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eggymf-archived · 1 year

Text

of paper planes and wildflowers; 08

ft. ominis gaunt with f!reader (series)

chapter warnings: injured beasts, not proofread, unedited

chapter summary: when the opportunities that present themselves lead to a path of possible happiness, it’s up to him to decide whether he’ll finally seize it for himself or let his inner turmoil and insecurities consume him once again

word count: 5.7k

a/n: this chapter nearly made me punch the wall for all the good reasons :D

main masterlist || series masterlist || AO3

“...Can you even believe that?! I– Hey!”

You felt your arm get grabbed by a certain red-haired Weasley, pulling you out of harm’s way from colliding towards another student who was walking at a snail’s pace in the crowded hallways. Taken by surprise, your dazed eyes widened in temporary alertness before morphing back into its droopy state. You sighed, shaking your head rather aggressively to keep yourself awake. You had been barely sleeping for the past few days and it was clearly evident on your appearance: dark undereye circles, and skin devoid of its usual healthy flush and glow.

“Are you sure you’d rather not be in the hospital wing right now? Bloody hell, even an Inferius looks livelier than you!” Garreth commented, his eyebrows furrowing in concern as soon as he pulled you to the side of the corridor. You looked back at him with hesitant eyes, remembering the workloads that had been assigned recently for the weekend. In silent defiance towards the current state of your body, you uncorked a vial containing some Wide-Eye Potion, chugging it down in huge gulps.

“You can’t keep drinking vials of those!” Garreth chastised while you looked at him in feigned innocence.

“...Whoops?” you giggled sheepishly. The red-haired Gryffindor crossed his arms while half-heartedly glaring at you.

“Oh fine!” you grumbled, giving into his concerned glare. “I’ll rest up this weekend. I promise. No more late night explorations until I've rested enough!”

You glanced up at his pair of emerald eyes, who were gazing upon you in obvious skepticism.

“I sure hope you do. I won’t give that potion you keep on requesting if you don’t,” he sighed. Garreth reached for his bag, grabbing a flask containing his own improved antiseptic potion and a vial of dittany essence.

“I hope this’ll help the two unicorns you found,” Garreth said while handing over the potions to you. “That way, you wouldn’t have to sacrifice your health too much.”

“Not to worry, Garreth! They’re in good hands!” you grinned. The emerald-eyed male’s expression turned apologetic.

“I’m sorry. I normally accompany you on these travels, but Aunt Matilda has been watching me like an Augurey for the past few weeks,” he grumbled guiltily, recalling the stern expression on Professor Weasley’s face upon finding out the number of house points he had lost no thanks to his shenanigans. Poor Garreth now has extra assignments to do as punishment and was expected to inform his aunt consistently regarding his whereabouts.

“Well, if that’s the case, I could always count on you to help me brew some potions for my noble cause?” you piped, patting his arm while looking at him expectantly with hopeful eyes.

“Oh stop it you! That's not gonna work the second time!” he scoffed jokingly, earning a lighthearted yet tired chortle from you. The both of you walked to your next class, chattering rather animatedly despite your lack of sleep. A certain freckled brunette eyed both you and Garreth’s retreating figure while his opal-eyed companion had his arms crossed as he stood beside his best friend with an evident yet subtle scowl on his face — not directed towards you and the young Weasley, but towards the brunette himself who has been the bane of his existence for several days and counting.

“They seem pretty close. Way too close for comfort, don’t you think?” Sebastian queried with a seemingly oblivious yet underlying teasing tone, eyeing the blonde-haired male for any of his signature violent reactions whenever he was teased.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake, they’re best friends!” Ominis exasperatedly exclaimed. “Why is that suddenly an issue?!”

“Alright, alright! Calm down, will you?”

“Calm down? You’ve been pulling my leg for days! Do you honestly expect me to be in a good mood?!”

“In my defense, this is for your own good, my poor lovesick friend. Denial is a painful struggle, don't you think?”

“The only painful struggle here is your incessantly insufferable assumptions, Sebastian!”

The onslaught of their rather pointless bickering continued with Ominis’ face turning into a ripe tomato out of sheer annoyance while Sebastian snickered at the poor Gaunt’s plight. Much to Ominis' chagrin, Sebastian was well capable of piecing the puzzle pieces together even without informing him of the entirety of the situation. The brunette was aware that there was something going on between you and Ominis. In fact, there were several tell-tale signs of the young Gaunt's hidden affections towards you that Ominis himself doesn't even notice.

The most recent incident, however, was the most ridiculously obvious one to date. And no, it wasn't the silly little moment that Sebastian had walked into in the Alchemy Classroom — this scenario was much more unexpected and out-of-character to the point it rendered Sebastian absolutely gobsmacked. It happened when Ominis had absentmindedly voiced his thoughts upon hearing your boisterous laughter during practical lessons in Defense Against the Dark Arts Class when Leander Prewett ended up flying back after a failed attempt in casting Bombarda Maxima.

"She laughs like a bloody seagull, but oddly enough, it's rather adorable."

Needless to say, Ominis was absolutely mortified upon realizing that he had said his thoughts out loud by accident. To make matters worse, Sebastian, who remained vigilant the entire time, had heard it loud and clear.

As the blonde-haired male oldest friend, Sebastian had seen the many sides of Ominis throughout the years. However, this was an entirely different version of Ominis that even the brunette wasn't accustomed to. Watching him cluelessly pine for one of their fellow classmates who seems just as whipped as he is was agonizing to watch. Hell, even Sebastian landed himself a date with Skylar Evans thanks to Ominis’ emotionally mature advice, yet the poor man was unable to apply his own words of wisdom onto himself. Much to Sebastian's humorous pleasure, the whole scenario itself resembles a comedically-written romantic novel that were commonly read by young ladies, and he was not about to discard that thought anytime soon.

Sebastian glanced at the sulky opal-eyed male beside him, stifling his laughter as he remembered Ominis’ predicament during that one class in Defense Against the Dark Arts. However, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a rather sharp blow to his poor unsuspecting rib — Ominis’ infamous elbow jab of death: perfect for silencing insolent little lads who dare to incur his wrath.

“OW! BLOODY HELL, OMINIS!”

…..Scurvy grass, lovage, sneezewort, and…. Frog brains. Eugh.

Ominis grimaced as he read through his potions textbook, mulling over the ingredients needed for a Befuddlement Draught: the potion he was supposed to procure today as his additional assignment output. Meanwhile, you occupied the other burner on the same table. Potions Class had ended a while ago, and you immediately seized the opportunity in brewing the potion you had been intensively researching on while you were tutoring Ominis. You brought out your own set of jars containing the necessary ingredients alongside a leather-bound notebook that contained your own written notes. Before you could get started on your own potion, you headed over to Ominis.

“Got all your ingredients ready, I hope?” you asked. He hummed in response, taking out several jars from his own potions kit.

“I’m not sure if I have enough frog brains though. I’d rather not stick my finger inside the jar to check. Do I have enough?” Ominis queried, showing you a jar containing an ample amount of the said ingredient. A snort escaped from your nostrils.

“What? You’re afraid of touching frog brains?”

“They’re disgusting and have a pungent fishy smell. I’d rather not,” the misty-eyed male cringed. “So, do I have enough or not?”

“Relax. You do,” you chucked, checking his other ingredient jars. “Let me just set the flame for you. Will you be alright brewing the potion this time mostly on your own? I have to brew… Something.”

“The same potion you’ve been trying to brew for the past few days?”

“Unfortunately, yes. It’s trickier than I thought,” you sighed, scratching the back of your head sheepishly.

“Who would’ve thought that blood-restorative potions for beasts would be so difficult to procure…” you bemoaned to yourself.

“...I’ll just inform you if I need some help then,” Ominis replied, choosing not to pry despite his piqued curiosity.

“Alright then. I'll be here if you need me.”

You flipped your notebook to the necessary page, finding a recipe that had multiple cross-outs and note scribbles at the side of each error to the recipe that you had found in the beast section of the library. The list itself was rather intimidating, taking up almost an entire roll of parchment even with your tiny handwriting. The Blood-Restorative Potion for Unicorns — that was what you were attempting to brew for Merlin knows how many times for the last few days and it was the primary cause of your sleepless nights.

You would've spoken to Professor Howin instead regarding the matter, but the situation was far too dire for the two poor beasts. The last thing you would want is a poor unicorn mare and its foal dying of a deadly infection or blood loss by merely waiting for authorities to take action. You'd rather just nurse the poor beasts back to health on your own. After all, you are a well-researched Ravenclaw who is more than capable of taking such matters into your hands.

So how did you actually manage to ensnare yourself within this particularly complicated predicament?

It all began during the first night of your long-awaited freedom. After many troubling events that had recently occurred, you were in dire need of being out and about in the wilderness armed with just your wand, a satchel containing your essentials, and your trusty broom. Who would've thought you'd find yourself rescuing a locked up unicorn mare and its foal in one of the abandoned poacher camps within the Forbidden Forest?

By Merlin's name, the two poor beasts were in a dreadful state when you had found them: while the foal suffered minor injuries and was severely malnourished, the mare suffered greater injuries that involved several deep punctures and gashes on its flesh, while its mane, tail and horn had been cut off. While unicorn hair and horns were common potion ingredients, unicorn blood wasn't — the mere fact that you had found signs that depict the extraction of its life essence was horrifying.

Thankfully, despite the darkness that had enshrouded the place, you successfully found a temporary haven for the unicorns: a nearby cave that was well concealed behind thickets of trees and tall bushes. The thought of two defenseless creatures being exploited in such a cruel way set the blood within your veins aflame with both anger towards their perpetrators, and fiery determination to nurse both of them back to health to the best of your abilities.

Furrowing your brows in concentration, you followed the improved recipe that you had written down, ticking each step that you had done with your self-inking quill to ensure that no step had been missed. You carefully dropped ingredient upon ingredient right into your cauldron, stirring it every now and then according to the instructions. Finally, you turned the flame off, allowing the concoction to cool: if the liquid turns into a fine silvery liquid with glittery gold specks when it reaches room temperature, then the potion has been brewed correctly.

You were about to check on Ominis' cauldron, only to find that he is currently decanting a promising dark green concoction into an empty vial.

"You actually managed to brew it without my help this time!" you genuinely exclaimed out of happiness. A faint blush rose to his cheeks as he placed the cork onto the vial before heading to the Potions Master's table. Handing over his vial, Ominis patiently awaited Professor Sharp’s verdict. The said professor nodded in approval, scribbling an “O” beside Ominis’ name in his records.

“Well done.”

A wide-eyed Ominis walked back to the table while you, his tutor, cracked a proud grin at the sight of him who was still rather awestruck from one of Sharp's rare words of encouragement.

“I say, keep this up and you probably won't need my assistance the next time you brew a potion!” you chirped.

“I suppose my tutor's an excellent guide herself,” Ominis commented, a gentle smile gracing his lips. You felt heat rush to your face, wordlessly falling into a daze as you stared at his expression. An awkward silence fell between the both of you, and the present smile upon his lips morphed into a smirk.

"You do know that I can feel you staring, right?"

You cleared your throat immediately, masking your embarrassment with your usual display of bashfulness.

“No, I'm not!” you half-heartedly denied while he chuckled. You peered down at your cauldron, spotting several gold flakes swirling around a shimmery silver liquid. Clapping in excitement, you took out various empty flasks from your potions kit to properly store the entire batch of potion you had just brewed.

At long last, it was finally a success.

The faint sound of footsteps pacing onto stone floors echoed throughout the walls of the Undercroft. Ominis had been loitering within the room for quite some time, deep in thought for the good majority of the entire duration. He had managed to sneak out of the Slytherin Common Room and right into his sanctuary, skillfully avoiding the prefects that were on patrol. Holding a piece of parchment with one hand and his wand with the other, he finally seized the opportunity to read Anne's reply in peace.

Ominis, I must say, I hadn’t expected you out of all people to be facing love-related problems. But I suppose there’s a first time for everything. Albeit the surprise, it truly warms my heart to know that you’ve managed to find someone that you genuinely fancy. She seems like a fine young lady, if you ask me! As for my advice, please do take it with a grain of salt. Preferences do vary from person to person, after all. If I were in your shoes, I think it’d be wise to advance forward with your so-called “relationship”, especially if you are now well aware of her true identity. It need not be a blatant introduction right in her face, of course. Perhaps you could slowly try to integrate yourself within her day-to-day life first by advancing your status from a mere pen-pal to let’s say a secret admirer? Something of the sort. That’d give you an opportunity to think things through if you’re still hesitant. It may not be easy for you to push through with such matters, but I believe in your astute judgment. Also, I hope you aren’t berating yourself throughout this entire situation. Knowing you, you’re probably doing something of the sort. This is a reminder that you still deserve love regardless of your past. That aside, I wish you the best of luck! May this string of fateful encounters lead you to a path of genuine happiness. Sincerely, Anne P.S. If you do push through with your plan of possible courtship, do drop by in Feldcroft with her, won't you? I’d love to meet her!

The poor Gaunt’s heart hammered at Anne’s post script, blushing miserably at the possible scenario. Bashfulness aside, the thought of revealing his identity to you made his stomach churn: he hadn't the slightest idea as to how you'd react to the cold hard truth. Although the rift between the both of you were starting to lessen surprisingly thanks to Sharp assigning you to tutor him for potions, he was still not fully convinced on whether he should proceed with his pursuits or not.

If only there was a window of opportunity where the both of you could actually know each other on a slightly deeper and meaningful level.

Ominis sighed in defeat, heading out of the Undercroft to sneak back into the common room. Perhaps if he rested for the night, there'd be a better idea that would grace his head the next time he ponders about a solution to this predicament. The sound of the clock mechanism echoed throughout the stone stairwell of the Undercroft as the door opened. Ominis exited, stepping onto the marble floors of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Tower. He casted a Disillusionment Charm for good measure, deftly roaming through the dimly lit corridors once more.

Unbeknownst to him, aside from the several prefects roaming about, there was another charm-concealed student who was, like Ominis, sneaking around past curfew. His sharp sense of smell caught a whiff of a familiar floral perfume, and he noticed that the person was heading straight towards the staircase leading towards the exit of the tower. Ominis followed the scent, casually stopping right beside the person, who was mumbling to themselves.

“.... Two prefects. Now how do I—”

“Sneaking out of the castle, are you?”

“Mother of—!” you squeaked, revealing both of yourselves to one another. You glared at the misty-eyed male. Before you could utter anything, you were suddenly interrupted.

“Hello? Is anyone up there?” one of the prefects called, heading up to the second floor. Panickedly, the both of you casted the Disillusionment Charm on yourselves once again, creeping alongside the marble balustrade in hopes of not getting noticed.

While the prefect headed towards the corridor far from the stairs, the both of you immediately headed down to the first floor. You fired a spell towards a wall right at the far opposite of the exit, effectively distracting the other prefect that was patrolling around. You deftly pushed the large door open, exiting the tower successfully and headed towards several bushes while the young Gaunt followed suit. Both regaining visibility once again, you turned to Ominis, placing your hands onto the sides of your waist.

“To answer your question just now before you nearly broke my 2-year streak of not being caught, yes I am sneaking out,” you huffed, furrowing your eyebrows. “Didn't expect you to be out and about past curfew, Gaunt. Why are you sneaking around, anyways?”

“Well, I couldn't sleep,” Ominis nonchalantly reasoned.

“That's it?” you deadpanned.

“What? Were you expecting something more?”

“Seems too simple of a reason to risk yourself getting caught by prefects, don't you think?”

“Believe it or not, I am, in fact, a rather simple young man,” the alabaster-skinned male quipped while you scoffed in amusement.

“Really now? That's a surprise,” you mumbled.

“And I'm assuming that your present late-night activities have something to do with the potion that you brewed earlier?”

“....As a matter of fact, yes.”

“Pray, do tell. What exactly did you brew back in the classroom?”

You paused, contemplating on whether or not you should reveal your agenda for the night. The opal-eyed male raised an eyebrow, expectantly waiting for your answer. You grinned as an idea dawned upon you. You summoned your broom and mounted onto the seat.

“Fancy yourself a trip to the Forbidden Forest tonight?” you offered. “That's where I'm headed, actually.”

“...The what?!”

“Oh, come on! Don't tell me you're scared now? After all that sneaking around and you want to retire back into the dungeons?”

“I'm not scared!” Ominis grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Then don't just stand there, silly! Hop on!”

Hesitance grabbed a hold of Ominis, temporarily rooting him onto the ground.

“May this string of fateful encounters lead you to a path of genuine happiness.”

Recalling Anne’s recent message, Ominis sighed defeatedly.

“...I can't believe I'm doing this,” he mumbled, mounting onto your broom. He shyly snaked his arms around your waist, securing himself in place. Taking your wand out of your inner pocket, you muttered a spell, turning the both of you invisible for a certain period of time.

“Ready?” you asked, pushing your bashfulness aside as you felt the warmth from his body seep onto your back.

“Ready.”

A loud thump on the ground was soon heard, followed by a whoosh as the both of you soared into the night sky. Ominis let out an uncharacteristic yelp as you leaned forward, prompting him to tighten his hold as he felt a stronger gust of wind hit his face. He felt his heart pound against his chest out of sheer anxiety.

“You’re going way too fast!” he cried out while you laughed out heartily at his plight, maintaining the breakneck speed. The both of you headed up north, passing over most of the thick fog blanketing the Forbidden Forest. Ominis felt himself calm down as he started getting used to the speed of your broom.

You then spotted the small clearing where you often landed, and without warning, you maneuvered your broom to swoop down. The terrified screams of the poor Gaunt behind you caused you to guffaw boisterously at his priceless reaction. Soon, the whooshing of the air slowly died down as you leaned back to make the speed dwindle down significantly. The moment Ominis felt the ground beneath his feet, he quickly dismounted, patting himself and fixing his hair while you pointed your wand at your broom, vanishing it out of sight.

“That wasn’t so bad now, was it?” you giggled.

“Wasn’t?! We could’ve died!” Ominis hissed. “I could've been killed!”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake, pull yourself together! Now, the cave’s not far from here. Best be on our way, hmm?” you said, patting his shoulder and heading towards the supposed designation.

“This better be worth my time,” the misty-eyed male muttered grumpily, tailing after you while he held his blinking wand up.

A deathly silence loomed over the dreary-looking place aside from the audible crunching of leaves and stray twigs beneath your feet as you and Ominis traversed through the cold, dark forest. The crunching of leaves soon turned into faint footsteps against a solid surface, much to your relief.

“We’re here. It's just right ahead,” you informed Ominis, walking into the cave. The sound of dripping water echoed throughout the natural tunnel-like structure. Soft whinnies were soon heard alongside the sound of hooves trotting on grass from the end of the tunnel, much to Ominis’ surprise.

Upon reaching the end of the tunnel, you were met with a large open space with a large snakewood tree rooted in the middle. The moonlight peered through the small opening from the top of the cave, shining its strong rays of light directly onto the lone tree. Beside the tree lies a small spring, where the unicorn mare and its foal were currently drinking water from. Upon seeing your arrival, the unicorn foal cantered towards you in excitement while you quickly conjured up some food for it, stroking its mane affectionately as it began to feast on its treats that were laced with the potion you had brewed earlier. Much to your relief, the foal hadn't noticed any unusual taste from the pellets. Ominis quietly approached you, still unsure of what was happening. You grabbed his wrist, guiding his hand towards the foal until the skin of his palm came into contact with its short mane and small horn.

“... Unicorns!” Ominis breathed out while you smiled at his excited reaction. Ominis gingerly glided his hand across the fur of the young beast, only to realize that it had several line-like scabs littering its skin. His brow furrowed both in confusion and concern.

“Its skin… What happened?” Ominis asked while you sighed.

“Poachers. I found both of them in one of the abandoned camps nearby in a cage,” you explained grimly, attempting not to divulge into the explicit details of the beasts' prior suffering. Ominis pondered, putting two and two together.

It all made sense now.

“So they were injured when you found them and you've been treating their wounds for the past few days,” Ominis concluded.

“Yes, that's right,” you said, rather impressed with how perceptive the pale-skinned male was was. “And the potion I was brewing is a Blood-Restorative Potion for Unicorns.”

“That bad, huh,” the young Gaunt sighed sorrowfully. “How horrible.”

The unicorn mare approached you, laying onto its side for you to inspect its large wound. You gently removed the protective linen that rested atop the wound, revealing a stitched gash that was looking far less grim the last time you had seen it. You opened your satchel, grabbing a flask of the antiseptic potion Garreth had concocted and poured it gently onto the wound, watching it fizz up slightly. You then opened up the vial containing dittany essence, applying it in sufficient amounts to prevent a nasty scar from forming.

Meanwhile, Ominis knelt over near the unicorn's head, giving it an experimental pat on its neck before stroking it affectionately. He immediately took note of the mare's extremely short mane and the absence of its horn, merely feeling a stump on its head. His heart broke at the realization of the harrowing incident this unicorn must’ve gone through.

“Even your horn and hair wasn't spared…” he spoke softly towards the beast, who neighed in response.

“She'll be fine now. Her wounds are healing nicely,” you informed, much to Ominis' relief. “I'll have to check on them both every now and then, though. Until I make sure they'll be fine on their own.”

Ominis got up on his feet, conjuring a self-refilling feeder for each of the unicorns. You smiled in appreciation at his initiative, further improving the contraption in making sure that the feeds for the mare contained a stronger dosage of the potion you had brewed. You sighed both in exhaustion and in relief as the two unicorns had their fill of grub, heading over to the dry spot within the cave to take a rest. Ominis followed you, promptly finding a spot to sit on as soon as he heard the slight clinking of glass jars while you gently put your bag down.

With a wave of your wand, small pieces of rocks and several dry pieces of wood materialized out of thin air, forming a small circular fire pit. Small balls of fire shot out of your wand, igniting the wood. Ominis sat on the ground and leaned back against the cave wall, relaxing at the sound of the fire crackling. You plopped right beside him, gazing at the flickering flames.

“This was… A rather fun trip, I must say,” Ominis mumbled, breaking the silence.

“Glad to know it was worth your while. You're not a bad traveling companion surprisingly,” you chuckled. “...Aside from the screaming on the broom just now.”

“Did you really have to bring that up?” he winced in embarrassment.

“Lighten up, will you? It's not that bad!” you laughed. “It was rather funny.”

Ominis groaned in response, pinching the bridge of his nose at the flashback. The sound of neighs echoed throughout the cave as the unicorn foal trotted around the mare, bursting into a run while the latter followed its mischievous little offspring. You giggled at the sight.

“Honestly I'm relieved that they're doing so much better now. For the past few days this cave has been quiet aside from the occasional pained neighs from the both of them. It was horribly depressing,” you recalled.

“Well, I'm sure they're thankful for your help. Unicorns aren't usually the most social of beasts, yet they're here they are,” the misty-eyed male said in a rather comforting manner.

“Do you think they want to stay here? The forest has been quite dangerous lately with poachers lurking about,” you pondered out loud.

“I wouldn't be surprised if they do. We can just provide what they need here. Probably enchant the place with protective spells too.”

“We?” you repeated in a surprised tone. The misty-eyed male cleared his throat instinctively, feeling an all-familiar warmth spread throughout his face.

“It was a mere suggestion. It’s still your decision to make.”

“...I think it’s wise if we follow your suggestions, actually. I quite like the idea of these poor beasts having a chance to live in a safer place for once,” you admitted. “A chance for a new start is probably what they deserve. Poor things must’ve been traumatized after going through such terrifying ordeals.”

Ominis' mind wandered at the thought, strangely empathizing with the unicorns you had rescued. They reminded him of himself — just like them, he had gone through harrowing events that left traces of emotional scars deep within his heart and mind, along with permanently sullied hands. However, unlike these ethereal, harmless beings, he had voluntarily participated in an act of cruelty to save himself: he had to inflict the worst pain imaginable unto another innocent person. At the end of the day, unlike the unicorns, he still had a choice.

Did he truly even deserve that same chance of starting anew despite what he had done?

“A Knut for your thoughts?” you asked, jolting the blonde-haired male out of his musings.

“A chance for a new start… Do you think everyone deserves such a thing? Even those who have done atrocious things?” Ominis asked softly. You were rather taken aback by the sudden heavy question from the normally emotionally-secretive male. Nevertheless, you decided to share your opinion.

“Everyone deserves a chance at some point, Gaunt. Especially those who are determined enough to change for the better and genuinely make amends for their wrongdoings,” you answered with conviction as if it was the most logical answer to his question. You glanced at Ominis, who had an astonished expression on his face.

“... I know my answer might sound rather simple, but I do hope it suffices,” you chuckled as your eyelids began to slowly droop, fatigue slowly overtaking your body. The opal-eyed male did just as you said, mulling over the answer you had strung together. He was about to ask another question when he felt a sudden weight drop on his shoulder.

Oh.

Ominis' breath hitched at his throat. A reluctant hand reached out to cup your cheek, his thumb ghosting over your eyelashes. Finally after all that had occurred within this particular day, you had fallen fast asleep. He felt the flyaways of your hair tickle his jawline as you shifted your head around slightly before settling down as soon as you were comfortable enough. The silence this time was a cozy one — the soft crackling of fire along with your steady breaths made Ominis exhale in relaxation as he rested his head against yours.

He felt the beating of his heart drum steadily within his chest as he pondered about the many things he had discovered about you in this little impromptu trip. Unsurprisingly, his initial first impressions of you had been completely shattered at this point. In fact, he felt downright silly for even underestimating you when you were far more than just a typical book-smart Ravenclaw.

You were rather insane when it came to your adrenaline-seeking tendencies, unlady-like at certain times, surprisingly had a penchant for breaking rules every now and then, yet at the same time you were undoubtedly one of the kindest, wisest and most understanding persons he had ever come across. There were so many sides to you that have yet to be discovered, and he wanted to uncover all of what is concealed. The mere thought of being with you made his chest ache with painful longing and repressed desires.

Ominis bitterly chuckled at yet another mind-blowing realization, leaning his head against the cave wall with a burning urge to kick himself over and over for his incapability of fully grasping the extent of his budding feelings sooner. For the umpteenth time today, he finds himself at a loss for words regarding the huge risk he was about to take.

“I can't fucking believe this,” he whispered, conjuring a roll of his scented parchment, an envelope, a wooden board, and his self-inking quill. It was now or never: he had to write this before his self-depreciative thoughts held himself back once again. He couldn’t risk losing this opportunity — not when the answers to his doubts were crystal clear to him right now.

He wanted to try regardless of what the outcome may be.

Dearest Lucie, You might be surprised that you’ve received my reply in this manner, and I hope you do not mind my rather bold approach this time around. Truth be told, the main reason as to why my reply took so long was due to the mishap of me discovering your identity by mere coincidence. I shan’t divulge into the details as to how I’ve uncovered this crucial information, but I have been thinking about this for quite a while now. I suppose I let my cowardice get the best of me at some point hence my silence, but I couldn’t keep this secret from you after all. I wouldn’t blame you if you’re upset with my actions, and I deeply apologize for that. As for my intentions now that I know who you are, I believe that the decision whether to continue this correspondence or not ultimately rests with how comfortable you are with communicating with me. To be completely honest, I’m quite fearful of your possible negative reaction once you find out who I am. I know I’m being rather unfair with this, but if knowing my identity is important to you, is it possible if I could just leave clues for you to figure out? I promise I won’t make them too difficult. It’s just that I don’t think I can handle approaching you right away in person. Whatever your decision may be, I’m glad that I got to know you — even if it’s just through letters. With love and adoration, Ves

As soon as the ink had dried up, he folded the parchment neatly and slipped it into the envelope before stuffing it into his inner coat pocket. He vanished the objects he had conjured, resting his head on top of yours once more. He shut his eyes, relishing in the tender moment with you as he slowly drifted off to his own slumber with a faint smile across his lips.

The blonde-haired male has finally made his decision: this time, he would give this letter to you on his own without any assistance from your owl.

< chapter 7: denial and desires 🔞

chapter 9: uncontrollably fond >

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@xadriianaaa @roohuh @pugsnotdrugs92 @wolfiehardz @auxiliare @ohantonia @superblyspeedydragon

#ominis gaunt x reader #ominis gaunt #ominis gaunt x f!reader #ominis x reader #ominis x f!reader #ominis x y/n #ominis gaunt x you #ominis gaunt x y/n #ominis gaunt fluff #ominis fluff #hogwarts legacy ominis

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doppel-doodles · 6 months

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I was gonna wait till I posted her ref then make this but sadly I’m way to impatient :,D

Xing suxaun belongs to the lovely @littlethingsrae

This is Shui liu, another one of tangs adopted children and token mom friend.

Since both of them are therapists I really got attached to the idea that they studied at the same school or something before eventually ending up as colleagues. Also shui used to be way different back in the day so I just imagine him having such whiplash at how different she acts.

Also she’s a demon and you bet the way he found that out was just as unannounced.

And because I don't like just posting sketches here's a little drawing of younger shui :>

Some bonus stuff I ran out of time and energy to draw-

---

Xing:“hey liu, where did you get these nice jars?“

Shui:“oh those are just some potion bottles from Lao tzu I got back when I was a celestial warrior, no worries I cleaned them!“

Xing:“wait..you were a what-„

Shui:“Yeah he owed me a few things.“

Xing:“LAO TZU OWED YOU??“

Shui:“HAH- He actually still owes me can you believe that?“

---

Xing:“Hey some guy walked in asking for you. Short,glasses,looks like he hasn’t slept in two weeks. You know him? Is he one of your patients?“

Shui:“Oh that’s just Arthur, he’s my ex husband! He’s a real sweetheart just a little awkward no worries! He probably just wanted to talk about the kids.“

Xing:“ok… when did you get married let alone divorce??..wait you had kids-“

Shui:“ they are just the sweetest little guppie’s! You should meet them sometime they are adorable!“

Xing:“DONT DODGE THE QUESTION-„

---

Shui:“everything alright there? You look worried.“

Xing:“I just saw that fire kid that attacked the weather station climb into your house through a window with a bunch of those bull robots-„

Shui:“Oh you mean redson? No worries raindrop that’s just how he likes to get inside, he’s actually Arthur’s student so this happens all the time!“

Shui:“…“

Xing:“…“

Xing:“You enjoy my confusion about your life don’t you?“

Shui:“I very much do, yes.“

—

A day is never boring in her household, will her poor colleague get roped into the shenanigans? (Spoiler: he will, he so will be. This family has already claimed them in their name so don’t fight just accept it xing suxaun, hope you like babysitting-)

Congrats you made it to the end, here have some sillies:

#oc; xing suxaun #doppel draws #lego monkie kid #lmk oc #lmk #lego monkey kid oc #not my oc #shui liu #oc interaction #im still working on jins interaction #im just procrastinating is all-#finally had an excuse to use my chibi style

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no-thoughts-only-soup · 11 months

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To Secure / Risk It All

Chapter 2

PART 2 YALL

—————

SCP-173 had been a nightmare and a half, but they’d finally be able to contain it again. Curt leaned back in his chair in the panic room. All in all, everything had worked out decently well. Sure, Den had died, but she was thankfully the only casualty.

Speaking of, Den floated next him, having found him and deciding to keep him company. Curt would never say it out loud, but he appreciated it.

“So.” He turned to her. “How do you find Kristine?”

Den glanced over to him, shrugging. “She’s funny, that’s for sure. Can’t help but think of Chilly though. I know that’s not fair to her but that’s how it is.”

Curt sighed. “Yeah, it’s gonna take a bit to get used to her. But you guys seem to like her, I think.”

Den chuckled. “She definitely brings back the energy we’ve been missing.”

Curt chuckled with her, slowly getting up from his chair and preparing to head back now that it was safe.

Den’s voice stopped him before he could do so. “Hey, do you know what happened to her? To Chilly?”

Curt paused. It was still hard to believe Chilly just up and left them. And honestly, he wasn’t really obligated to tell them. But as he turned to face Den and saw her worried look, his conscience won. Chilly was Den’s friend too. She deserved to know.

“I… was told she was found innocent, so she was allowed to leave the Foundation. Don’t know anything more than that.”

“Oh, I see…” Den rubbed her arm, her face full of mixed emotions that Curt couldn’t really pin down. Emotions were more Christian’s thing. “Well… good for her I guess.”

His eyes trailed away. “Yeah, I’m happy she’s safe…”

But they both felt something else. Betrayal? Bitterness? Disappointment?

Because he couldn’t face Den, he tried to focus his eyes on literally anything else. Which is why noticed movement on one of the cameras.

“Hey are those Foundation guys moving your corpse?”

Den, broken out of her thoughts, spun around, looking at the screen.

“Oh motherf- they better don’t do shit to my body!”

She zipped away, ghosting right through the wall. Curt decided to was time to meet up with his friends too, and left the panic room.

Christian, Ivan and Kristine were teasing Den as she tried to get her body back from some staff member Curt didn’t bother to remember. Soon enough, they were all back on their way to the D-Class cells. At some point, Ivan and Kristine started arguing. Curt wasn’t sure what started it, but from the snippets of dialog he could make out ‘anime titties’ and ‘Worcestershire sauce’. He was good not knowing, thanks.

Besides, he was too busy thinking thinking to himself to pay attention to him. This whole mess didn’t make sense. Why did Chilly just up and leave like that? Why was it a researcher that took her out of the cell? Why were his main assignments only having his friends get into trouble with SCPs? Sure, trouble was usually part of their usual shenanigans with scenarios, but no one had ever commanded him to do things like this. And why did it feel like no one in the Foundation was doing any work towards uncovering what happened that faithful day that resulted in his friends lying unconscious in a field of dead bodies. It’d been weeks now, shouldn’t they be at least having suspicions? What—

Something bumped into his hip. Startled, Curt looked to his side, meeting Christian’s eyes.

“You good, man?”

Curt blinked. Stared ahead. Ivan and Kristine had gotten into a fist fight with each other that got the two guards with the squad occupied, while Den cheered them on. No one was paying attention to him.

Scratching his neck, Curt put his focus back to Christian and exhaled. “Yeah, just… thinking.”

“Mind sharing with the class?” Christian asked him, bluntly reminding him that Christian was in fact, a therapist.

He cast his look downwards, kicking some loose rubble away.

“It’s just… things aren’t making sense. I feel like I’m overlooking something big. Something… important. Like this goes beyond just our usual stuff.”

Christian waved his hands sarcastically. “Oooooh, what tipped you off? Our shitty hint provider? Chilly being mysteriously taken away? The fact we’re still in this shit ass place?”

Curt couldn’t help but give him a small smile, though he dropped it a second later. “All that and more I guess. I dunno, I guess I just have a lot to think about.”

“Use that brain to prevent us from dying next time, thanks.”

Curt laughed. “Come on, how many times have we died already? It’s not that big a deal, Den’s gonna be back soon enough and—“

Realization hit him. Oh. Oh! Oh god, why didn’t he think of that before? Jesus, is that’s true… then…

“Hey,” Christian’s voice distracted him. His look was more serious now. “you figured something out?”

Curt’s mind was racing, but the guards were finally starting to calm down Ivan and Kristine. He took a deep breath and looked Christian directly in the eyes.

“I think do, yeah, but I gotta confirm it first. Can you do me a favor?”

Christian smirked. “Depends, what’s in it for me?”

“Ribs. Dunno if I can get the McDonald’s one but I’ll try.” Curt smirked back.

“Ehhhhhhh… good enough, what’s it?”

He lowered his voice, almost in a whisper. “Once you’re in the cell, wait about 30 minutes and then cause a distraction.“

“Dawg, you should have started with that, I’m always up for starting shit. I’ll still take the ribs though.” Christian laughed, though his voice was softer than usual too.

“Thanks man.”

It looked like the guards finally succeeded in calming the other two down. Before they continued, Curt leaned towards Christian once more.

“Last thing. I might sound crazy, but don’t trust Kristine yet.”

Christian’s face didn’t change, though his eyes did flicker to her. “Any particular reason?”

“Nah just… a gut feeling.”

“Noted, thanks Curt’s gut.”

“Ass.”

They arrived at the D-Class cells. Curt playfully waved them goodbye like usual, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes. The second he walked out, they steeled.

He knew what he had to do.

————

#recreyo #curtrichy #frugalaesthetics #cypherden #ivan animated #Kristine #my writing #fanfiction #scp recreyo

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erina-leah · 1 year

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Dear @honey-deku

Merry Christmas!! Tis I, your @onepiece-blorboexchange secret Santa!!! I wanted to post this closer to Christmas, but I can’t wait any longer! I had a huge kick of inspiration when this came up so I’m hella proud of this.

So, please enjoy your Law X Reader!

Title: Worth It

CW: Fluff, shenanigans, Law X sick reader <3

It had been months since the Heart Pirates had been to a winter island, and what good are the holidays if you don’t get to frolic in the snow at least once?

This was the logic you used when they agreed to play with Bepo on the deck of the Polar Tang when they had their first snow of the season. Along with some of the others, you spent the afternoon making snowmen and having an all-out snowball war.

And you know what? It was worth being stuck in the infirmary with a cold as far as you were concerned. Your grumpy boyfriend and captain did not share the same thought process, however.

“Didn’t I tell you not to stay out for too long?” Law grumbled as he placed the back of his tattooed hand on your forehead.

“Yeah, yeah,” you replied. “But I was having too much fun! It had been four hours before I knew it.”

The raven simply glared at you, his silver eyes shaming you for the lame excuse.

“Look, I’m sorry! But it was fun! Honestly, you should have joined us.”

“Well, if I did, then you and I would be in the same boat.” He placed a hand on your shoulder as he pressed his lip against your forehead, a second attempt at reading your temperature. When he backed away, he stood and walked to a nearby cabinet to grab a towel. “And as your captain and doctor, I can’t afford to be in here with a fever.”

“Aw, I’m really running a temperature?” you exclaimed.

“I did warn you.”

Falling back with an exaggerated sigh, you leaned back onto the bed and fell into a fit of coughs. Mustering up the best puppy-dog eyes you could, you looked at Law and asked, “Are you going to take care of me, love?”

Law rolled his eyes as his cheeks reddened. “Fine, but don’t expect me to kiss you. I don’t wanna catch what you have.”

“Trafalgar D. Law, you are the worst! Achoo!”

~+~+~

Your afternoon was about as exciting as one would expect. Once Law had given you some medicine and placed a cold rag on your head, he left you to get some rest. Later, he woke you up with a supper consisting of warm soup and sat with you as you ate.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as you finished your food.

“Better than I was earlier, but I’m still really congested,” you replied. “Not to mention my head is pounding.”

“A headache, hm? I’ll go get you some medicine.”

“Wait!” You reached out to grab the captain’s hand. When he looked back at you, you blinked innocently and asked, “Can you kiss it better first?”

Law walked back to your bedside, caressing your cheek as he hummed thoughtfully. “Nah, you’ll have to wait until you’re better for that.” With a smirk, he walked out of the room as you angrily cursed him for being a tease.

By the time he re-entered the infirmary, you were asleep again. With a sigh, he placed the medicine on the bedside table with a glass of water and gazed at your sweet sleeping face. He couldn’t help but fall in love with your expression, so peaceful despite being so sick. As he brushed a stray hair out of your face, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of your soft lips. He longed to kiss them, but he knew he had to focus on getting you better as opposed to getting himself sick.

Forcing himself to tear his eyes away from you, he walked out of the room as he whispered over his shoulder. “You had better get well soon.”

~+~+~

The next morning, you groggily opened your eyes to see a concerned Law sitting at your side. His eyes momentarily lit up before worry took over his expression once again.

“You’re finally awake,” he said as he took your hand in his. “I thought you’d sleep forever, you’ve been out since dinner.”

“Hm? What time is it?”

“10 AM.”

“AM?!”

“Relax, there’s good news. Your fever broke while you were asleep. How’d that congestion medicine work?”

You took a breath, then squeezed Law’s hand as you grinned. “I can breathe again! Thank goodness I have the best doctor in the world.”

Law smiled softly, something his crew mates and allies rarely saw from him. You, on the other hand, had the luxury of seeing this side of her captain often. As he mumbled something about only being better because he treated her early, you noticed the dark bags under his eyes.

“Love, how long have you been awake?” you asked, despite already knowing the answer was “too long.”

“Erm, since you’ve been asleep.”

“Law—“

“I know, I know. But I was worried, alright? Now shush.” The next thing you knew, Law’s strong hands gently cupped your cheeks and pressed his lips against yours. Despite being disgruntled that your boyfriend had once again skipped out on resting, that hypocrite, you couldn’t help but melt into his kiss. As you breathed in his familiar scent, you felt all of your exhaustion melt away.

“God, I wanted to do that so bad,” Law whispered as they two parted, their foreheads pressed together.

“Just couldn’t wait, huh? If you got sick with me we could have kissed all we wanted.”

Law smashed his lips against yours again, smirking into the kiss. “Shut up. It was with the wait.”

#one piece #one piece x reader #op y/n secret santa #merry blorbo #law x reader #trafalgar law #Hope you enjoy!!!!!

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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I’m compelled on this Halloween night to throw in my two cents about the whole Cinder issue currently being discussed in the RWDE/Anti-RWDE tags. Because there’s nothing scarier than a badly constructed story :D

More seriously though, the problem isn’t a clear cut failing on the part of a character (Emerald didn’t tell RWBYJNOR that Cinder was in Atlas), or on the part of critics (Stupid RWDE forgot a basic plot-point again). The problem is that RWBY doesn’t have the characters communicate on screen so we, the audience, are perpetually confused about how much the characters actually know. And if you’re not confused, that’s likely because you’re assuming something to clarify the writing on RT’s behalf, an assumption that other RWBY fans might not share.

Things start out fairly straightforward in Volume 7:

Robyn’s party is attacked and the heroes realize that Tyrian is the culprit. At this point they can theorize that other villains like Cinder might be nearby.

The black, glass chess piece is left in Ironwood’s office. The characters now know pretty conclusively that Cinder is in Atlas, but not where.

With the exception of the Hound, the beginning of Volume 8 puts most of its emphasis on our antagonists instead, having the heroes face off against Ironwood (thematically) and the Ace Ops (literally). This leaves the main villains like Cinder as a side-note, at least from the heroes’ perspective.

Penny fights Cinder in Amity Tower but with the exception of Maria, she’s the only fighter who knows that Cinder is there.

Penny is then hacked and falls, spending the next few episodes unconscious/fighting Watts’ influence. There’s no time for her to report Cinder shenanigans. Meanwhile, heaven only knows what happened to Maria. She might not even be alive, let alone in a position to inform the group about Cinder.

Now, does Penny tell the group everything that happened when she comes back to herself? We don’t know because RWBY skips over important character conversations. This is a major problem for scenes involving secrets and subjective details (like Oscar telling Ironwood about Salem), but it also makes it really hard to keep track of what characters know about basic plot points too, things the audience has omniscient knowledge of, but that characters spread across a kingdom without reliable communication would need to piece together somehow. Did that happen off screen? We don’t know.

However, the last time Penny saw Cinder she was unconscious from their fight. Even if she did tell the group everything in between the hack and the group’s dining room conversation about Ambrosius, her report would likely include something like, “Cinder was out of commission last time I saw her.” AKA, maybe she’s not something we need to worry about right now.

Cinder is also carried back to the whale. Yang, Ren, Jaune, and Oscar don’t see her there. The whale then explodes, leaving the heroes intact, but Hazel vaporized.

Does the group realize Cinder got out before then? No, they don’t. They only encounter Emerald, Hazel, and Salem. Qrow and Robyn might have a decent idea that Cinder was the one who attacked their jail cell, but they’ve been in a separate group this whole time, unable to communicate with Ruby and the others.

Would the group assume that Cinder was killed if she was still in the whale? Who knows because we and the characters both don’t understand how Ozpin’s magic cane works. It appears to have damaged one person, but left everyone else intact. So Cinder is maybe unconscious. Maybe dead. Maybe off somewhere else entirely.

Now, flash-forward to the end of Volume 8 where the group is shocked - shocked, I say - to find Cinder thwarting their plans once more. Which leaves us with two main interpretations:

The group forgot that their longest-running villain was in the city trying to kill them. This makes the group of supposedly competent fighters look REALLY stupid. Personally, I subscribe to this reading because the episode’s final line is Ruby saying she hopes they’ve “thought of everything” and we close in on Cinder smiling evilly. That’s cinematography 101 for, “Oh no, the characters DIDN’T remember everything! Cinder is about to throw a wrench in their perfect plans!” The story HEAVILY implies that the group forgot about her.

However, if we want to be charitable towards the characters and assume (that’s the kicker, we’re always assuming in this show) that they remembered that Cinder was a threat in a general sense, then their surprise must stem from her remaining a threat right now. AKA, based on limited info from Penny, they may belief that Cinder has been temporarily defeated. Most of the heroes haven’t seen her in person. Penny was the last one to fight her and successfully knocked Cinder out. She was then taken to Bad Guys HQ, which subsequently blew up. Oh, and the former villain in their ranks hasn’t mentioned her at all. It’s likely that the heroes would have a “no news is good news” approach. Surely if Emerald isn’t bringing Cinder up as a problem, then she’s not a problem. If the characters are keeping Cinder in mind, the logical conclusion is that she’s not currently a threat, at least for the time being, because otherwise their new source of villain info totally would have mentioned that. She’s either still K.O.ed, or potentially even dead depending on what Ozpin’s magic might have done to her.

If you’re a former bad guy defecting to the heroes and are trying to prove your worth, it might be a good idea to mention that your boss, the one the hero sitting across from you recently defeated, actually recovered very fast, was tortured a bit, and then got sent on another mission to secure Watts. So she’s back out there causing problems! She’s on task right now to fuck things up with the brilliant scientist that took out your heat, crippled your defenses, and maimed Atlas’ general! That’s good to know, right? As we manage civilian evacuations and try to safely leave Atlas behind, maybe we should take a moment to consider what enemies are still out there and how to combat them? You know, the enemies one of us has intimate knowledge of because she was their peer all of an hour ago?

But we don’t get anything like this because RWBY’s characters don’t talk. It’s stupid both that Emerald didn’t offer information and that no one was grilling her on it. Instead of hashing out who knows what and why that’s important, we’re given vague speeches about the ethics of the situation, always culminating in a, “Everyone is on the same side!” conclusion. Except everyone isn’t. There are clear heroes and villains in RWBY, so it’s weird for the cast (a very large cast, I might add, supposedly filled with various viewpoints and approaches to their problems) to forget about one of the most prominent villains they’ve ever known. It’s even weirder that if they didn’t forget and instead assumed that they were safer than they actually were, that the former villain, Cinder-obsessed character didn’t correct them in-between giggling about her previous death toll.

The fact that Emerald doesn’t struggle at all to leave Cinder and Cinder, in turn, has no reaction to Emerald’s betrayal just highlights how little thought went into this “redemption” arc. If the story can’t be bothered to tackle the biggest emotional beats of that decision, why would it hash out the nuances of the heroes’ strategy and how having unexpected, insider information into Salem’s group would drastically change that? The only thing Emerald does in Volume 8 is (unnecessarily) trick Ironwood, when her status as a former villain should have been used for SO much more, including clarifying for the audience what the characters think is happening with their enemies and how Emerald’s info might change those assumptions.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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sparklingpax · 1 year

Note

“Are you always this shy?” With Optimus and Ratchet? (Forgive me if I'm doing this wrong, I've only been following you for a moment)

From this (requests are still open btw! I need these moments to take my mind off irl stuff ngl qwq)

HELLO HI THIS IS VERY OVERDUE!! (as are the other ones, which will be posted very soon, I promise o///o) Also no worries at all, you did this right!! :D

I am the one who should be asking for forgiveness rn, because no one should have to wait this long jsddjsdj TwT

I know it's been a long minute, but I hope you enjoy my blog and all my shenanigans (even at least somewhat ahah ^^'')

-Im deeply sorry for typos and other such grammatical errors 😭

-I went with a sort of "early war" kind of thing, like right after Ratchet becomes a part of Optimus' team. (Not sure this is probably not even how this would have played out or did, but I am taking ARTISTIC LISENCE and doing my own version of events....idk ;w;)

-Also, it is a bit short ;///; sorry....hope you like it tho!

-Set in aligned continuity/tfp

-i guess its a lil bit of optiratch ya know? just a lil (for my own enjoyment ^w^)

///

“Ratchet.”

“Don’t.”

“But the team wants to–”

“Well they’ll have to do whatever it is another time–I’m too busy!!” the shorter mech snapped, cutting him off. He quickly reached into his toolbox and fumbled to grab something. Optimus took a step closer, trying to peer over his shoulder, curious.

“What are you working on?”

“A–uhm–this set of some…very difficult formulas!” The medic stammered, not yet turned to face him. “I-I need time, some quiet…I…I’m simply far too busy to do anything right now!”

He finally set his grip on an object, looking over his shoulder at Optimus as he brandished a wrench and waved it demonstratively. But as he held the wrench, Optimus noticed the tip of the object quivering in Ratchet’s grip.

After another sharp huff, he turned his back to Optimus again, leaning over the table, which was covered in rust and dirt. He set the wrench down quietly and stood still.

Optimus wondered if he was going to explain the wrench at all, or…

“...Alright, I’m…” Another sigh and pause. Optimus waited patiently. “I’m…not exactly busy with…formulas, I’m just…well, it’s just–I…I don’t…”

“You’re…nervous?”

Ratchet made a sound that seemed to agree.

Optimus fought the urge to giggle at how this was kind of cute–he didn’t want the medic to feel any more embarrassed than he probably already did. Instead, he strode closer to him, resting a gentle servo on his shoulder.

“I understand. You may take as long as you need before you go out and meet them,” he said quietly.

Ratchet ducked his head.

“But I feel bad about…”

Optimus shook his head, looking down at him with gentle regard.

“There is nothing to feel bad about, Ratchet. It would cause you discomfort if you went to meet everyone now, and I know neither you nor I would enjoy that. And, they are your new team as of now, so they will be around for quite a while.”

Ratchet finally looked back at Optimus, seeming less bothered than he had been–just a little more relaxed. Optimus was glad, smiling back at him.

“Well then…” Ratchet murmured, moving to return to looking at the table. “I do have some work to do…”

He jumped right into it, and Optimus simply watched, leaning against the table. He eyed a light flicker above them briefly, then let his gaze wander to the faded papers tacked to the walls. It wasn’t really a medical room, but it was the best available to them in their situation.

Squinting, he could see even more that these posters must not have been Ratchet’s–being advertisements for a shop of some kind, or pictures of a musical artist he was sure neither of them knew…

“You know…” Ratchet said quietly, breaking the silence, “...I do want to meet the team. I’ll need to get to know them in the event of injuries and such, anyway…”

Optimus tilted his head, still looking at the contents of the room.

“There are many of us in this unit. Is it that there are too many at once?”

“...that would be it.”

“I suppose I never saw you with big groups unless you knew everybot or were giving presentations back on Cybertron,” Optimus remarked. “Are you…always this shy?”

“Well it's not exactly shyness, but I believe you know what I mean as…” Ratchet chuckled little. He put down his tools again and looked up to find Optimus staring back at him. He remembered the eyes that looked back at him when they were in Ratchet’s old dorm at university, as he worked on a project for class, and Orion came just to watch…to keep him company.

Those same eyes that still looked to him with interest and curiosity.

Oh Orion…some things never change.

“...you were too, once,” he said finally, looking back to his desk and attempting to focus and get back to work. But he stopped at a touch on his hand, staring back up at his friend. Optimus had a somewhat melancholy look pooled in the back of his gaze.

“And I still am. But as a leader…I have to…work around it.”

Ratchet leaned forward and into Optimus, who wrapped his arms around him in a gentle embrace.

“I know, Optimus,” he whispered.

He silently resolved to go see the others later that very night. If Optimus could do it, well…then he wanted to as well.

Thank you, Optimus.

///

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sashred · 2 years

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3 Minutes in Heaven

Baby bit inspired by that "maybe another kiss," quote that came out of Comic Con, and Eric's latest cameo talking about how the humor was coming back. Dim and Juicy shenanigans ahead, along with a dash of horrified Chenford :)

“Yo. How many times do I have to say it? I’m not cooperating anymore until I get to see my girl.”

Dim – ehm – Jake, crossed his arms over his stomach, and Tim inwardly shuddered. He swore he’d never miss another day at the gym again, or skip a damn shower. The fake tattoos running up the side of his neck itched, his beard was a good two days old and about to drive him up a wall, and he’d never listened to the band on his tshirt a day in his life. He felt grungy, out of sorts, and the real Jake was seriously starting to piss him off.

“That’s not the deal,” he bit out, towering over his doppelganger as he sat petulantly on the nineties-something couch in their safe house. They’d squirreled him and Juicy away for the duration of the undercover operation, keeping them separate for security reasons. They were both criminals, and while Dim seemed less gifted when it came to actual brainpower, his “girl” was just the opposite. Even Lucy had struggled with trying to get information out of her, trying to learn some of her mannerisms, her personality, backstory. Where Dim was an open freaking children’s book, Juicy was constantly keeping them on their toes. Whatever the hell she saw in Jake was far beyond Tim’s comprehension. The only thing the pair seemed to have in common was their blatant lust for each other, and a shared affinity for running drugs. Tim supposed they might have been in love, maybe, but everything about them just seemed wrong – uncomfortable.

It wasn’t natural. The whole situation was absurd, and the sooner Jake gave Tim the information he wanted, the sooner they could all be done with the insanity.

“You want to know Hajek’s swap spot or nah?” Jake shrugged, the stubbornness in his bloodshot eyes all too familiar, and honestly just too freaking creepy.

“Two minutes,” Angela said from beside Tim. “We give you two supervised minutes, and you tell us what we need to know. Deal?”

Tim rolled his eyes, hating that they were essentially giving in to him, but he was already so beyond done at that point. He just wanted the hell out of that room.

“I can do a lot more with three,” Jake smiled, the sheer sleaze oozing from enough to make Tim sick to his stomach.

“I can’t take this.” Tim turned away, frowning as he caught Lopez’s smirk. “You wait with Dim. I’m going to get Juicy.”

“Careful she doesn’t jump you instead,” she snorted, and Jake shot up off the couch.

“Don’t you be messing with my girl, bro,” he wheezed, the effort clearly not agreeing with him. “I mean it. Not that she’d take up with a scrub like you, but don’t go confusing her.”

Tim looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes as he seriously contemplated turning his badge in right then and there.

“Don’t worry. Officer Chen would never let that happen,” Lopez tried to placate him, the effect almost entirely lost as she shot Tim a wicked grin. He glared at her, nodding his head as he contemplated all the ways he was going to repay her in kind.

“You just wait for the day your strung-out doppelganger pops up. There will be no mercy Lopez. None.”

“I’m quaking. Now go get your girl, Bradford. We do actually have work to do.”

He bit back his retort, huffing as he walked away, Lopez’s chuckle all too audible behind him. Juicy was just upstairs with Chen, and he took the steps two at a time, trying to burn off the restless energy pent up inside him. He was at the door far too quickly, so he took a breath, mentally preparing himself. There were two of them in there, and it had been awkward enough lately dealing with just the one he knew. He eventually worked up the nerve to knock, but before his fist even rapped the door, Lucy – Juicy – one of them flung it open.

“I…” he started, but immediately snapped his mouth shut. Damnit. He couldn’t tell which one she was. There was only the one in his line of sight, hair done up in a crazy braid over the top of her head, that checkered shirt buttoned all the way up to her neck. Her brows raised, gum smacking loudly as she leaned against the door frame and watched him.

“You need something?” she asked, and it sounded like Lucy, but so did Juicy…and fucking hell he was so ready to walk away –

“Uh…Lopez and Jake need to see you two,” he finally said, shifting his weight as he tried to look past her and further into the room. It was diplomatic enough…probably.

“Why?” she asked, the braid sliding forwards as she tilted her head.

He was going to kill her. Lucy, that was. Regardless of who he was actually talking to, he was going to kill Lucy.

“Because it’s for the case,” he shrugged, hating how stupid he sounded. “Just…both of you come out and downstairs. They’re waiting and we’re short on time.”

She crossed her arms, eyes pointedly roving from his feet to the top of his head as she considered him, and he felt the inexplicable urge to back away very slowly.

“You could be nicer. Like… I don’t know, actually address me by name,” she said, her gaze hard. Acrylic fingernails tapped along her arms, and a particularly loud snap of her gum made him jump.

Christ this was getting beyond ridiculous.

“Look, enough with the – ”

“Babe is that you?” A voice came from deeper in the room, higher and little more accented, and another Lucy emerged, toweling dry her long, dark locks. She looked…hopeful, her dark eyes lighting up as she saw him, but it was only for a moment. “Ugh. Nevermind. You’re the cop.”

Tim opened his mouth and closed it, partially offended, and entirely off-kilter. He glanced down to see Lucy’s eyes narrowing at him as her nostrils flared.

“You seriously couldn’t tell it was me, could you?” she asked, and Tim decided it was actually a hell of a lot easier dealing with the upside-down version of himself than two of them.

“Come on Chen,” he tried to brush it off. “Of course I could…”

Lucy pursed her lips, jaw ticking, and he decided it was time for a tactful retreat.

“Okay…fine. Maybe I couldn’t tell right away. But give me a break. The whole point is that you’re supposed to look like her,” he tried to defend, but she just shoved herself off the wall and walked back into the room.

“And you’re supposed to look like Jake, but there’s no comparison,” Juicy quipped, smirking. “Kinda dense, aren’t you?”

“Let’s go,” Lucy sighed. He saw the look that passed between them though, something too similar to comradery, and Tim decided then and there that he hated absolutely everything about that day. Lucy shot him another glare as she walked by, Juicy following and appraising him with a raised brow, before ultimately twisting her face up in disgust.

How in the actual hell was this his life?

He honestly didn’t think things could get any more…unsettling. Working off the assumption that Dim and Juicy just needed a brief reunion, to reassure each other that they were okay before moving the hell on, he chose to follow them back into that room…

And regretted that decision for the rest of his life.

“Babe!” Juicy squeaked, launching herself towards Jake and into his arms. “I’ve been so worried. They treating you right? You okay?” she fussed, and the dam just fucking broke open.

“I’ve missed you so much, baby,” Jake said, before gripping her face and hauling her against him. It really didn’t help matters that with her hair down, Juicy looked a lot more like Lucy than she currently did, and staring at his own goddamned face as it devoured hers just about catapulted him over the edge of sanity. He couldn’t look away, the two now filling the room with obscene, wet noises, practically dry humping in the middle of the freaking room.

Lucy didn’t seem to be doing any better at least, utterly slack-jawed as Dim lifted Juicy off the damn floor, her legs wrapping around his waist. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tim knew he should have stopped them, that enough was enough, their end of the bargain more than met, but he couldn’t move a freaking muscle. It was like watching some kind of awful, horrible, messy nightmare unfold right in front of him, and he absolutely hated the warmth slowly creeping up his neck.

“Stop,” Lucy’s voice rang out, snapping Tim out of his daze. Her eyes were closed, her hands waving in front of her like she could wipe away the scene happening in front of them. “Both of you, now. We…this – ”

“I think your three minutes are up,” Angela said, too casually, like she hadn’t just witnessed the most disgusting, disturbing thing that had ever occurred. The noises stopped, the two finally detaching their mouths from each other as Jake slowly lowered Juicy to the ground.

“I had to see you,” he whispered, his voice syrupy and expression soft. Tim did turn away then, Lucy quickly following suit as they both beelined for the door. Lopez clearly had it handled. She didn’t need them, not really, and he didn’t think he could meet her too-knowing eyes one more time without completely losing it.

Once Tim made it to the hallway, he cut loose the breath he’d been holding and swiped his hand across his chin. It felt like he’d run a fucking marathon. His heart was beating way too fast, his breath coming quicker than it should have, and he felt the sweat beading along his hairline. He glanced down at Lucy, her eyes still too wide, face flushed and fingers fidgeting with the rings on her fingers.

“Don’t,” she said, abruptly pointing towards him as she kept her gaze down.

“Don’t what?” He braced his hands on his hips.

“Don’t…don’t look at me. Like, ever again,” she said, scratching her head at the base of her braid, absolutely refusing to bring her eyes up from the floor.

“Yeah, that’s feasible. Sure,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He stared down at her, watching as her face grew steadily redder. She was flustered too, and it gave him some sense of satisfaction to know he wasn’t the only one seriously affected by what they just saw.

“I – that…um…” her voice trailed off, and as he watched her squirm, shifting back and forth on her feet, her eye so uncertain – conflicted, he decided to take some measure of mercy on her.

And himself.

“Look,” he sighed, raising his eyes to the ceiling, “it’s about time to meet up with the crew at the drop off spot. Angela can text the location to us once she gets it from Dim. We uh, should probably get moving.”

“Right. Yeah,” she nodded, biting her lip. Tim brought his eyes back to the ceiling.

“I guess you’re driving,” he said, fishing the keys to Jake’s Mini Cooper out of his pocket. He held them out to her, and Lucy’s eyes finally flitted over to him. She reached out a tentative hand, her fingers brushing against his in an almost too deliberate way, and Tim nearly choked on his own spit.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, blushing a deeper crimson still.

“It’s fine,” he shrugged.

It wasn’t. None of this was fine, and if he was going to have to act around Lucy the way Dim acted around Juicy…he didn’t see how he could possibly survive the rest of the day.

It was already a forgone conclusion, really, that he wouldn’t make it through. Not with his sanity or dignity intact, so at that point…Tim didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t at least enjoy things before they all came crashing down around them.

“You might want to stop blushing so much, though,” he said, meeting her eyes as they widened in shock.

“Excuse me?”

“Your face.” He reached out his hand, lightly brushing the back of her cheek with his knuckles. “It’s basically the color of a tomato.”

“You…my face?” she scoffed, her eyes dancing in outrage. “Try looking in a mirror. Your neck is redder than my lipstick.”

He shrugged, smirking once before walking towards the door. “Interesting comparison.”

He was going to suffer for this, immensely, but there was no way he could let her get the last word. The stakes were too high now, and when Tim Bradford went all in on something…nothing was off the table.

“Guess we’ll just have to see how true that really is.”

#chenford #chenford fanfic #the rookie fanfic #tim x lucy #calling it now #that 'maybe' kiss is totally going to be between Dim and Juicy #and I'm still here for it

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little-lightning-lavellan · 11 months

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ACK sorry I’m late!! But, I’ve finally had time to actually update you guys with something! :D Thank you so much for the tag, @layalu!

Since the last chapter (and Solas and Mellan FINALLY FUCKING KISSING DEAR GOD) the two are developing in their own dorky way! (But don’t worry, weird Fade shenanigans will occur directly after this, because they’re not allowed to rest~💖

Goodness, what trouble. Days felt like weeks in the buzzing hearts of elves - for those who approved and disapproved of these new developments alike.

It was not as if things were kept secret for long, as much as Solas and Mellan both would have preferred. However, one running after the other during a night of dancing, only to be spotted later by one of Cullen’s men, escorting each other arm-in-arm to the lady’s room with flushed faces… well, assumptions had to be made, no matter how innocent they could swear their actions were!

In reality, nothing further happened, of course; other than a new nightly routine that never failed to send Mellan dragging her body down the door as soon as it was closed, face in her hands and feet smacking against the floor in violent, childish glee.

It had already been fairly commonplace that the scholars’ nights would end with the pair burning the last of the midnight oil, or down to the last flickering wicks of candles that begged for death, and it would only be then that they would concede to slumber. Solas would accompany Mellan back to her bedroom - a place he now actively seemed to avoid during the evening hours since that night of dancing; perhaps their shift in status had marked a shift in his mind for what counted as a polite barrier as well? - and they would continue chatting all along the way.

It would only be upon reaching that sacred threshold that both would take pause, and a new dance was performed.

Solas would smile, in that kind and patient way that he always did, but now the look held an ulterior meaning; one reserved for Mellan and Mellan alone. She’d answer it back in kind, large eyes meeting his in something like a nod as she’d glance to his lips, the tracest amount of a grin dabbled on hers. A playful secret held behind her blushing cheeks, Solas would lean in as if to whisper in her ear with a bit of added gossip, instead taking her chin in tender hand.

Even if her lips were over-bitten to looking beestung, Solas swore they were kissable, and seemed bound and determined to prove it through demonstration. It wasn’t as if she would accept a lecture in this particular area.

Mellan would lean into his touch each and every time, tipped-toes hoisting themselves up as far as they would go, and it would only be her vice grip to his necklace that kept her from falling. With each goodnight kiss she sunk further into him, any worries she might have temporarily melting away like the wax of their faded candles, even if just for a moment.

I feel so bad for what I have planned for them oh my god

ANYWAY tagging my lovelies because I haven’t seen them in a while, show me what you’re doin!!

@pikapeppa @because-im-hap-hap @rosella-writes @oxygenforthewicked @fade-touched-shenanigans @bluecadash @drunken-drengr @dreadfutures @fiadhaisteach @bogunicorn @kantrips @noire-pandora @palepinkycat @midorimaddie @melisusthewee @jellydishes @effelants @potatowitch @dismalzelenka @bluewren @wanderingnork

#wip wednesday #solavellan #sollan #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #fanfic #solavellan fanfic #fanfiction #solas #dai #bioware #writing #my writing #fen'harel #da4 #felassan

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little-red-fool · 2 months

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This might seem weird but I had a dream where you made like, this book about D??? It wasn’t even like an actual book in the sense it had a story it just had a lot of details info and photos and shit about him. Anyway I bought the book immediately and literally loved it and I vividly remember going to your ask box and rambling about how much I loved it, including pictures of my favorite parts and how cool the cover was.

😭😭 D’s haunting my dreams and idk how to feel about it.

OUFJDNFJEN this is great I love this, and don’t worry it’s not weird at all, I’m really glad that you like him that much it’s hugely appreciated 🥹 whilst I haven’t written a book about him (although that would be really cool, maybe in the future I might try to make a little zine thing for him with art and lore) I did make a huge document (about 500 or so pages) of little stories and shenanigans about him and his friends/family a few years back. But yeah thank you for this I’m happy that you like him!!

#unfortunately i wont share that document online because some of the stuff in there is very personal and im really possessive of those OCs #but also a lot of the writing in it seems really cringe to me now because i wrote most of it when i was like 14 and in my emo phase 😭#asks #my oc #D

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thechronicliar · 5 months

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TELL ME ABOUT THIS!!! :D He wished none of this happened. Right now, Bill could be home, doing whatever crazy shenanigan the twins thought up. He could be bothering the Stan’s. He could be terrorizing tourists. He could be with Pine Tree.

He wanted to be with Pine Tree. More than anything.

And he was going to be.

Anxiety swirled in his stomach region at the thought of facing Dipper, knowing that the human probably knew of Bill’s feelings for him. He doubted Shooting Star would keep her mouth shut and he had no doubts of Dipper figuring it out himself. But he had to go back…

After he talked to someone first.

Calming himself to the best of his abilities, he left the mindscape and reappeared in a familiar room, scaring the shit out of Shooting Star.

“Bill!?”

“Shooting Star,” he greeted, hands behind his back and looking far more confident than he was. “I’m in love with Pine Tree.” That was surprisingly easy.

She gaped at him. Her mouth moved to form some sort of sentence and failing for the most part. “You’ve been gone for nearly a week!”

“I’m in love with Pine Tree,” he repeated again with more feeling. Could she not understand what he’s doing?

“Dipper and I have been worried sick about you!”

“That’s not important now,” though it did make him feel good to a degree. “What’s important is that I’m in love with Pine Tree.”

She had the audacity to roll her eyes. “I know that, Bill. It’s pretty obvious, even with your stunted emotions that make you run away scream that you’re in love with my brother.”

He bristled. “I didn’t run away!”

“Oh really?” She quirked her brow.

He sniffed, point his nose up at her. “I just retreated to collect my thoughts.”

She rolled her eyes again. “So what are you even doing here? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, finding Dipper and getting him to stop stressing out about where you’re at?”

He waved her off. “In a minute. I need to talk to you first.”

She flopped back onto her bed, groaning. “About what?”

“How do I…” he trailed off, blushing. “Um, how do…how…”

At his stumbling, Mabel looked up and started to pale. “I am not telling you how to have sex!”

This time he was the one to roll his eyes. “Not that. I know how to do that. What I need to know is how…how to woo, Pine Tree,” he finally got out.

“Woo my brother?”

Bill nodded.

“You know you could just go up and kiss him. It’d be easier and quicker,” she told him.

“But it has no substance!” he complained. He’s seen Shooting Star’s movie collection on romance. There needed to be something dramatic, thought out, a show of affection. He was sure demonic ways were not the way to go in wooing a human like Pine Tree.

“Oh my god, Bill,” she groaned. “Stop putting it off and just go confess to Dipper! Tell him that you love him and take him on a date or something. Go out in the woods, hike, eat a picnic. Just hurry up and do something! You’re stressing me out!”

Huffing as he looked completely put out, he turned on his heel and turned toward the door. “Thanks for the help,” he grumbled.

“You’ll thank me for real later!” she called out after him before he could slam the door.

Oh gosh, this was a while back! I think back then I was trying to go for the whole "Bill trying to be human" idea. Having new feelings and having to break them down to truly understand them, hence why he was MIA for a week. Such stronge emotions deserve time to understand, especially for someone like Bill that may not have loved someone in a romantic sense.

Also, a lot of what he knows is thanks to Mabel. That doesn't mean all is good or correct, but she was able to connect with him in ways that allowed him to more easily empathize. Movies being one cause of dramatization. Most coming from like the 80s so questionable info.

He also can trust Mabel to give him a straight answer. She may be off the wall, but she's honest and very intune with others and allows Bill to figure things out instead of trying to solve it for him, unless it's clearly a horrible idea. Above all else she is his friend and supports his first love, even if it's her brother and that she knew for months that Bill was making eyes at Dipper 24/7.

During all this, while Bill has accepted his feelings, he is panicking. This is new to him, there isn't much that is new to him, especially such a powerful feeling. He didn't have time to prepare and it feels very much like a sudden thing to him. Even still he believes that Dipper should to told in a large way because how else will those emotions be returned? What if Dipper doesn't believe him unless he puts all of himself out there? He doesn't see him being able to get love in return.

He fears the change that can happen.

#asks #billdip

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mochidreambubble · 1 year

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one more word and you won't survive [Day 4 chapter]

Written for OC x Canon week organised by @theocxcanonweek

Day 4 Prompt:

Cuddling / Western AU / “Take me with you!...”

Childe/Genshin OC. Dragonspine shenanigans - actually more like Sheer Cold shenanigans.

Ao3 link here.

Day 5 prompt here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruyi normally doesn’t like equating anything to is childhood; nothing is usually truly as horrid or mentally stressful on such a personal level these days. That said, he could chalk up being lost and close to freezing on Dragonspine a pretty close second…

It was meant to be a simple request and despite his poor sense of direction, he’d normally be fine so long as he kept the Traveler and their little floating friend in sight. But amidst the snowstorm, everything all round him became a blanket of white.

So it’s no wonder Ruyi finds himself stranded on the mountain, unsure of where he is, to begin with, and absolutely freezing as he wades through the snow. He starts to worry as daylight seemed to be fading from the skies and he could barely make anything out of it. He hates to think what it be like to try and navigate on a snowstorm on a rather steep mountain…

“Squint any further and you’d look like Teyvat’s most miserably drenched kitten.”

Ruyi would jump was he were not genuinely soaked and freezing, and bogged down by snow. Or maybe the smart reaction really was to be stunned in shocked silence mixed with an undercurrent of fear.

“I also don’t think it’s a good idea to be gaping like that you know?” The eleventh freaking Harbinger of the Fatui says, casually as if completely unbothered by the snowstorm. He reaches forward to push Ruyi’s jaw shut, a little amused.

He gets his hand slapped away for good measure, Ruyi stuttering from the cold and disbelief. “Wh-Wha- How….?! Wh-what are y-you d-d-doing here?!”

Childe shrugs. “Just hanging around. Nothing nefarious, promise!” He crosses his heart for good measure, speaking loud against the storm. “Though I guess you don’t believe me?”

“C-Course I d-d-don’t believe you!” Ruyi snaps, turning around in a huff to walk away. He tries to ignore the ache in his heart and the inner shame of having put even the amount of trust he had given the other young man initially.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

Ruyi doesn’t even respond. He doesn’t make it very far though, a hand grabbing hold of his shoulder firmly and pulling him back.

“Wh-what now?!”

“I’m just trying to stop you from walking off the edge.”

“....Oh.”

“Look, you obviously freezing and it’s not like you can make out where to go right now,” Childe motions vaguely in the opposite direction. “I have a camp and fire set up in a small cave, so how about just coming with me for a bit?”

“W-with you?!”

“Well, it’s my mini campsite right now, after all. I’ve even got blankets and some food with me,” Childe acts as if Ruyi doesn’t seem utterly mortified, still unbothered by the frost beating down on them.

Ruyi blanches again. “You’re crazy if you think I’d go anywhere with you right now?”

Childe sighs, a degree of frustration apparent. “Look, I know I’m not someone you’d want to run into, but I’m not here to antagonise you, alright?”

“But why do you care if I walk off a cliffside or freeze up here?!”

“Consider it an act for your forgiveness. How about that?”

Ruyi does deliberate for a second, between being lost in a snowstorm and following a dangerous man to who knows where. “Fine.”

“Great,” Childe grins and grabs hold of Ruyi’s hand to drag him on a path. Ruyi wonders how he could even be so unbothered by the weather. He knew Snezhnaya was basically known for its icy weather but…

He tries not to think on it. Anything on the eleventh Harbinger shouldn’t even cross his mind. All he has to do is survive the storm and hopefully never run into him again. At least this whole ordeal would be as painless as he can make it-

“So,” Childe chuckles once they reach the rather tight-fit space for a cave. There was indeed a fire going, as well as a sleeping bag and… “I actually only have one blanket, but we can share it.”

“What?!” Ruyi’s teeth have stopped chattering but he can still feel the chill in his bones. “Now why would I ever-”

“What, you’d rather get frostbite rather than huddle for warmth with a guy you fought just one time?”

“Y-You..! You were not j-just some guy! You-”

“Yes, yes, I’m a horrible person who nearly destroyed your home with Osial,” Childe settles down on the sleeping bag, blanket over his shoulder, raising one side of the blanket in invitation. “Now would you just get over here?”

Ruyi ends up making a reluctant show of it, both absolutely freezing and needing just any source of warmth and the nervousness of being close to Childe in close proximity. Once he’s under the blanket, his heart jumping when Childe wraps his arm over Ruyi’s shoulder along with said blanket, he tries to focus on the flickering flames and the sounds of the howling winds.

“What in the world were you doing out in the mountains all by yourself anyways?” Childe asks, breaking the unspoken promise of silence.

“I wasn’t by myself. I just got separated…”

“From everyone’s favourite Traveler and flying fairy, then?”

Ruyi finds himself turning to face Childe, eyes narrowing slightly. “What’s it to you?”

“Whoa now, I’m just asking friend.”

“Hey, since when were we ever-”

“Hey now, what’s a little bit of sparring anyways?”

“You call what you did back at the Golden House sparring?” Ruyi asks in disbelief.

There’s a grin and glint in his blue eyes. Ruyi rolls his own. “Nevermind, shouldn’t have asked.”

Maybe he was far too tired by wading through the storm, for he accepts a mug with what seemed like broth when Childe passed it over to him without much protest this time.

“...What about you?” Ruyi asks, taking a sip. “What are you doing on Dragonspine, really?”

He hears Childe hum in contemplation. “Fraid I can’t tell you. I’d have to… Silence you permanently if you knew. And I’m deeply hoping to avoid that.”

Ruyi finds himself tensing again, but Childe simply laughs. “Look, I’m taking steps to make sure I won’t, alright?”

“I don’t find the idea of dying a bloody death that humorous…”

“Having you all bloody doesn’t make me happy either you know?” There’s a sombre pause before Childe continues. “Look, I know you probably won’t believe me but I wasn’t enthusiastic on using Osial, you know?”

“But you still went through with it…”

“All that havoc, and all for naught,” The bitterness is greatly apparent. “No gnosis by my hand and I burned every bridge I made in Liyue.”

“What, you’re saying that some of the friendships you made were genuine?”

“A complete game of masks and deceit sounds awfully boring, you know?” Childe gives a small smile. “And I appreciated getting to know you, and a lot of others.”

“...You sound pretty lonely.”

Childe laughs again, but Ruyi could wince at the hollowness of it all. “Nonsense. I get to move around freely as much as I like to on all the missions I get and I get to fight a whole feast of different enemies. How alone could I be?”

There’s a new ache in his heart, but Ruyi can’t find his words. Childe doesn’t continue either. There’s nothing but the fire and storm once more.

…

When Ruyi wakes, his heart almost jumps out of his mouth. He’s warm, but how could he not be, bundled in a blanket and in the freaking arms of his impromptu companion.

Said companion, unfortunately, gets a rude awakening as a shocking gust of Anemo to the face and strong enough to blast him out of the cave. At least the storm had halted, and it was nothing but a mountain coated in snow and stilled icy air.

“For the record, Ruyi, you were cosying up to me to- Hey, where are you going?!”

And the young man who refused to respond, flustered and now warm enough to potentially melt the snow, continues up the mountain path with the eleventh Harbinger hot on his heels.

(fin)

#not beta read #oc x canon week #oc x canon week 2023 #oc x canon #genshin impact oc #Genshin Impact OC #Hua Ruyi #genshin impact #childe #genshin tartagalia #tartaglia x oc #my fic #my writing

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killemwithkawaii · 1 year

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Goretober 2022 'The Staycation 🏡💙' Post-Event Reflection

Some thoughts about how the event went, now that it's concluded, so I can look back and reference them next year ✅

Positives:

>Introductions to the Mitchs: I was SO HAPPY to FINALLY be able to share all of my selfinsert characters with you guys!! I’ve been slowly developing them and their stories ever since ‘KEWKs Kidnapping,’ but wanted to come up with an interesting way to reveal all of them to you. I’ve wanted to, but held back on making art and fics about them because I wanted to save all of it for The Staycation event. Now that the event is concluded and they’ve all been introduced, I’ll be able to freely talk about and draw them as much as I like! I can already tell they have a few fans, (particularly Mitch(2)/ coworker!Mitch, who just so happens to be my favorite one! c:) so please feel free to ask about them/ their AUs if you’d like to. I may hold mini events where I RP as them and L.S.S. during their original timelines, but for now, I’d like to finally make character sheets for them and maybe write fics for their original AUs :D

>Trying new things: I took this event as an opportunity to try out some different artistic mediums that I don’t usually dabble in- pencil (my go-to before I started drawing digitally), pen/marker, collage, pixel art/ simple animation, digital but with simple lineart and a new brush, and I even threw a poem in there! It was a ton of fun to experiment with all of these, and I found that I really enjoyed all of them and would like to mess around with them more in the future. I particularly liked making the pixel art for videogame!Mitch and the collages for dealer!Mitch, and am very happy I finally figured out how to make simple animated gifs out of my art c:

>Story building: I had SO MUCH fun creating the story for this event, dropping hints to the ending, including throwbacks/references to past goretober events and sprinkling in easter eggs in the art and writing, especially all the references to food/eating, rabbits, and wolves/dogs! (tbh for a minute there, I was worried I was making things too obvious lol) I’ll have to make an ‘in case you missed it’ post pointing out some things that people haven’t mentioned yet…~

>Productivity: I succeeded in creating a total of 41 pieces of art and wrote at least 100 pages of story for this event, with about 90% of it created between October 1st and November 1st! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself UwU Doing this event always shows me that I’m capable of doing way more than I give myself credit for, and while that rapid pace is not at all sustainable long-term, I’m still very proud that I was able to pull off what I did in that short amount of time! It also gets me into the practice of drawing and writing much faster in general, which means my general art and writing will turn out quicker, too (good news for you guys, now that I’m back to my usual shenanigans~)

>Better self-care: While I did not succeed in avoiding all the pitfalls I fell into during the 2021 ‘The Do-Over’ goretober event, I still did a better job at caring for myself during this years event than the last. I managed to make time for a little socializing, did not lose as much weight over the course of the month as I did last year, and managed to avoid having a major breakdown due to the workload (still had a little cry toward the end, but it lasted like 5 minutes so I just consider it business as usual lol).

Negatives:

>Planning does not equal preparing: I did a lot of planning for this event- tons of spreadsheets, notes, ideas and a rough outline for each chapter- but I quickly learned that planning is not a substitute for preparing. I thought it would be much easier to write in real-time this year with so much to pull from in my back pocket, but I still ended up writing and drawing for at least 3-8+ hours every day during the event and often stayed up past 4am to finish the content for each day. Even with all that work, I was unable to fit in A LOT of what I wanted to include, simply because there was not enough time to create it from scratch.

Out of all the ficlets posted during the event, the only ones that were prewritten were the finalized day zero fic, the rough drafts for Penpal, Coworker, and Neighbors original introductions, and the draft for Penpals original death, and out of all the art posted, only the intro pics for Mitch 1-5 were completed before the 1st . Everything else was created within a few days of being posted, usually the same day. So, it’s safe to say at least 90% of this event, written and drawn, was improv and was therefore not the quality I wanted for it to be, despite all the effort I put into it.

>Things not going as intended: Despite having so much planned before October, having preset points for the appearances and deaths of each S/I and a definite ending in mind, the inbetween parts went VERY differently than what I’d set out to make them, simply because I had nothing concrete actually written for them and got new ideas mid-event. Still, I hope each chapter is enjoyable for what they turned out to be! (I may end up writing a fic version of this event that goes how I originally intended, or how I wish they turned out after-the-fact…)

>Human limitations: Despite telling myself not to do what I did last year, the pace I set was incredibly demanding, and after putting in so much work for the whole month, I was completely exhausted by the 31st. That day, I was feeling very sick and was having trouble thinking straight, but because it was pretty much the final day of the event and I’d come so far, I wanted to post something and get it over with. The writing posted on that day is not at all what I wanted it to be- it was, after all, supposed to be the climax of the story, but it fell completely flat and I am very, very disappointed with it. I intend to go back and edit it when I’m feeling up to it, but for now, I’m still recovering and trying not to beat myself up over it too bad…

>Lack of interaction: First off, I am incredibly grateful to those of you who sent in asks during The Staycation, with a special shout-out to @meadow-hearthfire and @stormcellarwitch! Your asks played a MAJOR part in the story and really helped to move it along and spark inspiration for me. Thank you so, so, SO much for your participation!! I really hope you enjoyed the ride, and that you’ll join me for next years goretober event as well :D

That being said, I was disheartened by the general lack of interaction during the event, especially after I was told there were a number of people that were excited to participate. I had more asks than I could handle last year and about half the number of followers that I do now, so I was anticipating a big turn-out and am wondering why that didn’t happen. (What made it more confusing was that I actually gained quite a few followers during the event, when I’d expected to lose a bunch due to the shift in content! But otherwise, there was very little activity in my feed…) I do realize I’m not owed interaction from any of you, and that my goretober events are very self-indulgent and different from my usual stuff, but I would still very much appreciate some constructive input as to why people were not interacting as I’d hoped and what I can do next year to motivate participation:

Was it boring? Too repetitive? Too confusing or involved? TL;DR? Were you disappointed because it wasn’t what you expected it to be? Were you confused as to how you could interact, what you were supposed to do, or assume you could not participate for some reason? Did you enjoy and follow the event, but just didn’t feel like participating in it? Are my goretober events just not your thing, and you were simply waiting for when the blog went back to the usual vibe? Or, were you just busy with life and didn’t have time to participate this year?

Thank you in advance for your input! It’ll be very helpful to me so I can make next year as entertaining and fun as possible for you guys and for myself ^^

Notes to Self for 2023 (that may be useful anyone that wants to do an event like this themselves):

>PREPARE: You DO NOT want this to take over your whole life for the entire month or be unsatisfied with the results because it’s rushed!! Make a goal to have AT LEAST 50% of the writing and art done (ESPECIALLY THE FINALE) before October 1st, and have an outline written for the rest. It is WAY easier to edit things a little during the event than to make it all from scratch the same day you post it!!

>Stick with the plan: Throwing in some things on impulse is fun, but taking a hard left out of nowhere just makes it so you have to improvise even more afterwards. Make a flowchart if choices made by the audience can affect the story progress so that you can stay on track and still get to where you need to go in the end.

>Be interactive, but independent: Include audience participation when/if it's offered, but do not depend on it, because it may not be there when you need it.

>Be clear: Set guidelines for participation, what the event is about, and make a masterlist/ guide for past events and the AUs within them so newcomers can get up-to-speed with the story so far

>Do some refreshing: Reread your own writing and take notes so you actually remember your own story. It will spark new ideas and help keep things consistent! Also, edit things that are not congruent and fix any plot holes you find.

>Remember this story is for you!: Just because people aren’t participating doesn’t mean your story isn’t worth creating and putting out there. Make it because you love it, and if people like it, that’s great! If not, you have a whole story custom tailored to your tastes, and that’s awesome, too ^^

Thanks for reading! I’m looking forward to getting back to business as usual on the blog and to thoroughly planning AND preparing for next years goretober event. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this years event and had a great Halloween~ 🤗🎃💖

#k.e.w.k. speaks #the staycation 🏡💙

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