#Mika's AU Adventures

[snekjoy]

some lil sketches of the band au! I'm gonna write them I have a storyline in my head already

#genshin art #genshin impact #bennys adventure team au #bennys adventure team #benny's adventure team #band au #bennett genshin impact #razor genshin impact #fischl genshin impact #mika genshin impact #mike schmidt #fic: 5+1 rannett #fic: band au

[surreal-duck]

screw it. midoyuzu sdv au (very long bullet point post warning in advance)

midori inherits his late grandpa's farm. parents' greengrocers shop in the city used to get a good chunk of their crops from there til his passing and the farm was since abandoned

kanata is definitely handling the fishing shop. though he spends more time in the water puka pukaing than actually fishing and manning the store but its fine she manages somehow. when midori gets the fishing rod kanata just straight up pops outta to water to give him the rod and floats away 👍 souma helps out there also

chiaki owns the saloon and bartends even if he does Not drink himself and the only thing that ever plays on tv are tokusatsu shows

as for the others i havent thought abt as much and subject to change. kuro blacksmith with his apprentice tetora maybe . nagisa the museum and library curator (and by extension i think itd be really funny if ibara was a joja executive. mostly to keep an eye on nagisa but also keeping the yzib hostility). eichi is the mayor though keito his vice mayor does most of everything and his boyfriend wataru organizes the town events and such like the valley fair etc!! natsume is the forest wizard w his apprentice sora and tsumugi comes by weekly in that traveling cart thing. madara owns the ranch probably.

everybody else is probably just normal townsfolk, among others hajime and hinata take care of the towns plants n stuff!! tatsumi priest, mayoi is half shadow person and hangs out in the sewer (of which noritama at some point explore together and shinobu befriends and invites to visit the surface). i said i didnt think about this much but thats a lie at this point. mika stays in an atelier in the forest (owned by shu whos in the city but does visit on occassion) to cultivate his own art, still best buds with arashi. jun koga adonis and maybe hiiro part of the adventurers guild, trick5tar are their own lil band!!

some charas r not present most of the time or yet like tori who is off at uni w his longtime academic rival and childhood friend and also now roommate tsukasa. their presence is very important for later trust me. rich family rivalry still remains here (along with military camp Because)

due to tori being at uni and learning independence yuzuru is off of his usual butler work for a while and working in the general store owned by the himemiyas! partly to pass the time partly encouraged to find something new to do outside of his servant duties. he calls and nags at tori regularly to make sure hes fine and such

the request board outside of the store is always a good source for side jobs and one day a request for foraged spring onions is pinned up with a terrifying drawing scribbled on it. midoris head over heels Immediately and she already has a good amount to spare so why not take it

hes probably a week into living in the valley already? while yuzuru had just started working over at the store therefore she wasnt aware of this yuzuru fushimi and finds the very one while looking for who put up the request!! the master artist + fan dynamic goes from then on

other than the usual chitchats and more requests with encouraged atrocious drawings accompanying them, been thinking a good amount of the specific town events that happen through the year!! other misc things are various quests and errands from each of the characters, like helping mika gather cloth or hajime requesting various flowers to brighten up the town

Y1 Spring: egg festival, noritama hanging out, shinobu sweeping the egg hunt; flower dance , as they havent gotten to know each other to well enough to actually dance (just like in the game) (haley please. anyways) its mostly just small talk and maybe including some other side pairings i like djdhhfjdj chiaki with a suspiciously soaked kanata and hina dragging off tetsu

Y1 Summer: acquiring the rusty key from nagisa, noritama sewer exploration and befriending mayoi; luau, nothing special particularly for this one; dance of the moonlight jellies, from here yuzuru and midori get a lot closer playing in the sand and just getting along (a bit like siosai marina)!! probably some background drop for the both of them like takamine gramps' farm and yuzurus actual role as a butler while telling him about tori as well dkhdhdjs. they spot the rare green jellyfish together here too

Y1 Autumn (yeah im calling it autumn sue me): valley fair commences, led by everyones own wataru whos hopping here and there somehow managing three attractions at once. yuzuru obliterates the shooting game; spirits eve, chiaki is desperately being clingy out of fear. just more shenanigans in this one

Y1 Winter: festival of ice!! i kinda want to recreate the snow bunny/cute critter scene in jingle bells here, while the fishing contest isnt even a contest at all except between souma and kanata; feast of the winter star ill probably keep somewhat similar to that in the recent luck fest campaign gift exchange!! midori -> hajime and yuzuru -> kanata at the very least. just good vibes all around. community centre would also be finished by then so while joja closes, ibara ends up assisting at the museum w nagisa instead jshshdh

Y2 Spring: only thing of note is that This flower dance they do get to dance together!! 👍 had to get those hearts up beforehand sjhdhdjshd midori at this point fully realized he really does like yuzuru, but kind of the calm before the summer storms

Y2 Summer: gets a bit (a lot) more complicated from here. yuzuru receives word from tori that he'll be visiting from midsummer til the beginning of autumn, and coincidentally tsukasa is tagging along to meet up with his pen pal and friend sora!! bickering the entire way there and due to circumstances yuzurus hosting tsukasa as well in the end, having to share toris room with him aksjdhjwjs

tori gets introduced to midori. the famed young master of midoris crush and this random farmer boy tori had heard so much about for some reason. midoris rather intimidated in the end but it ends up not Horribly to say the least. didnt quite help how tori had noticed how yuzuru softened up even just a bit when interacting with him. sora as well finally meets tsukasa and "the torikun he's heard so much about through tsukasas letters" 🎉 toris awfully smug and tsukasa tries to salvage it saying he was badmouthing him the whole time (not completely a lie but definitely not completely the truth either. dork)

with toris arrival inevitably comes yuzurus duties as a butler, its plain to see his priorities and out of consideration midori backs off a bit. she thought he'd only have to keep his distance until tori's gone back but little did she know toris main reason for coming not only was to assess how yuzurus faring (well and to meet eichi again) but had planned on bringing yuzuru back with him too to which yuzuru of course though not without feeling a tinge of pain for a reason unknown to him agrees to it

midori hears this from tsukasa, how he didnt think yuzuru would stay in town for much longer. and of course midori ended up pretty devastated at the news but who is he to stop yuzuru from leaving? in the end yuzuru would all but abandon his duties, and after all that same diligence and devotion is what midori had fallen for in the first place. if this short year really is all he'd get to spend with him then at the very least she'll have to make the most of what time they have left

the moonlight jellies come around again, probably one of the last times they both thought they'd be able to spend together and went off with just the two of them. a bit of an awkward air around them, yuzuru comments on how toris been complaining about the sand and other attempts at casual small talk as usual but its painfully obvious theres still that tense atmosphere

midori finally asks if yuzurus really leaving after all, to which she got a yes. midori simply nods and had long since accepted that inevitability, and already resolved that when the time comes to put an end to his feelings and get rejected properly. and so he confesses, and while saying she didnt need yuzuru to give him any proper answer in return, all yuzuru could really say was an "i'm sorry" while finally realizing what that awful ache that has been eating at him the entire time was. even if he did realize he felt the same, no matter how much he wanted to say it back theyve both resigned to the fact that its not something that could or would really ever happen between them

once the jellies have all left, their parting was pretty awkward, with that one goodbye feeling a lot like their last. tori notices something off about yuzuru and that something had probably happened between them, but didnt pay it much thought until a while later

yuzurus made more mistakes than whats normal, miscategorizing the stock or putting salt in his coffee, tori and tsukasa are both shocked and tried to pry it out of him but hes a brick wall that wont budge even a bit. it was only when midori came around for his usual errands and groceries that tori could note how distant and awkward theyre both being and that slight bit of hurt behind yuzurus all perfect mask

after much uncomfortable tension and quietly longing gazes enough is enough amd tori eventually confronts him, that while he did say yuzuru could come back to the city asks him if thats really what he wanted. and of course, all hes ever wanted or rather, knew how to want was to be able to serve tori to the best of his ability and really theres no other reason to stay anyways. even more frustrated now tori brings up midori, if he really wont regret leaving things like that when theyll surely drift apart to the point of no return if he keeps it up

argues that whatever was between him and midori has nothing to do with it!! tori is Mad and says if yuzuru is hiding behind his role to run away from the depths of his own feelings hes being a freaking idiot. eventually tori calms down and while he did want yuzuru to come, never wanted him to tear himself apart so much and that he didnt need to sacrifice his desires or getting close to anyone else for his sake, and how before being a servant yuzuru is his family as well and he just wants him to be happy too. then asks one last time if leaving the valley really what he wanted

yuzuru finally thinks it over again and apologizes first. for letting himself get so caught up and carried away for even daring to get close to someone else (tori glares daggers at him. he stops) and affirms that while he did wish to stay, theres still nothing more important to him than tori and his wellbeing and even should he open up and find more people in his life its not gonna change that fact

toris finally satisfied, reminding him again that even if he were to run off to be with some farmer boy hed still be his butler and that he wishes them the best. then proceeds to grab the bouquet from over the counter, shove it into yuzurus hands and lock him out of the store until he has a proper talk with midori. yuzuru tries to argue but it all goes one ear and out the other with tori he is Not gonna let him back inside until then

eventually gives in and goes looking for midori. he asks all around town and seems to just miss him each time, til eventually it starts pouring and into a pretty hard rain. at this point all he could rly focus on though was wanting to see him so pushes on until running into her taking shelter in the forest. yuzuru is Soaked and disheveled and with the wind and rain the bouquet is stripped down to only a few of its flowers left but he does not care at this point

midori is understandably shocked and tries to dry him off with what he had, lending her jacket and asking what he was doing out in the rain like that. well with yuzuru only being able to think about wanting to meet him had completely ignored the rain and brushes it off saying there was something more important he wanted to say

even knowing that he'd (somewhat) rejected midori before, asks if he could give him a proper response this time if midori would give him another chance. she agrees, yuzuru lets him know he wont be going back to the city after all to midoris surprise. goes on that before he knew it midori had become important to him as well and that he truly does adore him, and if his feelings havent changed would like to court him properly. midoris just processing the entire thing before crying. never thought his feelings would be reciprocated and between sobs hugs him. rain clears up, a nice rainbow arches over and while midori accepts what was left of the bouquet they almost had a moment until yuzuru starts sneezing. cue them running back to the store before he gets sick

while yuzurus taking care of himself it leaves midori and tori in the store together. tori gives her a bit of a shovel talk and if he dared do anything to hurt yuzuru he could have his entire farm shut down. and asks to take care of yuzuru for him too. they do talk a bit and end up getting to know each other a bit more before tori and tsukasas impending departure

once midori leaves, tsukasa, having seen the whole conversation, asks tori if hes really okay with it and while tori cant say hes absolutely happy is glad someone cherishes yuzuru just as much. and even if he is a bit lonely will always have tsukasa anyways half as a tease and half being genuine

Y2 Autumn: tori and tsukasa leave the valley, promising to come back next year!! theres a lot more ive planned out from this point out but i am keeping it to myself for now. or maybe forever it depends 👍 my apologies if youve read this far you deserve a medal thank you for listening to my silly rambling 🏅

theres some other things like mini chara arcs/episodes and such (or stuff like specific "heart events" of a sort) i thought abt but among them is tatsumi and mayoi meeting and [omitted] or tetoras apprenticeship under kuro, or shus visit to observe mikas progress and [omitted], and specifically a certain trks episode also

#if you saw me post this earlier no you did not. misclick before i finished it and had to rewrite it damn #pretty self indulgent if that wasnt obvious enough LMAO kindaa wanted to explore their charas a bit too #duck rants about something #summer went on for awfully long here my apologies #⭐💧au

[silenthillmutual]

my buddy @doomednarrative tagged me in a fic writer's ask game so ^_^ let's do this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

on my current account i have 154. being unemployed and hypomanic during lockdown will do that to you.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

895,907. i can't tell if that's a normal distribution for my fic count or not.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

at the moment: silent hill, bloodborne, and pathologic. most of what i have up there is for pathologic. i've got other fandoms up there though.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

eight, thirty-one - 1899 kudos (danganronpa)

to quote mika, age 35, of beirut, lebanon: "where have all the good (gay) guys gone?" - 1066 kudos (danganronpa)

(they long to be) close to you - 1021 kudos (mob psycho 100)

all jotaro wants for christmas is kakyoin (and he screws that up) - 810 kudos (jojo's bizarre adventure)

anticlimax - 796 kudos (danganronpa)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i've responded to most comments i've gotten, though it's always months late because i tend to read the e-mail first thing in the morning, head to work, and completely forget to respond. responding feels more personal. i know i'd be more likely to comment on someone's fics if i knew they appreciated it, so i try to make the effort, even if i struggle to know what to say.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

god this is old as hell but probably life in technicolor/the end of all things. they're life is strange style aus for one punch man and genos dies at the end of one of them, and at the end of the other the city is destroyed. the fics are connected, but i won't say how.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

so tired, so tired, my heart and i (pathologic) is probably the sappiest i've ever written a fic so i'm guessing that one!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

occasionally. i got transmisogynist hate for when you finally get inovlved, face to face for writing chihiro as a trans girl, and it made me stop writing for danganronpa altogether. i got a guest user on some burakhovsky nsfw i posted (idr which one) who said "jesus christ, tag your trans shit". and someone who went off on me years ago called vita in motu (pathologic) "borderline mpreg" and they very much meant it derogatorily. so if i seem a lil paranoid about interacting w people there's a reason why lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

i do! i actually write more smut than i post because i am not showing everyone my oc/canon smut. like some friends will be able to see it but i'm not brave enough to show the whole world that. also a lot of au smut recently that has no context and i'm not posting it to ao3 without context.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

i did moreso in the past than currently. we're not gonna talk about the craziest one though<3 love and light

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nah. i've had people write fic very inspired by stuff i've written but not copy-and-paste stolen, to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

people have asked but as far as i know it never happened. always thought it would be cool!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes!! w my buddy dj :) also published rps in the past that i shaped up into fics.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

mulder/scully is The Ship Of All Time to me. the blueprint.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

oh there's a few!!

a rebel without a case rewrite that i started because i wanted to fix what i saw as timing issues in the film.

an akira/mob psycho 100... crossover? au? both? i had some real ideas for that one but it's not going anywhere

a silent hill au for mob psycho 100 that apprently someone was interested in enough to try and make their own while referencing mine. it was an audience participation fic and i'm honestly upset that i lost steam on this one because it was a lot of fun!

a magnus archives statement from artemy burakh. the idea behind that one was that he saw daniil die, and then be replaced by another actor... but artemy's the only one who noticed the different actor.

literally dozens of pathologic fics that i have started like you have no idea just how much i have started for that stupid game.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i'm not sure! my partner says i do vagueness well, and the unease that comes with that. i think i do decent at introspection in general

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

action for sure. i tend to do better with thought than with action, so i can write really long scenes where absolutely nothing hapens. kind of an issue!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i don't really do it because i only know like...extremely basic german and i feel it'd be a disservice to other languages to just google translate. i will occasionally describe characters using sign, but again... not knowing it, i don't feel comfortable just saying shit, you know?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

i wrote something like fanfic as a like, eight year old? for a book series i can no longer remember. but for first published fanfic it was either bones or soul eater. those fics might still be out there, who knows!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

i don't really have one! i'm still really proud of o tempora, o mores (pathologic), vita in motu (pathologic), and my mind has changed my body's frame (bloodborne) <- less sure of that one bc not much feedback but y'know!

who shall i tag.... @stvlti, @brodyliciousbooty, @loudmound, @go-go-devil, @shogoakuji and anyone else who writes, consider yourself tagged :P !

#icarus.txt #ominous fic talk #if you write and i missed you in my tag it is NOT on p urpose i promise #my brain just. poofed out of existence.

[rui-drawsbox]

I’ve got so much work recently that the brain ain’t filled up yet but I have a couple ideas for the magical girl au :):):):) back on my usual bullshit lmao ✨✨✨

K so these mfers (Knights + Mika + Shu(eventually, give him time, a season two breakdown and a redemption arc) ) should go song karaoke together. They deserve it after all the horrors tbh. The little doll man should get to experience the epic highs and lows of awful greasy pizza at an establishment that isn’t a restaurant. Tsukasa, Izumi, and Shu should also be subjected to it tbh. Tsukasa might like it <3 Izumi and Shu however… malding, screaming and dying even.

Anyways it would be funny as hell if Shu also went to school with the knights. Cuz he’s the same age as Izumi and Leo anyways. Bruh, Arashi could just think that Shu is Mika’s crush 💀💀💀. On god that could make for some top tier comedic interactions. Mostly Arashi teasing Mika about his crush, and Mika frantically trying to assure her that it isn’t a crush cuz he wouldn’t be caught dead catching feelings for his boss. Meanwhile the idea that he could have a crush on his boss has been planted in the back of his mind and it’s only gonna keep growing. I feel like this would be funny for two reasons, one: hijinks, two: bigger emotional payoff when Mika does decide to leave him <<<333 break both of their hearts in one foul swoop.

also Leo being a menace to Shu. They should be in the same class. It would be funny.

Back on my fighting bullshit. I feel like Shu would never fight with his hands or with blades tbh. I feel like he would use a bunch of smaller dolls after losing Mika. Ones that he considers imperfect or something, idk man, something symbolic. + the dolls could almost look like they’re already falling apart and they deteriorate more and more as his mental state deteriorates (not as an in universe thing, just as a visual symbol for the audience to emphasize that Shu is breaking down lmao)

Also Shu and Mika should kiss. Arashi is the #1 wing woman tbh. I love her so much. She deserves to wear a pretty dress like in those super magical girl forms. Like madoka’s at the end of madoka magica when she does the thing, or any of the really powerful forms in precure.

also arashi should punch Shu in the face at one point. I’m thinking about him getting her sword away from her with dolls and being like “Hah! It seems as if you weren’t prepared for this eventuality girl! Kakakakaka! Now that I’ve disarmed you it’s impossible for you to defeat me! Now then, if you’ll excuse me I have more important matters to-” “AGHH!? You, you ignorant girl! You, you imbecile! Why I can’t believe you would-“ she raised her fist again so he finally shut the fuck up. He’s learning 🥰🥰🥰. Mika is probably upset about Shu getting punch tbh. Like he knows why Shu deserved it but he’s still a bit upset. He ain’t mad tho. Shu needed to have some sense beaten into him for once ✨✨✨.

I’m done for now ✨🥰✨🥰✨😎😎😎😎

I kind of want to write out a whole anime plot tbh. If I actually get around to finishing my current fic I might write an outline for this sometime tbh. If I get it done I’ll probably come drop it in your ask box unannounced. Or I’ll make a post and @you in it cuz that might be easier if it’s a whole ass outline.

I love ur ideas even though i forgot answer this ngl JSBDKS Drawings to compensate! It's the only i can do haha!

Anyways, this scene is definitely in the ending of the second season or an OVA about the 7 having daily adolescence adventures like they should had since the start lol

I feel like Leo would be an usual costumer in the karaoke, actually, this would be the group's hideout jsbfjs

Now, I love the idea of Mika staring too long to Shu in the corridors of the school and then Arashi notices and starts teasing him

Mika: no way i could possibly like my boss! He's just so cool and composed and smart and-

Shu, in his classroom:

And yes i think Shu and Mika should kiss, but i also think that Arashi and Mika should kiss, so my offer is:

Arashi: this is my boyfriend, Mika. And this Mika's boyfriend, Shu.

Basically, shumika=second chance trope, aramika=friends to lovers trope. And i love it

You know that i was thinking exactly the same about Shu's powers? He could never fight someone by himself, he would break before a finger lands on him jabfjsj

So yeah, i belive that he would have a dolls/mannequin army. In the first episodes he only uses Mika because he's the strongest, but when he loses him he would starts using unfinished dolls to fight, and with the pasta of episodes there would be more and more dolls but with a worse quality! Like Mika>Metal dolls>Wood dolls>Ceramic/industrial mannequins?. They would start being extremely fragile, like his mental stability😊!

You know Santa Clous from Chainsaw Man? Yeah i see Shu with a similar power but less OP ofc. Like he can control the movements/minds(?) of his artificial dolls but not people, Mika is the exception! Because Mika considered himself like Shu's doll! Once he starts making choices by himself he couldnt be controlled anymore!

Back to Arashi, im 100% sure that her powerup/god form has longer hair, following the more hair=more power formula. I also want to give the nerf or smth that have so much power she has to lose a lot of her humanity sense! She would become this "Justice God" or smth without emotions and the rest of her friends would have to fight/convince her back into normal!

Now. Yes. Arashi should punch people. Arashi should beat the shit out of people. Arashi should beat the shit out of Shu. I didn't gave her armor gloves for nothing.

Yes. Queen. Be scary. Be intimidating. Be your enemy's worst nightmare.

And you want to write the plot while i want to anímate the fucking fight scenes oUT OF MY HEAD I SWEAR IT WOULD LOOK SO COOL IF I KNEW HOW TO ANIMATE UGHH

I would love to read whatever you write about this au too! I'll read every ask you drop here even if i take forever to answer haha;;

#rui draw smth #ensemble stars #enstars #ensemble stars fanart #arashi narukami #mika kagehira #shu itsuki #(omg magical girl arashi) #leo tsukinaga #izumi sena #ritsu sakuma #tsukasa suou #if smth doesnt makes sense. it's 6:30AM i just came back from the carnavals in my city haha. #enstars magical knights au

[luvistqrzzz]

your moots as taylor swift songs?

omg ive been waiting for an ask like this for agessss 😭!! plus its taylor so yay🤭... i only added the moots ive interacted quite a lot so im really sorry if you're not here and lmk if you'd like to be added here <3!!

+ i couldn't help but ship my moots with their biases (a bit) sorry ><

@hysgf as mine- this song is comfort, just like mika <3 its always so easy to talk to her?! on top of that i can def imagine her and hee in this song, like a sweet college couple yk but still figuring out and growing in their relationship ^^!

@lonelystudio as paper rings- titli is such a cheeky and cute person to be around and you cannot change my mind on the fact that this would literally be her with taesan like??

@heetoldme as dorothea- paris is such a sweetheart just like this song :(!! this song has the young and nostalgic vibe which reminds me sm of her! she and heeseung in a kind of second chance love <3!

@yenqa as london boy- yen has the sassiness and fun i imagine the song possesses along side jay being the london american boy 🤭?! it'll all so classy and fluffy aaa them going around the city like those aesthetic couples

@whoschr as fearless- talking to chae always feels like petrichor 🤧! heeseung and her would have one of those classic first love stories in high school and they'd be dancing in the rain as this song plays

@staryyeon as 22- rin seems like the one to go on late night adventures and be fall in love with strangers (read: jungwon). she'll meet jungwon just like that and would (quite literally) be swept up her feet 🤭

@str0l0gy as end game- iris is so cool and super sweet she literally seems like this song (plus her blog theme only makes it better hehehe). and her and jake having those street racing e2l au o.o

@seungiepup as me!- della is so fun (also her humour🫂)!! the song is so bubbly it reminds me of her,,, and her and heeseung as idiots to lovers mutually pinning for each other (that would definitely happen🤦‍♀️)

#✉.you've got a mail #📄.tag games #🎧.anon<3 #TYSM ANON <333 #lmao it took a lot of time sjsjsjsj #but it was fun

[pitxroxas]

Up next, Characters!!

⚠️Please note that everything here isn’t set in stone yet!!⚠️

Characters

-Tsukasa Suou (A Knight from the Tsukinaga Kingdom. He's 21 and has always wanted to be a Knight. He's well rounded in Archery, Mounted Archery, Swordplay and Singing. He's also pretty crazy about horses so anything related to that gets him going. He values Friendship and Honesty above anything else.)

-Shu Itsuki (One of the founding Alchemists. He's about 26 in this AU and values creation and isolation over everything. He's amazing at sewing and adores taliorship over a lot.. more important things.)

-Mika Kagehira (Current Apprentice of Shu Itsuki... turned into a cat.. by accident. Shu hasn't got the energy to transfigure him back so for now-- a little angry kitty who'll protect Shu with his life.) (And fight Tsukasa... at all times)

-Nazuna Nito (Shu's very first doll, and first broken doll as well. She is nothing more than a reflection of his mistakes. She's free now, but when she was in Shu's grasp, she was nothing. Nito is nothing more than a mirror to Shu.)

-Leo Tsukinaga (The King of the Tsukinaga Kingdom, head of the Royal Guard and most annoying person ever. It’s rumored in the castle that he’s dating the captain of the royal guard, Izumi Sena, but that has not been confirmed by both parties.)

-Izumi Sena (Captain of the Royal Guard. Right hand man of the King and leader among all. It’s also rumored in the castle that he’s dating the King, but he refuses to admit it— also he punishes anyone in the Guard for confronting him about it.)

-Ritsu Sakuma (Strategist of the Royal Guard. His brother is the Alchemist of Destruction, fortunately or unfortunately, he practically bears the weight of his brother’s sins. Ritsu takes pride in his strategies— especially the ones on the fly.)

-Arashi Narukami (Member of the Royal Guard. Albeit, her position may seem like not much, but she plays a critical role in defusing situations and her quick work with make-up makes her an amazing cover for any future operations)

-Rei Sakuma (Alchemist of Destruction. Older brother to Ritsu, and leader of his own branch. Duh. Not much is to say about him, he simply takes pride in his brother and his branch.)

-Sora Harukawa (Apprentice of Balance. One of Natsume’s closest friends and second Apprentice. Sora can see “colors” [albeit hard to explain to other users] and traces of magic + runes. Thus becoming more of an aid to him than anything. Sora values friendship and discovery above all ^-^) [I love him dearly]

-Natsume Sakasaki (Alchemist of Balance. He lives in a tower with Tsumugi and Sora in the desert, where they study the Balance branch of Alchemy. He takes great pride in his friends work— and his own.)

-Kanata Shinkai (Alchemist of Potionology. He’s a healer and Scientist in one— Kanata values life above all and tries his best to preserve it.)

-Wataru Hibiki (Alchemist of Transmutation. In the day, a traveling performer. But when night falls, an Assassin for the emperor. But of course, it’s all in the script. And Hibiki will never stray from the script.)

-Eichi Tenshouin (The Emperor who started this horrid war in the first place. He who holds Transmutation in his fist… A love sick idiot, if you will. He who rules Ordin— higher than Tsukinaga.)

-Madara Mikejima (A secret third thing :)

-Ryuseitai (Kanata saves their leader— Chiaki, with one of his potions… and they swore to follow Kanata… Kanata swore to follow them !)

-Tsumugi Aoba (Apprentice of Balance. The first Apprentice of Balance, an ex-Holy Knight for the Emperor. In fact, he was their captain, but after the war, he too went into hiding. Natsume took him in though, reluctantly or not.)

-Nagisa Ran (Ex-Holy Knight during the war. Literally just a dude. He travels around with Hiyori to see the sights of the world… rocks… he’s all about discovery and adventure. He can still fight but rather prefers not to.)

-Hiyori Tomoe (Ex-Holy Knight during the war. #1 Eichi hater and if he could throw a coup— he would. He travels Ordin with Nagisa. Hiyori can fight but only uses it as defense rather than actual. Fighting y’know.)

-Tori Himemiya (Heir to head of Himemiya family. Trade merchant who acts like a literal princess. Childhood friends with Tsukasa and loves getting into fights with him just for the sake of doing so.)

-Yuzuru Fushimi (Tori’s Butler. Tori’s personal butler, and assassin. Not much is known about him… and it’s better that way.)

-Ra*bits (Nito’s new family— after she was free she found these three kids from different kingdoms— and cared for them as her own.)

<- Prev (Magic System) || Next-> (Shukasa)

#enstars #ensemble stars #leo speaks #leo actually makes something #tsukasa suou #suou tsukasa #shu itsuki #itsuki shu #mika kagehira #kagehira mika #nazuna nito #nito nazuna #leo tsukinaga #tsukinaga leo #izumi sena #sena izumi #arashi narukami #narukami arashi #ritsu sakuma #sakuma ritsu #rei sakuma #sakuma rei #sora harukawa #harukawa sora #kanata shinkai #shinkai kanata #natsume sakasaki #sakasaki natsume #wataru hibiki #hibiki wataru

[feuerspirit]

Out of time-au, pt.3

Michael and Seb work together. It's easier, and they were just lucky enough to get a job at a factory and to some smugglers who supply cheap bourbon to a local pub, giving out a fake family history that brings to tears the compassionate women who accepted them as assistants, and causes respectful nods from men who who sometimes allowed them to take on the most cheap and thankless work. One day Michael leaves with Seb in the morning. He straightens his shirt for a long time until he pulls a thick coat over it, crumpling it to hell anyway, and leaves in the other direction, promising Seb to be at work a little later, but by the time. But Michael does not appear either at the beginning of the shift, or in the middle of it, or at the very end, so Seb can only worry senselessly and beg with tears in his huge eyes to forgive his "older brother" for absenteeism while he was plagued with a fever. Michael returns home late at night, when Sebastian has already told Kimi and Mika everything. They are sitting at the table, they have an ordinary dinner: meager, but very good, prepared by Seb's talented hands and Mika's untalented, but careful diligence. They look at Michael intently, waiting for an explanation; Michael looks disheveled, his clothes are in disarray, and his hair is disheveled, he looks completely indecent, and they wonder what could have happened to Michael, who always closely watched his appearance. Michael takes a thick wad of money from the pocket of his still-on-the-raincoat and puts it on the table in silence; they recoil from the bundle as if from a fire. They know that such money cannot be earned legally, and they are afraid of the consequences. They're afraid of what Michael might have done to get it for them. Michael silently sits down in his usual place. He drinks to the bottom a small glass of moonshine, which they bought recently for a holiday, and smiles at them with a wide, trembling smile. His eyes sparkle madly, he combs his hair with his palm, pulls it back, bringing himself to his senses, but still leans back in a decrepit chair and laughs at his feelings and the incredulous faces of Mika, Kimi and Seb. It might never happen again if they weren't all lucky enough, but now he finally felt his life again-his own. Today, for the first time, he was able to win on a car miraculously obtained from an adventurer sponsor a local Grand Prix race.

#f1 #f1 fandom #Michael Schumacher #mika hakkinen #sebastian vettel #Kimi Raikkonen #simi #schumika #michael x mika #sebastian x kimi #out of time au

[teyvat-travails]

We're currently looking for members in our fairly new Roleplay Server ; Teyvat Travails!

Teyvat Travails is an AU of the game where instead of it being just Aether as the traveler, Lumine is also present, with her leading a double life as the leader of the Abyss Order.

Aether was put into a deeper slumber, giving Lumine enough time to set her own plans into motion, before she found herself at his side before he had woken up, giving the illusion that they had been sent to the same area, and she only woke up a few minutes prior to him. The two traveled together, picked up Paimon, and started going down the normal route of the game with each other, with Lumine occasionally going missing in order to set the Abyss Order into motion.

Her goal is to witness her brother's experiences head-on, and then give him the choice of assisting her and her plans, or the gods.

This story starts at the end of Liyues Archon quests and before Dansliefs first quest, which will not be started until a Dainslief is present and all parties are willing to move forward with the server's storyline.

Rules are as follows:

`ੈ✩‧₊˚ Rules ੈ✩‧₊˚

1. Be mindful of spoilers. Censor when need be. Not everyone has seen every quest, or is on the same main quests you are. However, I also cannot stop people from mentioning character backstories in their roleplays

2. Please be kind. Do not argue over nonsense, don't insult eachother, don't use slurs or other derogatory language (I'll allow it if you can reclaim it, but still censor it), I don't want this server to be unpleasant

3. Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, etc etc will not be tolerated. If I catch anyone doing any of these things, you'll be removed from the server

4. The character limit is 3 at minimum. Boosters and staff are allowed four!

5. OCS are fully allowed, however, they can't be overpowered or on the same levels of adepti and archons

6. No NSFW content in the server. There's minors here. If you are doing NSFW roleplays or having those conversations, either censor the comments (especially if in main chatrooms) or take the convos/roleplays to DMS

7. Don't clog channels with conversation that doesn't belong there. For example, don't go on about a ship or your day in the art channel

------- ⚰️🦋------------

Character List:

Mondstadt

Liyue

Inazuma

Sumeru

Misc. Characters (Harbingers, etc)

----- 👻🔥 -------

Please feel free to contact me to reserve a character or get a link to join the adventure!

(proshippers dni)

#genshin impact #roleplay server #discord server #roleplay

[vampacidic]

i know i said i wasnt particularly interested in the quarry however i would be interested in your enstars quarry au so please feel free to elaborate on that if you want to ^u^

oh you've opened floodgates. ok. uh. im giving you a highlight speedrun

izumi gets snot on by a boar. not relevant to the plot but it's an event that happens that makes me giggle

arashi has her tits out for most of the timeline. good for her

leo has a gun. i mean most characters do so it's not like he's particularly special but he does have one. and i really don't think he should

shu and mika are there. might make it platonic or romantic idfk. but i do get to make mika say "lesbians?" which is fun

the characters present are knights, valkyrie, crazyB, adam, and Another one i haven't decided on yet. maybe switch. idfk. trickstar works better with how knights' dynamic works but that's also 4 more characters.... i might stick hiiro and aira in here too. this is all hypothetical

adam are (vaguely) evil. its mostly ibara + up to how you interpret the original text tbh

nagisa is here but he's significantly less important. she's more of a narrative device

fan favorite 'you smell good' abi/nick scene is now leo and izumi. take this as you will

leo having a gun. i must reiterate leo has a weapon

ritsu's the one who breaks the car. reasoning is close to 'i would literally rather die than see my brother again' and 'i can fix my relationship with mao (which has taken a down turn because i have no emotional permanence)'

truth or dare features arashi and leo making out. a win for t4t nation

(un)fortunately for t4t nation, arashi and leo are also the ones in the storm bunker (there is a better word for this). leading to fan favorite 'shows over, [naru], go home' 'FUCK YOU' depending on narrative choices

tsukasa is also here and gets covered in blood. she's so quirky. also she gets caught in a bear trap (she's fine)

thinking i might make it a choose your own adventure. so like the actual game except like. if you choose A, go to chapter 7 or whatever. ao3 doesn't really support that though lol. so i might make a sideblog and a bunch of posts... which could be fun

this is most of what i have so far... im very slowly playing through the game to refine details. you can tell i stopped bc school got busy right when the horrors started lol

#ask #aurelia 🌺 #the quarry x enstars #robin don't look

[snekjoy]

Bennys adventure team modern band au!!

Fischl - lead singer

Bennett - lead guitar

Mika - bass guitar/backing vocals

Razor - drums

They're not insanely popular, they just use a local band room for practice and occasionally end up performing at like. Those summer fairs with the twister rides with the airbrush art on them

Razor is from an orphanage, and all the kids there have a running joke of calling themselves wolves/they used to play wolves when they were smaller so now it's a stupid nickname they use. The kids all gave each other piercings at one point, including Razor.

Bennett got adopted by his polycule of dads when he was tiny. They wanted to homeschool him but they're all too busy so he goes to normal school, but they don't tell him off for skipping and "feeding his creativity" by starting the band

Mika and Fischl spend a bunch of time in the library at school, and Bennett is their assigned extrovert friend. Razor basically always skips to go into the woods nearby the school with the "Wolves" so he's barely there.

Mika's family situation is basically the same as it is in game but his parents are still gone, he's still practically raising himself. He draws + makes the posters for the band and is kinda the most mature one since he had to grow up fast.

Fischl is still a nerd, but she doesn't speak fancy bc she gets bullied. She still uses unnecessary big words but it's not medieval role-playing it's just a bit pretentious. She's technically called Amy but her stage persona✩ is Fischl. None of the others have stage names btw

Razor has a lot of anger to the point it's kinda gone back around to him being quiet again. He barely speaks unless he's with the other "Wolves" and usually uses monosyllabic answers to everything.

Razor and Bennett met when they were both skipping and in the woods. The wolves were all howling and pissing about and Bennett found them. They started poking fun at him and beings dicks and Razor told them off and took Bennett to a different part of the woods.

They talked for a bit (more like Bennett talked and Razor listened) and, as teenagers tend to do, both immediately developed massive crushes on each other. They started meeting like this more often and the wolves make fun of Razor for having a v obvious crush.

Fischl writes a lot of the lyrics, so they're very uh. Emo. Like mitski levels of emo? Not the genre emo but the vibe of the lyrics

Mika basically holds the band together boy is WORKING. He always reminds them abt practice and encourages them when they feel like they're not making good music, and they all appreciate it a ton. On stage, Fischl and Bennett are the leads, but they all know Mika is in charge.

Fischl and Mika have a bet going abt when Bennett and Razor will kiss/confess to each other. So do the wolves and Bennett's dads. Basically the whole town wants them to be less oblivious

#genshin fics #genshin impact #bennys adventure team #genshin au #bennys adventure team au #band au #modern au #razor genshin impact #bennett genshin impact #fischl genshin impact #mika genshin impact #fic: 5+1 rannett #fic: band au

[anothanobody]

in the risk au what will the yeager’s reaction will oncw they found out their son and mika’s affair? they’ll be disappointed but will they be mad at their pseudo daughter? also did they grow up together since kids?

they didn’t grow up together since kids. they met a little before high school and stuck together like glue. no one got mikasa like he did and no one got eren like she did. but he wanted to be adventurous and not settle even with the feelings that were yelling at him in the back of his head.

i mean the parents were rooting for them since the first moment they met, up till news of the marriage they had hope, after that it died down but still love the other’s kids. ms ackerman loves eren like a son, carla loves mikasa like a daughter. they will be troubled i guess, because circumstances, the fathers won’t be pleased at all though. it’s a lot of spoilers but that’s what i can say.

#risks em au

[the-windchild]

WARNING

Mika looked around the new area with a smile spread cleanly across her face. Glasses was walking a little way behind her, but that didn’t matter much. He was usually slow and liked to take his time. Or rather, he simply wasn’t as energetic as Mika was.

This place seemed a bit strange compared to other people’s pasts, though. There was an odd feeling in the air; even Mika could sense that without Glasses telling her. Thus, unlike her usual more playful mannerisms, she did keep a bit of a more serious look out just in case. She also made sure to check that she kept her body invisible. This was something she didn’t need to worry about with Glasses.

Glasses was much better in this field than she was. Understandable, considering Glasses had been in the industry much longer than she. Mika was only thirteen, and Glasses was at least twenty-two. Perhaps older than that. He knew far more about the process and of how it worked. He was a great partner and had taught Mika well. So, she felt no need to really worry about him too much.

 His clock was much more advanced than hers. He could stop time in the area, take both of them out, stop time in people’s bodies, speed up time, slow down time. Glasses was well equipped. Mika wished she had a clock as powerful as that. She still had a long way to go before she could get that far, though. For now, she would just have to put up with her lower clock. It truly wasn’t that bad.

Mika slowed down and stared more intently at the people. They were all moving oddly and had strange expressions on their faces. They had been smiling for the most part. She didn’t have an issue with smiling people, but this seemed odd. A bit too odd. This was a strange past she and Glasses had entered, as far as she was concerned.

“I don’t like this place…” Glasses muttered, blowing smoke out of his mouth. “Somethin’s wrong here.”

Mika looked over her shoulder and blinked. Glasses seemed to have been looking at the citizens as well. Mika was almost glad she couldn’t see the look in his eyes, thanks to the dark colour of his glasses. For all she knew, he was glaring or looking too concentrated. Though, unable to see his eyes or not, she could still see he still wore a serious expression.

She turned back around and continued to walk down the street. Evening was approaching, making the sky turn an orange like colour, along with some pink mixed in the clouds here and there. It would have been nice if there was a breeze as well, but there wasn’t the slightest ounce of wind.

A clicking sound resounded through the street abruptly. It almost echoed because of how silent the area had been. Mika stepped back and a small frown came to her face.

“Mis—meep!” Halfway through her call for Glasses, a pale hand grabbed her at her arm. Glasses dragged her off to a shadowed alleyway nearby and pushed Mika back a bit.

“Just be quiet for a sec,” Glasses whispered, keeping his eyes out on the street.

Once the words left Glasses, they waited in silence. It had been quiet before, but it was worse now. There wasn’t the slightest noise. Mika tapped Glasses’ arm and cleared her throat. Glasses waited a moment, ignoring Mika. After a few seconds, he let out an annoyed sigh and turned to face Mika again.

Mika huffed and crossed her arms. “What was that about, Mister Glasses?”

“You heard that noise, too. You have t’have,” Glasses said, scowling down at her.

“I-I did, but--! Why did you grab me so suddenly?!” Mika whined, lightly waving her arms.

“I didn’t want our cover blown,” Glasses dropped his cigarette to the ground and rubbed it out with his foot. He turned back to the street. “I know no one can see us, but…That was too strange.”

Mika tilted her head. “I don’t understand…I mean…Do you think that was really aimed for us? Whatever ‘that’ is?”

“It sure as hell seemed that way,” Glasses answered. “Time is strange here. It ain’t how it should be…I don’t like it.”

“I noticed that, too…The air here feels really strange. As if there’s another ti—”

Glasses looked over his shoulder at Mika and raised a brow at her abrupt stop. Her mouth was still open and looked as if she was going to finish her sentence at any moment, though she made no movements. Her entire small frame had been still.

“Mik—” Glasses began to reach forward to touch the small girl, but stopped when footsteps echoed in his ears. He stood still and kept his back turned. “…Who’s there?”

“Calm down, boy. You’re so edgy,” it was a female’s voice. Her footsteps stopped a couple feet from him. “My name is Ruka.”

Glasses turned and his frown deepened. This woman didn’t look like anyone he knew, nor did she look like anyone who belonged in the past. She donned a long coal grey overcoat and appeared to be wearing black pants and dress shoes. Her hair was black, short, and cropped down directly above her shoulders. Like her coat, her eyes were the same colour.

She looked like she almost belonged to Pitch Black Company.

“What do ya want?” Glasses went straight to the point; his deep voice more serious than normal.

“I just want to talk,” her voice was overconfident and she placed a hand on her hip. “You’re the son of the founder of Pitch Black; Glasses.”

Glasses showed no response. Not verbally or physically. He kept his eyes on Ruka, ignoring everything else around him. Not as if there was any noise to distract him in the first place. There were no movements from anything to distract him from locking eyes with Ruka as well, even if Ruka was incapable of truly seeing his eyes.

“Listen, dear founder’s son. You need to talk to your father. You need to tell him to stop,” despite the serious tone of the woman’s voice, the smirk she had remained upon her face.

“’Scuse me?”

“Back the hell off,” Ruka repeated harsher. Glasses showed no response to the rougher words. “Your company is tainting the world, and we aren’t putting up with it anymore.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“’We’ as in me and the company I’m in. We’ve been keeping quiet until now, but things are starting to get way out of hand,” she said, shaking her head. “So, again, BACK THE HELL OFF.”

Glasses narrowed his eyes and his frown deepened. It didn’t sound as if she was simply mocking him anymore. There was some actual frustration in her voice now. His eyes shifted to the side and glanced at his frozen partner. He looked back at Ruka and whipped his clock out. Before any tabs were pressed, there was a loud bang and a sting vibrating through his hand. Glasses stumbled back a couple steps as his clock dropped and slid away thanks to the abrupt shot.

“Damn it…”

“Don’t push your luck, kid,” Ruka smirked, going back to overconfidence. She twirled a gun in her hand and laughed. “…Sit!”

Another bang.

Glasses dropped to his knees and gripped at his throbbing leg. He gritted his teeth and looked at his now bloody pale hand. “Fuck…”

“You guys only rely on your clocks, don’t you?” It sounded more like a statement than a question. Ruka continued to twirl the gun in her hand and walked forward. “Without them you don’t have anything to really ‘defend’ yourself with.”

A click resounded as Ruka pulled the guns hammer back. Glasses looked behind him again before glaring. “Don’t get any closer.”          

The only partially good thing about this situation was, that although she was frozen, Mika didn’t have to witness anything that was going on. Though, that small thing didn’t make up for much. Glasses was down with his leg bleeding out, his clock away from him, and a woman who had a loaded gun ready to fire at any given second.

One wrong move was all it would take. Say one wrong thing and that would be it. There had to be something to make this situation better. But nothing was coming to mind. The stress was getting too distracting.

It got worse when Ruka didn’t stop when he asked and she walked right past him. Resisting the urge to grip at her leg and pull her back was rough. Glasses wasn’t stupid. The guns hammer had already been pulled, all Ruka had to do was pull the trigger and that was it. Hell, if Glasses made her move the wrong way and she collapsed, the trigger could pull back anyway depending on how she was to land.

Freaking guns. Freaking clock being pushed away from him. Freaking stress getting to his head, blocking his proper thinking. Not once had he anticipated something like this would happen. He wasn’t trained for anything like this.

Glasses shifted just a little so he could somewhat see what was going on behind him. He furrowed his eyebrows and groaned in agitation.

“…You know, when I first heard that Pitch Black allowed a child to be an employee, I immediately thought ‘no, no! Pitch Black wouldn’t be that stupid and careless’!” Ruka mocked, lightly rubbing the top of the frozen Mika’s head. “But here the company has proven me wrong yet again!”

“Ba-…”

           Don’t say the wrong thing, Glasses.

Glasses bit his tongue harshly and clenched his fists. Behave. Stay calm and behave.

Ruka hummed and ran her fingers through Mika’s crimson hair, as if she was brushing it out.  Glasses wanted to get up and wipe that smug look of her face. It almost reminded him of the same sort of face his mother wore when she was teasing him.

“She’s soft,” Ruka said while lightly caressing Mika’s face.

Glasses had to use every fibre of his being to prevent himself from standing up and taking care of this annoying woman. If he could just get that freaking gun out of her hand, or grab at his clock so he could freeze her body. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t get up without either collapsing on his way up, or getting shot before getting the chance to do anything. By this point, Glasses’ body was shaking and his palms had bled a little thanks to how much he dug his nails into them.

“F—”

           Don’t say the wrong thing, Glasses.

Ruka moved her hand down and shifted her hand through Mika’s sleeveless coat pocket. She pulled out her clock and examined it. It was partially smaller than the one Glasses had. It only three tabs on it. Also unlike the one Glasses had, there was an actual chain to it, making it more like a natural pocket watch. Less suspicious than the more advanced clocks Pitch Black had.

“What happens if someone besides the owner uses this?” Ruka asked, continuing to examine the clock in her freehand. “Is there a side effect if the user’s body is frozen?”

Glasses looked away now and simply glared at the ground. Tell the truth and something bad would probably happen, tell a lie and something bad would probably happen. There was no winning in this situation. Not as things were now. He turned away completely and kept his mouth shut. His heart felt ready to pop at any second if he couldn’t say anything soon. The only thing he could do was sit there and hope that would be enough. That’s all he could do in that situation.

Ruka laughed and placed Mika’s clock back into her pocket. She backed up and searched the ground. She hummed and picked up Glasses’ clock. She walked by him and plopped the object in front of him, continuing to go where she had been originally standing a couple feet in front of him.

“Fix your injuries, then I’ll unfreeze your partner,” Ruka practically ordered as she twirled around and faced him completely.

Glasses took his clock and started fiddling around with the tabs, pressing a few of them in a different order. He watched as the hands twirled back quickly. He could feel the pain in his leg and hand evaporate the more the time in his body went back. Purple eyes looked at his leg, watching the blood disappear. When it was all done, he finally let himself breathe properly with a frustrated sigh.

He stuffed his clock back into his suit pocket and backed up, standing next to Mika. His heart slowed down a bit and the shaking in his body stopped, but damn was he still hot. “I—”

“First, I need to confirm something,” the woman’s annoying mocking voice came to surface again, giving Glasses one hell of a headache. “You’re going to get out of here, you’re going to go home, and you’re going to talk to your father.”

“…”

“I don’t have to tell you this again, do I?” Ruka said in her disgusting mocking manner, flashing her gun again.

           Just tell her what she wants to hear.

“No.”

She drew her gun back and giggled the most annoying giggle Glasses had heard in a while. Though, she just stood there after that. She didn’t do anything.

“I did what you said, my injuries are gone and I’m going to talk to my dad,” Glasses started. He tilted his head to Mika. “Now unfreeze my partner.”

 “…Where’s your manners?”

           Just tell her what she wants to hear.

“Please.”

Ruka closed her eyes and pulled out a strange black rod from her coat pocket. She began backing away and aimed it at the two of them. “And her time starts…” Her figure became smaller and smaller the more she walked. “Now~”

The moment the word was spoken, her body disappeared and the sound of coughing was heard. Glasses turned to Mika. She was unfrozen and coughing up a storm, as if she had been sick for who knows how long. Her body was shaking profusely and her coughing slowly turned into hyperventilating. Glasses placed a hand on her back and rubbed it a bit.

“Try to take deep breaths, Mika, and you’ll be okay,” Glasses said over her rapid breathing.

It took about a minute for Mika’s breathing to calm down and go relatively back to normal. Her body still shook lightly, though for the most part Mika had calmed down considerably. Glasses pulled out a cigarette and looked away from her, not that looking away would really hide his expression in the end.

“Good now?” Glasses asked tiredly, blowing out a billow of smoke.

“Yes…But I don’t understand. What happened, Mister Glasses?” Mika asked, rubbing at her eyes.

“…Your clock malfunctioned, makin’ ya freeze. It took me a while to fix it, ‘m sorry,” he quickly answered. Mika tilted her head, confusion continuing to linger in her eyes. “I would’a used mine to unfreeze you sooner, but it was important to get yours fixed right away. ‘M sorry.”

Mika placed a hand on her chin and stared at the ground. She hummed for a moment before shrugging. She smiled up at Glasses. “Thank you for fixing my clock…I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, sure…”

Mika frowned and Glasses knew he messed up. It was either the tone of his voice or the look on his face. Glasses pondered on whether or not to tell Mika about what had really happened. Did she really need to know? Glasses closed his eyes and frustratingly nibbled at his cigarette.

She didn’t need to know that he failed as a partner.

“We’re gettin’ out of here. Turns out there was nothin’ wrong with this person’s past after all,” Glasses spoke at last. Mika opened her mouth to say something but Glasses quickly continued. “I got a message on my phone from the boss while you were frozen. We’re free to go.”

Glasses placed a hand on Mika’s shoulder and took out his clock. Mika took out her own and simultaneously, they pressed the same tab.

They soon found themselves in present day again. The patient was sleeping soundly still. Glasses began to remove the equipment from them, and while he was doing so he was almost glaring daggers at them. This whole damn thing was a setup for him. If only he asked for the name of Ruka’s company. He had been too stressed to even think of that.

When everything was all packed up, they got down to the company car and began to drive away. Glasses made sure to drive a bit slower than normal until Mika settled down completely. Her body had still been shaking a bit, even after getting out, and her body was painfully pale; almost like how pale he was. She also looked exhausted thanks to the light bags under her eyes.

Time being stopped in one’s body could cause side effects, certainly. Especially if the person was frozen for a long time. Though, it was never this bad. No one got this sickly afterwards. There must have been something strange the woman did alongside freezing Mika’s body. He should have just paid closer attention.

“Mister Glasses, something else happened while I was frozen, didn’t it?” Mika asked tiredly, leaning back in the seat.

“Nothin’ happened.”

“But Mister Glasses…You’ve had such a…Almost a sad look on your face since back then…” Mika said and pulled up the blanket that Glasses had given her. “Please tell me.”

“It’s nothin’. Just go to sleep, you’ve had a long day and it’s a long drive back,” Glasses strictly said. It was more of an order than him being truly caring.

“Mister Glasses…”

Glasses slammed his foot on the break and the car screeched to a stop. The action caused both Glasses and Mika to jerk forward. Glasses turned and faced Mika head on. Immediately, the child shuddered and she leaned away from him and pressed against the car’s door.

“Mika. It’s none of your business. It has nothing to do with you—”

“Mister Glasses you’re my partne—”

“This has nothing to do with you. It doesn’t matter if you’re my partner or not. Nothing that is going on is any of your concern, so back off and leave it alone.”

Mika said nothing. She only looked at Glasses for a few seconds before looking away. Glasses remained silent as well and the he began to drive off again, though like before he did drive at an even pace. Mika pulled up the blanket she had further and turned away from Glasses completely and closed her eyes.

Glasses and Mika hadn’t spoken to each other even when they got back to the office. They hadn’t even looked at each other. They got comments here and there about them getting back from their job early. It usually took longer than a few hours. It usually took at least a day if not more. It all depended on what the patient wanted changed.

Glasses shut his office door and he sluggishly headed over to his desk chair and groaned as he sat. He crossed his arms on the desk and took his glasses off, setting them to the side. He rubbed at his eyes before resting his head in his crossed arms.

The events of the day had slowly caught up on him. He started to feel sick and he still had stress swimming around in his head. That wasn’t supposed to happen. None of that was supposed to happen. Certainly, there had been times where they could have died in someone’s past. But it was usually from a malfunction in the master clock. It wasn’t someone from present day hunting them down with a gun and having the same technology Pitch Black had.

He could do nothing. He could do nothing as Ruka had started touching Mika. Frozen or not, the woman had still been violating and taunting Mika. Thankfully, Mika wasn’t aware of that. For that he was grateful. But that was it. Everything else was a mess. Mika could have been killed at any second if he messed up.

He failed. That’s all there was to it.

Glasses jolted upright when the sound of knocking rang throughout his small office. He put his glasses back on and cleared his throat. “Come in.”

Glasses frowned when it was Mika who walked in. He was no longer angry with her, that wasn’t the problem. He was more so angry at himself for allowing all this to happen. Then he also had the nerve to yell at her on their way back to the office. He only made things worse for himself and Mika. He should have known better.

He failed as a partner.

Mika walked up to his desk and she held her hands behind her back. “Mister Glasses, I’m sorry that I tried prying into your business…”

Glasses shook his head. “No. I shouldn’t have yelled at ya like that. I’m sorry, Mika.”

Mika walked over and lightly rubbed the back of Glasses’ hand with her thumb. “I’m not upset anymore. It did hurt a bit but…I know I shouldn’t have gotten into your business like that.”

Again, he shook his head. “No, I get it. I’d probably do that, too,” he said. He leaned back in his chair. “I’m sorry.”

Mika smiled and shrugged a shoulder. “It’s okay. Everything’s fine now.”

Glasses simply nodded his head and said nothing else afterwards. Today was too much of a close call. He would have to be more careful next time. He would have to be more prepared. If he wasn’t, the same thing could happen again. But the next time around, it may not go as this time had gone.

He would make sure this wouldn’t happen again. He wouldn’t allow it. If something like that were to happen again in any way, he would be ready. He would be able to protect his partner.

#Edited or not- it still ended up as 14 pages #ffff-- #but oh well #here it is #Glasses has to put up with so much shit #Glasska angst man #Grangel writes #Mika's AU Adventures #tw: gun

[coleglend]

king of hell, Mikaela Morningstar

#owari no seraph #seraph of the end #mikaela hyakuya #you can't see yuu but yet this is mikayuu #mikayuu #yuumikayuu #the chilling adventures of sabrina au #caos au #mika wearing lipstick yes

[lizzieraindrops]

Your chance to make the sun rise thrice (Chapter 2)

a river that still runs (8803 words)

Beth Childs has come to Helsinki to meet her best friend Veera for the first time in the Herbs on the windowsill universe, an alternate timeline where the original Helsinki massacre was prevented and DYAD routed by Clone Club Alpha’s successful publicity stunt back in 2001. Veera Suominen and Niki Lintula survived and decided to live in a little apartment together as qpp’s. Numerous Leda clones worldwide are now in contact via a secure online network that Veera maintains. 

Note: This chapter is a bit heavier than the rest of the AU. Beth is still struggling with a lot of the same challenges in this universe, even if the events causing them are somewhat different because of such early canon divergence. But the whole point of this story is that things can end up okay no matter how rough it's been. She's getting the help she needs and she's gonna be alright. That said, warning for soft discussion of past abuse, the effects of trauma, depression and anxiety, and some suicidal ideation. And of course, lots of love and learning how to heal, with support from her best friend.

Fun fact: Veera's username is 3mika, and she always sets her font to the precise warm turquoise of hex color #2299aa. She thinks she's hilarious, and she's right. 

Also on AO3  |  Playlist  |  Aesthetic sideblog

Part 1: Herbs on the windowsill

Part 2: Someday colors

Part 3: Your chance to make the sun rise thrice  |  Chapter 1  |  Chapter 2  |  Chapter 3

***

Beth wakes on a squashy couch that isn't hers. Morning-soft sunlight pours through the window above her, bouncing back off the walls to fill even the shady corners with a warm secondhand glow. Her limbs are soft, splayed under unfamiliar blankets and sinking into the cushions. She doesn't move yet.

The apartment. Helsinki. Beth's really here. She holds herself still, letting the truth sink into her. She half expects the usual anxious tension to clench her into a ball the instant she moves a muscle, but it isn't there. Neither is the invisible weight that so often pins her immobile. She still wakes frequently with both of them holding her body hostage, keeping her muscles unmoving but restless, even in sleep. Right now though, they're gone. She just lies there, soft beneath the window.

It's quiet but not silent. The occasional car on the little road outside chuckles as it passes. A soft rush of water echoes through pipes in the walls, running toward an early riser in another unit. These sounds fall strangely on Beth's Toronto-bred ears, isolated in the stillness of this of this little apartment on the outskirts of the city. Still, the early-morning atmosphere settles comfortably into her jet-lagged bones, murmuring a rhythm for her to sink into. The temporal upheaval of a transcontinental red-eye and a series of exhausted naps yesterday have left her a little unbalanced. And yet, here she is waking up with the day, and the ground under her feels so much more stable than she’s used to.

Beth breaks her stillness with a deep, deep breath that she can feel expanding all the way down to her feet. She stretches, too, but soon pulls the toes that get exposed back underneath the warm, scratchy blanket. The cushions of the old couch creak a little in complaint as she shifts, but her limbs remain supple. For a time, she just observes the sensations. Then, her awareness spreads beyond the couch and the window to the rest of the room.

All around her, an oddly blocky pattern covers the walls. It's one of the first things she noticed when she walked into the apartment yesterday afternoon. The pattern isn't wallpaper like it appears at first glance, but actually a multitude of small photographs. Most of them are unframed, but taped up in crisply aligned rows. In them, she sees the same face infused with a hundred different lives. Just above her, a sleeping, slack-jawed redhead with bulky headphones around her neck sprawls on the very same couch Beth's laying on now. A few rows down, a brunette and a blonde with their long hair in matching wild waves are leaning all over each other and grinning like devils. One of the few framed photos shows a girl with a hospital-short buzz cut and a delighted expression, sitting in front of what looks like a mouthwatering strawberry shortcake. Beth can see at least six others in the background behind strawberry girl. Among them are Mika with her unmistakable scars and Niki with her bright blonde hair, their arms around each other's shoulders.

Morning light glances off the glossy surfaces of the photos on the west wall. The particularly bright reflection off one of the framed photos draws Beth's eye. With a tiny jolt, Beth recognizes one of her own selfies beneath the glass. In it, she's wearing the same old turquoise blue sweatshirt that's spilling out of her suitcase next to the couch right now. Underneath it, she's wearing her track gear, so the photo is at least two years old. She'd had to quit cross-country so she could try to get the shitshow her life had become under control. She vaguely recalls sending it to Mika a long time ago. It's strange to think that her presence has been in this apartment for so long.

She's here. In Finland. Staying with Mika – Mika - and Niki. Far, far away from everything.

Sprawling on the couch she slept on with a sigh as if she hadn’t a care in the world, Beth can't believe she's really gone and done it. She's run so far away that there's an ocean between her and her problems. It’s so much better than she's dreamed, even if it's only for a little while. It’s worth it, even though she'll be going back far too soon. For the first time in years, it feels like she’s where she’s supposed to be right now.

It had all started out as foolish idea she'd floated one Saturday morning, months ago. She hadn't been serious at all. She'd woken up so relieved at not having to get up and go to work, until she remembered her weekly therapy appointment with a hopeless groan.

Putting off the genuinely daunting prospect of hauling herself out of bed, she reached out to snag her phone from on top of her dresser, checking to see if she'd heard from Mika overnight. After all, Helsinki was nine hours ahead, so Mika had already seen most of the day that was just beginning for Beth. They talked so often these days, since they'd first made contact over two years ago. Rarely a day passed without touching base. But there wasn’t anything since Beth had checked last night. She took it upon herself to send the first message of the day.

runwaterblue: god, i dont wanna get up and deal with any of thsi shit today

After her world fell apart, after finding out about Project Leda, after realizing that all her nightmares and more were real, after her father...

runwaterblue: wish i could come visit u and get away form everything for awhile

Mika replied almost immediately.

3mika: you can

It was evening in her time zone, but to be honest, Beth had no idea if she had anything resembling a regular sleep schedule. The girl was always online.

3mika: though you really should go to your appointment. you always feel better afterward

runwaterblue: howd you know i have therapy today

3mika: you always have an appointment saturday afternoons

runwaterblue: yes but how do you remember that? i cant evne remember my own appts lmao

3mika: you mentioned it months ago when you switched from sundays to saturdays

Beth shook her head with a smile. Mika was so good with details.

3mika: anyway. you’re welcome here, if you can get here

3mika:  it would be great to see you

3mika: Niki wouldn't mind. we've had a bunch of Ledas visit us here, it's always fun

3mika: except that one time Dani and Ary got into a fight over football. some French-Italian team rivalry thing. that was not fun.

Beth laughed. It was funny how Mika was so good at making her do that, even on days like these. She leaned back against her pillow and held her phone over her head without sitting up, being careful not to drop it on her own face. She'd done that before. More times than she'd admit.

runwaterblue: i was kidding. id love to visit, but idk how id get there

runwaterblue: u should see the americans go off abt their football lmao. they're nerly as bad as the hockey freaks here

3mika: pls no

3mika: no more sports. it was a year ago and I’m still exhausted

3mika: sports are banned in this apartment.

Beth snorted. Mika wanted nothing to do with sports of any kind, and with Beth's athletic record, the topic had become a point of mutual teasing between them.

In so many ways, they were such different people, DNA be damned. Mika was reticent where Beth was outgoing. (Or at least, Beth had been. She was never quite sure how to think of herself these days.) Clone drama aside, Beth had been a pretty average Canadian high schooler. She got reasonable grades, played a few sports, and kept mostly out of trouble because there would be hell to pay if she didn’t. Mika was a brilliant homeschooled autistic orphan who had been raised in near isolation by her guardian after surviving the hospital fire that marked her skin for life. Beth mostly listened to pop music, and where no one else could hear, the occasional classical symphony. Mika held fast to Finland's weird obsession with death metal and dabbled in literally everything else.

And yet, Mika understands Beth like no one else does. And it's not just because they've both been through all this Project Leda bullshit. Though Beth doesn't know what she would have done without Mika to help her through that, too.

Beth won't ever be able to forget the moment that everything changed. Recognizing a her own face from the mirror on the evening news stopped her in her tracks, as something in her gut caved in with the hollow certainty that it wasn't her. Then face after face flickered before her, a flipbook barrage of déja vu. Blonde and smiling. Scarred and pensive. Braids and piercings and a rakish grin. Beth was rooted in place as people she had never been wearing things she had never worn said things she was never supposed to know.

That utter strangeness on the screen immediately seeped into her life like an oil slick into a river, tainting every thing she thought she knew with clinging uncertainty. Her father was inexplicably even more upset about it than Beth was, yet adamant that they shouldn't look into the matter. But it was already too late to stop herself from thinking. With slow horror, the truth of what exactly his behavior must mean dawned on her. And yet, even with the desperate growing certainty about who her Leda monitor must be, it was hard to believe that he could be anything other than her plain stern father.

He was always a bit strict and overprotective - probably well more than a bit, she realizes these days. But she’d thought that's just what it was like to be a cop's daughter. He'd never done anything really extreme, nothing beyond the firm discipline any kid could expect. He was just not a man to be trifled with, that was all. So until everything she thought she knew shifted that day and threatened to topple every assumption she’d built her life on, she had never truly dared to cross him.

Outright daring him to say to her face that he wasn't her monitor was probably considered a step beyond trifling. He did not take it kindly.

Two months later, Beth and her mother were living in an apartment on the opposite side of the city. It took two months for the two of them to lay plans to leave together, for good. For two months, her every move was watched. She spent two months knowing there would be hell to pay if she didn't give the performance of a lifetime pretending everything was fine, even while sirens blared inside her day and night. Two months was more than enough to teach her things she never wanted to know about the hidden marks fear leaves on the body.

Even after she finally escaped, her life was in tatters and nothing made sense. It wasn’t just the sudden jarring discovery of Project Leda, or the crisis it had forced her to confront. It was learning that, deep down, she had known that she’d never once felt free. She’d unconsciously kept herself from knowing to avoid exactly that conflict of wills that she’d known she would lose.

Trying to come to terms with what had happened and how it changed everything, Beth was continuously losing her balance. Questioning which parts of her life had been screwed over by her father and which by being part of some ridiculous supervillain science experiment was like trying to stand on two kickboards in a pool. She couldn't find her footing, and all she could do was try and stay afloat. She had to repeat her whole junior year of high school that she lost to this shitshow, while starting over at a new school, and only barely scraped her way into senior year. Now that she knew how honestly terrible she'd been at judging who in her life she could trust, it was as hard to talk to old friends as it was to make new ones.

Therapy helped her start sorting out what she was feeling, and how the environment she’d grown up in was really not the healthiest. She hadn’t realized how much she’d learned to doubt her own perceptions. That made constructing any kind of new understanding of her situation an uphill struggle. And of course, her therapist couldn’t help her confirm anything about a human experiment that was so illegal it had been an international secret. As she continued to stumble forward, Beth even started doubting her former certainty of the identity of her Leda monitor. She questioned herself and everything she knew until she wanted to scream with frustration or weep with confusion. The floor of the counselor’s office could have been mopped with her tears. It was, quite literally, driving her mad.

So, finally, Beth had taken up the invitation on the banner of every Leda news feature to "Contact the secure, clone-run Clone Youth Group Network (CYGNet) for answers by emailing [email protected]."

She wanted something concrete that would help convince her brain to stop reenacting these head games that warped her reality. It still insisted on playing through the patterns it had been taught, even in its teacher’s absence. She needed something that could brace her against the ideas that she was really just paranoid, overreacting, accusing, that this was all her fault for making a big deal out of nothing. Even with his other faults (cruelties, her mind whispered) aside, at least his involvement with Project Leda was unforgivable, and she wanted proof of it. Maybe if she had that, she could stop being mad at herself for not wanting to forgive. And if anyone had that proof, CYGNet would.

Maybe it was just because of the sheer blunt honesty about her motives, or the inescapable vulnerability of the message Beth sent, but Mika had replied to her within a day. And she'd been so gentle about it, too, enough to make Beth later question where the stereotype of autistic brashness came from. Then again, over email, Mika had all the time she needed to compose her thoughts and lay them out as softly as she wanted. She didn't have to spit them out as fast as she could to keep pace with a quick and painfully overwhelming world.

Hi Beth Childs,

I'm so sorry for what you had to go through. I still don't know how they got away with doing things like this for so long. I suppose people will always find ways to be cruel. But we've survived this long, and the whole point of CYGNet is to help us all heal. The experimental network has been dismantled, and we are assembling resources to help us. We've brought mental health professionals on to the project to develop custom programs for our needs. We can make them available to you, if you are interested.

I attached scans of some of your files that we recovered from DYAD. There are a few case reports with the signature of the person you asked about, spaced throughout your lifetime. There are also financial records with his name in the list of paid employees. He was without a doubt part of the Leda monitor program. I can provide all of the documentation that we have related to you, if you like, but I thought that would be too much all at once. I know these are hard to look at, but I hope they help let your mind rest. They are very real, and every awful thing we have experienced was also real, no matter how they tried to convince everyone that we were making it all up.

Please take your time with these, and stay in contact if you want to. You can join our mailing list, if you want to know when we have new information or new resources available. We're here for you.

And hey, if you just want to talk to someone who knows what it's like to deal with all of this, I'm here, too. You can reach my personal inbox or IM me at [email protected]. It'll be okay.

-Veera

Beth had started crying before she even finished reading the letter, much less opened the attachments. She cried so often these days. She only knew why half the time. But this time, it felt like the tears were extracting some of her pain as they left her, instead of just overflowing from the unending wellspring of her directionless distress. All of this was real, and someone else knew it.

Though she was grateful beyond measure for her mother’s untiring support, they were each other’s too-close, ever-present reminders of what they’d survived, trying to act like they weren’t, trying to convince each other and themselves that they were okay. Beth had needed something else, too, something until now unnamed.

This was a handhold, a backstop Beth didn't know she'd been desperate to find. It wasn't just the confirmation of what she’d concluded about her father. The ability speak plainly to someone she didn't feel the need to pretend around was an exhale of a breath held too long. At least one person in the world not only understood, but really and truly didn't want or expect her to act like any of this was normal or okay, or that she would ever be the same again.

Veera – or Mika, as she often went by online – made good on her offer of a sympathetic ear. Their correspondence started off with awkward, grammatically correct messages about the less painful details of their lives. Mika told her about the farmer’s market three blocks away where she went walking early in the morning before it got busy, and the plant stand there that her best friend and roommate Niki (also a Leda) had to ask her to stop buying so many succulents from.

At first, Beth tried to chatter like she used to, but there were no safe subjects. What had happened had touched all of her life. Normally, she’d talk about school, or sports, or her friends. But she was trying to start all over again at a new school with all the struggles that came with it. She didn’t have the time or energy for sports anymore, and talking about them hurt, now. Running used to make her heart sing. But no matter how she tried, there was no joy in the motion anymore. To top it all off, it was as hard to connect with old friends from her old life as it was to try and make new ones. She spent most interactions either doubting her own character judgement or dreading the moment people recognized her Leda face from the news.

She didn’t know how to talk about any of it to anyone. Maybe she could have if it had been just the clone thing or just the dad thing. But the two were inextricably entangled, and she still couldn’t even explain it to herself. It was all unbelievably horrifying, and any time she tried to be honest about it, people ended up disbelieving or horrified. Shocker.

Maybe, though, it wouldn’t be weird to talk about it with Mika. Mika already knew the worst. Beth didn’t have to hide that hurt from her to keep from shaking her world, or to keep her dismissal from hurting Beth. Maybe that’s what was hurting the most: the feeling that even after escaping, she still had to pretend to be okay. That compulsive stifling feeling choked her whenever it bubbled back up. On her bad days, a simple “how are you?” could reduce her to a blank face plastered over a raw tangle of emotions held motionless her own iron grip.

But Mika mentioned having bad days, too. Days came where she was too scared and nightmare-weary to do anything but make herself some tea and soak up some sunlight in the safety of home. Beth could casually say things like after those two months, i still twitch every time i hear a door open, and i wish my body would quit feeling like it doesn’t exist, my legs feel numb. It barely broke the surface of what it was like in her head, but was discomfiting enough for people that she held her tongue at school.

Sometimes, Beth got tired of constantly thinking about all this shit and tried to lighten things up. On one comically disastrous occasion of cultural exchange, she liveblogged Mika her attempt at eating the infamous Scandinavian lutefisk, along with an audio recording of the incoherent horrified noises she made after tasting it. In return, she received a recording of someone, presumably Mika, laughing harder than she’d ever heard anyone laugh before. It made Beth smile. Not many things did, back then.

Slowly, as the formality fell away from their transcontinental conversations, their heavier stories seething below the surface seeped in. Beth had been in therapy long enough now to know that she couldn't just recklessly unload on people the way she did in counseling sessions. But a counselor couldn't always provide the same kind of unspoken solidarity that someone in the same boat could.

Bit by bit, slipped into the chats that were becoming a daily occurrence, they talked about monitors, about what the experiment had really all been for, why that both was and wasn’t important, and how they'd discovered they were a part of Project Leda. Putting words to the pain hurt, a lot. But the ability to lay out long-unspoken truths in front of each other, knowing they were believed in the way that only people who have shared something can, was a healing kind of pain instead of the festering one Beth had been living with.

The two of them had more in common than they'd thought, growing up a world apart. Beth's experience raised under the subconscious wariness of her father's hovering thumb felt a lot like what Mika described growing up largely isolated with her former guardian. But sometimes, whenever they realized that something they'd both thought was normal was pretty not, they got a good laugh out of it despite the weight of their pasts. Mika seemed somewhat accustomed to her normal being considered pretty weird, so she usually took the revelations in stride better than Beth did. Beth wouldn't find out for at least a year after meeting her that it was because of her Asperger's, since it was a topic Mika seemed quite sensitive about.

Mika explained it once, in a conversation full of long pauses on her part and watching the typing icon disappear and reappear on Beth’s. The way she put it, it just meant that her brain worked a bit differently than most people's, processing sounds and sights and all the information it took in at different speeds and with different emphases. The difference could turn everyday things like the sound of a refrigerator running into a splitting headache, or something as simple as the soft texture of her favorite jacket into a kind of bliss. That alternative way of processing also extended to things like words and emotions as well. Sometimes, it took her longer than the world was willing to wait to process them into something that made sense. It often made communication tricky, trying to compensate for the gap in mutual understanding with most people. The world and the people in it could be so overwhelming sometimes, so fast and bright and full of noise and uncertainty and bewilderingly arbitrary social conventions. But the biggest challenge was other people expecting her to do everything the same way they did, ignorant of the fact there were any ways to exist other than their own, and completely oblivious to the fact that she was already putting in at least twice as much effort to communicate with them as they were with her.

And yet, even coming from such a different perspective, Mika gets it. Beth says sometimes i dream of drowning and its not a nightmare and i wake up not knowing how to feel, and Mika says I still dream of burning and wake up not knowing which fires are real, and they both say yeah. And they sit there across the world from each other knowing these things, knowing that it doesn't fix anything. And yet, it does change something. Nothing's any better, really. But somehow, the knowledge that someone else understands makes it a little easier to bear.

And that's just it. Somehow, without ever even having seen her face, Mika sees Beth clearer than anyone. All of her, all the ugly parts she hides so that they can't hurt anyone, and all the good parts that she also hides so that nobody can hurt them or take them away from her. Mika sees all of that and then just tells Beth another story about the Northern Lights she sees on the regular. Apparently, in Finnish, they’re called "fox fires." Beth hardly ever sees the aurora, living relatively far south in a bright city. But her stories about life in the metropolis by the lake intrigue Mika as much as the tales of the twisting green lights do her. And Beth can talk about something lighter again while not having to pretend that the heaviness isn’t there, too, even while she’s just once more trying and failing to explain poutine. For her, the weight never really goes away. But the effort of pretending she’s not carrying it takes more out of her than the weight itself. Mika understands that.

Maybe that’s why Beth had talked it over with Mika first, even before her mom, when she was considering taking a gap year after she hopefully managed to finish her senior year of high school. (God, it was so hard to think about English or math or whatever when just that morning she’d woken from a nightmare about being back in a not-home house that she never escaped.) Beth's mom had been so unbelievably supportive of Beth's recovery, even while she herself was adjusting to the wrenching change in both of their lives. It was both inspiring and a little intimidating. If her mom managed to run a household and raise a daughter all on her own, even while trying to heal from her own trauma, how could Beth not do her utmost, too? She was grateful to be able to talk to Mika about it, to get a reality check from someone who both understood her situation intimately and didn't make Beth feel that pressure of expectation. In the end, Beth did decide to take a year or two off before considering college, and her mom was again nothing if not supportive. Beth figured, after this entire mess, she deserved some time to herself to work on sorting her shit out, and her mom agreed.

After graduating with reasonable if not flying colors, Beth worked a series of part-time and odd jobs that didn't stress her out too much, letting herself focus on her own healing. In between her mom's support, seeing a counselor regularly, and the security of having a friend she could really trust, Beth felt like she was making progress. Slow progress, sure, but progress, nonetheless. Considering that she had seventeen years' worth of lies to unbelieve and emotional trauma to finally acknowledge, Beth figured that there was only so much she could do in the three years she'd had.

Her days were still hard. Getting sleep and waking up and eating and even just existing were still so fucking hard sometimes, and it was horrible. Some days, the thinnest sheet trapped her in bed like it was a car pinning her down. It felt so stupid for such simple things to be so hard. But then her therapist would remind her that that’s what mental illness and trauma was, that this was what the wounds in her mind and heart made her feel like. And once in awhile, sun broke through the shadows, and she had a day that reminded her what an okay day felt like – that okay days existed. That more might.

Now, she’s here, lying in a bright living room so far from home, with her dearest friend in the next room. She’s comfortable, except for the knot in her neck from sleeping oddly on the couch. The soreness pales in comparison to the usual tensions that are so strangely absent. Beth can’t remember the last time she felt this okay. She’s not steeling herself to go to work. She’s not dreading the next conversation with her mother that goes quiet as they both remember awful things they don’t mention. She’s not bracing herself for the next time her brain runs rampant worrying about whether she’ll run into the subject of her restraining order somewhere in the city and have to wonder if he'll honor it.

None of that reaches her here. There’s something about this quiet little pocket of space. It’s overrun with a proliferation of potted plants, from the sprawling lacy-leafed monster in the corner, to the fern peeping out of the kitchen, to the vine cuttings spilling out of an oddly familiar leaf-shaped glass bottle on the sill. Sunlight streaks through leaves and windowpanes and across the colorful patchwork of rugs on the floor. In the midst of it all, Beth is held by a palpable aura of gentleness. It holds her so softly that she doesn't need to hold herself in. It's like the layer of caution that she always keeps wrapped between herself and the rest of the world has simply dissolved away. In this moment suspended in morning light, she is okay.

She feels safe.

The realization undoes something in her. She feels the tears starting, and she expects the taut tension of involuntary stifling that always comes with them to return. But it doesn’t. She lies still and soft on the couch with the water creeping over her cheeks, breath occasionally catching but flowing freely. She savors it in the quiet.

The soft thunk of an ill-fitted door opening breaks into her odd reverie. Mika’s up. Beth sniffs and scrubs at her eyes halfheartedly, but she can’t hide them right now and she doesn’t want to. Mika notices immediately, and comes trotting over with quiet steps, leaning forward all concern.

"Beth," she says softly. She shifts from foot to foot like a nervous cat, watching Beth with enormous eyes. Beth has never met anyone else with such an intense stare. Or maybe it's just the fact that Beth knows beyond all doubt that she's being looked at by somebody who really sees her in her entirety. It's like she's staring right into Beth's soul. But Mika was able to do that long before they saw each others' faces. They've shared so many thousands of words over screens and seas, so many emotions that have gone otherwise unspoken, so many too-early mornings and too-late nights on the fringes of each other's dawns and dusks.

“What’s wrong?”

Finally, a flash of that sick tension runs through Beth’s body. It’s been okay when Mika has asked that before, when it was just silent letters on a screen. But out loud, the question falls on her ears like every well-meaning inquiry she’s ever had to scramble to find an acceptable answer for. The strain begins to cinch tight around her again like coarse ropes across barely-healed skin, ready to compel her to replace the truth with something safer. Her arms and legs tied, she begins to freeze, railing against herself for tainting the softness, the safety of this place.

"Beth." Mika says again, softer but more urgent.

In the gap between thoughts created by hearing her name, Beth seizes the chance to redirect them to the present. She clings to the welling in the corners of her eyes, the warmth of the sun caressing her back. The leaves of trees whisper outside the third-floor window in a mild breeze. The brightness spills over the sill and across Mika’s asymmetrical, half-craggy face and lights up tufts of her short hair as she steps closer. The couch dips as Mika sits down next to her, tilting Beth toward her.

Without meeting her eyes, Mika lifts a hesitant hand that hovers in the air between them, uncertain yet reaching. Her gentle palm falls onto Beth's forearm as softly as a floating leaf. The fingers curl around Beth’s arm just below the wrist, firm but not tight. Comforting.

The softness surrounding Beth seeps back into her, saturating her. As the memory fades like a ripple into water, the tension slackens. But it leaves her shaky, with traces of a familiar ache in her neck muscles, one that goes deeper than the simple stiffness from the couch. She sucks in a few unsteady breaths while Mika gives her arm a gentle squeeze.

“Sorry,” Beth says in a small, awkward voice.

Mika tilts her head. “Why?”

“Uh, I didn’t mean to bring all – this mess, in here.” Beth rubs the back of her neck with her free hand. “It’s so... soft, and okay, and – I don’t wanna ruin it,” she says, trailing off into a mumble.

“Hey.” Mika moves her hand from Beth’s arm to her shoulder. When Beth looks at her, she’s looking right back. Mika's eyes dart down to the floor for a moment, but then return to hold Beth’s with deliberate steadiness. “It’s alright. It’s like this here because we wanted it to be safe to be messy. You’re not ruining anything.”

“... Oh.” She’s steadied by Mika’s fingers curling around her shoulder, by the tendrils of sunlight spreading across her head and back and arms. Mika’s voice is small but steady, and somehow it comes from the same throat that makes that huge pealing laugh. It’s so strange how they sound nothing alike. Until yesterday, Beth hadn’t heard her voice since the lutefisk incident. They’d mostly kept to text and pictures. It had seemed easier, the way it gave them both plenty time to think before they spoke through their different uncertainties. Beth was already planning her trip before they realized that they’d never actually called each other. By that point, it sounded like more fun to meet in person the old-fashioned way.

"I'll make you some tea." Mika abruptly stands and lets go of her. Beth is sad to lose the contact. She flits across the room toward the kitchen in her soft cotton pajama pants, complemented by yet another black graphic tee for yet another Scandinavian metal band Beth's never heard of. Or at least, she'd never heard of them before Mika, who has something to say about all of them, and now Beth knows more than she'll ever need to.

Mika moves in and out of view behind the half-wall that separates the little living room from the kitchen. The fronds of the fern on the counter make a green rustling as she brushes by them. It sends soft feathered shadows waving across the wall opposite the window. Beth hears the rush of water boiling out of sight, and soon sees steam rising from the mug that's being handed to her.

"It's hot," Mika says unnecessarily. She sits down next to her again, this time leaning into Beth with her arm. Beth’s glad for it.

"Have you ditched the bags and gone loose leaf?" Beth says, eyeing the fragments of bright green leaf free floating in her mug.

"It didn't come in a bag. It came from the window."

"The window?"

"It's basil tea. For the fear and pain. Five large fresh leaves in two hundred and fifty milliliters water. We grew it here."

Beth takes a cautious sip. It's surprisingly sweet, and the savory smell of the steam rising from it curls into her sinuses. The aching in her head and neck begin to relax. It's unfamiliar, but it feels like home should, just like everything else here.

"Thanks," Beth says. On an impulse of craving closeness, she leans her head onto Mika's shoulder with a sigh. The sensation of contact deepens as Mika leans against her, too.

Beth holds the cup close, fingers wrapping around its warmth. She takes another sip and gets a bit of leaf stuck in her teeth. The way she scrunches up her face trying to dislodge it pulls a tiny laugh out of Mika.

“You don’t have to be okay here,” Mika whispers. “You can just be. That’s what we do.”

Beth finds her eyes wet again, but she smiles while she sets her mug down and wipes them away. “Kinda already wish I could stay here,” she says with a chuckle.

“... That’s probably not impossible.”

“Really?” Beth asks wryly. “Not even twenty-four hours, and you’d already be willing to put up with me?”

“Twenty-four hours and twenty-seven months.”

Beth melts a little even while waving the idea aside. “I wasn’t serious.”

“I know, but... weren’t you looking at the school here?”

“I mean, yeah, but... really, my mom just thought I deserved a break to get away for a little while. She’d saved up a bit, and I didn’t want to make it a big deal or anything, but she really wanted me to. She knew I wanted to come see you. Checking out the school was mostly an excuse. I know it’s a great place, but... I don’t really think it’ll help with what I wanna do.”

“What do you want to do?”

Beth sighs and leans back, looking at the ceiling. Mika follows her so that they’re still shoulder to shoulder, and pulls her feet up to tuck them in cross-legged.

She flounders for a moment, trying to find where to begin. She hasn’t told anyone this yet.

“This Leda crap has been kind of awful, right? It’s screwed so many of us up. But there’s only, what, a few hundred of us? And that’s not the only reason things get messed up.” She swallows. Her eyes trace irregularities in the ceiling: a knot in an exposed wooden beam here, a sealed and repainted crack there. “Kids like me are a dime a dozen. There’s so many people out there going through hell, just because they got stuck with people who are hurting so much that they hurt other people. And then they go on and hurt more people. It’s a cycle that’s really fucking hard to break.”

Breaths that have become harsh force her to pause and let them lengthen again. A touch on her knee draws her eyes down to a hand resting on it palm up, offering. Beth takes it. Mika squeezes her fingers in reassurance.

“When I was little, I wanted to be a cop like my dad, did you know that?” Mika, eyes wide, shakes her head. “Yeah. That was always my plan. I used to think he was so brave. Wanted to be just like him.” She shudders. Mika grips her hand, steady. “Even if I could do it better than he did, the system is still full of people like him. It’s broken. I couldn’t – I can’t end up like that. I can’t keep being a part of this shit. I want to actually help people.

“I never thought about it before I met you, but the people you brought in to do therapy programs and all for CYGNet? They’re amazing. The stuff I’ve gotten from them has helped me so much. And I don’t know what I’d do without my regular therapist. These people really help people like me. Like all of us. Those are the kind of people I wanna be like.”

Beth’s voice drops and becomes small and secretive, but firm. “I’ve been looking at the social work programs at home. There’s some really good ones at the uni near where mom and I live now. And that’s the city where I grew up. I know how things work there. I know it won’t be easy, but. I could really... do stuff.”

Silence stretches. Beth looks at Mika, only to be completely thrown off by an expression she can’t make heads or tails of. “What?”

Mika’s face is blank yet soft, only barely hinting at her thoughts in the faintest crinkling of her eyes. It’s funny, how quiet her face is most of the time. Beth never would have guessed, going off her online impressions of her. Mika’s so expressive and eloquent with her written words. In person, she is much more subtle. But even after only a day spent around her, Beth is already starting to see how her movements speak volumes in a language of their own. The flickering of her hands flares to life with excitement. The casual shake of her head tosses her hair out of her eyes even when it’s not in the way, like she’s clearing the slate of her mind. And much like Beth these days, she goes very still and tense when she’s getting uncomfortable or overwhelmed, the way she did after a particularly loud whistle at the train station. It shows in her shoulders. They’re soft now though, and she just watches Beth and squeezes her hand once more.

“You’re really amazing, you know,” Mika says.

“Wh- huh?”

“Well.” She looks away and turns their hands over, but doesn’t let go. “After the awful things you’ve been through – nnnh! Don’t pretend,” she says, looking back sharply as Beth begins to protest that she didn’t have it that bad. Mika knows her so well. Beth can’t help but laugh a little. “After all that, you just want to help people. All I ever want to do is get away from them, most of the time.”

Beth quirks a brow at her with a bemused grin. “Really? Because setting up and running an organization that provides mental health resources and extremely important information to a few hundred people is a really shit way to not help people.”

“I never talk to most of them! And CYGNet only has one hundred and thirteen members, not hundreds.”

Beth rolls her eyes with an exaggerated motion. “Yeah, so, you’ve somehow convinced, what, a whole freaking third of a huge group of scared strangers to trust you?”

“A lot of that was Niki and the press team, she’s way better at talking to people th–”

“And you’ve been careful enough and clever enough to keep them and all the information you got from DYAD safe and secure? I can’t even imagine the organization and, and cyber-security and whatever the hell else you put into all this. That you still put in. And look what you’ve done. You’re helping so many people. You found something only you could do, and do it really damn well.”

Mika looks down into her lap, half her face flushed. The raised ridges and swirls of the scarred side are pink, but not as dark. Her shoulders curl in a little, but she doesn’t pull her hand away from Beth’s. If anything, she holds on a little tighter.

“You don’t have to like talking to people to help them. You don’t have to be someone you’re not,” Beth says gently, then pauses as a new thought occurs to her. “Why did you talk to me?”

Mika gives a tiny shrug, eyes still downcast. “You reached out to me. Most people are scared, or suspicious, or hard to talk to, but you were just... honest. You told me exactly what you needed, even if that meant sharing your painful secrets with a stranger. I...” She trails off, looking toward the closed door of Niki’s bedroom. She blinks slowly.

“It reminded me of something Niki said a long time ago. When we first met. We didn’t trust each other at first. But when things got bad, we needed to, and she just... We’d only known each other for a day. She told me a true story that people had called her crazy for, and trusted me to believe her. And when I told her about... my Asperger’s, about being autistic, she just told me something about herself, too, another thing that a lot of people get cruel about when they know. This was back before she came out, too. She was hardly out to herself, then, really. But she told me anyway. ‘Secret for a secret,’ she said.”

“She’s really special to you.” It’s not a question. How could it be, with the sheer softness of love rounding out every syllable and making Mika melt into the couch and into Beth’s shoulder.

“She’s... yes. She’s my family.” Mika looks out the window, and the bright light dances over her nose. “I don’t remember ever having one.”

Beth slings an arm around Mika’s shoulders and smiles as she curls closer into Beth’s side. “Looks like you’re part of a pretty big one, now,” she says, waving a hand at the dozens of photos on the walls circling them.

“I guess so.”

“No need to guess. The evidence is right there. And I’m right here.”

Mika turns those huge eyes on her again. She’s done that multiple times now, even though Beth knows she rarely looks people in the eye. Eye contact is too much, most of the time. She describes it as too intense, too distracting, too intimate. Meeting those eyes – so like Beth’s own, but filled with such a different kind of light – Beth thinks she understands a glimmer of it. If every eye she met were as overwhelmingly expressive as Mika’s, Beth probably wouldn’t meet them all either. It keeps taking her by surprise, coming across their eloquence in an otherwise quiet face. Caught by that gaze, every emotion that lives in it touches Beth. Right now, it’s soft with adoration but shaded with a gradient of doubt. The width and depth of Mika’s eyes reveal a clear view of a vulnerable, aching, healing heart that spent eleven years starving for the love it needs and still hasn’t forgotten the famine.

It might be breaking Beth’s heart. No wonder Niki is always showering her with hugs and kind words and gentle hands on rounded shoulders. Maybe one of these days, Mika will have spent long enough finally getting to soak up all that affection that she won’t look at Beth like this when she says the simple truth.

“Hey. Here I am. Really.” Beth’s voice is a little choked up. She pulls Mika into a proper hug with both arms. Mika squeaks in surprise at being squeezed so emphatically, but returns it all the same. God, but she gives the best hugs of anyone Beth’s ever met. All contact and even, firm pressure and steadiness. “It’s so damn good to see you. I can’t believe you’re...” real, Beth thinks but doesn’t say. I can’t believe I didn’t imagine you. I can’t believe you’re just as kind as your words. I can’t believe how good it feels to be around you. “I can’t believe I’m really here.”

Mika doesn’t say anything. For a moment, one of her hands leaves Beth’s back to fiddle with something, then comes back to give her a little squeeze that Beth returns.

Beth’s phone buzzes a notification behind her on the little glass-top table next to the couch. The table’s wooden base is a round blob carved into the shape of a very fluffy and very ugly sheep with curly horns. Beth’s arms loosen from their embrace as she turns to look at it, bemused. No one but Mika really messages her except for her mom. But if it’s morning here, it’s about time for bed at home. She checks it, just to be sure she’s okay.

But it’s not from her mom.

Mika reaches out to gently grasp her forearm again as Beth shoots her a quizzical look and opens the message.

3mika: I'm glad you're here.

Beth's heart quails.

To think, that her darker days might have kept her from ever being in this moment. Beth might never have gotten to this point, hurt but healing and here. Here, she's seven time zones and an ocean away from the cycle of pain she grew up in, barely aware she needed to escape. She might well feel safer right here in this crossroads of time and place than she has at any other in her entire life. It's a realization that's as humbling as it is nourishing.

Already, the distance this journey has taken her has given her so much perspective. She wasn’t sure, before, whether the work she’s been considering was just a response to what she’s been through – or just a way for the cycle to keep her within its spiral. But she’s seen what Mika can do, what Beth could do one day, if she keeps on.

It won’t be easy. She’ll go back, and deep-seated memories will try to drag her back into small dark places. But being here, even for only a few hours, has already changed her. She can change, and she can grow, and she is already tapping into new strengths that her past has yet to reckon with. She is here, right now, in spite of all of it. And today is not a dark day.

“Me too, Mika. I’m glad to be here, too.” Beth’s tongue stumbles over the name, because she’s never said it out loud before, only read it on a screen.

Surprise sends Mika’s eyebrows up and her eyes wide again, like she’s never heard it before, either. Maybe she hasn’t. She tilts her head again like a question, touching her ear and looking at Beth.

Beth grins. “Mika.” A smile blooms on that curious face, lighting it up. She’s the one who pulls Beth into a hug this time, and it’s both fierce and soft. When she lets go, she leans into Beth’s side again and they stay like that, arms over shoulders and comfortably curled up together, soaking in the warmth of each other’s presence like leaves drink in light. The simple sweetness and companionship of it soothes Beth’s heart, seeking its way into the aching crevices. It’s an odd feeling, both seeping inward and flowing outward, trickling all the way through her until it warms her cold toes in a way that feels both new and strangely familiar.

A long, sleepy yawn announces that Niki’s awake now, too. Soon, she comes out of her room stretching her arms over her head. Mika reaches a hand out toward her to wave in greeting, though she leaves the other arm draped over Beth’s shoulders. Niki smiles at them. That kind smile, too, adds to the warmth washing through Beth. Her feet practically itch with it, and with a growing sensation of déja vu. She fidgets her toes against the floor as Niki walks over to brush Mika’s outstretched hand like a touchstone.

“How'd you sleep? Isn’t that couch the comfiest?” she says to Beth.

“Well, I’ve got a crick in my neck, but I still slept better than I have in years.”

Niki turns her sunny smile on Beth. “Good to hear it. Weird, though, I nap there all the time and my neck’s always fine. Huh. Anyway, I think I might make waffles. You two want some breakfast?”

Mika nods, but doesn’t let go of Beth yet. Beth is lost in thought, trying to remember what that light, floating feeling in her feet reminds her of.

“Sweet.” Niki ambles toward the kitchen and bends down with pursed lips to peer at the fern perched on the counter. “Hmm. You still look a little pale. Let’s get you some more sun.” She brings the plant over to the living room and is fussing over settling it on the sheep table when it clicks for Beth. A physical memory washes over her, for once welcome. She lets it fill her, refreshing like a deep breath of cold morning air her lungs are suddenly hungry for. She flexes her calves and ankles, her legs remembering the joy and freedom of stride and strike. Her bones are finally recalling how they once carried her with ease, even while they're adjusting to the new weight of who she's become. Fully alive again for at least this moment, her soles are practically prickling with the desire to eat up ground.

“How about you, Beth? Do you like waffles?” Niki asks, fluffing the fern’s crinkly green leaves. Mika squeezes her shoulder.

Beth grins and plants steady feet on the blue rug in front of the couch. “Save a few for me? I think I might actually go for a run first.”

#orphan black #clone club #veera suominen #beth childs #niki lintula #mk ob #mika ob #herbs on the windowsill au #lizzie taking up space #lizzie's adventures in writing #welcome back yall #long post #fic #ob fic #that a garden will grow

[starglitterz]

cynosure. (guide)

─── guide to this au !

synopsis; you and xiao are genmates under the famed streamer company genshin impact. the chemistry between the two of you is undeniable, and your fanbases absolutely love your collaborations. but when you both start meeting up offline more and more, your connection starts to deepen past just harmless flirting and playful banter. with these real feelings starting to affect both your job and reputation online, how will you two react when your relationship becomes the internet's cynosure?

masterlist.

a/n; this is quite informal but it's just to clear a couple things up, character profiles for characters actually part of the main story will be posted tmrw :)

short explanations

genshin impact; world famous streaming company, has branches in multiple countries and are renowned for catering to all sorts of audiences

generation; a group of streamers that debut at the same time and the lore of their streamer selves will be connected in some manner

by streamer selves i mean that they are usually playing a character when streaming, they'll use their real personality but for any personal details they will refer to a character backstory that they have. however their character is not the main focus of their streams, they stream like regular people and will only deflect to their lore if dealing with personal questions.

i.e. xiao's on-stream character; yaksha, suffering from karmic debt

xiao irl; quiet gamer

viewer x: xiao how old r you ????

xiao: over 2000+ years old, as if you mere mortals could comprehend that.

(xiao's actual age is around 23)

names in brackets - nicknames the generation has, usually based on lore

solo debuters; can be viewed as genshin's gen 0

zhongli (liyue) , venti (mondstadt)

mondstadt branch !

gen 1 (knights of favonius) - jean, kaeya, lisa, eula

gen 2 - amber, sucrose, fischl

gen 3 (adventure duo) - bennett, razor

liyue branch !

gen 1 (qixing) - ningguang, keqing, ganyu, beidou

~ wanna know why beidou's here even though she isn't a member of the qixing??? she's just that powerful that's why. also she's ningguang's gf so they refused to be in separate generations.

gen 2 - chongyun, xiangling, xingqiu, xinyan

gen 3 - xiao, y/n, hu tao, yanfei

fatui ! ( separate streamer company )

gen 1 ; childe, la signora

gen 2 ; dottore, pierro, arlecchino

virtual singer - barbara

dainsleif is sort of a behind-the-scenes manager, he knows what's going on everywhere but does not personally stream.

indie channels ! (independent as in streamers who aren't part of the company genshin impact)

aether & lumine - share a twin channel but stream a mix of solo and duo streams

mona - extremely broke so she decided to become a streamer to get that bag (succeeds)

rosaria - streams rarely but has a dedicated fanbase

albedo - science/art streamer who occasionally plays games

diluc - famous wine tycoon who makes asmr podcasts anonymously, has a huge fanbase because of his voice alone, would die if anyone he knows finds out

scaramouche - drama youtuber

inazuma charas aren't featured bc i'm not too sure on each characters' relationship w one another, and i doubt they'll be added even after the update because i've pretty much ald planned out the friend groups hehe,,, so think of it as genshin not having a branch there yet <3!

i hope this helped !! if you have any questions feel free to send me an ask :]

also if youre a vtuber fan i'd say that this entire au is very loosely inspired by hololive & nijisanji HAHA

taglist (open); @noirkkat @bookuya @ohmykazuha @glazelilyy @mika-zuko @oreoz-unfortunately @tiny-aroace @xiaophobic @test-tube @yanphobics @storytravelled @mirikusashes @ben6ett @oliviasslut @velionqs @bluexiao @lunachelly @aelatus @mimion

© starglitterz 2021. do not repost or modify in any way.

#[📱] ━━━ cynosure ! #xiao x reader #xiao fluff #xiao imagines #xiao drabbles #xiao genshin impact #genshin impact xiao #genshin xiao #genshin impact fluff #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin imagines #genshin impact writing #genshin impact drabbles #genshin impact #xiao #genshin impact smau #genshin smau #genshin modern au #xiao smau #genshin impact xiao smau #genshin au #genshin impact au #genshin fake texts #genshin impact fake texts #genshin impact series #genshin series #xiao scenarios

[omgkatsudonplease]

[ficlet, bagginshield] shock and delight, pt 1 (bridgerton au)

The banks of the Brandywine River are packed with strolling couples on the day of the promenade, their chaperones following shortly behind. Thorin and the Fundinson brothers arrive exactly on time, Thorin carrying a bottle of Old Winyards. According to the sommelier in the shop at Bucklebury, this particular bottle was their last vintage one.

Bilbo and his chaperone Mr Greyhame show up a couple minutes late, the Hobbit fretting and dabbing at his brows with a monogrammed handkerchief. “I’m so terribly sorry for my lateness,” he flusters, hopping on one foot to the other like a nervous rabbit as he peers up at Thorin with a sheepish grin. “I forgot my pocket-handkerchief and had to go back for it.”

Thorin is caught between the absolute adorableness of Bilbo’s contrite pout and the absolute absurdity of the reason for his tardiness. 

“You are forgiven,” he declares instead. Bilbo’s pout smooths into a heart-melting smile.

The two of them begin to head down the path alongside the river, their pace leisurely. Other promenaders pass them by, as well as several open carriages pulled by unprotesting ponies. Thorin finds his gaze oddly drawn to the way the spring sunlight seems to burnish Bilbo’s curls into gold. Probably where Lord Stormcrow got the Golden Hare moniker, he thinks, before forcibly looking away towards a young Hobbit family having a picnic by the river. 

It’s a picture-perfect image of marital bliss. Thorin supposes something like that is what Bilbo is looking for, which Thorin himself obviously could not provide. Though he has yet to hear of any pushback against what must be an odd coupling by both Dwarvish and Hobbit standards, he is sure opposition will make itself known eventually. A marriage of true minds often lacks the productivity factor of a standard marriage, something which would be keenly felt in the family of a gentleman as distinguished as Bilbo Baggins’s. 

He, on the other hand, has already named his sister-children as his heirs. So it didn’t matter whether or not he married at all, nor did it matter whether or not his One (wherever they may be) possessed the physical apparatus or mental inclination for childbearing. 

“I have a question,” says Bilbo after a moment, breaking through Thorin’s thoughts like sunlight through stormclouds. “How do you know Gandalf? He’s an old family friend of mine, and apparently my cousin Fortinbras was the one who suggested he watch over me this season, but I don’t know how he would know you.” He looks thoughtful, hazel eyes peering inquisitively into Thorin’s face. 

In spite of himself, Thorin feels exposed, almost vulnerable. 

“I suppose Gandalf does have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, though,” muses Bilbo after a moment, before laughing and shrugging it off. “So? How do you know Gandalf?”

“To use your phrasing, Mr Greyhame has a finger in Erebor’s pie,” replies Thorin simply, not wanting to discuss how, years upon years ago, the Wizard had found his father in the depths of the Greenwood lost in enchantments and his own memories. King Thráin had, as the story went, finally succumbed to his grief about the deaths of his father and son, and had gotten lost in the Greenwood on his way to Azanulbizar to mourn them. 

He half suspects that telling Bilbo all of that would just make the poor Hobbit run off screaming in the opposite direction. So instead he bites his tongue, folding his hands behind his back. 

“I see,” says Bilbo, fiddling nervously with one of his cuff-links. “I’ve never been to Erebor. I’ve barely even left the Shire as-is.”

Thorin arches an eyebrow, remembering the abundance of maps and walking-sticks in Bag End the first time he’d gone over for dinner. The smial, though grand in size and luxurious in room variety, didn’t have the same cold ostentation as the mansions of Dwarves or Men. It felt homey, well-loved. A testament to lives well-lived.

No wonder Bilbo was so picky about the search for his One. If Thorin were not king, he would have wanted his halls just as cosy and warm, and he would have wanted to share it with only those who would brighten its nooks and crannies. 

“You certainly give the appearance of being well-travelled,” he says neutrally, still thinking of the maps and walking-sticks.

“Within the Shire,” demurs Bilbo. “I have had to go to Annúminas on business, of course, and once I went to Fornost with my parents on holiday, but Hobbits as a rule try to stick within the four farthings of the Shire. After all, why go out to see the rest of the world when the world comes to us every year?” 

His last question is both rhetorical and bitter. Thorin’s heart aches a little just hearing it. 

“So it is a matter of respectability?” he wonders wryly. Bilbo raises an eyebrow, so Thorin explains. “There is not much stopping you from running out of your front door and into the Blue, after all.”

Bilbo chuckles ruefully. “No,” he agrees. “But every time the side of me that craves adventures begins to make plans, the other side of me protests mightily, saying I’ll miss my books and my armchair and having six regular meals a day.”

Thorin has, indeed, noticed that restaurants and tea shops in the Shire have a more constant cycle of meals than anywhere else in Middle-earth. He’s honestly not complaining. 

“Speaking of meals,” he says, nodding towards the basket that Mr Greyhame is carrying, “I brought Old Winyards. Shall we find somewhere to sit?”

Bilbo checks his pocket-watch. “It’s halfway between elevensies and luncheon,” he remarks. 

“Yes,” says Thorin. “Consider it ‘lunchensies’.”

Bilbo bursts out in laughter at that, a bright joyful sound that rings through Thorin like one of the golden bells of Dale. His own stomach flutters a bit, and it takes all of his self-control to simply gesture for Balin and Dwalin to come help them set up their picnic on the banks of the Brandywine River. 

~~

Lunchensies is a success. Bilbo immediately takes a liking to Balin the moment they all sit down on the blanket together, happily chatting with him about books and history in between bites of his sandwich. Thorin watches them, unable to stop the smile on his face as he watches the way his old friend brightens under the Hobbit’s genuine inquisitiveness. 

“Yes, the road between here and Erebor was not as arduous as it used to be,” Balin is saying. “There is, of course, the stray highway robbery within Orc territory, but rumour has it that after the Shadow was broken at the end of the last Age, the majority of the Enemy’s armies have fallen out of its thrall and prefer to keep to themselves within the Mountains.”

“Occupying the ancestral halls of Khazad-dûm,” growls Dwalin. Thorin, too, feels the cold resentment deep in his stomach, but he tempers it by watching Bilbo chew thoughtfully at his sandwich, his nose twitching like a rabbit’s.

“While Durin’s Bane continues to live, Khazad-dûm cannot be retaken,” he reminds Dwalin. 

“If it continues to live,” muses Balin, before hastily switching the topic. “On the other hand, we are fortunate not to have awoken anything similar within Erebor. Though we did almost lose it to the firedrake Smaug.”

Thorin remembers the flames, remembers the lives lost to the dragon. The tragedy had seemed insurmountable at the time, but now he supposes rebuilding a Kingdom within the ashes of dragonfire was not as bad as being forced to flee for a new home like what had happened to his ancestors in Khazad-dûm.

“Almost?” echoes Bilbo, his eyes wide. Dwalin hands him and Thorin both glasses of the Old Winyards. Mr Greyhame, too, is helping himself to a liberal portion of the wine. 

“The Lady Mika, wife of the Lord of Dale, requited her husband’s death upon the dragon by shooting him with a black arrow,” explains Thorin as he pops a strawberry into his mouth. The fruit’s juices spill over his fingers; he hastily licks it off before wiping his fingers with the handkerchief.

Bilbo’s cheeks are dusted light pink when Thorin looks up again, and Thorin can feel his own cheeks heating in response.

“Well,” flounders the Hobbit, “that must have been terrible to go through. We haven’t had anything quite like that in the Shire, save for long and fell winters and the odd plague outbreak. But enough talk of dark and grim things! What is your favourite part of Erebor?”

The question throws Thorin for a moment. “Everything,” he says, but Bilbo raises a doubtful eyebrow at that. “All of Erebor is connected,” explains Thorin. “From the mines to the forges to the crafting halls, every part serves the whole.”

“Cogs in a machine,” muses Bilbo. “But what about a location? If you’ve grown up there all your life, surely you must have a favourite place. Secret hideouts from childhood, all of that.”

Thorin considers the question again, and this time the answer comes almost as if he had always meant to say it: “My mother’s garden,” he replies. “She kept a well-tended terrace beside the Royal apartments. We still take care of it, of course, and in the spring the cherry and apple blossoms blanket the grass like petalled snow.”

Bilbo’s expression lights up. “That sounds incredible,” he says.

“In the summer, the entire terrace is flooded with fireflies. I remember thinking once as a child that they were stars come down to play with us.” 

Bilbo’s hands tighten against the stem of his wineglass. “I should very much like to see that,” he says quietly. Thorin smiles, before noticing the knowing glint in their companions’ eyes.

He glares at them until they subside. 

#the hobbit #bagginshield #tolkien #lily's dabbles #bridgerton au