d see you more akin to Vul’kar than one of her... children.” It took all his control to not call Ba’puu and his kin pests.

"And Leere? What do you think of Malik's suggestion?" Mother wanted to know her opinion.

Leere stared at Malik in a bit of disbelief. “What power grab are you trying to make here? Where’s your loyalty to my brother?”

“This fight that will happen will not be Covarog’s or Zarazu’s. Their destinies were fulfilled in stopping Vul’kar. I foresee it will be an oldest and youngest generation who will need to take up arms.”

"That is partly true, Malik... it will be their eldest daughter who will be pivotal in the future to help fight against Chaos." Mother then gestured to the lord. "And it will be your duty to ensure she is safe as well as trained. She will have to know how to fight."

“The Gerudo Queen will be ready when her time comes. Until then, I ask you deal directly with me.”

"Do you trust this plan, Leere?"

“...as I’ve said before, I trust Malik to do his duty.” To be honest, Leere wasn’t sure what Malik was scheming. Was he intent on taking the throne? This new light of information made the necromancer’s views on the Gerudo shift uncomfortably.

"Very well... though before we go on with the discussion of the future, there is one issue I'd like to remark upon," Mother then narrowed her eyes at Leere. "What was my one explicit command of you whilst you were in Omisha?"

“Pardon?” Leere was taken by surprise once again, with the conversation being shifted to her. “To be the most respectful and to not use necrotic magic on your dead.”

"On the dead. That translate to no necromancy at all." Mother looked very disappointed, and sounded as if she were scolding a child. "You are very lucky that my children did not perceive you in alliance with the Mortuus girl who came through here wrecking havoc."

“Are you speaking of my Dead Hand? It’s a conjuration construct that happens to be undead. I used it to help even the odds against those demons. I didn’t raise any fresh bodies to fight our enemies.” Leere looked visibly worried she crossed a line too far. However, another thought of hers was wondering why Mother couldn’t trust her to keep herself in control. “I acted in the moment.”

"Acting in the moment can be very dangerous in these parts, Leere. The reason I forbade your type of magic is due to the unease of my children." Mother told the princess. "What if one of them had reacted and cut you down? Mistaking you for an enemy? I would not have been able to stop their action in time."

The thought being the victim of friendly fire only made Leere’s anger spike. “My magic isn’t evil Mother. I’m not evil.”

"I know that. But do you think all of my children believe that?" Mother had to poke a hole in her logic. "Hylians once deemed all Gerudo evil. Danjurans believe all sea serpents are evil. Labrynnas believe dragons to be evil. Do you understand what I am telling you?"

“You’re all ignorant then?!” Leere didn’t realize she was standing defiantly until the bones in her back popped straight. “I saw an evil woman of my people. But you know what, there’s going to be good and evil found on all sides! Maybe I can be what teaches your people to not fear such magic. What’s going to happen instead; you put a barrier around all of Omisha?” Leere wasn’t standing down, and Malik wasn’t stopping her. “I saw a threat to your people and I did what I felt I needed to do to protect your people! To protect children like Solani!”

"We are not ignorant, Leere, we are cautious. You have not yet suffered at the hands of a Mortuus. My children have." Mother glared at the princess. "I need not tell you of Zarazu's battle with Vul'kar. If an Abyssian showed up on her doorstep, proclaiming to be innocent, do you not think she would be wary? This is to protect you, young princess. Do not make the mistake of using such magic again. The last thing I want is for you body to be buried here instead of at home with your family due to a case of mistaking you for an enemy." She then added, "And it's not just you, Leere. Malik is a human. My children are even wary of them, just like humans are wary of us. Your magic will not save you from an Echidnan who wishes you dead. I want you safe from harm here, yet you must do your part to be cautious as well. Do you understand?"

“That’s a load of shit.” Leere pointed at herself, her emotions reaving up now that her emotion wall was breaking down. How dare anyone tell her that she didn’t know suffering, or that they knew what was best for her. All the disrespect she felt finally was verbalized. “I was sexually violated by a Hylian as fucking child. You don’t think I don’t worry about Hylians? Worry about men in general? For someone who dabbles in darkness, I don’t slink away in my shadows. I’ve suffered, but I make the choice to see there are innocents among Hyrule. People that I can love. Apparently, unlike you and your people, I’m not a goddamn coward who lets my fears of others get the better of me! I wasn’t raised to be constantly in fear and needing to look over my shoulders. I look at the kids here and I see their curiosity, only for them to be spirited away before I have the chance to really breakthrough to them. Now maybe you might have a point, with what you see as enemies on all sides, but all you teach your people is fear when you can’t even give them a chance to build positive relationships with people like me. People who want to share hope! If they see a friend as an enemy due to their ignorance, then you’re all doomed to be isolated and alone!”

She stabbed a finger towards Mother, more fury directed directly to her. “You want to protect me? How about you stop lying to me first! I know for damn certain that you didn’t find that Mortuus three-hundred years ago. The kingdom of Lorleidi is older than that! You think lying to me makes me feel protected? All it tells me is that I can’t trust you! And how dare any of you assume I need protection! I’m choose to stand my ground against people who’d use darkness for insidious purposes. I would gladly lay down my life to protect you, Malik, Bonegrinder, my family, or even another Mortuus who’s innocent or good willed! So yes, if an Abyssisn came to Zarazu with good intentions I’d hold her to give them a chance! Meeting this Dio has also taught me one thing! If there are Mortuus who have been suffering for centuries, then they should have been saved long ago! How- how dare you! You should have reached out long ago to others who’d help! There have always been those throughout history who would never turn a blind eye to suffering, so don’t you lie to me that you couldn’t! find help for your people!”

Her breathing was getting ragged. God, when did she start crying? “I’m so sick of others thinking they can hand wave a whole culture as one thing. I’m so sick of them pretending they’re all alone with their own issues. If you honestly think that your people can’t accept me as a friend, that all Mortuus are evil, then perhaps Bonegrinder and the others were right. Maybe there was nothing of value to learn in Omisha! I don’t care about Malik’s stupid power grab to have allies. I came here to learn about your culture! To learn about Malus. You want to know my take away so far? The country of Malus is full of suffering, and god knows how long it’s been allowed to stew that way. What take away should I take from Omisha Mother!? What should I go back to Hyrule knowing? That little Solani can make friends with humans? Or that she’ll just continue to hold onto fear and share that into the next generation?”

"... are you done?" Mother did not look amused. She'd allow the princess her little outburst. Human emotions were volatile. "Or do you have more to say?"

No where. Leere felt that she suddenly wasn’t going to get anywhere with the matriarch. “I’m done.” Leere’s eyes were puffy as she silently calmed down.

"You have your view, I have mine. I must do what I think is best for my people." Mother told Leere sternly, not allowing her mind to be swayed. "After my people are comfortable with you, then I will consider usage of your magic. Trust is built very carefully and sometimes takes a long while to earn, princess. Not in one visit." She then added, "I will not reach out to help a country and risk the lives of my children when said country has had part in the demise of mine for so long. If there are innocents out there like the one Mortuus who met an untimely death in my borders, then I will consider it. But I cannot, will not, take the risk on a 'what if'. I need evidence. I need an attempt to make peace. And thus far, that has not been done, Leere." Mother was older and wiser than Leere or Malik and knew how to handle such delicate matters. "What you should take away from Omisha is what humans deem of us and what we deem of humans is not necessarily true in all circles. We Echidnans are a peaceful race... unless provoked."

“I didn’t use my magic in your land, until I was provoked.” Leere bowed her head low.

"True, yet, I asked you not to use it. There are others ways to fight than to relay on magic." Mother then told the princess, without room for argument. "For your safety, do not use it here in Omisha."

“I can’t do that if it means the death of one of your people.” Leere shook her head. “I can strain myself to use other resources, but I can’t let an innocent die if it means I didn’t give it my all.” This didn’t even include her own self-preservation.

"Then you understand that I will not be held responsible if one of my children attacks you out of fear?"

“I’d welcome it if it meant changing their viewpoint.”

"Hmm... this matter will be discussed at a later point when I have had time to address all of my children." Mother still did not look too pleased with the princess' outburst. Just because she had her opinion did not mean it was right. Then again, Mother knew that even she could be wrong. Yet, she could not risk it right now. There was too much at stake. "Malik... you had other questions concerning the future?"

Malik glared furiously at Leere. Even if she was right, there was a time and place. The Necromancer might have shattered his careful planning. “Is Bonegrinder awake?”

"No, he is not." Mother shook her head. "He is very unstable right now and in quite some pain."

“Then we will wait until he is awake and well. Please call for us if you desire anything.”

"For now, waiting is all we can do." Mother sighed, looking weary. "Malik do see that Leere is properly rested. The incidents have definitely caused a shock to her system. Do obtain some rest yourself. Do you need an escort back to the huts?"

“Shock? I’d think you’d be the last to accuse someone of hysteria.” Leere was so close to flipping Mother the bird and snapping at her further. Instead, she stormed off back to the hut to sleep the rest of the day off.

"... Malik." Mother turned her focus to the young lord. "Leere allows her emotions to rule her. This kind of incident cannot happen again."

The Gerudo Lord frowned behind his helmet. “What do you expect me to do?”

"I expect you to caution the princess of her behavior. If she cannot handle her emotions, then I will find another diplomat from Hyrule who can who hails from the royal family." Mother warned Malik. "While I trust you to handle these affairs, I will speak to Ralnor if need be. He is the only other one in the family who knows of our existence here."

“You cannot trust Ralnor. If anything, you can take from her outburst as a sign you can trust her the most.”

"... I will contemplate upon your words."

Ralnor was the last person Malik wanted to work with. The Prince would no doubt ruin his own plans for the future. “She wears her heart on her sleeve openly for all to see. Leere will respect your wishes, trust me. The princess simply felt hurt that you would not trust her abilities. What’s more... she cares about your people. I doubt Ralnor has the heart for that.”

"I believe Modoc's words that Leere is trustworthy, but I must see it for myself, as you must do the same with me. Trust will not be earned overnight, Malik. This you know all too well." Mother then rose from her throne. "I will go to check on Modoc. I do not know how long it will be until he is recovered."

“I’m certain that you will have it in no time.” Malik said his polite goodbyes and returned to the hut to find Leere head down as she sat in a seat.

“You must hate me. I can understand if you do. Was stupid of me to speak my mind like that to her. Jeopardized too much for Hyrule.”

A silence filled the room, leaving Malik unsure how to reply. He raised an arm, pausing behind her. Despite the potential to ruin his relationship with Mother, Malik couldn’t help be impressed in retrospect at her courage to speak up her frustrations. Content on his choice, he laid a hand on her shoulder. “You spoke what you felt was right. You spoke from your soul. You were very brave Leere.”

The princess looked to him, a heavy weight leaving her my mind. All it took was one person to believe in her. “Thank you, Malik.”

The Gerudo wasn’t the best at human interaction on a healing level, at least not with those he didn’t consider close family or soldiers under his command. “Perhaps we should rest.”

Leere sensed his small worry. Grasping his hand, she smoothly assured him he was fine. “Yes... I think that’d be nice. Sleep well Malik.”

________________________________________________________________

Previous Ch. https://mrneighbourlove.tumblr.com/post/190819547466/into-the-darkness-and-unknown-ch-5-a-blink-into

Next Ch. https://mrneighbourlove.tumblr.com/post/190931724986/into-the-darkness-and-unknown-ch-7-the-burden-of

#crossover #ridersoftheapocalypse #Omisha #Malus #Echidnans #Malik #Leere #Bonegrinder #Mother #Love to listen to comments!

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