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#life of pi spoilers
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While a straight "Life of Pi" daemon AU would be fairly boring and less whimsical than either half of its source material, I do think that anyone writing a daemon AU for a different fandom and finding themself in need of random supporting background characters should consider bringing in Pi Patel, Indian-Canadian Hindu-Christian-Muslim religious philosopher and zoologist with a giant Bengal tiger daemon and a wild backstory that's never directly relevant to the plot
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luuxxart · 8 months
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almost forgot to post my comic for the @onedayakeshuake here !!!!
leftover sales end Sept. 30th, so if you want to hold our old man art in your hands, grab your copies today!!!
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infriga · 5 months
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I hope the real Alex Casey doesn't die like book Casey does. He's my emotional support gravelly voiced sardonic sidekick who looks and sounds vaguely like Lurch.
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suggsnkisses · 3 months
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tagged by @maddenrichard 🤝
last song: johnny dang by that mexican ot
last movie: life of pi
reading: On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety by Andrea Petersen and Life of Pi by Yann Martel
consuming: “dry roasted and seasoned” peanuts
craving: trae young has been traded to the spurs tweet (without the spurs having to give anyone up 😭)
tagging: @jrueships @daggerzout and anyone else who wants to do this :)
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Gritty Calvin and Hobbes reboot
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regallibellbright · 2 years
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Well, I’ve begun my periodic October Daye reread, and with Be The Serpent’s blurb mentioning a friend who was an enemy all along…
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“And thank Titania for that,” I said fervently, as she went back to working on my hair.
“You should be thanking Titania,” said Stacy, spraying something that smelled like roses and cotton flowers into the air above my head. - One Salt Sea
(It’s because of illusion magic, but. But. Given how heavy the hints have gotten that there’s Something Weird About Stacy… I’m not saying my immediate assumption is that she’s Titania, but like. WHAT ARE YOUR SECRETS STACY?)
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romeowho · 1 year
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what the actual fuck brennan
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crystallinestars · 5 months
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How They React to Your Death
My HCs about how I think the Genshin boys would react to your death. I wanted to write Kaeya too, but ran out of steam.
This month has been terrible to me, so I was in the mood for angst. I don't know how well these turned out, but they were fun to think about.
Characters: Alhaitham, Childe, Heizou, Kaveh, Lyney, Neuvillette, Venti, Wanderer/Scaramouche, and Wriothesley
WARNING:
Reader has death descriptions. Some are more graphic than others, but I don't get into the nitty gritty details.
Spoilers for the backstories of all the mentioned boys.
MAJOR SPOILERS for Act V of the Fontaine Archon quest in Neuvillette's part.
Childe's part contains mention of suicidal thoughts.
Kaveh's and Venti's parts contain alcoholism
🎧 Alhaitham
Despite Alhaitham’s considerable wealth, no amount of money could cure your Eleazar sickness. His money could only buy treatment that prolonged your life a little bit, but ultimately your many years of battling the illness ended when he got news from the doctors that you had passed away in your sleep.
Alhaitham had accepted the news fairly quickly. He knew your death was inevitable, could see you slowly wasting away each time he visited you in the hospital over the past few months. So it was no surprise to him when the day finally came. The other patients and staff thought it strange how Alhaitham had no visible reaction to the news, but some chalked it up to shock when in truth the Scribe was simply accepting of that fact. There was no use denying something that already happened.
When Alhaitham came home that day, the house felt silent and empty. It reminded him of how the house felt when his grandmother passed away when he was younger. The sensations were similar. However, he did not cry over your death. Instead, he carried on his life as normal, or as close to it as he could now that you were no longer a part of what he considered ‘normal’.
At first glance, people thought that Haitham was unaffected by your death. Nothing about him changed. Not his mannerisms, his quality of work, or his expression. He remained the same reserved, stoic Scribe who had no time for trivial nonsense or extra work. He also never talked about you to others aside from confirming their question if you were truly gone. Alhaitham was like a well-oiled machine that worked efficiently like clockwork, keeping up the same even rhythm.
What they don’t see is how he comes home with the expectation of hearing your voice greet him upon entering, only to be faced with a defeating silence that makes his heart sink. They don’t know that Alhaitham wakes up throughout the night, expecting to find you snuggled up next to him in bed the way you used to before your sickness got worse, and you had to be hospitalized. However, you weren’t there no matter how many times he looked towards your side of the bed, and the Scribe could only sigh and try to fall back asleep while ignoring his aching heart.
No one sees how Alhaitham gets too lost in his books in the mornings and accidentally makes two cups of coffee instead of one due to force of habit. Or how, for once, he finds the silence of his house bothersome without your voice and the sounds of your activities resounding within the walls, and it’s enough to distract him from reading. He could be found reading at the House of Daena and Puspa Café more often from then on.
During his afternoon naps, Alhaitham sneaks back home and cradles your favorite blanket to mimic the sensation of holding your soft body in his arms the way he used to when you joined him for naps. He listens to recordings of you talking with him just so he can hear your voice again. He was glad he made the decision to record your voice at the hospital before you became too weak to speak. It gave him the chance to hear you one more time even if the sound of your voice made his chest hurt so much that he occasionally had to stop the recording to collect himself.
Nobody sees how Alhaitham finally picks up the fiction books you recommended him because they were your favorite. He prefers non-fiction, but these books are the last things he has left through which he could connect to your mind and way of thinking. He reads them all cover-to-cover even if he finds the story lacking or the writing not to his taste. He will learn to treasure each and every word because you once did.
What someone might see, as Kaveh did when he moved in with the Scribe, is a bookshelf filled with a few journals, a thick book with an emerald cover, and an assortment of fiction books that exist nowhere else in the house. Alhaitham never talks about these books unless asked, but their well-worn covers are a sign of frequent use, and sure enough, one can catch him reading a rare fiction book during one specific month each year.
🐋 Childe
You went missing after going out to collect some firewood in the woods near Childe’s home. A search party was arranged to find you with Childe in the lead, and he was also the first one to find your remains. Your body had been torn apart, blood and innards splattered across the snow, no doubt the work of some rifthounds. Usually, Childe would relish in such a gory sight, but not this time. Not when it’s your blood and flesh painted in the snow.
The sight leaves him numb. He’s numb when the search party comes to retrieve you, numb when he sees your parents weeping over your gruesome death, and numb when he takes on the duty of exterminating every rifthound he finds around Morepesok.
He wants to cry too, to grieve for you the way he needs, but refrains. He doesn’t want to appear weak and unreliable when his younger siblings mourn and cry over your death. You were like family to them, and your death broke their little hearts to pieces. Childe didn’t want to burden his siblings further by breaking down in front of them. He needed to remain a reliable older brother who could support them through this tough time, even when his own heart bled and he cried in his sleep when he dreamed about you.
Childe’s underlings noted that the Eleventh Harbinger became colder and more irritable after your passing. Any mention of your name would garner the speaker a harsh glare, and if Childe assumed what said person said about you was disrespectful, he didn’t hesitate to start a fight and beat the other person within an inch of their life. He became violent and unhinged, much like how he used to be when he returned from the Abyss as a fourteen-year-old boy.
Childe knew his behavior was irrational, and it pained him to see even his own family fear him due to his violent actions. He felt restless. Spending time at home among your belongings summoned feelings of longing and sadness, but even so, he couldn’t bear to throw anything away. He lived among the ghosts of your existence, however, it drove him mad with grief.
Childe needed an outlet for his emotions, so he took to fighting monsters and other strong opponents. He became even more reckless in battle. If before, the Harbinger sought out strong enemies to test his mettle against them and grow stronger as a result, now he sought out an opponent that would be worthy of taking his life.
Childe didn’t want to abandon his family. He loved them dearly and wanted to see his siblings grow up to be happy and successful people, but life without you felt so hollow. A part of him wanted to return to his family, but the sense of his family feeling incomplete never left him. You were just as much of a family to him as his siblings and parents were. He had plans to start his own family with you. But now… now, a part of him yearns to reunite with you in the afterlife. He promised he would stay by your side no matter what, and Ajax is not one to break his promises.
🔍 Heizou
Heizou was one of the first to hear about your stabbing that occurred in an Inazuman alleyway late that evening. You were rushed to a doctor to have your wound treated, but the robber who attacked you hit a vital area. Your blood loss was colossal, and it wasn’t long after arriving at the doctor’s that you succumbed to your injury.
To Heizou, the news brought on a sense of deja vu. He’s already lost a friend to crime in the past, and now he lost you to crime, too. The knowledge made him furious and heartbroken. He was angry at the robber for stabbing you just so he could steal some money that you didn’t want to part with, and he was angry at himself for failing to prevent this. After his friend passed away, Heizou swore to nip crime in the bud by discouraging criminals from committing crimes with the threat that he would find and capture them no matter what without fail. But what good did his resolve do if you still died because of an armed robber?
The heartache and guilt he felt ate away at him as the memory of your ashen face during your last few moments haunted him. He lost you. Never again would he get to spend time with you and make you laugh, kiss and hug you, or tell you he loved you.
His anger drove him to capture the murderer in record time, but hearing the criminal’s subsequent sentence for theft and murder didn’t comfort the detective. No amount of jail time would ever atone for the loss of your life.
After that day, Heizou lost his playful demeanor, becoming somber and reserved. He threw himself into his work, feeling pressured to capture as many criminals as he could in as little time as possible. However, his grief and exhaustion caused his mind to dull and make mistakes while investigating clues. It got to the point where Kujou Sara had to forcibly send him on vacation so he could take a break and properly process your death.
Despite his protests, Heizou knew he wasn’t much use in his current state, so he took this free time to visit your family and mourn together with them. He apologized for not doing a better job of protecting you, fully expecting your parents to lay blame on him for not protecting their child. To his surprise, your parents didn’t blame him at all. They even thanked him for catching the murderer and helping them to feel a little more at peace. Heizou’s interaction with your family helped him feel a tiny bit less guilty about your death.
The experience left him feeling a little less broken, so in the following days he sorted through your belongings in your shared home. He packed away some items to return to your parents, some things he put in storage, and others he gave away that he remembered you wanting to get rid of. A few of your items he kept for himself, one of which was a scarf you mentioned you bought because it was the same shade of green as his eyes which reminded you of him.
Heizou wore your scarf as a keepsake and good luck charm and would hardly be seen without it when he finally came back to work. What once served as your reminder of him, now served as his reminder of you, the person he loved with his whole being. But with the memories of you came the reminder of how you died. Though the memory was painful, it helped Heizou work up the will to keep pursuing his goal of eradicating crime. Even when the case was extremely tough with conflicting clues, your scarf would remind him to not give up, to not let another incident like yours happen again, and Heizou would persevere. He would continue to persevere no matter how long it took because he didn’t want innocent lives like yours to be snatched away so cruelly. Maybe one day, he will see you in the afterlife and proudly tell you all about how he achieved his dream. Until then, he will work hard to be worthy of the title of Inazuma’s best detective.
🍷 Kaveh
Kaveh had a lot of work to do. He was saddled with creating drafts for another large project while also trying to work on the commission for constructing a library in Aaru village for the children. Wanting to help alleviate his burden, you offered to take the finished drafts over to Aaru village yourself so he could focus on finishing up work for his other project. Kaveh tried to object, saying you really didn’t need to trouble yourself on his behalf, but you insisted, expressing your desire to help him finish his work sooner so the two of you could spend more time together again. After some deliberation, he let you go to the village by yourself, confident that you could make the trip since you accompanied him there several times before.
A few days later, Kaveh received news that you had died on your return trip from the desert. When he heard the cause of your death, his stomach roiled. You perished in quicksand just like his father. You died doing something for his sake, just like his father did.
Whatever future plans he was building together with you, whatever progress you made in helping him slowly heal from his trauma, it all came crashing down around him. Your death reopened old wounds Kaveh was only starting to heal from, as well as left new scars that tormented him every waking moment.
The first few weeks, Kaveh couldn’t stand to be in your shared home. It was full of memories of you, and each and every one of your belongings would stab at his heart like a blade. Moreover, the house felt so silent without you around. It reminded him of when his mother left for Fontaine, leaving him alone in a house too big for only him to live in. Now, he was reliving that moment all over again, but it was worse this time because, unlike his mother, he would never see you again.
Kaveh also couldn’t stand to look inside his sketchbooks. The pages were covered in various sketches of you, and looking at them only made the anguish and guilt grow in him tenfold. He blamed himself for your death, attributing it to being his fault just like he attributes his father’s death as his fault too. No matter what anyone says to console him, he will never stop believing it’s all his fault.
Fueled by guilt and self-loathing, Kaveh spent several weeks visiting Lambad’s tavern practically every day. One could even say he lived there since the architect seldom went home. He used what little money he had to buy alcohol, especially of the stronger kind. He wanted to numb the pain in his heart and to pretend that you weren’t really gone from this world. The alcohol helped to muddle his mind until his intoxicated brain conjured happy memories of you together, and Kaveh would mumble your name in a drunken haze. Other times it didn’t help, and Alhaitham, Cyno, or Tighnari could often find a drunk Kaveh quietly crying while slumped over a table and trying their best to drag him home while listening to his drunken babble of self-loathing and regret.
It will take a long time for Kaveh to feel okay again, and even then, he will never be the same optimistic and cheerful person he used to be. You were his muse, the one who made him feel like maybe he was deserving of love after all. But with you gone, he lost his creative spark. His designs no longer held the same extravagant and artistic flair they used to. Now, they’re more tame by comparison. With your passing, you took with you the little bit of joy he felt towards the world, and it seemed more bleak than it used to be when he was with you.
Kaveh refused to seek out love after your death. He’s lost too many people he held dear and has been left alone over and over again. The pain of being left behind and of feeling like he will only bring misfortune to those he cares about, made him seal off his heart. He doesn’t want to let people close to him like that again, and neither does he want to replace you. You were, and still are, very special to him.
Despite numerous years going by after your passing, Kaveh never forgot you, and he didn’t want your memory to be forgotten either. He built an art school and dedicated it to you in honor of being the one who inspired him so much in his creative endeavors. He hopes that your name will live on and continue to inspire future generations of artists long after he is gone from the world.
🎩 Lyney Having grown up in the House of the Hearth with Lyney and Lynette, the twins were practically like family to you. Though admittedly, Lyney and you developed romantic ties rather than familial ones the more you got to know each other. It was no surprise to anyone when the two of you became a couple, and Lynette even encouraged it.
Being a member of the Fatui, you were often sent out on dangerous missions to infiltrate enemy territory and report your findings back to Arlecchino. You were good at your job and had major successfully completed missions under your belt, but even the best slip up sometimes. After infiltrating enemy headquarters, you regularly reported your findings back to the House, however, one day the correspondence stopped. You went completely silent. The thought of you being caught immediately crossed Lyney’s mind, but he was hopeful that as an experienced agent, you would manage to find a way out somehow. You always have in the past, and after having worked together with you during joint missions, he saw first-hand how capable you were. To pass the time, he focused on polishing a magic trick he wanted to show you upon your return.
Days go by, and just as the magician is about to lose his patience and run off to try and find you, news about your body washing up on a riverbank reaches his ears. The heartbreak Lyney experiences upon hearing the news is indescribable. He felt lost, disoriented, and anguished. A part of him refused to believe the facts, but after witnessing the gruesome sight of your corpse, he had no choice but to face reality.
You were dead.
Lyney wondered at length about the cause of your death, and while his own guesses made his stomach knot, the autopsy report he read a few days later made him livid. Numerous torture and abuse marks were found on your body. It seemed that the enemy had captured and tortured you, hoping to force you to spill some of the Fatui’s secrets. Judging by the severity of the most recent wounds, you must have kept quiet because more brutal torture methods were used on you until the enemy figured out they wouldn’t get anything out of you, and disposed of you. Lyney knew how loyal you were to your family. You would never betray them even at the cost of your own life, but in that moment, he really wished you would have treasured your life more. Maybe then you could have survived. Maybe then he would have had the chance to hold you in his arms and tell you he missed you while you were gone. Maybe he would have had an opportunity to show off the magic trick he created specifically for your eyes only. But now, he’ll continue to miss you until the day death comes for him too. Lyney’s initial reaction upon hearing of your torture is overwhelming fury. Lynette had to hold him back from recklessly running off to take revenge against the enemy. It took a lot of reasoning on her part, but eventually, her brother calmed down.
Once his bout of anger passed, Lyney broke down. Lynette didn’t hide her own tears as she held her brother in her arms while he cried. The siblings both missed you dearly and mourned your loss, but Lyney took your death especially hard. He felt broken. One of his most precious people was taken from him in such a cruel manner, and the mere thought of how you must have spent your last few waking hours made him feel horrible.
He was anguished and angry, and the potent concoction of negative emotions weighed down on his heart and mind. Gone was his cheerful smile and outgoing attitude, replaced with a cold and somber frown. His calculative side took center stage. Though his initial burst of outrage passed, he wouldn’t give up on his desire for revenge until the act had been carried out. Aside from the twins, Arlecchino also refused to take your death lying down. You were her precious child, someone she put in a lot of love and effort to raise, and this transgression angered her as much as it angered Lyney. Together with Arlecchino, Lyney and Lynette infiltrate enemy headquarters and make every person a part of that organization pay. The magician ensures that the perpetrators experience the same pain you went through during your torture, and by the time they’re done, not a soul is left alive.
Even after exacting revenge, Lyney barely feels a smidge better. Though your captors have been neutralized and won’t hurt anyone the way they hurt you ever again, it doesn’t satisfy Lyney. At the end of the day, all he wants is to have you back in his life. He consoles himself with pieces of your clothing. Your clothes smelled like you, and Lyney hugged one of your items every night, breathing in your scent and soaking the material with his tears as he quietly cried. It takes a long time for Lyney to get himself together and act like himself again. Though he could easily put on a fake smile for his audience, his heart still aches inside. He misses you no matter how many months go by, and Lynette has her hands full comforting him when he breaks down at night and cries about how much he wants to see you. Lyney would have had an easier time accepting your death if you had passed away more peacefully, but knowing you were tortured to death will forever haunt him.
Once he feels more like himself, Lyney incorporates the magic trick he originally wanted to show you upon your return into his magic shows. He only performs it during special occasions so it would leave a great spectacle upon his audience. It was once made to awe you, but now it awes his audience, and a part of him feels some semblance of catharsis in knowing he could inspire others to feel the same joy you made him feel using just this trick. At times like these, Lyney feels as if a part of you was still there with him, enjoying the show he secretly dedicates in your honor.
⚖️ Neuvillette
You were visiting your friend Navia in Poisson, when the Primordial Sea flooded the area and caused a great catastrophe that took the lives of many of its residents. Neuvillette was aware you were in Poisson when the disaster struck, and he tried to get there as quickly as he could to check on you. He would have arrived there immediately were it not for the pressing matters he had to settle prior. He hoped the Traveler and Paimon would find you and keep you safe since they knew you were the Iudex’s beloved.
When he finally made it to Poisson, to his morbid surprise, he found neither you nor Navia, but some Fatui members helping to mitigate the damage. When he asked about your whereabouts, he was told that nobody had seen you. Immediately, his thoughts ventured to the worst scenario, but he refused to believe in his fears until he could get confirmation. He held out hope that you were alright, and went in pursuit of Navia and the Traveler, hoping that maybe you were with them, or they knew what happened to you.
It wasn’t until he was saving Navia from getting dissolved in the Primordial Sea water, did he catch a glimpse of your face. You were trying to protect Navia from certain death, along with Silver and Meluse. At the time he was too anxious about saving Navia to fully register the implication, but an unsettling thought sprang in his mind that maybe you really were— No, he didn’t want to accept it.
When Navia regained consciousness, Neuvillette asked her about your whereabouts. Her answer pierced through him like an ice-cold lance. With tears in her eyes, Navia recounted how you were helping Silver and Meluse rescue the residents of Poisson when the Primordial Sea flooded in, and how she saw your body dissolve in the water along with her loyal subordinates with her own eyes. The news settled in Neuvillette’s stomach like a boulder, causing it to sink and make him feel nauseous. Dread filled him, but he could only muster a quiet “I see…” and stare off into the distance. He felt crushing sadness, but he wasn’t given time to properly process his emotions and your death until he managed to make it out of the ruins.
That evening, Fontaine was hit by a torrential downpour that lasted several days. The rain fell in heavy sheets, flooding the streets and urging most of the citizens to seek shelter in their homes. Only the Chief Justice had the gall to stand outside and let the rain seep and soak through his clothes.
Neuvillette let the water droplets cascade down his face, imitating the tears he wished to shed as the realization that he would never see you again settled in. It was strange. Though he was on land, each waking moment he was pursued by a constant feeling of drowning. His chest felt heavy as if burdened by a great weight that made each breath he took feel like a herculean task.
Neuvillette felt a lot of emotions he couldn’t find the words for. He was frustrated and angry that innocent civilians had died in the flood because nothing was done to prevent it. So many people died. You died. If nothing else, he wanted to get justice for your and the others’ deaths.
However, Furina refused to provide answers to his questions despite his probing and insistence that now was not the time to keep secrets that could potentially help prevent an even greater catastrophe. That was when he turned to seeking aid from his companions, in the hopes that Fontaine could still be saved. Neuvillette lost and gained many things in those few days. The citizens of Fontaine were freed of their curse, and Neuvillette had obtained a position of complete authority, however, it all came at the cost of the lives of innocent civilians, Focalors’s life, Furina’s mental state, and… your life. Those were great prices to pay, and Neuvillette mourned each and every sacrifice.
Now that he had some time to himself to process his feelings, Neuvillette recognized that what he felt was grief and longing. He wanted to see you at least one more time, to feel you in his arms again. To have you taken from him so suddenly was too painful. He never got to tell you one last ‘I love you’, and he could only hope that his words reach you wherever your consciousness might be now. Fontaine will see frequent rainfall in the coming months. It won’t be easy for Neuvillette to get over your death, and some part of him will always ache and yearn to see you again. But one thing he can do is strengthen his resolve to make Fontaine into a nation that both you and Focalors would be proud of. A nation where tragedies like these will never happen again.
🍃 Venti
Venti liked to climb up on high places like his statue in front of the Favonius church, the rooftop of the Cat’s Tail, or the great tree at Windrise. Today, you found him high up in the tree, absentmindedly strumming a new tune on his lyre. Wanting to surprise the bard, you tried your best to climb the tree as quietly as you could, but right as you were about to pop up and surprise him, the branch you were on snapped, and with a heart-stopping shriek, you plummeted down to the ground.
Your scream alerted Venti. He felt your presence before you even started climbing the tree, but he failed to foresee the danger until it was too late. He didn’t react fast enough to summon a gust of wind to safely lower you down. The sickening crunch of your skull hitting the ground made his stomach roil, and for a brief moment he felt as if the blood in his veins turned to ice. He felt frozen in place.
Snapping out of his momentary stupor, Venti rushed to your side to check on you, but the enormous pool of blood blooming around your lifeless body made him throw up.
Not again. He lost someone he loved once more. The painful emotions of losing you triggered a cascade of memories of seeing the broken body of that one boy he called a friend thousands of years ago. The same boy whose face he now wore as a way of honoring his memory and giving him an opportunity to live out his dreams of freedom through Venti.
Venti felt that same feeling of heavy emptiness once again as he cradled your lifeless body in his arms, your blood smearing the white sleeves of his shirt. One of the bard’s hands cradled your still-warm cheek, and he wept. To have you taken away so easily through such a small accident… it was too much.
Venti didn’t attend your funeral. He couldn’t bear to. However, he forced himself to watch from a distance as your loved ones gathered around your grave. He fully empathized with their grief.
In the following days, one could often find Venti at a tavern. He started with Angel’s Share, but after consecutive days of heavy drinking and drunken ramblings about how remorseful he felt and how you deserved better, Diluc put a stop to Venti’s visits. The Anemo Archon wasn’t getting any better from drinking himself into a stupor until he could barely hold himself upright. It was heartbreaking to see.
Even after being banned from the Angel’s Share, Venti would visit other taverns in the city and rinse and repeat. He so badly wanted to numb the pain in his heart and forget the awful memory of your lifeless body. Only after several bans did Venti finally stop coming to the city altogether. He disappeared for a while, and nobody was able to find him. Only after many weeks did the bard suddenly pop up in the town square with his lyre in hand.
During his absence, Venti wrote a few songs as a way to cope with his grief, and after a while, finally felt well enough to play them. As a bard, he was well-known in Mondstadt for playing cheerful and beautiful tunes, but this time his melodies were melancholic, even sad. They listened to him sing about a love he can no longer say ‘I love you’ to anymore, someone he can no longer forge new memories with and can only carry on in his heart as a memory. The music he played captured the attention of every member of the audience and touched their hearts so deeply that they, too, could feel the sorrow the bard was trying to convey through his melodies. His pain became their pain, too. The heartache was so profound, so raw and crippling, that many people couldn’t hold back from crying.
Venti wasn’t playing the songs to earn money or share his sadness with others. He was playing them for you. He hoped that his feelings would reach you wherever you were and that your memory wouldn’t fade away even if he remained the last person alive who knew of your existence. His songs will keep your memory alive in the hearts of the Mondstadt citizens, never to be forgotten.
☂️ Wanderer
You have been fighting chronic sickness for months, but despite the treatments, each week you seemed to get worse and worse. Neither the doctors of Sumeru nor even Nahida herself could figure out a cure for your condition. You were bedridden with barely any strength to move. Wanderer took responsibility for nursing you back to health by helping you get to places you needed, cooking all your meals and feeding you, as well as getting your medicine and administering it.
Despite his efforts, you could tell you wouldn’t last long. While you still had the strength to talk, you apologized to him for being forced to part from him.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he scoffed, with a frown pulling at his lips. “Rather than talk about such nonsense, use that energy to get better instead.”
He didn’t want to face the facts, to accept the reality that you could disappear from his life. But then came a day where you no longer opened your eyes when he called your name, nor stirred when he tried to shake you awake. Your body was cold and stiff and so unlike what he was used to seeing you as. The life you possessed was gone in all senses of the word.
Something in Wanderer snapped that day. Falling to his knees, he let out a guttural scream that tore at his vocal cords. He unleashed a wail that carried all the anguish and misery he’d been keeping bottled up inside for hundreds of years. He’s lost so many people he cared for in the past. Each time he met someone he grew attached to, fate would always tear them away from him, and you were no exception.
He cried bitter tears in the privacy of your shared home, cursing Fate for doing this to him over and over again. He was angry and heartbroken. Though he lacked a real heart, the sensation in his chest felt like something inside him broke into a million tiny fragments. As if sharp needles pierced through his non-existent heart and caused him to scream until he lost his voice.
He wanted revenge, but how can one get vengeance against Fate itself?
You were gone, so cruelly torn away from his side despite his best efforts to keep you alive. You were the little ray of light that never gave up on him no matter how cold he was towards you or how much he pushed you away, and helped him heal little by little. You accepted him in his entirety and wormed your way into his non-existent heart, so how dare Fate mock him like this? Wanderer truly felt as if Fate was purposely torturing him by taking away all those whom he held dear.
Helpless and anguished, Wanderer reverted to the days when he used to be Scaramouche, the sixth of the Fatui Harbingers who was infamous for his callousness and mercilessness. His roiling emotions spurred him to repeat these spiteful acts against anyone who got in his way. It was the only way he knew of how to vent these overwhelming emotions that made him feel like he was choking on his grief.
It took Nahida’s interference to calm him down and get through to him that you wouldn’t want him to be like this. The Wanderer you fell in love with wasn’t such a hateful person driven by negative emotions, and though he was loathe to admit it, the God of Wisdom was right.
Having quelled the initial burst of wounded anger, Wanderer would think more clearly about what he should do from now on. He could keep all your items, photographs, and letters, but they would never replace you, only help preserve some of the memories attached to them, which a puppet like him had no need for. He won’t forget even the smallest thing about you, not as long as he’s alive.
Wanderer becomes a regular visitor of your grave, taking care of it so your name won’t be erased from the gravestone by time too quickly. He would frequently bring your favorite foods and flowers and place them in front of your grave, before taking a seat next to it and staring off into the distance without saying a word. He did this mostly at night so he could stargaze, just like how you both used to when you were alive.
Even centuries later, when everyone who knew you took their memories of you to their graves, Wanderer will remain to watch over your final resting place, unwavering in his devotion.
🐺 Wriothesley
You accompanied Wriothesley on another one of his swims out in the open waters surrounding the Fortress. Since you weren’t a vision holder, you had to wear a diving suit to breathe, unlike your beloved Duke. You’ve had these private little swim dates a few times before, so your guard was down when you swam through some jagged areas of the Fortress’s scaffolding. The shoulder of your diving suit caught on a sharp edge of metal and tore a hole in it. The tear was fairly large, and you panicked when you felt water rush inside your suit. Wriothesley was quick to freeze the hole and pull you up to the surface to get the suit off of you, but by the time he did, it was too late. You had inhaled too much water and were unresponsive. Wriothesley tried to keep his anxiety at bay and utilized all the CPR knowledge he learned from Sigewinne to try and save your life. He breathed air into your lungs and did chest compressions with enough force to hear your ribs crack, but even after 30 agonizing minutes of trying, you wouldn’t wake up.
Wriothesley had no choice but to accept the fact you died. Wriothesley doesn’t cry for you. He’s no stranger to death. His exposure to it in his younger years made him all too aware of how easy it is to die, and that death came for all without exception. As a result, he was able to accept your death a little easier than most, but it doesn’t mean he made peace with it. The staff and inmates at the Fortress all said Wriothesley looked the same as usual even after your death. He kept up his laidback yet intimidating demeanor and busied himself with the variety of work someone in his position was required to take care of. Only Sigewinne could tell that Wriothesley was not alright despite all the strained smiles he gave everyone. The bags under his eyes grew more prominent by the day, a clear indicator he wasn’t sleeping well. She saw how he threw himself into his work, barely taking any time to rest properly, as if wanting to keep his mind busy from the horrible memory of seeing your corpse. Though he tried to mask it, in truth, your death affected Wriothesley deeply. He had frequent nightmares about watching you drown and being unable to save you, and they would keep him up at night. He usually awoke in a cold sweat, his heart pounding from intense panic and dread until his mind cleared, only to be replaced with a stone-cold reality that made the feelings of guilt come rushing back. Out of habit, he turns to your side of the bed to seek comfort in your presence but seeing it cold and empty served as yet another harsh reminder that you were gone. Wriothesley can’t sleep after his nightmares, so he opts to work out or fuss over his gauntlets to distract himself from his feelings. It takes all his self-control to keep a lid on his emotions and not become the angry, irritable mess he knows he will be if he’s not careful.
When he makes tea, Wriothesley accidentally makes two cups out of habit. One for you and one for him. Even weeks after your passing, it was still a difficult habit to break. For the first while, Wriothesley would even stop drinking your favorite tea blend because it reminded him of you. Rather than enjoy the flavor, all he tastes is bile in his throat. The flavor of your favorite tea makes him nauseous because it makes him think about how you will never taste this again or have another tea date in his office.
There was one occasion when he tried to drink your tea shortly after your death. He thought maybe the flavor would remind him of the happy times he shared with you, but all it resulted in was a broken teacup from the force of his grip, and Sigewinne fussing over his cuts and burns. He didn’t drink your favorite blend for a long time after that, only being able to find enjoyment in it again many years later when the startlingly clear memory of your death didn’t hurt him as much. Wriothesley felt lonely without you. You were the friend and confidant he told his deepest and darkest secrets about his past, the comfort he sought after a difficult day, and the soothing presence that made him feel accepted for who he was without all the embellished titles. But after your passing, the Fortress of Meropide seemed cold and gloomy, as if devoid of the warmth it once had that made him call it home. It was as if your death snuffed out the little ray of warm sunshine he felt when spending time with you.
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murasaki-cha · 26 days
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Honestly the best advice I can give to someone who wants to start Trash Of The Count's Family is to never and I mean NEVER ask a TCF fan about what TCF is but ask a person who has read the manhwa casually.
Because we will never give you a simple answer. Oh no no no we:
Will spoil the everloving crap out of the novel. All of it. We just can't help ourselves. Never have I met a TCF fan who doesn't spoil the novel. I think we just forget that they are spoilers and that there are people that haven't read the novel. I have legitimately had someone ask me "What's an Eruhaben?" and I was confused for a solid 5 minutes until I remembered that there are people who haven't actually read the novel
Will not shut up. You will get a rundown of our top 10 favorite characters, top 10 favorite villains, top 10 favorite battles, top 10 favorite scenes, top 10 favorite angst scenes, etc. YOU GET THE POINT! Probably because we don't have a big fandom we get excited when new people join. You will have to read a 10 page essay it'snot a choice. There are multiple powerpoints the fans have made and I wish I was being sarcastic about this
Will scare you because we are insane overly enthusiastic about TCF. There are some inside jokes that only the fandom will get but we usually don't even try to be subtle we just go "Oh man I can't wait for Cale to be hurt so badly he's bleeding so profoundly and probably choking on his own blood! In canon!!" Or "He needs soggy apple pies or he will die!" Or "Why won't slacker life-chan return Cale's feelings?" Or "White Radish *cue laughing soundtrack*". You will think we are deranged but I can confirm none of us has been put in a mental asylum so far from what I'm aware of👍. We're just silly but our silly will concern people
Now if you find all these factors as things that will motivate you to read the novel than please welcome you'll fit in here just fine.
If not than please stick with the manhwa onlys please than try to read the novel at your own pace
(Just to be clear this entire post is meant for comedic purposes. The TCF fandom has some of the nicest and kindest people I've ever had the joy of meeting and I've made many great friends here. We welcome any new fan with open arms, warm hugs, apple pies and heavy angst lol. Never be afraid to interact with anyone here as we love to talk about our favorite novel)
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twstgarden · 6 months
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❀ ❝ 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼 ❞
━ general lilia vanrouge x human! reincarnated! gn! reader (reader is not yuu.) ━ having a relatively shorter lifespan than the man you deem as your soulmate can be quite disheartening. meeting him once again in another lifetime gave you a sense of comfort and familiarity as if you knew who this man was. (f/n means first name)
cw: (including, but not limited to) death/graphic mentions of death, war themes, blood
requested by: anonymous <3 request type: oneshot requester's message: *slams doors open* requests are open?!? Waaaahhhhhhhahsjjssj I really enjoy your diasomnia works. Can I request a one shot with general lilia and human reader? Maybe a reunion or reincarnation trope? They fell in love and then meet again. Something fluffy or sweet? florist's note: hi there! i'm glad you enjoyed my diasomnia works <3 i'm not sure if this is fluff enough, but thank you for the request, little one.
this work contains spoilers for chapter 7, diasomnia’s arc.
do not steal or translate without my permission.
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less than 100 years, more or less. that is the average lifespan of a human being. general lilia knew that all too well, and he knew what he was getting into when he saw this innocent maiden living by herself in the woods, or did he?
he had no intentions of falling in love. he finds it a waste of time. he has his duties to focus on, and being in the palace makes him feel as if he is in greater danger than when he is on the battlefield, due to a certain princess he grew up with.
you, on the other hand, completely minded your own business in your own little cottage, making pies and other baked goods every now and then, taking care of your flowers and vegetable garden, singing songs as you do your chores, and so on. you were living a simple life and you loved it.
never in your wildest dreams did you ever think you'd cross paths with the well-known fae general of briar valley. your first interaction was not exactly all that great, considering his icy cold glares and stern voice as he thought you were part of the silver owls.
of course, he did not believe you at first, until he saw your cottage and all your belongings - just a bunch of basic daily use materials and no sign of weapons that can be used for war. the general continued investigating, wanting to find even one sign that you were a part of the other side so he could eradicate you.
meanwhile, his comrades were feasting on the blueberry pie you offered to them. he was in utter disbelief, how could the soldiers he trained be so careless as to eat whatever was offered to them? what if it was a trap?
you merely smiled at the dark faerie soldiers as you sliced the pie and handed it to the others. you had enough to feed a small group, so you hoped they could share it with one another. you then turned to look at the general, "would you like some?"
how absurd. how could you offer him food with that sweet smile on his face when he clearly hated your kind? he did not know if you were deceiving him or you were actually being genuine.
he had never encountered a human so... pure and humble.
and since then, he occasionally paid you a visit to 'make sure you aren't plotting anything', but you knew he just wanted to check on you.
"how is it that you're so nice?"
that question made you look up at him while you were watering your plants. you paused a little, thinking about how you would respond to him without sounding awkward before smiling, "i... guess i was raised to be this way?"
"hm... where are your parents?" asked the general as he raised a brow at you, his gaze shifting from the delicate tulips being watered to your face as your eyelashes batted with every blink, how your lips were in a small smile, and your cheeks dusted pink.
you let out a soft sigh through your lips before responding, "they've long passed away from an illness, so i've been alone for a long time now." your sweet smile still remained as you spoke to him, and it was starting to make him feel comfortable around you.
everything was going smoothly between you and the general. you could even say your relationship was flourishing, from strangers to friends, at least you think so.
of course, all good things come to an end. unfortunately, one of the silver owls' soldiers stumbled upon you and the general having a nice chat by your garden, and thinking you were an ally and betrayed humankind, you became their target.
the first few days of spending your time in the cottage with the feeling of being watched was tolerable so far. the general had noticed it as well during one of his visits, and out of concern, he sternly said, "you should not stay here any longer. it's dangerous."
"i'll be fine, general. i've lived here for years," you replied in a gentle tone, wanting to reassure him that everything would be fine. he stayed silent for a moment as he scanned the surroundings, "traces of humans are evident around here. you could be in danger. don't be stubborn and listen to me."
"...i know, but... if i leave, how will we see each other again?" you asked softly, making him stay silent for a moment as he did not realise he was the reason why you were so adamant about staying in your home.
"i like your presence, general. i look forward to seeing you every day, to see you visit me alone or with your soldiers, saying that you are merely passing by when i know you really are checking on me..." you added, "and every day, we just get closer to one another... it's hard for me not to want you around me..."
he let out a sigh as he crossed his arms, "i don't want you to put yourself in danger because of me." you frowned at his words and he saw how it made you sad, making him step closer towards you as he placed a hand on your cheek, "wherever you go, i'll find you... so please, stay elsewhere and be safe..."
you noticed he took out his gloves when he touched your cheek. his rough yet gentle hand caressed your face as he said those words, looking at you with those usual cold eyes that now had a tinge of worry and affection. you gave him a small sad smile before deciding to embrace him.
your arms wrapped around his figure as you buried your head on his chest, feeling the cold armour, and yet the warmth of his body still managed to comfort you. he held you in an embrace as well, his hands situated on your lower back and your hair.
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silence.
an eerie silence engulfed your living room, a contrast to all the noise that occurred earlier during the ambush of the silver owls in your area. suddenly, rushing footsteps could be heard approaching your cottage before your door was slammed open.
the general stood there in shock before rushing to your weakened body on the floor lying in a pool of blood. you were still a little conscious, but you started to feel it slipping away as you looked up at him
"f/n?"
as he knelt down on the floor, your blood staining his armour and clothing, he pulled you up to his lap before calling for the other soldiers to make sure your wounds were patched up, but before he could do so, you placed your bloody hand on his cheek.
"it's too late, lilia..."
hearing his name on your lips, rather than addressing him as general, made him look at you once more as he placed his hand on top of yours that rested on his cheek. "too late? no, we can still stop the bleeding..."
you gave him a weak smile. how is it that even on the verge of dying, that beautiful twinkle in your eyes that he grew to love and that sweet smile he found comfort in still remained? it was tearing him apart on the inside at the thought of losing you so quickly.
"i love you."
you said those words in a whisper as you still held his cheek, tears brimming your eyes as you smiled at him and caressed his lips with your thumb, "please don't do anything rash for my sake... i only want you to live in peace..."
the light in your eyes then went dim as you fell limp in his arms. that was the same day he lost all his hopes and dreams as he held you close to his chest and embraced your lifeless figure.
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it has been a few years since you were gone - honestly, it was about 20 years and normally, such time would be very short to long-lived species like faeries. however, to lilia, it felt like you were gone for far too long already.
"general, what will we do about the kids?" asked baul, his comrade, as he eyed the three students - four if you count the cat-like creature with them - before him.
lilia eyed the people before him. one addressed him as his father, and the other addressed him like he was his mentor. the other seemed panicked to be in the situation, while the cat-like creature was addressing him as if they were best buds.
just where did these people come from?
the general was about to speak when silver's eyes went to a cloaked figure nearby. lilia raised a brow at his distraction and turned to look at what he was looking at.
hidden in one of the trees is a figure cloaked in black with their face covered in a mask. they immediately realised they were spotted, and they were about to leave until lilia beat them to it. he immediately landed on the tree branch before them as he tried to get them down for a battle.
unsheathing their sword, they immediately landed on the ground and fought with him until his blade knocked off their mask and he managed to pin them down to the ground. his famed lithic blade pointed at their throat as he spoke, "are you spying on us?"
he then froze as he took a good look at their face. they looked exactly like the person he cherished. the same eyes, the same lips, the same cheeks, everything.
they looked exactly like you, the person he loved.
"who are you...?" asked lilia. there was no way this was you, you died that day and he was there when the light left your eyes. still, the possibility of you being a reincarnation crossed his mind.
surely, there was no such thing? but at the same time, he had a small inkling of hope that it might be that way.
"no one important," replied the unknown assailant as they used this distraction to land a blow on lilia, making him dodge the attack immediately as he got off them. "i am only tasked to spy on you," replied the assailant as they glared at the general.
however, deep down, they had a lingering thought, 'why does he feel so... familiar? almost as if i don't want to attack him...'
"so you're one of them," spoke the general with venom laced in his tone. he was about to land an attack on them until silver got in between them both, making lilia look at him as if he was about to scold the guy.
"mom/dad?"
'that can't be... but they told me they work as a director... am i seeing their past life before the current one in nrc, then?' wondered silver as he was surprised to see their human parental figure in this lifetime that they jumped into.
that parental name made the assailant and lilia freeze. silver addressed lilia as his father, and now they are addressing this assailant as if they were his parent too?
"what?" questioned the assailant, "i don't have a kid... why are you calling me that?"
silver's eyes were wide. he could not believe that he saw his father in his younger days, now he gets to see his other parental figure too, and this could be how he witnesses their love story. well, at least for the previous lifetime.
"r-right, sorry, um..." trailed silver as he tried not to take the second rejection to heart. sebek, the other student with him, seemed to have recognised them too, but he knew they would have not known who they were, just like lilia and his grandfather.
"just who are you, anyway?" questioned the general as he pointed his blade at the assailant. they let out a sigh and placed a hand on their hip as they replied, "i'm f/n l/n... why do you look familiar...? have i seen you before?"
lilia stayed silent for a moment. could it be? did his special person really reincarnate and reunite with him? what are the odds that they end up being a member of the silver owls this time?
"you..." trailed lilia, making f/n tilt their head a little as they wondered what he had to say. while waiting for his reply, their eyes wandered to his lips, almost as if they knew exactly how it felt to have them on theirs.
no way. there is no way they are entertaining such thoughts.
there was one more thing lilia could do to confirm that it really was you. however, he had doubts about whether it was effective or not. they may have been a reincarnation, but it's not like they retain all of their memories from the past life, right?
of course, not, but the feeling of comfort and familiarity is always there. the memories may not have been there, but the emotions were.
and right now, lilia is being haunted by the same feelings he felt towards you when you were alive. the same sense of love, peace, affection, and comfort resurfaced the more he stayed in this assailant's presence.
he tried to push them away. he really did, but it always resurfaced the more he spent his expedition with the assailant by his side. they had a change of heart, deciding to aid him instead and ultimately betraying the people they worked for.
hearing the truth from lilia's lips made them realise they were on the wrong side of the story. the land of briar's people were the victims here and not the people f/n is currently working for. the land of briar's resources belongs to them - the natives of the land, the fae folk - and they knew just as well that no human has the right to steal and claim the land or resources as theirs.
when f/n accepted to aid them in their expedition, lilia felt as if he was witnessing the same kindness you showed when you were alive. the more time he spends with them, the more he sees similarities between the past 'you' and the current 'you' that he is seeing.
currently, he was seated beside f/n on the campsite that they chose for tonight. the fire crackled in the centre as he sat on the log, toasting a lizard he caught nearby. it was silent for a moment until they looked at the general, "...i know i said this before, but you really feel familiar... as if i met you or i've known you before..."
lilia stayed silent for a moment before twirling the lizard on the stick a little bit, toasting it on the fireplace as silver, sebek, yuu, and grim were thinking of making the meals instead.
and so they did. they offered to cook, leaving lilia with f/n for a while. that was when he looked at the spitting image of his past beloved, "...you remind me of someone i knew back then."
f/n tilted their head a little, "hm? who is it? where are they now?" lilia did not know how to answer that as he realised he was coping with the grief that he set aside the entire time, "...someone i loved. they're gone now, for the past 20 years."
"20...? that's a coincidence. i'm that old too," spoke f/n as they looked at lilia with a curious gaze. lilia stayed silent for a bit, thoughts swirling in his head as he wondered if it was a coincidence. you died twenty years ago, and this person before him is 20 years old. were you reborn?
this is purely just a coincidence, right?
setting that thought aside, he proceeds to have a conversation with f/n. a few days have passed and they are getting closer to the silver owls headquarters. once they were just a few more miles away, night has come, setting them up a camp to rest before continuing the expedition.
everything was like usual. silver and sebek offered to make dinner once more, while yuu and grim helped around. the other soldiers were patching up wounds and resting by the fireplace as they chatted with their other comrades. baul and lilia were having a conversation, perhaps discussing the course of action while waiting for the meal.
and f/n, on the other hand, remained seated on a log near their tent. their gaze never peeled away from lilia as they desperately tried to think about certain thoughts, such as...
how did they know what his favourite meal was? he never told them about it nor did they have a conversation regarding those topics once.
how did they know which pie flavour he liked? never once did f/n attempt to make pies in this lifetime, and yet they knew so much about lilia's preference.
why did they have thoughts about missing the way he looks when he smiles fondly? it's not like they have seen him smile throughout the expedition, and fondly at that.
but one thought that bothered them the most was... why did they feel as if they were falling in love all over again?
all that thinking led to lilia approaching them after his conversation with baul ended. he wondered why f/n looked so deep in thought while staring at him earlier, seeing as the gaze was obvious. he then knelt down and looked at them, "what's wrong?"
f/n immediately snapped out of their thoughts before shaking their head, "no, it's nothing... i was just thinking about a few things..."
lilia hummed in response, but he did not believe them when they said it was nothing. he then sat beside them, staying silent for a bit before letting out a tired sigh.
"...don't die again, okay?"
f/n raised a brow at his words. again? what did he mean by again? they looked at lilia once more and spoke, "what do you mean by 'again'...?"
the general then eyed f/n as he replied, "wherever you go, i'll find you... remember?" and just like magic, those words hit f/n like a truck. vague memories started flooding their mind as they pictured scenes of being in a cottage and holding lilia's hand, baking pies and handing them out to the soldiers that were currently accompanying them, or how lilia would always drop by for a visit to check in on them.
lilia saw how f/n seemed spooked, and he was about to speak until they pulled him in for a tight hug, wrapping their arms around him as they held him close. no words were exchanged for a moment, but lilia felt the warmth he felt back then.
silver and sebek were watching them while waiting for the pot to boil, and though they had not said anything, they smiled at one another before looking back at the younger versions of f/n and lilia.
after the hug, lilia cupped f/n's cheeks with a small yet gentle smile, "you're still as beautiful as i remember." they let out a soft chuckle as they remained their arms around his torso, "i missed you..."
his gentle smile grew a little more as he placed a kiss on their forehead, "don't leave me this time..."
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© twstgarden 2023 || please do not steal, translate without my permission, or use this to train a.i.
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cosmetichorror · 11 months
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Totk spoilers but not major ones, minor spoilers
.
.
So I’m still playing through Totk but very slowly, I’m super invested in taking my time and enjoying the scenery, same way I played BOTW. But I had an idea, as per usual. So know those poes you find in the depths? Know how poes in ocarina of Time are mean to you? I have two things on this
1. Since Wild had a near death experience (or just. A death experience would be more accurate) he can see poes and they don’t hurt him! So when visiting Times hyrule, the pies don’t attack him. They just vibe together. This leads to Shenanigans.
2. The poes are actually his fellow knights, or just in general people whom he knew in life before the calamity. That’s why you see those random ghost knights handing out weapons. Those are his coworkers! They speak to him, maybe vibe with him. Now, imagine: he’s in Times Hyrule getting attacked by Poe, and one of HIS Poe, (his Poe friends) come out and fight the other Poe for him, and maybe pass on a weapon afterwards. Angsty? Fluffy? Crack? So many options.
Aight, back into my little hole in the ground I go!
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yandereheathen · 6 months
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The Cost of Protection [Yandere elf guard x Fem Reader] 18+ Chapter #1
Based in Barovia (Curse of strahd, some dusk elf lore spoilers) Warnings: Non-con touching/kissing/ some violence, obsessive treatment, death threats necromancy?
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Living in Barovia was hard enough; trying to do business in it is quite the other. Besides all of the ghosts, Undead creatures, and living under the tyranny of a centuries-old whiny vampire, everything was complicated. Still, you had your own set of struggles. Your Tavern was not necessarily famous, but it did good business. You had your regulars, Travelers who would sometimes come and try their hand at defeating the vampire lord Who you never saw again unless it was their Undead body, and some other travelers who were peddling wears pies, toys, weapons, anything that you could imagine then there was the common folk and Crafts People. Everyone was welcome in your Tavern. You offered a warm smile, a glass to drink, and whatever you could scratch up to cook that day; however, you had one unwelcome guest who changed your path forever.
 Maverick
 It wasn't uncommon that Dusk elves would come into your Tavern. They followed Vistani and often went through the cities of Barovia on a standard route, and more and more did you feel like you saw them integrating with the town, so seeing one dressed in a guard uniform was unusual but not unheard of. His long dark hair was braided up in leather twine, and his eyes were the standard golden color, but you did see a tiredness in them. He was only an inch or two shorter than you. After all, you were pretty tall for a human, but he was well-built and had hands that showed both work and strength. His smile and his voice were the things that stood out most. It had a ruggedness that you admitted caused a little heat in your cheeks the first time you spoke with him.
  Speaking of the first time, You remember clearly the first time he stopped by your Tavern. You treated him sweetly, flashed a smile, and put your arms down in front of him, looking up at him with innocent eyes leaning at the bar.
"Anything to drink, sir?"
You Tend to be flirty with everybody. It was basically in a bar person's job description. Still, you noticed that some visitors would give you an extra coin or became regulars if you gave them special treatment. However, his smile made you a little uneasy, almost excited. It was a smile that said he appreciated your treatment and wanted more, how much more you didn't quite understand that time. Did you know that that smile would lead to many other things? He just put your hand just under your cheek and, tilted his head, and said
"I think a beer or mash number 8 would be okay before I have to eat. I could live off your voice and those beautiful eyes forever.
 You just left thinking he was making some flirtatious joke, pulled his draft, and handed it to him. From what you've gathered, asking him simple questions about his life gave you non-committal answers or general mods. He was pretty new around town and it was just getting to know all of the local businesses, and he heard that you could get a good cup for cheap and that a cute shop girl was serving the drinks. You laughed again at his flirtatious joke, but you noticed that his eyes never left you from your lips to your shoulders, down your neck to your chest. Even to your backside, when you were turned around and helping other customers with their drinks, you didn't think much of it then. Still, it definitely left you a little unnerved.
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 After that, he became one of your regulars. You knew his drink by heart, you knew what he liked to sit in at what time, and you learned exactly how to speak with him. Not too much, but he did enjoy hearing a little bit about your day. He wasn't much of a talker, but you don't mind, or you did not have the time. 
One night, a set of particularly Rowdy young men was causing ruckuses in your Tavern. You tried to compile them with free drinks and sweet words, but you needed more. It all came to a head when one of them tried to get handsy on you, and he was greeted with a sword to his neck. The man went still as Maverick whispered in his ear, pressing the dagger a little bit closer enough to cut into his neck. He looked at the other two men and said in his low, deep voice. 
"Oh, did you both want to be next? As much as I would joy putting all your heads on a platter and making it for the next stew, this one would not appreciate making a mess of her Tavern. How about all of us be nice to you all? Get the hell out of here before I make an example."
 They tried to avoid messing with a guard, let alone a dusk elf. There were rumors of them knowing dark magic. Magic rants to them after the travesty of their women being wiped out, dark magic that was taught to them by Rahadin, the right-hand Master of the lord of the world. The ability to raise the dead and control minds are abilities right from hell."
 They all scurried off. You were thankful, bowing to Maverick and taking his hand, promising free drinks for the rest of the night. Still, he took your hand and looked at you, his golden eyes hidden behind something mischievous, something lustful that weighed heavy on your heart. In your chest, you felt the heat rise up from your stomach.
"Darling, we can make a better arrangement. How would you like me to offer my protection?"
 You looked at him, confused, but still held his hand, your head tilted. 
"I would always be thankful, but isn't that what you usually do? I wouldn't want you to give me special treatment."
 "Oh well,"
 He takes your face and his hand. Squeezing your cheeks ever so slightly, 
"If you give me special treatment, I'll give you and your customers special treatment. After all, you wouldn't want anything to happen to you, your Tavern, or your customers, would you, darling?"
 He forces your eyes up to his and brings your lips closer. The rest of the Tavern, already daunted by the commotion, looks away. You simply nod in agreement, and he lets you go, patting your shoulder and laughing good-heartedly. 
"well, perfect, I think I'll take my first payment tonight."
 You panicked, thinking about how much she could get into the day, and said, 
"How much are you asking for? I've already offered you free drinks. I don't know what more I can do.-"
 He cuts you off, putting his finger to your lips. 
"Don't worry. You have everything that I could want to need."
 And he walks off.
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 After closing, when all of the lights in the streets were out and the spirits were already roaming the streets, you clutched to your apron, putting up the last of the chairs. The candle lights were just barely about to go out. You counted up all of your money from the day, and while you made enough of an earning, you were very worried that he would not have enough to pay for this new extortion. You had heard stories of guards and heroes extorting young men and women for protection. You did not think it would happen to you that living in a place of cold and darkness was curse enough, but it looked like the fates had a little more for you. 
You almost didn't hear him come in as he stuck his hands around your waist and up your throat. You tried to yell out, but his hand covered your mouth, and he kissed just the side of your ear as you immediately felt yourself wanting to flee. Then he whispered in your ear, 
"Oh, now that's a pleasing darling. As much as I would have so much fun chasing you, I don't have the time tonight to have my cute little rabbit." 
He put his hands down your hip, lifted your dress, and ran his hand up your thigh as he kissed your jawline and neck. You stammered, still trying to get free. 
"You said you wanted payment. I'm really to pay. The draw is open. Take what you want. I don't care. Please, just don't hurt me."
 You cry through your struggles, but he just laughs, nipping where your neck and your shoulder mean, 
"Oh no, my little rabbit. As much as it delights me to hear you after having to endure hearing you simper over every man who can give you coin, I'm finally able to take the prize that is Rightfullymine after all that will be our deal."
 He lifts you up and plenty down on the closest table, the wood scratching into your shoulder, your head banging painfully on it. You cry out in pain. It is silenced by his mouth crashing into yours in a kiss. A rough kiss. He pins your hands down, holding his fingers In times with yours as his tongue searches into your open mouth, wrestling to pin it down. You see his golden eyes boring into yours like a beast unleashed. You stand there stunned, unable to move with his weight pushed against you. Even with your slight height Advantage, his trained muscle and sheer force can do nothing. 
He breaks apart, your lips bruised and your tongue hanging out of your mouth, a stream of saliva connecting both of your mouths. 
"Please, why are you doing this?"
 You manage to choke out as you feel him grinding into your lower half just underneath your dress. 
"Well, it's pretty simple, my cute little rabbit. I only joined the guard because I was bored, and I thought I could find some fun beating up the locals or helping young maidens. Still, I saw you, a bright Lily, and a swamp of muck to see simpering and pampering to everybody who entered your Tavern was so endearing I knew I needed to have you. I knew that you were mine, don't you understand? When elves mate, they mate for life, so that means."
He cried to you rougher you feel his hard cock rubbing into your own sex with a need want to be inside you. 
"You will be mine for the rest of your life. I will ensure that. If you don't want to be mine, it's pretty simple- you don't have to."
 You blink this as he lets you sit up, but he still stands between your legs.
"You mean you'll just let me go. You won't do anything?"
 You look at him, hoping that this is some weird pass, and you would know he would just leave you alone. But your hopes are soon crushed.
"oh no, my darling, if you say no," 
he moves in closer, and his sword falls at the back of your neck. 
"I will kill you and make sure you are raised as a zombie who has no free will and who is forced to do my bidding for the rest of your Undead life. Do you understand me, my cute little rabbit?"
 At that, you feel a heat emanating from his sword, a Blackness clouding around the edges of your eyes, and you know that his promise holds truth. Your body goes rigid and shakes, and tears silently stream down your eyes as he takes you in his arms, rubbing your back oddly comfortingly or trying to be with his sword. His other hand grips your bottom, pulling you closer as he snuggles into your neck, inhaling your scent.
"so you decide to make, my darling. Either I can have you here of your own free will, where I will love and protect you in this Tavern, or I will have the pleasure of seeing your beautiful blood dripping down your chest. I can have you as my perfect little Undead doll."
 "The choice is yours. You pretty little rabbit."
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atomicradiogirl · 4 months
Text
hot take: seasons 5 and 6 hilson is peak and in this essay i will tell you why.
spoiler alert obviously.
season 5 deals with the aftermath of amber’s death. an event that deeply affects house and wilson. house since he blames himself for her death and wilson since he and amber had a healthy and happy growing relationship, although it was short lived. amber’s relationship with wilson also was one of the only ones that house seemingly “approved” of and amber warmed up to house quickly. house held some underlying romantic feelings towards amber but this was never confessed or really confirmed out of house’s own imagination and hallucinations.
season 5 of house sees house spiraling after the death of amber, trying to get wilson back into his life while he goes through grief, and abusing vicodin in a much worse way than before. this is the ultimate test for house and wilson at that point of the show up until season 8. house attempts to emotionally blackmail wilson and hires a PI to try to get him back. these actions are irrelevant since in ‘birthmarks’ wilson is forced to take house to his “father’s” funeral where the way their friendship started is revealed and where wilson sees a more emotional side of house. house digs through wilson’s insecurity that he needs house and left him because he’s afraid of losing him. their relationship is essentially healed back again after opening up to each other and house allowing himself to be vulnerable about his father.
there is an underlying theme of grief throughout this season and especially the unhealthy ways to cope with it. the middle of season 5 sees house and wilson slowly gaining each other’s trust back but house is still spiraling behind the scenes. up until the season finale where he abuses so much vicodin that he hallucinates a dead amber and is forced to finally seek help and go to a psychiatric hospital to get clean.
this moves us to season 6 where house finally opens up in therapy and gets clean from vicodin. he is at his best mental health of the show and is genuinely slowly healing from his insecurities and issues. house grows hugely in this season and this also shows through his relationship with wilson. he still uses wilson as a crutch but much less so than before. he genuinely does nice things for wilson like stealing his speech at a conference so wilson doesn’t get in trouble for killing a patient. house and wilson also move in together to their own apartment and are genuinely happy and stable up until when sam, wilson’s first wife, comes back and uproots house, forcing him to move out, and destroys what stability house had. however house is healthy enough that he discusses this in therapy and doesn’t relapse. season 6 is the theme of acceptance and healing. the season 6 finale has house face another heartbreak of a patient dying because he amputated her leg, something he convinced her to do even though she didn’t want it, directly relating to his relationship with his leg. cuddy tells house that she’s moving on from him and wilson is moving on from him, he has nothing now and he’d be alone. this coupled with the patient dying no matter what he did almost gets him to relapse. yet house doesn’t and is held together in the end by cuddy confessing that she loves him even though she wishes she didn’t.
house’s growth in seasons 5 and 6 is punctuated by wilson’s stability in his life. when wilson’s prescience wavers, house falters. this makes their codependency especially obvious. even in season 6, wilson’s guilt of leaving house behind and hurting him deals house a serious blow even though he’s in therapy and is more mentally stable. this highlights the importance of their relationship and how house and wilson’s relationship is the backbone of the show and house himself. they need each other and when one stumbles, the other falls like dominos. seasons 5 and 6 is, in my opinion, the best example of the importance of house and wilson’s relationship and the ultimate example of their dedication to each other.
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tsc thoughts while reading (beware of spoilers) starting with -
david wymack my fucking beloved
also i never rlly liked/cared for thea but her scene with jean and her nickname for him was cute
chapter 3 thoughts:
jeremy being in awe of neil and the foxes is giving me life
fanfics with alvarez in them gonna go crazy now that we actually have a first name for her (and don’t have to invent one)
oh they rich rich (in reference to jeremy’s family butler?!)
jerejean first interaction!!!!
chapter 4:
omg sunshine court mentioned
having the sudden realisation that i can never read fanfics that have jean’s perspective or anything about the how the ravens work, raven!neil/aftermath of the kings men in the same way again
my neighbours are having a party and while i’m loving the music and absolutely jealous i’m not there, it’s really distracting me from reading
ngl i rlly miss neil and andrew and the foxes please let me see my family soon
‘ what you hold onto is less important than the act of holding on itself’ nora sakavic shut the fuck up you philosophical genius i’m gonna cry this is so real to me
renee i love u
WIT WTF JEAN IS NINETEEN I DIDNT KNOW THAT OH MY GOD BABY HE JOINED THE RAVEN LINEUP AT SIXTEEN WTF
i’m drinking red wine while reading and i think that’s appropriate… also i’m listening to that jean moreau playlist someone made and it’s mega depressing https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zlPt63Ap0AjJQ1Ff5OKrd?si=75oEzLE8SO-bfJwewM8Evw&pi=a-ge04jIlVTJGY
this is so funny to only me but i’ve been hyperfixating on one direction again and zayn just dropped new music so everytime i read about jean’s raven roomate zane i think of one direction and confused myself a bit about what fandom i’m reading rn
fuck riko u sick fucking fuck u put jean into a box with a singular hole for air and left him to die u fucking cunt
KEVIN ASKING JEAN TO PROMISE NOT TO KILL HIMSELF AFTER NORA WROTE COUNTLESS DRAFTS IN WHICH JEAN KILLED HIMSELF WHILE ON THE PHONE TO KEVIN AND THE ONLY TIME SHE DIDNT KILL JEAN OFF IS THE VERSION SHE PUBLISHED AND THE REASON WE GET TO HEAR HIS STORY TODAY IM SO BROKEN
jean’s ‘gift’ from the ravens with his broken magnets, blacked out postcards and angry letters is making me cry he deserves so much better
slowly realising that this book is gonna be super triggering lol whoops
a cool evening breeze 🥲
THAT CREEPY LITTLE GOALKEEPER IS MY FAVOURITE GUY OK
‘kevin saw nothingn but the court, but jean had stopped hoping for more than that years ago’ shut the fuckkkk uppppp i cant do this anymore kevin/jean relationship is so deeply important to me (i say this about everything)
chapter 5:
SECOND NEIL/ JEAN INTERACTION OF THE BOOK IM SO FUCKING EXCITED
‘of course it’d be you, you tedious malcontent’ ‘good morning to you too’ is so ‘morning sunshine’ ‘fuck you’ coded (neil and matt bromance confirmed)
the amount of mitski on this jean playlist is making me sick
FUCKING SCREAMING OMFG THIS IS THE JEAN/NEIL CONTENT I YEARN FOR
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‘abominable cockroach’ aww jean u say the sweetest things 🥰❤️ neil loves u too babe
literally devouring every last scrap of information jean feeds us about neil - his slow, hungry, hateful smile and the madness in his eyes (neil baby i love u never change)
oh jean don’t diss aaron, do u know how many fanfics have been written about u two
tsc is confirmation that jean moreau will come into ur house and judge u based on the contents of ur fridge (and then throw out ur stash of lollies)
‘to have a real match as a palate cleanser’ jean is really trying to win my favour by borrowing neil’s sassiness huh (no wonder i love them so much together) ((and yes i know he’s BEEN sassy ok))
jean reaching for the tv screen as if he could save neil and describing andrew running for neil as if hell was on his heels is making me absolutely giddy idk whether to scream or cry i’m doing both and i’m giggling
I bet on losing dogs is so jean moreau coded omg
holy fuck nora, the moments after the raven/fox match when riko tries to kill neil is fucking amazingly written. reading from jean’s perspective as he watches the game on tv, the tension, the breathless anxiety and confusion of the scene is palpable i coukd fucking taste it, my chest is tight just reading it
JEAN SAYING ANDREW WILL BE COURT IS IMMACULATE
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keyforshort · 5 days
Text
Dimension 20 Live Highlights
*Spoilers*
Cast was;
Murph - Riz/Kugrash
Emily - Ylfa (Jet cameo)
Zac- Pib (Pis)
Ally - Kristen
Siobhan - Ruby
Setting - Unsleeping City
Pib oneshotting Don Confetti by eating him and becoming the new Don
Yfla and Ruby immediately play fighting but also kinda real fighting and being unsure of what was happening
Pib: "Wait am I the adult here?"
Pib and Ylfa both thinking the Bodega was Ylfa's grandmas apartment
Ruby commanding the sweets aisle
Lemone coming to life and Gilear (who was a table) making him his bitch
Epona holding a table at gun point and Riz not reacting until remembering it was Gilear
Pib pretending hes a New York native
Riz almost getting oneshot by a disintegration ray until zac reminded him of uncanny dodge, and then getting swapped out for Kug anyway
Riz's reaction to gettting disintegrated was just "ow"
Kug and Pib going for each other almost immediately (I didnt realise Riz had left because Murph started hissing)
Ylfa trying to play Gin Rummy with everyone she meets
Ylfa beating La Gran Gata at Gin Rummy
Pib and La Gran Gata having the most instant flirty energy
Ruby asking everyone if they're Ceresian and Ylfa thinking she means lesbian
Ruby being Ylfa's lesbian awakening
Wally thinking he's in Die Hard
Ylfa holding Chunggledown Bim's ass cheeks closed like a vice
Kristen elbow dropping table Gilear because she misunderstood a plan
Pib getting shoes and renaming himself Pis (and regretting it immediately because the audience would not let it go)
Pissandra
YLFA ADOPTING AURORA NEBBINS
Kugrash kept turning people into reverse centaurs
Aguefort saying "You guys do the plan, while me and Babayaga do something else" "what?" "SOMETHING ELSE"
Chungledown Bim getting a nat 1, Siobhan getting up and spinning in a circle celebrating like 10 times before realising no one else got up at all
CDB getting another catastrophic failure, Brennan sitting on the floor in reaction to it
The cameramen struggling to get Ally in frame when they all got on tbe floor together. Finally getting them in frame and then they FUCKING MOVED AGAIN
La Gran Gata calling him Pib, the audience yelling "Pis!" And the LGG going "No, PUSS IN BED MOTHERFUCKERS"
Jet lives
Will add more if I think of them
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vodika-vibes · 2 months
Note
Can you write a Crosshair x reader and him with his shaky hands like we saw in season 3 and maybe reader comforting him...
For The Love Of A Bounty Hunter
Summary: Crosshair goes missing while dealing with your family. You have opinions about it.
Pairing: TBB Crosshair x F!Bounty Hunter Reader
Word Count: 1919
Warnings: Mentions of torture
Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly
A/N: I decided to make this story a sequel to one of my Event Fics, I'll add the link so people can find it easily. Also, there are no spoilers here, because I haven't watched TBB at all. ^-^
For The Love Of A Sniper - Part 1 of this Mini Series
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You stare, blankly, at the calendar on the datapad in front of you as you draw another red X over another day.
Three weeks.
It’s been three weeks since Crosshair went to deal with the PI who was looking into you on behalf of your family. Three weeks since he vanished.
You carefully set the datapad down on the table and release a shaky breath. Carefully shoving the burning rage down, for now.
Crosshair would sooner cut his own hands off than betray you. You know this. You know him. He would never tell your parents where you are. And, the fact that they haven’t shown up at your ship, is proof enough that Crosshair didn’t tell them anything.
The bigger question is, is Crosshair still alive.
Stars, you hope so. You’re not sure the galaxy will survive your rage if he isn’t. You’re not sure you’ll survive your rage if he isn’t.
You jerked out of your thoughts when your holo chimes. 
For a moment you consider ignoring it, you’re not in the mood for chatting. But, in the end, you cross the room and hit the button to answer the holo, “I’m not accepting any jobs at the moment.” You say bluntly.
“It is me.” Tech’s image flickers to life above the holo, “I have the information you asked for.”
You blink, “Oh. Sorry.”
“No harm done, I know that you are stressed.” He looks down at his datapad, “I am sending you the information I have.”
You pick your datapad back up as it chimes with the information he sent you. “Are you sure this is accurate?” You ask, as you see the information, “Last I heard the people who took him are wealthy.”
Tech sniffs, “Very sure. According to what I have found, they used to be wealthy. But then spent most of their fortune looking for their missing child.” He pauses, “That would be you, I am guessing.”
“Right in one, Tech.” You reply with a grimace.
“I am sure you had your reasons.” Tech says after a moment, “If Crosshair is anywhere, it is there.”
You scan the image that Tech sent you. Figures, it would be your childhood house. Not home. Never home. “Thanks Tech.”
“You are welcome.” He pauses, “Are you quite sure that you do not require aid? We can be there in a couple of days.”
“I have it.”
“They are your family.”
“Not all families are created equal, Tech. And this,” You hold up the datapad, "has been a long time coming.”
Tech sighs, “Comm when you have him back. And if you should think that you need our help-”
“I’ll be sure to let you know. Thanks for the intel, Tech. I mean it.”
“You do not have to thank me. Crosshair is my twin brother. I want him safe just as much as you do.”
“Even so. I know you’re not my biggest fan.”
Tech is quiet for a moment, “I will concede that, perhaps, I was too quick to judge.”
“Yeah, well…so was I. Water under the bridge.”
Tech smiles at you, a small smile, but a smile all the same, “I think I am beginning to see what Crosshair sees in you. Happy hunting.”
You flash a small smirk, “Yeah. Right back at you.” And then you kill the holo. You look back at the datapad, and swipe through the information.
“Hold on, Cross. I’ll be there soon.” You whisper to the empty ship.
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“It’s a simple thing,” Crosshair rolls his eyes at the massive Devaronian looming over him, “All you have to do is tell us where the little mistress is.”
“I told you the truth weeks ago,” He drawls, “I can’t help you.” He grunts in pain as a large fist slams into his stomach, “Kriff-”
“Mistress,” The guard says with a frown, “I’m beginning to think that he’s telling the truth.”
‘Mistress’ is a slender woman with white blonde hair and piercing green eyes. Though slender isn’t really the right word. Crosshair would personally call her skeletal, but the first time he asked how they managed to make a corpse walk and talk, he was electrocuted, so he’s learned to hold his tongue.
“He has to know,” The woman’s voice is cold. “Why else would he have gone to the PI?”
“Because you’re offering a hell of a lot of credits, lady.” Crosshair lies.
“You do not speak to the Mistress,” The guard snaps, taking a menacing step towards Crosshair.
“No. Leave him. I tire of this.” The woman says, before she turns to the side, “What do you think, darling.”
‘Darling’ is her husband. Just as thin and skeletal as his white, though his hair is more of a golden blonde than the silvery blonde of his wife. If Crosshair had to guess, one of them bleaches their hair, though which one isn’t something he cares about.
He’s also crueler than his wife. 
Crosshair will likely have scars from the stun batons that ‘Darling’ used against him. If he hates ‘Mistress’, then Crosshair absolutely despises ‘Darling’. How either of these people could parent someone like his Princess is beyond him. Maybe she’s adopted.
He glances to the side when the door to the dungeons slams open and a trembling twi’lek hurries his, “Master! Mistress!” He gasps, “The Little Mistress is here.”
The room falls silent, “Are you quite sure?” The Mistress asks. 
“Yes ma’am,” The Twi’lek bobs into a bow, “She consented to a DNA scan. It’s her. Would you like me to bring her down?”
“No, we’ll-”
The door slams open again, “No need. I thought I’d come and say hello.”
Crosshair has always thought that his Princess is stunning, but seeing her standing in the doorway, clad in tight leather, and with her short hair falling into her eyes…she looks like an avenging angel and he’s never been more attracted to her in his life.
Impressive, since he can hardly keep his hands to himself as it is.
“Sweetheart!” The Mistress takes half a step towards her, “Your hair…your face! Why are you so fat?”
Princess closes her eyes for a moment, and then she turns and blatantly ignores everyone in the room, “Are you okay?” Her voice is soft, and for a moment, Crosshair can pretend that they’re on the ship and it’s just them. 
He slides his arms through the bars of the cell, and holds out his trembling hands, “Better, since you’re here.”
Her sharp eyes linger on his trembling hands, on the burn marks on his arms, chest, and stomach. Her gaze lingers on the bruises covering his face and his torso.
And her eyes go cold.
“Sweetling, why are you talking to that-” His Princess’ father says as he takes a step towards her, reaching out to touch her. 
There’s a flash of silver, only noticed because he was looking for it, and then there’s screaming as ‘Darling’ falls back, clutching his blood soaked arm. His Princess carefully uses a cloth to wipe the blood off the blade. 
“You took Crosshair.” Her voice is flat, emotionless. 
She’s clearly pissed.
“You know,” She continues, some emotion returning to her voice, and she directs her comment towards him, “I really only considered two options when coming here.”
“Oh yeah?” Cross asks as he leans against the bars.
“Hm. Option 1, they took you and killed you.” She continues lightly, “And if that was the case I was going to kill them all, burn this place to the ground, and then throw myself at the Empire until they managed to kill me.”
“Dramatic.”
She shrugs a single shoulder, “Option 2, is that they took you and were using you as bait to make me come here. In this scenario, you were uninjured, just annoyed, and I just threatened great bodily harm and we carried on our way.”
She casts her gaze over him again, “Somehow,” She continues, “The idea that they might torture you never crossed my mind.”
“They are still your family, Princess. I’m not gonna blame you for not wanting to believe the worst of them.” Crosshair says lazily.
She turns to the cell door and effortlessly picks the lock and swings the door open, “Well, you’re the injured party, Cross. What do you want?”
“You have a blaster?”
She smiles and wordlessly passes it to him.
Even with nerve damage, and trembling hands, he’s still the best. 
Three shots. Three blaster rounds. 
Three dead bodies. 
His Princess takes the blaster back and slides it in her holster, before she helps him with a shirt she brought him, “Are you ready to go?” She asks.
“More than ready.” He leans against her, needing her support to make it back to the ship, “Let’s get out of here.”
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A week later, you step into the bedroom on your ship, your gaze lingering on Crosshair. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, glaring at his shaking hands. Nerve damage takes weeks to heal, even with bacta.
His hands will be shaking for a while.
Maybe you’ll take Tech up on that offer for a 3 month long vacation on Pabu.
But first-
You enter the room and kneel in front of him, taking both of his hands in yours and pressing light kisses against the palms of his hands. “Do they hurt?” You ask.
“It’s mostly just an ache,” He admits, bitterly, “I’m not going to be able to-”
“Shh,” You release one of his hands and reach up to cup his cheek, “Crosshair, your only responsibility right now is to heal.”
He scowls at you, though you know he’s more annoyed at the situation than at you. “I feel useless.”
“Nonsense. You could never be useless.”
“You’re biased.”
“Mm, perhaps. A little.” You stand and settle on the bed next to him, “But I’m also honest. You will heal. You will get back to 100%. It just takes time.”
He scoffs.
“Don’t be like that.” You say as you lay your head on his shoulder, “After that Wookie broke my leg in three places, you didn’t accuse me of being a burden or of being useless, even though I felt like I was.”
Crosshair shakes his head, and then leans his head against yours, “You gonna use my words against me?”
“If I have to.”
He huffs out a laugh, “I suppose you did pay for the best doctors to see me.” 
“Yes, I did.” You reply smugly.
“Alright.” He turns to look at you properly, “I’ll be patient.”
“You’re a sniper, patience is your thing.” You tease him, throwing his words back at him.
His arms, strong and steady, hook around you and he pulls you onto his lap, “Yeah, yeah.” Crosshair leans in and kisses you hungrily, nipping at your lower lip roughly enough that you squeak, “So. You gonna tell me what you and Tech have been talking about?”
“...he’s invited us to come to Pabu until you finish recovery. I’m thinking that agreeing might be a good idea.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and then he sighs, “If you think it’s a good idea, Princess, then I won’t argue. But I refuse to stay with my siblings.”
“Of course not, we’ll be staying here or in an inn.” You brush your fingers across his cheek, “I’ll go let him know.”
Crosshair tightens his grip around you, “You can tell him later. I want you for myself right now.”
You beam at him, “I think that sounds like a great idea.”
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