#Spike Black-Xiao Long

[dragoonbutched]

4/20

Gonna have the 20th of April be Merc's birthday because I think having it be the funny number besides 06/09 is fun

#gauntlets and greaves #yang xiao long #mercury black #mercury x yang #yang x mercury #rwby #rwby fanart #rwby au #qing xiao long black #spike black xiao long #meloni b li domini #420

[m1d-45]

death, rebirth, new life

summary: uh zhongli gets nerfed, you get some new friends, xiao has a crisis of morality(?)

word count: ~3.2k

-> warnings: major spoilers for xiao lore, like very major. spoilers for liyue archon quest. not much else

-> lowercase intended!

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @thehoneymushroomhealer || @imyme20 || @bittersweetorpheus || @vampirecatsw || @willburzone || @some-mildly-happy-human|| @yourlocaldrugdealerbutfancy || @inmyprinceerafr || @depressed-bitchy-demon || @kithewanderingme

<< first part || < masterlist > || next part >>

zhongli allows his weapon to fade back into golden dust, his mind involuntarily comparing it to the way you dissolved before him.

they were quite similar. after he’d pulled away his polearm, you had sent him a final smile as your body disintegrated into white flakes, much like his spear had, the water rushing back to fill the space you’d left. it had surprised him, because he’d expected you to fall into the black smoke that hilichurls did. unless he had made some sort of…

no, he tells himself, shaking his head. you deserved it. to wear a face that wasn’t yours, to defy his god so, his actions were entirely jus-

a spike of pain drives into his lower back and zhongli reaches behind him with a hiss, feeling for whatever’s hurt him only to land on the glass of his fake vision. it stings through his gloves, and he’s quick to yank it off, uncaring as the string it’s hung on snaps. the small gems on it scatter, but he’s focused on the glass in his hand.

or, rather, the floor. his hand still hurts from the pricks of invisible needles it stabbed into his skin, and he wasn’t keen on holding it any longer.

“what’s wrong?” hu tao comes up to his side, hand landing on his shoulder. “are you okay? is your vision?”

“it’s nothing.”

discretely, he tries to turn a pebble on the floor in front of him. he tells himself it’s nothing, he knows it’ll work, he just needs the confirmation for himself, since if a fake vision could react like that..

“hey, don’t worry about it. the dead need to stay that way. whoever that was, i trust your judgement. i’m certain you did the-“

she cuts herself off with a pained cry, her shoulders jerk back as her hands reach for her back, her face twisting in pain. zhongli takes a step over his ‘vision’, turning her by the shoulder to see what he knows but doesn’t want to believe.

her vision is glowing brightly, the diamond-shaped gem heating up the metal around it. he wastes no time in removing it from the clip holding it in place, though he has to drop it as well from the heat. it burned her jacket, and she’ll certainly need a new one, but that’s not what he’s worried for.

after all, the stone hadn’t moved.

the sun stung your eyes through your lids, forcing you awake if only to move to a more shaded area. the ground beneath you was hard but not harsh, warmer than wuwang hill by a long shot. you were tempted to stay, to allow yourself to slip back into sleep…

something squishy bumped into your right arm.

you pushed your eyes open, pulling at the numb strings of muscles in your arms to help yourself up. you were sitting in a stone… building would be too generous. there were four pillars and a roof, with a ramp to your left and a staircase in front of you.

and immediately to your right, the object that bumped you earlier, is a small dendro slime.

wide orange eyes peer up at you, the sight cute enough for you to forget your aches.

“hey,” you mumble, reaching a wobbly hand to nudge against its side. the slime chitters, hopping into your lap, and you notice something shining in the leaves atop its head. it doesn’t seem bothered, only pressing itself further into your hand with a chirp that nearly sounds apologetic.

“don’t be sorry.” you move your hand to pet over the stems on top of it, the slime’s eyes slowly beginning to close. you feel something hard beneath your palm, and move to see what it is. in the center of the slime’s head is a small tangle of grass, something golden shimmering in the center. you’ve never looked really hard at the models in-game, mostly because they’re always attacking you, so you’re not sure if this is meant to be there or not. maybe they’re like crystalflies, with a core in the middle? but why be exposed…

the slime chirps in your lap and you move your hand away, a ‘sorry’ on the edge of your lips when it stretches to move the tangle between your fingers. did it want you to fix it?

you tilt the slime towards you, but you don’t have a chance to try. as you watch, the tangle undoes itself, cradling a golden ring between the stalks. it looks about your size, with a small blue gem embedded on one side. the slime makes a soft noise, the ring sliding forward as it tilts.

“for me?”

you picked up the ring at its affirmative trill, sliding it onto your finger. it fit as good as it looked, surprisingly. where had the slime gotten a ring your size, let alone know it would fit you?

the slime looked up, seeking a response, and you smiled.

“thank you, little guy. it’s beautiful.” the slime visibly grew happy, hopping lightly in your lap, and you couldn’t help but laugh. it looked so excited, orange eyes beaming as it twirled itself into a little circle. how could they be enemies?

“where’d you get this?”

your question didn’t dampen its excitement—a surprise, since you expected it to have stolen the ring—and it only hopped off your lap, moving halfway down the staircase before looking back at you.

using the pillars to support yourself, you stood, wincing at the combined pain of old wounds and sleeping on rock. as you carefully move down the steps, you hope that the slime wont lead you to some poor merchant’s cart.

the small slime hopped along a dirt path, and you took the time to look around. behind you to the left was a large pit, for lack of a better word, a tree growing in the center on a platform surrounded by water. if you had to guess, you were probably still in liyue, just more south. the horizon was dotted with spires, and you think you see something like the jade chamber off to the left of your current path. it’s hard to tell, given the distance, but…

the sounds of humanoid chanting reaches your ears, and you startle for a moment before hearing the trademark woo! of an abyss mage. the slime stops, checking on you, but you just give it another smile as you continue to walk. so it got it from hilichurls, then? odd, but better than stealing it from somebody. it was in remarkable condition for being from hilichurls, though…

the slime leads you onto some rocks, and you can see the camp just below you. an abyss mage turns as you approach, the red film of a shield beginning to appear around it before it recognizes you. it was a small camp, only a handful of hilichurls around, and they all crowd you as you climb down the rocks.

the abyss mage chitters in a language you don’t understand, its red ears flopping as it gestures. it finishes with a deep bow, looking up at you, and your face twists in apology. luckily, it seems to get it, pointing to you before waving you into the camp. you take its hand and let it lead you to a crate to sit on, watching as it turns to the rest of the group and says… something. nonetheless, the hilichurls seem to get it, all nodding. the abyss mage puts its hands on its hips, satisfied.

the dendro samachurl says something to the large mitachurl, who nods, hefting its rock shield and standing near the entrance of the camp. the samachurl then pulls over another hilichurl as it walks to you. its staff is more at eye level with you than it is.

the samachurl chitters beneath the mask, and the hilichurl besides it—you assume, based on prior experiences—translates.

“unu boya ika zido mosi aba nunu,” it says, pointing further down the path, where you can barely see a wooden structure.

now, your hilichurl isn’t the best. in the beginning, you learned somewhat, but definitely not enough to know the entirety of what it just said. you catch the word for enemy and some sort of time word you think means later in the day, so that together with the gesture.. you’re hopefully assuming that it means later in the day there will be enemies, likely the millelith, over that direction.

you nod. the hilichurl seems proud of itself.

the samachurl continues, much shorter this time, and the hilichurl holds out a hand.

“muhu mita?”

ah. those ones you know just fine.

you accept the offer of a meal and let it walk you to a rock near a campfire, listening as they talk to each other. they bring you food and share more amongst themselves, the electro shooter waving its bandaged hands in a story you didn’t try to decipher. the heat of noon begins to fade after an hour or two, and though the campfire is now embers and your wooden plate is empty, you’re content.

the dendro slime from earlier sticks close to you, shifting as close to the dying fire as it dared whilst being out of range of the jumping sparks. it wasn’t particularly cold, only around 3ish by your best judgement. the sun still shone in the sky, washing over sand and stone and the things that sparkled under it. there was nothing to worry over, nobody near, and the mitachurl and pyro grenadier were still guarding the entrance. it was a welcome respite.

you hope it’ll last.

xiao pulled his polearm from the body of a hilichurl, picking a tuft of matted red hair from the jade edge. the shattered remains of its mask fell to the floor as its body dissolved, but he just stepped over it, dismissing his weapon. the boy from qingce was uninjured, the hilichurl grenadier had fallen, and his work here was done.

“-jianguo, what are you doing out here? you should know better than to wander near wuwang hill!”

xiao rolled his eyes, hoping the fading debt of the hilichurls would dissipate faster. he couldn’t leave without endangering the child or his mother, but he wanted to leave earlier sometimes, if only so people would learn not to wander into areas they didn’t belong.

“but mama, all the hilichurls fled to wuwang hill! our charms worked!” the small boy triumphantly held up a small piece of paper, sloppily colored gold with some sort of crayon. shaky black penmanship made a crude imitation of a sigil of permission, a hilichurl’s mask in the center. or, at least, he assumed that’s what it was. children…

“no, jianguo, hilichurls don’t listen to your sigils! just… just stay away from wuwang hill, okay? say your thanks to the nice man who saved you and let’s go home.”

the boy turned, wide eyes fixed on him, and xiao checked that he had absorbed enough of the karma for it to be safe before teleporting away.

he landed on unfamiliar dirt, haunting trees surrounding him. judging by the blue wisps floating around, he could guess he was in the forests atop wuwang hill.

his question was why.

normally, he teleports away to the next source of concentrated karma to ensure it doesn’t end up infecting the people of liyue. but this… he knew wuwang hill had hilichurls and cicin mages, but certainly not a high enough concentration, right?

‘…all the hilichurls fled to wuwang hill!’

unless something called them here.

with one hand on his mask, xiao drew his spear and started to walk.

the forest was oddly quiet. the leaves themselves seemed to stay still, the only noise being made by his shoes upon the path. there were no cicins, nor their mages, nor hilichurls of any kind. yet what was left of his tattered soul was called up the path, some remnant of an instinct telling him to let go of his polearm.

he gripped it tighter in response.

the stone steps ahead seemed to taunt him, seeming to stretch further and further away as he walked. whatever intuition tugged at him felt like it was tied around his soul, tying up the scattered pieces to drag around. it.. was less irritating than it should be, something that frightened him more.

every step he took highlighted the rips across his heart, the scars of karma accentuated. but it wasn’t the surveying gaze of a predator looking for weak points, the invisible eyes prying into his soul neither threatening or aggressive. it felt like he was being assessed by a doctor, like he was young and still being fostered by morax, like he’d gotten into a scuffle with bosacious and he was being scolded even as his arm was being bandaged, the warm mug of tea in his hand soothing the ache in his knuckles-

water on his cheek drew his attention, and he was quick to wipe it off his face, glancing at the sky. he didn’t remember any stormclouds coming in, and the skies seemed..

clear…

…

xiao set his jaw and kept walking, determined to keep his mind on his task.

the stone was cold beneath his feet, the seelie court glowing as the seelie inside buzzed. xiao turned the corner, ignoring the weird feeling in his chest. it had to be nothing. it had to be just some random memory that he was reminded of because of the trees, or the air, or… anything.

xiao walked up the second set of stairs, stopping at the top in shock. the pathway across the pool in front of the domain was covered in wildlife, everything that was missing from the forest condensed into one space on the path. birds, butterflies, even a crane and an electro cicin, all gathered around a small space.

he slowly took a step forward, confused by the display. to see so many animals getting along, crowding such an area as wuwang hill..

xiao continued to walk, his foot splashing into the water above the path harsher than he intended. he froze, making sure he didn’t disturb anything, but the gathering remained. he quickly made his way over the tree in the middle of the path, ensuring he landed quieter this time. as he closer, the details of what he was looking at slowly filled in. between the legs of cranes and over the heads of crows, he could see that a portion of the stone was a different color than the rest. the water above it also refused to move, the ripples from the various animals not moving it an inch.

the birds finally moved when he got close enough, flapping over to the opposite side of the discolored stone. xiao crouched at the edge of the still water, mindful not to get himself wet.

the stone, and water to some extent, thin as it was, was stained a yellowish color. the path looked newer, less worn, the water above it clearer.

his frown deepened the longer he looked at it. he’d never seen anything like this, any substance that froze water while it was still liquid and cleaned it of any dirt whilst never dispersing. he never saw so much wildlife, for lack of better words, getting along like this. the cicin confused him further- it also linked back to what he’d heard, that hilichurls had been called back to wuwang, but he’d yet to see one.

the slashes across his heart pulsed as it beat, reminding him of their presence as he tried to focus. the string tied in his chest pulled him forward, to reach and sink into the shallow pool of gold. he shouldn’t, it was dangerous, he didn’t know what it was or what effect it had on him—he should leave now, in rationality, because he was already being affected. if whatever this was was strong enough to affect him, a yaksha, then surely it was a danger to the villagers nearby..

then why didn’t he feel like it was a danger? why, though his heart burned with the remains of his karmic debt, eternities of slaughter, did he feel lighter?

questions remained unanswered as the pull strengthened, the animals around him growing bold, risking being near him for the chance to crowd the shimmering water. he checked that there wasn’t anything or anybody lying in wait—the chance of this being a trap was too high to ignore—before hesitantly dismissing his polearm, making way for a large raven to land beside him.

xiao stared at the bird, watching as it kept its body entirely out of the odd zone while still sticking close. did it not feel the same pull as he did? was this water meant for creatures such as him, with lifetimes worth of sin on their shoulders? was this where the hilichurls vanished into?

his heart beat against his ribs, the cuts of karma pulsing with it. this water, this stone, he had to be affecting it somehow. though he made sure that his shoes were outside the boundary and that his hands didn’t touch inside it, it was hard to deny the way whatever was dissolved in the water was attracted to his end. it had formed a gradient, the sheen across it darker on his end. he felt a need to reach out, to hold his dirtied past to this cleansing water and be clean of it. no matter how impossible. no matter how irrational. no matter how hard he tried to tell himself it was outlandish and would only get him into trouble, no matter how strong his will or how many rips crossed his heart.

…when xiao gave in and touched the golden stain, one of the tears healed.

the water’s shine faded in an instant, quickly turning back to clear as the stone beneath it aged before his eyes; animals around him rustled and cried, feathers ruffling as they came to their senses and took flight, leaving him with his hands over his sternum and a bright light beneath his skin.

feeling like one of the birds himself, xiao sat in a daze, his mind racing as he tried to rationalize what just occurred.

what was that? what had happened? why did he feel so light? why was his mind covered in warmth and memories of his time with the yakshas, with morax, with the traveller, why was he so- so free? what happened to the chains of karma crossing his limbs, binding him to his nightmares? what happened to the voices repeating his sins as the worst song ever played, where did the pain and the aches and his debt go? how could this water heal what the adepti could not? what morax could not?

clutching the healed seam of his soul, alatus fled.

#words cannot describe how proud i am of that title #ideas in the tags #genshin sagau #sagau #genshin #genshin impact #self aware genshin #sagau impostor au #sagau hu tao #hu tao #sagau zhongli #zhongli #sagau xiao #xiao #xiao angst #can't believe i studied HILICHURL for this. suffering from success /j #hey what do we think about god having ‘karma'? like xiao's but if anybody kills god they have to deal with that karma? #and it can only be relieved by like… true forgiveness or some other disney shit? like until then they have nightmares #and/or physical manifestations of the karma? like golden chains or some other obvious thing so other people Know What They Did #may or may not write a little drabble on that later.. to the anon asking for venti angst… expect a letter?

[bestshipsmackdown]

With Nine Submissions: (1)

Kim Dokja x Yoo Joonghuyk from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

With Eight Submissions: (4)

Percy Jackson x Annabeth Chase from The Percy Jackson Series

Gideon Nav x Harrowhark Nonagesimus from The Locked Tomb Series

Yang Xiao Long x Blake Belladonna from RWBY

Evan Buckley x Eddie Diaz from 911

With Seven Submissions: (2)

Adora x Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

@bracket-bracket x @thecompetitionshowdowntournament x @ultimate-poll-tournament from tumblr.com

With Six Submissions: (4)

Fred Jones x Daphne Blake x Velma Dinkley x Norville “Shaggy” Rogers from Scooby-Doo

Luz Noceda x Amity Blight from The Owl House

Lance x Keith from Voltron: Legendary Defender

Hiyori Suzumi x Yujiro Someya x Aizo Shibasaki from Honeyworks[Confession Executive Committee]

With Five Submissions: (3)

Marinette Dupain-Cheng[Ladybug] x Adrien Agreste[Chat Noir] from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir [Miraculous Ladybug]

Kazuki Kurusu x Rei Suwa from Buddy Daddies

Akira Kurusu[Ren Amamiya/Joker]x Goro Akechi from Persona 5[Persona 5 Royal]

With Four Submissions: (10)

Jack Harkness x Rose Tyler x The Ninth Doctor from Doctor Who

Link x Zelda from The Legend of Zelda

Eda Clawthorne x Raine Whispers from The Owl House

Phoenix Wright x Miles Edgeworth from Ace Attorney

Naruto Uzumaki x Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto

Nomi Marks x Amanita Caplan from Sense8

Mike Wheeler x Will Byers from Stranger Things

Nancy Wheeler x Robin Buckley from Stranger Things

Yasmin “Yaz” Khan x The Thirteenth Doctor from Doctor Who

Merlin x Arthur Pendragon from Merlin

With Three Submissions: (32)

Laura Moon x Mad Sweeney from American Gods

Caitlyn Kiramann x Vi from Arcane

Troy Barnes x Abed Nadir from Community

Imogen Temult x Laudna from Critical Role

Edward Nygma x Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham

Will Solace x Nico Di Angelo from Heroes of Olympus

Hikaru Indou x Yoshiki Tsukajinaka from Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu

Will Parry x Lyra Silvertongue from His Dark Materials

Rose Lalonde x Kanaya Maryam from Homestuck

Gon Freecss x Killua Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter

Dustfinger x Resa from Inkheart

Gimli x Legolas from Lord of the Rings

Bakugou Katsuki x Todoroki Shouto from Boku No Hero Academia[My Hero Academia]

Todoroki Touya[Dabi] x Takami Keigo[Hawks] from Boku No Hero Academia[My Hero Academia]

KJ Brandman x Mac Coyle from Paper Girls

Perfuma x Scorpia from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Reki Kyan x Langa Hasegawa from Sk8 the Infinity

Korra x Asami from The Legend of Korra

Dream x Hob from The Sandman

Enid Sinclair x Wednesday Addams from Wednesday

Buffy Summers x Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Caleb Widowgast x Essek Thelyss from Critical Role

Eddie Kaspbrak x Richie Tozier from It

Bugs Bunny x Daffy Duck from Looney Tunes

Magnus Chase x Alex Fierro from Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Bakugou Katsuki x Kirishima Eijirou from Boku No Hero Academia[My Hero Academia]

Dean Winchester x Castiel from Supernatural

Death[El Lobo de la Muerte] x Puss in Boots x Kitty Softpaws from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Tara Maclay x Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Shibasaki Aizo x Someya Yujiro from Honeyworks[Confession Executive Committee]

Michael “Mike” Wazowski x James P. Sullivan “Sulley” from Monsters, Inc.

Nana Osaki x Nana “Hachi” “Hachiko” Komatsu from Nana

These are the ones that have to go through a prequalifying round:

With Two Submissions: (137)

Carlos Reyes x TK Strand from 911: Lonestar

Kazuma Asougi x Ryunosuke Naruhodo from The Great Ace Attorney

Apollo Justice x Klavier Gavin from Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice

Marceline x Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time

Salim x The Djinn from American Gods

Sam Black Crow x Shadow Moon from American Gods

Zuko x Sokka x Suki from Avatar the Last Airbender

Zuko x Sokka from Avatar the Last Airbender

Aang x Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender

Barbapapa x Barbamama from Barbapapa

Erika x Annaliese from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper

Faith Lehane x Buffy Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Chuuya Nakahara x Osamu Dazai from Bungo Stray Dogs

Carmen Sandiego x Julia Argent from Carmen Sandiego

Ulrich Stern x Yumi Ishiyama from Code Lyoko

Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III x Vex'ahlia from Critical Role

Harley Quinn x Poison Ivy from DC

Hal Jordan x Bruce Wayne from DCU[Justice League]

Lena Luthor x Kara Zor-El[Kara Danvers] from DC[Supergirl]

Tinkerbell x Vidia from Disney Fairies

The Doctor x The Master from Doctor Who

Jonathan Harker x Mina Murray from Dracula

Jalil x Christopher from Everworld

Nessie97[Vannie] x Luis Cabrera from Five Nights at Freddy's[AR Emails]

Edward Elric x Winry Rockbell from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Anathema x Newt from Good Omens

Crowley x Aziraphale from Good Omens

Orpheus x Eurydice from Greek Mythology

Amelia x Link from Grey's Anatomy

Bailey x Ben from Grey's Anatomy

Bokuto Koutarou x Akaashi Keiji from Haikyuu!!

Charlie Morningstar x Vaggie from Hazbin Hotel

Elle Argent x Tao Xu from Heartstopper

Millie x Moxxie from Helluva Boss

Stolas Goetia x Blitzø from Helluva Boss

Lord Asriel x Marisa Coulter from His Dark Materials

Dave Strider x Karkat Vantas from Homestuck

Dr. Gregory House x Dr. James Wilson from House M.D.

Astrid Hofferson x Hiccup Haddock from How To Train Your Dragon

Howl Jenkins Pendragon x Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle

Leorio Paradinight x Kurapika from Hunter x Hunter

Sid the Sloth x Manny the Mammoth x Diego the Saber Tooth Tiger from Ice Age

The Black Prince x Violante from Inkheart

Dustfinger x The Black Prince from Inkheart

Beverly Marsh x Ben Hanscom from It

Gojo Satoru x Geto Suguru from Jujutsu Kaisen

Luke Patterson x Julie Molina from Julie and the Phantoms

Hutch x Chloe from Jupiter's Legacy

Yukari Kotozome[Cure Macaron] x Akira Kenjou[Cure Chocolat] from Kirakira Pretty Cure A La Mode

Meta Knight x King Dedede from Kirby

Joacquim Morray x Forever Carlyle from Lazarus

Wendy Pleakley x Jumba Jookiba from Lilo & Stitch

Arwen x Aragorn from Lord of the Rings

Lucifer x Chloe Decker from Lucifer

Eve x Mazikeen from Lucifer

Homura Akemi x Madoka Kaname from Madoka Magica

Jonathan Sims x Martin Blackwood from The Magnus Archives

Steve Rogers[Captain America] x Anthony “Tony” Stark[Ironman] from Marvel

Wanda x Vision from Marvel

James “Bucky” Barnes x Steve Rogers[Captain America] from Marvel

Sam Wilson x James “Bucky” Barnes from Marvel

Charles Xavier[Professor X] x Erik Lehnsherr[Magneto] from X-Men[Marvel]

Noemi x Francis from Mexican Gothic

Adrien Agreste[Chat Noir] x Luka Couffaine[Viperion] from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir [Miraculous Ladybug]

Nathalie Sancoeur x Émilie Agreste from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir [Miraculous Ladybug]

Phryne Fisher x Jack Robinson from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Bakugou Katsuki x Todoroki Shouto x Midoriya Izuku from Boku No Hero Academia[My Hero Academia]

Yaoyorozu Momo x Jirou Kyouka from Boku No Hero Academia[My Hero Academia]

Todoroki Shouto x Midoriya Izuku from Boku No Hero Academia[My Hero Academia]

Uraraka Ochako x Midoriya Izuku from Boku No Hero Academia[My Hero Academia]

Kate Whistler x Lucy Tara from NCIS Hawai'i

Richard Mayhew x Lady Door from Neverwhere

Jack Kelly x David Jacobs from Newsies

Regina Mills[Evil Queen] x Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time

Killian Jones[Captain Hook] x Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time

Elizabeth Swann x Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean

Elizabeth Bennet x Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice

Charlotte “Lottie” La Bouff x Tiana from Princess and the Frog

Dani Powell x Malcolm Bright from Prodigal Son

Gil Arroyo x Jessica Whitly from Prodigal Son

Sasha Nein x Milla Vodello from Psychonauts

Utena Tenjou x Anthy HImemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena

Lie Ren x Nora Valkyrie from RWBY

Ruby Rose x Penny Polendina from RWBY

Mamoru Chiba[Tuxedo Mask] x Usagi Tsukino[Sailor Moon] from Sailor Moon

Daphne Blake x Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo

Magnus x Alec from Shadowhunters

Glimmer x Bow from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Mermista x Sea Hawk from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Spinnerella x Netossa from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

John Watson x Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock Holmes

Kaz Brekker x Inej Ghafa from Six of Crows

Wylan Hendricks x Jesper Fahey from Six of Crows

Nina Zenik x Matthias Helvas from Six of Crows

Sonic the Hedgehog x Shadow the Hedgehog from Sonic the Hedgehog

Eric Cartman x Kyle Brofloski from South Park

Loid Forger x Yor Briar from Spy x Family

Captain Kirk x Spock from Star Trek

Connie Maheswaran x Steven Universe from Steven Universe

Ruby x Sapphire from Steven Universe

Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson from Stranger Things

El Hopper x Max Mayfield x Lucas Sinclair from Stranger Things

Rapunzel x Eugene “Flynn Rider” Flitzherbert

Scott McCall x Stiles Stilinski from Teen Wolf

Morticia Addams x Gomez Addams from The Addams Family

Chidi Anagonye x Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place

Ellie Williams x Dina from The Last of Us 2

Ashby x Pei from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

Sissix x Rosemary Harper from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

Jenks x Lovey from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

Marco x Celia from The Night Circus

Willow Park x Hunter from The Owl House

Gus Porter x Mattholomule from The Owl House

Westley x Buttercup from The Princess Bride

Chel x Miguel x Tulio from The Road to El Dorado

Barbie x Wanda from The Sandman

Foxglove x Hazel from The Sandman

Hector x Lyta from The Sandman

Will Herondale x Tessa Gray x Jem Carstairs from The Shadowhunter Chronicles

Zachary x Dorian from The Starless Sea

Cassandra x Laura from The Wicked + The Divine

Vasya x Morozko from The Winternight Trilogy

Jaskier[Dandelion] x Geralt of Rivia x Yennefer from The Witcher

Fox Mulder x Dana Scully from The X-files

Jack x Rose from Titanic

Kou Minamoto x Mistuba Sousuke from Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

Ken Kaneki x Hideyoshi Nagachika from Tokyo Ghoul

Ianto Jones x Jack Harkness from Torchwood

Toshiko Sato x Owen Harper from Torchwood

Agnieszka x Sarkan from Uprooted

Cornelia Hale x Irma Lair from W.I.T.C.H.

Bloom x Stella from Winx Club

Flora x Mirta from Winx Club

Xena x Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess

Agent 355 x Allison Mann from Y : The Last Man

Hero Brown x Beth Deville from Y : The Last Man

Katsuki Yuuri x Viktor Nikiforov from Yuri!!! on Ice

#I was gonna do the full bold and italics job on all of them #but then I decided not to

[darksaiyangoku]

RWBY Christmas Tales

Episode 3: Dragonslayer: Encounter with a Witcher

Jaune Arc was a knight from the Kingdom of Vale. He served his kingdom well and brought them honour. He was never one to leave his comrades behind. Which is why he was the first one to leave the Crown City when he heard the news that Lance had not made it back. It was Christmas Eve and he had been put on preparation duty for the King. But he couldn't shake this feeling of fear. He had to go and bring his friend back by any means necessary. Riding on his horse, Mavis, he galloped away into the forests. The trees were black from the ashes of grimm that supposedly haunt it. Suddenly, he heard snarling. Drawing his sword, his eyes darted around the area.

Jaune: I know you're here. *huffs* Show yourself!

The snarls turned into roars and, from out of the darkness emerged 3 large, black bears. They had burning red eyes, white skull-like faces and spikes protruding from their backs. Jaune tried to fight every instinct of fear he could. He wanted to run, but he came so far.

Jaune: YAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! *attacks the grimm*

Jaune barely landed a scratch on them. Despite their size, the grimm were quite agile. Jaune tried to go for another slash, but his sword was knocked into snow by the grimm. One of them tried to claw at him, only for Jaune to block the attack with his shield. Even then, he could feel how powerful they really were.

Jaune: *pants and gasps* Damn it! These things don't wanna let up!

One of them roared at Jaune and raised its claws to deliver the killing blow. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

SLASH!!!

Jaune's face suddenly felt warm. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that one of the grimm was screeching in pain. Standing next to it was a woman with golden blonde hair that flowed in the cold wind. She wore an orange scarf, yellow tunic, with black trousers, brown boots and golden-yellow gauntlets. Her eyes were as purple as amethysts and in her hand, she held a broadsword that was lit with a brilliant flame. The grimm stared at her and she made strange movements with her hand. The grimm charged towards her, ready to kill.

Jaune: Get out of the way! You'll die!

From the woman's hand, a small burst of fire shot out and hit the center grimm. Raising her sword, she ran towards the grimm and decapitated them effortlessly. Jaune was at a loss for words. She took them like they were nothing. Soon it clicked with him. The sword, the way she dressed, that spell she cast by tracing something in the air.

Jaune: You're a Witcher, aren't you?

Yang: *turns to him and smiles* Yes, I am. The name's Yang Xiao Long; they call me The Dragon.

Jaune: I see... um, thank you for saving me.

Yang: Hm? You aren't scared of me?

Jaune: Why would I be? You just saved me from a bunch of monsters!

Yang: Witchers don't exactly have the best reputation. Many fear us due our powers.

Jaune: Well that sucks. If you ask me, they're pretty ungrateful.

Yang: *chuckles* You're an interesting guy. So what brings you out into these forests?

Jaune: I'm looking for a friend of mine. His name is Lance, a Knight of Vale. Know anyone by that name?

Yang: Oh I know him. I've been nursing his wounds.

Jaune: Wounds?!

Yang: He had a pretty bad run in with a grimm, and not those small fry like the ursa.

Jaune: *gulps* ...small fry?

Yang: The grimm I'm after is something called Krampus, otherwise known as The Devil of Christmas. *grabs Jaune's hand* Come on! We'd better find him fast.

Jaune: Gah! O-Okay!

#rwby #rwby au #darksaiyangoku rwby christmas specials #christmas #the witcher #jaune arc #yang xiao long #dragonslayer #rwby dragonslayer #dragonslayer rwby #jaune x yang #yang x jaune #jaune arc x yang xiao long #yang xiao long x jaune arc

[the-eeveekins]

2023 Gunpla Recap

I built a lot of Gunpla in 2023! Some of that is because I was unemployed for a month and a half and some of that is because I don't spend a ton of time on each kit. I like gunpla because I can usually build something nice in an afternoon. So without further ado...

RG RX-93ff Nu Gundam

My first build of the year but I didn't "finish" it until I got the Double Fin Funnel expansion set later. While I'm not a big fan of the Nu, I did want to own at least one kit of it, and was intrigued by the ff with it's classic tri-color color scheme. The giant funnel is a little goofy, but the kit itself is fantastic.

RG Tallgeese III

This kit looks fantastic but I hated nearly every minute building it.

MG Char's Z'Gok

Of all the Z'Gok's I've built, this one is my favorite. It's a shame the box got absolutely destroyed during shipping.

HG Gundam Aerial

I couldn't get ahold of an Aerial until after S1 ended. Great kit, but those reverse stickers are a nightmare.

MG Dozle Zabi's Custom Zaku II

This is technically the Dozle Zabi P-Bandai kit, but I really got it as an excuse to build my own custom Zaku II (Teal/black being my favorite color combo and MORE SPIKES!) I haven't finished it yet though.

SD Xiao Qiao GN Archer

I love the Gundam Artemie/GN Archer, tho I'm not a big fan of the Sangoku SD kits. I mostly bought this for my wife, who loves it.

HG Hashmal

The Hasmal is so cool, I'm glad I was finally able to snag one. I kinda gave up once I got to the Pluma though.

HG Demi-Trainer (Holder Custom)

The first kit I ever fully painted, and it shows. Still more or less happy how it turned out, although I forgot to mask the visor when I top coated it x.x

HG Gundam TR-6 [Woundwort] Psycho Blade Custom

My 2nd Woundwort, I had to get it for the fancy V-Fin. I don't like it as much as the original Woundwort though, it definitely loses something in all black.

HG Gundam Aerial Rebuild

I built this at a time when I was seriously considering abandoning the HG line because how much I'd grown to dislike the builds. But this kit was so amazing it rekindled my interest in HGs. I highly recommend it.

MGSD Freedom Gundam

This may be one of my favorite kits this year. Absolutely amazing build with zero stickers. It felt great to assemble, feels great to hold and looks amazing. I hope the MGSD line sticks around because this one was GREAT!

RG Destiny Impulse Gundam

Definitely knew I had to have this one as soon as I saw it. Destiny Impulse is a favorite of mine and it's glorious in kit form. The colors are gorgeous.

FRS Suletta Mercury & Miorine Rembran

Two for one! I had to keep Sulemio together. These were my first FRS kits (poseable figures usually aren't my thing) and they're...okay? I was actually surprised by how much effort the Suletta kit required with it's uniform stickers, and the waterslide decals for the eyes on both were a nightmare. I have the normal uniform Suletta on pre-order, but I'm not in a hurry to build another one.

FM Gundam Aerial (Permet Score Six)

Oh, what a wonderful build. It's not quite a MG on the inside, but it absolutely looks the part on the outside. I painted the shell units blue for that Score Six look, although it doesn't pop as much as I'd like. I hope this line continues.

MG Testament Gundam

The Testament has been a favorite of mine for a long time, so this was a grail kit for me. I wish it was molded in the original white instead of red (and the build was kind of bad), but this kit looks fantastic!

MG Re-GZ Custom

Much like I wanted to build at least 1 Nu Gundam, I also wanted to build at least one Zeta Gundam. I'm not enough of a fan of the Zeta to buy it, but the Re-GZ Custom is IMO the coolest of the Zeta line, especially with the AK-47 Beam rifle.

HG Gundam Calibarn

The Calibarn is now my favorite Gundam, and I love this kit. However, it does require a lot of stickers (the broom thrusters are AWFUL) and/or detail painting to get complete color accuracy, which makes it a little bit of a tedious build, IMO.

HG Demi-Barding

From here on out it's all G-Witch (for a very specific reason). The Barding may have been criminally underutilized in the show, but the kit itself is great! Mind you, it's basically the Demi-Trainer build with a new trim and a fancy backpack.

HG Gundam Pharact

This kit made me fall in love with the Pharact itself, what a great design. Those C Clips are absolutely terrifying though.

HG Gundam Schwarzette

Perhaps my favorite HG kit ever. It's a fun and easy build, looks great with minimal effort, and those thick stickers for the sword are so satisfying to apply. This kit comes with my highest recommendation.

HG Gundam Aerial (Permet Score Six)

I definitely prefer this over the retail Aerial. It still has those reverse stickers, but the glitter effect on the shell unit covers really makes them pop (please do one like this for Calibarn, Bandai).

HG Gundam Excalibarn

My goal was to create a Gundam that used the Aerial's Escutcheon shield, the Schwarzette's Guardian sword and the Calibarn's broom rifle. It's not 100% finished yet, but I'm satisfied with how it's come out so far.

HG Gundam Lfrith Ur

Solid kit, love the teal armor, hate all the sanding.

HG Gundam Lfrith Thorn

Ugly as sin, yet it keeps growing on me over time. More horible sanding, but I want to kitbash it with the Ur someday.

#gunpla #gundam

[aardvark-123]

~How Minh Reclaimed the Sword of Fire from the Castle of Burning Steel~

Many years in the future, in the sundered realm of Massachusetts, the people of a small steading near the eastern coast had come into danger. To their aid came Lady Minh the Dauntless of the Order of the Minute, riding hard upon her fiery yellow steed.

"Every girl's dream! Every girl's dream! Oh, &$@% off," spat Minh, kicking the refurbished Giddyup Buttercup in the shin. "Stupid tiny metal and plastic horse, everything aches down there."

In spite of the... disagreement with her noble steed, Sir Minh came anon to Finch Farm, where the local headman, Abraham of Finch, beseeched her for aid.

"Ours was a happy, peaceful hamlet once. We had little compared to the city people in the south, but we had enough." Abraham wiped a tear from his eye. "But alas, black smoke now rises from yonder Saugus Ironworks. Cruel men have established themselves in there, dwarves and orcs calling themselves the Forged..."

"Dude," said Minh, "what the %£&@ are you talking about? What's an orc, and do you not know women can be raiders?!"

"But alas!" Abraham cut in. "My fearless, foolhardy son Jake, he always seemed to tire of our peaceful ways. He went to them, good knight! He took our clan's ancestral sword, the Infernal Blade of Shish'kebab, and I fear he plans to face those brutes himself... Or what if-?!" Abraham's voice dropped to a terrified whisper. "By the Sun Goddess, if he means to join them?!"

"Well, that wouldn't be great." With a sigh, Minh checked her map. "Saugus Ironworks... I guess can pay them a visit."

With courage in her heart and the light of Lady Evetora shining down upon her, Minh rode to-

"No I DIDN'T, dumbass! I walked! Well, ran. I'm a video game character, we run everywhere."

Oh, Minh, can you at least try to work with me? *sigh* With courage in her heart and the light of Lady Evetora shining down upon her, Minh trekked at a gentle jog to the ancient Ironworks. Lord Saugus, father of the dwarves, had once blessed the castle with his shining hammer, but Minh felt a trickle of fear when its smoking spires rose above her.

An imposing figure in broad, spiked metal armour met her at the gate. "Halt, stranger!" he bellowed in the guttural tones of a Bostonian orc, banging his halberd against the flagstones. "None may enter the seat of the Forged who have not yet been tempered."

"Oh, I'm not here to enter anyone's seat, I'm here for the Dungeons and Dragons game at six. Minh Vu? You might know me as Debbie, um, Xiao Long... The half-elven paladin?" Minh said sweetly.

"Those who steal cool-sounding surnames from cartoons are not worthy!" bellowed the guard. "Your weak flesh will become food for the Forge. Prepare to die!"

The guard surged forwards, but with a swipe and a flick of her nailed baseball bat, Minh had him drawing his last breath upon the ground. Her troubles were only beginning, though, for the warriors of the Forged were charging out to the gate. Tall, well-built orcs and short, well-built dwarves, shouting battle cries and raising a din with their twisted metal armour.

Minh stood her ground. With her longbow, enchanted by the elves of Sanctuary Hills, she opened fire on the enemy ranks, wounding many. Yet the Forged were no mere rabble, and they pressed upon her with bombs and gouts of flame, conjured by some foul, arcane engineering.

Poor Minh so nearly was roasted in her jumpsuit, but she was not to be defeated by overwhelming power alone. Fleeing into the shadows, Minh called upon the mystic aim-taking magic of the Vault Priests, and one by one she picked off her pursuers with burning red arrows. Exhausted, she fell upon the cold, muddy grass and into fitful dreams.

When she awoke from her impromptu nap, Minh found herself in unfamiliar surroundings. It was hot, although the jagged stone bricks and the faint morning sun through the stained glass windows suggested it should not be.

"Ah, the good lady of Sanctuary Hills awakens."

Minh sat up with a gasp, reaching for her bat. "Who are you?!"

"Fear not, Sir Minh. I am a servant, but I can assure you that I am no ally to Lord Slag and his Forged."

Minh's eyes were wide with amazement. Before her stood a heavy-set metal creature, an orange crystal glowing upon their head. "A Protectron? Juuuuust great. Where the Hell am I, exactly?"

"You are in the Saugus Ironworks," the good-natured atronach replied. "I carried you here, to a room where few warriors tread, that my masters would not discover you outside when dawn broke."

"The %&£$'s an atronach? I mean, thanks for..." Minh cleared her throat. "Did you dip my hat in white paint?"

"Your helmet is being washed, good sir knight. But we have more pressing matters," said the atronach. "Lord Slag is about to execute young Jake of Clan Finch, on the flimsy reasoning that the Infernal Blade of Shish'kebab was too easy a tribute to give."

"Tribute... Ugh, so he DID want to join up!" Minh groaned. "Why do people have to become Raiders? I mean, I guess it's fun, what kind of LIFE are they gonna have?!" She paused. "A short one. Thanks in part to me. I'd better go and talk him out of it."

Thanking the noble atronach for his aid, Sir Minh alighted from the bowels of the fortress. With cat-like tread, she snuck through the keep, feeling all the while as though the air was growing hotter around her...

Lord Slag had been waiting in the heart of the castle, on a gilded balcony above a lake of molten steel. His armour was like nothing Minh had yet seen, thick pieces of metal tied and riveted together into a tower, a scrapheap of fury and might. And kneeling at his side, trembling in a battered old rain coat, was Jake of House Finch.

"Ahh! At last, the great hero approaches!" Slag crowed in a voice like thunder. Not an orc but a man was he, and a formidable one at that. "Sir Minh of the Minute, what a fine name for a fine warrior. It seems my Forged had not the means to keep you away..."

"Cool," Minh lied. "I'm here for Jake and that sword. Do you wanna do this the hard way, or-"

"I am not an unkind man," Slag lied, "so hear my offer. By slaying my warriors, you have proven yourself a worthier man-"

"Woman!"

"Shut up. You have proven yourself a worthier man than all who fell before you. Worthy, perhaps, to be Forged! I offer you a test, Minh, one final show of loyalty." Grinning savagely, Slag picked Jake up by the collar and threw him to the floor below. "Kill this useless mongrel. Take his head and become my right-hand man!"

Minh smacked her forehead. "Do you even know what 'woman' means?!"

"Of course I- Er...?" Slag squinted down at her. "Oh! M-my apologies, good lady. I, er, that is to say, your hair is so short..."

Minh chucked a grenade at him.

Sound and heat filled the chamber, yet when the smoke from Minh's flame spell faded, Slag still stood. He strode, laughing, towards her, stepping on Jake in the process. Narrowing her eyes, Minh unsheathed her baseball bat and advanced on the dread lord of Saugus Ironworks.

"You had your chance, Minh," Slag laughed. He unsheathed a bright metal sword that caught fire when its blade met the air. "Now you will learn the truth of the Forge, that the strong are tempered by fire and pain, while the fate of the weak is but to melt!"

The Infernal Blade of Shish'kebab...! Minh fought to keep surprise off her chiselled face. "The Order of the Minute taught me this, Slag. The strong are not only the iron bars who become shields and axes! Sometimes the strong are the kind hands who weave cotton into a bed, coax good crops from the earth, and give comfort to the sick. But today, the strong is I, who shall deliver your evil unto its end!"

The thought ocurred to Minh, What the Hell am I saying?! No, seriously, what WAS that?!, but the time for words was past. Burning steel met wood and nails as she gave battle with Slag, beating away his savage strikes and scoring scratches into his armour. But Slag was strong, and rallying well he forced her back towards the wall.

Drinking a vial of Psycho Jet, the elixir she had been given by a witch from the Cambridge Institute of Thaumaturgy, Minh leapt over Slag's head onto the upper balcony. The mahogany shuddered beneath her boots, but it held, and she raised a hand alight with magic.

"Eat bottlecap mine, screwball!" roared Minh, and she threw her, um, arcane rune at Slag's feet. Mystic energy and the tops of around ten Nuka Cola bottles filled the chamber as Slag's armour was reduced to dust.

"Gaaahhhh!" Slag cried out in pain. "Such power...! You should have been mine, Minh. You should have been Forged! But I am lord of Saugus Ironworks, and only I will see the next dawn. Behold the true power of Lord Slag! Behold dragon fire!"

While Slag had been making his grand speech, Minh had been scampering down the walkways until she saw him directly overhead. She pulled from her bag a mystical staff of Lexingtonian make, the powerful Double-Barrelled Shotgun, and took aim at Slag's feet.

"&%£$ yeah! How d'you like them holes in your feet, asshole?!" Minh rejoiced. She could take no pleasure in vanquishing this great foe, for near him lay young Jake of Clan Finch, coughing his last few breaths with a footprint pressed deep into his chest.

"Jake..." Minh sighed. "Tough break, kid. I can't believe he trod on you!"

"Nor can... I..." groaned Jake, dying.

It was a solemn moment when Minh bent down over the body of her slain foe, his heart silent, his feet bleeding through their socks. Slowly, carefully, she untied Slag's belt from around his stout waist and took the Infernal Blade of Shish'kebab's asbestos sheath.

She picked up the discarded sword and sheathed it, cradling it in her hands for a moment before she slung it from her own laden belt. As Minh headed out of the castle, her footsteps echoing in halls now cold and silent, she thought only of the poor Finches, down one son, and how Abraham was probably going to want the Infernal Blade back before she'd even got to try it.

"I-I get to keep the sword?! Thank you, Todd!" squealed Minh, kissing Abraham on the lips.

"I-I'm not Todd! I'm Abraham!" gasped Abraham, furiously wiping his mouth.

"And he's married!" cried Abigail. "To me!"

"Oh, I know! Don't worry, I could never compete with you," Minh lied. "Sorry about your son, guys. I was... too late for him."

"Dear Jake... The pain of his loss will remain with us forever," sighed Abigail. "But know this, Sir Minh. Thanks to you, a dark cloud has lifted over the land today, and perhaps... Perhaps now someone else's son will keep his precious life. You and and your order have our gratitude."

"Will you stay for the night?" asked Abraham. "We have mead and Fancy Lads Snack Cakes, surely not the fare you are accustomed to, but..."

"I do believe I will." Minh smiled. "Thanks, Abraham, Abigail, and the other one. Give me a minute, I need to get my stupid horse watered..."

#Fallout #Fallout 4 #my writing #fun with pixels #gaming

[redmayniac-roleplayer]

Character aesthetics tags

Tagged by: @sigynthevictorious

Xiao ManChu (epic au)

colors ;

red / orange / yellow / green / blue / purple / pink / brown / black / white / grey / silver / gold / bronze / metallic / matte / royal blue / forest green / blood red / navy blue / cream / mint green / neons / pastels / jewel tones

body ;

claws / long fingers / fangs / teeth / wings / tails / lips / bare feet / freckles / bruises / scars / scratches / wounds / burns / spikes / feathers / webs / fur / eyes / hands / heart / blood / sweat / tears / animalistic / thin / lithe / chubby / curvy / short / tall / average height / muscular / piercings / tattoos / body modifications

weapons ;

fists / sword / dagger / knives / spear / bow / crossbow / hammer / shield / poison / gun / axe / throwing weapons / whip / pepper spray / tasers / canon / catapult / slingshot / explosives / nunchaku / mace / staff / shadows / wand / magic / magical item / non-magical powers / stone / teeth / nails / fear

materials ;

gold / silver / platinum / titanium / diamonds / pearls / rubies / sapphires / emeralds / amethyst / iron / rust / steel / pyrite / glass / wood / porcelain / paper / wool / fur / lace / leather / silk / velvet / denim / linen / cotton / charcoal / clay / stone / asphalt / brick / marble / dust / glitter / blood / dirt / mud / smoke / ash / shadow / rubber / synthetics

animals ;

lions / wolves / eagles / owls / bears / boars / falcons / hawks / swans / snakes / turtles / ducks / bugs / spiders / crickets / sparrows / whales / dolphins / fish / sharks / horses / cats / dogs / rabbits / mantises / crows / ravens / mice / rats / lizards / foxes / peacocks / livestock / werewolves / unicorns / pegasi / dragons / gryphons

food & drink ;

sugar / salt / candy / bubblegum / wine / champagne / hard liquor / beer / coffee / tea / milk / spices / herbs / apples / oranges / lemons / cherries / strawberries / watermelons / berries / bread / vegetables / meats / fish / ambrosia / pies / cakes / desserts / vanilla / chocolate / honey / cream / caramel / nuts / cinnamon / hamburgers / burritos / pizza / french fries

hobbies ;

music / art / theater / gardening / woodworking / smithing / sculpting / painting / sketching / fighting / riding / reading / writing / composing / cooking / sewing / training / dancing / acting / singing / martial arts / self-defense / sports / technology / cameras / video games / movies / comics / cds / vinyls / cassettes / piano / strings / guitar / harmonica / harp / woodwinds / brass / percussion / gambling / chess / biking / climbing / running / exploring / hunting / caregiving

style ;

lingerie / leotard / cape / dress / tunic / vest / dress shirt / sweater / boots / heels / leggings / trousers / jeans / skirt / earrings / necklace / choker / bracelet / ring / pendant / hat / crown / circlet / helmet / scarf / brocade / cloaks / corsets / doublet / armor / bracers / belt / sash / fur coat / leather jacket / duster / trench coat / hood / gloves / socks / stockings / mask / cowls / braces / wristwatch / pocket-watch / glasses / sunglasses / contacts / makeup / blindfold / eye-patch / uniform

misc ;

balloons / bubbles / cityscape / light / dark / candles / war / peace / greed / wealth / power / clocks / photographs / mirrors / pets / journals / madness / sanity / sadness / happiness / optimism / pessimism / nihilism / kindness / loneliness / family / friends / allies / followers / enemies / smoking / drugs / love / revenge / living / dead / undead / immortal / heartless

Tagging: @hiccuphaddockswife @wehavefoundthestars @helenabennet

#xiao manchu #rp #role play #roleplay #aesthetic #aesthetics #tag #sigynthevictorious #wang ruichang #wang rui chang #hc #headcanon

[vigilant-shadow]

‘regress’

The small yaksha was so, so lost in the woods. And calling for his siblings wasn't yielding any results. Could they not hear him? Was he too far away? Xiao wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case, after all, it wasn't the first time he jad wandered off away. Surely he'd find them again! He couldn't be that lost, he was still in Liyue!

Walking ahead, the small boy stopped a little ways away from a blond man who, for all intents and purposes, looked to be deep in thought. Or maybe he was just lost too? Xiao couldn't really tell. He could tell, however, that the man wasn't from Liyue, and that he'd heard Bosacius talk about someone who seemed to look very similar to him, when he visited that odd nation- Khaen'ria, was it? The energy around this man seemed similar to the residue on his brother too, so, maybe this man was from there?

"Hello there! Are you lost too?" He asked, approaching slowly. The boy seemed to be dressed in a black hanfu with a teal swirl design, long hair tied off at the bottom, with the neon teal strands left to hang and frame his face, bangs spiked neatly and a small flower crown made of Qingxins and branches atop the boy's head.

@reginrokkr

#reginrokkr #Dain gets the most open and energetic bby Xiao #before the fall young xiao #//Hope this is good! #The beautiful bloom of Khaen'ria- Dainsleif

[jokerfan99]

Cowboy Bebop Rwby Crossover PT2 by GooBlessings

yes another bebop and RWBY crossover....because....Its fun. now my logic behind this was to Keep Ruby as Ed due to my Previous post. Yang as Jet because of the Prosthetic arm. which left me with Blake and Weiss...Made Weiss as Faye purely because I KNOW Weiss would NEVER wear that outfit and found it hilarious to do. which....made Blake as spike XP sooo yea! i’m sure other people would do it some other way for others reasons! All versions are good versions XP

Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/gooblessings

#cowboy bebop #sunrise #shinichiro watanabe #spike spiegel #faye valentine #edward wong hau pepelu tivrusky iv #jet black #rwby #Rooster Teeth #monty oum #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long

[silvers-smuttery]

Rules

I decide what I wanna write. I reserve the right to cancel RPs and dismiss asks if I don't find them appealing.

I write my muses the way I like, according to my headcanons. Be aware of how I write them, before you send an ask. You are welcome to ask me.

No god-modding in the asks. Put my muse in lewd situations, but don't tell me how they act or react!

I do enjoy a bit of setup to get a sense of the scene and inspire me. The less details you give on what your muse does, the harder things get for me, and the more likely your ask gets dismissed.

For the sake of smut, most couples are in open relationships and screw around with other people. BUT if you are shipping muses into a relationship or make them date, I have to agree with the ship myself. Feel free to ask me on my opinions on ships.

If you want to RP, send the starter to my ask box and I'll respond when I am ready.

I won't write Scat, Gore, Blackmail (unless specifically asked) or NTR, though more consensual cucking is still on the table.

Writing many and multiple muses honestly is exhausting. I'd rather write just two muses and focus on them, than speeding through more than that. Two muses is the limit. Three characters tops, but the ask needs to be really good.

If you've read my rules and want to interact, send me [Pineapple Pizza]

I am not completely adverse to writing OCs, but I do prefer canon characters. Also, I have to at least know what they're like. Please ask beforehand if you want to use an OC to see if I'm even in the mood for OCs. I will not go out of my way to do research on yours.

DO NOT spam-like my picture reblogs. It's annoying and makes you look like a bot.

I don't answer to simple, one-word messages in the DMs. If you want something, just say it. Don't be meek and hide your intentions behind civil conversation.

Muse List

My Hero Academia

Ochako Uraraka, Momo Yaoyorozu, Mina Ashido, La Brava, Mei Hatsume, Midnight, Mitsuki Bakugou, Inko Midoriya, Nejire Hadou, Himiko Touga,

Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugou, Shoto Todoroki, Kirishima Eijiro, Denki Kaminari, Mirio Togata, Minoru Mineta

RWBY

Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, Nora Valkyrie, Penny Polendina, Emerald Sustrai, Salem, Neon Katt, Glynda, Winter, Willow, Reese Chloris

Prof Ruby, Prof Weiss, Prof Yang, Milf Nora, Prof Penny

Sun Wukong, Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow, Mercury,

One Piece

Nami, Nico Robin, Boa Hancock, Carrot, Perona, Marguerite, Jewelry Bonney, O-Kiku, Ulti, Yamato, Uta

Comic Books/Superheroes

Harley Quinn, Power Girl, Zatanna, Poison Ivy, Raven, Starfire, Bumblebee, Blackfire, Jinx, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Black Cat, Captain Marvel, Sue Storm, Wasp (EMH), Helen Parr, Violet Parr

Dick Greyson (Robin/Nightwing), Red Hood, Tim Drake, Superman, Killer Croc, Bane, Beast Boy, Spiderman, Miles Morales, Venom, Hulk, Thor, Batman

My Little Pony/EQG

Mane 6 (mainly Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy), Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer, Celestia, Luna, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Lyra, Bonbon, probably various others

Shining Armor, Big Mac, Gallus, Spike

Overwatch

Tracer, Mei, Mercy, D.Va

Roadhog, Junkrat

Avatar

Katara, Toph, Azula, Ty Lee,

Aang, Sokka, maybe Zuko

Soul Eater

Maka Albarn, Tsubaki, Liz Thompson, Crona Gorgon, Medusa Gorgon

Persona 5

Ann Takamaki, Makoto Nijima, Futaba Sakura, Sae Nijima, Tae Takemi, Yoshizawa, Sadayo Kawakami,

Pokémon

Generally accepting of pretty much all girls and Pokémon. Yes, Poképhilia too.

Adventure Time

Marceline, Princess Bubblegum, Huntress Wizard, Fionna the Human

Finn the Human

Disney

Pacifica Northwest, Wendy Corduroy, Mabel Pines, Tambry, Jackie Lynn Thomas, Hekapoo, Snow White, Rapunzel, Tinkerbelle

Dipper Pines, Marco Diaz, Flynn Rider, Aladdin,

Nintendo

Smash: Samus, Dark Samus, Palutena, Wii Fit Trainer, Byleth,

Fe3H: Byleth, Bernadetta, Dorothea, Mercedes, Annette, Hilda, Flayn, Rhea, Dimitri, Ashe, Silvain, Felix, Ferdinand, Linhardt, Raphael, Yuri, Constance

Dragon Quest: Jade, Serena, Veronica, Mia, Luminary, Erik,

Misc

Android 18, Bulma, Chichi, Noelle Silva, Trixie Tang, Frankie Foster, Stocking, Darkness, Aqua, Rouge the Bat, Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, Spinel, Priyanka Maheswaran, Tsunade, Hinata Hyuga, Lucoa, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Gogo Tomago, Honey Lemon, Millie (Helluva Boss), Verosika, Loona, Astolfo, Seras Victoria, Revy (Black Lagoon), Judy Hopps, Rebecca, Tatsumaki

Kazuma (Konosuba), Hiro (BH6),

Kink list:

stuff in public, exhibitionism, voyeurism, misogyny, patriarchy, pregnancy, analplay, edging, rimjobs, Futanari, breast and ass envy, twerking, musk & loving relationships full of trust, commitment & sexy times

Open RP Starters

Alternate Universes:

RWBY Highschool AU, Free Use AU, Misogyny AU, Bimbofication AU, Faunus AU

#muse list #my muses #blog rules #mood #rp meme #drabble prompt #gif starters #au #alternate universe #my ocs #my memes #open starter #commission

[dragoonbutched]

CHRISMAS 2022

Hope everyone enjoys Christmas

#Christmas cards #xmastime #xmas #Christmas #mercury black #yang xiao long #yang x mercury #mercury x yang #ocs #spike black xiao long #qing xiao long black #rwby au #meloni black xiao long #rwby fanart

[zintranslations]

Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 125

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Novel Updates

Chapter 125: Fish-Eaters

As for the outcome of this battle…Lin Qiushi slowly approached the doorway and looked in through the door crack.

He found the inside of the room completely enveloped in darkness, but could still make out the mess all over. Furniture was scattered all over the floor, but the most eye-catching piece was—lying in the center—the fishman that looked on the brink of death. It was the yellow-eyed fish monster Lin Qiushi had seen only yesterday inside this room. It was still alive, but its breaths were already quite weak. Even when Lin Qiushi stepped closer, it didn't give off any reaction.

Lin Qiushi was still careful though, especially when approaching the fish. They didn't know if it still had any fight left in it, after all.

The good thing was that the situation was a bit better than they'd anticipated—the monster's body was covered in a myriad of injuries. Its blood wasn't red, either, but an unfortunate inky green that was both viscous and rancid. The monster lied on the floor, not reacting at all as Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu got close. Even when the two were standing right in front of it, it didn't so much as twitch.

Ruan Nanzhu stared in silence for a bit, before sticking a foot out and stepping on its skin. When he saw that it still wasn't reacting, he said, "it's almost dead."

"Mh." Lin Qiushi inspected the monster, watching as its breaths grew weaker and weaker. In the end, the airy rhythm also halted, and it died just like that. That was when Lin Qiushi got out a dining knife. "I'll do it."

"Wait," Ruan Nanzhu said suddenly.

Lin Qiushi looked back. He thought Ruan Nanzhu would say something to stop him, but instead Ruan Nanzhu only pulled a pair of plastic gloves out of his backpack and handed them to Lin Qiushi.

"Put on the gloves. Don't get its liquids on you."

The dark green liquid flowing out of the fish-monster was indeed unpleasant to look at; it was best to avoid physical contact as much as they could, since they didn't know what the consequences would be.

Lin Qiushi nodded, took the gloves, and put them on. Dining knife in hand and half-crouched on the ground, he began cutting off that spike-like thing on the top of the fish-monster's head.

His motions were careful, constantly alert to any movements from the fish-monster, afraid that it would get suddenly violent again before actually dying.

But fortunately, throughout the time it took for Lin Qiushi to remove that spike from the monster's head, it didn't react at all. In fact, it was already dead—though its pair of big yellow eyes remained wide open, there were already no signs of breathing in its body.

Lin Qiushi got up and handed the spike in his hands to Ruan Nanzhu. Then he took the gloves off and tossed them to the side.

It was a long, sharp spike, about half a meter in length. It was very hard, and could easily puncture a hole in a solid plank of wood. Black bloodstains covered the thing, and it was easy to imagine that during the battle, it too must have left quite a number of injuries on the white-eyed monster.

Ruan Nanzhu wrapped the spike up in a plastic bag and very carefully put it in his backpack.

Lin Qiushi said: "The string, the long sword, and the aperitif. It's all ready."

Ruan Nanzhu looked up at the sky and said, "we'll wait until evening then."

Lin Qiushi nodded.

The three of them walked up to the top deck and found a place to sit and chat. The rest of the people were still traversing the cabin, searching for clues to the door and key.

"This door seems kind of easy," Gu Longming said.

"How was it easy?" Ruan Nanzhu replied tepidly. "If Linlin hadn't found the clue about the insects, we'd likely still be completely turned around right now."

Toward the insect-covered NPC, everybody's instinctive reactions would be to avoid him, not knowing that he was actually the key to getting out.

"True." Gu Longming scratched his head. "You're both amazing."

Ruan Nanzhu asked, "what's your real name?"

At Ruan Nanzhu's question, Gu Longming first startled, and then looked giddy. He knew what it meant that Ruan Nanzhu was asking for his real name—that Ruan Nanzhu was agreeing to let him join Obsidian. Someone stronger that Lin Qiushi…Gu Longming laughed, and told them his real name:

"My real name is Ye Niao."

Ruan Nanzhu nodded his understanding.

"Once we get out of this door, I'll go and find you."

"You know where I live?" Gu Longming asked peculiarly.

"Of course I do," Ruan Nanzhu said. "I wouldn't have let my Linlin cross doors with you otherwise."

Not only did he know where Gu Longming lived, but he also knew Gu Longming's real name. These questions of his were only to test Gu Longming's sincerity.

Gu Longming: "…" He really didn't know what to say at the moment.

Due to everything that happened in the past few days, the number of people who gathered to eat in the dining room once again decreased; there was only a scattered few sitting at the table.

These people sat in the dining room scantly eating, but the atmosphere was at least fairly cordial.

Ruan Nanzhu's group didn't eat any fish, of course. What Lin Qiushi couldn't understand was that the others didn't seem to be as repulsed by the fish as they once were. The guy who'd been seasick, even, had a couple of bites of fish today.

"You don't think it's gross?" Gu Longming couldn't help but ask the person sitting beside him.

"I don't think it's as gross as I imagined." For the past few days, Shen Juexin had been throwing up an inhuman amount, but he seemed in better shape today. His face, at least, was no longer wax-yellow. He said, "Ooh…I think I feel much better now."

Lin Qiushi said, "it's better if you stop eating. The fish doesn't look fresh at all."

Shen Juexin scratched his head: "It's fine, isn't it?"

Then he took another bite with no sign of disgust.

Watching Shen Juexin's motions, Lin Qiushi felt conflicted. He'd tasted the fish before, and it really was disgusting—and he could still smell the same fishy stench, so he imagined the taste hadn't changed. He just didn't know why Shen Juexin now thought the fish before him was fine…

Just as Lin Qiushi was contemplating this, he saw Ruan Nanzhu pick up some chopsticks—then Ruan Nanzhu too had gotten a bite of the fish and set it in his mouth.

"Zhu Meng?!" Lin Qiushi was startled by Ruan Nanzhu's actions. He didn't think Ruan Nanzhu too would taste the fish.

After swallowing it, Ruan Nanzhu's brows furrowed.

"…It really isn't bad anymore."

"Isn't bad?" Lin Qiushi felt that something was off. After he heard this, he too gave it a try, and made sure that the fish meat still had no other flavors but that gamy rot. "But it's still bad…Hang on…"

He looked at Ruan Nanzhu, eyes filled with disbelief.

"Unless the aperitif is random?"

Ruan Nanzhu was silent, his chopsticks poking at the fish on his plate.

There were still eleven people alive, and seven of them were seated in the dining room. Not counting Ruan Nanzhu, there were at least three of the seven sitting with chopsticks in hand, feasting on the fish. And judging from their expressions, it wasn't a hardship at all; in fact the fish looked to be delicious.

Lin Qiushi had a bad feeling about this. He said: "Zhu Meng, don't eat anymore. Let's go back to our room."

But Ruan Nanzhu didn't move. His eyes were downcast, gaze falling on the fish in front of him, as if it held some immense power of attraction that made it so he couldn't easily set it down.

His behavior sent chills down Lin Qiushi's spine. Lin Qiushi shot Gu Longming a look, and Gu Longming understood without speaking, taking one of Ruan Nanzhu's arms with Lin Qiushi on the other side and pulling him by force out of the dining room.

And then the three found a random room. Once inside, Lin Qiushi pulled the bedsheets off in a rush and tied Ruan Nanzhu firmly to a chair.

Luckily, as Lin Qiushi did all this, Ruan Nanzhu's behavior stayed calm. The most he did was bunch up that pretty brow of his and ask, "what are you tying me up for?"

Very calmly, Lin Qiushi replied: "I'm scared that you'll eat the fish."

Ruan Nanzhu didn't say anymore. He cocked his head, agitation appearing amidst his expression as if he too didn't really understand why he now liked eating fish. Lin Qiushi thought he'd say something about it but in the end, he didn't, only saying, "alright then."

It seemed that this door had been too easy—so easy that they'd let down their guards. Lin Qiushi told Gu Longming to bring Ruan Nanzhu out into the hallway to prevent being carried away by the changing rooms. As for himself, he returned to the dining room, and discovered that pretty much everybody inside had started eating the fish in their plates.

What had originally been bland and faintly rotted fish meat were now, in their eyes, some kind of rare delicacy; they feasted with their heads buried, completely unaware of Lin Qiushi's arrival.

Lin Qiushi took one look before taking off. When he got to the top deck, he saw Xiao Mo from before crouched by herself in a corner, her face pale. When she saw him coming she met his eyes with a panicked gaze.

"What happened?" Lin Qiushi asked her.

"The kitchen…" Xiao Mo spoke up, her voice faint. "Something's happened…the kitchen…"

"What?" Lin Qiushi said. "What happened?"

"It's like they'd all gone crazy." Xiao Mo kept her distance from Lin Qiushi, like she was scared of being close to anybody right now. "They're eating the fish. They're all eating the fish like they're crazy."

Though it was just a few sentences, Lin Qiushi still understood the full meaning of Xiao Mo's words. He nodded and said: "Alright, I understand. Take care of yourself."

Xiao Mo: "Are…are you going over there?"

Lin Qiushi: "Mhm. I'm going to go take a look."

Xiao Mo didn't say anything more.

Lin Qiushi turned and headed for the kitchen beside the dining room. The kitchen's position was also fixed, and the thick fishy stink could be smelled before even getting there.

Lin Qiushi's feet stopped at the kitchen doorway, and he didn't go inside. From there he heard an odd chewing sound coming from within. Through the window, he saw the horrifying scene.

Several people were squatting on the ground with their faces buried in a giant fish. The fish hadn't been cooked in any way, and appeared a faint, dead white; red veins could still be seen among the flesh. But the three people inside didn't seem to care at all, putting their whole faces practically inside the meat. Their expressions of fulfillment could faintly be seen, as if the fish in front of them was some truly delicious food.

Lin Qiushi could take a lot, but even he felt a wave of nausea at a sight like this.

He took a deep breath and steadied his mind before stepping into the kitchen and calling out: "Are you guys alright?" He wanted to see if these people were still conscious.

But the reality before him doused his hopes. It was like the people in front of him hadn't heard him at all, their attentions staying rapt on the fish meat. None of them even looked up. It was obvious they had already deviated far from the norm.

Seeing such a scene, something immediately came to Lin Qiushi's mind, and he turned and left. He was worried about Ruan Nanzhu, worried that these same changes would take place on Ruan Nanzhu's body.

After Lin Qiushi left, Gu Longming had brought Ruan Nanzhu outside into the hallway with the chair. The hallways didn't change, and so when Lin Qiushi came back, he saw Ruan Nanzhu still sitting in the seat. Only, Ruan Nanzhu's expression wasn't looking so good.

"Zhu Meng," Lin Qiushi called to him. "Hang in there. You'll be fine after tonight."

"But I'm really hungry." Ruan Nanzhu hung his head, and a tendril of hair curled at his cheek, making him look both weak and fragile with a pitiful air that was hard to refuse. He was biting his lips, and there was a watery light flickering in his eyes. "Linlin, I want to eat something."

Lin Qiushi got food out of his bag in a hurry, but when he put it to Ruan Nanzhu's mouth, Ruan Nanzhu just pressed his lips together.

"No. I don't want to eat that."

"Then what do you want to eat?" Lin Qiushi asked.

"I want to eat fish," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Let me have some, please?"

He looked up slightly, gazing at Lin Qiushi with wanting eyes.

To tell the truth, had it been anything else, Lin Qiushi would likely have caved immediately when faced with a Ruan Nanzhu like this. But in this situation, he had no choice but to steel himself and say, "no."

Ruan Nanzhu's pitiful expression disappeared in an instant, his eyes going icy and his voice going just as terrifyingly cold: "Lin Qiushi, do you know what you're doing?"

This was the Ruan Nanzhu from outside the door: impervious and haughty, like a god looking down upon ants.

"I do." But Lin Qiushi was unmoved. He reached out and lifted Ruan Nanzhu's head by the chin, enunciating each and every word: "I know exactly what I'm doing. You want to eat fish? Don't even think about."

Ruan Nanzhu glared at Lin Qiushi's eyes like he was trying to find the slightest bit of wavering in Lin Qiushi's gaze. But evidently, he failed, voice softening again: "Linlin, Linlin, but I really really want to eat fish…"

His attitude went back and forth like so, but Lin Qiushi stayed steely and completely unmoved.

Watching from the sidelines, Gu Longming was impressed as well. He said, "Damn Linlin, you can withstand all that?"

Lin Qiushi: "What am I meant to do if I can't? Let him go eat the fish?"

He told Gu Longming what happened in the dining room and kitchen, and afterwards, Gu Longming scrunched up his face.

"Why this sudden development…" He seemed to think of something. "Could it be some kind of acceleration effect after the yellow-eyed fishman's death?"

"I don't know." Lin Qiushi glanced at the time—there were still four hours until evening. They had to make it through these four hours.

He could practically see the shadow of the people gobbling up fish meat on Ruan Nanzhu. Lin Qiushi roughly calculated that there were no more than four people still normal on the entire ship; everybody else seemed to have been possessed.

No matter how much Ruan Nanzhu threatened or tempted, Lin Qiushi acted like he couldn't hear a thing. In the end Ruan Nanzhu seemed a bit tired and stopped talking altogether, sitting in the chair in silence.

So Lin Qiushi began preparing for the task that night.

The entire ship was currently full of the aperitif. The long sword was in his hands, and the string had also appeared; he was just like a knight about to enter the labyrinth to rescue the princess—though it seemed the current case was that he'd tied his princess to a chair with his own two hands.

Seeing Ruan Nanzhu's condition, Gu Longming sighed and scratched his head.

"That's just really weird. You and I have both tasted the fish before, so why is Zhu Meng the one affected?"

Lin Qiushi indicated that he also didn't know.

There must be some hidden condition—maybe only those who hadn't tasted the fish were affected. But it was all only speculation for now, and the answer to their speculations wasn't important. The important thing was that they finished this door as quickly as possible. Lin Qiushi couldn't keep Ruan Nanzhu tied up forever, after all.

It was the first time he so anticipated an evening. Once he saw the sky gradually darken, Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming moved the tied-up Ruan Nanzhu back inside a room, chair and all.

Ruan Nanzhu still wasn't speaking. Lin Qiushi understood him, however, and could tell from his eyes that Ruan Nanzhu still hadn't given up.

"Linlin," Ruan Nanzhu suddenly spoke.

Lin Qiushi glanced at him.

"Linlin, are you going off to defeat him alone?" Ruan Nanzhu said. "I'm worried about you going on your own. Won't you let me go with you please?"

"No," Lin Qiushi said. "See? You're lying to me again."

Ruan Nanzhu kept up the righteous tone, saying: "I'm not lying. When you go fight, I'll be behind you watching your back."

Listening to the way Ruan Nanzhu spoke, Lin Qiushi thought he ought to be angry, but couldn't help a laugh instead: "Watch my back? You mean while I kill the monster up front, you'll be behind me eating fish?"

Ruan Nanzhu peeked once at Lin Qiushi, and said nothing more.

"Does the fish taste that good?" Lin Qiushi asked him.

Ruan Nanzhu pouted, still silent.

"Does it taste better than me?" Lin Qiushi asked some more.

"Of course you taste better," Ruan Nanzhu mumbled. At the present, his whole manner was off. It was like he was a little kid. "But I'm just too hungry right now, and I can't eat you, I'd be too sad."

Lin Qiushi laughed.

Beside them, Gu Longming could only eat up the dog food in silence, thinking aah, they can't do that, shit's already hit the fan and they still have to flaunt this flood of love.

Lin Qiushi watched the dimming sky outside and inwardly counted themselves lucky that he and Gu Longming were still normal. Otherwise, this door would've been a real problem.

By the time it got dark, Ruan Nanzhu was a lot quieter, staring peacefully out the window. Lin Qiushi initially thought that after he got some rest, he'd pester them to eat fish some more—but then he fell asleep.

"Should we put him on the bed?" Gu Longming asked Lin Qiushi quietly. Ruan Nanzhu had been tied up all day, after all.

But after some thought, Lin Qiushi shook his head.

"No. Keep him tied up." He couldn't be sure if Ruan Nanzhu was actually sleeping right now—if the bastard was faking it, then considering his fighting prowess, even Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming together might not be able to keep him down.

Plus it was nearly night. The monster was due to appear, and if Ruan Nanzhu got out, something could easily happen.

"I should still go with you," Gu Longming said, watching Lin Qiushi fetch the long spike from the bags. "We can watch each other's backs."

Lin Qiushi shook his head and rejected Gu Longming's suggestion: "You stay here to watch him. If I can't manage alone, then you being with me won't be much help. Plus, he's not in a good state, someone needs to be guarding him."

Seeing Lin Qiushi's determination, Gu Longming could say nothing more but a wish of good luck.

Lin Qiushi nodded, taking Gu Longming's blessings.

Once the night dimmed, Lin Qiushi kept an ear out for motion outside. Finally, he caught onto a faint sound. It was a sound he'd heard many times already—a large creature moving across wooden floor boards.

Lin Qiushi looked at Gu Longming.

"I'm heading out."

Gu Longming: "Go on, Ge, I'll take good care of my sister-in-law."

Lin Qiushi: "…" Why did that sound so wrong?

Seeing Lin Qiushi's expression, Gu Longming laughed quietly.

"Alright, it was only a joke. And as if there's a sister situation here at all. Godspeed, come back soon.

Lin Qiushi opened the door and headed out. He went to the dining room first.

The dining room was the starting point of the maze. It was also the starting point of the insect string; by following the line of insects from there, he could find the monster.

Lin Qiushi took the long sword and followed the string carefully forward. Following his stride, he quickly began to hear an unpleasant noise. It sounded like a wild beast was gnawing on meat, and the only source of meat on the ship was…

Across the width of the top deck, Lin Qiushi found his target.

It was a giant fish-monster, its body buff and covered in ink-colored scales. Only, compared to yesterday, there were many more wounds on its body. Lin Qiushi naturally knew where these wounds came from.  At this moment, all of the fishman's attention was on the chewed up mess of a human body beneath its feet. It didn't seem to have noticed Lin Qiushi carefully approaching from behind.

Lin Qiushi knew this was his only chance, so he was at once cautious and filled with ruthless determination. He took the long horn in hand and slowly lifted it—then he plunged downwards, piercing right through the fishman's neck.

The fishman let out a ghastly screech. Black blood gushed from its body before it collapsed limply onto the ground.

But Lin Qiushi didn't trust that; after the fishman fell he followed up with a bunch more aggressive stabs. Only when he was sure of its complete and total death did he exhale in relief.

He stood where he was, resting for a minute, before using the spike in his hands to split the fishman's stomach open. He endured his disgust as he searched all over, and finally, amidst the wreckage of offal, found what he was looking for—a green bronze key that looked completely normal. Though there was nothing special about the way it looked, in Lin Qiushi's current eyes, there was nothing in this world cuter than this very key.

He picked the key up, put it in his pocket, and left the deck.

[Ch. 124] | [Ch. 126]

#kaleidoscope of death #xi zixu #cnovel #chinese translation #死亡萬花筒

[kastlequill]

— overview

➤ dc animated universe (jlu, utrh) ➤ cdramas (tlb, lbfad) ➤ euphoria (2019) ➤ call of duty (mw, mw2, ghosts) ➤ across the spider-verse ➤ resident evil (re2r, 4r, 6) ➤ jujutsu kaisen ➤ misc (sw)

— status

» currently writing

➜ that human, that demon: chapter three — 9.1k (ghost) • nec spe, nec metu — 2.2k (keegan) • illusion — 1.8k (itafushi) • i/v. the nightmare pact — 2.7k (gojohime) ➜ whumptober (12/19 ✔︎)

» recently posted

✔︎ wrath of the lamb — 6.9k (krueger) (tumblr) ✔︎ ii. for you my love i kill — 6.5k (miguel) (tumblr) ✔︎ nsfw alphabet — 4.1k (krueger) (tumblr) ⚠︎︎ that human, that demon: chapter two — 11k (ghost)

dc animated universe

justice league (& unlimited)

— wonder woman x batman

scrapbook - 3/5; Exploring the stages of Diana and Bruce’s complex relationship in the form of various prompt-filled drabbles. (3.2k) (t)

spring - 1/1; Diana is not okay. He has noticed. (2.6k) (t)

under the red hood

— jason todd x f!reader

amaranthine - 1/1; wip - for Yeehawgust (e) (tumblr)

cdramas

the long ballad (chang ge xing)

— chang ge x ashina sun

lay in your echo - 1/1; What if Sun had been unable to stop that Ashina soldier from killing Chang Ge? - for Whumptober (2.5k) (m)

bitesized - 15/15; A series of drabbles that offer a glimpse into Chang Ge and Ashina Sun’s unique dynamic. (2.7k) (t)

love between fairy and devil (cang lan jue)

— xiao lanhua x dongfang qingcang

⭆ two slow dancers (last ones out) (ii/ii)- for Whumptober: i. hurts like hell - 1/1; Xiao Lanhua’s tired yet ever-beating heart is under siege. (1.1k) (t) ii. i loved and i loved and i lost you - 1/1; The catalyst for Dongfang Qingcang entering his emotional support dreamworld. (1.4k) (t)

euphoria (2019)

— lexi x fezco

i’ve got a war in my mind - 1/1; Someone spikes Lexi’s drink at a party, and Fez does what he does best. (4.6k) (m)

as it was - 1/1; Fez gets a visit. (5.3k) (m)

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call of duty

modern warfare 2

— ghost x f!reader

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— gaz x f!reader

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⭆ turning the tides - for gazfest: • exuvium - 1/1; wip (t) • bid blood to run - 1/1; wip (m) • the injury of finally knowing you - 1/1; wip (m)

modern warfare

— krueger x f!reader

nsfw alphabet - 1/1; You're Krueger's lover. (4.1k) (e) (tumblr)

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ghosts

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nec spe, nec metu - 1/1; wip draft (m)

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across the spider-verse

— miguel o’hara x f!reader

⭆ cursed from the start (ii/vii): i. beggin’ for thread - 1/1; Your first run-in with the not-so-friendly neighborhood Spider-Man as the Black Cat of Earth-928. (3.9k) (m) (tumblr) ii. for you my love i kill - 1/1; Miguel visits the hospital to tie up some loose ends then makes sure you got home safe. (6.5k) (m) (tumblr) iii. once more to see you - 1/1; wip (m)

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resident evil

— ada wong x leon kennedy

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jujutsu kaisen

— gojo satoru x iori utahime

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the nightmare pact - 1/5; Four times Gojo wards off Utahime’s nightmares, and the one time she helps him get some sleep of his own. (?k) (t)

a blood red setting sun - 1/3; A quest to survive thirty-one nights turns into something much more. (?k) (m)

— itadori yuji x fushiguro megumi

illusion - 1/1; Megumi grows accustomed to the tricks his mind likes to play and fails to recognize the real deal (?k) (t)

misc

star wars

— thrawn x eli vanto

collateral - 1/1; Political enemies use a certain Lt Cdr. as bait and get more than they bargained for; Post-Thrawn: Treason - for Whumptober (2.5k) (t)

#my fic

[jockvillagersonly]

hey. hey. so. 28: feeling for each other in the dark for heihua?! since glasses has the low light vision of a CAT, maybe something that takes place during a time when xiaohua doesn't know his sunglasses are to block out light? or: glasses is incapaciated, xiaohua has to find him in the dark. OR: he pretends to be incapacitated and watches xiaohua stumbling around like an idiot

Yeah I bet you thought I fucking forgot didn’t you. NOPE. I DIDN’T.

Cross posted on AO3 || other prompt fic

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Xiao Hua had never liked the dark.

It was odd for a tomb raider to admit, sure, but Xiao Hua liked things neat and fastidious; the dark hid too much, obscured too much, cloaked too much. The dark let dirt and grime and gore go unnoticed, and Xiao Hua had always preferred to face his demons rather than hide them.

He liked the dark even less when it came with a musty tang on his tongue and the burn of ropes on his skin.

He grimaced and rolled over, pushing himself into an ungainly sitting position, the movements slow and hesitant given both the suffocating lack of light and the lack of mobility around his wrists. A cursory check revealed that his assailants had left his feet untied, likely (and, unfortunately, correctly) trusting the lightless room to hinder Xiao Hua’s movement. He had a few scrapes and bruises, but nothing too serious — thought the faint radial pounding humming quietly to life behind his eyelids left him wondering if he’d taken any hits to the head.

He didn’t quite remember — but that was part of the problem, wasn’t it? The last thing he recalled, he’d been preparing to explore a newly discovered tomb with a small team, having tagged along at Hei Yanjing’s request. He really wasn’t entirely sure why or how he’d ended up here, in a lightless room that smelled like it was at least a few dozen feet underground, with no irritatingly lean, glasses wearing fools in sight.

Which is, of course, when a corner of the room opened and a new body was shoved in, to a soundtrack of expletives. The door was slammed shut as quickly as it had opened, with their captors delivering one final kick to the prone body they’d tossed inside.

Whoever Xiao Hua’s new cellmate (and the brief glimpse of light confirmed his suspicions that it was a cell; he was currently tied in a windowless stone room, with a floor of packed dirt) was, he had clearly been a great annoyance for their captors. He was also wearing black leather, and had long hair, and, when he hit the ground and rolled, Xiao Hua caught sight of shiny black plastic lenses. All in all, he looked a lot like —

“Yanjing??” And Xiao Hua would deny that his voice lilted up with hope and relief until the end of his days. He blushed slightly, embarrassed at the show of vulnerability; if there was any benefit to the pitch dark of their prison, at least Hei Yanjing couldn’t see his expressions. All he got was a muted groan in response. Xiao Hua wasn’t sure what it said about them and the situations they tended to find themselves in that he could recognize Hei Yanjing from subvocal, pained groans alone.

Xiao Hua felt a spike of worry push up through his chest, bitter acid burning in his throat. The other man hadn’t moved at all when he was tossed in here, and now he apparently didn’t even have the energy to banter with Xiao Hua.

He told himself that it’s not that he was worried, but escaping would be extra hard if the other man was dead weight. That’s also why he started feeling his way slowly across the soil floor, tied wrists clunky as he scowled his way through passing his hands over the dirt.

He was adding so much interest to Hei Yanjing’s debt for this. Just as soon as they got out of here, and Xiao Hua took a nice, long shower. Or two.

After another few minutes of painstaking scrabbling, Xiao Hua’s hand hit something that felt like cloth, the cottony smooth drag of worn denim beneath his fingertips. He worked his fingers over the body in front of him, trying to identify where he’d landed and using the opportunity to feel for injuries. He furrowed his brow, focusing: broad muscle, so defined that even the wear-soft fabric pulled tight in places; rivets, metal cold to the touch and maybe indicating pockets; the coarse catch of a loose seam, and there — a torn belt loop.

Wait — a torn belt loop?

Xiao Hua snatched his hands back hurriedly, feeling a flush rising rapidly across his face. He sent up a prayer, voice nearly cracking with desperation even in the sanctity of his own mind: please, please say that he hasn’t been —

“At least take me to dinner first,” came a dry, hoarse voice from his left, and Xiao Hua’s heart sank. Yeah, he had definitely been accidentally feeling Hei Yanjing up.

“Would McDonald’s count? Seems about on par for your standards,” and Xiao Hua pointedly ignored how something loosened in his chest at the banter, at the irrefutable proof that Hei Yanjing was alive, was here, wasn’t bleeding out somewhere alone.

He let himself smile, secret and fond, and once again thanked God for making it so dark there was no way Hei Yanjing could see his expression.

#dmbj #my fic #prompt fic #heihua #sorry if this isn’t good it’s 5 AM lmao

[lady-of-the-lotus]

Xue Yang's ritual to resurrect Xiao Xingchen in Lan Xichen's body has failed. Unfortunately for the wounded, guilt-wracked Lan Xichen, Xue Yang doesn't seem to realize this. All he knows is that he's finally got his daozhang back...

An alternate ending to Fractured Ice and Control, in which you-know-what never happened to you-know-who and Xue Yang and Lan Xichen instead flee the temple to go play house in Yi City...with a side of Misery.

Xuelan - Xuexiao - E - Read on AO3! -  Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 1/3 - The House

Bleeding heavily from his side, Xue Yang collapses in the puddle of blood surrounding Lan Xichen.

No. Not Lan Xichen.

Not anymore. Not since the ritual, not since he’d brought Xiao Xingchen back in Lan Xichen's body.

Xue Yang digs deep inside, dredges up the last shreds of spiritual energy, and seals his meridians to keep from bleeding out.

Shaking with effort, he stretches out his hand and lays a single finger on Xiao Xingchen’s throat. It’s sticky with blood from Lan Xichen’s qi deviation and almost as cold as the snow gusting down around them through the gaps in the half-collapsed temple ceiling.

But there’s a pulse. Faint and weak, but there.

Xue Yang almost passes out from relief.

He’s done it.

He’s brought Xiao Xingchen back from the dead.

It had taken eight years, but he, Xue Yang, has saved the daozhang.

Brought Xiao Xingchen back to him.

“We have to go, daozhang,” he mumbles. The snow is falling faster, melting where it touches the warm pool of blood. “More Lan will be here any second…that blue idiot butchered the hell out of the ones that came after us…”

He’s been grinning ever since he’d felt that soft, faint pulse, but his smile widens as he looks around at the strewn corpses of the Lan cultivators who'd come after him and Lan Xichen.

“Self-righteous fuckers,” he says. “I mean—self-righteous pricks—I mean…”

He spits blood, laughing, mind too fogged to think of a daozhang-approved substitute. Every gasping laugh feels like a knife jerking higher and higher through his stomach.

“Lan Xichen gutted me like a fish,” he explains once he’s done laughing. Xiao Xingchen’s eyes are closed, but Xue Yang is certain he can hear him, just as he’s heard him every day for the past eight years. “Tried to kill me, sanctimonious hypocrite…”

He turns over on his side and vomits blood. He can’t afford to lose the blood, but he somehow feels better, as if he’s gotten rid of stale humours.

Fuck, we don't have time for lying around!

He drags himself up on all fours, patting around in the snow for his sword. The cold has affected his bad leg like an icy spike driven deep into his hip, but he pushes through the pain and drags himself a few feet forward, clawing desperately at the snow, bloodless fingers numb and raw.

There’s more snow than he remembers. Had he lost consciousness? How many Lan are still out there? They’d be coming to check up on the dead cultivators—

Grunting, he tries hauling Xiao Xingchen into his lap. Lan Xichen had been rather frail towards the end, but his body is still bulkier than Xiao Xingchen’s ever was, and the weakened Xue Yang can barely move him.

If the Lan come—

Half-lying on his sword, he manages to drag Xiao Xingchen in front of him, the unconscious daozhang resting limply against Xue Yang’s chest. He tries to lift Jiangzai, but he’s spent the last of spiritual energy on sealing his meridians, and the sword barely twitches.

The Lan are coming —

He can’t lose the daozhang, not when he’s finally back—not when the daozhang is finally his again—

The temple is beginning to blur.

Fuck, fuck, don’t pass out on me now—

They’re going to take him—

Panic sinks a new well of spiritual energy deep inside, and Jiangzai shoots up through the sunken roof and into the blinding whiteness. It skids across the rooftop, sending a shower of tiles down into the temple. Jerking sideways, it almost bucks Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen, and then, wobbling, rises into the swirling heart of the blizzard.

The last thing Xue Yang remembers is the snowy white countryside rushing up to meet the sky.

Cold.

Lan Xichen opens his eyes.

White. Everything is white.

Funereal white.

Is he dead—?

He turns his head slightly. Directly above him is a patch of gray and around him are walls of white.

Snow, says the rational, logical part of his mind. You’re surrounded by snow—

Bloodstained snow.

He tries raising his hands to rub his eyes but is having trouble moving.

He can’t remember anything, can’t remember how he got here, can’t remember anything other than mind-turning grief and anger, an overpowering wave of emotion that crushed him under its weight and ground him down to the nothingness he just woke from. He can’t feel the emotions anymore, can’t remember why he had felt them to begin with, but it’s like waking from a nightmare where the terror bleeds into the waking hours, and he wants to roll over and sink back into the darkness.

A-Yao.

The name pierces his numb haze.

A-Yao.

A-Yao had been back—A-Yao had been alive—

Whole—

And then—and then—

Memory returns in cloudy scraps.

Xue Yang appearing at the Cloud Recesses wearing Xiao Xingchen’s face. Lan Xichen’s discovery of the truth. Xue Yang convincing him to help raise Xiao Xingchen in exchange for bringing back A-Yao. A-Yao’s partial return...

He can’t remember much of what happened during the failed ritual to raise Xiao Xingchen, but he can remember that he had killed a man for A-Yao. Drove Shuoyue through the man’s heart in cold blood.

But A-Yao—

“I didn’t think you would actually do it,” he had said. “Goodbye, Xichen.”

And then—

And then…

Lan Xichen closes his eyes.

A-Yao is gone.

Gone forever.

And this time, by choice.

He suddenly notices a man lying beside him, and for a fraction of an instant he thinks it might be A-Yao.

He knows it isn’t him. He had watched A-Yao dissipate into a shower of gold sparks, fade forever from the world of the living.

But he can’t help but hope, just for a moment—

“Xue Yang,” he says aloud.

Xue Yang lies beside him, huddled in a small ball. Covering him is a layer of reddened snow.

Lan Xichen is not sure why he’s surprised to see Xue Yang beside him, but is. A fragment of memory: Xue Yang in a pool of blood—Xue Yang taunting him—what had he been saying—?

Lan Xichen manages to sit up. He’s wearing only his inner robes, but covering him are several layers of green, white, blue, and black robes.

He reaches out and shakes Xue Yang gently, brushing the snow from the other man's face. His skin is as pale as the snow itself, thick black eyelashes crusted with ice, blood reddening his lips.

“Xue Yang?" he asks. His voice is hoarse. "What happened?”

For a moment he thinks Xue Yang might be dead, but he feels a faint pulse in his cold white throat.

He's not sure if he's relieved or not.

He picks up Xue Yang’s sword and uses it to drag himself up.

The gritty light of a halfhearted noonday sun reveals a courtyard filled with coffins. In the center of the courtyard is a small, dilapidated house with a sign over the door:

Coffin House.

He slides his arms under Xue Yang and, staggering with blood loss and cold and hampered by the thick, heavy snow, he half-carries, half-drags Xue Yang into the house, leaving a shockingly bright streak of red in the white.

The inside of the house is cleaner than he’d expected judging by the outside. He deposits Xue Yang on the floor before using the firewood from a box beside the door to build a small fire in the stove, then strips Xue Yang of his cold wet clothes and drags him into the single bed.

He passes out beside Xue Yang before he can decide what to do next.

The fire has long since burned out when Lan Xichen wakes the next evening. He lies staring up at the sagging ceiling, desperately trying to reconstruct more than a muddled outline of the past few days.

A-Yao. Gone.

And the Lan cultivators. He’d—he’d—

He sits up with a jerk, falling over with a gasp as his hundred separate wounds snatch at him with clawed fingers.

He’d killed his fellow Lan, murdered honorable men and women he’d known his whole life—

And he’d killed the Nie guards at Nie Mingjue’s tomb, if Xue Yang was to be believed.

He scrambles out of bed, the cold air biting into his naked skin.

Xue Yang, grinning as he taunted him: “Too bad you didn’t intentionally kill those Lan cultivators when we left Cloud Recesses and those Nie guards, or I could have saved a lot of time…”

He has to get back to Guanyin Temple. Back to the Cloud Recesses.

Explain things. Face justice—

His legs collapse under him, and he falls face-first onto the floor. Out of the thousand pains wracking his body a sharp new pain shoots through his right hand, which is bound with a bloody bandage.

Without fully knowing why, he rips the bandage off.

A wedge of skin has been carved out of his wrist.

His wrist. Why is that significant?—

“Be careful!” says Xue Yang, scattering his thoughts and making him jump. The—the murderer kneels beside him on the floor, wearing the same black and green robes he'd worn when Lan Xichen had played Inquiry for Xiao Xingchen. “You used the last of your strength to rescue me last night. It’s a miracle you got us both into the house.”

Lan Xichen blinks and tries to recall the other night, but all he remembers is bloodstained snow.

Xue Yang lifts Lan Xichen back into bed with unnerving gentleness. “Just rest now, daozhang. I'm here now."

Lan Xichen blinks, swallowing hard, but doesn’t speak.

Xue Yang leans forward, smoothing the hair from Lan Xichen’s forehead, and kisses him gently on the forehead. He nuzzles his cheek with his nose and then pulls away, eyes crinkling in a soft smile.

Lan Xichen is suddenly very aware of how naked he is.

Xue Yang slips off his own robes, leaving on just the thin black inner robe. He folds the robes neatly and sets them on shelves near the window before returning to the bed.

“I have this for you,” he says. Almost shyly, he holds up a long white bandage. Save for two washed-out bloodstains, it looks exactly the same as the other bandages he has piled on the bed, but he holds it almost reverently.

Lan Xichen doesn’t know why, but he glances away from the bandage uneasily.

His eyes alight on a large silver knife lying between them, and he looks away again.

“I washed and dried it while you slept,” says Xue Yang, still talking about the bandage. He smiles again. It’s nothing like the sneer Lan Xichen is used to, or the maniacal smirk, or the shit-eating grin. It’s just a smile. A soft little smile that somehow doesn’t look as alien on Xue Yang’s face as he’d have expected, but is made horrible by Lan Xichen’s memory of Xue Yang’s crimes. “Here, daozhang.”

With almost painful tenderness, Xue Yang ties the blindfold over his eyes.

“There,” he says with satisfaction. “Now you look more like your old self."

Lan Xichen forces out a single word. “Why—”

Xue Yang’s voice changes. “Because that unsalted bowl of congee took your eyes, and like a self-sacrificing idiot, you let him,” he says sharply. Then, as if Lan Xichen hadn’t spoken, his voice drops back down to a soft, wheedling murmur. “Now, hold still, daozhang. I’m going to sew up your wounds.”

Daozhang again. Does Xue Xang think he’s—

“A-Qing is here too,” says Xue Yang. “As soon as you’re well enough to be left on your own, I’ll go wake her up.”

“Xue Yang—”

A finger, pressed against his lips. “You can still call me Chengmei.” Xue Yang’s face is so close to Lan Xichen that he can feel the warmth of his breath tickle his cheek. His skin crawls, but he doesn’t dare turn his face away. “We don’t have to mention him ever again, daozhang.”

Lan Xichen swallows and closes his eyes beneath the blindfold. A hand, stroking his hair, just barely touching the side of his neck, and a brief finger stroking his collarbone. Disgust raises goosebumps on Lan Xichen’s arms, but he lies very still.

“Now, hold still, daozhang.” Xue Yang pronounces daozhang with relish, rolling the word around on his tongue like fine wine. “This might sting a bit.”

The needle pierces his side, tugging at the raw skin around the largest of the gashes in his side, and Lan Xichen grips the blanket and tries to calm his breathing.

Xue Yang’s voice comes back to him out of the past, taunting him, a twisted echo of the soothing voice currently talking him through his stitches. “Too bad you didn’t intentionally kill those Lan cultivators when we left Cloud Recesses and those Nie guards—”

“Almost done, daozhang,” says Xue Yang. The needle dips in and out, thread tugging at the torn flesh. It shouldn’t hurt more than his wounds already do, but Lan Xichen, eyes shut, is hyperfocused on the novel sensation of the needle, and he has to grit his teeth. “Lan Xichen didn’t leave his body in good condition, but don’t worry. I’m here to take care of you now.”

Lan Xichen opens his eyes at the sound of his name. Xue Yang has lit a candle, and now that the initial darkness of the blindfold has passed, Lan Xichen realizes that he can in fact see. Not a lot. More like shapes through the thin material of the bandage, and out the bottom gaps, but he isn’t totally blind.

Xue Yang fastens the last bandage, a fresh one for the small wound on his wrist. What is it about his wrist? Something scratches at the edges of his blurred memories—

“How did that happen?” Lan Xichen asks. It’s the first thing he’s said since the “Xue Yang.” His voice is hoarse and scratchy. “The wrist.”

Xue Yang ignores the question.

“We’ll give you a bath tomorrow,” he says, squeezing Lan Xichen's hand, “and if your wounds have stopped bleeding we can put you in this.”

He pulls a gray-trimmed white robe from his qiankun sleeve. Gently he takes one of Lan Xichen’s hands and brings it to the material.

“Do you recognize it? I saved it for you.” He glances at Lan Xichen expectantly and, when Lan Xichen doesn’t answer, looks disappointed and starts to clear the bed.

He picks up the knife.

Lan Xichen clears his throat. “Thank you.”

Xue Yang turns back to him, face split by an enormous grin. He sets the knife on the narrow wooden headboard and pulls the covers up for Lan Xichen, his knuckles brushing his throat and drifting down to his collarbones, his touch feather-light but still filling Lan Xichen with repulsion. “Are you hungry, daozhang?”

His stomach is a hollow pit, but Lan Xichen shakes his head.

“Good.” Xue Yang lies down beside Lan Xichen, cuddled up against him under the blankets. Lan Xichen hates himself for it, but he hasn’t yet recovered from the blood loss and he appreciates the warmth even as he feels like hundreds of ants are crawling over his skin. “I know you’ll feel more like yourself once you fit into your old robes.”

Lan Xichen closes his eyes. Xue Yang hooks one leg around one of his bare ones, rubbing painfully against one of the bandages binding his thigh, but the repugnant little murder seems to have forgotten the wounds covering Lan Xichen’s body even though one of his hands is on Lan Xichen’s chest, playing with a loose bit of bandage.

“Funny it should all happen again,” says Xue Yang. His voice is a sleepy whisper, as if tending to Lan Xichen has taken a lot out of him. It’s fuzzy, but Lan Xichen can just remember the spectacle of Xue Yang bleeding out beside him from an appalling wound Lan Xichen had dealt him himself. “Find me lying there wounded and carrying me inside…”

“It’s what anyone would have done,” Lan Xichen hears himself saying. He wants to bolt from the bed, shove Xue Yang away, every inch of his body rebelling at the feel of another body against his, but he doesn’t dare move.

“Nobody but you would have.” Xue Yang buries his face in Lan Xichen’s neck and pulls his leg closer, half-pressing it between both of his. “It’s like we can start over, now, from the beginning again.” He nuzzles Lan Xichen's ear, nibbling it gently. “I knew you’d understand. I knew you heard me, all these years…”

Lan Xichen feels the stitches in his leg starting to tear, but he remains motionless as Xue Yang’s breath grows steady.

He closes his eyes beneath his blindfold. The snow-muffled city is silent, the only sound Xue Yang’s soft breath on his neck and the memory of the sickening sluck of Shuoyue as it pierced his victim’s chest.

Wu Shen , he reminds himself. The man had a name. Wu Shen.

And then another voice: He deserved it. Deserved it for what he’d done to A-Yao and his mother. Deserved it for throwing her out of the brothel, naked, deserved it for throwing A-Yao down the stairs—

Lan Xichen twists slightly at the sound of the second voice, fully tearing the stitches in his leg.

Nobody deserved to be kidnapped from their home and extrajudicially murdered in cold blood.

The memory of Xue Yang’s voice—the voice of someone he had once called a friend—comes to him across what seems like years but he knows is only days: “The ritual calls for the corruption of a soul of equal so-called purity in order to create a proper vessel for me to call the soul into before putting it back in his body. You were the very obvious choice..."

The word echoes in Lan Xichen’s mind.

Corrupted.

He lies there like that most of the night, in pain, bone-tired, but unable to fall asleep until just before dawn.

He’s woken by Xue Yang winding a bandage around his leg.

“You have to be more careful of your bandages, daozhang,” says Xue Yang. He ties off the last bandage. “Not that I mind bloodstains in bed.” He grins as if this is a joke, but Lan Xichen doesn’t think it is. “I’ll bring you something to eat.”

“I can make it to the table.”

“Not until you’re better.” Xue Yang fetches him a half-filled bowl of rice, wrapping Lan Xichen’s hands around the warm wooden bowl as if Lan Xichen can’t do it on his own. He fills a bowl of his own and sits cross-legged on the bed, eyes never leaving Lan Xichen’s face as he eats.

Lan Xichen pretends not to notice.

“I’ll go to the market as soon as you’re well,” Xue Yang says. “Maybe you can come with me one day, if…if…” He stops, as if there's something he's leaving unsaid. "Anyway, it's something to look forward to."

The way he says it makes it sound like a market trip will be reward for Lan Xichen, but Lan Xichen feels his stomach twist into a knot.

The market. The market means people. And people means…

How long until the Lan cultivators find him?

And why does he not want that to happen?

After everything he’s done, he should want to be brought to justice. Want to face the penalty for his crimes. Want to have a chance to atone…

You know there’s no atoning for what you’ve done.

Even A-Yao knew it. That’s why he left you, just as Xiao Xingchen left Xue Yang.

You belong here.

Here with him.

There’s not enough rice in the bowl to satisfy Lan Xichen after his long fast, but he doesn’t ask for more, and Xue Yang doesn’t offer. Xue Yang doesn’t eat much himself. He’s looking rather wan, and he limps noticeably as he takes the bowls to the corner to be wiped out with a damp cloth.

“Does your leg hurt?” Lan Xichen asks before he can remember that he doesn’t care, that this man is no longer his friend, that he isn’t supposed to be able to see.

Xue Yang stiffens. “What do you mean?”

Lan Xichen’s mouth is suddenly dry. “I thought—I heard you limping.”

Xue Yang’s good hand balls into a fist, and then he relaxes. “You don’t have to worry about me, daozhang,” he says. “You just concentrate on getting better.”

Lan Xichen falls into a doze soon after, waking in the evening. He’s shivering, limbs aching, head throbbing.

Xue Yang has dragged the table over near the bed, a single candle flickering beside a calligraphy set. When he sees Lan Xichen stirring he jumps to his feet.

“How do you feel?” he asks, and then, without waiting for an answer, “I have paper and ink. I thought you might want to write a poem like you used to.”

Lan Xichen closes his eyes and grits his teeth to keep them from chattering.

“Daozhang?”

Sleep. He wants to sleep. To forget, however briefly, that he’s trapped in a coffin house with a mass murderer who lied to him, manipulated him, drove him to the point of outright murder of his own—

Xue Yang’s brush is poised over the paper. The candlelight creates deep hollows in his thin cheeks, the sharp angles lending giving him a menacing air.

His knife is resting on the table, gleaming in the yellow light.

Lan Xichen wets his lips. “What loss could compare to this?

Already, my temples are mostly white,

I'd rather my body had finished its time.

In the end, we'll share a tomb;

Still not dead, I weep and weep.”

“What in the ever-loving fuck?” Xue Yang sets down his brush. “I mean—what the heck, daozhang. You never used to be this morbid.”

“I…”

There’s a dangerous look in Xue Yang’s eye.

Lan Xichen swallows. “I didn’t write it,” he admits. Why had he picked that poem, of all poems? Don’t get him angry —

Xue Yang relaxes. “You never used to plagiarize before,” he says teasingly. He shakes a playful finger. “Wait, were you trying to pass those other poems of yours off as originals all those years?” He winks and waggles an eyebrow as if “Xiao Xingchen” can see him. It’s clear he’d never believe Xiao Xingchen had been anything other than scrupulously honest.

But Lan Xichen’s mind is too cloudy to craft poetry on command, and besides, he always preferred painting to writing. He sifts through his repertoire. If Xue Yang hadn’t recognized “Mourning Loss” by the legendary Mei Yaochen, he doubts he’ll recognize much else, either. For a fleeting moment he feels almost bad for the hooligan, having had such a poor education, then he remembers the look on Xue Yang’s face as he taunted him in Guanyin Temple and the feeling vanishes.

“Much feeling—but it’s just as if there's none,

I think behind my cup, but cannot smile.

The candle has a heart—it too hates parting,

In our place, it sheds a tear at dawn.”

Xue Yang looks up. “And now what the hell was that?”

“I don’t—”

“What’s gotten into you today, daozhang? I guess this is better than writing poems about birds at dawn and dewy grass and clouds and all that kind of shi—all those kinds of things.” Xue Yang glances down at the paper, blowing on the ink. “You’ve gotten better, at least. The stuff you used to write was pretty much trash.”

Lan Xichen closes his eyes.

“I didn’t mean that,” says Xue Yang after a moment. “I was just joking….daozhang?”

“It’s fine,” Lan Xichen murmurs. He can’t stop his teeth from chattering anymore and the throbbing in his head has grown so his whole body pulses in time to his heartbeat. “It’s fine…”

“Daozhang?” A looming presence beside him.

The next thing Lan Xichen is aware of is the drumming of rain on the roof. Cool air, playing over his face. Chills wracking his aching limbs. Warmth pressed up against him, but not enough, never enough.

And then heat. Heat filling every corner of his body, blazing brightly from deep inside him, a fire he can't put out.

Xue Yang’s voice: “You can’t die on me, daozhang, not now, not after everything—”

Cold water on his skin. Relief. The feel of someone smoothing something over his skin.

The scent of flowers.

And then the scent of flowers is overwhelmed by the acrid stench of blood from the dreams that torment him. Blood flowing from the bodies of a dozen white-clad cultivators, their bodies heaped around him, forming a well that rapidly fills with their blood, drowning him.

Sometimes they’re grasping at him, faces gaping and gibbering at him accusingly from beneath their bloodstained blue forehead ribbons, blood spurting over their chins as they claw at him, leaving deep gauges in his flesh that match the wounds covering his limbs.

Vaguely he's aware of wind howling outside, something ghosting against the Coffin House windows and roof. Xue Yang is beside him, pleading with him to drink the tea, to drink the medicine he brought him. Xue Yang is soaking wet and shivering, hands ice-cold as they stroke Lan Xichen’s face.

The heat has faded from his body when he next opens his eyes. Xue Yang is asleep beside him, still in his cold wet clothes.

Lan Xichen climbs out of bed, very quietly, and half-staggers over to the door. The sun is bright, but it’s snowed again, the blinding white dazzling his eyes after days of darkness. He thinks he can hear the murmur of distant voices, the shout of children playing in the snow—

A hand closes on his shoulder.

“Where are you going?” asks Xue Yang. His voice is thick and scratchy. “You’re in no condition to be roaming around.”

“I think the fresh air would—”

“Do you good? More like kill you.” Xue Yang’s fingers are weaker than Lan Xichen remembers, but they still bite deeper into Lan Xichen’s frail shoulder, forcing him to turn around.

Xue Yang smiles up at him. There are dark hollows under his eyes, the only color in his pale face. “I’ll make us some breakfast,” he says, massaging Lan Xichen’s shoulder. “You get back into bed, all right?”

Lan Xichen watches Xue Yang boil the rice from across the room. When he can no longer bear the sight of Xue Yang happily bustling around, sweeping the floor and setting the table as he waits for the rice to cook, he closes his eyes and takes stock of his situation.

He’s still very weak, from both the blood loss and his fever.

Too weak to force his way past Xue Yang to freedom.

If he even deserves freedom…

There’s a foul taste in his mouth beyond the usual taste of the morning. Medicinal herbs? He remembers drinking something. Had Xue Yang gone out in a terrible storm to buy him medicine?

Unbidden, the memory of A-Yao rises behind his eyes.

A-Yao, venturing into a dangerous thunderstorm to bring him a doctor during their time together after his escape from the Cloud Recesses. Selling everything he had to pay for the medicine. Tending to his wounds. Cooking. Cleaning. Washing his clothes…

Lan Xichen hears himself speaking.

“I climb the western tower in silence, the moon like a sickle.

Clear winter is locked in the deep courtyard, where a wutong tree stands lonely.

Sorrowful parting has cut, but not severed our ties; my mind is still wild.

Separation is just like a taste in head and heart.”

Xue Yang tilts his head, and for a moment Lan Xichen thinks he’s recognized Li Yu’s “I Climb the Western Tower In Silence.” All Lan Xichen has changed is turning “autumn” into “winter.”

Then Xue Yang gives a smile. Of sorts.

“That one’s not bad,” he says, and then he gets up and leaves the house.

The rice is boiling over by the time Xue Yang returns, the hem of his robe dusted with snow. Lan Xichen has just started to get out of bed to take the rice off the stove.

“You stay put now,” Xue Yang says, frowning slightly. He sets his knife down on the table. “Can’t have you wandering around…”

Lan Xichen lies back down.

Xue Yang smiles. “That’s better,” he says.

* * *

Up next: Things....change.

Spare a reblog, kudos, comment, anything for a humble fic writer?

Chapter 2

#mdzsnet #xuexiao #xue yang #lan xichen #mdzs #the untamed #cql #xuelan #Fractured Ice au #a thousand miles in its light

[masterweaverx]

So anyway I’ve been clicking into @outofgloom‘s Matoran Conlang For Bionicle, and I thought “Hey why not translate RWBY’s names into Matoran?”

First up, Ruby Rose. A ruby is a red gem, but the conlang didn’t have a word for gem, so I took the roots for Stone and Order and smacked them together. Toi(Red) Po(Stone) Da(Order). Toipoda. Rose is a bit harder, since the langauge didn’t have a word for flower, so I wanted to go with Pretty Plant but it didn’t have a word for pretty. It did have a word for sight, though, and a suffix for good: Aku-La (Good Sight) and then Bo as the elemental plant thing to make Akulabo--or Aklabo for flower. So now we need a Red Spike Flower, a Toi(Red) Ki(Sharp) Aklabo(Flower). Toikiaklabo. Shortened, that can be Tokiklabo.

Thus, Ruby Rose? Toipoda Tokiklabo.

Next is Weiss Schnee, which translates to White Snow. Matoran already has a word for White (Koi) and a word for Snow (Kokoki) so... Koi Kokoki. That was easy.

Blake Belladonna’s an interesting one. Blake is a word that can mean either Black or White depending on how it’s translated, so combining the Matoran words for black and white (Onui and Koi) seemed like a good fit. Wound up with Oniki. Belladonna... well we already got Aklabo for flower, and Krava roughtly means Night, so... Kravaklabo?

Oniki Kravaklabo. Blake Belladonna.

And finally, Yang Xiao Long. Little Sun Dragon. Words that have already all been translated. Kofo Avaku Tavu.

Hmmm. Should I keep this up?

#RWBY #Bionicle #Conlang