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#if you like my aus please let me know
embrosegraves · 6 months
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𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕆𝕦𝕣 𝕃𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤
Oscar Piastri x Reader “He’s not my boyfriend anymore.” “You can’t tell people that we’re engaged like that.”
Reader and Oscar announce their engagement on social media through a hilarious (for them) prank. 
I really hope this turns out okay, I've never done a smau before :D
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instagram.com
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Liked by yourBff, mickshumacher and 7,274,653 others
youruser We move on… 
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yourBff that’s it! I’m taking you on a trip far away.  → youruser ily
user wait what user where’s oscar? where’d he go? user haha, i’m scared.  f1wags ‘we move on’ what dOES THAT MEAN f1wags im gonna lose me job 😭😭
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Liked by carlossainz55, landonorris and 6,934,627 others
oscarpiastri Moving on… 
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landonorris surely start a jpg  → oscarpiastri no
user where is mother? user mother’s not even in the like nooooo user oh no. they have matching captions f1wags istg Oscar if you and mother broke up
logansargeant ayo? → liked by oscarpiastri
imessage
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instagram.com
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Liked by yourBff, mickshumacher and 7,274,653 others
youruser it’s been emotional
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landonorris answer my texts  → youruser what texts bro? they’re all literally just “???”
user mother is making music at the cost of not dating oscar 😭😭 f1wags queen are you /j or /srs i NEED to know user no please not like this
logansargeant our boy is sorry, please put him out of his misery → youruser our boy? Far as i’m concerned, we don’t share a boy 
user everyday I am reminded of everything wrong in the world user is no one paying attention to the grid’s comments? → user they’re as desperate as we are for info 😭 → user and logan’s comment? What do you mean you don’t share a boy?!?
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Liked by landonorris, NicolePiastri and 6,934,627 others
oscarpiastri A lot of emotions this week 
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landonorris Oscar please answer my texts  → oscarpiastri the only thing you’ve sent me is ?????
user AGAIN WITH THE MATCHING CAPTIONS f1wags Hahaha Oscar I’m getting really scared now hahahaha user I’ve known not a single day of peace since Y/n’s first post
NicolePiastri what did you do Osc? → user NOT EVEN MAMA PIASTRI KNEW → user noooooooooooooooooooo 
user hey god? I am NOT one of your strongest soldiers user guys neither of them have specified which emotions they’re feeling → user please don’t give me hope → user I’m too far in to believe that they’re happy 😭😭😭
imessage
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instagram.com
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Liked by youruser, oscarpiastri and 8,428,783 others
NicolePiastri Well this answers my question
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landonorris ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! → youruser this is so funny to me → oscarpiastri hehehehehehe
user EVERYONE CALLED ME CRAZY BUT I WAS RIGHT f1wags I can sleep easy now :’D user they’re laughing. WE SUFFERED AND THEY’RE LAUGHING
logansargeant okay, without me? rude. → youruser oh please, you would’ve spilt at first chance → logansargeant i don’t like you  
user WARRRRR ISSSS OVERRRRRRRR user everyone say thank you Mama Piastri → user THANK YOU MAMA PIASTRI → user THANK YOU MAMA PIASTRI → youruser Thank you Mum ❤️😁 → oscarpiastri Thank you Mum ❤️ → NicolePiastri You’re welcome kids
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AHHHH I hope you enjoyed! first time ever doing a social media au si I'm crossing my fingers that this was good 🤞
Let me know what you think, I might make some more depending on feedback but who knows
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blueberrythefrog · 1 month
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Got inspired from another user turning him into that one frog that stares at you. (Don't know who you are, but thank you for your service), so here, have autism kinitopet creature Alt Without the Text:
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pisoprano · 6 months
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To everyone who's contributed to the Loveybug AU: thank you! It's been wonderful to see everyone's takes on Loveybug and I wanted to pay homage to all the designs that have been created so far:
anna-scribbles
thewanderersminuet (2) (3)
bluebrrytea
heartfulselkie (2)
marichouchou
amandayetagain
bklily
Seeing all of the joy being channeled into your art has been a real treat--there are so many ways that Loveybug can manifest and all are wonderful! Thank you for sharing your vision of her with us!
Tagging: @anna-scribbles, @blur0se, @bluebrrytea, @heartfulselkie, @marichouchou @amandayetagain @bklily @asukiess
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yeah sex is great but have you ever found a shady parking spot in 100+ degree weather
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ryssbelle · 9 months
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trying to be more active starting by tryna post all the stuff I've been neglecting to ;w; Heres a doodle I did for @sparkspsps of @heroesspirit Ravio!! I've done a lot of heroes spirit art so expect to see a lot of it, its a very good comic so yall better get your eyes on it and your hands reblogging!!
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marokra · 6 months
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the feeling when you’re looking through your old bookmarks on ao3 and come to the realization that the hermitcraft fic you hyperfixated on when you were younger was either deleted or you didn’t bookmark it like an idiot
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tiny-cloud-of-flowers · 3 months
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Despite her attempts to collect herself, it took Aria a long time of letting tears fall and letting herself purr before she could finally speak again. When she did so, her voice sounded somewhat hoarse, but it was still unmistakeable as hers.
"You.. would really love something like me.." she was mumbling.
"Of *course* I would! And do..!" Clio said back, keeping her own voice light in return. "I'm always gonna be here for you, Ari. And I'm just.. so so glad that you're okay.."
She trailed off and started crying again, this time fully with joy and relief.
(Anyone is welcome to comment on and/or reblog my work if they want to, as long as my DNI is respected)
Tag list: @starlit-selfships | @edencantstopfallininlove | @yoomtahsgf | @sunlight-ships | @dragonsmooch | @thatslikesometaldude | @kuroiikamen | @artificervaldi | @keyblade-ships | @seahydra | @dmclr | @neuvilline
(If you would like to be tagged in any of my future work, please use this form!)
Thank you kindly to anyone who has taken the time to look at this ^-^
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skitskatdacat63 · 5 months
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Notes:
I think I definitely like the original versions more than the edited ones. I'm more happy with the grumpy Fernando one, whereas the bratty Seb one made me want to cease painting forever. So hopefully he looks good?????? I'm sure I'll soften on it, but yeah, not TOO pleased with it right now. His facial expressions are so cute and dynamic and unique until you have to try and paint it and then you dont love him anymore(kidding ofc, how could I ever hate my beloved boy king 🥺)
Anyways, these are them:
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#the caption is a multi-pronged reference so if you get it you get it 🤭#hint: the quote is both a translation of a vettonso thing but its also not...exact. i added a little spice to it#so yeah translate all of that first(the first part of the quote wont work in google translate tho)#and then also the rest of the caption is both a reference to a real life thing but also me making it AUified !!#hehehe let me know your thoughts 🤭 was so fucking pleased w it when i first told C about it#ngl putting that quote was the main thing pushing me thru finishing the seb one#im like CMON YOU CAN DO IT!! IF YOU FINISH IT YOU CAN PUT YOUR SILLY LATIN JOKE!!! YOU LOVE LATIN!!#anyways i drafted this before i even really started the seb one#and my god LOOK AT THEIR HAND SIZE DIFFERENCE WOOF WOOF WOOF#did you guys notice...seb's ring...his wedding...ring? 🤭🤭🤭#wanted to add one to nando but his left ring finger isnt really visible but just so you know hes wearing it#I have a lot of thoughrs about rings and ungloved vs gloved hands grrrrrrr#theres a lot of meaning in it to me and it adds to their characterization so ill try and make a post abt thay sometime !#anyways pls enjoy the fruits of my labor.....#vettonso so good it makes me PAINT TWO PORTRAITS#i think before this au i was kinda trying to get away from painting csuse it stressed me out too much#and then the vettonso brainrot is so horrinle that im willing to paint for like...an undisclosed amnt of time#undisclosed not bcs im being secretive but bcs i have no idea and irs 6 am and i have school JSKFLVL#okay bur yes yes please enjoy. and enjoy my suffering as a purveyor of vettonso 🥹 id do anything for my lieges#f1#formula 1#sebastian vettel#fernando alonso#vettonso#catie.art.#boy king au
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topnotchquark · 6 months
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Okay fine I wrote my first bit of Bezz x Cele boarding school au! It's like 900 words and more world building/slow burn oriented than anything else. Please read and leave comments/asks (it's my first time writing any fiction and I did it at 3am on my phone so pls forgive me)
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Cele tries to slip out quitely from the doors but the old hinges creak. He stops for a moment to breathe the air that's steadily been cooling for the past week. He hears someone coming down the stairs, and feels a vague relief when it's just Luca.
"Where are you off to?" Cele asks.
"Going for a run"
"Is bezz in the room?"
"yep, he's awake"
Cele nods but Luca doesn't really wait for the response. Cele watches him skip down the stairs and go off in the dimly lit direction of the gymnasium and he slowly climbs the stairs up, limbs heavy. 
The upperclassmen get to live in rooms, a little bit of privacy afforded after doing their times in the lord of flies~esque environment that is the dormitory. Cele finds himself opening the door to Bezz and Luca's room without thinking where he's going. 
The lights are off except for the desk lamp, Bezz with his back to the door is scribbling something furiously. His arm is shaking just fast enough to make his curls look animated. Cele peers over his shoulder and finds him sketching some sort of a figure in his notebook.
"What's up" bezz asks without stopping.
Cele lies down on Bezz's bed wordlessly and stares out of the window situated above the headboard. Bezz turns around in his chair and pokes his dull pencil into the soft upper part of cele's arm. 
"Ow" Cele protests without enthusiasm.
"You didn't tell me what's up"
"Can't sleep"
"Are you hungry?"
"Nuh-uh"
Bezz turns back around to his godforsaken sketch and for a minute Cele stares out the window at the poplar tree thicket sway gently in the wind, the scratch of the pencil a meditative hum in the background.
"Bezz"
"Hm"
"Do you have some water in the room?"
"Uh... No"
"Can you get me some?"
Bezz nods, picks up a bottle from Luca's desk and steps out.
Cele came to the school on a sports scholarship, a few months shy of his 10th birthday. His mum fretted about the many things that could go horribly wrong but Cele did just fine. No sudden complaints of nightmares or any drastic change in behaviour or mystery illnesses that usually cropped up in children who were simply too homesick. Cele never fully blended into the obsessive competitive environment of the team, but nobody could really fault his skill and everyone eventually warned up to him enough to realise he just needed some space and to follow his own instincts.
Bezz had been his first friend at the school despite being his older teammate. Cele had heard stories of how much boys loved torturing each other and his parents had made him promise to tell them if anyone ever hurt him and that they would protect him, but he imprinted on Bezz like a baby duck and since everyone liked Bezz they left his strange, pensive friend alone.
When he gets back to the room, Bezz is rubbing his eyes. He hands the bottle to Cele, who sits up to drink. Cele tips the bottle just a bit too far and water spills down his neck and soaks the collar of his t shirt, Bezz instinctively reaches his hand out and swipes it on Cele's exposed, tipped back neck. It's an innocent gesture, he just meant to wipe away the water, but Cele feels it with an intensity that moves down to the pit of his stomach.
Cele ignores the feeling, squashing it the best he can, and lies back down. Bezz tells him to scoot and he does, shuffling his hips awkwardly till he's at the edge. Bezz lies down next to him on his stomach, and the lengths of their bodies are joined together on the bed meant for one person.
Cele breathes and his lungs are filled with that mix of generic deodrant, sweat, and distinct day 2 of shampoo hair that he has come to associate with the boy he's known since he came here.
They speak about nothing in particular, Cele on his back looking up at the face positioned above him, Bezz's big hair blocking out the lamp light, giving him the illusion of a halo.
Cele is in the middle of ranting to Bezz about the argument he had with his Botany teacher when Bezz gently touches the side of Cele's face. It's not forceful but it's sudden enough to make Cele feel pinned down.
"How did this happen?" Bezz asks while peering at the spot behind Cele's ear.
"Some sort of bug. Haven't been able to identify which one yet but the bite was itchy." At first the itch felt good to scratch, the pleasure just enough to keep you going, till the pleasure tips a bit too far and Cele was left with ripped skins and red splotches. 
Bezz gently touches the area with the dull tips of his fingers, delicately pushing away the curls that grow behind his ears. Cele feels ill. It's like his heart muscles are taut and somehow spreading heat through him like poison. Cele turns his face back to stare at Bezz's face, his brown eyes have a warmth that is nothing new, but it unsettles him all the same.
There is that delicate, knife edge moment where he feels like his heartbeat will drive him deaf inside his head as he stares at bezz's imploring eyes. 
"Hello guys" Luca bursts into the room, frantic post run energy intact in his body.
Bezz turns away and Cele breathes after what feels like an eternity. 
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folerdetdufoler · 10 months
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forty love
Isak Valtersen is the world’s best male tennis player. Even Bech Næsheim is not. But he’s ranked #32 in the world, which is impressive enough, and he’s Norway’s favorite. Isak understands why: Even has a friendly face, an iconic headband, and the ability to make every journalist laugh in press, even after a brutal loss. He’s a hometown hero who pours his heart out in every match, and embraces the nickname fans have given him: Bechy with the Good Hair. He doesn’t advance very far in tournaments, if he qualifies, but whenever he does they are always matches to watch. Isak is the world’s best tennis player, but the world is watching Even.
After a chance training arrangement at the US Open, Isak is watching Even too. He doesn’t want to get distracted on his way to a world-record win, but it seems like his heart isn’t giving him a choice.
including beautiful art by @evakuality in the last chapter!
part of the 2023 @skambigbang | rated M | 5 chapters, posting on wednesdays
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daddyplasmius · 7 months
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hand on my stupid heart flashbacks
this is a No One Knows AU & Full Hazmat AU where Danny ended up in the Ghost Zone & didn't go back into the human world initially because he thought he was dead. by the time he realized he is, in fact, at least half alive, he'd already been missing for at least 2 weeks. will probs never finish homsh sorry. i wrote this a couple years ago in a haze & just haven't been able to finish it because i can't replicate the style, which i find is what i love about this fic the most. it wouldn't be the same without it. posting the flashback introsーwhich are meant to be read between chapters/the actual plot, starting after chapter 1ーcuz fuck it. excuse typos & shit, i never properly edited it, as i forgot it existed immediately after i wrote it original description of homsh: Danny Fenton has officially been missing for over a year. Maddie & Jack Fenton refuse to give up on their son. Sick and tired of the police running them in circles, and the case getting colder by the day, the Fentons turn to their last resortーPhantom. 800~ words (full unfinished fic is 20k~)
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When Danny woke up surrounded by thick, green fog, and couldn’t breathe without swallowing heavy air that was more like water than anything, he was sure he was dead. The portal glowed behind him, illuminating the pitch darkness around him in soft, yellow, warm light.
He almost went back.
Almost.
He was dead. His parents were ghost hunters. They had drilled into his head from the moment he was born that he could never, ever panic in death. That he would accept it. That he would not be scared. So he would be prepared to be brave in the face of death and would not become a ghost.
He panicked. He did not accept it. He was terrified. And so he woke up in the Ghost Zone.
-
Danny went back through the portal when he saw some ectopuses acting… strange. Like they had an idea in their heads. Like they had a plan.
Which was weird, with animal ghosts. He had only been in the Ghost Zoneーmom and dad called it that, he rememberedーfor a couple weeks. Or, he had already been there for two weeks. Or maybe time worked differently and he was there five minutes, or four years orー
The ectopuses went through the portal and, despite everything, Danny went after them.
While he was busy reeling at being home, the ectopuses immediately attacked dad. Danny was horrified. Jack was overwhelmed. Danny stepped in, in a moment fueled by sheer adrenaline and stupidity, snatching a Fenton Thermos™ off a shelf and releasing his shaky invisibility. The ectopuses didn’t stand a chance. And when they were safely in the Thermos, he slowly turned around to dad, ready for the confrontation. Ready for the “what happened to you?” and the “where have you been?” and the “we’ve missed you”.
Dad scrambled to shoot at him.
Danny fled.
His parents didn’t recognize him.
-
The Lunch Lady attacked when Danny was mourning Halloween.
He’d waited all year. He made a costume that summer. He wouldn’t get to go trick or treating with Sam and Tucker this year. Or any year. For the rest of his lifeーor existence. Whatever.
The Lunch Lady appeared in the school and demanded in straight fury, “Who changed the menu?”
Everyone pointed at Sam.
Danny hadn’t known just how powerful ghosts could be. His parents never told him the specifics. Just that they were dangerous.
This ghost grew and her aura hit him like a hurricane, almost physically pushing him back. It was so strong that the students in the Casper High cafeteria seemed to feel it too.
The Lunch Lady was a much harder opponent than the ectopuses. She levitated meat. She used it as a weapon, and seemed to bring it back to life. She created weird meat creatures that grew sharp teeth and claws out of bones. They were mindless, attacking everything that got too close to the ghost. Danny would have run away without hesitation, if Sam hadn’t been in the crossfire.
Danny fought the Lunch Lady. It was a long struggle, but he caught her in the thermos after over an hour. When he turned to Sam and Tuckerーboth of whom he had to save due to Tucker trying to jump into the fightーall three of them bloody and bruised, he cringed. But a part of him hoped. Desperately.
Surely they would know him on sight.
“Wh-what are you?” Sam gasped at him finally.
Danny flinched as if she had struck him. “J-just… your friendly neighbourhood phantom.”
-
Danny didn’t know what possessed him. Oh. Pun not intended.
He just barely caught the Fentons leaving in the GAV, dragging suitcases behind them. He couldn’t help himself. What on Earth were they doing?
They were going to Vlad Master’s mansion for their college reunion.
It was a whole thing. But something was off. Besides all the adults reminiscing about the 80’s.
Danny sensed ghosts immediately but he couldn’t see anything. Unfortunately for him, Vlad could also sense him. It was two days of Danny staying invisible, and Vladーthe halfa? Is that what Danny is?ーtrying to kill Jack. Somehow, Danny managed to fight off Vlad, not turn back, and without the Fentons getting hurt. His secret intact.
VladーPlasmius, also learned about Phantom. And Vlad hated him. The manーghostーwhatever, seemed to only care about one thingーpossession. Of money. Of things. Of people. He was more ghost than Danny had ever seen. Vlad’s obsession was overwhelming.
Danny couldn’t believe someone so much like himself could be so disturbing.
#danny phantom#danny phantom au#danny phantom fanfiction#you know that gif of the wailing emoji dissolving? :Why:?#yeah that's what i do every time i remember i never finished HOMSH while i still had the style in my brain#feel free to steal this idea. please steal this idea. please write it i wanna see this idea so bad but im already writing another 100k+ fic#if y'all want me to post the full fic i can but. it is not finished & most likely never will be. sorry again#i won't lie. the haze i was in was a depressed one. i was. not in a good place At All when i wrote HOMSH#like the only part i remember actually writing was the panic attack scene & that's just barely#i reread the whole fic in the middle of the night months later while listening to Implode Alright by Built by Snow on repeat#yeah i cried. this one is funny but mostly it's just. mourning. grief. the works. it's a vent fic & also a. kind of. wishful fic#like. don't you just wish death wasn't so permanent. don't you wish you could tell them everything you wish you could#don't you wish you could just see them again#i'm actually writing this into a bigger ventier series currently called Let Grief Do Its Work#cuz i rewatched LUCIDS again recently & remembered what HOMSH was originally about. why i was writing it#i'm not calling it HOMSH cuz. HOMSHie is my baby. it's its own thing & i don't wanna ruin the vibes#reluctantly admitting i call an unfinished fanfic i don't remember writing... HOMSHie baby... in my head#yeah i have a cute nickname for my fic. what of it#it's 5am & i think i'll throw up if i think any more about posting unfinished unedited pieces of a fic so i'm going for it. cowabunga#go into the world. get your 2 notes you beautiful animal#*passes out*
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ask-the-ahit-squad · 1 month
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actually how would we all feel over here if i were to make a separate ask blog that justs focuses on mj so yall could learn stuff over there (and it might help me figure out a couple of kinks i need to work out for his lore in the process-)
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kamuikunt · 1 year
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he doesnt.
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lee-of-games · 1 year
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So. Was in a server and talking about headcanon stuff, fic ideas, AUs, etc etc
And while discussing an AU with @pyarini , the idea of using Heba as a name for a reincarnation came up, to which I made some comment about how cute it would be for Atem to recognize it’s Yuugi, because they both mean game. To which she pointed out that it didn’t, and that Heba actually means “gift.”
Which made me think two things:
One: I seem to have been completely misled by the fandom to believe Heba meant game. (To be fair I had tried to look it up before, but could never find a concrete meaning, and figured I just missed something since everyone else was saying it did.)
And two: Oh…Why do we use that name in the first place?
I did some light digging and it seems there is nothing showing Heba means game, and within fandom, there’s nothing concrete showing where it originated from, though highly suspected to be a name someone liked and used in an RP for an Egyptian Yugi counterpart, which just got spread and used by the fandom. (The ONLY info I could find for it’s origins was Fandom Wiki, so if anyone knows any different please let me know!)
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So here’s my thought process now: If it was randomly chosen by someone cuz they liked the name, I think I’ll just pick my own name for “Heba” and use that instead!
This was developed by Kanmani by saying “Maybe it should be Senet” To which I had the idea of using the name Sen, short for Senet.
Now, I know this seems silly as a name, but I think it’s fitting seeing how Yuugi literally just means “Game” in Japanese, and his Grandfather is named Sugoroku, after a form of Japanese Board Games. As a counterpart, to reflect it’s a version of Yugi just in a different time/place, I think it works well! (Plus Sen is a name already, with a few meanings, one of which is a thousand in Japanese, if people wanted to use it for a modern reincarnation as well!)
I’m not a newbie, but comparing my two years here to how long this fandom has been around, I know it would be silly to ask to completely change the name around or anything like that. I don’t wanna make it seem like I’m saying you shouldn’t or can’t use the name anymore! It’s a cute name, and I understand it’s got history in the fandom! I mainly wanna use this as my own nickname for a counterpart and explain where I got it from.
Buuuuut…I do invite anyone who likes the name idea to use it in your projects: whether it’s labeling art, comics, fics, etc!
I would love to see people joining in calling an AE Yuugi counterpart Senet/ Sen, and I know I’ll be using it myself for my projects :] ✨ It’s already been cemented in my mind, even if it doesn’t catch on haha.
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gravitywonagain · 10 months
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Can't Cheat Death While You're Digging Your Own Grave; Part 3
Continued from [1][2]
What if Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian were closer? Sworn brothers, even? What if NHS visited WWX in Yiling?
Prompt from the wonderful @shiranai-atsune
[T (for now?), implied Wangxian, 2k, 3/?]
~
Wei Wuxian:
“How much do you know about the Saber Path, Wei-xiong?”
There’s a change in his friend as he asks the question. Nie Huaisang prefers to be seen as someone who is flighty and unaware. He never makes definitive statements, nothing anyone could pin to him as his own opinion; he doesn’t like to appear to know things. 
But now, Wei Wuxian is cut by the sharpness in his friend’s eyes. 
“Uh… I know it’s strong,” he says. “Very yang focused, active.”
“Did you know it kills its practitioners?”
Wei Wuxian blinks. “Early deaths of Nie sect leaders do seem to be a pattern.” 
“I thought,” says Wen Qing, next to him, “that was mostly about… ah, temperament.” 
It’s a delicate way to put it. But Wei Wuxian is pretty sure this isn’t the time for delicate. 
“She means that they always seem to go out in a blaze of idiotic glory on some epic nighthunt.” 
Nie Huaisang does not appear offended on his ancestors’ behalf. He remains sharp, rigid. The blade of a saber he always keeps sheathed. Voice hard as steel. 
He says, “My father died at home when my brother cut him down to protect my mother and me from his final rage. After his saber broke, he deteriorated. It was,” he pauses, clears his throat. It’s a raw kind of sound, wet and red, but he remains calm and cold. “It was difficult to watch. I still don’t understand what happened to him. But our doctors called it a qi deviation.”
“I see.” 
“Nie-er-gongzi, may I ask,” Wen Qing seems to be struggling to phrase her question but finally settles on, “may I see your saber?” 
When Nie Huaisang smiles at her, it’s discordantly soft. Gently amused. “Oh, I doubt my saber will tell you very much, Wen-daifu. I do not cultivate with it.” 
“How much do you know about the Saber Path, Nie-xiong?” Wei Wuxian asks. 
“Not a lot, to be honest.” 
Nie Huaisang flicks his fan open then, retreating back behind a vapid smile as if his candor has reached some limit and he must rest a moment. It’s an oddly placating kind of gesture. Like Wei Wuxian is someone who needs to be coddled or pacified. It irks. Sits wrong, stringing a tension between his shoulders where there wasn’t any before. 
“I believe you,” he says. “But you still haven’t answered my previous question. What is the cost, Huaisang?” 
The fan flickers back and forth as Nie Huaisang seems to consider how exactly to arrange his words. 
Usually he doesn’t take this long. Usually he walks people through a conversation he’s rehearsed in his mind, choreographed and memorized. At least, when he wants something. And maybe the pause itself is strategic, but Wei Wuxian knows his friend well. It seems… careful. Which only twists the band between Wei Wuxian’s shoulders tighter. 
Finally, Nie Huaisang snaps his fan closed. He deliberately meets Wei Wuxian’s eyes and says, “You’ll have to study it.” 
It would be misleading to say that this is what Wei Wuxian had been afraid of. The idea would have had to occur to him first, for him to fear it. But it is tangential to his fear. Connected. 
“Ah…” Wei Wuxian rubs his palms against the rough fabric of his robe. He glances over to Wen Qing, who meets his gaze with the anxiety in her own. “Nie-xiong…” 
“You don’t have to… cultivate it,” Nie Huaisang says, far too knowingly. Wei Wuxian’s eyes jump to his friend’s face, but Nie Huaisang presses on, “Just. Just study it. Fix it.” 
They’re going to have to address that at some point. Probably. Because just how the fuck-- No. Not now.
“Fix it?” Wei Wuxian asks with no small amount of incredulity. No small amount of curiosity either. “I can’t-- I know I helped you pass your exams during the lectures but--” His brain is already beginning to circle around what he knows of the Saber Path. Yang-focused, prone to qi deviation -- or at least something like it. 
Nie Huaisang must see it in his face, because he smiles, a little fiercer this time, and says, “You can. You think about cultivation in ways that other people can’t even imagine. Look at what you built during the war!” 
“You’ll recall,” Wei Wuxian says, raising a pointed eyebrow, “that not many people are very pleased with what I built during the war.” 
Wen Qing, with a bit more wariness adds, “And some are extremely greedy for it.” 
“Also true.” 
“Wei-xiong,” Nie Huaisang huffs. “False modesty will get us nowhere.” 
Wei Wuxian rolls his eyes. “Yes. I’m smart. But this…” He flaps his hands uselessly. 
“This is new. A challenge,” Nie Huaisang grins, and Wei Wuxian hates that it works on him. “And you’ll be tackling it inside a library. With insulation. And on a full stomach.” 
The Wens, aside from Wen Qing, are all outside the cave somewhere. Tilling corrupted soil, washing clothes with barely cleansed water, gathering any scraps of cloth they can find to sew into blankets and coats as the winter looms near. 
Wei Wuxian looks toward the strained sunlight that brightens the mouth of the cave. He bites a strip of cracked skin from his lip. His leg bounces under the table. 
When he turns back, Nie Huiasang is watching him closely. He’s letting Wei Wuxian see how closely he’s watching, which counts for something here. Between them. He needs this. He’s almost begging them for it. And when has Wei Wuxian ever been able to turn down someone in need of his help? 
“Chifeng-zun has agreed to their safety?” he asks. An insane question in any other circumstance. 
“He has.” A similarly insane answer. 
That Nie Mingjue would willingly shelter Wens is almost as unbelievable as the Wens all surviving this winter in the Burial Mounds. But that’s the thing, isn’t it. Their options are severely limited. And if Wei Wuxian wants to keep them safe, he must consider any that are open to him. 
He nods and asks, “What else?” 
The vapid smile returns. “I don’t know what you mean.” 
“Huaisang.” 
Nie Huaisang shakes his fan at him. “You sound eerily like Da-ge when you do that, did you know?”
He’s avoiding the question. “It’s bad, then.” 
“It’s…” he trails off for a moment, but has the decency to look guilty when he nods and says, “permanent.” 
Wei Wuxian huffs, exasperated. He’s so fucking tired of games. 
Nie Huaisang sets his fan down on the table. Presses his fingers against the surface until his knuckles bulge with it. Then he says, “You’ll have to give up the Yin Tiger Seal.” 
“To whom?” Wen Qing asks, the question quick to her tongue, like she already knew this would be the request. 
She probably did. Wei Wuxian probably should have known, too. But he’d thought, of all people… 
“No,” he says.  
“Wei-xiong--” 
“No, I’ll do it,” he amends. “But I won’t give it to anyone.” 
“Wei Wuxian.” Wen Qing’s voice is sharp with warning. Pointed and precise like her needles. Because she knows what he’s thinking now, too. 
“Qing-jie. It’s the only way we do this.” 
“You don’t know it won’t kill you.” 
It won’t matter if it does, he doesn’t say. Instead, maybe more bullheaded than necessary, he bites out, “Luckily, I’ll have a library at my disposal.” 
Wen Qing’s jaw tightens like she heard him anyway. 
“Ah, Wei-xiong?” Nie Huaisang flutters his fan, blocking the lower half of his face, exactly like he used to during their tutoring session when Wei Wuxian would go off on some borderline esoteric tangent about cultivation theory. 
It’s so familiar that Wei Wuxian almost laughs aloud with the nostalgia in his chest. 
“When?” he asks. 
“When what?” Nie Huaisang returns. 
“When will I need to give it up?”
Nie Huaisang’s eyebrows dip together. “I don’t--”
“If your brother will allow me to hold onto it --” unlikely, but, “fuck, if he’ll lock it away for me -- Tight, safe even from himself. He's more suspicious of Jins than any of the other clan leaders,” he trails off, considering. But Nie Huaisang taps his fan and Wei Wuxian finishes, “I can figure out how to destroy it. Safely.” 
That seems to take Nie Huaisang by actual surprise. His fan pauses, mid sway, then shivers back into motion, faster and far less even. “Destroy it?” 
“Completely,” Wei Wuxian says with a confidence he forces into his throat. 
He needs to be confident in this. He needs to be sure he can destroy it, otherwise… Otherwise none of this will matter anyway. 
Nie Huaisang hums, considering. He folds the fan and taps it against his lips. “We can probably make that work.” 
Something like relief breaks in Wei Wuxian’s chest. A breath he hadn’t been holding. He wants to reach for Wen Qing’s hand, but she probably wouldn’t appreciate the gesture in front of their guest. 
He takes a deep breath. Waits for Wen Qing’s tiny nod. And says, “Okay.”
“Okay?” asks Nie Huaisang, hope shining too bright to be false in his eyes. 
“If you can guarantee the safety of the Wens,” says Wei Wuxian, “we’ll go.” 
Wen Qing inhales, pauses, inhales again, and says, “Nie-er-gongzi…”
“Yes, Wen-daifu?”
She still seems to be gathering her words, but Nie Huaisang waits patiently. His fan is still, his smile gentle again. 
She tilts her head, eyes calculating, and says, “There will be political backlash for this.”
“Ah, yes. I suppose there is one last thing I’ll require of you, Wei-xiong.”
Wei Wuxian waits, annoyed, but also dazed. He’s not entirely sure that any of this is really happening. It’s too good. Even if there is yet another condition. 
Nie Huaisang smiles -- smiles, not a grin full of mischief or a calculating quirk of the lips -- and says to Wei Wuxian, “Become my sworn brother.”
Wei Wuxian’s face reacts before he can tell it not to. His jaw drops open, his brow furrows, his eyes search his friend for the joke, for the punchline, for any hint that he’s not serious about this. When he doesn’t find one, he yells, “Huaisang!” 
“What?” asks Nie Huaisang, fan flapping back and forth over an exaggerated pout. “I didn’t realize it was so detestable a concept.”
“You cannot swear yourself to Yiling Laozu.”
“We’re not getting married.” 
Wei Wuxian scoffs. “We kind of would be, and you know that.”
“So what? You’re a war hero. And an incredibly powerful cultivator.” 
A glance to Wen Qing offers no help. Her lips are softly curled and her eyes are unfocused, like she’s imagining Jin Guangshan’s face when Wei Wuxian is pulled out of his reach for good. Or maybe just the spectacle of Yiling Laozu swearing himself to Nie Huiasang, the most unassuming figure of the highly ranked gentry. 
“I don’t have a core,” Wei Wuxian blurts out, “which you seem to have figured out somehow.” 
Nie Huaisang looks very smug and says, “Nothing in the ceremony requires a golden core.” 
“I’m a servant’s son.”
“Meng Yao is a prostitute’s son. Wei-xiong, I really don’t understand what the problem is here?”
“He has self-esteem issues,” says Wen Qing. Which is just-- 
“I--? What? I’m incredibly full of myself, ask anyone.” 
Wen Qing catches his eyes and glares. But he isn’t lying. 
It’s not self-esteem he has issues with. It’s other people risking themselves for him. Reputation means everything in this world, all three of them know that. And Nie Huaisang’s reputation is far from spotless. He does not need it raked over the coals by being associated with Wei Wuxian. 
But then. It’s not for him. Or not just for him. It’s for Nie Mingjue. It’s for the Wens. 
It-- Damnit, it could work, too. 
This time when he looks at her, Wen Qing looks back. It’s in her eyes: his acquiescence. He can see it there, taunting him. She knows him too well. She knows him better than anyone, it seems, even himself. 
“In front of everybody?” he asks, a whine more than anything. 
Nie Huaisang’s smile gets wider. Victorious. “That is generally how it’s done, yes. I’m planning it for your nephew’s 100 days ceremony.”
“That’s quick,” says Wen Qing. 
“It’s necessary.”
“I’m impressed.”
Nie Huaisang winks, “Don’t tell anyone.” 
“And Nie-zongzhu is just-- fine with that?” Wei Wuxian asks, some last token protest before he has nothing left. 
“He understands the complexity of the situation. And the… Jin Guangshan of the situation.” 
“Ah.” 
“Yeah.” 
Wei Wuxian blows out all the air in his lungs. It’s not a lot, but it gives him several seconds to collect himself. Then, finally, he says, “Alright, let’s do it.” 
He’s not sure who looks more satisfied, Nie Huaisang or Wen Qing. He ignores the strange ease that settles into his own gut at the idea of it. At a path forward that isn’t a single-log bridge in the night. It’s… nice, he thinks. To have somebody else to help him across the river, to help him help the rest of them cross safely to the other side. 
It’s a new feeling. A new lightness. 
He’s sad, suddenly, that it didn’t come from someone else. Someone who has been his candle in the dark since they were teenagers. 
And then he is abruptly guilty for that feeling, and he shakes it off, letting his mouth run instead. 
“How does this sworn brotherhood thing work, anyway? Am I siblings with my sworn sibling’s siblings? What about their sworn siblings and those sworn siblings’... siblings?”
He ran out of steam at the end a little bit, and “siblings” now more resembles a jumble of sounds than it does a real word. But then Nie Huaisang sighs and says, “You will still be allowed to marry Wangji-xiong,” and Wei Wuxian feels all of the blood in his body rush into his cheeks. 
“Good,” he nods, with every ounce of dignity he has left. It’s not a lot. “That’s all I need to know.”
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j-liz · 9 months
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It's HEEEEREEEEEE!!!!!
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