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ccghastly · 1 year

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The Van der Linde Fellas as Hybrids

Arthur:

Some kinda Mastiff Dog.

He's big and playful, knows his own size and he's not afraid to use it, very family focused, will protect his pack if its the last thing he does.

His ears are a bit raggedy, his tail was cropped. Used to drool a lot as a pup and Hosea does not let him live it down, playing with Jack always makes his tail wag. Growls and grumbles a lot, but often doesn't mean anything by it.

John:

Raccoon

Greasy trash panda, stealing other peoples shinies and taking no responsibility.

Screeches at Arthur 24\7, will not admit to being chased up multiple trees by him when they were young. Has little caches of stuff absolutely everywhere. If you lose him, he's where he's not meant to be, look in the place you'd least like him to be first and there you will find him, very confused on how Hosea always finds him so fast.

Hosea:

Maine Coon

Blends into high society, hates strangers, likes being in the company of his family, an excellent hunter, very motherly towards his boys.

Spends his evenings before the camp's fire, bushing out his fur. Drags Arthur and John over to be groomed if they get too close, Arthur gets too close suspiciously often, John is suspiciously far away. Very charming, knows how to sway his tail just right to make people notice him, also knows how to blend in and appear like any other average domestic breed.

Dutch:

Says he's a raven but is actually a shiny cowbird.

Kinda detrimental to those around him but not maliciously, promiscuous with no set partner, offloads much of the physical work onto others, a conman that knows how to fit in.

Is very proud of his iridescent plumage, flirts and preens incessantly, flares his wings when trying to make a point and be dramatic. Once accidentally set his tail feathers on fire when preening too close to the campfire, pouted in his tent until they grew back and Hosea stopped laughing.

Bill:

Some kind of cat, I lean towards a Lion.

He's grumbly, likes a lot of naps, will pitch in if asked but leaves most of running around to his pride, a big boy, patrols his territory.

His mane is kinda scraggly and the gang does indeed make fun of him for it. If there's a sunbeam he's napping in it. Hates the cold. Loves snuggles and physical affection but will die before admitting it.

Sean:

Husky

Has a flair for the dramatic, loud, listens to no one unless it benefits him, enjoys 'singing'. When it's time to work, it's time to work. Can't focus unless he has a job to do, works well with others.

Tail wagging & tongue out 90% of the time. Constantly trying to tackle Arthur into play fights. Sheds like a mf and gets offended when called out about it.

Micah:

Vampire Finch

You know he's up to nothing good but you can't seem to stop him before he does damage. Picks away at people until they're too exhausted to fight back.

Enjoys eating his meat as bloody as he can get it, preens more than you'd think but his feathers are still constantly a bit ragged. Struts around camp with his feathers fluffed out to look bigger, loves to poke and pick at people then fly off when they retaliate. Constantly lands rudely close to hitting people. Will dive bomb you.

Charles:

Mustang

Protects his herd, can roam alone but prefers company, not afraid of hard work. Knows when to pick his battles. Quiet, but says a lot if you know how to read him.

Enjoys taking the time in the morning to carefully braid his mane. He's a big boy and is very conscious of that fact. Careful with every movement. When alone together will stealthily scritch Arthur's ears to watch his tail wag, does accept retaliatory scritches, mutual grooming is the ultimate act of friendship.

Javier:

Ornate hawk eagle

Flashy and fancy but gets the job done, strikes hard and fast.

Preens his wings a lot, hates when his feathers and crest get disorderly, says it feels wrong. Dutch has him fly up and scout the way. Coordinates outfits so they match his plumage.

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jojossillywalk · 1 year

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why does avdol know about the assassins

if we compile context facts in one place, i think Some theories could be made

he seems particularly knowledgeable about hitmen: "mafia, governments, and militaries employ his services (devo)," "he's paid to make them look like accidents (grey fly)," recognized cameo on sight. and knows that "no one" who has faced devo is alive. he also knows midler's range.

if you are paid, there is a decent possibility that you leave a paper trail. joseph seems confident in avdol's abilities to track people down very little (he asks if avdol can gauge anything from a photo with a dark background).

joseph isn't wrong: avdol can pinpoint your address using an unfortunate fly.

ordinarily an advocate of tactical retreat and restraint, but bystander death in front of him will negate this. he also believes "some things are too evil to be allowed to live."

has a knife on hand, which he tosses to people in case they want to skip the hard part.

one of the best moods that we see him in is when he, in effect, has cameo cornered in an area where avdol has complete tactical advantage: wide open space, the terrain is known to avdol, cameo doesn't know the full extent of avdol's strength and has been caught off guard, etc

he is fine with battling jotaro, but immediately disengages when jotaro says "i'm locked in here because i keep hurting people without meaning to"

very familiar with stand battle power: he's the one who states that stand power is in relation to range, he knows that breath restriction diminishes a stand (unless you are dark blue moon or jotaro i suppose), and he assumed that a recently manifested stand wouldn't be as clear as splat was- he can even estimate your distance if he knows enough about your stand beforehand (we see w cameo and midler)

similar to the tarot (all experienced with stand fights), avdol uses knowledge as a metric of advantage- "the enemy knows everything about you- you said that you've lived on your own, but at this point, you're not going to be able to win by yourself."

you could argue that avdol's general demeanor is understandably impacted by how much knowledge he has: he's visibly confident and enthusiastic during the cameo fight. in the polnareff fight, he's cautious, but somewhat relaxed (even charmed) by the fact that polnareff is extremely open about his abilities.

conversely, as early as dark blue moon, "a stand that i, avdol, haven't heard of." knowledge is a very important aspect of how he fights. avdol also notes that with strength, "this is the first time i've encountered such power."

side note, magician's red requires a lot of knowledge: not only are you dealing with the stand, which has a lot of components making the whole, but avdol's very aware of the environment. we see him making really versatile usage of his surroundings, using the statue of magician's red, he uses the ground to solve tactical problems multiple times (making the tunnel and burning the hole under the train track), and red acts as a life/stand sensor.

his test of character for both jotaro and polnareff is exposing his back and walking away- in the mariah episode, we see avdol's actual reflexes in regards to things flying at his back. during combat, this man determines whether he wants to be friends with you based on whether you try stabbing him in the back.

this could be also interpreted as avdol partially basing that judgement on how someone responds to their opponent disengaging!

finally, he's very, very casual about faking his death.

basically a summary of this behemoth but! based on context, i think it's safe to say that avdol and polnareff have more in common than initial impression, because i don't think avdol was using all that information to make trivia games.

that said! i don't think he was tracking with the express intent to battle/kill- even when splat was getting rowdy, avdol doesn't go full throttle, and is quick to stop. i think it was more a statement of "essentially having telekinesis won't free you from consequence," and once he realizes that jotaro wasn't using splat to just bat people around, he hit him with "Turns My Back On You Haha Hope No One Stabs It"

hell, avdol choses to spare polnareff before he realized that polnareff likely had a fleshbud, based on the actions of that episode. he immediately tries to give iggy some gum after iggy is in the cage. i think avdol is definitely an enjoyer of Snappish Weirdo Guys.

#mohammed avdol #muhammed avdol

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gladfang · 4 days

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Hi Wilson. 👋 I've seen you talk about Supergiant before so I thought I'd ask what your feelings on Pyre are (if you've played it)? I have it + Transistor in my Steam library from some good promotions awhile back, but didn't consider playing them until recently.

HI OKAY i can definately tell you about them but ive only played pyre once and transistor about 3 times ❤❤❤

PYRE is set in a world where after people are exiled into purgatory, they can compete in an ancient sport against rival teams in order to return to where they came. it's a 3v3 get-the-ball-into-the-other-team's-goal to diminish their flame until you win game with some enviromental mechanics and different movesets depending on the characters you colleuse. the matches are seperated by character driven story moment, you meet these characters along the way and depending on dialouge choices can learn about their individual lives, why they were exhiled and why they want to return. i found it a bit overwhelming with all the text but that was like YEARS ago. as always the character design is beautifu, i loved witnessing the developping relationships between everyone, the lore and character writing was really good - i'd honestly propose its the best supergiant has put out. the player is their own character and you start in an established group of nomads. there's multiple endings depending on how you choose to play with a big theme of sacrifice that i was compelled by.

i'd definately give it a go but if you don't like the party gameplay then drop it after a couple matches tbh because it doesn't get much more compelling from that i remember.

TRANSISTOR however is my FAVOURITE supergiant game of all the ones ive played (literally ever single one except hades 2). murder-by-passion with a lot of sci-fi horror elements. a deadly virus starts transforming people into organic robots whilst the corrupt group in charge are powerless to stop it, triggered (iirc) by the accidental murder of singer red's bodyguard, in an attack that was meant to kill her. the game will tell you the story between the main couple is a tragic romance but it is LARGELY about the dangers of codependence. however because the game doesn't realise that, its sort of fumbled, but i still really enjoy the story regardless. timestop stratergy rpg with a lot of customisation on loadouts with primary, secondary and passive options on all attacks (IF i'm remembering correctly), a new game plus option where you keep your previous collected abilities and also the option to just hammer shit in real time... but you will get your ass kicked if you take on every fight that way. incredibly compelling cast of characters despite only really meeting 3, the rest you discover with the lore through voting stations, points of interest and conversations you'll witness between the protagonists. it has one of my favourite villains of all time and the sequence where you finally meet him is INCREDIBLY well done. it's been a while but i'm pretty sure my feelings wouldn't change on replay when i say the final battle was so fun and subverted my expectations of the gameplay in a really interesting way.

i think everyone should play transistor atleast once, if not just for the gameplay but like i said i am a sucker for the story even tho the ending is... divisive 👍

#inbox #hope this is the kind of thing u wanteeeeeed heart emoji

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james5-doe · 1 year

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Forward: I've combined some of my older work to create this tale, which features new writing and art. Not sure if I'll post this spinoff on FF.net.

SMD Side Story

"The Third Bearer"

Flash had visited about twenty-two worlds. Maybe twenty-three; he couldn't be sure. In any event, he'd seen all manners of civilizations, spotted great advances in architecture. Among all the places his eyes beheld, few lands compared to the Netherworld. The Golden Realm was incredible, even more so than when he'd viewed it last. Jedda was adding her personal touch, making the kingdom her own domain. Long red banners draped ivory walls -- banners displaying the kingdom's crest. Video screens hung above the streets, ones Jedda used when she made an address. The land looked a little like ancient Rome, with the conveniences of Central City.

"So what does a typical day entail?" he asked while walking beside the queen. What did his son's routine involve?

Jedda held her gaze on the long pale road, a number of guards marching up ahead. "The realm is divided into multiple lands. Tensions are arising between a few. We're monitoring shipments. Preaching peace. Making sure the people don't fight for supplies." She paused a moment. "Aside from that, we've stopped radicals who want other lands, villages outside their territories."

Flash couldn't help but feel a little conflicted. Jedda's report made him proud of her. Another part of him felt something else. "J..." He paused, his voice softening. "Do you ever long for a normal life?"

She chuckled a bit. "I've never exactly been a 'normal' girl."

"I know that you haven't. That's my point. I wonder if it's something you still desire." He smiled a tad. "Remember when we talked about this back home?" Flash regretted his choice of word. He shouldn't have labeled the mansion home. That might make Jedda start to long for it -- assuming she wasn't longing for it now. He cleared his throat. "Back at Mandrake's place, I mean."

Jedda went quiet for a number of seconds. Her gaze grew firm as she studied the ground, the little tiara shining in her hair. Just as it seemed she was about to speak, the sound of footsteps arrived behind.

"Highness!"

Flash turned and spotted a servant. The guards at the rear looked curious.

The man knelt down a few yards from her. "Raiders have looted your shipment to Alyn."

"Raiders from where?" Jedda was scowling.

"According to footage from Nethernet..." He made a long frown. "They seem to have approached from the village of Oris."

Her fists clenched up. "Damn it," she whispered, turning away.

Flash touched her arm. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

"Those two lands are on the brink of battle." She heaved a sigh. "The leader of Oris wants more supplies. He thinks that Alyn gets a bit too much. As soon as word spreads of what he's done, Alyn will take the goods back by force."

A voice called out. "Not if I can help it."

Flash spun around, seeing his son. Rick was approaching in a suit of armor, a number of troops marching at his back.

"Lend me your cape," Rick said to Jedda.

Jedda flinched a little. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to head out and retrieve the supplies. A knight wears the colors of his lady in battle."

She scowled again. "Have you lost your mind? I can't have you running into battle, Rick. You're about to sit on the throne with me. I need you here, where you won't be hurt."

"This isn't a risky battle, J. It won't demand any real effort."

"Then why are you going?" She narrowed her eyes. "Why don't you leave this fight to the troops? Why do you need to be out in the field?"

Rick looked down at his boots for a moment. His fists were shaking with anxiety. It seemed he couldn't wait to head out to the fray.

Jedda glanced off. "You don't need to go -- you want to go."

Flash felt awkward as he watched them both. He wasn't surprised that it'd come to this. Rick was a Gordon. He longed for thrills. Action and adventure were in his blood. This could be an issue for years to come.

She turned back to Rick. "We're not Defenders. Not anymore. You're supposed to be King Richard now."

Rick sighed a bit. "I'm not on the throne. Not just yet. Until I am, I'm going to go out there and serve our kingdom." He walked to Jedda and gave her a kiss, then he patted Flash on the shoulder and left. All of the soldiers followed him.

Jedda looked on, quietly.

"He'll be okay," Flash murmured to her. "He's the best." The mission didn't sound very dangerous. If it had, he would've gone too.

Jedda kept staring, holding silent.

"I'm going to head back," Flash announced. "I'll call here later."

Jedda made a nod.

Flash stepped away.

----

Two Hours Later

"Finally," April exclaimed, seeing Rick's face on her video phone. "What in the world is going on down there? I couldn't get anyone to take my calls." Then she paused, fidgeting. Her brother appeared rather shaken up. He was in a thin suit of tattered plates. "Are you okay?"

Rick heaved a sigh. "We just had a battle."

"Obviously. Everything all right?"

He shook his head. "Jedda was there. She lost the necklace. Everybody's scrambling to get it back. We're trying to chase the two culprits down." Rick punched a wall. "It's all my fault."

April shivered. Not again. She really hoped that she hadn't heard him right. The necklace contained unbelievable power. She didn't like the thought of it being misused, as it had been before Hadea had changed. Her fear became anger as his words sank in. "A queen shouldn't be on the battlefield. Why was she out there anyway?"

Rick looked down. "She came out because she was concerned for me. Jedda never wanted me going there..."

"But you decided to go anyway." April scowled. She knew him well. "You had to go getting your little thrills."

"Don't pretend you never do that too."

"I'm not the head of some royal land."

Rick paused a second, touching his ear, holding what looked like a listening device. "Wait a minute...I just got word that the necklace was found! Both of the raiders have been subdued."

April felt a flutter of intense relief.

"But not by our people...by Minako's."

April squinted. "Minako..." She recalled all of the recent events. Hadea had given Minako a land, letting her replace a very negligent queen. Minako had sounded uncertain at first, but gradually declared that she'd give it a try.

Now she had the Necklace of Oros with her.

----

Jedda scowled. "What do you mean you can't give it back?" She took another gander at Minako's chest. The Necklace of Oros was glistening there. Jedda intended to retrieve it now, to take it straight home to the Netherworld. Minako had other plans, it seemed.

Jedda eyed Rick, who stood at her side. He seemed every bit as perplexed as her.

"Jedda..." Minako released a moan. "I didn't say I wasn't going to give it back. I said that I can't give it back today. I have to keep it for a little while."

Jedda took a breath. "Why is that?"

"It could help a lot in my kingdom now."

"You think I don't need it in my domain?"

Minako paused. "Honestly no. Can't say that I do. The Netherworld is a prosperous land. Mine is still struggling to find its feet. I need the power that the necklace brings, the power to expedite the growth of crops -- crops we can trade in for currency, money that will buy us technology, tech that will help better people's lives."

Jedda resisted the urge to glare. Minako hadn't been a queen for long, yet she was thinking so far ahead. She was moving faster than Jedda had.

"As soon as I've gotten my land in shape, I'll give the necklace right back to you."

Jedda stepped forth. "I need the necklace to protect my home, just in case the raiders attack again."

"We both know it's highly unlikely they will." She quieted a moment, then squinted a tad. "There's more to this than you're letting on."

Jedda twitched a little, trying to hide it. Her fellow ruler was smart indeed. It seemed she recalled a discussion they'd had.

"This is about what you said before." Minako stared. "You think you'll lose Hadea if you lose the land. That's the real reason why you serve as queen. And that's the main reason why you want the jewel. You waited so long to have a mom in your life. You think the Netherworld is the key to that."

Jedda knew this wasn't entirely true. She sensed that it wasn't wholly false either. "Give me the necklace." She stepped in closer.

Rick got between them, extending an arm. "Jedda," he whispered, touching her shoulder. "Let's head home now, and think this through."

Minako eyed them regretfully.

Jedda watched the girl, then walked away, letting Rick lead her to the palace's door.

----

Minako stared at the video screen, wrapping her call with Hadea up. "I'll give it back to Jedda when the time is right. No one will decide when that is but me." She rose from the seat, adjusting her robe, then glanced at the jewel resting on her chest. "It's my necklace now."

Hadea paused, then smiled a bit. Was the queen proud of the stance she'd taken? "Goodnight, child," Hadea said. "We'll speak again soon."

Minako nodded. "Goodnight, Hadea." She tapped a remote, ending the call, then took the necklace off and crawled into her bed.

----

Based on Sailor Moon Defenders by @amandamultifandoms

Art by Plustina and Neldorwen

#defenders of the earth

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linkedkeysau-official · 2 years

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Whumptober 2022 (LK edition)

Day 1- Ringing ears (alt prompt)

Whoever had the idea of stuffing explosives in a barrel, especially where it would be accessible to monsters, deserved to be blown up themselves, Time thought to himself. It wasn’t bad enough that the monsters in Wild’s era were apparently known to band together and even set up elaborate camps by the road where they can easily ambush travelers; according to Wild, every one of these camps is equipped with barrels of explosives that, if struck the wrong way or anywhere near an open flame, can be extremely volatile, and have nearly killed the Champion multiple times. And when the Chain came across one of these monster camps almost immediately after arriving in Wild’s era, Time had the misfortune of finding out exactly how volatile.

While the majority of the boys were charging in from the lower level of the camp, Wild had vanished, planning a sneak attack from the top. Sky and Four stayed behind, climbing up to a nearby rock so they could help take down a few of the monsters from a distance with their bows. Stealth would normally be the best course of action when taking on a full camp of monsters, but with the heroes actually outnumbering the monsters this time around, they decided a quick, head-on assault was a better way to go. And once Wild had dropped down from the cliffside above, gliding in straight to the top of the camp, the monsters had nowhere to run. If they hadn’t been trying to kill innocent people all the time, the boys might have even felt sorry for them.

Of course they should have known that Nihrie had not only magically enhanced these monsters, but also had a new tactic up his sleeve to make the fight absolute hell: The monsters would explode when defeated. Expecting them to disappear in a puff of smoke once killed, like monsters almost always did, Wind was nearly blasted off one of the upper platforms when the Bokoblin he’d been fighting suddenly exploded in a burst of blue energy not even a second after the teen had landed the final blow. Everyone who saw this immediately knew they were in for a tougher battle than anticipated.

“Guys, be careful! These ones explode!” Warriors warned as he went to check on Wind (he was okay, just startled).

“Explode? What do you–” Wild asked, striking a Blue Bokoblin at the top who’s back was turned, not expecting to be hit from behind. The Bokoblin fell in one hit, but Wild was also blasted backwards, “Oh. I see what you mean now. Yikes.”

“Well, this definitely complicates things.” Minish commented.

“Yeah… Make sure you watch out for those red barrels too. They’ll blow up too, they’re full of explosives.” Twilight warned.

“Din’s balls, Wild! Does everything in your Hyrule explode?!” Legend asked, putting up his shield in an attempt to block himself and Future from the next blast.

“No, not everything. A lot of things, yes, but not everything! The exploding monsters are definitely a new one for me too.” Wild said.

“Unless you count the chuchus.” Twilight added helpfully.

“Well, these definitely aren’t chuchus, Twi!” Future pointed out.

“Boys, stop arguing and pay attention to the matter at hand! I’d rather not watch any of you be blown to pieces within the first hour of us being here.” Time butted in. He found that the extra range from his Biggoron Sword was useful in keeping some distance between him and the monsters so he could get out of the way before the explosion. Though he didn’t notice the bokoblin sneaking up on him from behind until it was much too close. Not thinking, Four quickly aimed his bow at it and fired, striking it directly in the head. The arrow finished off the bokoblin in one shot, though the explosion— which Four had completely forgotten about— would cause other problems.

Turning around just in time to see the arrow strike, Time managed to step back to minimize the damage he would take from the blast (having armor certainly helped too). Unfortunately, the blast also happened to be just a little too close to one of the bomb barrels. Before anyone saw it coming, the second explosion went off, much larger than the first. Time felt the shockwave push him away. Everything was so hot… He could feel himself falling, though in his daze, it felt more like weightlessness, like he was simply floating… Until he hit the ground with a thud, the tall grass just barely providing a cushion over the hard dirt that it could have been. He supposed he should be thankful for that, but at the moment he couldn't even think.

His head was spinning. His ears were ringing. He couldn't see straight, his vision was blurring and doubling, a sharp pulsing pain shooting through his skull. He pressed his hands to his ears, begging the ringing to just stop, for this pain to go away. There was a strange wetness on his fingers. He pulled them away and saw that there was a sticky red liquid covering the palms of his hands. Was that blood? Were his ears bleeding? That couldn't be good, now, could it?

Small vibrations in the ground near where he lay told him that someone was approaching. Twilight's face came into view just above him. His pup was trying to say something— shouting it, even— but Time couldn't hear a thing. He tried to respond anyway, but was unsure if his voice was even coming out, or if it was coherent at all. Twilight turned to someone else behind him. Time tried to lift his head to see who he was talking to, but the moment he tried, his vision darkened around the edges, black spots appearing with it, and he realized that was probably a bad idea.

Hyrule came to Twilight's side soon after, with Legend, Wind, Future, and Four standing just behind. Four's expression was full of remorse, like he was guilty of something, but Time couldn't figure out what Four would be so upset about. Time felt a hand on his shoulder as someone lightly shook him. Hyrule was trying to get his attention. He saw the healer trying to say something, but he still couldn't hear. Upon seeing the blank stare Time gave him, Hyrule slowed down so Time could at least read his lips,

Can you hear me?

Time shook his head slightly, trying not to worsen the pain and dizziness. Hyrule turned back to the others, Legend apparently trying to tell him something. Hyrule nodded, then turned back to Time, scanning his face as if looking for something. His eyes narrowed as if he just remembered something odd, turning back to Legend. He said something, pointing at his eye. Were they talking about Time's eye? His left one seemed as good as it always was. Was the right side bleeding or something? Time reached up, brushing his cheek underneath his eyepatch. It came up dry. No blood. What were they talking about? He was getting frustrated with not being able to hear a damn thing, and the incessant ringing in his ears was not helping him to tolerate it any better.

"Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?!" He shouted, almost certain that his voice could be heard. The volume of it caused an uncomfortable vibration in his already throbbing head, and while he still couldn't really hear his own voice, everyone turned to look at him. Time once again tried to sit up. It took Twilight and Hyrule together to keep him down. Mask suddenly stepped up into view, looking like he had an idea.

Can you still sign?

It had been forever since the days when Time rarely spoke and thus typically resorted to signing, but he nodded. He still remembered at least a little bit. Future gave Mask a thumbs up as if congratulating him for coming up with this method of communicating with Time until his hearing returned. If it returned…

Can't hear? Mask asked. Time shook his head.

Rule thinks you might have hurt your head, but hard to check with one eye. Mask explained. Hyrule said something else to Mask, presumably giving him another message to relay.

Feel dizzy? Tired? Remember what happened? The child asked. Time paused for a moment,

Dizzy. Head hurts. Ears hurt, Time replied. There was another brief relay of information between Mask and Hyrule.

Anything else hurt? Mask asked. Time shook his head. His armor must have done its job and protected him from the majority of the blast. Time flinched as a sudden coolness washed over the side of his head, unsure of what it was.

Rule is healing you, Mask told him. Time was able to relax after that. He'd grown so used to compensating for the loss of his right eye by using his hearing more than his sight. Needless to say, it put him on edge when he couldn't hear what was around him either. But having the reassurance that it was just Hyrule's magic, Time was able to lay back and relax while the group's healer did his thing. Very slowly, the pain in his head began to dissipate. There was still a ringing in his right ear, but he was able to just barely make out the voices of the other boys through his left.

"Can you hear me now?" Hyrule asked.

"A little, yeah." Time confirmed, just as happy about it as the others appeared to be.

"Turn your head, I'm gonna try to fix your other ear." Hyrule ordered. Time did so, and within about a minute, his hearing was almost back to what it was before, and he now only had a slight headache. He looked back up to see Hyrule nearly fall backwards, a dazed look in his warm brown eyes. Legend caught him before he hit the ground.

"Aaaand you're done now. No more, Rulie." The pink-haired hero said. Hyrule looked too tired to argue, and simply made an "ok" gesture with his fingers.

"Did what I could. Probably gonna… take a few days to heal all the way…" Hyrule told him weakly.

"You did good, Hyrule. Thank you. And I apologize for getting angry before. I shouldn't have acted like that towards those who were only trying to help me." Time put a hand on Hyrule's shoulder, giving the healer a reassuring smile.

Out of nowhere, another blast was heard, followed shortly by the thud of something hitting the ground nearby. Everyone turned to look, and saw Wild laying face down in the dirt. Concern was plainly written on everyone's faces until the champion picked his head up and gave everyone a thumbs up to say he was okay. His nose was bleeding and his face, hair, and clothes were all covered in dirt, but if he could still smile like that, chances are it wasn't too serious. Still, Hyrule began hurriedly digging through his bag for a potion, about to get up and run to the Champion's side before Legend screamed,

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF NAYRU— no, Rulie, stay. Legend snatched the potion bottle out of Hyrule's hands and stomped over towards Wild with the assumed intent to either force the potion down his throat or hit him in the head with the bottle and then give it to him to drink, "WILD, YOU FUCKING MORON!!!" Even if he'd taken a healing potion with him, he looked as if he wanted to kill the Champion right now, face as red as his tunic with anger. And yet, something about this confrontation (possibly Wild's dumbass smirk, undeterred by Legend's fury) made it impossible for anyone to stop laughing.

#linked keys #LK au #whumptober2022 #LK Time #not lu

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saintarchie · 2 years

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The Final Cut

He’s pretty calm for someone who just got kicked off the last airship out of Saigon.

The northern section of Starkfort is a bit grander in scale than the others, with a number of branching paths across multiple floors, one of which leads to what I assume must be the very top of the fortress. As we approach, a cutscene, wherein the previously-unseen leader of the Swordbearers prepares to evacuate. He’s pretty annoyed with the Black Blades, and doesn’t hesitate to say as much to Kamiizumi, who is also present.

It seems that whole reason the uprising happened in the first place was because the Black Blades convinced the Swordbearers that the ensuing war would be winnable with their help, only for it to drag on for four years and end in defeat. Now that it’s all over, the leader has decided to flee, ostensibly so he can regroup and someday lead another uprising. Kamiizumi seems sceptical, but doesn’t stop him from leaving, or using Kamiizumi’s airship for his escape.

I thought this was happening on the floor where we are, but apparently not. Save point guy is waiting by the next set of stairs, and I can only assume that Kamiizumi is waiting at the top. Yeah, here we go.

Confronted by his former disciple, Kamiizumi admits that their plan was a reckless one, and that he was drawn by the thrill of fighting a great battle against overwhelming odds as much as anything else. But his failure to curtail his subordinates’ excesses had dire consequences, even before Edea et al arrived.

Edea recalls some of the things Kamiizumi taught her; not just her skill with a blade, but a lot of her ideas about good and evil came from him. He shaped her morality to much greater extent than her father, who was too busy with his work. She asks if the things he taught her about righteousness and bravery were all lies. How he can reconcile his beliefs about helping the helpless with his actions in starting this war.

His response is similar to their last conversation; she’s still young and allowing sentiment, to say nothing of her black and white view of the world, to cloud her judgement. A more mature view of the world would acknowledge that concepts like truth and righteousness mean different things to different people. Which might be true, but doesn’t actually answer any of her questions. There might well be a justification for everything he’s done, but until he’s willing to actually say what it is, there’s not really much that can be gained from this discussion.

They go on like this, with Edea accusing him of using “things are complicated, you’ll understand when you’re older” as an excuse for his own corruption, and Kamiizumi accusing her of not being able to see that it’s not always possible to act in accordance with one’s beliefs and one’s responsibilities. He compares himself to both Edea’s father and Agnès in this regard. After all, he reasons, a lot of blood has been shed in the name of Agnès’s attempt to awaken the crystals, but she continues because she believes the end goal justifies the sacrifice.

Edea’s not buying it. For one thing, Agnès wouldn’t need to be doing any of this if Eternia hadn’t moved against the Orthodoxy, and even leaving that aside, nothing she’s done is as bad as the crimes that the Marshal and his followers have committed. All that Kamiizumi can say in response to this is that Edea will never understand if she can’t see beyond the surface, and chastises her for losing sight of what’s most important. Which is what? What is below the surface? What is most important? What is it that she’s not seeing? His refusal to just fucking tell her what’s going on here is beginning to get a bit tiresome.

It also does nothing to help his argument; the opposite in fact, since it just strengthens Edea’s resolve to help Agnès awaken the last crystal, which she vows to do, no matter who she has to fight. Kamiizumi accepts this, and decides that the first person she fights should be him.

So now we have to fight Kamiizumi, which, after Chaugmar & Qada, I’m kind of dreading. “Before Swine” What the hell does that mean? Oh, it’s a magic counter. An extremely powerful one. Fuck. “Nothing Ventured” is for physical attacks, presumably. Yes. OK. Is that all he does? No, he does sword attacks as well. And chains braves together when he does. So, I guess the idea is to wait for him to attack instead of countering and then while his BP counter is building back up, we can attack with impunity. Yeah, this is actually pretty straightforward. And there he goes. Much easier than the last two boss fights.

Defeated and dying, Kamiizumi praises Edea for her victory, admitting that he underestimated her. He makes one last request of her; to take the time to talk things over with her father, and foresees tragedy for both if she can’t bring their dispute to an end. Then he dies, leaving behind the swordmaster aspatria.

It’s really hard to shake the feeling that this whole conflict could have been avoided if some of the people involved were even slightly more willing to communicate with each other.

#archie plays bravely default

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andiinaraethtash · 2 years

Text

Chapter 21: The Mountains I Knew So Well Burned with Hellfire in the Blue Light of Midnight

Summary:

It seems every two weeks is my new update schedule. It might be more often headed into the holidays, it might be less. I guess we'll see. TW: Blood, gore, violence. This is it, people. The final chapter of the climactic battle. Chapter title from Brother by Madds Buckley

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Before Aeor appeared, Scott had been ready to collapse. He’d poured his all into trying to take down Exor, using up all his energy. He’d been sore, aching, and exhausted.

The moment Aeor explodes into being, his strength suddenly returns, and while he knows it’s just a bandage on a much larger problem, he also knows he’s now got what he needs to stand up to Exor.

Jimmy suddenly appears by his side, Lizzie and Joel not far behind him, and Scott gives him a once-over to confirm that he’s okay—he’d been knocked back over the other side of the cliffs the Forge and Manor stood on, shortly before Exor had appeared—but there's nothing obviously broken or bleeding, so he takes Jimmy’s nod of greeting and turns his attention back to the twin gods.

Aeor spreads his hands and looks almost pleadingly at his brother. “Exor. Please, stop this. You know as well as I that destroying this realm isn’t going to bring you any joy or fulfilment. All it will do is make the void inside you grow.”

Exor bares his teeth. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I know it will be infinitely more satisfying to squash your champion and his so-called friends than to retreat.”

Aeor’s expression shutters closed. “Very well. But remember, I offered you a way out.”

“That’s the difference between us, brother dearest. I don’t offer mercy. I have no such weakness.”

Scott steps forward, summoning an ice pillar so he can reach level with the stag gods. “We’ll be with you, Aeor. Whatever you need, ask.”

Aeor nods. “I need you with me. The others…”

“Oh, don’t worry about them,” Exor interrupts . “I’ll keep them occupied.” With that, he waves a hand, and the ground is suddenly covered in a dark, thick fog, from which multiple undead creatures start emerging.

Scott swears quietly and turns to look down at Jimmy, who nods and waves Joel and Lizzie forward. Together, the three of them dive into the darkness below, planting torches in the ground to light up a section to use as a starting point.

The light attracts a good deal of the undead, and Scott sees out of the corner of his eye that Pearl and Joey have joined the other three in fending off the hordes. The rest, though, the rest of the undead split into two groups. One goes toward the farmhouse, where Pix, Shrub, and the villagers should be, and the other heads toward a small outcropping of rock, where Scott can vaguely see Gem standing over a prone figure, brandishing sword and staff fiercely.

A chill of fear runs through Scott’s spine as Sausage and Katherine fly past, headed toward Gem, and he does the maths on who is missing. Oh gods. If Exor’s here, then fWhip…

Oh, poor fWhip. Aeor only knows what the possession has done to him, not to mention the fact that Gem and Pearl had seemed convinced that Exor had crushed his mind, if not his very soul, out of existence.

Rage suddenly flares in Scott’s heart, and he summons more ice as he draws his sword again. “Ready when you are,” He calls over his shoulder to his patron god, and Aeor summons a larger, more icy version of Scott’s own sword.

Without another word, they engage.

_______

Shrub’s wolves are fighting when they emerge from the tunnel, and Shrub has never been more thankful for Pix’s ability to think ahead, because the only thing keeping the villagers from being slaughtered immediately is the formation they’re in. The men on the outside of the impromptu caravan don’t all have proper weapons, but they’ve made up for it by improvising and fighting ferociously with what they could get their hands on. The women join in, too, and Shrub has a split second to smile at the spirit of these people before the Mother Wolf is nudging her, she’s mounting, and they’re charging into battle.

There are so many zombies, and skeletons, and creepers, so, so many creepers. She can’t turn without nearly being blown sky high. The only thing saving her is the Mother Wolf’s quick reflexes and her own shield, which is slowly being reduced to splinters.

Pix is a maniac next to her, summoning bolt after bolt of lightning, but it’s not doing much. In fact, it’s almost making things worse, because he’s charging the creepers, making their explosions do much more damage. Shrub has to duck behind her shield as one explodes next to the house, throwing shrapnel every which way. As soon as it’s safe, she straightens, and calls over her shoulder, “Pix, I don’t think the lightning’s a good idea!”

“Duly noted,” Pix calls back, jumping to a moustached man’s defence as he tries to get the children and the injured farther south, away from the majority of the fighting. “But do you any better ideas?”

Shrub wants to say that she does, that she has a brilliant plan that will get them all out of this unscathed—or, at least, not any more scathed than they are now—but she doesn’t. She has no clue how they’re going to get out of this mess. She wants to suggest they just book it across the plains to the Undergrove or the Lost Empire, but the plains are so fractured, so broken, that she knows they won’t be able to cross on foot.

The plan had been to hide at fWhip’s farmhouse as long as possible and make their way to safety when the battle was over, but with the horde of the undead encroaching on the supposedly safe place, that plan is out the window. They just can’t stay. It’d be suicide.

She turns abruptly when a cry rings out from the direction of the villagers taking a stand, but they don’t seem hurt. Instead, they’re pointing up at the sky, looking amazed. Shrub follows their gaze, and immediately grins in relief. This… this changes everything.

_______

Katherine would love to say she’s got a cool head on her shoulders, but in all honesty, she’s freaking out, exhausted, and about ready to cry. She’s also scared, so scared her hands are shaking and she’s having to repeatedly tell herself that it’s the adrenaline instead of the abject terror of having two gods clashing in the background as she and Sausage land next to Gem.

There are hordes of undead stumbling and crawling toward them, but Katherine’s attention is focused mainly on the bleeding form of fWhip, lying at Gem’s feet. Sausage had stammered something of an explanation of fWhip being hurt, but she hadn’t been prepared for this.

There’s just a stump where his left arm is supposed to be, but the severed arm is only a foot or two away, fWhip’s sword still grasped in its fist. fWhip himself is pale, barely breathing, and bleeding, his shoulder weeping, gushing blood.

Katherine immediately falls to her knees next to him, splashing regen potion after healing potion after regen potion to try to encourage healing and replace the lost blood, but the wound is stubborn, unsure as to whether or not to heal or try to regenerate the limb (not that that would work, nor would trying to reattach the limb through magic. Both have been tried, neither to any success). Bandages in hand, she starts trying to wrap the wound, but gets interrupted by an arrow to the back.

She screams. Gem is there almost instantly, asking if she’s okay and if she should remove the arrow. Katherine manages a nod, and clenches her teeth to contain the scream this time. She downs a potion in record time, hands Gem some bandages, and tells her to pack the wound as best she can. While she does that, Katherine goes to turn back to her patient, but is interrupted by the hiss of a creeper.

She manages to get her shield up in time, twisting to get behind the protection it offers, but it’s a close thing, and the blast disorrients her badly.

When she opens her eyes, she’s startled to find a black snout in her face. She yelps, scrambles back a bit, then realises she knows this dog. “Koda,” she whispers, feeling the strangest bit of deja vu she’s ever had.

Remembering that Koda never goes far from Nova, she whips her head around, looking for the younger dog, and finds her nosing fWhip’s still body. She’s whining pathetically, nudging fWhip like she’s telling him to stop playing dead and get up, tell her she’s a good girl, show any sign of life.

But he doesn’t. He just lays there, and Nova lays down next to him, her breathy whines coming out more and more like mournful howls.

Katherine swallows hard. No. No, fWhip’s not dead yet, and he won’t die anytime soon if she has anything to say about it. She grabs her bandages, and gets to work, while around her, the battle rages on.

_______

For the next several minutes—possibly hours, time seems meaningless—there is only chaos, and ice and flame meeting and melting each other in bright, terrible beams. There is black blood, and gold ichor, and the crimson from Scott’s own wounds, and there is pain as he takes blow after blow and keeps standing.

He’s summoning ice platforms to give him vantage points against the giant being, and hacking and slashing at Exor’s armour as he tries to find weak points, and diving out of the way on wings that melt every time he gets too close to Exor, and freeze over again painfully when he retreats. There’s no time for thought, he finds, only action and reaction, and somehow he’s not dying despite Exor’s many, many, many lethal blows. Aeor is probably keeping him alive, but he’s not doing anything for the pain.

He almost wishes he would let him die, if only so he could respawn and be healed.

Around them, the Grimlands are writhing and shattering under the force of the two gods’ blows, fire and frost ravaging the land, and Scott can only hope that this destruction is staying contained, but deep down, he knows it’s not. He can feel his land bond quivering and shaking as the destruction spreads to Rivendell. This needs to end, and soon.

Finally, Scott finds a weak point, a buckle in the armour made of leather that shatters when he freezes then stabs it. As Exor’s armour slips, Aeor lunges forward, stabbing his brother in the shoulder where his flesh is revealed.

Exor roars, and flames explode outward, roasting almost everything for miles. Eastvale is alight, flames dancing menacingly in the darkness, and Scott sees more than hears the others starting to panic. There may be no one in there, there’s no screams arising from the streets, but it still symbolises something personal to most, if not all, of them. Even Scott, who isn’t as close to fWhip as some of the others, feels the beginings of desperate terror start rising in his chest. This is—this is—

“Enough, brother!” Aeor yells, sweeping a hand and dousing the flames in the city, but leaving the plains to burn. “You have gone too far. There is a reason taking on a second champion while the first still lives is forbidden.”

“You think I care? How cute. Unfortunately, brother, my conscience died when you locked me away in that pit.”

Aeor bares his teeth. “It was necessary. You would have burned the world to the ground.”

“Correction: I’m going to burn the world to the ground.” Exor matches Aeor’s expression perfectly. “And there’s nothing you can do to—”

He’s cut off by the most glorious pair of fireballs Scott has ever seen, launched from two ivory and purple dragons that Scott has seen before, but never interacted with. They alight on Aeor’s shoulders, slipping a bit as they struggle for purchase.

From the dragon on Exor’s left shoulder, a familiar figure drops down, and Scott grins. Oh, Exor’s going to get it now.

“You hurt my brother,” Gem says, standing tall and regal next to him. “For that, I’m going to personally see to it that you die.”

Exor laughs. “Try it, wizard.”

Gem gathers a fireball on the end of her staff, yells, “Fire!” and releases it. At the same time, the dragons obey, as does a third one that Scott hadn’t seen coming in from the south. Perched on the third one’s back are Pix and Shrub, looking much less worn down than Scott would have imagined given that they’d been faced with an undead mob earlier.

The third dragon’s fireball catches Exor off guard, as do the bolts of lightning that follow. Pix and Lizzzie both fly to stand next to Scott, followed by Shrub, Joey, Pearl, Joel, and Jimmy. Scott lets Jimmy step forward, but stays right behind him as he speaks.

“You think you can beat us all, Exor? You forget who you’re fighting against.”

If Scott didn’t know any better, he’d say that Exor looked almost afraid for a moment, but that moment passes quickly, and Exor is spreading his hands to make the fog he’d summoned earlier thicken again. As more creatures crawl out of it, they all exchange nods and spilt off.

Pearl, Joey, Pix, Joel, and Shrub dive down to deal with the new army of undead, while Scott, Jimmy, Gem, and Lizzie take to the sky, circling Exor as Aeor crosses blades with him once again. The dragons also take off, taking potshots at the giant corrupted god. They all do their best to distract him, narrowly avoiding his flailing attempts to knock them out of the sky, but Exor’s getting closer and closer every time, and Scott knows sooner or later they’re going to get unlucky.

Sure enough, as Scott dives to avoid Exor’s blade, he hears Lizzie scream for Jimmy, and he whips his head around to see Jimmy plummeting to the ground, and he screams to match her only to get knocked out of the sky himself.

He lands in a dizzyingly painful heap next to Jimmy, who looks up at him, vaguely confused, before looking back at the spike protruding from his leg. Scott blanches at the sight, then from the nausea as he tries to push himself to his feet.

“Pix! Pix!” He screams over his shoulder, because Katherine isn’t anywhere nearby, and suddenly the prophet is there, and Scott has a millisecond to wonder how he’d even heard him over the rolling thunder, the groans of the undead, and the explosions of ice and fire above them, before he’s being thrust out of the way and Pix is splashing a regen potion on Jimmy’s leg even as he heaves it off the spike. It makes a sickening sound as Pix sets the bone, but it’s already mending itself, albeit slowly.

Scott takes a second to breathe, only for him to nearly be stepped on. Looking up, he sees Aeor stumble and fall to one knee, and Scott takes off, landing close enough that they can hear each other as Gem and her dragons rain fire down on Exor.

“This can’t keep going,” Aeor breathes, looking apologetically at Scott, and Scott suddenly knows what he has to do. To protect his friends, he has to make sure Exor can never come back. And the only way he can do that is to die.

Reluctantly, he pulls out the Rune Blade, and gives one last longing look to Jimmy below him, who is starting to sit up, looking much more lucid. I’m sorry, he thinks, and braces himself for pain. He sets the blade against his chest, ready to take the plunge, and he hears Gem and Pearl scream his name. He closes his eyes. I’m willing to die, if it means my friends will live.

A hand lands on his shoulder, and Scott opens his eyes, only to be shocked when he sees a familiar face in front of him, on his level.

“No,” Aeor says. He still towers over Scott, but only in as much as Lizzie does. “Losing you would do nothing but sever one of his tethers to this mortal realm. It cannot be you.”

“Then who?” He murmurs, aware of Exor shrinking to a similar height even as he hurries forward. Apparently he can tell something’s up.

Aeor smiles. On anyone else, it might look warm, but it just ends up looking cool and distant—haughty, almost—on Aeor’s face. “Me.”

Scott gapes, and his grip on the sword loosens enough that Aeor takes it from him without resistance. He tries to protest, to take it back, to stop him, because what will happen to the world if Aeor dies? Will it collapse? Will it be overrun by chaos if he’s not there to rein it in? Yes, he knows that if Aeor dies it will most likely kill Exor as well, so they won’t have to worry about him, but without those two to balance each other out, what will happen? Will nature just… die?

He hopes not.

His fears must be evident on his face, because Aeor adds, “This won’t kill us. Just drive us to the point of barely existing.”

That doesn’t seem much better, but Scott finds himself nodding and taking a step back, and just as Exor finally closes the distance, Aeor closes his eyes, braces himself… then snaps his eyes open and flips the blade to point to the god running his way, impaling Exor on the Rune Blade.

Exor gasps, and as the other rulers, Jimmy and Pix included, land next to Scott on the burning plains, Scott turns away, not wanting to watch as Exor dies. He hears Aeor whispering apologies to his dying brother, but he doesn’t want to think about it too hard.

Still, the traitorous part of his brain has to whisper doubts. If Aeor can forgive Exor, why can't you forgive Xornoth? Exor did all those things of his own accord, Xornoth was manipulated—

He tries to silence it, to cut through it with logical statements of, so Exor claims, we can’t trust that he was telling the truth, and even if he was being manipulated, he’s still evil now. Just accept that he’s gone, and you’ll never get this kind of closure.

Jimmy and Gem both steady him as he bows his head, both watching the scene that Scott has pointedly turned his back on. He may not be watching, but he knows the moment Exor passes, as the tentacles of corruption that had been riddling the landscape all disintegrate, and there’s a great sigh in the wind, like nature itself is relieved. He clenches his fists, because they may have won, but Scott still feels like he lost. Probably because it seems like no matter what, he and his patron god are just destined to lose their brothers.

“Scott,” Aeor says from behind him, and Scott immediately turns.

Exor’s body is gone, leaving only a pile of ash behind, but even that is slowly being taken away by the breeze. Off to the east, the sun is beginning to rise, and in the pale, washed-out light, Aeor looks a lot weaker. Probably because of the slowly opening wound on his chest.

Scott hurries forward, distantly aware that the others are hanging back, except Gem and Pix, who take off toward Katherine, Sausage, and fWhip’s last known location, with one of the dragons following.

Aeor is definitely weakening, Scott realises. His voice as he speaks doesn’t tremble, but it is brittle and weak like thin ice. “I am truly sorry for how our feud has torn your family and friends apart. I hope to do what I can before I go to put things to right… but I’ll need your strength.”

Scott nods. “Whatever you need.”

He helps Aeor to his feet, and lets the deer god use him as a crutch as they stumble toward a small rise in the land, where Aeor stops and sighs. “I had hoped to see Rivendell one last time before I go,” he says solemnly, “but I suppose that is not meant to be. Still,” he braces himself, planting a hand on Scott’s shoulder and digging his fingers in hard enough to make Scott wince. “I can do this last thing.”

He sweeps his hand over the plains, and Scott watches in amazement as the land knits itself back together, the ravines vanishing and the red and black fogs clearing, dispersed by a cold wind that issues up from the south, from Rivendell. He can even feel Rivendell itself being repaired, the rightness of it acting as a balm to his soul.

Aeor seems to lose the ability to keep himself upright, then, because he goes down again, this time to both knees. Still, he smiles that glacial, sharp grin that makes Scott think of a different elf, a magenta-haired youth whose face has become blurry in his memory. “Thank you, Scott. For all you have done in my name. Never forget what you were willing to do. It is what any ruler must be ready to do for their people… and any man for his friends.”

Scott nods mutely as Aeor collapses completely, body turning to flakes of ice that are carried off by the wind as well, and Scott finds himself warmed by the fact that at least in death, the brothers are together.

His vision blurs, and he tries to lift an arm to wipe his eyes, thinking he’s starting to cry, but finds his body won’t respond. He’s suddenly struck by the fact that he’s boiling, like his blood is doing its best to turn to steam and cook him from the inside out. He trembles. It hurts, it hurts so badly and he wants to—he needs to—

Before he knows it he’s on the ground, his vision still foggy, but he’s able to make out his friends’ cries through the static that has overtaken his hearing. They sound worried, scared, even, and he wonders why. They won. He can rest easy. They won.

With that thought, he closes his eyes, and lets go.

Notes:

#empires smp #empiresblr #fanfiction #chapter twenty-one #tw: violence #tw: blood

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opalesense · 3 years

Note

How would the genshin Bois, zhongli, childe, diluc and kaeya react to a fem traveller stuck in a wall after a harsh battle, they'll help her get out right?...right?

a sight to behold

zhongli, childe, diluc, kaeya & f!reader (NSFW-ish)

1.9k words • ~13 min. read

warnings: just a lot of teasing & dirty thoughts

notes: i was practically rubbing my hands together with evil intentions when i saw this request but i’ll spare the graphic details for another time, otherwise this will be extremely long!! also i wrote them separately here BUT i wouldn’t be opposed if someone requested them to be grouped together instead... anyway, i hope you enjoy this!! >:)

THE WIDELY FEARED PRIMO GEOVISHAP was certainly a sight to behold from above. You quickly understood why so many people often avoided interacting with this beast – it was intimidating even while it slept soundly, its loud snores echoing throughout the cavern despite being so far down. As you stood on the platform above its sleeping form, you studied its details, noticing the element it possessed and strategizing your combat plan quickly, thankful that you could manipulate an element that targetted its weakness. Once you made up your mind, you let out a huff as you took a leap of faith down, letting your glider save you at the last second before you could actually make contact with the ground.

Your companion followed behind swiftly, the two of you moving gently around the walls of the cavern, careful not to wake the beast from its slumber. In a low whisper, you began to describe your strategy to your partner, but alas, the beast suddenly awoke and interrupted your planning with a ear splitting roar.

Without a second thought, the two of you dashed to the creature, loosely following the details of the plan you had based on what you were able to say before you got interrupted. The battle was fine at first, but you soon realized how out of sync the two of you became as the fight progressed. Your elemental reactions were getting poorly timed, and it was difficult to keep an eye on each other’s movements with the beast constantly thrashing about and blocking communication.

In normal circumstances, the two of you excelled in combat together without needing any other support. Maybe it was bad luck, or maybe you bit off more than you could chew this time, but you noticed you were getting knocked around easier than usual. Things were obviously not going your way and you had to think of a solution fast.

But before you knew it, your distraction with your own thoughts got the best of you. One single swipe of the geovishap’s tail sent you flying across the cavern towards the opposite wall then tumbling on the ragged, rocky edges of floor, certainly leaving cuts and bruises for later. To make matters worse, one more aggressive roar from the beast shook the walls of cavern enough to send chunks of rock tumbling down towards your injured body. Unable to form coherent thoughts, you knew you didn’t have the strength to escape the avalanche. Instead, all you could do was lay there, helpless and bracing for impact, praying to the Archons that you can be saved.

zhongli

Zhongli made quick work of the beast, using his shield to deliver an extremely effective counter attack and finishing it once and for all. The creature wailed in pain in its dying moments before disintegrating into dust. He expected to see your face on the other side but alas, you were nowhere to be seen.

“[Y/N]?” his face tensed as he tried to think of where you could have disappeared to. As his eyes darted around the cavern, he immediately noticed a tiny speck of color amongst the rocks on the wall that resembled your clothing. He quickly sprinted towards you, lifting some of the boulders off of you effortlessly using his geo manipulation.

He began to subconsciously slow down once he saw the way you were displayed in front of him. Your legs were propped up slightly from the rocks underneath you that caved in from the impact. The way your hips curved up caused your skirt to fold back onto you, leaving you completely exposed under his gaze.

Ungodly thoughts began to race across Zhongli’s mind. He couldn’t help but slowly undress you in his mind, thinking about all the things he could do to you in this moment of vulnerability.

You poor thing... If only we were not in such a potential dire circumstance of life or death, what would stop me from keeping these rocks on top of you, grabbing those hips, and pressing myself against you? It would be the perfect opportunity to keep you still while I have my way with you... Perhaps I should check to see if you’re okay first, and maybe I can trap you with these rocks myself instead. Certainly I could even lift you in a better position for a better fit...

“Stay with me, [Y/N],” Zhongli snapped out of his fantasy and continued to lift the boulders off of you, wondering if he should really go through with his urges. “You will be okay...”

childe

Childe had noticed you fly across the cavern in the corner of his eye, and watching you land on the floor at such a fierce impact only fueled him to keep fighting. In a fit of a rage and frustration, he summoned his dual blades and quickly turned the tides of the battle towards his favor. He didn’t even need to watch the beast die to know it was dead within seconds, and after his final blow he quickly dashed towards where you landed only to find out you had been crushed by more rocks.

He let out another yell of frustration, grabbing the boulders one by one and pushing them off of you. “[Y/N]? Can you hear me?”

“I’m fine, just get these off of me!” you managed to call out from underneath the pile. Relieved that you were alive and well, he managed to push most of the boulders off but hesitated once he got a good look at the way you were laid out in front of him.

With your legs dangling off the edge of the pile, your ass was comedically exposed towards him, the rest of your upper half still trapped within the remains of the avalanche. Funnily enough, the hem of your skirt had even got trapped above your hips that you were completely exposed, causing Childe to grin evilly.

“Well, well, well,” he slowly walked over to you and placed a gloved hand on your bare cheek, still slightly out of breath from the heavy lifting. He gave a gentle squeeze, eliciting a gasp from you. “Is this my reward for helping you? If so, I’ll gladly take it now...”

“Did you forget that I’m stuck? What if I’m badly injured?!”

“In that case, I’m sure I can make all the pain go away and replace it with pleasure instead,” he gave one final squeeze and chuckled before walking away to grab another boulder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding... But once you’re out, don’t expect all this help to come for free, you know.”

diluc

Diluc watched you tumble across the floor with panicked eyes, immediately worrying about your safety but not letting that distract him from the task at hand. In the heat of the moment under the influence of rage and anxiety, he summoned his pyro manipulation to set his claymore ablaze and deliver multiple final blows to the creature, smashing its figure into bits. The beast cried in its final moments and when he was sure it was dead, he dropped his sword as he sprinted towards you.

Pure panic settled in once he saw you had been crushed underneath the pile of rocks. He pushed himself to run faster, feeling tears form in the corners of his eyes but ignoring it. He didn’t want to lose you – not this easily.

“[Y/N]!” he called out once he reached the site, “Can you hear me?”

“I’m here, Diluc. I’m fine,” you reassured him. He deeply sighed in relief as he began to push the boulders off of you. Thank Barbatos you were alive and well! He shook the thought of you being fatally injured away from the forefront of his mind to focus on getting you out of this mess, using his strength to his advantage. But after a few rocks were pushed off of you, his eyes widened at the sight of you, a sight he will never forget.

While your legs and upper body were still trapped underneath the pile, the first thing Diluc revealed was your ass, exposed by your skirt that was coincidentally trapped above your hips. Your thighs were pinned together, rubbing gently as you squirmed in the rubbish, trying to wiggle your way out. Or at least, he wanted to believe you were wiggling for the sole purpose of getting out, and not to tease him.

With a nervous gulp, he averted his eyes away from you and resumed his work on the boulders. His mind couldn’t help but drift away into sinful corners, though. He envisioned the way he could firmly grab your thighs, pull down your underwear and...

“Don’t scare me like that again,” he took a more lighthearted tone to cover up his urges, “I thought you were surely dead.”

kaeya

After briefly witnessing you get thrown across the cavern, Kaeya managed to finally stab the beast in such a precise weakness point, making it wail in pain until it slowly withered away in its dying moments. He took no time at all to rush over to you, sprinting faster once he saw that you had been crushed by an avalanche.

“[Y/N], talk to me,” he subtly asked for reassurance that you were still alive as he began to analyze the situation and pinpoint exactly where you were in all this rubbish.

“I’m okay,” you weakly muttered with a grin, glad that he had come to your rescue, “Just a little bruised, that’s all.”

Following the trail of your voice, he put his mind to work. He started to strategically push certain rocks so that others would naturally fall off of you without him needing to lift too much. After awhile, he began to spot one of your arms, then your other arm, and with each rock tumbling down he soon revealed the full picture.

Or at least, a fraction of the full picture.

He was relieved to see that you had wrapped your arms around your head for protection before the crash, avoiding what would have been an extremely dangerous injury. With your entire body from the chest down still trapped, you felt the need to stretch out your arms in the newly freed space and take a deep breath, glad to finally have some fresh air. “Good morning,” you joked on your bed of rocks.

Even though he certainly felt some relief, he couldn’t fight the urge to tease you as he cooed over the sight of you so helpless underneath him. With an evil smirk, he pulled out one of the rocks that was supporting your neck, leaving your head hanging off the edge and eliciting a gasp from you. Before you could protest, he propped himself up against the wall with one arm, his body hovering over you and his crotch just inches away from your face.

“Look at that pretty mouth of yours... You tempt me even in the most dire situations, sweetheart,” he let his free hand run slender fingers across your scalp, slowly massaging you. “Now that I think about it, I do deserve a prize for saving you, don’t I?”

“Quit running your mouth and just help me get out of here,” you scolded him jokingly. He laughed and shook his head dismissively as he walked away to get back to work, fighting that strong urge to use your throat in such a vulnerable state.

“If you say so, sweetheart. Maybe some other time.”

#zhongli #childe #ajax #tartaglia #diluc #kaeya #zhongli x reader #childe x reader #ajax x reader #tartaglia x reader #diluc x reader #kaeya x reader #genshin impact #genshin impact smut #genshin impact x reader #mine #bang

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grimrester · 3 years

Text

Deltarune: Whose Choices Matter? (major spoilers for all routes)

I'm so extremely sure others have discussed this to death already, but I'm obsessed with the themes of "choice" in Deltarune. What's really stuck in my head are these three things:

1. At the start, you, the player, are told no one can choose who they are in this world and that your choices don't matter. The character you make gets thrown away.

2. Pretty much the second you're in the dark world, Ralsei starts telling Kris that their "choices are important too."

3. Toby has said many times that there is "only one ending" and, in one interview, that there's "something more important than reaching the end."

Lots of people have said that Toby was lying since there obviously are differences in both chapters depending on the choices you make. But I don't think that's true. Toby's the type to use clever wording to tell half-truths, but not straight up lie.

It's technically true that there's just one ending. No matter what the player does, the king still ends up in jail. Queen still stops her plan and joins you. Kris still opens up another dark foundation.

The changes in each playthrough are only indirectly the result of the player's actions. They are instead direct results of how the characters treat Kris and each other because of how you acted. Your actions don't matter and can't effect how the story plays out in and of themselves. But because all the key moments - the pillars, Ralsei revealing the story of the Roaring, etc - hinge on the characters' actions, their choices are the ones that matter and the ending is always more or less the same. This theme of choice and the effect of your actions on others is central to pretty much every "changeable" part of the story.

Let me provide some examples.

1. Minor Details

If you toss away the manual Ralsei gives you in chapter 1, he'll put a trashcan in Kris' room instead of a stand for the manual.

This is a really small, pretty insignificant detail. It doesn't affect the story. I personally never touched the manual again even though I kept it. If you toss it, Ralsei still gives Kris/the player tips on how to play. But Toby still programmed it in. He programmed Ralsei to notice you threw away something he worked on, and to treat you differently as a result. Maybe just as a joke, sure. But there's many other instances of characters remembering your actions and treating you accordingly.

Another example: If you step off one of the first electric wall switches before Noelle is done crossing to the other side to stand on the other button, she scolds you and then pulls the same prank on you. Kris looks hurt in response - because they're getting punished for something you did. It's a lot harder to brush this one off as just a joke when it ends with someone feeling hurt.

2. Kris' Dialogue

The player chooses a lot of dialogue for Kris. But sometimes Kris speaks on their own or chooses how they say what they're told by the player to say.

After the Spamton NEO fight, if you choose to tell Susie you're okay, Susie will think about how Kris is speaking hoarsely, and so she thinks Kris probably isn't okay. If you choose to say you're not okay, Ralsei says Kris is yelling. No matter what option you choose, Kris chooses to do their best to communicate that they are definitely not okay. It's Kris' choice here that matters and effects how the characters react, not yours.

3. Recruiting

Chapter 2 hammers in the idea that sparing enemies is important by introducing the recruiting mechanic. But recruiting doesn't seem to actually do much yet, aside from giving you some extra dialogue and dojo challenges.

At one point, there's some tutorial text from Ralsei that mentions how from now on, fighting an enemy instead of sparing it will make it unable to be recruited. Then it specifically mentions that there might be times where breaking bonds will make you stronger. There was something like this in chapter 1, too, where Ralsei seems to realize after fighting the king that the party can't always spare everyone.

This is in pretty stark contrast to Undertale, where the fight/spare mechanic basically meant choosing between life and death for any character. The character you're fighting doesn't get any say in the matter in Undertale. In Deltarune, you (or, more accurately, Kris) don't have the power to kill someone. You can only beat them up badly enough that they choose not to join you. At some point in the later chapters, making someone not want to join you might be a better decision.

4. Berdly

If you just focus on the Queen, Berdly tries to remove it himself, damaging his arm in the process. When he wakes up in the light world later, he still can't move his arm.

In the first battle with Queen, Berdly is attached to one of her plugs. You can loosen it to free him, like you did with the Werepires.

You didn't hurt Berdly. But if you choose to ignore him to focus on finishing the fight instead, his own actions in response cause him to be hurt anyway.

5. Snowgrave

Kris doesn't seem to have the ability to kill. Neither does Susie or Ralsei.

But Noelle does.

It's important to note that the player doesn't have complete control over anyone in the party except Kris. At the start of chapter 1, Susie makes her own choices in battle. Even in chapter 2, you can't take equipment off her unless you're swapping in something else (she tells you "Hands off!" if you try). The characters can just straight up refuse to follow your/Kris' orders if they want.

If you command Noelle to brute force puzzles, to "get" the ring, to ice all the Darkners, she gets used to hurting others to feel stronger. Then she can use Snowgrave - the only action that specifies it is lethal - in the fight with Berdly. When you tell Noelle to use Snowgrave, she refuses several times. She even tells you that she "doesn't know a spell called Snowgrave" to get you to stop. If you keep badgering her, she finally snaps, and chooses to cast it.

The wildest part about the Snowgrave route, in my opinion, is that there doesn't even seem to be any reward for doing it. In Undertale, the whole appeal of the No Mercy route was the epic boss fights that couldn't be played on any other route. The reward was the challenge. In Snowgrave, you skip almost half of the story and multiple boss fights. And for what? A slightly harder version of a boss you can also fight on any other run?

You can manipulate Noelle into making a terrible choice and presumably killing Berdly, seemingly just for the hell of it. After you return to the light world, the only things that change in the story are that Berdly doesn't wake up and Noelle is scared out of her mind if she sees you wearing her watch. Susie still walks you home. Toriel still asks Susie to stay over. Kris still slashes the tires on Toriel's car and opens a new foundation. Nothing major changes.

All Snowgrave seems to do is get you to the same ending faster.

Deltarune is about choices, sure. But more accurately, it's about how your choices affect the people around you, and how that informs their choices, and so on.

So, what's more important than reaching the end? It's how you - and the characters - chose to get there. It's about the journey, not the destination.

#deltarune spoilers #deltarune #deltarune chapter 2 #deltarune theory

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captnjacksparrow · 2 years

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Here’s my view of SNS’ dynamic:

Yes, Sasuke and Naruto bicker a lot in part 1, but when I read the manga and remember all the little things they start bickering about, these exchanges don’t come off to me as an inability for them to get along. It comes of more like they’re bored and that this is fun for them! Naruto can be quite judgmental (if his initial view of Hinata is any indication) and he’s also hyperactive and temperamental. Sasuke is one of the few people Naruto can go full rage mode on that will argue back and not get upset or take it personally.

Sakura thinks they argue too much, but considering they can become offended by her interrupting them or telling them to stop, it seems Sakura isn’t experiencing their bickering the way they are. What I like about this dynamic is that I never had to question if Sasuke respected Naruto. He is consistently on his side. He’s aware he’s a hothead, he’s aware of his flaws, but he still likes him and he sees the strengths those flaws bring. Sasuke will defend Naruto when people go too far. The orphan insult is the prime example and their dynamic falls under the “only I can insult them” category.

And the ones who claim that it’s “abusive” are stupid. Not only, like you said, Sasuke gave Naruto the chance to go home before they would actually fight during VoTE1, but Sasuke’s the complete opposite of someone abusive. He continuously protects Naruto and saves his life on multiple occasions. Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. And I gained so much respect for you when you said people should stop calling Sasuke a heartless monster. Sasuke is a kind person, but the world kept stepping on him and people kept manipulating him. Seriously, he’s gotten manipulated so many times, I’d be surprised if he didn’t end up with trust issues.

As for the ones who say Naruto’s the abusive one, they’re also idiots. Yes, he said he’d break every bone in Sasuke’s body but Naruto was desperate to make Sasuke dodge what Naruto saw as certain death (him heading to Orochimaru). Plus, Naruto was 12 and immature, of course he’s gonna think nothing else mattered if it meant Sasuke was safe. And in Shippuden, Naruto admits he didn’t understand what Sasuke was going through despite what he thought at the time of VoTE1, but he tries his best to see things from Sasuke’s perspective and constantly worry about his physical and mental health.

I actually saw a post that showed the scene when Sasuke was wondering if Sasuke was okay, and the poster said that Naruto didn’t even try to understand him. Needless to say, I’ve never seen anything so stupid and ignorant in my life. There’s a lot of hypocrisy in the anti SNS group. For example, they him see letting Sasuke be on his own for a while as showing he never saw Sasuke as anything more than a goal since he was okay with letting Sasuke leave again, but they also say Sakura was selfish for wanting to come with him (which she was). Well…which is it?! I honestly don’t understand pro Sasuke fans always hate on Naruto. Like, they’re actually hating on the love of Sasuke’s life. He’d roast them just like he did with Sakura.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my Ted Talk, and goodnight, Tristate Area.

Wheewww!!!! So Finally someone said it... that it's not an abusive ship. Internet is so weird and especially Tumblrists likes to use the word 'Abuse' for every single thing to the point it lost it's real meaning and to be honest, it actually degrades the suffering of those people who are getting abused in the Real Life, you know. Of Course, this is a Battle Manga where people fight all the time and does it make any sense to call every violent act as Abuse???

I agree with every word in this Ask except for one...

I actually saw a post that showed the scene when Naruto was wondering if Sasuke was okay, and the poster said that Naruto didn’t even try to understand him. Needless to say, I’ve never seen anything so stupid and ignorant in my life. There’s a lot of hypocrisy in the anti SNS group.

This!!!

Well, Anon is very right about calling that post as stupid and ignorant.... But are you really sure, this post was under Anti-SNS peeps???

Because I've seen the same post under SNS tags especially from a NaruSasu Shipper who hates Naruto to their teeth. I don't know, probably I am the only unfortunate one to see the negative stuffs under the very ship I am shipping. Sigh!!!

There’s a lot of hypocrisy in the anti SNS group. For example, they him see letting Sasuke be on his own for a while as showing he never saw Sasuke as anything more than a goal since he was okay with letting Sasuke leave again, but they also say Sakura was selfish for wanting to come with him (which she was). Well…which is it?! I honestly don’t understand pro Sasuke fans always hate on Naruto.

LOLOL. I've made a list of Hypocrisies among Pro-Sasuke fans in another ask... And whatever you said was there.

I've stopped taking Pro-Sasuke peeps (not everyone though) any more serious long time back. Because they are just some real life Sakuras under the guise of Tumblr Blog. Look, I've seen a post where the Poster was going emotional and wiping tears for Sasuke about this scene...

"Look Sasuke was doing his own thing... But Naruto the Abuser, tied him up... Abusing him, Torturing him and Annoying him... Naruto will never let Sasuke to be himself".

I was like, "Seriously??? Girl... You are a filtered Asshole who has no sense of Humor. Fuck this shit!!!..."

See... This is why I can't take them seriously.

But anyways...

I thoroughly enjoyed your Ted Talk, Anon . Thanks for this ask.

#narusasu #sasunaru #sns #nsn

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admirableadmiranda · 3 years

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Debts and balances: or how much does one man have to pay over the course of his life?

Good morning everyone! Today we’re going to be talking about debts, and why Jiang Cheng needs to shut the fuck up on debts because he is the one in the wrong pretty much the entire time.

Let’s start by acknowledging that I am not of this culture so I may perhaps state a thing or two wrong, but I also have several functioning brain cells to rub together and I pay attention so I will probably be more right than most of the “hot takes” I see on why Jiang Cheng is not actually in the wrong here. Because he is. He so is.

So, debts. First of all, there are multiple levels and layers of debts and to whom do you owe them too. So let’s start with the first one where the story is subtle about it and yet both Jiang Cheng and Madam Yu are in the wrong. We know that Cangse Sanren saved Jiang Fengmian’s life at one point when they were young. Life debts are big. To only be alive because of someone else’s actions is a debt that it is possible you will never be able to pay back. There are multiple stories of otherwise good people protecting the obvious villain because they owe that.

Jiang Fengmian’s only way of being able to pay back that debt after Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze die is to take care of their child and raise him how they would have. I.E, as a cultivator. This is not a debt that Wei Wuxian owes to the Jiangs. It is quite literally, the least of what Jiang Fengmian owes him and his parents to do.

Jiang Cheng cannot claim that Wei Wuxian owes them for his life. He is wrong.

Next debt that even Jiang Cheng does not try to claim, only his ever so pleasant stans, the fucking dogs. The fucking dogs that he does not actually give a fuck about.

Wei Wuxian does not ask anyone to do anything about the dogs. He is not in a mental state to. He is in a state of triggered phobia where his brain literally goes into run away screaming mode. This is also not funny and Jiang Cheng is a jackass for making fun of it whenever it happens. Jiang Fengmian is the one who decides that it’s better for the dogs to go. Even though Jiang Cheng is upset, he does not actually hold this as a lingering grudge against Wei Wuxian. He lets it the fuck go. And even if he didn’t, the resentment and anger should be aimed at the person who actually made a decision about it. Not Wei Wuxian. He does not give one singular fuck about his dogs later on. Let the fucking dogs go.

Third off: The Fall of Lotus Pier. There are different levels of blame that we can lay on this. Wei Wuxian is not close to responsible for this. Jiang Cheng knows this and elects to blame him anyway.

The first people we can lay the blame on the fall of Lotus Pier is the Wens, who came with ships, warriors, Wang Lingjiao to rile up the notoriously short tempered asshole Madam Yu, and Wen Zhuliu the Core-Melting Hand. They came prepared for battle and they got what they wanted. Madam Yu is the second one we can lay the blame on, for deciding to attack and demean Wang Lingjiao, not for making her do anything she didn’t want to do, because holy hell did she want to whip Wei Wuxian until he couldn’t move and leapt at the chance to do such a thing, but because Wang Lingjiao is a servant who was elevated by her lover and Madam Yu is a classist asshole. This is the only reason she flips out. Wei Wuxian did nothing wrong. Wei Wuxian does not have the blood of Lotus Pier on his hands, he is tied to Jiang Cheng and told to protect him at the cost of his life, a debt he does not owe.

The four debt he attempts to claim, the only one that might be considered to have some teeth if it weren’t for how much Wei Wuxian gives him back almost immediately. Jiang Cheng goes to distract the Wens from Wei Wuxian and ends up getting captured and losing his golden core. So first off, in this world a golden core is a lot to lose, I won’t deny that. But, first off, Wei Wuxian is only in danger because after being whipped a lot, then strangled, then having to run after Jiang Cheng multiple times because he would rather go die at Lotus Pier than listen to either of his parents and escape, he still goes into town to get them something to eat because otherwise Jiang Cheng would rather lie on the ground and die. Fucking great sect leadership there, huh Jiang Cheng? But yes, Jiang Cheng sees the Wens, sees them notice Wei Wuxian, goes off to distract them and then gets captured and loses his golden core.

Now we’re getting to some of the debts that Jiang Cheng owes and refuses to pay back, because that’s definitely going to get him far in this world. Wei Wuxian in his panic and attempt to find Jiang Cheng, finds Wen Ning, who after some struggles manages to convince him that he can sneak in and get Jiang Cheng back out. In addition, he also retrieves the bodies of Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian. This is huge. Jiang Cheng now owes him both a life debt for again, saving his life at great cost to his own: Wen Ning is literally committing treason here, and also for restoring the lost honor of not being able to bury his parents properly. Wen Ning gives them a proper burial and later after the war he is able to lie them to rest in the Ancestors Hall so their spirits will be at peace and he will have fulfilled his fillial duties. By all means, the debt he owes Wen Ning in particular is so great that he should have taken in every Wen in those camps and sheltered them because it is as close as he will ever get to repaying that debt. And that’s just Wen Ning!

The next debt he owes and refuses to pay is to Wen Qing, a genius doctor and respected by Wen Ruohan, who uses the prestige and skills she has to protect both him and Wei Wuxian in at this point enemy territory when they are being actively searched for, being the new sect leader and head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang. She hides them and then later uses her skills to give him a new golden core so that he can go and fight back against his people, revitalizing his clan and eradicating hers. This is another debt that could only really be paid back by protecting her people if she came to him. He owes her literally his life, his power and his people.

The third debt he owes and refuses to pay is to Wei Wuxian, who more than overbalances the scales back in his favor by giving him his golden core. He pays his chance at immortality, his power, his strength, his cultivation, everything that he has to his name so that Jiang Cheng won’t starve himself to death over losing his core. In addition, he tells Jiang Cheng that this comes from a once in a lifetime favor from his mother’s master so even before when he didn’t know about the core, this is still a massive, massive debt, a limitless one time favor from an immortal that he uses Wei Wuxian’s chance to get and never actually thanks him. So at this point, his own golden core as a debt starts to seem a little hollow. Either way, it’s been repaid. An action you do in service of someone else is not a weapon you get to hold over their heads for multiple lives.

Moving on! The next debt he would like to claim is that Wei Wuxian apparently has no right to do things he does not approve of. Excuse me? Is he now a computer program that crashed? What the fuck Jiang Wanyin? Wei Wuxian has less rank than him, although Jiang Cheng is so high rank in this society that he only shares his rank with three other people and there’s no one above him so it would be very hard for him to not be, but he is still a person, with his own thoughts, wishes, dreams, hopes and beliefs. He is not an extension of your hand, to make your clan look good and stand behind you as a hammer to smash on people. Wen Qing goes to Wei Wuxian to ask for help for finding her brother, her people because they are literally being tortured to death. This is a debt that by all means, Jiang Cheng should be repaying. See that part where Wen Ning committed treason to help him and restore his family’s honor? See that part where Wen Qing literally gave him the ability to go back to war against her family? This is the point where anyone with honor would recognize this is the only thing I can do. I will throw myself on my sword if I must, but I must repay this debt to them. There is nothing less I can do. But Jiang Cheng has only the honor of a mangy cur and ignores this, and when Wei Wuxian goes to fulfill this debt, he tells him to stop. To him, his multiple life debts are an inconvience to shoving his nose so far up Jin Guangshan’s ass that he’s tasting what he had for dinner that day.

The next debt that he would like to claim is the death of his brother in law. This is a debt that Wei Wuxian would owe to specific people. This debt is to Jiang Yanli, Jin Guangshan and Jin Ling, one of whom is wanting to forgive it, one who is too small to decide at the time, and one who straight up does not give a fuck beyond advancing his power. Jiang Cheng is not one of these people. His sister is fine, she’s not his concern anymore, she’s a part of the Jin sect. The only reason why he died is that Jiang Cheng decided the best way to repay his debt to Wei Wuxian was to throw a temper tantrum and declare him an enemy to everyone, ripping out every support from under his feet. Regardless, Jiang Cheng is an asshole and does not get to claim this debt.

The final one of Wei Wuxian’s first life that he keeps hurling at him is the death of his sister...the death of his sister who chose to leap between Wei Wuxian and a sword. The death of his sister at a battle that broke out because Jiang Cheng has been with Jin Guangshan whipping the cultivation world into a frenzy against the Wens and Wei Wuxian because of power and jealousy. The battle that would have not happened if they’d left them alone. Jiang Cheng has been to the burial mounds. He has seen the farmers, he has seen the baby there. He has decided that rather than do anything to repay these various deaths, he will kill them on other people’s swords instead. Because he is also a coward and won’t pick fights he can’t win. In addition he likes to steal Yanli’s agency, she’s the one who chose to come, she’s the one who chose to get in the way and she doesn’t die with regrets. And she is not his debt to claim. Again, the one who actually gets to claim this death that Wei Wuxian is not responsible for is Jin Ling, who actually shapes up and decides that it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t blame Wei Wuxian for it. He forgives him his role in that space and moves the fuck on, unlike a certain sir stabby grape mcwhipinnoencts.

And then Wei Wuxian dies and any debts he may have still owed to Jiang Cheng, not that there were any, die with him. Jiang Cheng has no claim on him, he was not part of his sect, they were not brothers in any way, indeed Jiang Cheng called him his enemy. Even most people with far more real grudges at this point would let it go. Wei Wuxian is so dead that no one can find his soul, no matter how hard they look. He comes back to life and reaps the rewards of his actions, finding new allies, getting the chance to actually interact with Jin Ling and make his apologies, and in the end, settle down to a peaceful life with an adoring husband and nothing left to be repaid. If there is still a debt he owes, it is only to Mo Xuanyu, who gave up his entire cycle of life to let Wei Wuxian reincarnate early with his memories, a sacrifice he only asked for repayment in the death of his family. He may owe more still, but that is all Mo Xuanyu wanted from him in repayment for this great sacrifice. The cultivation world is in the wrong when they’re trying to persecute him again for the actions of his previous life, he owes them nothing anymore. The debts he carries towards Jin Ling are the ones he chooses to take on, feeling guilty that he grew up without his parents due to the world’s general actions and also no one else taking responsibility for how far things fell.

That is what Jiang Cheng finally realizes in the temple, crouched on the floor and sobbing like a spoiled child over the golden core sacrifice. Is that he is in the wrong and has been in the wrong the whole time. That there is nothing he can hold onto, no debt that Wei Wuxian ever owed him that he could demand to be paid. He built it all up in his head as he left his honor, his family and his dignity in the wake of his arrogance. And it’s a painful thing to realize, the consequences of your decisions, but all he can do is live with his own ruined reputation, his own loneliness and the fact that no one wants to be around him. He’s blacklisted by multiple matchmakers, his disciples are more like thugs, Wei Wuxian chooses every opportunity to get away from him and even Jin Ling likes him less and less over the course of the book, not forgetting that he seems to prefer Jin Guangyao to begin with as he actually talks to him sometimes and doesn’t hit him. Jiang Cheng refusing to pay his debts gives him exactly what a debt deserter deserves. No one has a reason to trust him. The one bit of positive character growth he does is giving up and not trying to reel him back in by telling him of the sacrifice. At this point, all it would be is just him trying to get another debt he cannot hold because it is long since repaid, never quite made up for what they gave him to make up for it, and worthless in the face of Wei Wuxian’s new life. Wei Wuxian owes him nothing and never has.

Also, just to tally up the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng on things given between the two of them, Jiang Cheng gives him: a lot of whinging on how unfair it is that Wei Wuxian is a prodigy, and a one time immediately regretted and held over his head sacrifice of a golden core. Whereas Wei Wuxian gives him: many lessons on how to be a kinder person that he ignores, the patience and tolerance of his stinkbug attitude, his love, his affection, his fucking golden core, his reputation, his blood, his livelihood, taking over his debts, trying to keep any of his actions from reflecting on the Jiangs even though if Jiang Cheng had repaid any of the debts he owed, there would have been no problems because if the Jin’s did decide to attack, Wei Wuxian would fight back and he can level battle fields on his own, his honor, his relationships, and even his life in the end, because if Wei Wuxian had ever turned on him like he claimed, he would have been a bloody smeared spot on the ground. And Jiang Cheng gobbles this all up and demands more with Wei Wuxian’s blood and tears dribbling from his mouth.

Would you give that much for someone who doesn’t treat you well? Would you find that a reasonable price to pay for someone who demeans you at every opportunity, who tells you you deserve your misfortunes and that no one likes you? Why are you surprised that in the end Wei Wuxian would rather walk away with people who care about him, why he gives up, leaves any opportunity for anything in Jiang Cheng’s hands. Wei Wuxian has given more than any person should for almost nothing. It is a sign of triumph and victory, of recognizing his own worth and value in the world and who he wants to be with, that he leaves, that he walks away with his head held high. He owes Jiang Cheng nothing, and Jiang Cheng will just have to fucking live with that.

#mdzs #jiang cheng #canon jiang cheng #let's talk about debt #long post #let's use fuck as a exclamation mark #modaozushi is the story of walking away from an abusive relationship and we should recognize that #no yunmeng reconciliation #wei wuxian #wei wuxian did nothing wrong #addressing common misconceptions when it comes to debts to be paid #let's stop excusing Jiang Cheng avoiding paying any of his debts

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writer-akihiko · 3 years

Note

Hello!

Ikemen sé request

the warlords realizing that Mc is very popular with their soldiers. Sending love letters and stuff.

IkeSen Boys + Popular!MC

This was so cute ahhh although I'm sorry if it's a little short, there's a lot of Ikemen to get through. Thank you and I hope you like this work!

Nobunaga Oda

Nobunaga thought it was quite odd that there were a lot of presents delivered to you... Which he didn't gift...

After some digging, he found out that you had garnered some popularity after a campaign

He was dumbfounded at the idea that other men could be attracted to you

He didn't quite like that, but being the person he is he did tell you his thoughts

You insisted that you wanted to keep some gifts to distribute to your maids. He agreed, but he just buys better gifts for you anyway

He's not as jealous as you'd expect, since the man is also a bit egotistical when it comes to himself and your feelings for him

"Oh... Nobunaga..." You wanted to laugh at how childish he was but it wouldn't be in the right taste.

You stopped your giggling when Nobunaga muttered, "I could transfer whoever sent those gifts to you away..."

"At least let me keep some!"

He silenced you with a quick kiss. "Whatever you like from the pile, I'll purchase better ones from the merchants."

Hideyoshi Toyotomi

He doesn't want to admit that he's jealous, but he is. He unknowingly calls out the soldier that was about to gift you a present in an oh so convenient timing…

He doesn't take it to such extremes, he still respects the other soldiers. Although, he found it quite tempting from time to time to not bring you along for some campaigns

In this case, he wished that Nobunaga hadn't demanded such things of you. He really does appreciate your skills on the field, but he doesn't like that he can't control how much attention you're getting

He only realises it once someone points it out to him, or when someone sends you a letter. Letters are an absolute no from him

"Lord Hideyoshi, what should I do with these letters for YN?"

"Burn them."

"Lord Hideyoshi, what should I do with these letters from the townswomen?"

"Oh, send them to my office-"

YN smacked Hideyoshi up in the head. "You hypocrite."

Mitsunari Ishida

Mitsunari did notice that you gained a lot of attention, but he knew that it was only from your good merits and character

In no way did he ever thought it was romantic, until Mitsuhide pointed it out

He wasn't sure how to feel about it. Sure, he was happy that a lot of people thought you were a wonderful person

However a small inkling of him wanted to keep it to himself

Seeing the multitude of gifts for you, the guilt hit him hard. What if you wanted gifts all along?

"YN, do you like it when those soldiers give you gifts?" He asked, as you opened another gift that consisted of a bunch of fabrics.

"I do appreciate it," You admitted. "But I don't plan to keep them for long. I share any snacks with the maids and fabrics with the seamstresses. Why?"

He didn't reply, except for the blush that bloomed on his cheeks.

You pecked his cheek, understanding what he meant. "You have no reason to be jealous, my sweet angel."

Mitsuhide Akechi

Not a lot of people can read him, and he uses that to his advantage. He sneaks up on those who had planned to give you gifts, and instead direct their attention to another maid or townswoman

In the end, with this strategy, you don't receive much gifts from soldiers. This doesn't work on his fellow warlords however

With you, he doesn't hide his frown when people like Shingen or Masamune send you gifts

He doesn't care for what reason it was for, the gift shall not be touched by you

"Mitsuhide? Have you seen a package from Masamune? He sent some really pretty Oshu fabrics for me…"

He sipped on his bland concoction of tea. "Why my dear, I wonder where it could be…"

You sighed. "You gave it away didn't you? Now I have to write to Masamune- Ah!"

Before you could continue any thoughts, your charming kitsune sweeped you up in his arms, smiling coyly at you. "Write to him? I'm afraid my jealousy won't allow that YN… I'd certainly be interested in writing my thoughts of you on your body…"

Ieyasu Tokugawa

Ieyasu surprisingly doesn't notice any traffic of gifts to you. It might be due to the fact that he publicly ban any gifters from his estate…

You still manage to get some from soldiers passing by or Ieyasu's fellow warlords gifting you as a token of appreciation

Only when you bring the gift home is when he realises how popular you are. He doesn't initially care, but similarly to Hideyoshi, he gets rid of any letters

He doesn't burn them, but he moreso stages it so you'd see adorable Wasabi chewing on the papers

"Hey Ieyasu? Oh-" You dropped to your knees, seeing Wasabi with some paper in its mouth once again. "Wasabi, you should know better than to chew on my letters! Ha… Looks like I have to apologise later on."

"Do you even remember the soldier that gave you the letter?" He looked up from his work to ask you.

You pouted. "No… But I'm sure I can ask around!"

He patted you head. "Don't waste your time on that. The maids should be done with dinner now. Let's go and eat."

Masamune Date

He notices your popularity early on, but he's not too bothered about it. In fact, he shows off that you and him are in a relationship

It might be a 'rubbing salt in wound' move but he doesn't care. He has a thrill of seeing some of his jealous subordinates, which he trusts that it is in all good favour

With the way he approached it, most admired you in a non-romantic way, and for those few that actually do, Masamune opts for a duel as a 'wholesome' way to solve the solution

The duels end up with him winning, and the challenger often with some pointers from Masamune during fighting

You wiped off Masamune's sweat from his brow, wondering why he suddenly went up to that random soldier. "Did something happen?"

"Didn't he give you that gift earlier?" He asked, confused. He put up a good fight, although he'd probably have to answer to Hideyoshi since the boy was under his army…

You shook your head. "It wasn't. He has a twin, and the twin is working under Mitsunari…"

Masamune stood up, groaning. "Looks like I have another duel YN. I'll be back by dinner!"

"H-Hoi! Masamune!"

Kenshin Uesugi

Jealousy plus Uesugi Kenshin equals disaster in Kasugayama Castle

Kenshin was shocked when he saw the servants carrying the presents in, specifically addressed to 'Princess YN'

No one could stop him from drawing his sword and rushing to the training grounds, where every poor soldier who passed by was forced to duel him

Yukimura and Sasuke were already battered from the multiple duels they had to face. You pitied the poor souls, so you sent some of your maids to heal up the soldiers that faced his wrath

Holding one of your many bunny children, you walked up to your soon-to-be husband, smiling at him. "Kenshin my dear, we should be on our way to our stroll…"

He tugged off the upper part of his kimono, his torso and upper body dripping with sweat from the fights. "I'll be with you YN, I just need to cool off. I shouldn't dirty you with my sweat."

For as much as you wanted to be proper, you couldn't help but stare at your perfectly sculpted fiance. "T-Take you time my dear."

Sasuke Sarutobi

For the many things he was dense about, this was not one of them. He saw the way some of the Nokizaru looked at you

He of course told them off, but he still had an inkling that some didn't get the memo

Within whatever wisdom he had left, he somehow consulted Kenshin on how to resolve this, which ended up Sasuke battling about half of the Nokizaru

You had no words on why half the men were injured and why your boyfriend was bruised as well. Initially you thought it was from some dispute, but Yukimura so kindly filled you in

You tightened the bandage around Sasuke's arm, giving a disappointed look to the group of ninja. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"We're sorry Princess YN."

"And what do you have to say, Sarutobi Sasuke?" You huffed.

"I won't go to Kenshin for romantic advice."

"Good."

Shingen Takeda

He is not oblivious to your charms, as well as the way other people were attracted to your charms

He'd be lying if he said he weren't jealous. Of course he was, but he didn't plan to do anything malicious to whoever sent you gifts

They were free to waste their money and/or time, it wasn't his business. He'd however, make it clear that you were taken

He's not above doting you in public, and sneaking kisses in the markets or kissing you as the rain goes by. He's very calm about it, since he sees the way you were attracted to him

"S-Shingen! We're going to a war council!" You patted his face away from your own, as the much taller man held you in his embrace.

"Embarrassed Princess?" He teased, giving you his sweetest smile reserved just for you. "But we've done many affectionate things in public…" "People will see!"

He kissed your cheek. "Let them see how in love we are."

Yukimura Sanada

He is another victim of Kenshin's not-so great love advice, hesitating to pick up his spear at anyone who sent you glances. Well… it was Kenshin's advice… and no way he'd risk getting teased by Shingen by asking him!

He then opted for a silent jealous strategy, keeping you by him and covering you with his body everytime he felt someone looking at you

You wondered why he was acting so odd, after all, you just wanted to go on a nice stroll with Yuki and Muramasa

Luckily, to Yuki's benefit, Muramasa is a good wolf who knows to rip apart any letters that come to you or hound after any men that look at you the wrong way

"Is it just me, or is Muramasa a little more energetic than usual?" You asked your boyfriend as you folded your kimono underneath you to sit on the impromptu picnic blanket.

Yuki shook his head, handing you over the basket of food. "He's probably just excited to see us… I think…" He said, as Muramasa runs off into the bushes with what he could see was a paper in his mouth.

Kennyo

Kennyo doesn't really know what to do with this information. He's quite unsure if you wanted the attention or not

He thought the issue didn't need to be brought to your attention, as most of those around you are most likely his subordinates

He could… simply remind them of the holistic teachings that was preached to them

It does a good effect, as most quickly dispelled any sort of romantic attraction

He doesn't mind his subordinates admiring you out of respect, as he thinks you deserve such respect for your deeds

You clapped your hands after hearing your boyfriend's sermons. "You impress me every time my beloved," You said, pecking him on the cheek. "I'm always in awe when you deliver your preachings."

He shied away from you, "My dear, you praise me so…" He couldn’t stop repeating those praises over and over in his head, wanting to pen down the exact words you said. "Thank you YN."

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikesen sasuke #ikesen mitsunari #ikesen masamune #ikesen yukimura #ikesen kennyo #ikesen kenshin #ikesen mitsuhide #ikesen nobunaga #ikesen shingen #ikesen ieyasu #ikesen hideyoshi #ikemen sengoku kenshin #ikemen sengoku kennyo #ikesen headcanons #ikesen scenarios

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james5-doe · 1 year

Text

Sailor Moon Defenders -- fan-fan fiction

----

"So what does a typical day entail?" he asked while walking beside the queen. What did his son's routine involve?

She chuckled a bit. "I've never exactly been a 'normal' girl."

"Highness!"

Flash turned and spotted a servant. The guards at the rear looked curious.

The man knelt down a few yards from her. "Raiders have looted your shipment to Alyn."

"Raiders from where?" Jedda was scowling.

"According to footage from Nethernet..." He made a long frown. "They seem to have approached from the village of Oris."

Her fists clenched up. "Damn it," she whispered, turning away.

Flash touched her arm. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

A voice called out. "Not if I can help it."

Flash spun around, seeing his son. Rick was approaching in a suit of armor, a number of troops marching at his back.

"Lend me your cape," Rick said to Jedda.

Jedda flinched a little. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to head out and retrieve the supplies. A knight wears the colors of his lady in battle."

She scowled again. "Have you lost your mind? I can't have you running into battle, Rick. You're about to sit on the throne with me. I need you here, where you won't be hurt."

"This isn't a risky battle, J. It won't demand any real effort."

"Then why are you going?" She narrowed her eyes. "Why don't you leave this fight to the troops? Why do you need to be out in the field?"

Rick looked down at his boots for a moment. His fists were shaking with anxiety. It seemed he couldn't wait to head out to the fray.

Jedda glanced off. "You don't need to go -- you want to go."

She turned back to Rick. "We're not Defenders. Not anymore. You're supposed to be King Richard now."

Jedda looked on, quietly.

"He'll be okay," Flash murmured to her. "He's the best." The mission didn't sound very dangerous. If it had, he would've gone too.

Jedda kept staring, holding silent.

"I'm going to head back," Flash announced. "I'll call here later."

Jedda made a nod.

Flash stepped away.

----

Based on Sailor Moon Defenders, by @amandadoe.

#defenders of the earth

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luimagines · 3 years

Note

Maybe you caring for the chain? Like doing small things like helping tend to their wounds or brushing their hair. Love the blog btw!

Masterlist

A little TLC?

A little Fluff?

That's my JAM! You got it hun!

It's gonna be in bullet point list because I can.

Content under the cut!

Time

Can you imagine this guy?

It's late at night and you wake up unexpectantly.

It was supposed to be your shift but it's way past that

It's even past the shift after yours

Time is still by the fire pit

Awake

You get up

You walk over to him

Place a hand on his shoulder

He looks up at you, tired as hell

He knows he's been caught.

"It's past your bed time Old Man"

"I just wanted to give everyone a little break."

And like?!

You push him aside gently and he lets you sit next to him.

You pull him towards you and you place his head on your lap

"What am I going to do with you?"

"It's not your job to take care of me."

"Someone has to. Malon will have our heads if you come back home any less than how you left."

You start running your fingers through his hair and he closes his eyes in bliss.

It's quiet and neither of you say anything.

Time quickly falls asleep from your touch and you stay up to take your watch.

You take the next watch after as well.

Soon enough the sun rises.

And you let Time sleep in.

Twilight

What about Twilight?

Twilight was mid battle, fighting multiple bokoblins at once.

At some point he had lost his sword.

This boy hunkers down and starts swinging.

It's a one on five boxing match.

Twilight, to say the least, is not unharmed by the end of it.

You notice that he's not stable on his feet and has a few bloodied patches on his clothes, not to mention the (hopefully) small cut on his forehead.

It's more blood than you'd like to see.

You're quick to help and let him lean into your side.

You bring to the side of the fire, quickly taking out your personal med pack and begin to clean his face.

He's not seeing straight so he starts to speak nonsense.

"Twilight honey, please, don't." You try not to laugh.

"Have you seen them though?"

He's talking about you.

"They're so amazing. Did you know that? They're so cool. They know so much about history and animals and plants."

"Twilight please, I can't reach the cut. I need to disinfect it."

"And animals and Epona and Epona likes them so much. I want to show them my home and my family. Colin would love them. And I think they and Illia would be best friends."

You're blushing but it's soft and you're smiling because Twilight is smiling and he looks so happy at the thought.

You wave away Hyrule when he comes to check on The Rancher, letting him know that you've got it covered.

It's sweet.

Wild

His is a little more obvious

"Wild, what on earth?"

He comes back from an afternoon adventure.

He's absolutely filthy.

There's at least three sticks in his hair.

At least those are the ones that you can count because they're sticking out.

Multiple leaves.

You think you see something move.

"What?"

He doesn't care.

You sigh and stalk up to him.

You grab his arm.

"You're my prisoner now"

Wild tries to fight you but you're determined.

You sit him and take out a brush, taking his pony tail down.

It's a long battle.

But after at least thirty minutes of fighting the branches and leaves and what might have been a tiny mouse like creature.

The mouse thingy just ran away.

You're trying to be as gentle as you can but Wild has a hard time sitting still.

Some leaves leave easier than others and there were actually seven separate branches in his hair that you take out one by one.

But when you get past the battle and clear the foliage, Wild relaxes.

Soon you're only brushing his hair.

He needs to wash it.

But you're not anywhere near any body of water so it'll have to wait.

Wild hums every time you pass the brush pleasantly through his hair.

Within moments his hair is soft and tangle free.

You look around him to look at his face.

He's calm and blissful.

You smile and go back to brushing his hair.

It's a calm afternoon from then on out.

Warrior

Warrior isn't one to accept TLC in public but-

It's after a battle.

And you look over to Warrior who's taking off his armor at a painstakingly slow pace.

It takes him a while.

He grimaces in pain and begins to rub his neck and shoulder.

You bit your lip and sigh.

You make your way over to him.

"Need a hand, soldier boy?"

"What?"

He's confused.

"If you got pain, I can help with that."

You don't want to make it a big deal or weird.

"How?"

"I want your permission first. I'd have to touch you."

"Sure. Why not? Do it."

You nod and get behind him.

Soon enough you start kneading his shoulders and lower neck.

He grunts at the pressure you put on it but otherwise lets you continue.

He's stiff as a brick.

So you're there for a while.

But when you get tired or when he's better off than how you started (whichever comes first) you let him go.

He rubs absentmindedly where your hands just were and smiles in relief.

"Thanks."

You grin.

"Any time."

Sky

Now Sky is a bit different

He's not shy about TLC

He's frequently the one to take care of the others

You however notice something off one day

His hand was always in a fist and you pulled him aside.

"You ok? What happened?"

Sky sighs, and opens up his palm

A large cut down the middle

It cut through his leather and gloves and was bleeding through the cloth Sky was holding.

You gasp and begin to help him out then and there.

"How did this happen?"

"It's not that big of a deal."

"It's your hand!" You take off the gloves as gently as you can and bring out your med pack. "You kind of need that."

You sit him down and clean it off.

He's quiet as you work, watching you tend to his wound.

He flinches slightly at the disinfectant and hisses.

You begin to wrap his hand with a clean bandage.

You're meticulous in wrapping it up completely.

It's slow and you're losing progress in travel time but neither of you care.

"You don't have to do this."

"I want to. You can't stop me."

"I'm pretty I could if I did."

"Yeah, probably."

More silence.

You take moment to study your work and gently turn his hand over.

You give it back to him.

"How did you even manage that? You're usually so much better at this."

"It's... embarrassing..."

"Do I even want to know?"

"...No... Thank you... For helping."

"Of course."

Legend

"Legend, sweetheart, what are you doing?"

He's the kind to avoid public soft and gentle actions

Even if he's the kind to desperately want them

He'll push people away and fail to satisfy himself by yearning from a distance.

One day, you have enough.

He's trying to sit next to you and he's fidgeting, internally fighting himself over something but it's too close to you to not notice.

You sigh and pull him close to you, wrapping both of your arms around him even as he tries to fight you off.

He's trying to struggle out of it but you just snuggle into his shoulder.

He doesn't fight you for long.

Legend borderline melts into your embrace and he hugs your arm in return.

"You've got a weird sense of pride, you know that?"

You start to run your hands through his hair.

Legend scoffs

"You're the one being weird."

"Mh-hm."

"You are."

"Just say you want a hug."

"....No."

"Well I guess I have to hug you more often then."

"........No."

"Yes."

"Ok."

Hyrule

Now, you're pretty sure that The Traveler's love language is touch, so he's not shy about keeping his hands to himself.

There's always a hand on your shoulder, a comfortable hug when your sad, gentle fingers to wipe away your tears and he's doesn't mind when one (or three) members fall asleep on him.

"Oh my- Hyrule" You drop your defensive stance from being startled and stare at him.

He's bleeding from at least three different areas.

"Hyrule, sugar, sit down!" You rush over to him and help him get into a sturdy position.

You're quick to pull out a potion and help him drink it.

His hand makes its way onto your shoulder as he settles himself down.

You push his hair out of his face with frantic but gentle fingers.

"Hellllllloooo." Hyrule attempts to smile but his head swoops to the side, too heavy for him to keep it up.

"Oh, what happened?" You push up his sleeve and begin to treat the nasty scrape on his forearm.

You know the potion will eventually take care of the injuries

But you're impatient.

"I... Got caught up in a cave."

"Why did you go alone?" You stress as you begin to clean the blood off.

"...Couldn't find Wild."

"Oh my goodness, take me with you next time." You nearly shake him. "Don't go alone."

Hyrule nods and sighs in relief, as the potion begin to effect.

"That sounds like fun."

"Can you not get hurt, for just like... five minutes..."

"I can't make that promise."

"Promise me, you'll at least tell someone that you'll be going somewhere."

"I can do that."

Wind

Wind is down for anything.

He's not afraid of any sort of TLC.

You're sitting next to each other one day for dinner

You both eat until you're full and lean up against each other.

The warmth of the fire heats both of you like a comfortable blanket.

Wind leans up against you and sighs.

You smile and wrap one of your arms around him.

Wind then snuggles closer and hums happily.

You set your plate aside and begin running your fingers through his hair.

Within moments Wind starts to fall asleep against you and he lets himself fall even more against you.

"Sleep hon, I got you."

" 'mkay." Wind adjusts himself one more time and lets his breath even out.

You let him sleep against you for a while until you also decided to hit the hay.

One of the others sets up his bed roll and you pick up Wind.

You begin to make your way over and set him down but your resident pirate holds onto your arm

"-Don't." Wind whines.

You hide your snickers and try to get him to let you go.

He doesn't.

Welp...

You bite the bullet and ask Hyrule to bring over your own bed roll.

With the help of some of the other boys, you get it set up as close as you can get it.

Adjusting your grip, you lay on your side and pull Wind close.

It's bedtime.

So you fall asleep next to him.

Four

Four is actually little more like Legend in terms of initiating contact than he cares to admit.

He's not going to push anyone away if they come to him.

Even if he wants something as simple as a hug, he won't be the one to go and hug someone.

Someone will have to hug him.

But this boy yearns.

And he's bad at hiding it.

You take it upon yourself when he's being a little off to talk to him

Brush his hair

Hold his hand

Hold him close with your arm over his shoulders, a side hug when your both walking.

He lets you.

He leans in closer and tilts his head in your direction.

A silent request for pats.

If you've been playing with his hair for long enough, he'll let you braid it.

You take the time to keep it out of his eyes and occasionally put flowers in it when there's more down time.

Four won't say it but it's one of his favorite times

He wears his flower braids with pride

It's not something that he would do for himself but he wouldn't change it for the world.

It makes him feel special.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #linked universe x reader #call me out if none of ya'll like the pet names #I feel like I've gone a little off course for this ask

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