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yuri-is-online · 10 months

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Cat Got Your Tongue? (MMO AU: Leona Kingscholar x Reader)

Master Post for AU: (x) please read for overview and links to other parts.

a/n: Sure Leona says he doesn't like video games but this is my blog and I choose the au. I ended up having to re-write this because the original premise wasn't working but this fits Leona's vibe a bit better. Side note, but I am thinking I'll probably write a sort of part 2 for each of these once I am finished with each of the main "routes" since there was some stuff I wanted to include in this fic but cut because it didn't flow.

notes: They/Them pronouns used for Yuu, loosely inspired by Love is Hard for Otaku and crappy otome games, Leona is a junior and Yuu is a freshman in American college years, some mild Ruggie slander? (he's hustlin and bustlin) Not a lot of gaming in this one sorry.

Sometimes Leona really hates having a functioning brain. Maybe if he had been born comatose his family would have taken time to understand him. Hell maybe he would have understood them. And maybe, maybe if he’d been a bit more stupid, a bit more happy, a bit more inspiring and a bit less morose, someone would have looked his way.

Someone. His bright green eyes settle on a desk strategically chosen in the furthest shadows of the classroom where someone sits. They’re tired, fighting against the eight am death sentence of a class to stay awake and take notes. Nose always at the grindstone with so little in the way of reward, just like always. Sometimes he wonders if they’ve ever noticed his gaze, it’s been on them for a long time creating a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach he’d gladly brush off as disgust to Ruggie when pushed. Not that Ruggie ever pushed hard over something he wasn’t getting paid for and he had enough sense not to laugh at Leona to his face. They both knew it was worry. It was written all over his face and twitching through his tail, they look up to meet his heavy gaze and twitch. A smile works its way to his face involuntarily as he closes his eyes.

He is getting tired of waiting.

~~~

[FC] <Tempura Kun> I STG IM GONNA KERMIT A FELONY

[FC] <Granny Smith> fr?

[FC] <Granny Smith> where we pullin up?

[FC] <Tempura Kun> whatever hole my Algebra TA crawled out of this morning

[FC] <Granny Smith> we pullin out (´×ω×`)

[FC] <Tempura Kun> （πーπ）

[FC] <Tempura Kun> real brave

[FC] <Tempura Kun> ur such a big man

[FC] <Granny Smith> HEY

[FC] <Granny Smith> I thirst for the glory of combat not suicide

[FC] <Gloomy Samurai> whisper or get in a linkshell if you’re just going to bitch and braid each other’s hair

You smother your screams with a pillow as your discord lights up with a call from Epel, which you answer quickly enough it barely gets a chance to ring.

“Just not yer day, huh?” Epel sighs sympathetically, but you know he’s making that stupid smug face of his. “Whatcha do this time?”

“I accidentally gave Dr. Crewel some paperwork dad had me working on and when I tried to explain that to Leona, he laughed at me before I got it all out.” Epel whistles.

“Did you get the papers back?”

“Yeah.” You glare at your monitor as you settle into your desk chair. “Would have been nice to keep my dignity though.” Epel has enough sense to not to tease you more, just inviting you to a party and shooting a message to the guild to see if anyone is up for running a few dungeons while you stew in your frustrations, squishing your pillow and try to avoid reflecting on your day. Realistically speaking it wasn’t that bad. You’ve been pretty lucky in life compared to some people, as your adoptive father is so keen to remind you, he is very generous. He’s paying for you to go to a good school (that he works for so he’s actually just paying for books), he let you keep Grim when pretty much every other foster family you were placed with tried to get rid of him, and you have a pretty solid group of friends left over from highschool. But still, you like to think you have a right to complain about things, what sort of father makes his kid go through zoning laws under the guise of “father child bonding time”? And what sort of teacher’s assistant says that’s not his problem and snarks about taking off points of your actual homework?

Leona Kingscholar apparently, it’s his idea of a joke. By the day after tomorrow he’ll be back to his lazy self, slapping a half assed grade on your homework with a bunch of snarky commentary that’s surprisingly helpful when you go to amend your notes. Assuming he doesn’t hijack your table in the library to take a nap first. He’s a pain in your ass, and the worst part is you really don’t know why. Leona’s a junior, you think anyway, and outside of his job as a teacher’s assistant you don’t have any shared classes. Epel plays on the Spelldrive team, talks him up pretty much every chance he gets, so you guess he’s pretty good at that if nothing else. Maybe he’s mad at you on Epel’s behalf? He invites you to their games sometimes, but you never go because you’re too afraid of the crowds. The thought makes you huff in frustration as Rex and Snake join your party and begin bickering about what to que for; that’s between you and Epel, what’s his captain got to say about any of that? What does he want to do, show off?

[FC] <Snake Whisper> Tempura you still good to heal? Gran said you were stressed.

[FC] <Tempura Kun> I’ll stress more if I make you heal lol

[FC] <Tempura Kun> Thanks for asking <3

[FC] <Snake Whisper> σ(^○^)

[FC] <Snake Whisper> You’re good

You stretch and do your best to pop your neck.

Vivat Rex >> You shouldn’t stress about making him heal if you’re tired. It’s ok to take a break.

Tempura Kun >> lol I like heals I’ll be good promise

Tempura Kun >> ty for worrying tho <3 <3

Vivat Rex >> <3 ofc can’t have our only competent heals falling over dead

Tempura Kun >> HA i’m telling Nautilus u said that

Vivat Rex >> (^_~) punk ass bitch deserves it

The instance cuts off your reply and you settle into your chair determined to enjoy the hour and a half you set aside for yourself today before you have to go back to being an overworked unpaid student. Before you have to go back to trying to convince your friend Ruggie that you have a friend named Rex who is real and not a figment of your imagination that lives in your computer caused by dehydra- wait. Your eye twitches settling on the date and time mocking you from the lower right of your second monitor.

“Epel.”

“Hm?”

“I need you to go wall to wall or I’m gonna be late for work.”

~~~

“Finally.” Ruggie gives an exaggerated stretch as he yawns. You sigh to yourself in relief that he isn’t too upset that you’re a few minutes late, you know Ruggie’s a busy guy from the few closing shifts you’ve worked together. He’s one of the few people you feel actually respects your situation, if the side hustles he kicks your way are anything to go by anyway. You’d hate for him to think you’re ungrateful for his help. “I’m practically dead on my feet here, took you long enou-” You pause in tying your apron, unsure of why he’s staring into you so disapprovingly you almost swear he’s been replaced by Leona. Almost. His signature laugh is too unique.

“Stuff it.” You scowl and his laughter gets louder and it’s a wonder his tail doesn’t knock any of the cigarettes off the back counter shelves.

“Oh you look disgusting.” He fishes his phone out of his back pocket as he clocks out, checking it just out of your view as you try to salvage your pride and settle into your seat.

“You don’t look so hot yourself either.”

“Yeah at least I don’t look like a truck hit me and backed up to make sure it finished the job.” He looks somewhat serious for a brief second. “When was the last time you actually ate food?”

“Before I came here?”

“Instant noodles don't count.” Your silence is speaking volumes you don’t have the strength to combat and Ruggie sighs.

“I know I’m one to talk, but you should really get some rest.” His lips quirk into a grin for half a second, quick enough to have missed if you had blinked as if he remembered something amusing. “Unless you’re angling for someone to force you.”

“Like a health professional? You know the old crow will just look for a second opinion.” Ruggie lightly flicks your shoulder while he continues to focus on his phone on the way out the door.

“You mean thirty-second.” He doesn’t even look up to say goodbye. “Well I’m out! Try not to scare off the customers.” If you had to regularly interact with customers you would not have taken this shift. Epel had given you a hard time about that, something about personal safety being more important than sanity.

[FC] <Granny Smith> not what I said

[FC] <Granny Smith> u should at least have someone visit when ur alone on shift

And you did sometimes. Ace likes to drop by after practice, and Epel hadn’t said that with the intention of not showing up himself. Jack and Deuce probably would have visited even if you were on a daylight shift, not that Jack would ever admit to checking up on you outloud. But it was still very much only a sometimes thing, not that they didn’t care or worry they just had lives. Most of your time at the convenience store was spent alone scrolling through magicam on your phone, only looking up to ring up a hoard of energy drinks for whoever was just as tired as you were. Though maybe not today, Rex had tried to convince you to just call out. He always does, complaining about how he’d have to run things with Nautilus now, but he might have had a point today. The chair you and Ruggie snuck behind the counter is not remotely comfortable but you swear it feels like a cloud. You tried to focus on your magicam feed, but you couldn’t even bring yourself to care about the fan art Gloomurai posted of the First Fantasia Knight Commander. If anything it just made you sleepier, like he was personally inviting you to take a nap on his lap or something. Your eyes shut and your phone drops out of your hand. When you finally wake up you swear it has only been a minute at most but the smug look of your customer suggests otherwise.

“Morning sunshine.” Leona looks painfully out of place in this shitty college convenience store. The dingey, twitching light barely bounces off his hair and you swear his clothes have to cost more than all the electronic equipment in the place combined, maybe even more than your computer back home. An odd thought to have, he’s literally just wearing the same kind of athleisure wear you had been wearing almost twenty minutes ago while gaming, but you recognize the branding on that shirt from a rant Ruggie went on a month ago. Something about wondering why anyone would pay that much money to leave the house looking stupid in cheetah print. “Are you even listening to me?” Leona drawls, lazy and the slightest bit disappointed, he has been talking to you since you woke up you belatedly realize and completely fail to hide the fact. Leona sighs, tail thrashing in annoyance as he moves to join you behind the counter. “Whatever, just move over.” You almost fall off your chair.

“What? No no no this is an employee only zone you cannot take a nap back here.” You have no idea how Leona is expecting to fall asleep, even if you’ve tripped over him on the campus lawn before you’re sure the green has to be more comfortable than this questionably sourced tile. And yet he seems happy enough, bracing his back against the concrete wall as you turn your confusion back to the counter and notice a thermos that you don’t recognize next to you.

“That’s yours.” Your head whips back around but the fucker’s eyes are closed and he looks so incredibly unbothered your loud retort dies in your throat. He doesn’t bother to meet your piercing gaze no matter how long you stare at him, you get more of a response from the thermos when you accidentally elbow it trying to get more comfortable at the counter. It’s a nice thermos, one of those expensive insulated things that cost a ridiculous amount of money, in a bright yellow that nicely compliments the royal looking lion sticker stuck to it. There are a few other stickers, the NRC logo, a Spelldrive team logo, and a reaper job icon. The last sticker makes you smile, you’re pretty sure you linked a similar looking sticker to Rex in the guild discord a month ago, the design included a silhouette of the cowboy hat from the class armor set behind the icon just like this sticker. Exactly like this sticker, you realize as your tired eyes settle on the artist’s signature. The shop bell rings you to attention, a significantly less interesting customer enters the store and you try to shove your rising panic to the back of your mind and try to focus on doing your job.

Leona’s annoyed sigh goes completely unnoticed.

~~~

“You aren’t going to tell Crowley I slept through most of my shift right?” You have to be pushing things, Leona hates repeating himself and this is the third time you’ve asked him. Leona had insisted on staying with you until the end of your shift, you had insisted he had better ways to spend his night but admitted, when he had explicitly asked, that no you weren’t uncomfortable with his presence just didn’t want to be an inconvenience. That made him laugh, not unlike the little exchange you’d had this morning, but this time he had actually entertained your attempts at talking to him. Until the time came to leave and he offered to walk you home. Leona seeing you asleep at your shitty job was bad enough, the thought of that ramshackle house made your stomach tie up in all sorts of knots. “I know you probably don’t see it as a big deal-”

“Because it’s not.” He snorts. “Really who do you think you’re trying to impress?” You wince, Leona swings the thermos with that taunting sticker just out of view, as you huddle into yourself and he sighs stopping under a street light and turns you to face him. “No seriously, just who are you trying to impress? You’re always working to the point you’ve practically stopped being yourself. It’s annoying.”

“Well what’s it to you?” You huff and Leona doesn’t bother to immediately answer. Your eyes drift back to the sticker on his thermos.

“Maybe I like playing games with you.” His voice and face are uncharacteristically soft, but still unnervingly intense. He doesn’t bother specifying what he means, almost like he’s daring you to ask first so he can make fun of you for thinking Rex was anyone other than him this whole time. “Maybe I like Yuu enough that I want to spend just a little more time with them and not this weird zombie who doesn’t know the way back to their own house.”

“Oh please-” you roll your eyes and turn back to the road only for your retort to die in your throat. You are not, in fact, headed towards the haunted mansion. This road, this stupid street light, is next to a diner you know the college sports teams like to go to after games. Leona, gently, tugs you by the sleeve of your jacket towards the door. “Hey, I can’t afford-”

“Oh don’t misunderstand we ain’t here for you, I was just feeling a bit hungry.” The smug bastard doesn’t even pretend to hear your protests as he pushes his way into the diner and doesn’t wait to be seated. He just drags you towards the back of the diner shooting you a truly catlike smirk over his shoulder. “Of course if I have something left over, we can share. Maybe if you play nice you can get your own straw.” He spins you into the booth across from him, and despite what he literally just said shoves the plastic menu back into your hands when you try to hand it back to the clearly amused waitress.

“How long have you known I was...” You feel stupid even trying to broach the topic, there’s a pretty clear line you don’t cross when making online friends. It’s even in the guild rules, you’re pretty sure “don’t ask for anyone’s IRL info” is probably Gloomurai’s life motto. But Leona doesn’t seem to care, which you suppose is in line with what you know about Rex. His laid back attitude was what had made him the most approachable out of all your guildmates, not that you would ever have thought to apply such a description to Leona. If anything he seems confused why you’re so shy about talking, like he’s known who you are the whole time and that’s why he spent so much time pinging you in game or why he decided to spend his night keeping you company.

“Maybe I like playing games with you.” Something starts curling up in your stomach at the thought that he just might have, if Leona notices you loosening your jacket to release some steam he pretends not to notice.

“Epel mentioned he was gonna try to get you into the guild.” Well that’s news to you, looks like someone is going to get yelled at later tonight. “I didn’t expect you to be so excited about healing, but I ain’t complaining, it was cute and now I don’t have to take Naut’s shit outside of raids.” Cute. You intake a sharp breath and Leona definitely notices your nerves, clearly planning to press the point unless you can cut him off from the chase.

“W-what exactly do you have against Nautilus anyway?” With the way Leona’s face wrinkles you idly wonder if he knows who Nautilus actually is too, or if he’s just displeased that the focus is no longer on him. “He’s not bad at his role.”

“Naut pays too much attention to pointless shit. Sure he’s good but it’s not like he does world firsts or anything.” Neither does Rex but that does seem to be besides the point when he’s paying for your dinner, especially now that it’s in front of you. Diner food might not be the healthiest but Ruggie really was right about instant noodle not counting as a meal. “You know he and Snake used to bitch at each other while they were supposed to be doing callouts? Had whole ass arguments over cooking instead of calling out shackle timing. Gloom and Musclered never stopped ‘em either since it was ‘funny.’” They still do, just in discord and not while you run things. It’s hard to picture someone as professional as Nautilus doing something like that, but then again you know that Rex has known him longer. “So just in case you thought I was just being nice earlier, you are the better heals. If I could get the cards I want with just you, Epel, and Ruggie I would.” It’s disturbing how clear the picture is in your mind: your lala, Epel’s roe, and Leona’s cowboy coded catman being joined by some hyper pink catgirl in the mini game bunny suit that you can easily see Ruggie using to scam some tech worker out of his monthly salary in Pirate’s Port wiping to an EX rank trial because Leona decided his logs weren’t orange enough. It sounds like a good time, and you can’t keep yourself from blurting out:

“We should try to run something sometime anyway, it’d be fun.” And before you can retreat back into your shell, Leona smiles, smiles and burns away any sort of shyness you wanted to have over talking video games with someone as “normal” as him.

“If you can think of something just text me.” You fish out your phone and can’t even bring yourself to cringe at the time with just how happy that suggestion makes you feel.

And Ace said playing MMOs would get you zero bitches.

~~~

This was a mistake. It was hard to keep that thought from drumming away at your nerves the longer you stood in the station square; Leona had been the one to invite you out, not the other way around, so if he really ended up not liking this then that was his fault not yours. You even took into account that Leona was a lazy bitch and suggested you meet up later in the day instead, but then again… You try to resist drowning in a wave of self flagellation over the clothes you picked out as you somehow manage to sink further into the park bench you have decided to camp out on. For someone who had been so insistent they were not going out on a date when their generous adoptive father asked where they were going during such prime father child bonding hours, you felt insanely self conscious. That was normal right, people who actually went out with their friends to do stuff other than pal around the local big box store put thought into their appearance. Not that there was anything wrong with that. If this goes south you know you already confirmed you can have Jack over here in two shakes of his tail and that’s probably exactly what you would end up doing. But when Mannon posted in the guild discord about a First Fantasia themed pop up cafe that was going to be A) running for a limited time within walking distance from your house and B) giving out a code for an in game pet-

Well admittedly your first thought had been to invite Epel, but Leona had texted you almost immediately after Mannon dropped the link.

[irl catboy] ruggie said you aren’t working this saturday

[irl catboy] come with me to the stupid cafe i never know what to order at those places

With such a gentlemanly request how could you possibly refuse? And now here you were fifteen minutes early trying to keep yourself from going stir crazy, or from jumping out of your skin when an increasingly familiar deep voice whispers a sleepy “hey” into your ear.

“Seven’s Leona!” You’re half ready to hit him with your backpack but your indignation and fright are almost entirely wiped away by the sheer figure Leona cuts against the setting autumn sun. Someone, Ruggie you decide, because there’s no way Leona decided to dress up to come see you himself, forced your upperclassman into a knit black turtleneck with golden claw-like trim on the neck and rolled up cuffs. He’s kept his usual tan slacks, but the ugly woven sandals have been swapped out for a more weather appropriate pair of ugly slip ons with similar gold claws to the turtleneck. His hair’s still tied up like he’s been at spelldrive practice, not that you fully know what he looks like outside of Epel’s descriptions and your own imagination.

“What, did I scare you?” you drawls, clearly eating up the attention you’re lavishing on his appearance. Before you can collect yourself enough to stand up he leans down to cow you back into the bench. “Maybe I should scare you some more? The mousey look really suits you.”

“Oh shut up!” You huff and stand, trying your best to avoid cracking your head off of Leona’s stupidly broad frame as you both go to head towards the cafe. “Did you look up the menu online or are you just planning on winging it?”

“You really like to put effort into things don’t you?” Leona doesn’t look or sound too upset but there’s a strange wistfulness to his look you do not really like, but it’s gone before you can pick at it too much. “Nah I figured I’d just let you pick.”

“Are you sure?” You try your best not to sound excited, you swear the only thing you admire about Ruggie is his work ethic, not his grift. “I could just take advantage of you and force you to get a bunch of stuff only I’d like.” As if he’s reading your mind, Leona's green eyes twinkle with mischief you know will bite you in the ass later.

“Oh no you would never do that. I know for a fact that you are just too nice for that.” The “unlike someone else" goes unsaid as Leona decides to really double down on the gentleman act when you reach the cafe, holding the door and not even pretending to look at the menu until you prompt him.

“Do you want to get the reaper soda?” Leona shrugs.

“Does it sound like it will taste good to you?” It does but that’s sort of besides the point, you’re much more interested in the white mage one.

“I just thought you might want the coaster.” You murmur and he smiles.

“I’d lose something like that real fast, you can just keep it.” Your eyes have to pop halfway out of your head with how hard he laughs, other patrons shoot a confused look at your table as you try to resist the urge to self combust. “Let me guess, they’re worth somethin right? In that case all the more reason for you to keep em.” The look in his eyes is practically daring you to ask if he’s really sure, but knowing Leona he wants an excuse to tease so for now you swallow your insecurities and point your awkward smile up at the server who comes to take your order.

“Um can we get one reaper soda, one white mage soda…” your voice trails off and Leona pipes up with the name of a burger you don’t remember reading out to him but they apparently serve anyway with how quickly she notes it down.

“And is the check separate or together?” She sweetly asks and before you can so much as breathe Leona cuts you off.

“Bill goes to me.” You glare at him, well try to really Leona’s a hard person to stare down. “Didn’t I say you could get whatever?” Not literally, it was more implied along with the trouble that you weren’t expecting to catch up to you this quickly. His smile widens, not quite wolfishly, more like a lion staring down a particularly foolish gazelle that’s stumbled weak kneed into his territory. “Go on, tell the nice lady what else you want, she won’t bite you, that's my job.” Flames aren’t enough anymore. You need to turn into a particularly fine paste or particle dust to relive how fast your heart is beating. Luckily for you the server seems amused, letting out a good natured laugh as she shoots you a wink.

“You heard your man, what can we get for you?” You take back every judgment you have ever passed Ruggie’s way. With just how proud Leona seems like now he really is asking for it.

~~~

“You don’t really do things like this much do ya?” Leona kept his teasing to a minimum after the bite comment thank god and kept his word about letting you keep the coasters. Pretty much everything at the cafe seemed to have some sort of First Fantasia themed knick knack you were allowed if not encouraged to take back with you. Leona had offered to walk you home once you both saw how dark it was, promising that would be your only stop this time much to your relief. You weren’t sure how much more of his teasing you could take.

“I mean I’ve got Epel, but Ace, Deuce, and Jack don’t really like mmos.” You aren’t sure if it has ever actually been established if you are friends with Sebek, but unless someone teaches Malleus how to use a mouse you doubt he’s going to be logging into anything other than a literal tree anytime soon. “Sometimes Epel will send me links to merch he thinks I’d like, but he’s more into the…” You pause to try and find the words for what it is you want to say, knowing your friend will kill you if you make him look lame. “Sense of pride and accomplishment you get from beating high end content.”

“That sounds like him.” Leona says proudly. “He’s like that with anything mildly competitive. One of his better qualities, just don’t go telling him I said that. Wouldn’t want it goin to his head.” There’s no way you’ll be able to keep his mild praise a secret from Epel forever, but what Leona doesn’t know won’t hurt him too much. “But that’s not really what I was asking.” Your pace slows as Leona lapses back into silence and you wrack your brain for what he actually could have meant. “Do you like going out to cafe’s?”

“I… don’t really know.” You liked tonight. Talking to Leona, when he was awake enough to participate, was always fun. Even when you were trading jabs back and forth in class. “I used to dream about finally finding someone who I could do stuff like this with, but I kind of gave up after my last date said-” you freeze in your train of thought and walk. This had not been a date in any way shape or form. Sure, Leona played a video game with you, and sure he’s been going out of his way to talk to you in real life more regularly since he came to visit your work. But it’s not like he did that for any reason other than- “said it was just too weird. Said I was just too weird and I guess I just sort of got tired of not being able to talk about things that interested me so I gave up trying.”

“Then why not just date me?” Leona’s eyes are a really strange shade of green now that you’re staring straight into them. It’s like he’s got two neon lights shining a spotlight directly on you every time he speaks, judging and picking apart whoever he is looking at. And right now he is looking pointedly at you, making it clear this isn’t a conversation he is going to let you run from. “I told you before, didn't I? I like playing games with you. I want to spend time with you; I want to hear about your day every day, from what annoyed you to funny things you and your friends did. I want to see you happy and know I made that happen, because you make my life a happier one just by being in it. The only thing I have ever not liked about you is that you work too hard, and that’s not unfixable. You just need to let me be a bad influence on you.” It’s a confession you never really expected to receive, but somehow so very much him. It’s insulting, honest, and just a touch demanding but it reaches into that small shrunken part of your heart that you’ve been burying most of your feelings in for who knows how long now and fills it with warmth.

“Would you-” It feels like a silly question but with how intently Leona is hanging on your every word you feel a rush of power going straight to your head. “If we were going out would you stop wiping things on purpose?” He blinks, if he’s surprised by the request or shocked he got this far you don’t quite know, but he quickly recovers, moving into your space to offer his hand.

“If you ask nicely.” You gladly take the offered arm and influence, squeezing his much larger hand with a soft smile.

“Then it’s a dea-” Leona cuts you off with a kiss, swallowing your mouselike squeak along with most of your air with a speed you didn’t know he possessed.

“Don’t use that punks line.” He practically growls and you can’t hold in your happy laughter any longer. It could just be the streetlights, but you don’t think Leona looks all that mad. Quite the opposite really, not that you expect him to voice it out loud. Instead he leans in for another kiss in a gruff effort to show just how much he means what he has been trying to say all along.

I’m happiest when I am doing things with you.

*if you are curious about Leona's outfit, I based it off of Lion King clothing items in Disney Dreamlight Valley (black and gold claw shoes, tan sunny slacks, and the gray claw top for those looking for specifics)

#twisted wonderland x reader #leona kingsholar x reader #leona x yuu #leona kingscholar #twst x reader #twst au

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captain-mj · 1 year

Note

*gnaws on your ankle like a deranged dingo*

BACKROOMS grrrr BACKROOMS

....please?

<3 Also, most likely nearing the end here guys. Also please go vote on @callsign-bunnie poll for Graves to get Dumpling voted in

Felt fitting to post this in (in my time zone) the dead of night

Ghost ate from a buffet he found, scarfing down food. He was starving and starting to regret smashing his radio. Soap's voice echoed through the halls occasionally and he hated it.

Alejandro and Price's voice suddenly echoed through the walls and he hid, balancing high above their heads. He was cautious. If any of the creatures had any intelligence, they would follow one of them. It made the most sense. Infiltrate the group. But Simon was smart. Far smarter than these creatures. They would probably try to group the humans back together. And Ghost would be there.

They wouldn't survive him. He was a fucking hunter. Death fucking incarnate and if they thought for one goddamn minute he'd ever ever let them get close.

Ghost followed them. Nice and slow. Silent.

Alejandro shot all of the balloons they saw and he noticed why when one tried lunging at Price.

Ghost took one out with a knife when one almost caught them off guard. Price noticed the knife and glanced around, but he didn't say anything. He probably knew who their shadow was and Ghost appreciated him not throwing him under the rug.

Price was trying to get a hold of Gaz, but he apparently wasn't having luck. Alejandro had steady conversation with Rodolfo though.

Ghost watched them finally, finally, found a way out of the neon museum. He had already mapped this and the water room area out since he had found a way out. He realized after a while that they had not been here that long. Time was moving weird again and it was hard for him to put a timeline together.

They wandered back into the white tile room that had Soap in it earlier.

The four of them managed to get together. Rodolfo, Alejandro, Soap and Price.

And Ghost. Another Ghost.

"We're still missing Gaz." Price spoke up. "Been trying to talk to him for a while."

Ghost couldn't breath. This... fucker stood so close to Johnny. So goddamn close. It had his white mask on.

"Gaz is here too?" Fake Ghost spoke. He sounded... out of it. Most likely he was mimicking the tone that Ghost had had while frantic.

Ghost followed them silently.

"Yes. He went out a while ago and hasn't appeared yet."

"Have you checked the children's room?" Ghost asked and Simon felt sick. It sounded too much like him. His voice mocked back at him. If the thing took off its mask, it would look like him. Of course it would. It didn't need to see him to know what he looked like. It copied people that had never gone here.

"The children's room?" Rodolfo looked at him, sounding skeptical.

"It's a serious of rooms that look like they're from your childhood. Found it earlier."

Soap looked up. "Oh? Do you think we can see your childhood bedroom?"

"it's an empty room with bunkbeds that I shared with my little brother. Not exactly something you'll find interesting. I'll show you. Want to make sure he's safe." He turned around and started to walk.

Simon perched above their heads, unbeknownst to them. He listened to them.

"How is he?" Price asked while Alejandro and Rodolfo checked each other.

"Uh... I don't.... I don't know. He seems overwhelming fine. I have a feeling he's hiding what's going on in his head."

Price nodded. "We'll keep an eye on him of course." He sounded concerned and Simon watched them. There was no way for them to be able to really tell them apart. He had no clue how much this thing knew. They had managed to trick him a few times so they clearly had enough intelligence to do so. It also tricked Soap.

Price thought something was wrong. He had felt like he was being watched this entire time, but something about right now was even worse. But no matter where he looked, he saw nothing.

So he followed Ghost to the children's room. They were disturbing. It turned into a hallway with no doors in the doorways. It was pretty clear which were Alejandro, Rodolfo and Soap's. He could tell by the fabrics used and the fact that two of them had several posters that were in Spanish. He doubted Soap would get posters in a language he didn't speak.

Ghost didn't have one. "Maybe it can only do it once? I was just in it earlier." He seemed to be wondering the same thing. "Shame."

"Why?" Price asked.

"Just wanted to see it again."

"Place probably feeds on childhood thoughts or some weird shit." Alejandro broke up their thoughts. He looked pissed at one of the rooms. "I hate this place."

Rodolfo nodded, looking uncomfortably at his own room. "Gotta agree with you there." He moved closer to the group. Price noticed that all of them but Ghost had.

Price didn't look at his room. Skipped right fucking over it.

Gaz found them. Or, well, they found Gaz. Something was in the room with him. Saliva dripping from its mouth as he watched him sleep.

Price had never shot something as fast as he did now. He kept shooting and shooting and shooting. The thing disappeared. Price really, really hoped it died.

He grabbed Gaz and shook him immediately. Slowly, slowly, Gaz blinked his eyes. Gaz groaned before yanking away and throwing up on the floor. The dinosaur in his arms fell on to the floor and immediately dissolved.

Price hugged him immediately and yanked him out of the room. He started to quickly back up, watching Ghost as he watched them in turn. He went to speak. Price could see his mask move as if to talk at least.

And then... a... second Ghost? Hit him hard with the butt of his gun and instead of either shooting, they started to fist fighting.

Everyone else had their guns up immediately. Mostly because they were fucking confused.

Soap stared at the two of them. One in just a balaclava with the mask on his hip and one with the mask on it. He immediately moved his gun to the one without the mask. He'd notice if Ghost was fake. He'd fucking notice.

Right?

They both scrambled at each other and started to keep going and going. Unnaturally fast, but that's just how Ghost was.

Fuck.

"Both of you up and apart right fucking now." Alejandro barked with a large amount of authority. It took a moment before they both slowly separated.

As expected, they looked exactly the same. Soap wanted to trust himself. He'd know he was talking to the real Ghost, right? Of course he would.

Partially unmasked Ghost took off the balaclava. Soft blond hair. Big brown eyes with a stripe of blue. All the scars perfectly in place. "Johnny.' He sounded more confident. More him. But that made it more confusing because over the radio, he had sounded so stressed. "You gotta believe me."

"We've been together for hours." The one still wearing the mask hissed. "And I wouldn't take my mask off so willingly."

"Or can you just not copy my face?" Taunts. He was taunting the other one. Why?

Soap slowly moved his gun back and forth, completely lost.

"Fucking hell."

#johnny soap mactavish #john price #captain john price #ghostsoap #simon ghost riley #soap cod #cod mw2 #ghost cod #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #call of duty modern warfare ii #alejandro vargas #rodolfo parra #rodolfo cod #backrooms cod

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etsuven · 10 months

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Kunikuzushi, the eldest child of the matriarchal kingdom ran by his mother, has come of age to be married off. Feeling trapped by the stuffiness of the castle and the strict routine he had known since birth, he decides to use this opportunity to finally gain the freedom he so longingly dreamt of through the confines of his room. Everything was planned out, even down to the little details. What wasn't part of his plan, however; was falling in love. - Newfound Freedom: Chapter 1/Prologue <next chapter> word count: ~800+ - note: not the best start to a new series, and this prologue probably isn't the most captivating thing, but i hope it seems interesting so far! i've had something like this in mind for a while, (aka i've been planning it for at least a few weeks or so) and since i've been obsessed with scaramouche as of late, i decided to place him in the story! please stick around for the next chapter where things are sure to get more interesting! (this chapter was written on 12/15/22. it took me a while to post because i had a severe writers block + i wanted to write 3 chapters just to give you guys SOMETHING)

Kunikuzushi.

The first son of the Empress of Inazuma, Ei.

A boy forever destined to be in the shadow of his younger sister.

It was an awful fate, really. As the first child of the Empress, he was never worshiped and prioritized as much as the women who constantly surrounded him. The kingdom was typically ran by women, so it was only fitting that the right to the throne would skip him��instead moving to the person who was born after him.

He didn't really have a problem with it when he was younger. Why should he? Little him felt it was too much responsibility, so he was more than happy to pass everything onto the youngest in the family. But as he got older, he began to feel... Jealous. Seeing his younger sister get doted on constantly while he only got crumbs.

Yes, he sounded like a brat, but who wouldn't feel this way?

Like any normal person when faced with the fact that they aren't favored by those around him, he was angry. Why should he be pushed aside for the sake of his sister? Wasn't he good enough? He was often reprimanded for asking those questions.

'You should know why already.' He was told. 'Inazuman royalty is matriarchal in nature. It is tradition for the women to be throned before men.' Kunikuzushi knew deep in his mind that that was the case, but he still couldn't push away the borderline hatred he held towards his younger sister, Rai.

His relationship with the girl wasn't the best, to say the least. He despised her almost robotic nature, how she seemed so prim and proper- it was aggravating. The girl was heavily favored by the Inazuman citizens, each one praising her actions, no matter how miniscule they were.

Rai often trained with their mother, studying her fighting style and practicing it to perfection. The two of them took advantage of the electric magic of their kingdom, something Kunikuzushi had yet to master due to only being self taught.

His mother's consultant, Yae Miko, also possessed the same electro magic as his family and the many other women in the nations around them (save for a few men.) He wasn't the closest to Miko, only seeing her as someone who wanted to impress the person he called his mother. Although he had to admit, she was quite good at her job, often times managing things when his mother wasn't around to do so herself.

Now, back to his mother...

Children naturally want to be close to their parents, but Kunikuzushi didn't get the attention he so longed for from his mother. Anything he did was never acknowledged by the Empress. Academic achievements, training accomplishments, simple milestones. Things that were typically praised were never even noticed by her. Either that, or she simply just didn't care.

The boy craved his mother's words of praise, but over time he learned to not expect it. He would train and study like he was constantly told to, of course, but he told himself that he would no longer dare seek validation from the woman.

Years passed since this revelation, and Kunikuzushi grew into a stunning young man. Paired with his physique from training and gorgeous features, he became the object of affection of many citizens in Inazuma, and even the other members of royalty from nearby countries.

Though they could never truly pursue him, as he was already engaged. From the moment he became a teenager, he was set to be married off to someone from a nearby country. A strange thing to be for someone so young, but it was normal for those of royal blood.

It was a weird feeling—knowing that you were set to be engaged to and eventually wed someone you didn't even know. Since the both of you were so busy with your own problems, you never actually got the chance to really meet and get to know each other. Not that he wanted to get to know you. Based on your reputation, he was sure that you were the stuck up type.

Although an arranged marriage wasn't the most ideal thing in Kunikuzushi's mind, he still found a way to use it to his advantage. It wasn't a secret to anyone who could read body language that he was longing for something more- something new. The repetitiveness of his daily life was finally getting to him.

The young prince quickly realized that his arranged marriage to you could be his way out of Inazuma. The tradition of his kingdom called for him to travel to your kingdom once the two of you were wed, and he realized one night that he could use that opportunity to slowly distance himself from you and run away.

While he did feel a bit bad for planning to do something like that to you, the temptation of freedom after so many years of silently asking for it was too much to handle. But it was too late to go back on everything now—The 'perfect' plan was already made, and it was only a matter of time before it would finally come to fruition.

#genshin #genshin impact #scaramouche x reader #genshin fluff #genshin fanfic #genshin impact scaramouche #scaramouche #genshin scaramouche #genshin headcannons #genshin scenarios #genshin scaramouche fluff #genshin scaramouche x reader #etsuven #scaramouche fluff #scaramouche genshin impact #kunikuzushi #newfound_freedom

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paragonrobits · 6 months

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Sorry if you’ve already made a post about this, but what do you think Marceline and Betty’s relationship would have been like (if they actually interacted much) We know that she’s able to envision her as a mother figure (the first coma dream in stakes) but do you think that would change if she and Magic Woman ever actually met?

I think it's possible, sure, but I also think it's liable to fall into one of the big things surrounding Betty with Simon in particular; wanting something that can never really happen is a tremendously appealing idea for people like Simon and Marceline?

Broadly I think there's a few different ways it could happen: 1. Betty winds up being more scared of Marceline than expected, forcing Simon to choose between the two (and arguably, he's spent more time and grown closely to Marceline and for drama I would have him side with Marceline in the end). 2. Betty winds up being a mother figure for her but probably more strict than Simon and potentially even dangerous in her own way as Magic Woman. 3. We get a similar situation to Ice King where she does grow to love Marcy but her inherent instability and swelling madness makes her actively dangerous to her. 4. like 3 except it winds up okay somehow, with Marceline, Ice King and Magic Woman managing to somehow salve each other's respective problems into something that's kooky but surprisingly functional.

Some more indepth thoughts:

So I consider there's a few likely things to happen in the circumstance that Betty is actually around Marceline and Simon for this. The first one is that Betty actually does become a mother figure to her; personally I find this pretty interesting given that Elise (Marceline's mom) was very close to Marceline and she misses her badly, but as that dream shows, she longs for a bigger family and certainly loves the idea of Betty in that part of her life. Notably, Simon is a little older there than he was biologically at that time; he's got crows feet, so its not implausible that this is Marceline imagining if they had raised her all her life.

However there's a recurring motif going on with Betty that is most obvious with Simon, but keeps coming up with people who know ABOUT her but haven't actually met her; that they project a lot of feelings towards her as the ideal loved one in a lot of ways. They're not wrong exactly, but come from a LOT of emotional distance and I think they ultimately are projecting a lot on someone they haven't actually met, or have known for a long time.

There is a term for this: loving a shadow. Basically its wishful projection. Character A projects onto the idea of loving Character B, fixating on the life they would have together, or grows attached to their assumptions of what it would be like to be with them in some form or another. Simon's relationship with Betty has EXTREMELY STRONG tinges of this to start; among other things, I think his character arc in Fionna And Cake has a lot of this going on; he fixates on the life they could have had together that he cannot bring himself to let go of it. And I think its quite likely to happen with Marceline imagining her as a mother figure.

Simon in particular suffers from this the most. He fixates heavily on Betty as his One True Happily Ever After; he longs for the life he imagines he would have had with her, he fixates on her to the point that even as Ice King he's attaching his buried attachment to her towards anyone that fits the princess description and implicitly Bubblegum, who has a LOT in common with Betty. Gunther in the crown even remarks about how Betty isn't much like he imagined her, so I think anyone who mostly knows about her from Simon are going to have a somewhat warped view of an ordinary woman who was somewhat impulsive and intellectually motivated, but wasn't the perfect ideal Simon thinks of her as. And this certainly would include Marceline!

After many years of separation and loneliness, Simon seems to, around the time he met Marceline, build up Betty into this ideal icon of the life he wanted and that was taken away from him. It's likely not one that has a lot of ties to reality; she could argue, or have normal disagreements, and certainly she might even have been scared of Marceline.

So here's the first possibility; they meet and Betty falls short of Marceline's likely very high expectations; she's a regular person, in the end, and can't possibly live up what Simon has come to think of her. Regular Betty would likely be scared of Marceline even as a child, as most people were until Ooo became increasingly more strange overall. If Betty was somehow around when Simon met Marceline, I think its likely she would be scared of her; whether this would be enough for her to leave Simon or being a bit slower to come around to Marcy are equally possibilities. If this is Magic Woman later on, bear in mind that Marceline is probably existentially terrifying; she's not just a vampirized demon, she also can eat your soul. It doesn't come up much because Marcy is the biggest sweetheart in the show despite her tough attitude, but Betty doesn't know that.

But what if Betty was able to move past that and see Marcy for the genuinely good and lonely person she is? This brings us to 2. Betty as one of Marceline's parents, and most likely the more strict one, though I would note that based on what we see of their domestic life, Betty is still pretty much a goofball; strict would be a relative measure.

As Magic Woman, this would become more pronounced, especially if she gets more unstable; she would likely be even more dangerous than Ice King, who is stil lfundamentally Simon and not that dangerous. He always holds himself back; Betty does not.

3 gives us a scenario where Magic Woman is trying to be a good influence in her life but immense magical power and the madness that comes with it are going to create problems; I can easily see Magic Woman being even more of a threat to Marceline, as noted above. This would also be most likely if it happened in the present day or if Betty gained magical powers while Marceline was a kid. For added drama, she could even start randomly lashing out of her in misplaced jealousy of Simon focusing on her.

4 is probably the best possible outcome where we have Magic Woman, Ice King/Simon and Marceline in a weird family relationship; the first two in full magically driven madness while still being good parents, in their own way, to Marceline. This honestly has a lot of potential and is even a big aspect of a few AUs I've been thinking about, though it is less inherently dramatic unless you assume there is a tipping point where someone does something to drive the others off, perhaps, but its equally valid to assume it just winds up stabilizing into a weird family.

#adventure time #marceline #simon petrikov #betty grof #replies #ideas #queued

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ivysinistra · 18 days

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I'm not gonna name any names, but I have this one friend who's essentially the perfect trans girl. Voice passes, face passes, pretty much everything. Always posting about how much she loves her life and being trans.

I know I'm such a miserable piece of shit for this, but seeing that is so fucking demoralizing because there's just no conceivable way that I could ever achieve that. I'm fundamentally limited by my body and my genetics and overall it's just fucking impossible to get where she is. I wish I could love myself and my transition as much as she seems to love hers, but that's just a pipe dream ultimately. I have to actively try to be normal around her, which to be honest is almost impossible, so I tend to avoid her as much as I can especially in VCs. She probably doesn't know that and I'm never going to tell her.

I know I'm the asshole here. I should be happy watching someone else succeed like this. I'm not a crab in a bucket and I hate people who are, but goddamn is it frustrating to be in a position like this. I have to work VERY hard to even have a 50% chance of passing, if that, and it seems like people around me do it so much better. And sure, I can ignore the binary, I should be ignoring the binary, my entire life is an act of protest and I've had to acknowledge that I'm hot in more... unconventional ways. That much is true. The binary is bullshit.

Unfortunately, I'm still fundamentally bound by it internally and can't follow my own advice. I would love to just be a cis-passing trans girl but that's impossible with my natural jaw and hairline and voice and height and build and everything. I've spent months and months of wasted life being dysphoric about these things that people tend to actually enjoy in me, despite me feeling disgusting because of them for such a long time. I've wasted years being insecure about things about my appearance I can't control.

And yet it still consumes me to this day. Even though I know without a shadow of a doubt the binary is bullshit, that I should be happy with my transition because every body is beautiful in its own way, that there's no wrong way to be trans, etc. My brain cannot let go of the binary and trying desperately to achieve the impossible. I have to face it eventually. I'm an ugly fuck according to cisheteronormative beauty standards.

I'm not traditionally feminine, like, at all, and I wasn't blessed with any features that can help cover that up. At all. It'd be pointless to pursue it, because failure is guaranteed. I look older than I am, and pretty much every stranger calls me "sir". It makes me feel like it's completely pointless to even continue transitioning.

I've always felt very alienated from the trans girls that I typically see online who put a lot of stock and effort into being as feminine as possible. I've pretty much never entertained the idea because I know it's just going to make me feel worse that I can't convincingly "be a girl" enough to average passers-by. Everyone else seems to have it so easy. Meanwhile, I'm standing over here in the corner with my weird-looking features and weird-looking boobs and weird fashion sense and not fitting any description.

It doesn't seem like anyone's ever going to notice they're not talking to a man when they talk to me. Try as I might, it rarely, if ever happens. I don't feel comfortable using the women's restroom because I don't pass. I'll get yelled at or kicked out or have the police called on me for being a pervert, or something. I managed to do it approximately once at a university when the bathroom was completely empty, and even then I was panicking so hard it took me three times as long to take a piss. There's been so many times I've contemplated dropping out of society entirely just so I don't have to worry about ever being seen again by anyone. Hell, my biggest life goal is to build a house in the middle of a large plot of land so I never have to be looked at by anyone, ever.

I'm still afraid people would just say I'm an asshole and a traitor to queer people for having these feelings. It's why I just try to keep a low profile. My existence feels like it won't ever bring anything to both queer communities and the world at large and I've almost never felt welcome anywhere I've been, digital or physical. I wish I could let go of the fear and just be Me. Ivy, the goth knifemaker. Ivy, the woman. Ivy, the force for good in the world.

Those chances were lost a long time ago, erased by forces I did not create nor did I control or participate in. It's just the status quo, and I'll never break that on my own.

#trans #transfemme #queer theory #rant

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bluespiderlully · 5 months

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KNY - My lore 2.0

I already made a post writing about my alternative group of Hashiras and about the lore and explaining basically... Everything I needed to tell.

This time I want to give more importance to my characters, this because I think that characters, their stories and relationships are the most important things in a story.

I'm going to talk about my OCs and added characters as if they were canon so if you want you can go check my lore post and my alternative hashiras list post; you can read this anyway, you'll get to know my lovely characters as I'm talking about them.✨️🩵

💧Giyuu Tomioka, Water Hashira (21 y.o.)

The canon Giyu is one of my favourite characters. Since Sabito is alive in my AU he wouldn't be so depressed as the original, but I'm sure he would still be introverted and he would still spend a lot of time alone (not in a bad way, he just likes being alone) so probably Sanemi and Obanai would still dislike him. Shinobu has a little different character too in this AU so she would probably be more sarcastic to him. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the GiyuShino ship, I prefer RenGiyuu, I just love the Sun/Moon dynamic and in this AU where Giyuu is a more positive person... They would just be really good.

🌪Sanemi Shinazugawa, Wind Hashira (22 y.o.)

Another of my favourite characters in the series (probably because he's the one I can relate more), he's still short tempered, aggressive, rude and has something bad to say pretty much about everyone. Everyone except for Kanae (I love SaneKana, I couldn't help but include it) and Ayumi. His little sister and Shadow Hashira is his mean of life, he completely changes his manners with her. Concerning Kanae, I think that they would be attracted to each other but that either of them would say anything to the other. He gets along very well with Obanai (as in the original series), Sabito and Hiromi, they're the most aggressive in the group.

⚡️Makomo Urokodaki, Thunder Hashira (20 y.o.)

I have a lot to say about my version of Makomo. First of all, she has the surname Urokodaki because she's a orphan, she lived in a temple with other children and when a demon attacked them she came to one conclusion: there's only one God, his name is 'Death' (yeah, the iconic Arya Stark quote, it just fits). Next, she's really sarcastic, always been, that's the reason why Sabito liked her since they were kids (SabiMako is canon in my AU). She learned water breathing from Urokodaki with Sabito and Giyu but she didn't master it, her nichirin sword turned yellow and so she started train with Jigoro Kuwajima (Zenitsu's mentor), she mastered thunder breathing and both Urokodaki and Jigoro are very proud of her. The last thing is... Something people never talk about in KNY: hunting demons for the final selection exam. I picture her as slightly sadistic when it comes to demons so I decided that she's the one in charge of doing this, she never shows her face during these "special" hunts, she wears her kitsune mask.

🪨Fujiko Mori, Stone Hashira (25 y.o.)

I have... A lot to say about her. Her mother wasn't Japanese but American and so she looks a bit "exotic" to other Hashiras (and Tengen reeeeally appreciates it), this means she speaks English as a second language, keep that in mind. She got pregnant at the age of 15 and had to leave her home since her parents considered it a dishonor, she found shelter in the Eternal Paradise Sanctuary (just like Kothoa did) and lived with Doma for some years, during this period he took care of her baby (Haru) as she was his daughter, this was actually just because Doma wanted to eat her and her daughter since the beginning, and he actually ate Haru when she was 2. There was one song Fujiko always sang to Haru, an English poem about a girl who loses herself in the snow, Fujiko ran away from the Sanctuary during a snowy night and Doma chased her, the only thing he found where the prints of her feet on the snow, she was vanished just like the girl of her lullaby. She joined the Corp immediately after and learned stone breathing from Gyomei Himejima, when he died she took his place. Her weapon of choice is a zanbato (daily reminder that sir Alonne was the only good thing in Dark Souls 2).

🔥Kyojuro Rengoku, Flame Hashira (20 y.o.)

We all agree that he deserved better, well... Unfortunately I gave him a twin sister OC, and in KNY having a twin is always bad, he's gonna suffer, I like to torture my faves. The Rengoku family is extremely wealthy, they have been Hashiras for generations and they must become demon slayers, they don't have a choice. For this reason both Kyojuro and Asuka got a nichirin sword without partecipating to the final selection, reason why Sanemi and Hiromi dislike Kyojuro so much. When he was a child his parents already arranged him a wedding, with the eldest daughter of the Kocho family (they were wealthy too according to the wiki, so him and Kanae would have make a perfect match financtially speaking, but they were just children and things went way different from what their parents imagined), he had a strong bond with Obanai when his father Shinjuro took him home after saving him, even if he stayed with them only for a couple of months. When Ruka died Shinjuro started drinking, hitting his two children and stopped training them, Asuka left home to train with Jigoro, Kyojuro couldn't leave his home, so he kept training alone and started eating a lot to fill the void he felt after his father and his sister abandoned him. Things changed when he met Giyuu, they liked each other from the first moment and found a way to comfort each other during hard times.

✨️Asuka Rengoku, Light Hashira (20 y.o.)

In Kyojuro's paragraph I described her as a horrible person, that's not the whole truth. She would have taken her brother with her, but he didn't want to leave their father alone, so she went alone. She trained and took part in the final selection despite not having to. When she and her brother met years later (when they both became Hashiras) she told him that she didn't agree with his relationship with Giyuu and that's not about being homophobic, that's about being the daughter of a wealthy family in 1920s Japan, she has the idea that Kyojuro should marry a woman and start a family with her to give birth to another generation and carry on the legacy of the Rengoku family. They started arguing and they're not on good terms even if Asuka has a relationship with Tengen (and consequently with Fujiko), Kyojuro's best friend.

🧊Sabito Ashina, Ice Hashira (22 y.o.)

I really wanted to see more of this guy, so here he is! We don't know his backstory so I did the same thing I did with Makomo, i gave him one. We needed a Sekiro reference, so his surname is Ashina; Sabito's father achieved wealth by banking activities during the Meji period, so Sabito grew up with the idea that wealth could be achieved only through hard work. Unfortunately his parents died during a boat trip to America and his older brother squandered all their wealth gambling and took his life because of his many debts; Sabito joined the Corp to pay his brother's debts. Now, just like Makomo, he is in charge of hunting demons for the final selection exam.

🌩Hiromi Kazeshi, Storm Hashira (18 y.o.)

Female Sanemi, this could be everything I have to say about this lady, but she's actually more than that. First of all her way of being is derived from her childhood/teen years, when she was 10 her father passed away and her mother needed money, so she decided to marry Hiromi to a man way older than her but... Really rich. She couldn't stand this decision and right after the wedding she killed both her mother and her husband, the moment after she did this she just ran away and was lately found by Sabito, the only one who knows her secret. She had to learn how to use a sword but she always preferred using her fists to fight, so she asked to her blacksmith to make her brass knuckles too, seeing her and Akaza fight would be such fun if it wasn't for his morals.

🪷Kanae Kocho, Flower Hashira (22 y.o.)

Another character I definitely wanted to know more of, I'm almost sure she would be one of the strongest amongst the group, flower breathing just gives me Malenia vibes. From what we know she was kind and caring in a genuine way, so I'm assuming she would be better than Shinobu when it comes to take care of people in the Butterfly Mansion. I already said that she should have married Kyojuro but things went way different, that's because the Kocho family was killed by a demon and the two sisters were rescued by Gyomei Himejima just like in the canon story. In the current timeline Kanae and Kyojuro have a good relationship but I already said she likes Sanemi more than Kyojuro, this is because she think that he's a bit naive.

🦋Shinobu Kocho, Insect Hashira (18 y.o.)

I have to admit she's not one of my faves, I don't like her being too sarcastic and, as Kanao said, "asking obvious questions people don't want to answer". Since Kanae is alive in this scenario, Shinobu doesn't need to adopt her personality but I think she would do it anyway even if she probably would also keep some traits of her sarcastic personality by teasing people and being annoying. Plus, she's almost blind from her right eye due to a laboratory accident, basically a boiling poison exploded in her face. As I already said, I'm not considering GiyuShino, I don't like this ship, also because I headcanon Shinobu as lesbian.

🌫Muichiro Tokito, Mist Hashira (12 y.o.)

We can all agree that he's cute. What I liked of him was his link to Kokushibo (I like Kokushibo more than Yoriichi, I'm absolutely not sorry about this) and so I decided to give more importance to this. I just find interesting having a character related to an anti-hero instead of a hero, it just adds some spice I think. He's the reason why Muzan killed all his Lower Moons since the demon who attacked him and his brother (in this AU of course) was Lower Moon One, he killed him almost effortlessly and this also led Ubuyashiki Kagaya to the decision to give him the title of Hashira as soon as he had learn a breathing style. He was trained by both Sanemi and Giyu, but has a preference for Giyu, even if Sanemi acts way more gentle with him.

🩷Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Hashira (19y.o.)

Everything in her backstory is basically the same as canon, she joined the Corp to find a man who would love her the way she is. She trained with Kyojuro and he started considering her his sister, more than he considers Asuka as such. Of course, ObaMitsu is canon in this AU. She is naive but she's also very very kind. She would love to make friends with Ayumi but she always ignores her.

🐍Obanai Iguro, Snake Hashira (21 y.o.)

As for Mitsuri, his backstory is just like the canon one, but with a difference: he has an affinity with every snake, that's because of his voice (and because I watched the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and I just loved it too much not to take a little inspiration). He stayed at the Rengoku mansion for a year, then he joined the Corp after Ruka died and Shinjuro became violent; around this time Kyojuro started liking Obanai (or men in general). Now Obanai has become rude and cold, of course he's not Kyo's type and he doesn't regret not cofessing his feelings.

⚫️Ayumi Shinazugawa, Shadow Hashira (20 y.o)

She's cute, and that's just everything everyone needs to know about her. Her father harmed her in every way possible, he abused her and stabbed her to try to kill her, she still has scars on her breast and legs, she is afraid of everyone except for Sanemi. She has rareblood but her "power" is predict future with her dreams. She dreams of a lot of things actually, and remember every dream so she's definitely going crazy, but if someone dares to call her "insane", Sanemi would probably beat the shit out of them. She obviously fights with a katana but she's better with bow and arrows.

🔮Enmu Tamio, Dream Hashira (25 y.o.)

He has my favourite design in the series and I think that also in this AU he would wear some western clothing on his uniform instead of an Haori. He has no memories from his childhood since he wasn't able to tell apart reality from dreams, until a demon killed his family and he started training in dream breathing, that requires a strong grip on reality, speed and perception. His master immediately understood that Enmu was a prodigy and that he would definitely become an Hashira. He has rareblood just like Sanemi and Ayumi, but his blood has no effect on demons, if injected into another human Enmu has the ability to manipulate their dreams and to lead them to death peacefully. This is why he started working at the Butterfly Mansion when he became a member of the Corp. Plus, his breathing style made him insensitive to any kind of physical pain.

💎Tengen Uzui, Sound Hashira (24 y.o.)

Last but not least we have the most flamboyant Hashira. I just love him and his personality. In this AU he does not have three wives because he ran away from home after emerging victor among all of his brothers, he constantly feels blood on his hands and he will never forgive himself for not running away before killing them. When he joined the Corp he met Fujiko and the two started dating, Tengen and Kyojuro became friends and he started seeing his brothers in him, he often calls Kyojuro "otouto". Their friendship slightly cracked when Fujiko and Tengen started dating Asuka too, of course Kyojuro wasn't happy, it took him a while to accept it. Tengen helped the twins a lot to reconnect.

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mythandlaur · 10 months

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Code: July Day 2 - Dreams

So this one's kind of cheating--I actually wrote this quite some time ago, but I only shared it privately with four friends. I think it still counts because I probably wasn't going to post it on its own unless I was given a reason to. Technically this had to do with the verse me and said friends are roleplaying in, but it stands well enough on its own, just assume the timeframe is sometime season 3 mid-"great googly moogly it's all going to shit"

...

When the dream starts, Jeremie is lying on his back, staring up into the sky. The sky is...wrong, in some way, as is the ground behind him, and it takes him a few seconds to realize he’s on Lyoko.

Mountain sector, he notes as he sits up, rubbing at his forehead. He doesn’t hate Lyoko itself, not really—his senses might work strangely and the virtualization process isn’t exactly pleasant, but the digital world is fascinating to him, not to mention it can actually be quite pretty. He just doesn’t usually get to enjoy it because he’s being hunted down—the only thing XANA seems to hate as much as Jeremie playing with its stuff is Jeremie coming into its domain, so his trips tend to be...short.

Jeremie picks his hat up from beside him and puts it on, pulling the brim low on his forehead and casting a shadow over his face. He checks for his weapon, relief flooding through him when his fingers curl around the baton still at his belt, and he starts walking. He’s not sure where he’s going, he can’t see any towers nearby, but he decides he might as well look around while things are still calm.

He’s not sure how long he spends wandering aimlessly before he hears the singing.

The voice is beautiful, angelic, Aelita’s, reverberating throughout the virtual space and backed by a chorus that seemingly emanates from the world itself. Jeremie stops, slowly turning this way and that, but he can’t see her, and it’s hard to tell exactly where the voice is coming from. So he gives up, and simply stands there, and listens.

...The song turns strange. He has heard Aelita sing to Lyoko before, and it’s always in a major key, but this melody shifts into something...not exactly sad, but firm, and final. The chorus changes as well to fit, less ethereal and more haunting. It sends a shiver up his spine that Jeremie knows is entirely psychosomatic, though that makes it no less of a warning.

Jeremie looks around for Aelita again, this time turning in a full circle—but he freezes when he sees what’s behind him. Not a creature like he’d feared, but off in the distance, the floating landmasses that aren’t part of the contiguous terrain are disappearing before his eyes, draining of color, fading into wireframe, crumbling into so much digital dust. The song rises and the disintegration spreads faster, onto the terrain proper now, flowing towards him in an uncaring wave of destruction.

“Aelita?” Jeremie calls out, still fruitlessly searching about for her. Is her song doing this, unmaking Lyoko as easily as she can create in it? He backs up one step, then two as the ground near him starts to fall away—and then he turns and runs, because there’s nothing else he can do.

His feet sound like they’re crunching against stone and gravel, though there’s no sensation under his boots besides pressure, causing a disorienting dissonance that forces him to check if his feet are still on any ground at all. Lyoko falls apart around him, not with the dramatics of the mountains crashing down and the false earth caving in, but with the cold certainty of simply being erased out of existence, as if it had never been here at all. And still the song continues, pushing against his digital envelope—and he wonders, for a moment, if it’s trying to erase him, too.

Jeremie finally catches sight of a slightly elevated patch of rock in the middle of a larger plateau, and on that makeshift platform, a figure in pink, with her back facing him. His brain tricks him into thinking his heart jumps. “Aelita! Aelita, stop!”

She’s sitting on the rock in a meditative position, legs crossed and hands loosely in her lap, but her face is turned towards the sky as she sings that dire song. Though as Jeremie draws near, she does stop, slowly pushing herself into a kneeling position and turning towards him.

Jeremie stumbles to a halt, catching the breath he knows he doesn’t need. “Aelita, the sector’s disappearing, we need to—”

His words catch in his throat when he sees her face. Aelita’s expression is calm, but not in a comforting way—it’s empty, and so is the faint smile she gives him as she holds out her hand.

His body moves on its own to take it.

Aeliita pulls him up onto her makeshift stage, grabbing both hands tightly in hers, and raises her head in lovely, eerie song. The chorus surrounds him, and he feels like he’s lost control of himself, unable to move, unable to look away from her, only able to see the destruction rushing towards them on all sides through his peripheral vision.

As the ground beneath their feet—the last ground in the mountain sector—finally vanishes, Aelita pulls him in and puts her arms around him. At first, it’s loose, just as empty as the rest of her body language...but then she buries her chin in his shoulder and her grip grows tight and desperate, as if he’s her only lifeline.

Together, the two of them fall, helpless, towards the clouds and the Digital Sea below.

#code lyoko #codejuly23

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deepwoundsandfadedscars · 1 year

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Forgive the medical inaccuracies, I was writing this when I had no internet connection so there was zero research done. I spent half the time wondering if I even had the characters names correct 😂 (I in fact was not correct, I wrote nearly 2k thinking her name was Kinsley and had to correct, sorry if any mistakes slipped through)

This is for Locke & Key but you don't have to know anything about the series to understand this particular story. This is set post series, Kinsey is about 19 which if I remember correctly puts Tyler around 21-22? I don't remember exactly the age gap, but it's after the show so Tyler is an adult

Read on Ao3

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"-yler! Tyler, please!"

Tyler groaned as awareness came back. His head felt heavy and like it had been stuffed with cotton. Everything felt muffled, including his hearing as he only distantly heard someone calling his name. His mouth was dry and his eyes felt like they might as well be glued shut for how hard it was going to be to open them.

"Tyler, I need you to wake up, please wake up!"

Kinsey? There was an edge to her voice that he wasn't used to hearing anymore, a layer of panic bordering on hysteria as she called out to him.

He tried to turn towards where her voice had come from and groaned as the movement sent pain shooting through his head and neck, which suddenly made him aware of the various pains in the rest of his body. Something hard pressed into his shoulder and across his chest and hips, holding him tightly in place. Something else pressed against his shins and his arms felt as heavy as his head.

He opened his mouth, wincing at the lack of saliva and managed a whisper. "Kins?"

"Tyler! Oh my god, finally. Are you ok?"

He managed to finally pry his eyes open and stared blankly ahead for a moment, his lagging brain trying to figure out the picture in front of him. He sucked in a breath as it finally hit him what he was looking at. Directly in front of him was the deflated airbag from the destroyed dashboard of his uncle Duncan's car. Beyond that the windshield was shattered and the headlights painted a confusing image out of the freshly fallen snow on the ground, deep rivets casting shadows from where the car had ploughed through it.

And the world was upside down.

Tyler dragged his focus back to the interior of the car, trying to shift his body before realizing he was still tightly buckled into the front seat, his arms dangling above his head and resting against the roof of the car where a pool of red was gathering.

"Think I'm bleeding…" he said faintly.

"I know, it's from your head but I don't think it's deep. Are you hurt anywhere else? I need your help."

"I'm… not sure. Head hurts…" he closed his eyes for a moment, furrowing his brow as he tried to concentrate on the rest of his body. The seatbelt keeping him restrained dug into his shoulder and ribs and the joints of his hips, the pressure distracting him from anything else that might be wrong.

"I know Tyler, you probably have a concussion." Kinsey's voice was somewhere to his left, like she was near the driver's side window. "I need you to undo your seatbelt though."

"Seatbelt?" He mumbled, focusing on flexing his fingers and testing if he could even lift one of them to undo the buckle.

"Yes, undo your seatbelt and then crawl towards me to grab my phone."

"Where are you–" he started to ask but cut off as he turned his head to the side and caught sight of her. She lay in the snow just outside the driver side window, most of which was crushed and she could barely fit her head and shoulders through. She had wedged herself in far enough to reach their Uncle Duncan, who was still buckled into the driver seat beside Tyler. His arms hung limply like Tyler's, awkwardly crumpled on the rooftop above his head and blood ran down his neck and face, down to his hairline and then dribbling onto the roof of the car. Following the pool of blood, Tyler realized half the blood on his side of the car was likely Duncan's and not his own.

"Uncle Dunc?"

"He's stuck, Tyler. He won't wake up and I need you to come over here and call 911. I can't do it myself, if I let go he'll bleed out."

Worry for his uncle lit the fire under Tyler's motivation and he managed to fumble his fingers across the buckle. His weight on the belt made it harder for the safety contraption to cooperate, but it finally snapped open and the belt mostly recoiled as Tyler slumped to the ground. He choked on a scream as his shins scraped against the underside of the dashboard. His head spun and he lay there for a moment, heaving for breath and feeling like he might throw up, or fall off the planet completely with how dizzy the movement had made him.

"Tyler! Are you ok?"

He limply held up a thumbs up, which in the upturned car he couldn't really tell which way was up, for himself or for Kinsey, so it was somehow both a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Either way, appropriate.

He pushed himself up, gingerly twisting around in the tight space. The passenger window was smashed, mostly held together by the safety plastic and a light touch was enough to push it outside of the car so he had more space to manoeuvre, eventually he was able to settle in a position closer to the front window with his legs sticking out the passenger window. From there he could see both Duncan and Kinsey.

He choked on another breath as he realized why Kinsey needed his help.

Her phone lay on the roof of the car near her shoulder, just barely out of reach of the pool of blood. Her hands proved to be otherwise occupied, coated in red where she had them firmly pressing around a branch impaled through Duncan's shoulder.

"Oh my god…" Tyler breathed out.

"Tyler, look at me. Tyler!"

He dragged his eyes away from Duncan and looked at Kinsey. Her face was smeared with blood but he couldn't tell if it was hers or his or Duncan's at this point. Her gaze was firm and her jaw tight, she seemed to be alright or pushing through well enough to keep a grip of the situation.

She didn't wait for an answer. "I need you to pick up my phone and call 911."

"Y-yeah." Tyler tried not to look at Duncan or at the blood and gingerly picked up the phone. There was red on it too and he tried to wipe it off, only then noticing how shaky his hands were. He poked at the screen, confused when his password didn't work and the keypad jiggled on the screen.

"Just use the emergency call," she snapped at him. Oh yeah, it wasn't his phone… he clicked the emergency call button at the bottom of the screen and briefly contemplated where his phone might have wound up as he brought it to his ear and almost immediately someone was speaking in his ear.

"I– I'm sorry, say that again?" He asked.

"You dialled 911, are you okay, sir?"

"Oh, uh... no. We were in an accident." Tyler laid his head down against the roof of the car, exhaustion suddenly flooding through him.

"Can you tell me where you are?"

"We are… Kins, where are we?"

She turned her head, looking over her shoulder outside of the car and then back at him. "We were just getting to the edge of Boston." She rattled off the name of a frontage road and the last intersection she remembered crossing.

"We're at… Sorry, Kins say that again…"

The dispatcher cut him off, "It's okay sir, I heard what she said. I'm sending units your way, they should only be a few minutes."

Relief flooded through him and he sank further into the roof of the car. It was getting harder to keep his eyes open.

"I'm going to stay on the line with you. Can you tell me your name, sir?" The dispatcher asked.

"Tyler," he managed to mumble.

"Alright Tyler, my name is Ashley. Can you tell me about your injuries?"

"Uh, I think I hit my head. My uncle is stuck though, Kinsey is keeping pressure on his shoulder. If she moves he'll bleed out." His own voice was starting to sound distant and the phone was getting heavy to hold.

"Okay Tyler, is Kinsey nearby? Can you put me on speaker phone?"

"Sure…" he pulled the phone away and peered at the screen before poking the speaker icon. His hand slumped to the ground, limply holding the phone and all he could do was stare at it as the voice on the other end continued to talk.

"Kinsey, can you hear me?"

"Yes! I can hear you, how far away is the ambulance?" Her voice was loud in Tyler's ear suddenly and he groaned.

"With your approximate location they should be there in just under two minutes. Are you injured?"

"No, I'm fine. The car hit ice and rolled, I was in the backseat but I don't think I blacked out. Tyler was unconscious for about one minute and has a bleeding head wound. Our uncle Duncan has a tree branch through his shoulder, he bled a lot before I could get to it but I'm holding pressure."

"Good, you're doing really well Kinsey, don't move your hands and keep pressure on the wound. The EMT's will direct you when they get there. Tyler, are you still there?"

Tyler groaned in the affirmative, but couldn't gather any more energy.

"Kinsey, is there anyone else with you?"

"No, it's just me, my brother and our uncle. Tyler's eyes are half closed, I think he's losing consciousness again. Tyler?" She raised her voice at him and he raised his eyebrows in her direction but didn't open his eyes.

"My legs are cold…" he muttered.

"Oh my god." He heard Kinsey gasp. "His legs are bleeding. I didn't see them before because he was upside down in the car, but now he's half lying in the snow and there's red all around him."

"Okay Kinsey, the ambulance and firetruck should be there any second, you should be able to hear the sirens. I need you to keep holding pressure on your Uncle Duncan's shoulder, okay?"

"Okay. Tyler, can you talk to me please? You're scaring me."

Tyler furrowed his brow in confusion. "But you're not scared of anything…"

"Not anymore, remember?" He could hear the frown in her voice. "I am scared. I'm scared you're going to fall asleep and not wake up, so I need you to keep talking to me, okay?"

"Okay…" he whispered.

"Tell me about where we were going," she said. He could faintly hear sirens now.

"We were going to stay at Duncan's place this weekend…"

"Do you remember why?"

He frowned, trying to remember. "College?"

"Yeah, you were going to look at colleges again. And what was I going to do?"

Doors slammed and he could hear other voices and Kinsey's voice got distant as she turned her head away from him. He could feel someone touching his legs and one of the back doors opened and suddenly there was a firefighter crawling between the front seats and leaning over him.

"Shopping…" he managed to mumble out and the firefighter squinted at him in concern.

"Shopping is going to have to wait a bit, my man, we're going to get you out of here first, okay?" The firefighter spoke conversationally. "How are we doing…" he trailed off, raising his eyebrow at Tyler. Tyler only squinted at him in return.

"His name is Tyler!" Kinsey chimed up from the side.

"Thank you, ma'am! Okay Tyler, I'm Rick and I'm going to give you some fashionable new jewellery and ask you some questions, sound good?" He gently slipped his hands under and around Tyler's neck before slipping a neck brace around him and setting the velcro straps in place. He couldn't move his head even if he had the energy to try.

"Alrighty Tyler, how are you feeling?"

Tyler couldn't remember when his eyes had slipped shut, but he had to pry them open again to look at the man leaning over him. His hair was fiery red.

"Tired," he muttered. "Head hurts… legs are cold."

"Okay, that's good Tyler." He looked to the side, watching someone. "Can you tell me if you feel this?"

Tyler felt his foot get colder, as though his shoe had been removed and then someone pressed a knuckle against the bottom of his foot. He tried to nod before realizing it was futile with the neck brace. "Yeah, I feel some pressure."

"Good, that's good Tyler. We're going to bring a backboard over here and get you out."

Tyler rolled his eyes upward, trying to look up at Duncan. He still hung in his seat and he could see Kinsey's hands still in place. "Uncle Duncan…"

"Yep, he's next Tyler! We're going to get you out of the way so I can keep him steady while we get his door open."

Something nudged against his arm and Rick shuffled his knees forward, getting closer to Tyler and bracing his hands under Tyler's shoulders. "Alright, time to get you out of here. We're going to roll you over just for a second, okay?" He nodded his head in time with someone's voice counting from outside and on three, everyone lifted in tandem and he was briefly rolled onto his side and then back onto a backboard.

The motion made him dizzy and the world spun around him for a few moments and the next thing he knew he was loaded on a stretcher and being pushed into the back of an ambulance.

Different faces leaned over him and asked questions but everything felt like it was moving too fast, like he couldn't keep up with the plot and every time he tried to answer a question, a completely different one was being asked and he had missed his opportunity to answer the previous question.

He heard doors slamming just before Kinsey appeared above him, leaning into his eyeline.

"Kins…"

"Hey, I'm here Tyler, we're heading to the hospital."

He felt like he was swimming inside his own head, trying to keep sense of what was up or down or why he couldn't move, why he couldn't turn his head to follow Kinsey as she sat back against the wall, moving out of the paramedics way. Something else was missing and he wracked his brain for what felt off.

"Uncle Dunc?"

She leaned forward again and he saw worry etched in her face, chewing on her lip before she answered.

"They got him out and another ambulance already left with him."

"Good…" he muttered, trying not to worry about the time he must have lost somewhere along the way. It was getting harder to keep his eyes open and the light above him was bright, so he decided there shouldn't be any harm in resting his eyes for just a moment…

He heard Kinsey's voice calling for him and a flurry of activity just as everything went black.

---

I lost my creative momentum and also have zero medical experience, so I'm not confident I'd be able to bullshit my way through the hospital bit, but just know that they are all going to be okay lol

#here's a thing i wrote #car crash #car accident #blood #head wound #impaled #unconscious #disoriented #I just suddenly wanted Tyler whump but also wanted Duncan whump #so i went for a twofer #(Duncan is played by Aaron Ashmore in the show so do I tag this with my Ashmore whump tag? lol i won't cause it's not a visual anyways)#less than 20 hours between writing this and posting; haven't had that quick of turn around in a while

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crazysodomite · 6 months

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Thief deadly shadows long post

Its a good game. worth playing but sadly dragged down by its limitations. i think it stands alongside the first 2 games. The graphics. They're okay and I'm not picky. The cutscenes generally look fine except the parts where we see in-game models talking. Showing Garretts face with a pretty ugly model and lipsync was a bad decision in my opinion. The drawn/painted ones are very good. The REAL fun starts with the lighting. The thief formula greatly benefits from more robust lighting mechanics and my only complaint is that they didn't take it a step further because of console-related and time constraints. New enemies who carry light sources, lightning exposing you to enemies, seeing enemies by their shadow only, and so on and so forth. It tickled my mind to imagine all the different stuff you could do on a thief mission with light and shadow and it's sad we don't get another game that truly squeezes as much as possible out of this. They did a good job and I was greatly satisfied. The third person perspective is probably the worst decision they made for this game. I firmly believe thief needs to be played from 1st person and so many mechanics Depend on it !!! The rope arrow, leaning, blackjacking and so on. The worst part is that you can't ignore the 3rd person view because it actively hinders 1st person gameplay. Your model doesn't rotate when you turn your view so when you move there's this annoying delay. The rope arrow had to be scrapped for the gloves and your model gets stuck and starts floating without a way to get unstuck (without reloading or shooting an arrow). It's not completely game ruining but it IS annoying. The city map. The pseudo open world of this game. Oh lord. Where do I even start. We all loved life of the party and the city missions in t2. But the reality is that it gets very tedious to sneak past guards in the same locations over and over. By the end of the game I was sick of the fucking city maps and going back and forth and back and forth and through the portals and trying to find where I needed to be. Side quests and locations, doing stuff for factions around the city, robbing shops and listening in on conversations around the city, pickpocketing people on the street, the fact you can do a prison escape if the guards catch you, that’s all fun, but. I didn't want to stick around in the city maps any longer than I had to because they were just so annoying. I love the city missions when they're one and done and I don't need to do them over and over again with respawning enemies.

I just don't think 'open world' or a hub map with HOSTILES is the right fit for thief. I didn't do pretty much any of the side quests because of how much the city maps annoyed me. Even though I WAS kind of intrigued. Running from the city watch wasn't fun, it was tedious. Maybe if there was more roof action to get from place to place safely or something. The loot and the shopkeepers. I think this is really the last nail in the coffin for the 'open world' idea. In the first thief games you had an incentive to collect loot aside from it being fun. Your money reset each mission and filled up based on how much stuff you collected. If you collected very little, you could buy very little equipment. Sure, the loot requirements were also there, but I would consider them to be the worst part of the OG games.

It's annoying when you have to run around the map for those last bits of loot on expert, especially if that loot is little things hidden in corners. I WANTED to collect stuff so I could stack up for the next mission, in addition to stealing just being fun. By maybe the third mission I collected more money in TDS than I knew what to do with. And the thing is? The merchants never fucking sold anything I wanted. They would maybe sell 2-5 water arrows if I was LUCKY. By the end I had so much money Garrett could retire. And I still had Nothing to buy :/. I had no reason to loot anymore except to meet the mission requirements. The fact your equipment carries over from mission to mission is a bad decision. Stop making the women hit on Garrett it's really annoying... WHY IS NO ONE FUCKING SELLING WATER ARROWS? Not that I needed them... I didn't really use any of my equipment for the majority of the game. It's not Necessarily bad I could complete the missions without using my equipment or knocking anyone out. So judge on your own opinion. Sound is extremely important in thief games. What kind of floor you're walking on is one of the foundational mechanics and it's lost in this game... If I crouch I'm pretty much completely silent even on tile floors. I Never had to use a moss arrow aside from doing the stuff for the factions or as part of puzzles. It takes away from the experience. It renders one of the most important pieces of equipment pretty much useless which is sad! Generally this game is more of a visual than an audio experience, but I think thief should get the best of both worlds! Loot. Valuable loot has a glistening animation. There's no 'drop quietly' button for junk items. If you accidentally pick up junk and not loot and you drop it on the floor, sometimes even if you drop it on carpet, it alerts Everybody. See the problem? When I played t1 for the first time I was also sometimes confused what can be picked up. But after playing a few missions you understand what can be looted at a glance, plus there's a 'drop quietly' button (at least in t2 for sure). In TDS the exact same items are sometimes junk, and sometimes loot. The exact same cups, candlesticks, plates and so on. You HAVE to wait for a glistening animation or you risk alert. Annoying !!!

ALSO. The sound for picking up loot was much much better in t1-2. The first time I opened a chest and could see and pick up whats inside instead of it being automatic it was interesting. But as I played longer it became annoying. There were times where looting a chest was needlessly hard without detection. The fucking 'coin bag' item gave me so much grief while playing because unlike other items you have to basically stand 1 centimeter away from it to pick it up. Which meant you had to mantle on top of the chest and get real close to it. As it relates to loot I played on hard and not expert because I Knew the 90% of the loot requirement would be annoying. The 'special loot' thing is a hit or miss depending on the mission, usually I completed it by just searching pretty well, but I rarely got 3 special loot. Here's what I think about lockpicking. A 'minigame' of lockpicking actually detracts from the thief formula. Thief actively avoids taking away control from you for any reason. In t1-2 lockpicking is extremely simple. But it never makes you enter a separate screen. You can continue moving and looking around at any time when you're lockpicking. You can even stand at an advantageous hidden position and lockpick from there. In TDS you enter a minigame you have to manually quit if you hear someone coming. Not a big deal here but we see this in thief 2014 for sure.

Thief rarely if ever takes away your control and that's important! Also to be entirely honest after a certain point picking locks was exhausting.

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starillion · 2 years

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observe : me getting all Feanor-defenseive because I can >;)

(NOT that I should support or defend kinslaughter of any kind, but y'all need to give more credit to Feanor's motives and acknowledge that he is not in nature an evil person(or elf, in this matter)) i am a feanorian apologist, this is my job. this first started as a half-joke but then I realized it makes more sense than I thought it would. Feanor, if you need a defense lawyer, you know where to find me.

CONCERNING UNJUST VALAR In the post-tree death world, it wasn't like there was absolutely no alternative to breaking the Silmarils and thus bringing back the light of the two trees. Much effort was needed, sure, but with plenty of time for consideration and analysis of the situation, Yavanna succeeded in drawing from the dead trees fruits that are to be the sun & moon. And hey, they're not too bad, aren't they? In a sense that they brighten not just Valinor, but all of Middle Earth, it was perhaps better that they were made from the trees. The concept 'Arda Healed' could probably fit here. Because of the deeds of Melkor, Arda can never return to the state of being 'unmarred', and the final goal to achieve by the end of the world is to heal all those wrongs, and not in the sense that it go back to pre-malice. Hurts to the world must be lived with and endured, but consequences thereof and struggles for enhancement; for healing is what will ultimately make Arda more beautiful than before. Welp, I think I've flown a bit off-topic here, but hopefully you get what I mean that the whole of Arda in fact benefits by the existence of the sun & moon. Yet the Valar demanded the Silmarils of Feanor without further contemplation because they thought at that time that it was the only way to revive the trees. Talk about being hasty asf.

CONCERNING ALQUALONDE AND ELVES' GREATEST WORKS Ye haters of Feanor, y'all say that the Teleri were unjustly slain, and that they had all the rights to keep their swan ships. Is that not why they are never blamed for the kinslaying? Thus it has me thinking that it is common belief that it was fine for them to keep their greatest works, and the Noldor were ever so wrong to take them away. But was that not exactly what Feanor was urged to do mere pages (in the reckoning of the book) ago? Why should he give up possession of his Silmarils when the Teleri can get away with hoarding their ships? They were dear to him and he would have fought against anyone who tried to take them from him by force. I believe Iam not wrong to think that the exact same reasons justifying the Teleri before the kinslaughter work for Feanor as well in that situation. If you are going to label him selfish for not giving up the Silmarils, by all means go ahead. But many others should be blamed for possessing the same quality - Olwe, ship hoarder refusing to help a Noldor in need; Thingol and Dior, de Silmaril obsessors, etc etc.

CONCERNING REBELLION Was indeed the flight of the Noldor from Valinor a rash decision fueled by anger and vengeance, giving up the state of blessedness, and pointless, even, given that Feanor himself who initiated the rebellion dies literally a chapter later and the Noldor live in doom™️ until Eonwe & the vanyar come to their rescue? I certainly would not call the entire stay in Beleriand full of mirth, but am inclined to think

that it would be much better than the only alternative - of them not returning to Middle Earth at all. (Now I'm going to stick to the middle school essay stereotype by numbering the supporting details as : ) Firstly, if not for the Noldorin presence in Beleriand, men who came thither would have been met with harsher fate. In the Athrabeth(Morgoth's Ring, part 4) it is said that it is thus believed (the urge to say 'it is said that it is said') by men themselves that the evils of Melkor shortened their previously endless life spans and that his shadow had always been upon them since who knows how long. While Finrod in his converse with Andreth is rather dubious of the former, still imagine the power of Morgoth upon Middle Earth without constraint - what evil would have befallen them had men encountered not lords of the Eldalie, but servants of Morgoth upon entering Beleriand! Now would be a good place to mention that in one of Tolkien's often contradictory notes (but one of them nevertheless and probably rather valid among them as well) the origin of orcs was not elf but man. With Middle Earth under his power and its people his thralls, why should he not assail the Valar once again? And all the while,what is so honorable in being cooped up in a once-blessed land like cowards as the enemy who killed your dad and stole your gems gains power not too afar? Repeatedly emphasized in the books (perhaps similar in frequency with commentary about its members' unnatural tallness) is the valiance of the Noldor. It would only be natural for them to wage war upon Morgoth headfirst. And Feanor, a manifestation of such qualities, have done little wrong in leading the so-called exile - or banishment - to Middle Earth. 'Wrong timing', some would say. But had the host tarried long, the vengeance aflame in their hearts would have dwindled (and such a thing Feanor indeed feared, having him lead his people away in much haste) and one's regret and sorrow at departure - if after much time had passed, any decided to leave at all - would have doubled by then.

Thus I endeavor to defend the deeds of Feanaro Curufinwe (and may he forgive the absence of vowel-lengthening in his name because I am simply too lazy to do so. i know it alters the location of the stress in the name and to be called fEAnaro would be terribly stressful, i'm sorry. i'm also sorry for this blabber. maybe i should have copy/pasted a long 'a' instead of blabbering.), inclined to dub them as 'necessary evils' (evil deeds, i emphasize. not by evil persons(or elves in this matter)) that gave rise to perhaps more good compared to the scenario in which they never happened. And that was probably the most eloquent I have gotten in weeks. Boy, what Feanor makes me do ;)

#silmarillion #feanor #feanorians #kinslaying #feanor did nothing wrong #using the overused tag bc why not #silm shitpost #random thoughts ig??#unconsciously slipped in essay grammar #this was not supposed to be this serious lmao #noldor #melkor #alqualonde #sons of feanor #middle earth #wrote this in a course of half an hour #wish my fanfics grew in words in this speed

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ardathksheyna · 5 months

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On So-Called "Feminist" Writers

So Sarah J. Maas is considered a feminist writer, huh?

Yeah, and I'm sure Andrea Dworkin was really a pro-sex-work/pro-trans feminist in disguise.

For those who don't get sarcasm, here's a hint: Dworkin wasn't. SJM isn't a feminist, and Stephanie Meyer is really a man *snark*. Yes, I'm being an asshole, but the thing those three have in common is that they've pushed forth and promoted toxic femininity, and essentially set women back—Dworkin in particular.

I've already ranted about Andrea Dworkin being the prototypical man-hating feminist, so I'll leave that alone for this post.

I know I missed the SJM hate-train by a few years. I think had I found out about Rowan earlier when I was still trying to work on Silent Shadow back in 2013, I would have jumped on that bandwagon then.

Or probably not—there's a greater likelihood that I would have ignored it since after graduating in 2010, I could never find the time to work on Silent Shadow like I wanted. I was too focused on leveling up my coding skills and nurturing the beginnings of a now fruitful long-term relationship. In fact, it was in 2013 that I decided to lay Silent Shadow to rest—a decision that I realized earlier this year was a bad one and might have saved my mental health by giving me a creative outlet other than writing code.

Sarah J. Maas has what I've started to call the Anne McCaffrey syndrome—creating powerful women but nerfing them by needing men to complete their lives and save them—sorry to both ladies, relationships are two-way streets. Sometimes the man does the saving, sometimes the woman.

Basically, it's nerfing strong women by using their relationships. It's lazy writing and it's an unrealistic trope that should have died out years ago.

As much as I loved the Talent series and the Dragonriders of Pern, those were the first books on the chopping block when I had to lighten my treasure trove of books for the move. The concepts presented in both series were nice enough for 15-year-old me, but had worn flat by the time I was in my late 20s.

As far as protag likability, looking back on it, I think Anne McCaffrey suffered in that area as well. I didn't like how Lessa seemed argumentative at times for no reason, or Anghariad's (yes, another character named Rowan) "fit throwing" (the opening of Lady in the Tower—from Get Off the Unicorn).

Actually, the other thing that bugged me about Lessa was her relationship with F'lar—something I didn't catch when I was 15 but made me go "hold up" when I was in my late 20s.

The only female Anne McCaffrey protagonist I like—and she may not have been written by McCaffrey, but by Elizabeth Moon (who actually has military experience and you can definitely see it in the book)—and that was Sassinak.

Side-note: Sassinak struck me as a woman that could easily stand next to Kirk, Picard, or Sisko if she were in the Star Trek universe.

The biggest problem with Stephanie Meyer was promoting a relationship that by even the standards of the day when the books were published, was considered toxic and abusive—scratch that, that dynamic was considered toxic twenty years before Twilight came out.

The biggest problem I have with authors that are considered "feminist" like Maas is that they continue to push shitty gender stereotypes at a time when we as a society need to grow beyond what defines a woman's place or a man's place.

Comparing Sarah J. Maas with another YA author—Mercedes Lackey—who actually writes about strong women and doesn't nerf them in lazy ways. I ended up loving her books—at first, it was her almost scientific approach to the magical system of Velgarth. Then it became the introduction of gay characters at a time when there were very few in the media.

What Lackey did with Valdemar was basically take the good parts of America and put it in a fantasy setting where you have an incorruptible group of people who protect those good parts.

It's not a surprise that despite her short-comings, Mercedes Lackey has been an author that has stuck with me well into adulthood. Though honestly, Glen Cook and his approach to fantasy with The Black Company runs a very close second.

#sarcasm #i hate hypocritics #feminism #sarah j maas #anne mccaffrey #books #andrea dworkin

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lespritdekin · 3 years

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enslaving appetence.

the man dressed in white was an enigma, but his revolting desire to possess you for all of his eternity wasn't. na jaemin was the devil's entity in human form, and he scorched you in the burning flames of your nightmares.

pairingㅡ yandere!jaemin x fem!reader

other charactersㅡ best friend and crush!jeno

genreㅡ yandere!au

warningsㅡ madman!jaemin, stalking, obsession, unhealthy possessiveness, mentions of sexual preferences, breach of privacy, implied physical abuse, use of a baseball bat.

song recㅡ she will be loved by maroon 5

disclaimerㅡ as far as my miniscule intelligence could muster, i may have posted this piece on wattpad a year ago or two under the name 'neo alternative plots' or alike. with that explanation, please don't react to the oneㅡshot's presence here on tumblr negatively. this also isn't proofread.

You watched as the pink decorations of the ceiling mimicked your nose, the happy smile on your face getting greeted by an excited Roseanne. You embraced her dressed her figure as she did your own, the gentle noise of the lullabies of her favorite songs supplemented her girlish saturnalia.

You observed your environment and smiled widely, this was the theme you wanted when you were sixteen, and you're happy your best friend got to live her dreams.

You were scooping in a small bowl of punch to drink and munch on as all of you were at the backyard of Roseanne's home, a film on going about your female companion's life story to where she is now. As you were about to pull a slice of lasagna from the tray, a large figure dressed in white shadowed your hand.

You looked up to see a gorgeous brunette with dark, tantalizing eyes, his pretty lips in a small lopsided smile. You unconsciously swallowed the lump in your throat and pulled your hand away from him, apologizing for the things you've never done wrong.

❝I don't accept apologies from gentle faces, princess.❞ A lethargic smirk made its way to his devastatingly breathtaking face, the air escaping your nose suddenly asking for entrance.

❝Although, I'd love to see you rotten.❞ The leathery substance of his inky voice held your throat captive in its seat, the inching hand on your own tiny one made your skin crawl. Your eyes trembled from their sockets, the humidity of his lips turning your skin cold.

What did he want to turn you in?

R-Rotten?

❝P-please,❞ You squeaked, his eyes turning darker, duller, more disheartening. ❝Let go of me.❞ The nimble appendages around yours tightened their grip, the male forced a smile. You yanked your hand away, and a broad back made its way to greet your mousy nerves. Your cheek touched the soft fabric of his lavender pullover, and you immediately acknowledged the scent.

❝Respect the girl's privacy, man.❞ Jeno grumbled from his strong stance, the sardonic, hateful laugh of the man with midnight eyes eyeing your best friend's hand on yours, the way your fingers clutched at Jeno and not at him.

❝Pretty boy came to pretty girl's rescue, how romantic.❞ The white silk of his fit tuxedo adjusted, his hand running up the thick strands of his brown hair. His head hung down, but his eyes bulged forward. Your hands scrambled to find substance of relief when his feet came closer and closer, his abyssmal orbs boring right into your savior.

❝Better watch out for the Madman if you want your skin unscathed.❞ The silence of his voice caused you to wince, and you hid your face on Jeno's back, his hand instinctively holding your arm. The odd chap turned away, went on his heel, and disappeared into the party. You held your head, Jeno turning immediately to hold you close to him.

❝You're alright, [Name]. You're safe.❞ Tears blurred your vision and you cried, large thumbs swiping them away. Jeno didn't need to ask what you needed to have, wanted to hold, he was there through it all, and he's seen you in lights other people haven't, seen you burned and drowned and survived.

❝I'll take you home.❞ Jeno excused the both of you, telling the birthday girl that you needed to leave. Rosie embraced you and wished for your well-being before you left. Jeno never let go of your hand, you've been staring at it for the entire while. The male looks down at you, an apologetic smile on his face.

❝I'll hold your hand, don't worry. The parking lot's only a few blocks away, I'll keeping you close.❞ You didn't give him a response, continuing to walk along side him.

You sat inside the front seat and held your phone with trembling hands, your best friend turning on the heater for you. He kissed your head before driving away from the parking lot, wanting to play the first song of your favorite playlist whenever you're feeling down.

❝Dㅡdo you mind?❞ You softly asked Jeno, his eyes suddenly turning into crescent moons when he looked at you. ❝Go on.❞ You turned your phone of and browsed through the screen, pressing onto the first song of a dozen. Your nose had turned red from crying, and the only way you could ease it away was by listening to your favorite songs.

Jeno caught a glimpse of your face once the tune reverberated within the vehicle. He sighed, absolutely despised when male after male molest you. You weren't a toy to play with, you needed care, love and guidance, some things he's always done to you for so long.

You felt revolting. You felt like your world was crippling, distorting, shattering, just as you were finally alright again, just as you were finally read to be happy again. Your fingers shivered despite the ongoing heat of the car. Your best friend took notice and held your hand in his again, your heart almost ‎skipping another beat.

He brought you to your flat and made sure that your roommates were home. He gave you a towel after knocking on the door for permission, seeing your newly washed face gave him feathers inside. You were so adorable like that. You dried your face and changed into a pair of thick pink pajamas, your thoroughly scrubbed hand rivaling the feminine color.

You assisted Jeno on the way to the door after he made sure all of your windows and doors were locked and snug. You laughed at him softly after the occurrence of a male touching you like a predator temporarily left your mind as you see Jeno with roseate adorning his cheeks.

You look up at him with red eyes, already wrapping your arms around him. ❝I could kiss you right now.❞ He muttered, holding your cheek. ❝But, I don't have your consent, and your roommates are probably awake.❞ You giggled wholeheartedly, causing him to heave a sigh despite chuckling.

❝[Name], your parents might hate me!❞ He whined, but you continued to laugh, you didn't give a damn if he brought you to a stage and kissed you in front of a crowd, you didn't care if he kissed you in a family reunion.

❝You two are so annoying!❞ Someone screamed from two bedrooms down, the both of you and Jeno genuinely laughing. Despite allowing his submission to appear, his hands never left your back protectively, and you felt safer than a baby getting taken care of an entire village.

He held you in his arms one last time before walking through the doorway, closing the door after him. You leaned your back on the smooth wood and slid down, keeping your squeals at minimum. Your person of interest of almost a year held you like you were the most delicate thing in the world, kissed your hair, made you feel special, and wanted your parent's approval of everything.

You went back to your room and screamed into the pillows, your hand waiting for the phone to ding. You eventually turned drowsy, but you couldn't sleep. You tossed and turned, but they were futile. You went downstairs and had three glasses of water, all chugging them down in one go.You washed your face in the kitchen sink and washed your glass and was about to return, not until one of your favorite songs played through the speakers from your room.

Your eyes trembled, and so did your hands.

You immediately hid inside a bottom cabinet, covering your mouth with your hands.Your roommates never entered your room strictly without your word, and they disliked your odd taste in music for them to play your speaker and one of your favored songs. Just before you could foolishly land your foot over the creaking wood of the stairwell, the screeching noise of your room opened, heavy, aching boots gripped the silence of the flat, and you almost pissed yourself.

You covered your ears, the sound of another thumping object frightening you. He desired nothing but to daunt you, turn you into a demented marionette, just like him.

Beauty queen of only eighteen

She had some trouble with herself

He was always there to help her

She always belonged to someone else

Each nerve in your body stiffened and your teeth clattered, you assume your hair stood in all directions, and you're certain your heartbeat's abormally thumping inside your chest. You need Jeno, but your phone's in your room, you could call or run for your roommates, but he'd already be there, appendages wrapped prettily around your neck.

And indeed, he was awaiting for your arrival of submission.

I drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door

I've had you so many times, but somehow, I want more

The deafening dollops of burning rubber on wood ceased sound, but the certain reverberating outcries of polished wood on rusty ones had you inching closer to the corner of an enclosure that barely fit you, and your mind was running wild. He could feel it, your idiotic heartbeat grumbling inside an unprotected fence, something he can break so easily.

❝I don't mind spending everyday out on the corner in the pouring rain.❞

Your eyes shot up, the accostumed voice in your ears, the silent, demanding whispers, the glacial, dispassionate delivery of a monster, and you've only heard it once. He smirked, tracing the dimly lit crevices from the street lamps standing tall on the fronts of the floor, the thin glass of the windows making him believe how pathetic you were, how much of a feeble-minded whore you were.

Look for the girl with a broken smile

Ask her if she wants to stay a while

You hear footsteps again, aggressive, menacing, resounding, and he was so close, so near of getting his hands on you, taking what was never his. You enclosed your fingers and bit your knuckle, closing your eyes shut. Tears encaptured the pink-stained skin of your plump, delicate cheeks. He could materialize the trembling clatter of your teeth, the perspiration in between your chest, and the reverberating drift of your clenching pussy.

And she will be loved

❝She will be loved.❞

#nct dream #nct dream scenarios #nct dream yandere #nct yandere #yandere jaemin #jaemin scenarios #jaemin imagines

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lilimiyu · 2 years

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In this storm, we will meet (again) | XiaoVen

Summary: Xiao breaks and Venti puts him back together.

Characters: Xiao (Alatus) | Venti (Barbatos, Rex Lapis (Zhongli)

Warnings: Blood

Tags: Fluff, comfort, angst, happy ending

Word count: 6k+

A/N: I swear I didn't mean to write so much but here we are. Was gonna post this for New Years, but I would probably be neck deep in deadlines, so now is good heh.

***

Morax's claws glowed blindingly against the night sky, a fitting backdrop for what is about to come. He dragged his claw over the surface of a boulder, engraving a symbol, a familiar form of writing that Alatus had seen painted onto fabric, stone tablets, and scrolls. The word glows, the same hue emanating from all around both Alatus and Morax, surrounding them with the soft hum of Geo.

Though he could not read the word, Alatus still felt its weight, its importance. An undeniable feeling of comfort and belonging filled his empty soul.

"Xiao." A rumble that sounded as if it came from deep within the ground. Alatus lowered his gaze as Morax turned to him, golden eyes puncturing the midnight black around them. "You will use this name from now."

A contract was agreed upon that very hour, and Alatus would remain a weapon still. Perhaps a Yaksha's purpose was only that - to be a tool shackled with responsibilities. Even so, he found that he did not mind, if it was Rex Lapis that he served. He owed Him more than his life - he owed Him his entire existence.

As his forehead touched the bloody ground, aching jaw and torn skin reduced to nothing but mere noise, he...

The first rays of the sun filters in through his eyelids, painting the world red. He was finally awake. Xiao scolded himself for succumbing to sleep, but recalled his past week of restlessness and decided to let his eyes remain closed for longer. The world was coming to life around him as he recalled the dream - no, a memory - from his past, long before the very inn whose roof bore his living space stood.

Sighing, he wondered the reason for the recurring dream, and why he could never remember the events after his encounter with Rex Lapis. Had he passed out upon receiving a new purpose? Did an enemy attack him as soon as he did, causing him to lose his memory in the process? The events from that day was comparable to a foggy sea - Xiao could not remember the events leading up to his current life. Though, the nagging feeling of its importance niggled in the back of his mind.

For now, there was no use pondering over the past in which nothing can ever change.

As he pushed himself off the wall where he had been slumped against, he finally let his eyes take in his surroundings, exactly as he had left it, except: the window that had swung open, and a singular feather in the middle of the wooden floor, glowing blue and unlike any he had seen on a bird. He picked up the feather, weightless as the wind, and flicked it out the window, watching as the breeze carried it towards the marsh.

Perhaps it wasn't a bird, but a spirit. Xiao brushed away the thought, deeming it not worth his time - it wasn't a concern in his area of expertise, anyway - and went about preparing for the day. His routine went somewhat like so: food, then meditation, then hunting, and more meditation. His ears perked for any prayers that sought his help, and found that the day ahead might be just as any other.

Good.

Perhaps it was too early for him to decide that the day would be a typical one, because for some reason or other, Xiao was sporting a stalker.

He had felt it the moment he had left the inn, but brushed it off as his senses told him it wasn't a threat. Or at least, one that he was not tasked with ridding. But as it persisted, even as he slayed several lowly demons, Xiao began to grow suspicious - and a little annoyed.

Did his new shadow not fear him even as he sliced through the demons? Surely it couldn't be human - or a child like he had suspected - who had followed him all the way out here.

A more pressing matter caught his attention. He eyed his blood-stained clothes, dark as ink, tainted with a black aura. Filth. He needed to clean. Wangshu Inn had its own bathing area, and the boss had made sure Xiao had access to a private one in his own quarters, but he would be damned if he were to trot into the inn while soaked from head to toe in demon blood.

He started marching towards a lake he knew was nearby to wash himself down, all the while watching his stalker rustle the bushes, then the lowest branches in the trees above him, and his suspicions of it being non-human is confirmed. He wondered instead if it was a small ape of some kind, then remembered that no monkey of any kind could survive in Liyue's mountains.

As he reached the lake, he turned around swiftly and pierced the ground with his spear, quaking the earth around him. Perhaps he should growl as well, just to add a touch of menace and finally drive his second shadow away, but decided against it.

It could just be a very desperate human who wished to seek his help. Although he was growing annoyed with its persistence, he was feeling generous enough to entertain.

"Who's there?" he called out, and immediately something flew away from the branches of the tree, a flurry of white and blue that even with his adeptus eyes he could not see the outline of.

Oh, well.

Sighing, he stripped the outer layers of his clothes and stepped into the lake, the surface of the water warmed by the afternoon sun. He soaked the thin fabric of his shirt in the water, watching the blackness seep out, tainting the waters with its ugly tendrils. Its powers drained and useless, but the mere sight of it forced Xiao to look away, a lump pushing its way up his throat, threatening to spill out.

He felt the familiar weight of its corruption pressing down on his chest, threatening to swallow his consciousness whole. Swaying on his feet, he closed his eyes, hands paused in the middle of scrubbing, and exercised a breathing technique he had learned only recently.

Slowly the weight lifted, replacing itself with an ache in his skull, still bearable as he stood in the water. The dampness that evaporated from his skin left a delicious chill behind as he stepped into shallow water and laid his clothes on a dry stone. The thin fabric and the sun will work together to dry his clothes in no time, allowing him some time to meditate.

As soon as he sits himself down, however, he feels that familiar presence from earlier return, its breathing abnormal, as if it had sensed danger. Xiao exhaled through his nose. Patience was only granted to beings who could afford that luxury, and unfortunately Xiao was not one of them.

He had to act quickly this time. Noiselessly, he leaped up and disappeared into a flurry of anemo, appearing again under the tree where his newfound shadow stood, and closed his hands around the throat of his stalker - not human, a spirit, he recognised as it yelped in pain.

Still, even as he knew that fact, the spirit took form of a human body. A pulse pushed against his skin, and he slackened it mercifully, allowing room for it to wriggle away.

He held up his spear. "What are you."

The spirit finally faced him, red-faced, covered in green and white fabric that hurt his eyes. Xiao frowned as he recalled the white and blue from earlier and raised his weapon higher.

"I asked a question."

"I'm Venti. I'm just a bard." The spirit yelped, showing no signs of fear in its eyes - but shame instead at being caught.

Xiao hesitated. He had heard of that name, but could not place from where and why.

"From Mond!"

A lightbulb goes on in Xiao's head as he took in the boy's clothes: a bard getup, almost comical in the way he flaunted the cape. "...What is a spirit of Monstadt doing here in Liyue? Surely you don't plan to cause trouble on foreign land?"

The bard shook his head, his funny braids dangling in front of each ear. "I'm just here to meet an old friend."

Xiao huffed a sigh. "You don't mean me, by chance? I don't make a habit of making anyone's acquaintance."

"Just a fellow. We go way back."

Xiao took a step backwards, crossing his arms over his chest after deciding this... thing wasn't an immediate threat, then regretted it slightly as the boy smiled, smug.

"So why tail behind me?"

At that, a flush spreads across Venti's face, and he refused to hold Xiao's gaze any longer, the smug look vanishing with his confidence.

"Oh, I... was just about to - I mean... I'm - lost?" He stammered.

Xiao sighed, and stepped towards the lake once more, finally realising that he's half naked save for his under clothes. "That still doesn't answer my question - "

"I - I know you!"

Xiao stopped in his tracks, biting back a sigh. So even the spirits wanted his help, now? It's a shame he'd lost whatever patience he had reserved for the bard. The sunlight glistened across the blue lake, a breeze picking up in velocity.

"You do? Then you'll know I'm not to be messed with." He says over his shoulder and continued his way towards the water, leaning down to snatch his clothes.

He started pulling them on, pants first, then shirt, taking his necklace out from under it as he finished up. When he turned around to find the bard had not yet left, face red and eyes unblinking, watching the adeptus almost curiously.

Xiao frowned. "I can't help you find this person you speak of. Find someone else."

He made to leave, but a hand grabbed at his wrist, stopping him. Xiao all but panicked. He had barely washed the blood off, and this thing was not hesitant to touch him. It could get -

"How dare - "

The breeze from earlier grew stronger, slapping at his skin. Xiao had to blink against the dust that scratched at his eyes.

"Sorry."

Perhaps it was because he was a bard, but his voice reminded Xiao of the windchimes he had once found dangling from the ceilings at Wangshu that chimed with the breeze.

Xiao opened his eyes again to find that the bard was glowing, all the way from his hair, right down to his shoes. His eyes were squeezed shut in concentration, lashes fluttering against his cheeks, and Xiao was sure that even his irises were glowing underneath those eyelids. Surely this couldn't be a regular spirit, but a god. As the wind picked up, the bard lifted slightly off the ground. What had started as a breeze was turning into a strong gale that threatened to sweep the whole forest away as the vision at the bard's side started to glow and separate from his waist, twisting into the shape of wooden horns.

Hissing, Xiao summoned his spear and was about to strike - god or not, Liyue wasn't about to slip from under his protection - when recognition flashes across his mind. The instrument now took form of a lyre, almost mocking Xiao's slow realisation.

"Barba...tos?

The bard opened his eyes, glowing just as Xiao had suspected, and smiled, the rose tint of his cheeks returning, highlighting the softness of his nose and the pink of his thin lips. Heavenly was the only word Xiao could think of to describe the god, staring down at him. He put his spear away, embarrassed.

"Finally!" Barbatos lowered to the ground unceremoniously. the wind dissipating into a something gentler and settling Xiao's hair back around his face. "You're kind of dense aren't you? Even for a Yaksha?"

Had anyone else insulted Xiao directly to his face, he would have had his hand around their throat before they could finish their sentence. But Barbatos...

"Why... were you following me?" Suddenly the flurry of white and blue he had seen earlier made more sense. Barbatos was rumoured to posses wings as wide as ten eagles' - though not as magnificent as Rex Lapis, but still - a sight majestic enough to weaken a man to his knees.

"Haha!" The god leans his shoulder against the tree next to him, drawing his brows together emphasising the mischievous glint in his eyes even further. "Why do you think?"

Xiao's fingers wanders towards the Vision on the back of his glove, feeling the smooth surface of the ornament. "I don't - "

Another laugh escapes the bard's lips, and Xiao frowned in frustration, narrowing his eyes. Was he being teased?

Xiao clenched his jaw. "Rex Lapis goes by Zhongli now. You might find him at - "

"Ah. I'm not here for him." Barbatos straightened up, brushing dust off his clothes.

"Then, perhaps - "

"First things first - !"

"Stop interrupting me!" Idiot. Xiao had infinite speed and took pride in his stamina, but he lacked much in the aspect of patience. He bit his lip. "Sorry," he says to the bard's barely concealed amusement, " - Barbatos. If you wish to find someone I suggest seeking Rex Lapis out, anyway. He might be able to help."

Barbatos blinked. "It's Venti. And I just came back from visiting Morax."

"Oh. Then..."

Venti waited patiently this time for him to finish his sentence, green eyes looking a little too deeply into Xiao's, and he was forced to look away.

"I don't know how I can help."

"Ha!" Venti laughed into his hand. "You've helped plenty, sir. I have a gift for you."

The bard plucked a flower from his hat - Xiao realised that it was filled with Cecilias, a Mondstadt-exclusive plant. However, Venti pulled out a flower one would find more often in Liyue, the familiar petals of the Qingxin bearing the same colour as the Cecilias in the bard's hat.

"A flower, for the lovely adeptus who guards Dihua from evil."

Lovely, echoed Xiao's mind, far from it. But he bit his tongue for now. "I have no use for flowers." He protested, eyeing the flower.

Venti lifted his hand towards Xiao's head as if to stick it in his hair, but Xiao was quick to grab the stem from his fingers, stopping the movement of his hand mid-air.

"Th - " No. Why was he thanking him?

Venti tilted his head with a smile. "Well then! My duty here is done! See you next time!"

And with that the god skips away in a very un-god like fashion, singing to himself as he disappeared into the distance, and leaving Xiao behind, clutching a flower and red-faced.

What... just happened?

"My Lord."

When Xiao finally stepped back into his quarters, it was nearing dawn. He found Rex Lapis stood in the middle of his room, looking around the place as if it were a gallery and not Xiao's personal quarters.

He subtly kicked a dirty plate peeking out from the corner further into the shadows as Rex Lapis turned around, facing him.

"What brings you here?"

Xiao lowered his head and made to rest one knee on the ground before Rex Lapis stopped him.

"I came here only to talk."

"...An assignment?"

"No." Rex Lapis, Zhongli now, smiled. "It is about your contract."

Xiao looked up from the ground. "Uh?"

"How do you feel about being relieved from your duties?"

A jolt as piercing as lightning impaled his chest and Xiao couldn't help but gasp at the suggestion, scrambling to straighten his posture. "My Lord! Have I done something to wrong you?"

Zhongli sighed, pulling up a stool that sat unused from a corner and sat down. Xiao felt as if his heart was about to fly out of his chest, and he realised belatedly that his hands were already trembling. He prepared himself to kneel and beg for understanding, bent at the knees, but Zhongli's next words stopped him.

"No. The fact is only that you have fulfilled all that I have required you in our contract, and it is coming to an end." He looked up, meeting Xiao's eyes, gold piercing amber. "I had a visitor today."

Barbatos.

"He made some remarks about my being selfish. That I had escaped my own contract, and have neglected everyone else's. And that I had retired from my responsibilities as a god, but not as a friend."

Xiao's mind raced to decipher his words, feeling the headache creep back into his skull.

"Perhaps the contract between us shall also end - "

"With all due respect, my Lord." Xiao lifted his head in the presence of his superior for the first time. "We Adepti have sworn not just by contract, to serve Rex Lapis. Even if the contract had not existed, we would have served you willingly after years of fighting by your side. It is what we were purposed to do. I - " Xiao swallowed, realising he might have spoken out of line. "I can't speak for all adepti, but... What purpose will we have, if you dismiss us now?"

This time, Zhongli averted Xiao's gaze, almost in shame. Xiao felt his chest cave in, flooding his intestines with lead.

"My Lord." His voice broke. "What purpose will I have, if you abandon me?"

A beat of silence tears through the air, and Zhongli rose from his seat, a sad smile on his lips. He walked towards the adeptus, placing a hand on his shoulder, and Xiao lowered his gaze once more, nails clawing into his palms.

"I see. I shall leave now." Zhongli stepped towards the door that led outside. "Whether or not you choose to keep on serving Liyue, your contract with me is over. You're free to abandon your duties." With one last look over his shoulder, he smiled once more. "You no longer have to be my or anyone else's weapon."

Xiao clutched at his chest as he felt overwhelming senses of emotion run through his body. Sadness, regret, relief... Relief.

Before Zhongli left the Adeptus to process his feelings, he spotted the familiar edge of a wing just outside Alatus' window, eavesdropping. Zhongli dropped his smile, took one last look at the downcast head of the oblivious adeptus, and left.

Xiao stood on shaky legs. There was black all around him, covering him from head to toe, seeping into his skin, his nostrils, his mouth. With a growl, he finished off the last of the demons before collapsing from exhaustion onto the ground face first and sucking in air with great difficulty.

He didn't know how many days he had been hunting demons like an animal on the brink of insanity. All he knows is that he had lost count of the amount of times he had watched the sun set, over and over again, as his vision adjusted to the dark, then light, then dark once more, tearing through corrupted spirits and splattering their residue on every inch of his skin.

The dirt under his lips mixed in with the blood on his tongue, a taste he couldn't describe but felt familiar all the same. He swiped his tongue over his lips, sandpaper-like over his skin.

With a groan, he recalled Rex Lapis' words once more, tasting a bitter liquid on his tongue:

Your contract with me is over.

The contract that had saved his life and his sanity. The contract that had given him his freedom, now non-existent. Freedom exchanged for freedom. Was that what Rex Lapis was referring to? He didn't understand. He refused to understand. The fact still stands that he no longer served a purpose. He may very well succumb to the voices this instant, swallowed whole by his own karma.

In the far edges of his consciousness, he heard footsteps approaching. It had to be one of his victims he'd missed, here to finish him off for good. For a brief moment, he found that he might just allow death to finally set him completely free. It was approaching him, after all. Who was he to deny it?

But through the fog of his mind comes a voice long forgotten: What a shame. The mighty Yaksha killed off by a mere beast.

No, he tried to groan, spitting blood and saliva onto the ground. He reached for his weapon, struck firmly into the ground, and tried to rise to his feet, but only managed to drag his body across the bloodied ground.

Laughter. Pathetic and useless. Morax was right to abandon you.

He lets out a scream not unlike the very demons he had slayed countless times, slicing through his throat like a blade and tearing through the night like lightning.

Belatedly, he realised that the footsteps had long stopped, and was replaced by something else. A singular note from a woodwind instrument, he realised, piercing through his thoughts even as they screamed louder than anything else.

He moaned louder, unleashing a guttural and animalistic sound even he failed to recognise. Consciousness swam in and out of his vision, but stopped only as the notes continued.

The note turned into a sequence, and into verses, and into a song unlike any he has heard in Liyue. The unfamiliar tune spelled a tale he had no familiarity with,creeping into his mind and permeating into the darkness of his vision with its colours - the same element Xiao himself uses when riding the wind.

Xiao lifted his head, using the spear that he had stuck solidly into the ground to help him up, flipping his body onto its back. The moon was a blurry saucer in the black canvas of a sky, staring down at him pitifully.

"Bar... ba... tos - " All that escapes his lips is a coarse whisper, barely audible over the sores in his throat.

A breeze caresses his face as a looming shadow shielded his eyes from the moonlight.

"I'm here."

Windchimes in the breeze, Xiao thinks, wanting the god to speak once more.

"H... elp... mh - "

"Shh. Close - " Xiao only managed to hear parts of what the god is murmuring as his ears failed him, the ringing and the screams loud enough to drown his voice. " - eyes. I'll help - inn. Can you sit? I'm - lift you. Okay?"

His voice is cut off again as Xiao felt a hand come under his neck, lifting his head off the wet grass. Xiao's hand closed around his weapon with enough energy to make him dizzy, the relief and pain under his neck great enough to plunge him into temporary darkness.

"On three. One, two, three - "

Finally, almost as if the gods were merciful enough this time, his vision gave out as he felt his body slump against Barbatos' shoulder, tainting his clean clothes with his blackness. Xiao welcomed the dark with open arms, nestling into the familiar coldness, giving up the last of his energy.

When he came to, the moon was still strung high in the sky, awaiting his return. Underneath him is the soft down of a pillow and the clean, unused sheets of the inn, something he had never felt the need to use.

The quiet night fills his even quieter mind with serenity, almost mocking him with how easy it was to achieve this state with just a nights' worth of sleep.

Xiao finally finds the strength to assess his surroundings: and was pleasantly surprised to find that his living quarters looked cleaner than it had the first time he had seen the place. His weapons rack and accessories were arranged neatly in their places, his floor looked as if someone had scrubbed at it for days with how the colour seemed brighter than he remembered. His eyes scanned the space with awe, eyes roaming over his sheets, discovering he was naked under the covers, the sheets providing a soothing cocoon of coldness against his hot skin.

He laid his head deeper into the pillows, and turned to his right to find... A silhouette against the moonlight, painted in blue and teal, skin so pale it seemed translucent. Barbatos, facing away from him, the lyre in his hands as silent as its owner. He was perched on the balcony much like a cat, one leg drawn up and head tilted towards the sky.

Gingerly, Xiao reached his arm out, then let it fall back onto the sheets, weak.

"Mm..." He tried his voice, and found it working. "B...a...? "

Immediately, the bard turned towards him, and jumped down from the railing of the balcony.

"Xiao."

Xiao closed his eyes at the sound of the god's voice, surprised to find tears welling up under his eyelids. When he opened his eyes again, he is greeted with two emerald irises, surreal and glistening even in the shadows.

A warmth rests against his cheek, peeling stray hairs away from his skin, up his cheekbone.

"Th... ank - "

"Stop talking. Here" A bottle of water appeared in his vision, and Xiao shook his head.

"Need... my ch... ain."

"Chain-? Oh."

After some rustling, the familiar sight of his beaded necklace appeared in his vision.

"On... my chest. Help."

At the weight of the necklace on his skin, Xiao sighed, closing his eyes once more.

"Is it working?"

If he could, Xiao would be laughing. But he settles for an answer instead. "Takes time."

"Okay. If you need anything..."

"No. J... ust silence."

With that, he passed out once more. This time, he dreamed, and his are questions finally answered.

With his head pressed to the bloody ground, he opened his eyes to find the unmistakable glow of a vision. He clutched the ornament in his fist, and in front of his eyes appeared a Vayuda gem. The wind blew hard, and a whisper both quiet and loud, resounded all around him.

"Take my blessings and live leisurely from this day onwards."

He woke up only a few hours later, judging by the stillness of the night outside his room. This time, his head felt lighter, his vision was clearer and he could finally, finally lift himself into a sitting position, resting his back against the wall behind the bed.

Xiao looked towards the balcony to see if the god had stayed and found that he was surprised and relieved to see the familiar silhouette of the god, now slumped against the wall and dozing off, in his lap a bunch of flowers that had slipped from his grip.

"Venti."

The bard's eyes snapped open, and he scrambled to his feet, the flowers falling around his legs.

He was by his side in an instant, leaning low to meet Xiao's eye level. "Yes."

Xiao allows himself to let his eyes wander over the bard's face, lingering over his eyelashes, the glow of his eyes, the slight pink of his cheeks, the small bluntness of his nose.

"Thank you."

The bard looks away, and lets out an awkward laugh. "I was just... yeah."

"Hmm."

They paused in the silence for a few seconds, not meeting each others' eyes.

"How long was I..."

"It's been near three days. Morax - Rex Lapis stopped by to give you some medicine."

Indeed, there was a cloth bag of medicine on the night stand. Xiao reached out to it, already knowing what's inside.

"How did I end up here?" Surely the bard couldn't have carried him all the way to the inn -

"I carried you all the way to the inn."

"...How?"

"On my back. I'm not as fragile as I appear."

"So it seems." Xiao agrees.

Venti shifted on his feet, straightening his back. "Well. Since you're... I'll get going. You should rest up some more and have that medicine. And maybe... get some food in you."

Before Venti could walk away, Xiao found his hands acting before his mind could stop it, shooting out to grasp at the bard's wrist. Venti turned around with a surprised look on his delicate features, glancing at their connected hands.

"Plea - " Xiao sighed, closing his eyes. "Stay. Barbatos."

He opened his eyes to see the god's shocked face, not unlike the face he made when Xiao had appeared before him half naked at the lake.

"If you have pressing matters, then..." Xiao trailed off, waiting to be interrupted.

"I... don't."

"Then stay."

Xiao let his wrist go, eyes focusing back onto the flowers now scattered all over the floor.

"I've never seen those in Liyue."

"These are Lampgrasses. They glow in the night and act as a source of light in the wilderness. Although they lose their luminosity after being plucked from their roots."

"They're... odd."

Venti turned around to frown at the adeptus. "They offer great assistance to those who get lost in Mondstadt's woods."

"They lose their purpose as soon as they've been plucked."

Venti tilts his head. "Is that a metaphor for something?"

Xiao rolled his eyes. "No. I only repeated what you said."

"I said they lose their luminosity, not their purpose." Venti walked up to the flowers, and picked them up, one by one. "If their sole purpose was to provide light, then surely all of Mondstadt would be covered with Lampgrasses."

"So why aren't they?"

Venti shook his head. "They're picky plants, these flowers, growing only from good soil. They're usually used in remedies and rituals, offerings to the Anemo Archon, or potions if one is well-versed with alchemy."

The bard walked back to the bed, seating himself on the mattress. He started arranging the flowers on Xiao's lap.

"Just because they lose a part of themselves doesn't mean they can't find a new purpose."

Xiao rolled his eyes once more, refusing to meet the bard's eyes. "I don't need a lecture."

"You're right. You need several. And some sense knocked into you. Perhaps I shall lecture you anyway, since - "

Xiao grabs the god's hand as it hovered above his lap, about to lay the last flower down.

"Anyone else would not dare speak that way to an adeptus, let alone a Yaksha."

Despite the bite in Xiao's tone, his eyes betrayed his attempt to appear angered, the hand on the god's wrist too gentle to hold him in place. Still, he stayed put.

Venti spoke his next words with a voice so low Xiao felt a shiver run down his spine. "You don't scare me, O Vigilant Yaksha."

The bard's eyes flitted over Xiao's face, and he finally slackened his hand.

"You spoke to Rex Lapis," Xiao sighed, closing his eyes.

Venti flinched, drawing his hand near his chest, and looking away. "Yes, well..."

"He has decided to abandon me. Regardless of what I choose to do."

The bard's head swivelled back to the adeptus.

"That wasn't what - "

"I understand your views on freedom. Rex Lapis' ideals could very well be the opposite of that of the Anemo Archon in some ways."

"Xiao - "

"But I fail to understand how ending our contract could grant me the freedom he thinks I deserve." Xiao swallowed. "I was made to serve. To carry out orders. I am no less than a weapon to use, and I have been this way for as long as I know." Xiao opened his eyes. "Tell me, Barbatos. What else am I to do but serve my Lord?"

The crestfallen look on Venti's face hardened into something Xiao couldn't decipher.

"You were never meant to be a weapon, or a tool, or any of the bullshit you just said." He shook his head. "I didn't grant you your freedom. I merely eased it. You vision was not given to you by me. I merely witnessed it happen. You fail to realise that now, with the contract gone, you have full control of your decisions. Whether or not you decide to serve Liyue, or retire from your duties, it is up to you."

Xiao sighed, pushing his head back against the wall, facing the ceiling. Weren't those the exact words of Rex Lapis as he left Xiao to fester with his feelings of betrayal and guilt?

"I don't know what to do." He confessed, chest squeezing in protest.

"You have more than enough time to decide."

Xiao closed his eyes as felt fingers on his chest, underneath the beads of his necklace. The pressure from the god's fingers were light, but it filled his body with so much relief it felt overwhelming. Was he being healed? Did the Anemo Archon possess the ability to do so?

Xiao lifted a hand to place over Venti's - warmth enveloping warmth. He was acutely aware of his own nakedness under the sheets, but decided to ignore that for now.

"Xiao." A whisper.

"Mm." he traced his fingers over soft skin, guiding the god's dainty hand towards his lips.

"I like you," comes the whispered confession, like leaves rustling in the wind. "I've been watching you from afar. You fascinate me."

Xiao lifted his eyes to meet the god's, amber clashing with the ocean. Venti leaned closer, crowding into Xiao's space. His braids brushed against Xiao's bare shoulder. He dropped his gaze towards the bard's hair, reaching up to run his fingers over it.

"Xiao..."

Xiao's head spun with emotions he could not yet discern, his mind clouding with temptation. Even so...

"I'm tired. And hungry." A soft rejection. As gentle as he could manage. "I'm also naked."

"Ah." Venti drew back, but Xiao was quick to catch him by the shoulder.

"You'll be back, will you not? Once I've regained my bearings."

Venti smiled. "I'll be back tomorrow, and the day after. Every day."

"Mmh." He nodded, allowing himself to tug on the braid, letting it slip from his fingers so that he can slide them over the bard's neck, instead. "What a pain."

He looked up to Venti searching his eyes, uncertainty and hesitancy clouding his features. Xiao smiled, amused.

"I'll look forward to it. Venti."

The god returned the smile, and Xiao paused, resisting the urge to lean in. He lifted his hand towards Venti's lips, brushing his thumb ever so slightly against the seam, the sight filling his head with want. The god closed his eyes, leaning in to kiss his thumb. Xiao let his hand drop to his lap, pulling his body away from him as Venti chuckled, rising to his feet.

"So will I."

With that, Xiao watched as Venti turned, and disappeared with the wind, leaving only the scent of Cecilias, and scattered flowers all over the adeptus' lap.

"How are you fairing?"

"I am well, my Lord."

"You look well."

"...Rex Lapis."

"Yes."

"Thank you."

***

Bonus

Xiao dipped his bare feet into the water, feeling the coolness clear his mind, breathing in the crisp morning air. His clothes were laid to dry by his side, facing the sunshine. His undergarments were still mostly dry, but not for long as he slipped his body into the lake, letting the cool water envelop him.

He had no need to bathe in it. He wasn't dirty, nor was he feeling hot under the afternoon sun.

What was it that Venti had said?

"You dont need to be filthy to take a bath, Xiao."

"I dont see the need to bathe in a lake when I can just - "

"Please shut up."

An exasperated sigh. "Your constant habit of interrupting me is getting tiring."

"Your constant... annoying face is annoying!"

"...I see you are quite the poet."

His only reply was the slap of a wet leaf to the face.

Xiao shook his head at the memory, a smile tugging on his lips as he waded through the water from one end the other.

"Xiaaaaaao!"

He didn't even need to turn around. As soon as he lifted his head, he is greeted with a pair of eyes, green as emeralds and intoxicating, sending shockwaves through Xiao's being.

The god floats above the water, wings outstretched and casting a shadow on Xiao's flushed face. His chest was bare to allow his wings to spread unrestricted, and his arms were crossed over it.

"Fancy seeing you here."

This had been his greeting to Xiao for the past few months without fail, and usually at the same lake, if not at the inn.

"How unfortunate."

Venti huffed. Xiao reached a wet hand upwards, intending to tug him into the water, but the god was too perceptive. He skillfully escaped Xiao's hand - but crashed right into his other arm, falling into the water with a great screech.

"HEY!"

Xiao smirked as the bard struggled to float, flailing. His wings wrapped around him to protect himself from the merciless cold, and trapping his arms to his sides.

"You know I can't swi - ARH! HELP!"

Xiao lunged forward to catch the bard just as his nose went under the water again.

"I've got you." He assured, hugging the bard tight as warm legs wrapped around his waist. Xiao led them towards the shallower edge of the water.

"You almost killed me! I could have died!" Venti yelped into Xiao's shoulder.

Xiao held him closer, stifling a laugh. "I would never let that happen."

Venti pulled back to meet Xiao's eyes, the beginnings of a pout forming on his lips. "You can be romantic all you want, mister. The fact still stands that there was an attempt at murder."

"Oh dear," Xiao cooed. Venti's neck was right in front of his lips and Xiao resisted the urge to lick it. "What a close call."

"Anyway," Venti continued talking even as Xiao lifted himself out of the water with the bard still clutching at him. "Why are you naked?"

Xiao raised an eyebrow and set Venti down to his feet. He started shivering immediately, and Xiao looked for his cape that should be lying around somewhere.

"Do you not like what you see?"

"I like it," he pouted, still shivering, "I don't know if I like the idea of anyone else liking it."

Xiao stopped in his tracks and turned to the red faced bard.

"What?" Venti shied away.

Xiao laughed, and picked the cape up from the ground.

"What's so funny?!"

"You're jealous." He walked up the shivering god and swung his cape over his shoulders.

Venti frowned. "You're insufferable."

Feeling brave, Xiao leaned in closer to his ear, lowering his voice. "I know. Deal with it."

"Usually," Venti whined as he wrapped his arms around the Adeptus, stealing his warmth. "Usually, I have the upper hand when it comes to teasing. For some reason I lose all self control when I'm with you."

Xiao returned the hug, circling Venti's smaller shoulders with his arms, feeling the bard's shivering dissipate slightly.

"I see."

Venti pressed his lips onto Xiao's neck. "You're also surprisingly affectionate for someone so prickly."

"Prickly?"

"Mm. Moody. Infuriating."

"Aw."

"Hot, sometimes."

Xiao hummed, agreeing. He would admit that he wasn't too bad looking, but perhaps even Barbatos could not escape rose-tinted glasses.

"And me?" Venti lifted his head to press his chin into Xiao's collarbones, looking up at Xiao through wide eyes. "Do you have compliments for me?"

Xiao pretended to think deeply. In reality he had many a word to say to the pretty bard, but it was a little embarrassing, especially with him staring right into his eyes.

"...What do you want me to compliment on?"

"Hm... My eyes? My lips?" Venti waggled his eyebrows. "Or maybe... my sex appeal?"

"What sex appeal."

"I'm trying really hard not to hit you in the face." Venti smiled sweetly.

Xiao leaned in to kiss a spot on Venti's cheek. "That's cute."

"Thank you!"

"That you think you could hit me and get away with it."

"Try me. I'll have you know - "

"I like your hands. Your fingers are perfectly slender. Every time I watch you play the lyre I fall in love again and again."

Xiao felt, rather than heard Venti's breath hitching, and pulled him closer to his chest, feeling all kinds of embarrassed. "You make me panic every time I hear your voice."

"That's..."

"Even when you annoy me, I can't bring myself to be irritated."

He closed his eyes then, and fell back onto the warm grass, pulling Venti with him. They landed on the ground softly, with the help of their combined anemo.

"I don't know if I deserve to be this happy with you." He sighed, resisting the urge to bite down on his lip.

A hand brushed against his face, and he leaned into the touch. "Xiao?"

He swallowed. "Yes."

He felt the bard shift higher up the adeptus' body, pressing a pair of lips against his ear. Xiao had no idea that three whispered words could reduce him to tears, an aching gap in his chest finally filling with a warmth he didn't think was possible to ever be achieved.

***

Yayyy finally! Jesus it took me way too long to post this. Doesn't help that I don't have a beta reader. Still, I might come back to make some changes. I'm not 100% satisfied with it especially the end. I don't know if Venti and Xiao could have that kind of dynamic but yeah whatever, its a fanfic Lili stfu.

Hope you enjoyed! And if you didn't, my asks are open! Tell me why! (pls)

#Xiao x Venti #xiaoven #genshin impact fanfic #Zhongli #zhongli #Genshin Impact #Alatus #Venti #Barbatos #Genshin Impact Xiao #Genshin Impact Venti #genshin impact fanfiction #genshin impact #Xiao

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incorrect-quotes-from-she-ra · 3 years

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Morning! I hope you don't mind if i give you yet another She-Ra thought I'm too damn lazy to post on my own. Also, it's long again. I WILL find that character limit some day.

So, we know the way Shadow Weaver raised Adora resulted, among other issues, in her being selfless to the point of self-sacrifice, which came to a climax in the Heart's failsafe business.

And it's been suggested that this was basically intentional on Shadow Weaver's part. Basically, selflessness is a very beneficial quality for others to have. My theory is that <b>her plan for Adora had always been specifically for her to someday use the failsafe and release all magic</b>.

(i will admit i am also curious how formatting works in this app. thank you for your help with these experiments)

So, evidence. Let's start with her name. I know this is a remake and they were stuck with the existing names, but there's a scene where Scorpia complains about it ("yeah i GET it, everyone LOVES you"), which constitutes the writers acknowledging its meaning, which makes me think it's fair game to analyze.

First, I'm obviously assuming Shadow Weaver choose it, as part of her ongoing parenting plan. It's also possible it was her original First One-given name, we don't know. Neither quite works because either she or Light Hope should have had some issues knowing what the name was and they clearly knew automatically. Really the entire series is weird in that everyone communicates with everyone else way too easily, and i will definitely rant about that someday.

For now let it stand that Shadow Weaver is the parent figure, it makes the most sense for her to pick the name, both in-universe and narratively, so i shall assume so by default. I have two things to say about that choice.

First, as we all have noticed, most of the princesses have names ending in -a. All of them, if you count "Glimma". It's never said to be intentional, but it would make sense. And then IF such a tradition exists among Etheria's royalty, it's not unreasonable for Shadow Weaver, a notable and moderately respected member of the land of knowledge, to know about it.

And then if she knew, of course she would take it into consideration when looking for names. Admittedly it's a little weird with the anti-Princess propaganda that the Horde has, but she doesn't really need to explain or justify this. Hordak has a very [i]laissez-faire[/i] attitude, and everyone else she clearly doesn't care about.

And if she knew or suspected that the princesses' powers were related to the Heart of Etheria, which i will argue for later, then giving her a princessy name is also adequately ironic.

The second name bit is that Scorpia clearly knows some Latin, but not enough. True, <em>adorare</em> means to worship and/or to love, but Latin verbs are more complex than that. _Adora_ specifically is 3rd person singular present indicative active. The translation would be "she loves".

Names aside, i want to talk about how they (we) learned about the Heart of Etheria. Castaspella doesn't know what to do, Shadow Weaver suggests they take a road trip to research, which she's reticent about but concedes is probably the best use of her time, and they find success. We don't know how long it took them, but i had the distinct impression that it wasn't very long.

Naturally, I'm suggesting Shadow Weaver knew all along, and led Castaspella on the trip to have an excuse for the inevitable "how do you know?". Also tricked her into thinking it was /her/ discovery, and maybe even that she was succeeding where Shadow Weaver had failed before, if necessary.

That's why she's so excited to share their results with everybody, and Shadow Weaver cuts her off, apparently just to antagonize her for fun, but I'm suggesting it was also because for her this is the culmination of a decades-long plan, and she wants to Get On With It.

It's also interesting that there was a mural depicting the Spell of Obtainment in the hallway leading to the failsafe. It was a reminder of Shadow Weaver's past, and an opportunity for her to show she regrets her results but doesn't repent from her choices, which i quite like actually. But I'm also saying that, meta-textually, it was a signal that she'd been there before, literally.

And then there is the potential in-universe connection, since we don't know what exactly the spell was meant to be obtaining. Power, for sure, and from what happened we're probably meant to assume it's tapping into some sort of demonic entity or dimension.

Fair enough, except that it never comes up again. And it's kind of a big plot point that Etheria is isolated from the rest of the cosmos, which may or may not conflict with it having a contactable "hell". Meanwhile there's the Heart of Etheria Project collecting all that magic, which Mara's allies (and their descendants) would know something about, have access to at least one backdoor to, and may well have tried to tap into its power at some point.

And then what went wrong may well be one of the defense mechanisms of the Project, though I'm admittedly veering into unfounded speculation.

So, a rough timeline. Light Spinner was always motivated to excel and craved power. She was probably always envied the princesses, who command greater magic than most sorcerers with apparently none of the study and practice.

She took to researching everything she could that might lead to power, eventually discovering the chamber with the failsafe, and presumably other information left by Mara's Friends, either in other chambers or in documents she's since removed. She would have learned a lot of things from this.

As i suggested, i believe she knew there's some connection between the princesses at large and the Heart of Etheria. Incidentally, i don't know exactly what that connection is, and in particular whether princesses were created by the Project or an existing phenomenon that the First Ones co-opted. But it doesn't matter, exactly.

What's important is that there's clearly a connection, more specifically a control system for the princesses and their magic, which is presumably related to how Shadow Weaver was able to tap into the Black Garnet's power. With Hordak's help, obviously, since she clearly believed it when he claimed he could cut her off at will, but he's later shown to have basically no understanding of First Ones' tech, so the knowledge must have come from her.

For the record, i would guess she thinks princesses are artificial, empowered both magically and politically to keep the planet in check, and that they would be depowered once the failsafe was fired. I also think that may be true, actually, since it almost happened when Entrapta was messing with the system, and if i recall none of them were shown to use any magic after Adora did fire it, while she clearly used Perfuma's power. But anyways!

Back to what Shadow Weaver learned, she would know some of what the failsafe does, namely disrupt the system that's hoarding most of the planet's magic, thereby spreading magic to all (most notably her), and some of how to use it, and the fact that she couldn't do so and hope to live, and some of the criteria for who can. That part is important.

But first, she also learned the Spell of Obtainment, deemed it more likely but didn't think she could do it herself, despaired of getting help until she thought Hordak's rise to fame would give her #casus belli#, lost her patience when the Mystacor leadership disagreed, etc etc etc. Pretty uncontroversial in this part, i think.

After she'd joined the Horde, when Hordak showed up with baby Adora and wanted to lump her with the rest of the orphans they have, Shadow Weaver pleaded to have her get special treatment. She even said that she's special, and it couldn't have been her leadership skills or good heart, since she didn't have either yet. It's heavily implied she could recognize her as a First One, but it's not clear why she would care, since they were known for leaving behind advanced technology, which a baby also doesn't have. Unless, of course, she knew there are devices only a First One could use, and maybe has plans related to that.

So I'm pretty sure she learned the criteria that the failsafe requires, devised some spell or technique to check people for them that she pretty much used all the time, just in case, and was very surprised when a newborn tested positive. She was also surprised when Hordak made her personally responsible for the raising of the kid, but her reaction is pretty much "ok, that could work, i guess".

Also also, i suspect she can read First One script. Not perfectly like Adora, but better than Bow's parents probably. Mostly because when she puts Adora's hand on the crystal and says "i think you know the password", that seems like a very transparent attempt to pretend she knows it too when she doesn't. But that seems irresponsible at such a crucial moment, she and Castaspella should really have researched it earlier. Or at least her line there should have been "you can read this, right?" or somesuch.

So I'm thinking it's a double bluff, hoping everybody assumes she doesn't know so she doesn't have to reveal how and why she knows, again.

And that's all i have, i think? This is not nearly as well laid out as i would like. But then, nothing ever is, right?

Also it's not even close to morning anymore. Thank you if you even got this far, and have a good evening!

hi!!! this took me a while to answer, i'm so sorry about that <3

i'm very low on energy today so i cannot summon up the brain energy to respond properly to this, as much as i want to, i'm really sorry for that as well

i love this theory!! it actually fits in really well with canon and makes, like, a LOT of sense now that i think about it. i definitely wouldn't have thought of this on my own, so thank you for sharing this with me!! :D

#asks #leo answers stuff #IM CLEARING OUT MY INBOX #CAUSE I FINALLY HAVE THE TIME #long post #spop meta #shadow weaver

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