#but this bit of late august | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

viperwhispered · 2 months

Text

Rest

Guess what? I've got more Jamil x reader for y'all. You can also find this on ao3. No warnings, just 866 words of kinda fluffy(?) caretaking stuff with gender-neutral reader.

At this point, you know Jamil’s schedule almost as well as he does. So, when you have the chance, you head to Scarabia’s kitchen, hoping to spend some time with Jamil while he and the other students prepare dinner.

However, when you enter, it takes you but a moment to notice Jamil’s uncharacteristic fumbling and the tired look in his eyes. The way Jamil’s chopping the vegetables has you worried about him cutting himself with that knife he’s usually so adept with, and it seems it’s only force of habit that’s keeping him on track.

You frown, and when your eyes meet Jamil’s, you can already see him put his guard up.

So he knows what state he is in, huh? And still, here he is.

It seems Jamil is reading your thoughts, all of him telling you drop it before any words are even said.

At least he still lets you lean in and give a quick kiss to his cheek in greeting.

“Hello love. Do you still have a lot on your agenda for today?” you ask, keeping your tone low for at least some semblance of privacy in the busy kitchen.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” is the response you get.

Of course.

It takes a little more pestering before Jamil actually answers your question. Your lips purse. That list is far too long to your liking.

You take a moment to think, juggling your own plans and to-do list against the urgency of the things Jamil mentioned.

“Will Kalim be eating from that?” you ask, pointing at the food Jamil is preparing.

“Yes.”

“Alright, I won’t be touching that one, then. I’ve gotta do a few things but I’ll be back when you’re done here.”

“Don’t,” Jamil says with a glare, clearly aware of what you’re thinking.

Yet even his disapproving look doesn’t have the usual weight behind it.

“Yes. I will,” you say firmly, even as your heart curls inwards with another bout of concern.

Really, when did he get so tired?

And how did you not notice it earlier?

You leave the kitchen before Jamil can protest further, hurrying through the dorm corridors to find Kalim.

Soon you have an enthusiastic – and concerned – supporter for your plans. You have Kalim point out a few reliable Scarabia students to help with a few of the most urgent matters Jamil mentioned – cleaning up the common areas, delivering some paperwork to Crowley, preparing some dorm-wide notices – while you see to Kalim getting his school supplies in order for the following day. You even recruit a couple of third years to help Kalim with his homework.

You’ll see to the rest tomorrow – after all, you do also have a boyfriend to look after.

Your conversation over dinner can hardly be called anything else than an argument – despite Kalim’s best attempts at acting as a moderating force between you two. It is very tempting to ask Kalim to tell Jamil to take the rest of the day off – it’s not like Jamil would be willing to openly disobey a direct order. Still, you really don’t need to remind Jamil of his position on top of everything else that you’re already doing more or less against his wishes.

Eventually, however, Jamil’s had a square meal, the most urgent things on his to-do list are being taken care of, and you’ve managed to drag him to his bed.

“I really wish you wouldn’t push yourself so hard,” you murmur, your arms wrapped tightly around Jamil. You’re telling yourself you really do just want to cuddle, to offer some respite to Jamil. Still, there might also be a part of you worried that if you were to let go, he’d just jump up and get back to working himself to the bone.

Yet, for all his protestations, just the fact that you’ve gotten Jamil to lay down with you speaks volumes of his current exhaustion.

“I can’t just leave my duties, albi. You know this.”

“Making yourself too indispensable, is what you’re doing,” you protest.

Oh, you know it’s not so simple. Not with his background, not with all the expectations and assumptions.

But sometimes you really wish it would be.

Jamil merely scoffs in response to your words.

Still, it is undeniable that he is slowly beginning to relax in your arms, slowly bringing his head closer to yours. His eyes are starting to flutter, too.

“I will still need to help Kalim with his homework, at the very least.”

You wonder who he is trying to convince more, you or himself.

“Amin and Khalil are helping him. They’re basically top of their classes, aren’t they? I’m sure they’ve got it.”

Still, Jamil frowns.

You sigh. He really is not letting go, is he?

“Do you want me to go supervise?” you ask.

And leave you, unsaid yet hanging there right after your words.

“Don’t,” Jamil eventually says, the word barely more than a breath.

It seems he has accepted his fate.

You softly caress Jamil’s hair, listening to his softening breathing.

And when you wake up, wholly unaware of having been lulled to sleep in the first place, it’s to the lightest of touches from Jamil’s fingers.

Tagging @diodellet @twstgo @crystallizsch @jamilvapologist @jamilsimpno69 as per request If you'd like to be tagged for any future works, let me know!

#twisted wonderland #jamil viper #twisted wonderland x reader #jamil viper x reader #woop it sure has been quite the burst of creative energy lately #especially since this has apparently been sitting in my drafts since last august #but now you have it #I certainly can’t promise to keep up with this rate of writing (in fact I can promise I won't) but hey let's enjoy it while it lasts #and yes I’m hopping on the “jamil using arabic terms of endearment” train #I’ve read so many fics doing that that at this point it feels more natural than english ngl #even if english would probably be more canonical #also is it a *good* way to go about it to just pretty much just force someone to rest like this? probably not #is it sometimes the only way to get stubborn people to stop for a bit? perhaps #and is it something I might do?#...possibly #also oh boy can you tell that I'm avoiding jamil's dialogue like the plague lately?#I really need to reread so much of his stuff to get a hang of his voice again #(also if you notice typos pls tell me because they always bug me)#(or other wonkiness because I'm not a native speaker and sometimes things just go silly)#anyways hope y'all enjoy!

152 notes · View notes

umbry-fic · 6 months

Text

kokoronashi

Summary: When had they gotten into the habit of lying to each other?

Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium and its effects.

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters: Colette Brunel, Original Daemon Character Relationships: Colette Brunel & Original Daemon Character Rating: G Word Count: 1806 Mirror Link: AO3 Original Post Date: 21/11/2023

Notes: Another entry in the Daemon AU! This is basically me going back through and writing about parts I didn't cover in the first fic. This one sent me down a rabbit hole about Daemons and illnesses...

Title from kokoronashi by Chouchou-p.

~~~

“Hey, Colette...”

It was the beginning of a question that should have been nothing more than innocent concern, posed by the minute Daemon perched on the edge of the bed, his tiny talons resting against its frame. Shattering the lazy silence of a drowsy morning, it froze Colette in her tracks, her fingers ghosting over the doorknob. Something lurking in his tone made her pause, and she was acutely aware that all of the other girls and their Daemons had left the inn room, leaving the two of them alone.

“What is it, Pan?” she replied, cocking her head as a smile slipped onto her face.

Her Daemon didn’t shift, beady black eyes fixed on her. Once, she would have known every emotion that touched his heart, for their echoes would have gripped her own, just as her own grief had often overwhelmed him. Now, however, the link that had once flowed freely between them like a river had been severed, replaced by a chasm that could no longer be crossed.

She could only attempt to read him as she would any other person, the thought making her heart tighten in her chest. It had always been Colette and Pan, Pan and Colette. They’d been privy to each other’s secrets, whispered under the cover of night, from the moment she’d been born, Pan curled up next to her and a Cruxis crystal in her hand. He was the very extension of her person, the other side of her soul, her heart - yet it would never be the same again.

“Is something wrong?”

His talons began to rap against the wood of the frame, tension gathering in his tiny form as he shifted to and fro.

“No.” The word tumbled from her lips with ease as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, hoping he wouldn’t notice the slight tremble in her fingers. It was a hope that wouldn’t be granted, she knew, he could read her as well as she could read him. “Why? Is everything alright?”

Through the tattered remnants of their bond, slivers of emotion filtered through, slipping through her fingers before she could identify them.

“It’s nothing,” he mumbled, turning away, right wing folded at an awkward angle. The conversation was over.

Slipping from the room, she suppressed a wince as the green scales that had been slowly creeping down her right arm bit into her skin. Heaving a sigh, her fingers curled around the necklace Lloyd had clasped around her neck some weeks ago. It winked in the sunlight filtering through the window set in the wall, and she wondered when it had become so difficult to speak the truth to her Daemon.

~~~

Pan could remember a time when Colette had been very sick, afflicted with a fever that had refused to break. They’d been twelve, and she’d been confined to bed for a whole two weeks, her breaths rattling in her chest. Grandmother and father had hovered over them the entire time, worry colouring their voices as they tended to the two of them, their Daemons scrambling to gather towels and buckets of water.

Back then, his form had still been shifting - a mouse for one second and a sparrow the next, looking for a place to settle. He’d slunk as close as was physically possible, curled into a ball atop her beating heart. While he had been spared the physical symptoms of her illness, a crushing lethargy had weighed him down, leaving his limbs heavy and unwilling to move. Not that he would have - her presence gave him comfort, and he was certain that staying close would grant her some form of relief.

Her skin had burned beneath his touch, and she had coughed weakly, blue eyes dull as she stroked his head with a tired hand. He’d described the scenery outside their window - a few children mucking around in the dirt, a woman hanging up laundry on clothing lines, a lone guardsman standing by the village gate. They’d be able to rejoin the world soon, he’d reassured her.

“I’m sorry,” she’d mumbled, the words slurring a little, her hair, drenched with sweat, sticking to her face and neck.

She’d pressed kisses to his head, still apologising, and he’d wrapped his tail around her wrist, nuzzling his cheek against her hand. A silent acknowledgement of her words, and a sign of his forgiveness.

There was no need to apologise.

It had not been her fault, to begin with, that they were confined here. Nothing had ever been her fault. And he would stay by her side forever, regardless of what was to come. He would face the trials that awaited without hesitation, for together they were braver.

Until the time came when they would both be hollowed out, he would protect her.

~~~

He’d suspected, for some time, that something was wrong. That Colette was hiding something, something to do with why he sometimes pitched to the side mid-flight, his entire wing going numb from pain. It hadn’t taken very long to learn how to hide these episodes, enduring them silently so Arielle wouldn’t pounce on him and demand to know what was hurting him.

Every attempt to extract the truth from Colette failed, for the words always got stuck in his throat. Unable to force them out, he could only silently watch as she lied to his face, something in his heart twisting painfully every time.

On the grass outside the Iselia ranch, stained red with blood that would be washed away with the next rain shower, he could only watch as she collapsed, flames of pure agony licking at every inch of him. The singed remnants of her sleeve did nothing to hide the scales that swallowed her skin, glittering under the sunlight as if to mock him.

Waves of rage swelled within him as he landed on her shoulder, snapping at Lloyd to send the signal. It must have been a pitiful sight - a bristling hummingbird, as if this weak, useless form could ever hope to achieve anything.

The emotion that flashed across Arielle’s face, akin to pity as she and Lloyd turned away, only made the waves crest higher.

There was so much anger that had nowhere to go, for it was directed at nobody but himself. He hadn’t been able to protect her before, unable to see beyond the veil of falsehoods that had been pulled over both their eyes. And he had once again failed to protect her.

He was nothing more than a coward, afraid to peer at the ugly truth.

~~~

Colette awakened with strangled gasps from a void of inky black, barely pulling free from the shadowy fingers that threatened to pull her back under. Blindly, she flung an arm around her, ignoring the pain that flared to life as she searched for the familiar softness of feathers.

“I’m here, I’m here!”

The other half of her beating heart pressed himself against her fingers, putting an end to her frantic motions. Stifling the sobs that had gathered in her chest, she stroked the top of Pan’s head, letting the rhythmic motion calm her racing heart.

She’d witnessed Pan fall to the floor of the Tower, grey and lifeless, in her final moments of lucidity before her soul had been locked away. She’d been afraid, afraid that when Lloyd brought her back like he’d promised he would, she’d be all alone. Just as she had been within the confines of the crystal.

In the daylight, her nightmares could not touch her. Their darkness dissipated with the steady thrum of life within her constant companion, still here by her side.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he whispered. There was no accusation in his gaze, only a bone-deep weariness - the ashes of a frustrated anger that had burned itself out.

Gazing down at the ugly scales that had covered her flesh, she bit her lip, knowing there was no use covering it up any longer. And she was so very, very tired of lying to him. It hurt whenever she did it, like she was giving up a sliver of her soul.

“I’m sorry.” The words slipped from her trembling body as tears budded at the corner of her eyes. Letting Pan sit in her cupped hands, she cradled him close to her chest. “I just… didn’t want you to hate me.”

“I already told you I wouldn’t…”

He’d promised that he could never hate her on the day her soul had been restored. But that had been before - before her sins had returned to haunt her, before she’d realised that she had once again chained him to an early demise, before the web of lies she’d become so used to spinning had gone out of control.

“Because I failed.” The words she’d hidden for weeks upon weeks spilt from her. Who else could she confide in if not for Pan, her dearest heart? “This is my punishment for not regenerating the world, and I ended up dragging you into it again…”

There was a stark memory, of a forest clearing and a sobbing Pan, desperately pulling at their bond until it resembled a rubber band, ready to snap. She had shattered that sacred bond at the holy grounds of the final seal, its shards scattering against the floor and slicing into her skin when she’d tried to pick them up.

All she’d ever done, from the moment she’d been born, was hurt him. If he hadn’t had the misfortune of being born as her Daemon, then perhaps…

Softness brushed against her cheeks, wiping away her tears and pulling her from her spiralling thoughts. “Don’t apologise,” Pan mumbled as he tugged his wing away. “I was the one who failed to protect you.”

Those simple words made her world screech to a halt, and she stared dumbly at her Daemon, who glared defiantly back at her. Behind that rugged determination was a wellspring of guilt, clinging to his tiny form.

It was like staring into a mirror. And finally, understanding struck her.

Laughing shakily, she offered her arm for him to perch on. They’d both been such fools.

“Guess we both failed.” She smiled weakly, the familiar sensation of his talons slightly digging into her skin soothing her. “But from here on out, we can both protect each other.”

It was her promise, for there to be no more lies.

“Alright.” Pan yawned, shifting on her arm to get comfortable. It didn’t take long before he’d passed out. He must have been up for hours, attentively watching over her.

Gently, she pet him, her heart finally at ease.

Things would never be the same between them - but they could reforge their bond into something new.

So long as Pan remained by her side, she was certain they would be able to weather anything.

#this is a bit late oops was busy with practice papers #fanfiction #one shot #tales of symphonia #colette brunel #i think with this there's only one more draft from august that i haven't cleaned up (yay!)

6 notes · View notes