#its also about the Camping. and the Healing. and the Trusting Each Other With Your Lives.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Wait im sorry if like youve talked about this before but what is everyones roles in the fantasy au 👁️👁️ or jobs?

i've just Thought Aloud in bits and pieces but hey. i feel like talking today so i'll put it all in one place with Updated Thinkings

(i like to imagine that they all kinda Quit their initial jobs/lives to go adventuring with each other, either by choice or... not. except Howdy, who's a multitasking king). the Neighborhood party earns their wages by completing jobs/quests, though some of them have minor supplemental ways of adding to the coin collection

Wally, of course, didn't really have much of a Before. he didn't intend on becoming a warlock/wizard - that choice was kinda made for him by the circumstances of his existence. but Wally had to pretend to be a wizard for his own safety, and wizards have a sort of societal expectation to be Helpful and Magical and Wise and Existing For Public Service. so while Wally would have rather just been a painter, he's obligated to be a wizard - that's technically his role/job. within the Neighborhood party, he's a bit of a distance fighter/support! he doesn't really do the whole up-close / physical aspect of battle, though he technically knows how. He casts spells from afar, which tend to be widely benign. artsy little cantrips and inconveniences to make it harder for the enemy to fight. he's also a bit of a bloodhound - illusions don't trick him, he can "see" most magic, and he's really good at getting around unnoticed. if they're stuck somewhere, Wally can probably get them out

Barnaby's "job" before going adventuring with Wally - it started out as just the two of them! - was just working on the farm with Ms. Beagle, where he had been his entire life. Sure he'd sometimes do public performances/acts in town, which would earn him extra coin, but that was more of a paying hobby than anything (a paying hobby he will Continue) in the Neighborhood, he's... uh. their cheerleader? that's not entirely inaccurate! he's not big on combat or effort i'd reckon, so he prefers to just keep morale high. offer background music, funny commentary, jokes to lighten the mood, mediate tensions, etc. if necessary, he makes good backup - he has his illusions of course, and he Does pack a mighty punch if need be! he's also very helpful when retreating - he can grab the smaller party members and run

Wormie is the group mascot <3

Sally was a bit lost before joining the party - i like to think that she was constantly on the move as part of a traveling theater troupe, but she wasn't the star or director. she was just part of the group, uninspired and with a full well of untapped potential. one day she up and left (dramatically) to find her own inspiration/muse & path to stardom, which ended up being several years of wandering until she happened across the budding Neighborhood and went "this! this will be the source of my stories!" as for her role, she's a bit of an everyman. front lines fighter, entertainer, mediator, etc. she views herself as the party "leader", or rather, their Manager. she keeps the party entertained with stories, and bolsters their reputation in the same manner. in a battle she's a bit of a powerhouse - her light magic is useful both in combat and entertainment! she keeps a "book" of the Neighborhood's exploits (she swears it will be edited/published someday) holy shit she's moominpappa, and in their Extended downtime she writes and throws plays inspired by their adventures at their home base (town).

Eddie was still, originally, a mailman. or i suppose in a fantasy setting - a courier! until one day he saw a group of people being attacked by some bandits, managed to fight them off, and immediately got roped into helping rescue the folks' entire town from the bigger group of bandits. then they told others about Eddie's help, they wanted his help too, one thing after another and now he's got a full set of armor, a sword, a shield, and his whole thing is saving people. huh? how did that happen? he was delivering letters a month ago! if i had to give him a title... i'd say he's a Protector! he seems like the type! he always has his fellow adventurer's backs - i bet he has his hands full trying to cover everyone at once. outside of combat, he's still very helpful and does whatever is asked of him / needed. collecting firewood! pitching tents! stirring soup! getting Frank to remove a centipede from camp! in downtime he probably takes small bodyguarding gigs. he also is a minor healer - he took some sorta oath for some sorta god (or virtue) that he can't remember, but he has minor healing/cleansing powers. he's also good at sniffing out evil & dark magic! some would joke that he's the party's guard dog

Frank was raised in a monastery that believes in "using your body to fight for the greater good". this was not his job when they became old enough to actually Act on his training! nah they ran away in his mid teens because they wanted to fight things on his own terms. also they want to study bugs more than anything, which he does! for a long time! then they meet a certain princess, befriends her, and helps her run away. he only joins the Neighborhood because Julie wants to, and it's a good way to travel - read: study more arthropods - and earn coin. fighting is a bonus aspect Frank's role is... front line fighter, bookkeeper, and the Guy Who Knows Things! what monster are they dealing with? what are its strengths/weaknesses? Frank probably knows! can they afford a room or two at an Inn? Frank knows (no, they cannot)! who's throwing themself into direct mortal danger with gusto? it's Frank! no but really, Frank is like their resident nerd who can beat pretty much all of them in hand-to-hand. in downtime he probably has a garden purposefully full of plants that can be left alone for long periods of time... maybe they sell half the things grown for extra coin!

Julie, of course, was a princess! that was her whole job! it was incredibly boring and restricting, so she ran away with the help of a funny nerd. after that her whole life was just "avoid getting recognized while figuring out how to live in a world without the comforts/ease of castle life". i'd think she much prefers her new one! as a role, Julie joins Barn and Sally in the "entertainment category". while they entertain with humor/stories respectively, Julie goes straight for games and activities to fill the lull between action. keep the blood pumping, spirits high, and bonds Solid! camp games, road games, locked-in-a-dungeon games! in combat, she's on the front lines with her oversized sword. i think another fitting role would be "navigator" - she can ask plants for directions! technically Julie is a secret powerhouse. her flora magic is insanely powerful, though she prefers not to use it for several reasons

Poppy, i like to think, did indeed have a bakery. it was well-loved in her community, her staff were wonderful people, and it all burned down in a night due to raiders. luckily for Poppy and her town, Eddie was nearby and got on the case to get rid of their problem - maybe Poppy felt obligated to help in some shape or form, and Eddie wound up inspiring her to learn healing magic. She moved into the town that would become the not-yet-existing Neighborhood's HQ to try and restart her business, but it just wasn't the same, and she had gotten a taste of what it would be like to directly save/heal people Poppy is the party's cook, healer, and ultimate voice of caution! the most she'll do in battle is sprint into danger to drag an injured person to safety for healing - she doesn't have a combative bone in her body i'd guess! does she enjoy being in the Neighborhood? eh... it's stressful and terrifying, but she couldn't live with herself if she let them all brave the wild without an adequate healer OR an adequate cook. i like to think that she saw the state they were traveling in and went "oh no"

Howdy, of course, has his tavern! it's a popular hub for travelers, townsfolk, pretty much anyone and everyone. of course it helps that it's the only tavern in town! the only reason Barnaby managed to convince Howdy to join the Neighborhood on one of their jobs is because Howdy realized that he can widen his net & sell to new people On The Go. finally, a use for that magic backpack collecting dust in his room! Howdy got a taste for adventuring and joins the Neighborhood every once in a while, usually only for shorter jobs - he doesn't want to be away from his tavern for too long his roles are support, professional haggler, sarcastic commentary. he doesn't have a crumb of magic in him, but he's clever! he's learned how to make his own support items - including his fancy revolvers with magical crayonsbullets. Howdy rarely fights, choosing to watch over his pack, dole out items when needed, and listen to Barnaby's running commentary. when it is necessary that he join in on combat, he can usually clear the playing field in a matter of moments. he's skilled with both the revolvers and using his own items - he's a one man four armed army!

Home's job is "keep Wally upright and powered". they prefer to be an observer in all situations, even after their existence becomes common knowledge to the Neighborhood. the most Home will do is nudge Wally in the right direction or alert him to something important. Home's literally just hanging out behind Wally's eyes w/ a bucket of popcorn. unless something happens to his beloved little puppet, in which case Home becomes the biggest baddest bitch around and sends everyone else to the bench

tl;dr: Wally: support fighter, magic geiger counter, escape artist Barnaby: entertainer, backup Wormie: mascot Sally: storyteller, fighter, Manager Eddie: protector, minor healer, "paladin" Frank: bookkeeper, fighter, scholar Julie: activities director, navigator, fighter Poppy: cook, healer, overthinker Howdy: tavernkeeper, inventor, support Home: just keeping an eye out

#THERE'S A TL;DR AT THE END BTW #YOU DONT HAFTA READ ALL THAT #honestly thinking about them fighting is so funny #bc like... out of the 9 of them technically only 5 actually fight #Unless frank needs to sit one out to research #then its 4! #so you've got four guys fighting for their fucking lives while everyone else is just vibing off to the side #honestly half of the appeal of fantasy aus is the Fun Combat Aspect #not only the actual fights but also! sparring! practicing with each other! #its about frank teaching wally how to throw a punch & wally immediately decking him right in the face! Accidentally! #its also about the Camping. and the Healing. and the Trusting Each Other With Your Lives. #found family it up babeyyyyyyy #rambles from the bog #wh fantasy au #just realized that ~In Canon~ if anything the neighbors are Forced Family #they dont have a choice! they're in it together whether they like it or not! #and i say 'if anything' bc ehhhh i dont really think they count... are they more like coworkers? but yk #this is an au post i cant be speculating on The Delightful Source here

[ravenloop]

Hey! I was wondering if I could request for GoW Freyr? Something like the reader is a witch whom Kratos and Atreus rescued from freezing at the start of Fimbulwinter, and she joins them on their journey — and when they travel to Vanaheim, she meets Freyr, who is quickly smitten with her?

—Admiration and Much More—

Pairing: Freyr x Female!Witch!Reader

[Picture not mine]

AN: WRITERS BLOCK IS A TERRIBLE THING FOLKS! But I'll trying to push out requests every week now. Enjoyyyy! <33

—————————————

Travelling to Vanaheim was something you always longed to do, hearing stories about the realm... Sadly realm travel to it hadn't been an option for a long time.

That was until you met Kratos, and his wonderful son Atreus. When you had so idiotically went out during Fimbulwinter for too long, a blizzard making you lose your way home... Until they found you, and took you in (not without Atreus begging his father a little) Which now brought you here. To the realm you've been anticipating to visit for so long.

Vanaheim.

You also got to meet Freya's brother: Freyr. Or Yngvi as she calls him. The god and his little group of loyal followers weren't so welcoming of you at first, all of you. But you tried not to hold it against them, you cannot imagine what it would be like to live such a life in hiding, knowing the very people who called for "peace" betrayed you.

They were scared to trust again, but Freya's assurance of the alliance she had made with Kratos seemed to lighten things up. Thankfully.

All that brought you up to here, tending a wound of Birgir. There was a recent run-in with a group of Einherjar soldiers. Everyone got out alive but not without a few casualties.

"There. All done." You offered a smile to the large man. He gave his own kind one back, bowing his head slightly as he left.

"Well, Realms be damned. If I knew you were this good of a healer I would have probably begged you to join my group." Freyr appeared next to you, his usual smug smile on his face.

The presence of the god was a little surprising, but you chuckled, "Would you?... I'm honoured to know my witchcraft managed to gain the attention of a Vanir god... So much."

Whilst you busied yourself with a bowl of herbs, Freyr shrugged. "Well, I mean—I'm just speaking the truth. From what I've seen so far, you're a really great uh... Witch. Ally. I would dare to say... Aesir-ass-kicking companion, even?" He asked, raising a brow with a smile.

Shaking your head amusedly, you replied, "What about friend? Or does... 'Aesir-ass-kicking companion' fall under that category?"

You started walking. Freyr looked at you, as if the word 'friend' was almost offensive. "Uhh... Yeah, sure. Friend? Hah! Friend." He followed you as you walked around the camp.

As you continued to work, he watched you closely. His gaze taking you in, before lingering on the torn section of your clothing, where a wound had been. Now ow a dark scar took its place. "I'd uh..." He cleared his throat, leaning against a pillar, "I'd like to apologise for that too. Hope there's... No hard feelings." He chuckled lightly.

Finally you looked at him. Following his gaze, you looked at the scar on your arm where a gash had been. "It's fine, really. I don't think either of us expected to see each other." There was an amused tone in your voice as you smiled at him. The memory of Freyr attacking you coming back. Though when he saw your face, and soon came to know you were allies with his sister—he froze up almost.

"Oh trust me... I really didn't expect you." Pushing himself off the pillar, he walked around as you continued working—probably on some healing drink he imagined. "But hey! That turned out to be a good thing." He stopped again, looking at you, "Didn't it?"

Your eyes met his dark gaze. By the Realms, you were something else.

"I guess it did." You approached him slowly. He crossed his arms, leaning back. Calmly.

"Freyr?..." You called his name. He looked at you, "Yeah?" He asked in a normal voice.

You placed a hand on his shoulder and he felt his heart speed up. He watched your face intently as you gave him a small smile, your brows raising.

"You're um... Kinda standing in front of the herb shelf. And I need a few things from there—"

He blinked, turning around to see he was, indeed, standing in front of the herb shelf. "Oh."

—————

"He's actin' stupider than normal... Ya know what I'm thinking, dont'cha?" Brok said.

Kratos grunted lowly as they watched you and Freyr speak, "Do not tell me."

"Why don't I tell you in song form? Cause there's this beautiful song of love I've heard before!"

Mimir cleared his throat, "Oooh—"

"Quiet."

—————————————

AN: This entire thing was really just Freyr getting friendzoned by the reader- BUT HOPED YOU ENJOYED! (And big apologies for the long wait)

#god of war #god of war ragnarök #reader insert #god of war x reader #gow x reader #gow #Freyr #gow freyr #gow freyr x reader #freyr x reader #god of war freyr

[legendofmorons]

To protect a wolf (Twilight)

Pairing: Twilight x reader -pre relationship

Rating: T for language and some blood

Summary: While Twilight is incapacitated, you step up to protect him. Obviously, he realizes he loves you at the worst time. But you both take care of each other after.

Warnings: Some blood, some fighting, cursing

Other: Let me know if I missed anything

-------

This dungeon might actually kill him. Twilight can barley thing straight he hurts so much.

And you're with him - you need his help. He can't just quit.

But you're in the final room facing down the boss. And Twilight's barley able to move.

His leg is broken in at least three places. He's pretty sure the world shouldn't be spotty, and he is bleeding out of his ribs.

And to top it all of it's a water dungeon.

The boss is large, a squid like creature that seems to spit poison ink. There's a weak spot - an eye atop its head.

Always with the eyes.

Fuck his life.

"(Y/n)." He tries.

"Shut up." You hiss, drawing attention to yourself by smacking your sword and shield together.

He really can't do anything but trust to roll out of the way of attacks. He just wants to keep you safe- but he can't even decide which quickly blurring version of you is real.

He hears the fight, sword slashing and shield clanging. He heard movement and curses.

Feels the air move with you and the boss.

He can hear you taunt it.

He hears it fall as you attack it.

He hears the intimidating roar as it gets up.

He can't see shit-

But he hears it all.

He hears your curse and inve as something cracks.

He hears you take some new injury

He even hears the snarling curse as you drive something into the beast.

He bets you still look so beautiful. You always do.

What is he doing thinking about that?

You're in danger-

"Die you bitch!" Yoir voice cuts through his thoughts.

Well, you're still alive. That's very good. He'd hate to lose you before he told you he loved you.

Wait-

Fuck.

This new information is not helpful at all. It's also not surprising.

The sound fades out as you fight the boss, time lost to him.

He doesn't know how long has passed when he opens his eyes again... when did he close them?

"Twi... Link?" You call, kneeling in front of him.

"Hm?"

"I'm going to have to carry you out. I don't have any healing items."

"I can walk-"

"Bullshit. You could barely roll over. I'm going to carry you."

"Bu' 'm too heavy." He slurs out.

"You're really not." You say, relying on your own farm life spent wrestling goats, cows, and horses to the ground when needed.

He just groans.

You move so your kneeling on one knee, the othe in front of you.

He groans louder as you slide your arms under him. One around his shoulders and one under his knees.

"Shhh, I got you Twi. It's okay."

"I'm sorry." He manages.

"Don't be." You say quickly, standing and pulling him off the ground with you.

You hold him close to you, straining under his weight. He's pure muscle. You don't know why you thought you could carry him on a broken ankle without issue.

But you have to get hum out. Thank god for adrenaline.

If Twilight were even slightly more aware he'd demand you leave and come back for him. You're bleeding profusely from your stomach. Along with other places.

You walk, carrying him and your all's things out of the dungeon, wincing every other step.

He's concious but only just.

You walk to camp - each step feeling like you're being punished.

The others see you and rush forwards.

"What happened?!"

"Twilight is hurt. You gotta help him."

"You're hurt too." Legend says.

"Not bad." You say, obviously unaware of how injured you are.

Time takes Twilight from you, moving him so he's laying on the ground just so.

Hyrule releases a fairy over Twilight first. Then he starts in with healing magic.

"Is the world supposed to turn black?" You ask, feeling a lot weaker with no notice.

Time turns to you, "What-"

You collapse as your ears start to ring. You probably should have paid more attention to your own condition. Whoops.

.......

Twilight wakes up with a mouth like the desert and a pounding headache- but he's alive and well. Mostly.

He looks around, finding Hyrule and Wild nearby- but you're not in his sight.

"Where’s-" he summons spit to swallow to wet his mouth, "Where’s (Y/n)?"

Hyrule turns, looking relived to see the wolf shifter awake. "Hey, how do you feel?"

"Where is (Y/n)?" Twilight asks again, more impatient.

"They're resting at an inn. With both of you having lost a lot of blood, old man decided we'd need to stay in an inn for a bit. "Legend says from behind Wild.

"Why aren't we there?"

"Your leg needed to heal all the way before we moved you. They - well, they needed a bed."

"They're hurt?"

"Yeah. They are. But they're better now."

"Take me to them." Twilight says, pushing to sit up.

"Okay. Just wait - Wild's almost done with the hearty stew."

"Don't care, I need to make sure-"

"Twilight. "Sky says gently, "They worked hard to keep you safe, don't insult them by being stubborn and refusing a recovery aid."

"I-" Twilight doesn't known what to say to that.

"Good."

He trusts the boys. He really does!

But after his realization and you taking care of him- he just needs to see you as soon as he can.

He needs to make sure you're okay.

He also needs to figure out how in the name of Ordona to tell you he loves you. But he's way more concerned with your health.

Especially since you woukd have gotten hurt protecting him.

Oh... he really fucked up-

"They aren't mad." Legend says from his spot, "I know they aren't a hero like us- but they can hold their own."

"They shouldn't have had to. I should have protected them better."

Legend makes a face that suggests he'd rather talk to a praticularly stubborn wall than trying to convince Twilight of anything right now.

.......

You wake up to Time fretting over you. His muttering is unnerving paired with the face of grim acceptance.

"Where’s- Where’s Twi?" You ask, looking around and not finding him.

This does nothing to slow your racing heart, finding only Time with you and some dull inn decorating.

"He's at camp. He'll be here shortly."

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay."

"Good. I hate squid."

Time snorts at that, seeming relived that you're well enough to be bitter.

"You gave all of us a scare, looked dead when you came to camp, and then collapsed."

"Oh... Whoops."

"You have to be more careful-"

"Twilight would have died. I am not gonna let someone die just cause I'm hurt too!"

"I'm not saying otherwise. I'm just telling you to be more careful."

"Okay. But- is Twi really-"

The door opens with a bang, an exhumed Twilight in the doorway who let's out a breath of air when he sees ypu.

"(Y/n)."

"Twi!"

You try to sit up only to grunt and fall back into bed.

"Stay down," Time says, "You're gonna be sore for a while."

"You're okay." Twilight breathes out, walking over to sit on the bed beside you. "I'm sorry I should have protected you-"

"Don't start that." You manage, "You were really hurt."

"The others said you were too."

"I could walk. You couldn't. It's nothing. "

"(Y/n)." Twilight says sharper than he usually does, "You put yourself in danger for me. Please don't act like I couldn't have done things differently. "

"Twi... I know. It definitely could have gone better. It could have been worse too."

"Yeah."

"I'm really glad you're okay "

Time stands, stretching up, "You're staying in this room too, Twilight. I figured you'd both want to be near eachother. "

"Thank you." You say to Time.

"Seriously though, be careful, (Y/n)."

Twilight has to agree with his mentor.

You just sigh, trying not to move too much. "Okay."

"Good. I'm going to check on dinner plans." Time says before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Twilight just let's out a breath, "I was worried... when I woke up you weren't there."

"I know. I felt the same way."

"I'm sure." Twilight says, not sure how to tell you that he actually doubts that.

Becuase you obviously care for him but how could you love him back?

"Twiligh- Link." You say, the use of his name making him look up quickly.

"Yes?"

"Don't beat yourself up. Everyone gets hurt."

"I'm supposed to protect you though."

"Why?" You ask, feeling hurt already at the implications of the statement. "I may not be a hero but I can hold my own!"

"It's not that... It's just-" he takes a moment.

How does he tell you that he needs to protect you becuase you are someone he loves. That he loves you romantically. With his whole heart?

You stare, waiting for him to continue and really hoping he has a reason that's not just him being a chosen hero.

Twilight sighs, he might as well just tell you. He can't lie for anything- not to you at least... and a lie woukd just confuse you more.

"Because I love you, (Y/n). And I don't ever want to see you hurt."

You choke a little, suprised and touched. That's definitely a better reason than be Hylia's chosen hero.

"And I don't expect you to feel the same-"

"I do. I do feel the same."

"What?"

"I love you too. Have for a whole now- though typically you confess with flowers and not while someone is in bed looking like shit."

"You look beautiful. "

"You're very biased."

"Yeah."

You smile at him, and while you definitely hurt, you feel better than you did when you passed out. And hey, you might just get a boyfriend out of this.

"We should talk about this more later Twi, but can- you just stay with me?"

"Of course. Can I do anything to make you hurt less?"

"No... I'm probably going to fall asleep again soon honestly. I feel like I was run over by a heard of wild horses."

"Ouch. I'm sorry, Darlin'."

You giggle, "I like that name."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

#lu #linkeduniverse #misty writes #linked universe x reader #lu twilight #lu twilight x reader

[jodjuya]

Bryan Cranston is my favourite actor of all time.

I've never seen "Breaking Bad" and I likely never will.

But I'm up to season 4 of my "Malcolm in the Middle" rewatch, and my admiration for any other actor has never been higher.

Season 4, episode 18, "Boys at Ranch" puts Lois in the fridge for a whole episode, and without her antagonism we get a whole episode where all of the men and boys get to share the spotlight, and it's such a beautiful love letter to them all. So so so much wholesomeness and the payoff of four seasons' worth of character-growth, and it never stops being breathtakingly funny throughout.

AND THEN it ends on one of the best special effect sequences ever put to film.

Top! Tier! Television!

One of the show's strongest pre-opening gags too.

The absolute pinnacle of sitcom as an art form.

---------------

This episode REALLY drives home hard how Lois is *the* antagonizing force behind her entire family's dysfunction. It's really stark in a greek-tragedy kind of way. 😬

In two days under in the restorative influence of Otto und Gretchen away from Lois' presence, we see Hal, Francis, Piama, Reese, Malcolm, and Dewey instantly self-actualising into their best possible selves.

We see that Francis' season 3 spent at the isolated Alaskan logging camp was restoratively foundational to his growth as a person. He became a better person (a strict, disciplined, reliable, dependable, responsible, intelligent , resourceful (handsome👀) Capable Man) because ALL of his miserable conditions there were directly connected to personal accountability, rather than to abusive sadomasochistic discipline to force him to comply for the pure sake of authoritarianism.

(eg. Military school, and before/during/after that: his mother's parenting)

We see Dewey connect with his feelings, and actively being taught how to reconcile them, using Gretchen's amusing Germanic silliness to ritually link one's emotional healing to the physical pain of disciplined suffering—such that the energetic outburst from you being overwhelmed by your negative emotions is harnessed, instead, for productive pro-social behaviours of Cleaning The House So Hard It Hurts (In A Good Way 🥰) rather than by you merely lashing out in violent destructive behaviours

[¡and all of this initially triggered by an honest discussion about hurt feelings and accidental mistakes without appointing blame OR shame!]

AND then linking the positive endorphins from the physical pain of your frenzy:

bleeding knees, sore muscles, exhaustion, cramps, and so on; (including inhaling chemical fumes)

to conceptualising freeing yourself from your shame and guilt; explaining that hard work _causes_ you to feel better.

Show, don't tell, all the way to the motherfucking bank by the way.

Diagetically, as Gretchen to Dewey;

and also non-diagetically, as the show's writers to its audience; as all of this stuff just /happens/ without *any* of it being explained.

All this to say, is that after Dewey thoughtlessly broke Gretchen's

"this is VERY personally valuable to me, it's so special and important PLEASE do not touch it, but I have told you so, so now I blindly trust you completely okay byeeee"

Hand-Carved Cultural Artifact Doll;

that after that destructive, harmful, thoughtless act (after *explicitly* promising not to do) caused these two side-characters to become so deeply and lovingly connected to each other on their very first day of meeting each other that Dewey earnestly considers Gretchen to be his grandmother and now affectionately refers to her as such.

(to clarify their initial relationship: Dewey's eldest brother, Francis, is Gretchen's employee. She's his second-boss; co-owner of the dude ranch where Francis is foreman (because her Eccentricly German husband fell in love with the aesthetic of wild-west cowboys))

And because Dewey is a nine year old boy who put the doll into his pocket, and then his two malevolantly-stupid older teenage brothers maliciously conspired to defraud the ranch; where Francis is now Mr The-Capable-Man Foreman; to get Dewey to ride an ATV with no approval or supervision of any sane adult; the legs broke off the doll.

Gretchen was heartbroken by this when Dewey confessed (because he's fundamentally a very good little boy).

and so Dewey was feeling very hurt and miserable and ashamed without Gretchen needing to yell at him about it to cause that, because for Gretchen, her emotions aren't on her sleeve, they ARE the sleeve;

and seeing her hurt is like watching someone kick a puppy.

She is only consoled by Otto reassuring her that he will simply make new legs to replace the legs which got smashed off, "and then he'll be even better than he was before! …just like my eighth cousin!" 😂

[Early foreshadowing: you feel better when amends are made; positive action (in both senses of the words) for the sake of fixing things.]

Later, Dewey comes back to Gretchen. He's really upset by how bad he feels for what he did, and so this time he's coming back to her for comfort and reassurance.

She talks to him about what he's feeling, and gives Dewey the vocabulary to talk about what he's feeling and why, and how to talk about what those feelings feel like, without shame or blame or hostility; let alone whether or not he 'deserves' to feel so bad.

And then continues right along with "and THIS is how you make it feel better"—in the unarguable tone of voice an adult uses when they are imprinting some declaration or another about the definitive nature of reality directly into an impressionable young mind, along the lines of "that thing in front of us is called a tree"—with her little speech about how suffering by doing really REALLY hard work *causes* you to feel better!

AND THEN! she continues right along with "I still feel bad too, so this is a perfect time to teach you how to do this, come with me and we'll do it together!!"

And then she does. Lovely montage of Gretchen and Dewey side-by-side doing a sitcom-level of Cleaning So Hard It Becomes Transcendental; her teaching by example exactly what to clean and how, and giving Dewey excited encouragement the whole way.

"oh my god this is such good penance I'm unlocking and healing flashback trauma from when I was a nine year-old!' [AN: Gretchen is in her 50s??]

Like, "fuck yeah, my knees are bleeding! This is so fucking radical! look how fully sick it is that my knees are bleeding from how much I've been kneeling on them while we scrubbed the floor together! Feel the burn baby! 🤩"

Afterwards they're done and the ranchhouse is so spotless you can eat off the floor and they're surfing the endorphin rush together and talking about how amazing they felt after using self-directed scourging to purge their own sins. (people who like Spicy Sex know what I'm talking about 😏)

So that in the end, instead of screaming abuse and vitriol back and forth in *coercing* Dewey to injure himself cleaning too hard for the sheer purpose of corporal punishment for domination, shame, and humiliation;

After Dewey thoughtlessly smashed Gretchen's priceless and highly beloved doll, the two of them ended up with a MORE loving relationship than they started with!! They *both* feel AMAZING,

AND the entire ranch is SPOTLESS!

&&&&&&&&&

We see Malcolm and Reese further engaging in maliciously-stupid destruction, but this time for wholesome loving reconnection reasons.

They steal Hal's no-limit credit card to buy the sitcom-level of Too Many Fireworks, which they plan to set off in an alluded-to Sitcom Evil Prank Scheme to "get back at Francis" after he was Mr The-Capable-Man serious about how much they fucked up with the ATV thing. His brothers seriously endangered their own lives and the lives of other people, and they did so at the place where Francis is employed to literally live out the perfect life of his dreams, and to top it all off, his own dad was the one so stupidly reckless as to blindly sign paperwork without bothering to read what the fuck it actually was that he was signing; so Francis yelled at them all, taking the role their mother always takes, the role that Francis hated so much he literally had himself legally emancipated so that he could run away from school to an incredibly isolated Alaskan lumberjack camp.

Well anyway, the scheme plays out (which resolves Francis torment over escaping his mother only to become her), which also serves to reconnect Hal's independent plotline back to everyone else's.

&&&&&&&&&&

Hal lost in the desert with Otto, both of them INCREDIBLY drunk, having scared off their horses by Doing Stargazing via using their Authentic Cowboy Guns (Otto has the semi-automatic Luger he mentioned in passing in a previous episode) to point out stars; and with Otto bleeding out from a self-inflicted bullet wound in his butt cheeks. ("...I finally hit something! 🥴🥳🥴".

(Because Otto was like "how about a big bottle of scnapps??🎵? I know what's the nice sugar to get nice boys to take their nice medicine of taking about their 🎶~feel~ings~🎶??")

But all that aside, they had finished talking about Hal's feelings and his crisis of confidence in his fatherhood:

"You've only had him for two months! And he's... and he's a MODEL CITIZEN now! I had him for EIGHTEEN YEARS and it was nothing but horrible every single day for every single person!! What did you DO?! How bad of a father must *I* be?!?!"

Otto cuts through Hal's anguish by chiding him for not seeing that the acorn of Francis had NOT fallen far from Hal's tree; that Francis had ALWAYS been a good hardworking honest dependable reliable upstanding man all along, and that these traits came directly from Hal:

"What? You think he suddenly picked up these traits one day because he just found them lying on the side of the road? No! They came from you! And besides, I didn't do a single thing to teach Francis what wasn't already there inside him: I'm definitely no Super Male Role-Model Genius Guy, remember? I am is the guy who is incredibly drunk and lost in the desert dying because of my own bullet in my arse!"

So then Hal becomes bouyed right back up again, and very-drunkenly reassures Otto that there's nothing for them to worry about at all, because Francis is actually so amazing that he's about to rescue them RIGHT NOW!

Literally Cue The Fireworks

(because of Malcolm and Reese's evil scheme paying out: malicious Sitcom evil-genius prank involving Too Many Fireworks directly above the workplace of their has-legal-duty-of-care foreman brother who's personally responsible for the safety of many inexperienced tourists (including grandmas and preschoolers, and his own wife) who are surrounded by and interacting with many heads of livestock, horses, and Cosplay Cowboys); to "get back at him" lol)

And then yeah, one of the greatest special effects ever put to film; depicting the Too Many Fireworks.

Just a fucking masterpiece of television!

#malcolm in the middle #bryan cranston #positive emotions yeah!

[violetkatgrove]

BumbleClan: 2 years in

After like. A Month long break..... i have good news and also some Really Bad News. but we'll get into that

CW: Kitten Death, Fires(the fires was save-scummed into a dream dw)

Thoughts before the New Moon:

Gracklegorse wonders what it would be like to be leader. 1) Sunstar still has nine lives. 2) that is your WIFE. please do not get any ideas bbgrl

Stoatskip is hoping StarClan will protect his loved ones,,,,okay so explodes

Hazelbloom is building up a fellow Clanmates confidence in battle :3 so niceys

Howlkit tries to open up her eyes, but it's all blurry. goo gaga momence

Moon 19:

MUDFUR WENT OUT FOR TOO LONG AND HAS FROSTBITE??? ITS ONLY LEAF-FALL

While I thought I changed the apprentice graduating, Sunstar seems to think Brokenpaw is ready to become a warrior, and delcares she will now be known as Brokenspots. Also she caught whitecough sorry sweetpea.

Hazelbloom realizes he judged Yewkit too harshly. bro what were you judging him ON he is just a fucking babey.

Gracklegorse is scolding Plumshine :( BumbleClan's first fail enby

"Golddawn had a spat with Mudfur over a piece of prey" THE GIRLS ARE FIGHITNGGGG

Kokichi, Brokenspots, and Gracklegorse have a nice chat over their food :3

Speaking of Kokichi, him and Squirrelface are free from their fleas at last!

Plumshine thinks Buzzardpoppy is very helpful and wants to spend time with him! Friendship is blossoming in BumbleClan...

HOWLKIT IS COMPLAINING MUDFUR DOESNT DO ANYTHING HELPFUL. SHE IS APPROACHING TWELVE YEARS OLD AND HAS FROSTBITE YOUNG LADY-

Quarter travels to HushClan to resolve some recent personal disputes. stay safe bbgrl ilu

Yewkit shared an embarrassing story about Runnelkit he wasnt supposed to share...baby drama

Yewkit,,,,a boy with homophobia in his eyes....

Thoughts and In-Camp actions:

Runnelkit wonders who their mentor will be. I'll tell you what none of you are going to greedy Staotskip thats for sure

Gracklegorse & Kokichi wish to speak to Quarter about something, while she contemplates teaching the Clan communication skills.

The two medicine cats were able to gather mullein and raspberries this moon. Squirrelface eavesdrops on Brokenspots, who wonders how the medicine cat's mate is doing.

Haventail eavesdrops on Golddawn, who wishes to get to know the young warrior better.

Yewkit hopes Mudfur will tell him another story :3

Howlkit wishes cats would stop babying her. little ma'am you literally have the babyiest kit sprite idk what to tell you. you're baby.

Stoatskip wonders if StarClan can hear him, from the stars, Fawnroot is looking to visit him in a dream.

Quarter continues trying to meditate the strained relationship of the two medicine cats. Her work is starting to pay off, as while the two mollys still have a dislike for each other, their trust towards one another outweighs that dislike.

Patrols:

Kokichi decides to take charge on border patrol, and brings along Plumshine, Hazelbloom, and Stoatskip. Hazelbloom finds a loner, who offers their healing skills in exchange for shelter. The new medicine cat is welcomed to the clan.

Squirrelface and Stoatstalk decide to take Featherfoot with them herb gathering, Golddawn also decides to tag along. As the Mullein towers impressively over the other plants, it's a good time to harvest it. Squirrelface could swear there's usually mullein around here- but not this time.

Gracklegorse takes Haventail and Buzzardpoppy training, suggesting its a good time to practice some techniques. Unfortunately, no one steps up to teach. It's a little awkward, but the patrol disbands to attend to other duties.

Thoughts before the New Moon:

Sunstar thinks she's been hearing the voices of StarClan cats... what they saying bestie.

Quarter is eavesdropping on Kokichi, who's been a little hard on himself recently :(

Plumshine has been lazing around in their nest, and doesn't seem to want to change that anytime soon.

Stoatstalk carefully curates his appearance to be dazzling, but not too dazzling. Clan's apparent heartthrob gotta keep up those good looks

Haventail is being followed around camp by Sunstar's kits. awwwhhh

Mudfur is trying to tell the kits a tall tale, but Yewkit is busy playing with a stick, while his sister, Runnelkit, pesters Mudfur to play with her

From StarClan, Fawnroon has been following the growth of Gracklegorse

Fromt StarClan. Moonthistle has seen Haventail's future demise? excuse me? huh? h?

and thats only the Begining of worrisome thoughts from StarClan. its all downhill from here/hj

Moon 20:

Squirrelface wants to spend more time with Stoatstalk!!! YIPPIIIII

Sunstar feels like she can tell Stoatstalk anything... fambily...

Kokichi and Quarter bicker about something trivial. sadge

Yewkit had a disagreement with Featherfoot. bro why you beefing with a baby.

Gracklegorse settles near Sunstar to eat his fresh killlll oooooo they are wife and wiiiiiiiiife

Brokenspots has recovered from whitecough! yahoo!

Quarter, meanwhile. as a runny nose :(

Featherfoot also had a disagreement with Brokenspots bro WHAT is ur deal.

Quarter wants to explore the whole territory with Kokichi,,,,wowie,,,,

Thoughts and In-Camp actions:

With three cats working now, the medicine cats gathered a hefty amount of herbs this moon. Squirrelface gathered oak leaves and tansy, while Golddawn and Featherfoot gathered daisy and thyme respectively. Mudfur is given juniper to help treat her frostbite.

Sunstar has a crazed look in her eyes. girl? you good? did the kits not let you sleep or something??

Plumshine is watching over the kits <:3 thank u so nice

Gracklegorse begins assigning cats to a border patrol as Squirrelfaces checks up on all the warriors.

Stoatstalk feels happy knowing he's someone cats seek out to talk to :3 my little boy mr popular

Haventail needs a bit of time alone today…. and Sunstar's crazed look… girlies did Moonthistle talk to either of you in a dream recently-

Brokenspots wants to be chosen as the new deputy. girl you've been here 2 moons and Sunstar hasn't even lost ONE life yet. slow down

Runnelkit continues to pester older cats to play with her. Meanwhile, Howlkit seems to be cross with Yewkit about something. The sole son of the litter is too busy chasing his tail to notice.

From StarClan, Moonthistle is hoping to meet with a medicine cat soon buddy buddy whats going on

Quarter is quick to work on Squirrelface and Golddawn's relationship with the newest medicine cat. The last thing BumbleClan needs is all 3 medicine cats being cross with one another

Patrols:

With Brokenspots recovered from her whitecough, Buzzardpoppy and Haventail take her out to train together. Haventail suggests they practice hunting techniques. Everyone has a nice session and new tricks under their paw to try out next hunting patrol.

The medicine cats head out together to gather herbs. The gaggle of cats stroll through BumbleClan's territory, chatting amicably amongst themselves. It's a rare opportunity, for them to all be out like this together, and though the weather is poor and not really ideal for herb-gathering, each cat plans to make the most of it. It starts pouring while they're out, and even Golddawn has to admit defeat and lead them home.

Stoatskip, Kokichi, and Stoatstalk head out for the first border patrol. They hear the sound of barking and cautiously go to investigate. Near the border, they spot a dog chasing something. A cat! The patrol jumps to action to chase the dog off, a group of cats is much more powerful than one, and they convince the dog to flee with little difficulty. They go to check on the feline, but in their adrenaline haze take a swipe at Stoatstalk before running away.

The final patrol of the moon is lead by Gracklegorse, taking Plumshine and Hazelbloom with them. The patrol catches scent of a mouse nearby. Plumshine pinpoints the location of the prey and begins creeping forward. They're almost within pouncing distance when the mouse suddenly bolts. With a lash of their tail, Plumshine leaps forward, barely snagging it before it enters it's burrow.

Thoughts before the New Moon:

MOONTHISTLE. STOP FORSEEING DEMISES. YOURE SCARING ME. NOT YOUR BROTHER….

Fawnroot wants to warn Stoatskip. what that his brother saw his impending doom??

Gracklegorse feels a sense of dread. BESTIES what is going ON

Stoatskip is growing fond of Runnelkit :3 they're a fisty little one. that doesnt mean im letting u take on another apprentice SIR

SPEAKING OF RUNNELKIT shes pretending to be medicine cat ohhhhh ohhhhhhh

endless pspspsppss for Whisker to come join us. cmoooonn you know you wannnaaaa. also this is just my opinion. but i think featherfoot is just a bit of a dick. he needs to chill out

Moon 21: Leaf-bare begins

Stoatstalk itches uncomfortably, wishing his wound would just close up and heal already, but it seems to only be getting worse.

Mudfur's tail is finally gone. It was more of a relief than anything. The frostbitten flesh was already dead, so she had no issue taking it off before it fell off on it's own.

Runnelkit has gotten kittencough.

Squirrelface wishes she was as pretty as Haventail. ur bootiful to me and Stoatstalk its ok

Haventail awakes with a start. Fire. Fire was all she could remember. She rushes out of the warriors den with a start to find Buzzardpoppy and Hazelbloom at the fresh kill pile, asking what's wrong. Just a dream, the camp is safe, she's alive. Her mother and brother comfort her, and assure her that it's too cold of a season for fires.

Howlkit has a wonderful time discussing Clan happenings with Brokenspots :3

Featherfoot and Squirrelface spar in the clearing, Plumshine tries to get Golddawn to join in.

Buzzardpoppy and his sister are distracted from Mudfur's story, upsetting the elder. Haventail voices her anxieties in a way that puts off Squirrelface.

Quarter, now free of her running nose, tells Brokenspots of her old kittypet life, meaning for it to stay private. Brokenspots ends up telling another cat regardless.

Thoughts and In-Camp actions:

In the medicine den, Mudfur was given juniper. Her frostbite has healed, but she will always carry evidence of the incident on her pelt. The medicine cats also refresh their moss stock.

Golddawn applies more cobwed to Stoatstalk's injury, it will hopefully heal sooner.

Squirrelface could not find any herbs, but the older cats were able to gather some goldenrod and dandelion.

Quarter and Brokenspots eavesdrops on Gracklegorse talking to his sick kit. Runnelkit is asking who their mentor will be.

Stoatstalk leaves fresh-kill at Moonthistle's grave.

Plumshine, Kokichi, and Hazelbloom try to set a good example for the kits.

Mudfur is being grumped at by the kits for no longer having a tail to play with. sadge

Buzzardpoppy spars with some Clanmates while his sister helps escort the medicine cats.

From StarClan... Fawnroot has forseen Plumeshines demise. okay guys thats 3 cats now can we STOP IT youre SCARING ME

bonus pictures that made me weep

Golddawn watching over the healthy kits while Sunstar and Gracklegorse spend time with their sick one 🥺

Also: the fire dream was written entirely by me, this is because i had to restart the game because the first instance of moon 21 had Haventail burned alive saving Stoatstalk from a fire. there was an extra thing of her brother reacting to her death and everything. litcherally traumatizing idc how much it makes sense with these demises prophecies that shit SUCKED

Brokenspots confindes in Quarter, asking the older cat to help keep up the warrior's good relationship with Howlkit, hoping to be chosen for the kit's mentor when the time comes. Quarter happily agrees.

Patrols:

The medicine cats head out to gather herbs, Haventail goes with them as an escort. BumbleClan can never had enough cobwebs, Squirrelface instructs the patrol, and leads them on a search for some, hoping to get more to treat her wounded mate. The medicine cat mrrps with laughter, watching Golddawn parade around with such a big bundle that her former mentor keeps colliding with things in her path she can't see. The entire patrol has gotten a wonderful haul, and it's a very pleased Squirrelface that leads them back to camp.

Gracklegrose leads border patrol, taking Plumshine, Kokichi, and Brokenspots with them. Kokichi finds a loner who offers their healing skills in exchange for shelter. She happily explains Bumbleclan, but after learning more, the loner politely declines.

Stoatskip takes Hazelbloom and Buzzardpoppy out to practice. His mate and the younger cat get into a disagreement regarding what Haventail's dream could have meant. Unable to come to a understanding, they look to Stoatskip to settle this. Stoatskip nods sympathetically, and is able to calm the cats down, convincing them to agree to disagree.

he couldve joined us and been named razzle dazzle....missed opportunity

Thoughts before the New Moon:

Outside of BumbleClan, Whiskers sniffs around OatClan territory curiously.

Sunstar wonders if Golddawn has gotten any prophecies from StarClan, well she fucking NEEDS to with all these demise visions theyve been having.

Featherfoot is interpreting a prophecy. whatd they say, lad

Haventail is worried about Yewkit :( Haventail i literally love you so much if anything happens to you(again) ill die and go to hell

Howlkit and Runnelkit are asking how kittens are made.......sighs

MOONTHISTLE IS DISAPPOINTED IN HAVENTAIL?????? what bc she didnt scream everyone run away theres a fire after that nightmare fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you f (edited)

And now the part where everything goes Wrong!

Moon 22:

Runnelkit was unable to fight off her kittencough. BumbleClan mourns their loss. Her last moments were spent sunbathing with Quarter and Buzzardpoppy. Gracklegorse takes her to be buried.

Shortly after Runnelkit's funeral, Plumshine brings a single kit into camp, they refuse to talk about it's origins, they name them Flowerkit.

Sunstar has healed from the strain of giving birth, but the hole Runnelkit left in her heart remains.

Stoatskip finds the way Haventail acts extremely uncomfrotable. Why is everyone suddenly mean to her. be nice to her right fucking now.

Featherfoot notices Gracklegorse hasn't been taking their health all too seriously. hmm idk maybe its the MOURNING his DAUGHTER

Hazelbloom tripped on a rabbit hole :( hurt him foot

Haventail wants to spend more time with Staotstalk! friendship :3

Thoughts and In-Camp actions:

Stoatstalk is given poppy and goldenrod to treat his infected injury.

The herb stores are inspected, and the medicine cats notice some of the ragwort gone bad, and make a note to look for some. Squirrelface had gathered some lungwort, but Featherfoot and Golddawn were unable to find anything.

Kokichi eavesdrops on Haventail, and notices her daughter is a bit gloomy today.

Despite his sprain, Hazelbloom tries to set a good example for the new kit.

Outside of BumbleClan. Whiskers was almost eaten by a monster- jesus christ thank god hes ok.

From the safety of his kittypet home, Razzle watches the clouds roll by.

From StarClan, Moonthistle hopes to meet with one of the medicine cats soon.

Quarter speaks with Haventail and Buzzardpoppy at their father's request, keeping an eye that the siblings stay close in these trying times.

Patrols:

Sunstar accompanies the medicine cats for an herb gathering run. With the motley assortment of Clanmates behind her, Golddawn heads out on patrol, searching for the ever-green, ever-reliable horsetail to harvest. But her work is once again effected by her distracted mind, and the patrol returns home empty-handed and snappy with each other.

Gracklegorse leads the patrol, taking Stoatskip, Haventail, and Plumshine with him. While walking along the border, they notice an OatClan patrol renewing their scent marks up ahead. The patrol leads give a quick nod of acknowledgement when they pass.

Kokichi leads the final patrol for the moon, going hunting with her son and Brokenspots. The patrol hears distant howls and goes to investigate, the sound leads them to a coyote, scavenging from a carcass. It notices the patrol before they are able to run and lunges forward, making it clear that this food has been claimed. Brokenspots' tail is momentarily caught between the coyote's teeth before Buzzardpoppy and Kokichi retaliate and drive it off their Clanmate.

Thoughts before the New Moon:

Featherfoot wonders how Howlkit is doing :(

Stoatskip is sparring with Clanmates, he also no longer has romantic ticks for Hazelbloom but still has one for Gracklegorse. Uh Oh.

Plumshine has been roped into play mossball with the kits :3

Outside of BumbleClan territory, Whisker stays in a Twoleg den for a couple of days for food and warmth. Meanwhile. Razzle exits his den to scratch at a tree he's been eyeing.

From StarClan, Runnelkit is sad to watch her family grow up without her :( throws up

and thats that on worlds most Depressing Moon. literally my favorite number and they do this to me. fucking hate it here

Moon 23:

Stoatstalk has recovered from his infection.

Mudfur and Stoatskip think about how reliable Haventail is :3 thank god Haventail love return

Hazelbloom hatches a plan with Squirrelface to sneak out of camp 🤨 what u two doin

KOKICHI PRAYS THAT HE ISNT ON PATROL WITH BUZZARDPOPPY??? THATS UR SON

Gracklegorse takes group sunbaths with on two different days, the first day is with Quarter and Flowerkit, the second Haventail and Brokenspots.

Howlkit and Yewkit get into a fight over a feather, and end up breaking the feather in the process. It's ok bc they swap favorite prey later :3

Flowerkit got Quarter in trouble. SAD

Thoughts and In-Camp actions:

Gracklegorse thinks about Moonthistle. Sunstar stares off into space. ok break my heart at the start why dontcha

Golddawn rethinks their life choices. you're 12 years old ma'am whats up :( u ok? In the medicine cat den, Stoatstalk's wound is treated with oak leaves and burdock. Hazelbloom is given elder leaves for his sprain. Brokenspots is given oak leaves for her mangled tail. Squirrelface and Golddawn gather cobwebs and plantain, Featherfoot is unable to find any herbs.

Squirrelface wonders how Mudfurs doing. the elder wishes to get to know her better :3

Plumshine announces they are heading to the dirtplace... ok bestie have a good shit dont fall in <3

Stoatstalk is a bit cross with Howlkit. She's nervous for her apprentice ceremony next moon.

From StarClan, Runnelkit is looking to visit her brother in a dream soon 🥺

Outside of Clan territory, Whiskers gets invited to spend the night with a group of friendly loners. Razzle wanders around his neighborhood.

Mudfur privately requests a meditating session with Squirrelface to Quater, she happily agrees and helps the cat respect each other a bit more.

Patrols:

Sunstar and Gracklegorse go hunting with Plumshine. i reset the game bc gracklegorse died the same way moonthistle did. Plumshine encounters a porcupine and narrowly avoids it whipping it's tail towards them. The patrol gives the porcupine a wide berth.

Stoatskip takes Kokichi and Buzzardpoppy with him for border patrol. They track the scent of a large dog along the edge of BumbleClan territory. Stoatskip selflessly leads the lion's share of the run they lead the dog on, exhausting himself a dangerous amount, but leading the dog far away from BumbleClan borders. His Clanmates support him on the long walk home once it's all over, their purrs mixing with Stoatskip's exhausted pants.

Haventail follows the medicine cats with them to gather herbs. As Featherfoot pads through the territory, he senses a presence join them. The connection goes away as soon as it appears god DAMN IT YALL--

Thoughts before the New Moon:

Howlkit snuggles up to her worried mother, Sunstar watching over the kit cautiously.

Featherfoot checks in on the warriors, Squirrelface is grateful for the fellow medicine cat's help. Plumshine wonders if the she-cat has gotten any prophecies.

Brokenspots eavesdrops on her former mentor, who is setting a positive example for the soon-to-be apprentices alongside Hazelbloom and Kokichi.

From StarClan, Fawnroot plans to send a message, while Runnelkit is thinking of advice to give a medicine cat. oh baby :(

its at this point the hyperempathy started kicking in and my motivation for the game started to die down, so like 80 years later i finally get back to the next moon. thats just what happens when u get a game abt cat death while cat death is one of the most upsetting things u can experience

and then i took a near month-long break so sorry about that runnelkit really got to me ANYWAYS

Moon 24: New leaf begins anew

As Howlpaw touches noses with her mother and now mentor, she hopes she'll get to do something great for the Clan. Like chase off a fox! That'll show the Clan she's the best apprentice ever! Her brother, Yewpaw, can't sit still as he touches noses with Kokichi, swearing to become the best warrior the Clan has ever seen.

While his original sprain has healed, Haventail as gotten a stomachache, alongside Buzzardpoppy, after sharing an old fresh kill together. Yewpaw has also gotten whitecough. Yewpaw. look at me. Don't You Dare

Stoatstalk and Squirrelface took a moonlit stroll together ooooooooo

Mudfur finds a bit of fluff that reminds her of Yewpaw, she considers gifting it to him.

Sunstar and Howlpaw heckle at other Clan cats at the gathering together. mother-daughter bonding... She also jokes with Brokenspots abt another Clan being stinky hold on as leader shouldnt you be a bit nicer-

MUDFUR AND SUNSTAR GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT??? NAUURR

Thoughts and In-Camp actions:

The medicine cats were able to find a good amount of herbs the start of this moon, Squirrelface finding mullein, and the older cats gathering moss, cobwebs, goldenrod, and rosemary. Brokenspots tail is rapped up with more cobwebs, and Stoatstalk's claw-wound is treated with ragwort.

Sunstar thinks about forming an alliance. well you called at most two other Clans stinky and heckled at them so good luck w that bbgrl

Gracklegorse is unsure of what the rest of the Clan thinks of him as deputy :( naur not the old insecurities returning

Featherfoot interprets an omen.....girl what do you see

Buzzardpoppy visits Stoatstalk in the medicine den, the older tom always manages to turn the mood into a light one :)

Outside of the clan, Whisker is almost hit by ANOTHER monster bestie be CAREFUL

From Starclan Fawnroot has seen Yewpaw's future- i cant TAKE IT ANYMORE STOP IT!!!!!! SUNSTAR CANT LOSE TWO KIDS NO!!!!!!!!!!!

MOONTHISTLE IS ALSO DISAPPOINTED IN GRACKLEGORSE??? LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!

After some careful thought, Quarter decided to given herself the full warrior name of Quartermoon, happily accepting that she will likely spend the rest of her life with BumbleClan.

Patrols:

Sunstar and Howlpaw go with the medicine cats to gather herbs. As newleaf brings green back to the world, Squirrelface has been anticipating the unfurling of new leaf buds on elder trees. The patrol goes to find a particular tree in a dip along the stream. Elder leaves being used to soothe sprains, while gathering them in a way that risks sprains, is truly one of StarClan's little ironies. Squirrelface shares a joke with the patrol, who all murrp in amusement, but also take it as a reminder for everyone to be careful as they strip leaves from the tree.

This precious little moment was also caught when I went back to look at camp. family...

Kokichi takes his kids out for a hunting trip. A rabbit startles the patrol while bursting out of it's cover, they rally almost instantly, and manage to corner and successfully capture the rabbit!

Gracklegorse takes the remaining warriors out to secure the border. While on their way, Staotskip notices some suspicious pawprints in the mud under the canopy. The tracks lead to a tresspassing rogue. Hazelbloom throws himself at the cat, hissing furiously, and with his partner they drive the rogue off BumbleClan territory. Gracklegorse gives them a nod of approval.

Howlpaw informs Quartermoon of Sunstar and Mudfur's argument earlier this moon, and the molly works quick to meditate the issue. The elder and leader are on stable terms once again.

Final Thoughts:

Sunstar dreads a meeting she must call later today. bbgrl whats up :(

Golddawn wonders how Stoatstalk is doing. The answer: He feels a sense of dread.

Haventail is feeling under appreciated... girl i appreciate u so fucking much

Brokenspots wonders how Howlpaw is doing. im sorry you didnt get to mentor her i know u were looking forward to it 😔

Howlpaw is having a hard day also. naur :(((

Plumshine tries to get their kit to take a nap, but Flowerkit adamantly refuses. goo gaga moments

From StarClan, Fawnroot is looking to send a message to Quartermoon :0c

and after a loooong break, thats year 2 complete! I'm probably gonna change up my profile updates, so that way i dont reach the max amount of images per post so fast like i did this update lmao-

Probably gonna do some doodles in between now and next update, so see you guys soon!

#cat death #clangen #BumbleClan Adventures #violet speaks #asplodes #long post

[moonylantsovs]

Knife Threats [ B.B ]

summary: gabriella kane gets herself into a hunting trip with bellamy blake just a few days before unity day and they manage to have a very interesting discussion when they almost get caught in acid fog and are forced to spend the night in a cave

pairings: bellamy blake x gabriella kane ( OC )

warnings: ( 18+ ) angst, cursing, SMUT; hate sex, dominance play, oral ( fem receiving ), dirty talk, slight pain kink, hair pulling

Gabriella Kane was a hundred percent sure that she has never met a more frustrating person than Bellamy Blake. ( Her father coming in a close second place. ) She was already painfully aware of that fact during the first day on the ground, where he started playing Hitler to a bunch of teenage criminals, proclaiming himself the king.

After weeks of trying to stay alive and leading the hundred together, him making stupid decisions that only increased her dislike towards him, she still hasn't learned how to get along with him. But Unity Day was getting closer and they needed food so they made a few hunting groups or pairs and found themselves leaving their camp together. Alone.

It was actually all Clarke's fault when Gabriella really thought about it. They were originally supposed to go with Wells too but Clarke insisted that his knife wound hadn't healed enough for him to go hunting with them.

"You know, I actually thought we were getting along on our little day trip last week but every time we get somewhere it just seems like you start hating me more and more." Bellamy spoke, trying to catch up with her fast walking through the forest.

"And every time 𝘐 think you can't be more annoying, you start talking and find some way to prove me wrong." Gabriella shot back without missing a beat, not even bothering to turn around while she was talking to him but she could still practically see him rolling his eyes in her head.

She huffed under her breath and gripped the rifle in her hand tighter, "And keep your eyes on the trees. I might not like you that much but I am not carrying your dead body back to camp."

He chuckled under his breath and shrugged, "You know that you can just admit you care, right?"

"Oh, I care." Gabriella sang with a sarcastic smile, "Just not about you."

She knew Bellamy was about to argue but he was cut off when a horn was heard from the distance. Gabriella's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and her eyes widened when she felt Bellamy grab a hold of her wrist.

"We have to go." the eldest Blake stated, all traces of teasing gone from his face, now replaced with urgency, "The horn means acid fog is coming."

"Shit." Gabriella cursed and looked over Bellamy's shoulder to see yellow fog making its way towards them, "Bellamy."

Bellamy didn't even turn around to know what was happening and instead started running, his hand on her wrist leaving her no other choice but to follow. Gabriella followed him blindly through the forest, never even trying to tear her arm away from his grip.

But that's what they always seemed to do isn't it? Fighting and arguing in camp but protecting and trusting each other blindly when they were put in danger? Yeah, Gabriella didn't understand that either but she never really bothered to think about it. Because he was still Bellamy. The same Bellamy that banished her best friend, tried to kill another one and then tortured a grounder like he was some sort of animal. But then again, it was also the same Bellamy that saved her more times than she could count.

Hell, maybe that's the exact reasons she 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 to hate him.

-

They were fast. But not fast enough.

Just as Bellamy removed the hollow rock blocking the entrance of the cave they found and was about to push Gabriella in before him, the acid fog reached them and they had to practically throw themselves in. It would have been funny and Gabriella would have definitely laughed if her skin didn't feel like it was actually on fire. Well more specifically, her entire right arm did.

𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱. Gabriella thought bitterly as she tore her backpack from her shoulder and hurriedly took out the two battles of water from the inside of it.

"Whatever you have burned, spill water over it." she told Bellamy, pouring the water from her bottle all over her right shoulder.

Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but still did as he was told, "How do you even know that will work?"

"I don't." Gabriella admitted, sighing in relief at the feeling of the cold water hitting her burned skin, "I saw it in a movie once. But I'm pretty sure it works. We'll just have Clarke look at it when we come back to camp."

Bellamy huffed out a chuckle that was cut off as soon as the water hit the skin on his hand. The rest of his body was covered in clothes and the fog didn't touch his face ( same as Gabriella ) so he ended up much better than Gabriella did.

"You need any help with that?" Bellamy asked, nodding towards her shoulder.

Gabriella shook her head dismissively, "No, I'm fine."

They spent about half an hour in silence, each of them sitting on their own sides of the cave, never looking at each other and completely ignoring each other's presence. It just got dark outside when Bellamy got to his feet and finally snapped.

"Look, I really need you to tell me the exact reason you hate me because this relationship we have where we either constantly fight when we're alone or we completely ignore each other's existence is getting really annoying."

Gabriella was stunned at the outburst and simply blinked up at him in surprise before she got to her feet herself so they almost stood chest to chest. She crossed her arms over her chest and met his glare with her own, "Why are saying that like it's my fault that you've been nothing but an arrogant asshole who hasn't done anything but tried to sleep with me since we landed on Earth. I mean that part is fine but you tried to get Jasper killed, banished John, tortured a grounder then acted like a dick to me when I tried to stop you."

While she was practically yelling at him, Bellamy was too busy staring at the way the fire she set earlier was shining on her face, the way her face filled with fiery anger ( something she usually wore whenever the two of them talked ) and the way her messy hair that's only been washed by rain fell in front of her eyes every time she shook her head. He was looking at all of that shamelessly but he definitely didn't mean to allow his eyes to travel down to the bare skin of her collarbone and further down where he could see how Gabriella's blue shirt became transparent because of the amount of sweat rolling off of her. Bellamy caught himself before his thoughts could trail south and brought his gaze back up to her face, only to regret his decision immediately because his eyes instantly shot up to the pair of lips he caught her biting so many times when she was stressed.

"Gods, are you even listening to me?" she yelled in frustration, the sound of her voice, angrier than ever, broke him out of his daze and made his eyes snap away from her completely.

"Yeah," Bellamy cleared his throat, trying to regain what little was left of his sanity, "obviously. How can I not when you're yelling straight in my face?"

Gabriella scoffed at his poor insult, "I have never met a single person that frustrates me this much."

"Sexually?"

Bellamy really couldn't help himself and let it slip. It was obviously the last drop for her because before he knew it the knife that was previously in her pocket was in her hand and right under his throat while Gabriella had him pinned against the cave's stone wall.

The former cadet grunted in surprise and gape at the angry girl, "I had enough of you and your constant nagging at my brain the entire day. If another word comes out of your mouth I'm gonna cut off your useless tongue."

"Oh, Bambi," Bellamy chuckled to himself, knowing he would only piss her off more but not having enough willpower to hold it in, "I can think of many things my tongue can be useful for."

"You're disgusting." Gabriella said.

"Then why are you still standing so close to me?" Bellamy taunted, moving his face closer to her own, ignoring the small amount of small sting of pain her knife was causing right under his jaw.

Gabriella didn't seem to have anything else to say, only pantet under her breath and soon enough, found herself doing the exact thing Bellamy was doing to her just seconds ago. She hated to admit it but the sight of his curly hair falling in front of his dark brown eyes, the freckles all over his tan skin and the way his eyes looked at her like they were piercing through her soul did things to her she thought she never felt before.

"Fuck it."

They weren't sure who leaned in first but soon enough, Gabriella's knife was all the way across the wave, her fingers were in Bellamy's hair, holding onto it for dear life, and his big hands were holding waist to his body, relishing in the way her body pressed to his own. Bellamy felt like he was in heaven and Gabriella felt like all the oxygen had been knocked out of her body and the boy in front of her was her lifeline.

"You're infuriating." Bellamy gasped out between their messy and rushed kisses, moving his arms away from Gabriella's waist just so he could let her take off his guard jacket easier. Once that was off, they went back to kissing, but did much rougher.

Bellamy was surprised at the way Gabriella allowed him to dominate the kiss and brought so much passion to it at the same time. She moaned softly when he bit her bottom lip and tightened her hold on his curls, promoting a grunt of approval from him that only seemed to spur her on and make her want more. Before he could realize what was going on, she pulled away to swiftly take off the top she was wearing, revealing her makeshift bra from The Ark. She didn't allow Bellamy even a moment to look and simply took the bra off.

Gabriella felt a small smirk tug at her lips at the way Bellamy's eyes only grew darker in hunger and she couldn't say she didn't love that way his eyes took her in from head to toe.

This time, it was him who took off his shirt and threw it on the floor and then pinned her against the wall. He didn't even have a second to worry he was being too rough when a small moan of pleasure escaped Gabriella's lips.

One corner of Bellamy's lips tugged up into an almost knowing smirk as he pressed her body against the rough surface with his hands firmly on her waist, "You like that don't you?"

"Shut up." Gabriella hissed, displeased by the lack of control she had in this situation.

"I don't think you should really be barking orders around here, 𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵." the Blake brother taunted, getting in her face and allowing his hot breath to fan over her lips, "I'm the one in charge now."

Usually, Gabriella would have scoffed or said something back but now, her head was completely empty and the only thing she could think about was the need to feel Bellamy's hands on her skin.

Bellamy smirked once more but didn't say anything, only moved to unbutton Gabriella's pants, pulling them down painfully slowly. He left a butterfly kiss on her hip before slowly dragging her underwear down too and by the time he was done, she was painfully aware of how wet she was. Gabriella was quick to step out of her clothing and moved her hands to the waistband of Bellamy's pants, only to have him stop her by putting her hands in his and pushing them off.

Once Bellamy had her hands pinned to her sides, he started pressing wet open mouthed kisses to her neck. Gabriella moaned lowly as soon as he started sucking and allowed her head to roll back. Her hands twitched in anticipation, knowing that if he wasn't holding them in place, they would be threading through his dark curls.

As Bellamy trails his kissed down her jaw towards her breasts, Gabriella starts to grind her body against his own and arch her back, desperate for any kind of friction. Almost as if he was reading her mind, the freckled boy let go of one of her hands ( that hand she instantly moved to his shoulder to keep herself on her feet ) and trailed it to her core, but not without letting out a breathy chuckle under his breath and taunting.

"Desperate aren't you?"

Much to his amusement, Gabriella only whined in response and rubbed her core against the palm of his hand.

"Alright, alright, I got you." Bellamy soothed with a small smile and sank down to his knees in front of her. He didn't give her a second to process what he was doing before he swung one of her legs over his shoulder and positioned his face in between her shaky legs.

Gabriella yelped at the position and stiffened when she felt his hot breath hit her centered, making her uncontrollably clench onto nothing. This time when she tugged on his hair, he actually 𝘮𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘥 and then instantly licks into her before going right in and sucking on her sensitive clit. The Kane girl has never been this glad to be alone in the middle of the forest with just Bellamy around because this allowed her to be as loud as she wanted. And the way Bellamy was teasing her pussy and sucking her clit made her scream out and grip onto him for dear life.

"Who would have known that the only way to make you shut up would be to put my tongue between your legs?"

He finally pushed two fingers inside of her, pumping them in and out and curving them each time as he applied pressure to her clit. Gabriella felt the pleasure at the bottom of her stomach come quicker than she thought and she didn't even give Bellamy a warning before her toes were curling and she was reaching her first climax.

Bellamy helped her ride it out and as soon as she came down from the high, she brought him in for another kiss. She could tell she surprised him but he soon melted into the kiss and allowed her to explore his mouth with her tongue. She groaned both at the taste of herself on his tongue and at the hard on rubbing against her thigh. She pulled away, panting into Bellamy's mouth before her hands moved back to the waistband of his pants so she could pull them off, only this time, he let her.

Gabriella couldn't keep her giggle in when she realized he wasn't wearing underwear but all amusement was gone from her face when she looked down and saw his the way his hard cock stood between them. She bit her lip at the sight. The length was definitely about average but the girth was what made her impressed.

The blonde brushed the hair away from her eyes and was about to sink down to her knees to return the favor, only to be stopped by Bellamy grabbing the back of her neck and pulling her into another kiss.

"As much as I would love to feel your lips wrapped around my dick, I'm gonna explode if I don't get inside you right now." Bellamy panted in between kisses, resting his forehead against her own sweaty one. Gabriella nodded hurriedly, just as desperate as he was to finally feel him inside of her.

Soon enough, Bellamy was laying on his back on the floor and Gabriella was strandling his stomach. She rubbed her wetness against his pubic hair, making Bellamy cursed under his breath, and then lifted herself on her knees so she was hovering right over his cock.

She reached between them and pressed his cock against her entrance, slowly guiding himself into her and then sitting down. She gasped at the amazing mixture of both pain and pleasure at the quick stretch. Bellamy grunted in pleasure and he swore it took everything in him not to finish right now. He clenched his jaw when he felt her blunt nails dig into the skin of his stomach, definitely leaving bruises he's going to be able to look at tomorrow and think 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘹 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘎𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘒𝘢𝘯𝘦.

"You're fucking perfect." Bellamy grunted, feeling her clench down on him at the praise, making his eyes flash in realization. He sat up and guided his hands to her waist, her hands falling to his shoulders almost automatically, "Feel so good around me, sweetheart."

Gabriella only moaned louder at the dirty talk and started meeting his thrust by bouncing on his cock. Their pace was rough and Bellamy really couldn't keep himself from putting his mouth on her books. He sucked and licked in a surprisingly tender manner as Gabriella rode him.

When Bellamy was satisfied with the marks he left on the tender skin of her breasts, he started moving his hips up to meet her rough pace. Gabriella moaned loudly, feeling him hit her g-spot better than anyone ever did. He was hitting the spots inside her she didn't even know she had and she was loving every second of it.

Only the sound of their heavy panting and moaning filled the cave.

"I'm close."

That was all Gabriella needed to say to make Bellamy moved his hand to her core, using his thumb to rub circles into her sensitive clit. He moved his lips right above her ear, his hot breath tickling the soft spot she had there as he whispered softly but firmly, "Come for me, Sweetheart."

That was enough to have her nails dig into his shoulders hard enough to draw blood as a minblowing orgasm ripped straight through her. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, her head titled back and her eyes practically rolled to the back of her head.

"That's it." Bellamy grunted, feeling his own orgasm coming, "Good girl."

Just as Gabriella came down from her high, Bellamy reached his own. He gripped her hips even tighter and groaned in pleasure as he spilled inside of her, his forehead falling on her shoulder as he did. He choked on the 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 that escaped his lips.

Gabriella rested her chin on top of his head as she caught her breath. She was too exhausted to think about how bad of an idea this was. She was gonna think about that tomorrow.

a/n: this is an au for my the 100 rewrite so it doesn't actually happen in it, it's just an au I felt like doing until we get actual canon bellamy and gabi

#the 100 #bellamy blake #bellamy blake smut #bellamy blake x oc #bellamy blake fanfiction #bellamy blake imagine #bellamy blake x reader #the 100 imagine

[tofumedic]

Brothers + Diavolo w/ a selectively mute GN!MC

summary: how well the brothers would be able to deal with you being selectively mute and how they respond to you talking to them !

Lucifer

Other than Diavolo, he may be the only one to know beforehand as helping in the organization of the RAD program, however it may only be overlooked if it is not present in any kind of record like schooling or medical.

When you first come into Devildom, your D.D.D. may be used as a sort of translation object between you and those present.

He is a little peeved in the beginning before you are able to explain it, he would regain his calm but would see it as a small setback to how he expected orientation to go.

Other than that he quickly learns about you and how you work so that he can work with you while trying not to dote on you!

The one that would gift you small portable whiteboards and markers if you had a preference over it for typing, professional though only dark blue and black inked markers <//3

Your first words to him are probably about answering a question or a summons, he does a lot of both but don't call him out for being clingy okay

Anyways

If this man is standing or getting up to greet you expect him to stumble, just slightly catching himself on the edge of his office desk or resting a hand against the wall

When he meets your eyes you can see there's a pinch of panic of "you did not just see that please tell no one" that melts back into "oh my god???????"

He's quick to relax back into what he wanted to talk to you about, not wanting you too feel anxious or guilty for however long it took for you guys to have a mutual trust and safety net.

For the rest of the day his face remains in this pleasant smile and everyone except Asmo and Beel are suspicious, Mammon being especially on edge.

If they call him out on what has him so happy today he will brush them off for being nosy about what isn't their worries but the small blush that rises to his face as he crosses his arms does not help his case.

Mammon

He is all of your noise

He gets forgetful and will try to have conversations across the house by yelling at you only to barge into your room in his petty fake anger just to see your face either amused at him or completely deadpan and he just ....🧍‍♂️

He gets anxious about leaving anywhere without his D.D.D. now what if his human needs him while he's not "bothering" you

Takes extreme pride in helping you order food when you go out places whether with his brothers or just alone, he loves it. Not only does he get an excuse to sit by your side and lean into your shoulder to see what menu item you're pointing at but it means he also has less worry about, he likes being close by to help you just in general.

Your first words are probably involving some drama he was mourning over earlier that day, probably with Lucifer or being the butt of the joke with another brother.

If Lucifer would stumble, expect this man to fully fall. God forbid you two are walking down the stairs instead of him rolling off the edge of your bed or just plopping on the carpet.

He would be so excited, his cheeks are burning even though you may have not even complimented him those words are gonna be ingrained to his memory maybe even written down in his notes app.

But he will downplay how happy he is that out of all of them he was the first you talked to, because of course it would be him the great Mammon and your first man it just made sense.

He's over the moon he won't flex it unless you start being verbal with more of his brothers he doesn't want them to pressure you into speaking no matter how much the urge bubbles up while Asmo is talking about how you would rather match outfits with him that others

Leviathan

He doesn't mind that much, at the beginning of your relationship he is very shy and doesn't really start talking unless something reminded him of one of his shows or games

Will gain a habit of just texting you instead of asking you a question outloud, just because he thinks its more polite and understands as in sometimes it's too much energy to open his mouth to speak

Teaches you phrases from his games, basically call outs, as an extra layer of code to let you know if you're camping out in his room that he is gonna leave for a package (going to spawn camp) or food (healing) etc

He does get jealous saying it's unfair about Mammon helping you order stuff in the "irl" while absolutely being too nervous to do it for himself as well

You two have your own codes for entering each others room, knocking to the tune of a popular sound effect from a game you play together for the ease but he enjoys when you try to do the beginning of an ost or girl group song and he tries to guess it

Your first words for him are probably you entering his room with some snacks or having picked up a package for him from his door, his response to you entering would be asking you to hold on this match or episode was almost done

So when you give out hum and either let him know you're staying or you're signing off (leaving) it's an insta-death, his attention is caught so fast

His posture extremely straight from his hunched focus as he speedquits his match closing every tab back to desktop before standing up on his wobbly legs and giving you the most affection he can handle of having that without warning

He gives you a small headbutt, pushing his forehead into your shoulder as he controls his breathing. He can't handle it that's like finale love interest marrying the protag and you hit him with it so lightly.

He wouldn't change his preference of texting you questions as it's something he's still comfortable with and you speaking to him makes him feel like he's reached masters rank without losing any matches

Satan

He is your best bet for knowing sign language, he finds it interesting that there are so many regional variations has tucked his knowledge of them into his big ol head

His movements would be hesitant as he's mentally dusting off the memory of practice but he is very good at it, though he wouldn't be more than only a pinch disappointed if you didn't prefer that way.

He be more interested in you in the beginning before learning about your magical presence and the pact hunt, it's unusual to him and he likes the study

Picks up small things that are unnoticeable to everyone but you about small habits and things that barely make it easier, like remembering to rebuke Mammon when he goes to order but forgets you don't like a certain ingredient and asks for it to be removed himself.

Would ask if you would like to learn Devildom's concept of sign language, maybe just quick easy signs for going about RAD tasks and classes

Your first words are probably said to him in the safety of his study, surrounded by books or even your homework while he reads

MC i love you very much but i feel like it would be something really stupid or cursed along the lines of

"I'm tired of people making Frankenstein's creature ugly he's literally written to be sexy" or "Why are people so attracted to Dracula he's supposed to ugly af >:/"

He would be.. very nonchalant about the fact it was you speaking to him and acting like he was talking to one of his brothers and going against you in the argument until he picks up those books to prove his side to be like "oh."

He needs a moment after such a not so public embarrassment so it would be later while you're both laying in your respective rooms and he's going over it in his head and then it hits him. It also hits that it was perhaps the most unromantic way it could have gone but it makes him smile into his pillow.

He has it as a secret weapon against Lucifer but he likes knowing something his brother doesn't

He can't look at you for too long the next day but will use the two figures of your mock argument to lightly bully you being soft on you in the comfort he wanted you to know was returned

"In case of argument, you would make a very good creation made in such a pleasing image"

Asmodeus

He is willing to fill up space for conversations for you also, he has a lot to say but will still ask you questions and for your input so you're included

He thinks the whiteboard concept is very cute! He would be the one to get you little accessories like a bag just for that and your markers or a strap for it. He would also be the one to get you more marker colors, you having just black and dark blue is unforgivable

Enjoys asking you how you're feeling, in a way that's easier if you didn't want to write or type it all out is giving him a number between 1-10. 10 is for your absolute worst like if you are having a day that you can't get out of bed or 1 where you're feeling really good like nothing can hurt you.

Doesn't force you to go out and party with him in case it's bad for your nerves or there's a worry demons will rude about "their advances being ignored."

Likes being close to you, so you can write in a notes app or use some other alternative other than texting where he might not see it getting buried by other messages.

Asmo would enjoy either holding hands or wrapping his arm around yours of your non dominant side, he makes good by staying on that side when he's going for affection or just to be in your bubble.

You talking to him for the first time would probably being during an outfit review or ordering new face masks off of Akuzon.

And he would melt, pelting you with kisses smothering every empty inch of your forehead, your cheeks, the bridge of your nose he's so happy

Whatever you were doing or looking at becomes his favorite, a fit he wears when he feels down to keep him happy, or using a specific brand of nail polish or face mask specifically due to the memory

Would find any lisp or rasp overwhelmingly adorable, of course it fits his angel you sound undeniably perfect. Loves how conversations sound with your two voices mixing together.

Beelzebub

He wouldn't completely understand but he isn't rude about it, his actions remaining normal to how he usually acts

If you wanted to learn their version of sign language he would try with you no matter if it was a struggle to fit into his schedule between the gym and spending time with Belphie and RAD and anything else but wouldn't want you to do it alone

He would keep you safe from anyone who had a problem with it, he's used to Belphie not wanting to talk to people other than him so he would be able to handle it especially if you two had similar gestures you used

Beel is also quite quiet in his own other from rumblings or dislike about being yelled at, he's good at still talking and holding his ground in arguments too but affection with him would be extra quiet compared to extra brothers

Your silence other than shuffles or small laughs, it's comforting like a sense of calm. It makes him think of your human dream catchers always quiet yet supposedly helpful and healing

You may verbally ask for a treat or some of his snack he brought for you two instead of a small gesture if your arms are trapped in the cuddle position you've been stuck in and any food he was eating would pause. Giving him a second he would easily give you all that was left

"Not hungry anymore" he would say his eyes warm before closing with his warm smile, he melts more into you like a jacket to let you feel how warm his heart was.

You were always special even if as an agent of chaos with some of the phrases you would drop, and he would adopt into his vocabulary and even further speaking for you in situations you couldn't

Belphegor

Belphie when you first met would give you a different gaze, in a slight squint almost breaking his image of being a helpless human but he would override it, continuing on like normal

At the beginning he may have even less belief in you getting pacts with his brothers but you still prove you're capable and things are normal for how he would treat you, not really changing just like Beel.

For a man (demon) to say actions are stronger than words, he certainly strains his ears just in case you answer his question in that way not that you would know and i certainly did not let you know ok??? cool cool

Other than that he really doesn't mind!!! You and Beel are really his top two people he has interest in being with and you being mute wouldn't change anything ! He may seek you more for naps outside of his room or the attic you don't move as much as Beel does as long as he doesn't curl up over your arms

In the privacy of one of your rooms- whether Asmo and Mammon are out on the town or in his while Beel is at the gym or somewhere else- is your first words spoken as softly as you can to him

Him laying across you with his head resting with his mouth close to your collarbone and ear resting almost on your neck he can feel the vibration in your vocal cords, you were probably asking him to move

Which you probably thought he was doing but any movement was so he could be closer to that feeling of your words if you spoke again, his knees tucking up while his toes curl

You wouldn't be able to fully process just how important that action was to him, you trusted him and felt safe and could let words out to him, after everything that was real forgiveness.

Diavolo

Him just looking over and encouraging you being chosen by Lucifer, he probably would not know unless again it was strongly present in your transcripts

He would find it interesting, it was your first surprise to him and filled him with mirth at the concept of seeing Lucifer tense in confusion his feathers absolutely ruffled

Though while you were already human which meant your interactions were sure to be interesting to him, the way you interacted was also completely different from Solomon, he would love giving you his time no matter how Barbatos would sigh already seeing it before it went into motion

It may mean a little extra work for Lucifer but he wouldn't complain he did a good job picking you for Diavolo to enjoy your company so much even if he was slightly worried on your influence on him

For doting only predict help with fixing the RAD program and making your class experience more accessible, if he tries to help too much someone would certainly have a word with him

He's known being compassionate, he just wants it to be easy for you as it is probably hard enough on you between the brothers, school, and being selectively mute

He barely uses his D.D.D. but if you prefer using that it's no problem though do give him awhile to type out his long messaged questions instead of asking them on call

First words with him may be said on a trip out to explore or in his castle during a private moment in the retreat or in his office

No matter the context it would be a mood booster, he would compliment you you're voice is perfect to him it matches the image you've shown so far

It's a delight, you never fail to surprise him he may repeat your words in his own voice laugh resting on his breath. He'd ask you to stay a little longer if he can get away with it, and if he can't he surely will try

#obey me #obey me brothers #obey me imagines #obey me headcanons #obey me scenarios #time for tagging the brothers plus dia pain #obey me lucifer #om lucifer #obey me mammon #om mammon #obey me leviathan #om leviathan #obey me levi #om levi #obey me satan #om satan #obey me asmodeus #om asmodeus #obey me asmo #om asmo #obey me beelzebub #om beelzebub #obey me beel #om beel #obey me belphegor #om belphegor #om belphie #obey me diavolo #om diavolo #tofus blurbs!

[sexen-sven]

Fred Weasley (request off my Wattpad)

Warning: smut

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You were in an empty hospital wing with none other than one of your best friends, Fred Weasley. How you got there was over such a small thing. 

Fred was stood up to what that stupid blonde, Draco, had said about you yet again. Though it didn't really bother you, as you had grown to ignore him because you knew he was spouting rubbish either way. 

Before all of this had taken place, you were sitting out in the courtyard thinking about the one and only Weasley twin Fred Weasley—a boy always on your mind. Not only was he your best friend but he was secretly also your all time crush. You spent many nights with him but it was nothing serious, you guys were just friends. And that “just friends” makes you sigh in displeasure. 

You made your way back into the school from the courtyard when you spotted Professor Mcgonagall hastily camping towards you. 

“Come, Y/N it seems like Mr. Weasley has gotten into trouble yet again.” She instructed. 

That’s when you found out that it started off with Draco saying some nasty things in the hallway and how Fred overheard and got upset. Except by the time you got there, both of the boys were throwing spells at each other, slowly getting into an all out fist fight. 

You and Professor Mcgonagall had broken it up. She trusted you with always setting his mind straight and to get him patched up before his detention later that night. 

Now, you were healing his small wounds and rubbing the ointments until you noticed he was staring right into your eyes.

It made your cheeks flush noticing how intensely he was staring at you. So after you had put the plaster on, you couldn’t wait to rush out of there, trying to keep your emotions together. 

"I'll just go now.." you told him quickly, covering your flustered face. Starting to rush out the other way, without hesitation he grabs your arm and pulls you back making you lean against his chest, his arms safely securing you in his grasp. 

"Planning to leave so soon y/n? But the party's just getting started" he smirks, causing you to blush even harder. He then grabs your chin making your face turn towards his, as you both stare into each other's eyes. Mischief and love shown clearly both your eyes lead to a passionate kiss.

It was soft, tender, but slowly started to get steamy as he bit down onto your lips asking for an entrance but inside, you pulled away.

Reality strikes Fred and he immediately tries to apologize. 

"y/n.. wait, listen I- 

You didn't give him a chance to speak, instead you turned around in his arms, putting both hands on each side of his face. With power, you pushed your lips down onto his immediately getting access to explore his mouth fully. 

For a few seconds, Fred was in shock until he regained his composure, kissing back matching your passion. As your tongues explored each other's mouth then slowly fought for dominance. Eventually you had both pulled away due to lack of air and stare deeply at each other foreheads press against one another

He picked you up kissing you again as he softly threw you on the bed. If got steamy between the two of you as you both started to rip each other's clothes apart and quickly of your own bodies 

he stared deep in your eyes "Are you sure about this y/n? " he asked with great worry making sure you wouldn't regret 

"I'm sure Fred" you were confident "Just be..just be gentle ok?" You ask quite you quite shy 

And he smiles at you kisses you deeply as he sucks down on to your collarbones and neck littering your upper body with many hickeys marking you in many areas 

Fred makes his way lower as he softly sucks your left breast twirling his tongue around your nipple in such an alluring, seductive manor all while pinching your right nipple 

His hand slowly tracing its way down your body as he looks up at you while still sucking your breast. 

Catching you off guard he had slipped a finger into your wet craven. It was so wet it had slipped right in. You didn't know what to do but gasp and moan out. It was as if you hadn't already looked like a gasping, moaning mess while you grabbed fistfuls of the sheets 

While you had been so focused on one his mouth and his fingers moving with such speed you hadn't realized he had inserted another finger making you close to your high

Fred caught on quickly as your moans became higher, you back more arched, and your breath restless. If he thought this was amusing he had yet to see you when he inserted his member. 

Right before you came Fred pulled out his fingers and watch your body fall, as he had done this pulling you close to his body you had started whining at the loss of touch 

"Fred why-" you couldn't even finish the sentence as shushed you 

"Get ready y/n...you still ok with this right?" He asked making sure, you found it cute how he asked yet again and it shows you he really did care. 

You smiled up at him and nodded that's all he need because as the second you head nodded he had slipped his member in so quickly

You were so wet that nothing had had to be used to loosen you up. As Fred moaned on about how tight your hole was grunts you were a mess as his chest was near yours, arms wrapped around each other while he rammed into you. With every thrust the two of your molded like one reaching your high

Releasing a high pitched moan as you both came. Heavy breaths, messy tangled hair, and sweat clinging off your hot bodies

Fred picks you up and sits you on his lap and you lean into his chest

You lean up and whisper while you level your entrance around his cock "let's go for another around Freddie" you smirk 

Fred looks shocked you still had strength left in you but couldn't think or say any future and you dropped down onto his thick cock moaning with every pick and drop of your hips, as your did this your had instantly latched your hands around his shoulders while your head hurried deep in his neck, hands softly pulling his hair causing him to release some soft grunts, all while you fan your hot breath sending vibrations of pleasure all around his body in every way 

While you got weak and near your high Fred and grabbed onto your hips guiding you deeper into him as he thrusted his hips upwards, not soon afterwards you both had your second orgasm for the evening. 

While you laid there in his arms while he had his loosely wrapped around your waist he had whispered in your ear a few words but before you could comprehend the whole situation, you had fallen asleep

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(edited)

A/N: feel free to request I’ll try and check my inbox as much as possible but it is a but hard as I am very busy but I will try my best to do your request asap.

#harry potter #smut #fred weasley #Weasley #fred Weasley smut #Weasley smut #harry potter smut

[ventiskies]

Lone Traveler | Venti

pairing: venti x hurt! reader

summary: you often clear out hilichurl camps with amber and the knights but the one time you do it alone, something had to happen to you. fortunately, a certain (cute) bard had came to your rescue and come to send you back.

a/n: my first genshin fic!! of course it had to be venti hehe, hope you like it and massive apologies if he’s ooc/for any errors! send requests if youd like >3<

Fighting the hilichurls at night had become a hobby you recently developed after going out on random ‘clearing’ trips with the Knights of Favonius, specifically Amber, who on every occasion after the mission, treats you and Paimon to Good Hunter’s sticky honey roast.

All of you were a good team, whenever there was a bigger monster, you knew someone would always have your back, and every mission had always presented success, the worst injuries only being a few deep scratches that Barbara could heal easily.

But one day, you had decided that it was probably the perfect time to go out and venture alone. The knights were busy and feeling confident fighting by yourself, you had taken the opportunity. Paimon had stayed back, claiming that she doesn't want to go if the day wouldn't end with honey roast (not that she helps anyways), but you hadn’t minded, saying that you were just going not far out and if you don't return by morning, then she should maybe try and find you.

Though seeing as you had never done a solo venture out of Mondstadt before, it was no surprised you had gone lost in the woods as soon as you had entered the thick trees.

You had been walking for a while, and suddenly, you saw a small campfire. Assuming it was a friendly traveler such as yourself and in with your heart that had been beating with slight fear and uneasiness, you had quickly ran towards them without thinking twice hoping they would help you find your way back before the sun rose. but when you got closer, you had realized it was in fact, not a person. and when you had come to that conclusion, it had been too late as the first monster that had spotted you shot an arrow directly towards you, alarming the rest of the batch.

This was bad

You successfully were able to avoid the first arrow, but the moment got you distracted and in a blink of an eye, you found yourself being pushed and thrown by the force of a shield of a Mitachurl charging full speed at you. you feel your feet start to burn as they were dragged against the rough grass, and the painful sensation as you hit headfirst against the rubble. 

“Ouch...” you groan quietly, reaching out to rub your head, but the moment you had pulled back, the hilichurls roared, as if releasing a battle cry to alarm the others.

Fuck

Deciding to be smart, you had gotten up and ran (half limped) away, finding it difficult to outrun the group of monsters but managing to get far enough to be out of sight from them who you definitely took note to deal with in the morning,

Or make someone else deal with them, you had thought as you sat down on the stone, thankful that you were able to trudge towards the big tree just outside Mondstadt and inspected the damage it had done to you. only then had you realized that the hand you had used to cover your head was sticky and moist, and the moment you focused, you saw it was red. you were bleeding.

Just great.

You looked up at the sky, blanketing Teyvat with litters of stars that had offered a little comfort at the moment;  and released a small sigh. it was dark and you were lost, although you could just take the path back to Mondstadt, there was a high chance the monsters were waiting for you as stupid as they could be, and you really didn't think you could fight them at the moment with the gash on your leg and your bleeding head.

You shut your eyes tight, silently wishing that you hadn't decided to be so brave and venture on your own and regretting not forcing Paimon to come with you. this was it, you were over. sometimes you wished your other sibling was here for you. they’d know what to do.

But not a minute later, you feel it. a light breeze, a gust of wind passing just through you, as if gently caressing. you shivered, what was that?

It had been too brief to be a random wind passing, and when you opened your eyes, you understood why.

The moment you opened your eyes, you found yourself staring back into an unfamiliar pair of aqua orbs, wide and curious staring right into your soul, extremely close for your comfort. so naturally, as one who had just opened their eyes after trying to calm down after a fight and had assumed was alone would do, you screamed at the top of your lungs and moved back, trying to get as far as the strange person was from you.

“Woah, hey- calm down!” the person says, alarmed that you had started to run away from him. he starts to walk closer to you, and you assumed he was about to shut your mouth from how he had both hands outstretched over each other, so you only screamed harder.

“Okay, okay! I won't hurt you, see? I’m not going to hurt you,” he says gently, eyes wide as if he was also afraid, trying to calm you down, and once you did, he smiles, “there we go. hey there! the name’s Venti, you okay?”

“What?” you asked in disbelief, because who was this person?! Why was he here? Were you being kidnapped? Is this a dream?

Venti frowns, “hey, don't look at me like that!” he says feigning offence, “you’re y/n, right? I saw you running away from those monsters earlier, you got beat really bad,”

“H-How did you know...?” you asked, slowly standing up, looking up at him as he had been taller than you, “and I’m a traveler and I know how to fight, I just... got surprised,” you insisted, not wanting to seem weak in front of the boy. you couldn’t see well, but you could tell he had dark blue to black hair with short twin braids (that strangely reminded you of the statue of the seven that had granted you with the power of anemo just before you had arrived in mondstadt). 

He looked so familiar, yet you were certain you had never seen him.

“Oh, I just know,” he smiles, offering you a hand, “can you stand?”

“Are... are you from Mondstadt?” you ask, hesitant to take his hand. you glance down at his vision, a proud anemo symbol displayed on it. you hear Venti chuckle.

“Yeah!” he says, “but, not always. I mean,” he pauses, “if you’ll try to find me there, you won't be able to. I’m a bard,” he adds, as if it would help you understand better, “but you can trust me, don’t worry. I know this place well,”

“I’m perfectly capable,” you shook your head at his claims, “where did you even come from?!”

“I told you! I saw you running from those hilichurls and decided to come and help,” he pouts, arm dropping to his side, “Come on, you're hurt. I know you're capable but... I’ll-I’ll just bring you back to Mondstadt so I can know you arrived safely, promise!”

“I dont know...” you look around, fiddling with your fingers in fear. it was dark, and you weren't usually afraid of it or even the least bit bothered, but with what you had endured just minutes before, you were surely not going to return alone. 

Sensing this, Venti breaks into a smile, “great! come on, now, I wouldn't let a fellow traveler go back alone! especially not the honorary knight!”

Deciding not to ask how he knew these things, you decided to take his hand and follow his lead towards Mondstadt, or at least, hope you were heading there now. you didn’t want to trust this self proclaimed ‘bard’, but the options were limited, and you really didn’t want to choose death in the obvious sense, which was in the hands of a hilichurl, probably found by Paimon a few hours later.

On your way back, you find out that Venti was definitely talkative. he had asked you a bunch of questions, and even offered to sing you some of his songs. the sun had slowly begun to rise just far into the horizon as you listened to the bard’s chatter, casually slipping in a few jokes that had the two of you laughing so hard that you had to stop for a moment at one point. and although he might be doing it out of pity for your bleeding (now dried up) head, you still felt warm whenever he talked passionately about Mondstadt and its people as if he ruled over them, albeit being quite mischievous.

You found your chemistry somewhat a match, as if… as if you had met him before.

Thankfully, there weren’t any hilichurls blocking the path on the way, so you didn’t have to deal with them anymore (or at least, for the time being. it was as if they had all left as soon as Venti arrived... or he had cleared them out the moment he saw you running away from them. either way, you were thankful the journey wasn't bothered)

“Here we are! Mondstadt! the city of freedom!” Venti smiles, his smile on par with the rising sun’s as he finally lets your hand go the moment you arrive at the bridge- that had been the moment you realized he had been holding your hand the whole time. gosh, I really trusted someone to bring me home.

“Well, I did bring you home, didn’t I?” Venti laughs, and you bite your cheek, feeling flustered that you had accidentally said your thought out loud, “I guess this is where we part!”

“Huh?” you asked, dumbfounded, “wait, where will you be going?”

Venti merely smiles, bowing dramatically for a brief moment, “around,” he states vaguely, “farewell, young one!”

“You’re saying that as if you’re not young yourself,” you mumbled, and at that, Venti bursts out laughing, causing you to look at him weirdly, “what? Isn’t that true?”

“you have no idea how many times I get that,” he wipes a tear dramatically, “well, until we meet again, traveler! be careful next time, or i might as well have to find you again,” he jokes, before waving you off, walking away from the bridge and back out the path and into the woods, where he disappears through the thick trees without turning back.

What an odd person. 

So the next day, when you had ventured further than the usual route the knights cleared out, you silently hope you’d find him again.

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact venti #venti x reader #genshin impact venti x reader #genshin venti #genshin x reader #genshin venti x reader

[ygreczed-3]

The Red Guard and the Snow Angel

Stormy Lands concept art

The Thunder War Spirit’s seal concept art

Gavin and the thunder war spirit

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

On the stormy lands.

Gavin : It's been raining for days. I just want to see a fucking fire now. And feel dry again. Connor : The man from Braverive said there was a city in the middle of the thunder desert… We should be close. Hank : I really need a dry bed. I'm too old for this shit…  Gavin : Rheumatism, old man ? 

They see a cave

Hank : Shut up. Let's just stop for the night.

X

Gavin wakes up in the middle of the night Nines and Connor are in stasis, Hank is sleeping.

??? : ℌ𝔲𝔪𝔞𝔫… ℑ 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔣𝔢𝔢𝔩 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱… 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔭𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔯… 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔱𝔥… ℌ𝔲𝔪𝔞𝔫, 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔪𝔢…

Gavin walks away from the camp and goes deeper in the cave. There is a stone shining orange/yellow in the dark blue night.

???  : ℑ 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔭𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔣𝔲𝔩. Gavin : … And what do you want from me ? ???  : … 𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔟𝔬𝔡𝔶.

Gavin touches the stone and a huge lightning strikes from the dark grey clouds. Connor, Nines and Hank are awakened by the sound of thunder, and then Gavin's scream. A thunder spirit is invading the cave, transferring from the stone to Gavin's body.

Hank : What the hell ?!

The magic flows into Gavin's nape, forming a golden seal.

Connor : Nines ! His neck !

Nines sees the seal and hits the spot with an ice arrow. The thunder vanishes from the cave but the seal remains on Gavin's neck. Gavin drops on his knees, in shock, trembling and breathing heavily. 

Hank : You okay kid ? What happened ?

Hank turns to Nines

Hank : How did you know you had to hit the neck ? Connor : We're magic creatures. We have seals too, we know they're a weakness. Hank : So… What was that ? Nines : A thunder war spirit.

*Nines looks at the stone*

Nines : This one was sealed in that cave... Somehow, Gavin unleashed it and now... he hosts it.

X

NB : So, the people that live in the stormy lands sealed the thunder war spirit in that cave a long long time ago. The first generations used to educate fighting monks to watch the cave but as time passed, it became a legend and now fighting monks are sent to other strategic points. The cave and the thunder war spirit that, in the past, devastated the Stormy Lands with bestial ferocity are now almost forgotten.

The war spirit was waiting for a suitable host to come by, someone already powerful and skilled in the arts of combat, but also spirited and ambitious, because those emotions fuels it. Its purpose is to take control of the body it possesses using negative emotions. Attacking the seal that appears on Gavin's neck stunts the spirit and seals it again for an unkown period of time. The only way to control the spirit is to use a goal as a channel, and redirect the thunder power to serve this purpose. The control can be absolute when the host has a steel motivation.

The basic victims of the war spirit are theoretically unable to have higher purposes in life than their own interests, so they always end up being totally under the spirit's influence and are killed to give full control of their bodies.

X

Gavin is outside, touching his neck, lost in his thoughts. It's raining and he's drenched. Nines glares at him from the entrance of the cave.

Nines : You should be dead.

Gavin  doesn't even turn his head to stare back at the golem.

Gavin : Heard this already. Nines : Elemental war Spirits are powerful. Humans… Most humans actually couldn't even contain their magic. That’s... quiet impressive. Gavin : … It's lurking inside… waiting for the best moment to kill me, I can feel it. 

Gavin sighs and closes his eyes, his fingers still tracing the edges of his new scar.

 Anyway. I can't believe you left a scar there. Scars in the back are made when you run away… and I've never run away.  Nines : … Now you can't say you killed everyone who left you with a scar. Gavin : Who knows, I could still kill you. Nines : … Don't be ridiculous. You can't even defend your own body. How could you pretend to be strong enough to kill me ? Gavin : Don't underestimate me, snowy prick.

X

Gavin is still outside, in the pouring rain. Hank is standing by the entrance of the cave.

Hank : Hey… How do you feel ? Gavin :... Weird.  Hank : ...You know, we fight from time to time, but we're brothers in arms, in the Red Guard… Nice to know you're okay. Gavin : … Hm… ...Hey Hank… If I… Die during this mission… I want a tombstone… next to my mother. And I… I want you to visit it, sometimes. I doubt that anyone is gonna remember me… except you, because I was a pain in your ass. Hank : Pff. Don't think about it now. Just be careful in the future, alright ?

X

Hank's frowning in pain, groaning. Connor rises up his head. 

Connor : You okay ? Hank : … That little brat was right… I have an old injury on my back… this constant rain is making it so sore… Dammit. Connor : Does this make it better ?

Connor applies his hand on Hank's back, using snow magic.

Hank : … Yeah, it… actually works. Connor : Cold sooth pain. Markus knows healing magic, he tried to teach me but I'm way better at fighting.  Hank : … What was your job ? When you were still in Detroit ? Connor : I worked a long time in Amanda Stern's fields. And some time before the Night of Freedom, she asked me to clean up and classify her books. I… I read them when she wasn't around. She had a lot of books about Kamski and magic. Hank : That's how you had this idea ? Connor : … One book actually says something that… intrigues me. Hank: ? Connor : "The key to our prosperity lays in…" And the end was never written. If we knew that maybe… Our people could finally find peace.

X

During the trip, Hank and Connor grow fond of one other. Hank likes Connor's capacity to analyze things and is low key impressed by his knowledge and his fighting skills, they even start to spar together. Connor happens to be interested in human sciences, and they end up talking philosophy a lot. 

Connor feels intrigued by Hank, and starts feeling this "warm feeling" that puzzles him. Hank slowly realizes golems might not be totally responsible for what happened to his family, and starts showing empathy to Connor.

One night in an inn, Hank can't sleep, as usual, so Connor takes him out. They walk around the town, Hank talks about the Golden Age in Detroit, and the beautiful night market that was organized once a month. Connor says he remembers it. Golems weren't allowed in it, but he liked to watch the lights and hear the music from afar. When they get back to the room, Hank goes back into the bed and actually falls deep asleep. Connor stays there and looks at him as he sleeps, and can't help but think about how beautiful his silver thin hair looks in the moonlight. He brushes his hand, and it's so warm, a warmth that echoes his feelings. He just sits down near the bed and stays there, lost in his thoughts.

Nines doesn't like that Connor gets closer to Hank. He recognizes Hank is somehow well behaved and… righteous compared to Gavin, but he's still a HUMAN and he thinks Connor is forgetting they are not on the same side. Connor doesn't want to hear anything from his brother, because "I know what I'm doing okay ?". And he's embarrassed to think his brother might understand he's developing affection for Hank. Also, Connor is totally oblivious to Nines and Gavin's growing connection. 

X

On the other hand, Nines relates to Gavin more than he would like to : they're actually pretty similar in the way they think. Gavin doesn't believe they'll even reach and find Kamski, he's just sticking around to make sure he'll be able to capture the androids when they fail, to take them back to Detroit and get all the glory. Nines is accompanying Connor because he doesn't trust the humans and is ready to kill them without batting an eyelid if they tried anything. 

One day he finds Gavin in a sandy combe, training. Nines doesn't really know how, cause they didn't even say anything to each other, but he joins him in his training. Gavin admits the thunder spirit has made him really powerful and that he was sure he would be able to kill him, but this time, he wasn't bragging… His words sound like self realization, and Gavin doesn't seem that happy about it.

Nines provokes him saying "Show me" but Gavin shrugs. He says "I don't want to summon it… it would kill me too."

Nines asks Gavin if he is scared of the spirit, and Gavin looks away for a minute. "I'm a human. Humans are vulnerable  to magic, that's why we fight it. But now… magic is part of me… How am I supposed to feel safe with this beast inside me, all the time ?"

Nines can't believe he replies "Beasts can be tamed. Magic can be controlled. Fear can be overcome. Just work on that instead of doing bulk up."

Gavin stays silent and Nines starts to walk off but then he turns around to face Gavin again and says "I can show you how."

The man hesitates but finally accepts.

#The red guard and the snow angel #TRGATSA #dbh connor #detroit become human #DBH #dbh hank #dbh gavin #gavin reed #dbh nines #hank anderson #hank x connor #hankcon #reed900

[dreaminginvelaris]

nessian analysis

im not sure if this qualifies as an analysis? It's basically me just explaining why I didn't like the nessian relationship, what it lacked, what sjm should have done.

I will be using the “anti-nessian” tag bc there are many softies here on Tumblr who get pissy whenever you have some things to say abt a beloved character or relationship that dont paint them as gods even though i dont hate them. I DO NOT hate nessian, I am not the biggest fan of them, im not entirely fond of them, I personally think we were robbed of a much deeper and flushed out relationship, but I do not hate nessian whatsoever. 

also please for the love of god don’t get butthurt and start talking about how feysand is the boring one, how feysand is so vanilla, in retaliation. stop. it makes you look childish. if you hate what i have to say abt your ship, move on. you don’t need to come on a nessian post and start talking about other ships. yes i realize i mention feysand, and rowaelin, but it was to compare how sjm usually writes her main couples.  

with that being said, let's move forward. 

sjm in the past has done an amazing job when writing romantic relationships. She's so wonderful at establishing a friendship, at establishing an emotional connection, before any romance takes place. like with rowaelin, we got to see rowan and aelin forge a friendship, from hating one another to respecting each other. before it was romantic love, it was friendly love first, it was love and respect for their friendship that made aelin threaten that bitch who i forgot the name of but who wouldn't stop touching rowan and aelin bathed her in fire until she stopped. it was the love and respect for their friendship that made rowan fight against his cadre to go save aelin, it was that love that made aelin go to maeve, threaten her ppl so Rowan could be free. 

all of this built up to the amazing relationship that is Rowaelin. it took establishing an emotional connection between the two to make what is their relationship now. the romantic/sexual part of their relationship is amazing as well, but it wouldn't have been amazing were it not for the trust their relationship was built on first. 

it's the same thing with feysand, their relationship built on trust first, on friendship, on emotional talks, on sharing their thoughts and feelings, on sharing hard truths with one another. on feyre trusting rhys with how she felt abt the whole tamlin situation, it built on rhys sharing his past, on sharing some of those horrific moments of UTM, it built on them fighting with one another, it's what made chapter 55 so amazing because it built up. it wasn't just sex right off the bat, it was forging a connection much more powerful than sex. 

which brings me to my main point, that nessian definitely lacks all of this. before it even starts, i know there are ppl who might say “but nessian was building during acomaf/acowar?”  yes, it was, we knew that there was something between them. but can you really call it an emotional build up btwn them? i mean we saw it through the eyes of feyre, so we didn't really see much of substance. we saw them exchange glances, nesta insult cass, cass tease nesta, even that one bonus chapter, but that wasn't enough buildup. because even in that bonus chapter we mainly just got to see cass corner nesta to a wall and learn how he was so turned on by her. nothing of depth and substance. 

you would expect sjm to bring this to their book. but it didn't happen. perhaps she as well thought that was enough of a build up to them, i wouldn't put it past her, her writing skills definitely are questionable in this book.

but where were the talks? where was nesta confiding to cassain abt her mother? abt her life being groomed for marriage? abt the years during the poverty, abt how she felt disgusted by herself for what she had done to feyre. for what she had not done for their family? for what she felt with her fathers death, how she felt abt elain, how she was coping?

where were the talks in which cassian confided in nesta? in where he talks abt his years in the illyrian camps, in what happened in those moments when he murdered a whole illyrian village, in which he learned he would never be able to bury his mother. the talks where he tells her how it felt to be separated from his brothers, how he felt when rhys was trapped, how it felt when feyre was taken, how it felt when he thought him and nesta were to die, at hybern and at the war. 

where was the teasing? the laughing? the pinning each other down during training, the talks during training. where was the friendship being built? just because cass tells nesta he was always her friend doesn't mean it’s not important to see it.

instead all we got was training and fucking and fucking and training. instead we got nesta jacking off cassian 200 pages in? i mean thats so out of character of nesta. this fiery woman who spent three books pushing cassian away, who made it known she ‘despised’ cassian, who made it clear she would not touch or even try to interact with cassian during her stay at the house of wind, but all of a sudden she just loses that and jacks him off? i mean the fact that nesta kept pushing cassian away was such a great opportunity for sjm to take and make it slow burn. teasing touches, never going too far but enough it made the other shiver. i mean that when the pinning each other down in training would have come in handy. but instead sjm just decided to change nestas character just like she changed cassians as well. 

(note: i am not slut shaming nesta, before any of y'all try to twist it that way, i am merely stating how in my perspective that was not something nesta would have done with cassian.

not to forget how cassian would literally leave nesta after their sexual encounters! please tell me i’m not the only one who notices that the cassian from acomaf/acowar/acofas would not have done that. this man has practically been in love with nesta since day one and he just straight up says “thanks for the ride” and leaves? uhhhh what? the cassian i knew and loved would not have done that. i mean him staying after those encounters would have been the perfect opportunity for them to have deep talks, for them to get to know one another. i mean they both claim to know each other, but do they really? 

the mating revelation was soo underwhelming too. i wanted passion, i mean thats what i was promised no? from both sjm and the nessian stans. so where was that passion during the mating revelation? i mean sjm had aelin realize rowan was her mate after rowan was shot, and she felt the fear of losing him. had rhys know fully when feyre was dying and he was trying to get to her. had ferye realize when they professed their love for each other, and she realized she had healed with him. even goddamn lucien and elain knew in such an intense way as well. and nessian? on a sidewalk. with cassian demanding nesta say it, and nesta robotically denying it. 

all im saying is that we were robbed. i like sex between two characters as much as the next person but sex doesn't matter unless there is a deep emotional connection between the two, its what makes chemistry between two characters amazing. 

also lets mention how cassian didn't even say i love you to nesta. PLSSS WHAT WAS THAT

the only part in the whole 700+ page book that actually felt deeper and much more stronger between the two of them was when nesta broke down and admitted she hated herself and cassian consoled her. but that was what? 3 pages and then they proceeded to continue to fuck during their “healing hike” nah that aint it

all im saying is that nessian was much more fun and sexy when it was through feyre’s perspective. 

#anti nessian #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #acosf #acosf spoilers #anti cassian #anti nesta #nesta #nesta archeron #cassian #anti nesta x cassian

[bookstantrash]

A/N: I read a lot of marvellous nessian fics these past days, so I got super pumped up to write a one-shot while I’m still working on my other fic. Good reading!

Dangerously Cute

“Nesta, you can’t be serious”

“I assure you I am” Nesta replied to an exasperated Cassian “I always wanted a pet”

“You realise you can’t keep this thing, right?”

“Why not? It’s cute” Nesta tried not to laugh at how uncomfortable Cassian looked.

The five hundred year old Illyrian, General of the Night Court’s Army, Lord of Bloodshed was scared of the tiny little cute thing curled up in front of the fire place.

“It’s a dragon” he practically screamed, his voice an octave higher “Mother’s tits Nesta, are you insane? They kill people, they breathe fire and are highly dangerous”

“You also kill people, I also breathe fire,” she summoned her silver flames, blowing towards the fading fire and reigniting it “And we’re both deadly”

“Sweetheart,” Cassian softly said, eyeing the creature which snored peacefully in their living room “you can’t keep a baby dragon. It can’t even control its fire yet. And although I would like very much to see Devlon’s hissy fit when that dragon burns down his house, I’m worried about the rest of the Illyrians”

“I can teach him” Nesta simply replied, taking her shoes off and getting comfortable on the couch “As you said, he’s a baby. He’ll learn fast”

Already her mind was thinking about which books would have any information regarding the rare and near extinct specie.

Nesta had been deep in the Illyrian forest collecting some medicinal herbs for the camp healers when she heard a low cry. Following the sound, she found the small dragon hiding between the leafs, the remains of his hatched egg his only company. And so Nesta did the most sensible thing to do: she wrapped the creature in her cloak and brought him with her back home.

However, Cassian didn’t seem to like the ideia of sharing their house with the fire breathing reptile. He had arrived when Nesta was changing in their bedroom, and were it not for his surprised yelp, she would have entered the room to find a corpse where before was a dragon baby. She had walked in to find him with his sword unsheathed, ready to strike it down.

“Will you keep standing all the way over there?” she said, missing her mate’s warmth after a long day “It won’t bite you. It’s only sleeping”

Grumbling, Cassian slowly walked towards the couch, going of his way to avoid getting near the sleeping creature.

“He’s not a dog Nesta” he argued, getting behind Nesta so her back was against his chest, his arms circling her waist.

“And I’m not stupid Cassian” she snapped.

He didn’t think her capable, he didn’t trust her, he thought her weak and—

“Hey, I didn’t say that” Cassian replied, noticing the change in her mood, both by the mate bond and the way she had stiffened in his arms. He knew how she sometimes slipped back to her cold and distant self.

A year had gone by since she come to live with him in Illyria, a year of fighting — both physically and emotionally — and a year of healing. For both of them. And after tears had been shed and walls had been broken, they had found love and peace with each other, the mate bonding snapping only two months ago.

But old habits were hard to die. Some of her wounds — and his — were still healing. Were easier to open.

“I’m just worried about you getting hurt” he murmured, squeezing her tighter “You are the most intelligent, strong and sharp minded female — and woman — I’ve ever met. I don’t doubt you’ll have him eating from your hand in a month’s time.”

“But...?” she asked, her cold wall already melting at his words.

“Just try to be careful. And ask for help if you need it. Amren may know something given how ancient she is” he kissed the top of her head” I’m sorry it seemed like I didn’t trust you.”

“I’m sorry I snapped” she replied, her fingers drawing lazy circles on his arms “I got too ahead of myself imagining how it would feel to fly on the dragon’s back beside you and didn’t want my silly dreams shattered”

Cassian couldn’t believe his ears. Nesta wanted to raise the dragon not only because she had wanted a pet but because she was also thinking about him.

“I think,” he said, joy shining in the bond “That’s a wonderful dream. One which you’ll make true. However, try to get a more conventional pet next time. How about a cat?”

“I want a mountain lion”

And as Nesta laughed at his shocked expression, Cassian thought he’d gladly house as many dangerous creatures as she wished, if only he could forever hear the beautiful sound of her laugh.

•

tags: @sayosdreams @thewayshedreamed @sjm-things @perseusannabeth @arin1030-blog @caotica-e-quieta @vidalinav @swankii-art-teacher @ireallyshouldsleeprn @duskandstarlight @greerlunna @thegoddessaltenia @dayanna-hatter @verypaleninja

#sarah j maas #sjmaas #sjm fanfic #sjm books #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #acosf #nessian #cassian x nesta #nesta archeron #cassian

[skymoriii]

Always Home Always Yours. Chapter One: Wasting Away

Always Home Always Yours by Skymori Summary: Diluc Ragnvindr and Kaeya Alberich have known they were soulmates long before their names appeared on each other’s wrists. But it will take more than some magic skin tattoos and a couple of hearts on the cheek in order to get these two back together. Perhaps a trip to Snezhnaya is just what they need to win back each others trust. Or, wherein Kaeya is the ultimate tease, Lisa is a mastermind, and Diluc becomes a crossdresser. All for the greater good, of course. Read Chapter One Below or Read on AO3 Words:4645 Fandoms: Genshin Impact

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence (later on)

Categories: M/M

Characters: Diluc, Kaeya, Jean, Lisa, Barbara, Rosaria + more to come

Relationships: Diluc/Kaeya (Genshin Impact)

Additional Tags: Canon Universe , Reconciliation, Reconciliation Fic, Diluc and Kaeya Reconciliation (Genshin Impact) ,Crossdressing ,Crossdressing Kink , this whole thing is a crossdressing fic with plot and a happy end, Action & Romance, Blood and Violence, KaelucTop Kaeya/Bottom Diluc (Genshin Impact), Severe Mutual Pining, tags will be updated as the fic goes, content warnings before each chapter, Eventual Smut , diluc in a dress, Diluc in so many dresses, Soulmate AU, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soft Dom Kaeya, Fluff, Diluc and Kaeya being soft with each other, Diluc and Kaeya are Not Siblings (Genshin Impact), and by that i mean that we respect the original CN writing of their relationship here

Chapter Notes: The first thing I need you to know is that this entire thing was written with THIS SONG on repeat, and if you would like to fully experience this chapter with your whole being, please listen to it while you read. Click here or search Hold Me Just Because by Madeon. So much of this fic is written to/inspired by Madeon's music and his Good Faith album in particular, and other songs from other artists will make appearances as the fic continues. The second thing I need you to know is that CW; This chapter is primarily composed of sads and angsty feels, because its about establishing everything in-universe and how that has personally impacted Diluc and Kaeya. BUT FEAR NOT!! All the sour will be balanced out with sweet, all the wounds will be healed, and after this chapter things will be lighter/fluffier/ have much more happy to them. This is very much Not an angst fic. Please bare with it, there are only good things to come Once again if you haven't already please listen to this song while you read, and enjoy!

They say that for every human born, there exists another for whom that human is connected. For no mortal shall be given a life without also being given someone to share it with.

Soulmates. They came in all different shapes and sizes. Some singular, some multiple. Some platonic, some romantic. Some stretching the very concept of what a soulmate could be, but still Soulmates nonetheless; Two people who were tied together by destiny and Celestia to be together, and to be there for one another.

And so it was that everyone had a soulmate, somewhere in the world. It was the matter of locating that soulmate, which made things difficult. Even with a marking on the skin, a sign in the sky, or a whisper in their dreams, finding one’s special person could be exceedingly difficult. In a world where the gods granted rare individuals the Visions to wield their power, rarer still did two people find their soulmates.

Diluc Ragnvindr and Kaeya Alberich have known they were soulmates long before their names appeared on each other’s wrists.

They had known it in the gardens and vineyards where they played together. In the hills and valleys where they had explored between rocks, trained between camps, and chased crystal flies in the dense forests. They had known it in the many nights they had spent in each other's rooms, giggling and playing when they should’ve been asleep. Known it in the softness of their space and the lingering of their touches. Known it on that dark, stormy night long ago, when Diluc had first reached his hand out to that lost little boy in the rain and pulled him out of the darkness with his light.

They were only children, when they fell for each other.

Common knowledge held that when someone turned 20 years of age, your soulmate's name would appear on your wrist, and the signs of love would appear to guide you towards each other.

And so it was with all the more reason, that they tried not to speak of it. To not acknowledge what was between them and bring it into existence; For nothing would hurt worse than to love and to know that the one you were loving was not the soulmate you were destined to be with. Alas, they were but teenagers -- Impatient and in love and unstoppable. Much too young and much too dumb to know how to keep away from each other.

Neither of them could have imagined themselves loving anyone else. And neither of them could have foreseen how suddenly things would change.

They’d spent all their time hoping that their childhood loves would become their lifelong ones. That one night was all it took to make them wish everything back.

Diluc left to seek answers, truth, and vengeance. Kaeya remained to pick up the pieces of what little he had left. In Mondstadt, one of them would see the next couple years filling the space the other had left in a city that was never his own, and filling his heart with drink when there were no people left in the pub to distract it with. In the far north, the other would spend his next years carving a path of blood in cold, clean snow. A flare in a pitch black cave, lighting up the darkness only to find that the hole he had been digging was impossibly deeper to climb down.

And each night, when Kaeya was laying down in his flat, and when Diluc was fresh out of Fatui to distract from the need for sleep, they hoped they were wrong. Hoped that they had simply been the dumb children that they were, and that the feeling of wrongness and emptiness in their chests meant nothing. That the calm feeling of knowing beyond knowing would fade conveniently into nonexistence. Hoped that when they both turned twenty, the names that would appear on their wrists would not be each others.

And somehow, knowing without knowing, that the names that would appear couldn’t be anyone elses.

--

--

Diluc turns 20 in April, two years into his journey through the north. His determination to forget his birthday backfires on him, and instead he finds himself itching at his wrist like the ghost of Kaeya’s lips were still pressed to it. He determinedly ignores it as best he can, but Diluc is anxious and impatient. Twitchy with hypervigilance. The fatui are monitoring him closer than ever now, and each day grows more challenging. He doesn’t hold out for long. When the day passes, he gives into temptation and looks at his bare wrist, and finds not but a single pink heart in its place.

A place-holder. A confirmation that your soulmate was out there, alive and well, but not yet old enough to receive their own sign of love.

Diluc stares at it for a moment, before putting his gloves on and forging back into the unknown.

----

Kaeya turns 20 the same year in November, and when the clock strikes midnight on the 30th, they both feel it from across Teyvat.

Diluc awakes with a jolt to a warm feeling encompassing his wrist. His chest heaves in short breaths and his eyes flare wide to look for a threat-- Fearing for a moment, out of survival instincts and nothing else, that the warmth at his wrist might be blood --Only to see his wrist and find a bright blue light blossoming there instead. A small show of snow and crystal projecting outwards, right where the heart used to be.

Placing himself in a constant state of fight or flight had evidently worked too well as a distraction. He’d been running and fighting for so long that he hadn’t even realized how much time had passed. But the moment he feels a familiar chill run up his wrist and over his chest, he knows today can’t be anything else but Kaeya’s birthday.

Snowflakes and frost patterns dance whimsically above his wrist, but they aren’t coming from outside. What’s happening now is absolutely tied to his soulmate, and realization hits him like a slap in the face when he remembers that now, Kaeya too, possesses a Vision.

His heart races. He’s not ready. He doesn’t want this , but reality continues to spite him as Diluc watches in equal parts hope and horror at the sensation of words being written into his wrist.

“No. Please ..” He whispers softly into the air, “Anyone but him...”

The sound of ice crackling echoes from the script being etched into his skin, yet the sensation doesn’t hurt. Slowly, the light from the soulmark fades, and Diluc places a hand over it before he can read it. Knowing without knowing, the same way he’s always known, exactly who’s name is waiting for him there.

After a moment Diluc slowly removes his hand from his wrist, and the tears come softly falling down his cheeks. Still glowing with a faint blue light, written in a lovely cursive, is the name ‘Kaeya Alberich’.

What a sick joke, Diluc thinks bitterly. A tumultuous scowl taking his features even as his chest aches with need to see him again. He hates him, he hates him, he hates him -- He has to, he needs to. Kaeya betrayed him, lied to him. Played him as a fool for years just to get close to Crepus. Everything they had, everything he was, it had all been a lie.

But he knows that if Kaeya Alberich was not the person he’d thought he was, if he really posed a threat to himself or Mondstadt, if he truly never loved him at all-- Then his name would not be there, staring up at him from his wrist.

His teeth clench, his chest shudders and a choked sob falls from his throat. It hurts . He didn’t want proof that Kaeya was good. He wanted to hate him for toying with his life like a plaything. For turning his world upside down. Not for being all the best parts of it.

Fuck, he misses him so much, and there shouldn’t be any energy left in him to cry. There’s not, really. His stores of food and water have been getting lower as the Fatui have made his mission more and more difficult. Yet somehow, the tears still come. Falling limply onto his wrist for a moment before his expression twists into pain and Diluc yanks it away, unable to look at it anymore.

He can’t think about this right now. Can’t hold the truth of his lies and his secrets and the inexplicable proof of his love on the inside of his wrist and know that he was good, while the still-aching wound from his deceit burns raw and painfully in his chest.

Diluc gives himself time to recuperate. And then, when Dawn comes, he ventures right back out into the fray.

---

Kaeya is drunk when the same phenomenon happens to him. He had been promoted to Cavalry Captain just a few days ago, and the timing of the whole thing couldn’t be poorer. Each reminder of Diluc is more salt in the already aching wound, and Angels Share is running low on Death Afternoon. Taking home as much as he can carry, Kaeya tries his best to get black out drunk in one last futile effort to run away from the inevitable, trying to stave off an experience he doesn’t want to have; One last sordid attempt to run away from the memories he’s not ready to relive.

But his alcohol tolerance betrays him, and Kaeya knows his time to drink himself unconscious has run out when he feels a familiar warm flame drawing letters into his wrist. A bright red light shining out in the dark of his room, bursting forth like Dawn itself on his skin. Flame and feather glow beautifully before his eyes, and Kaeya is momentarily taken back by it's visage.

Slowly, the sensation of sun stroking letters into his wrist fades, and with it, the light. Everything in Kaeya begs him not to look, but his body moves on it’s own. He brings his wrist closer to candle-light and reads, in traditional script, the name of the one he has loved since he was abandoned here all those years ago.

“Diluc Ragnvindr” reads the neat, loopy calligraphy on his wrist. The words still glowing with warm fiery embers on his skin, as if burned there, before settling into a dull charcoal color.

Kaeya smirks, jaw tightening. His entire body going icy and still, before beginning to tremble. Expression stretching into a painful smile, even as he starts coughing up a sob in his throat. His eyes fill with tears, and Kaeya can’t believe what an idiot he is. He had one job , which he failed utterly to do. Had one friend, who he failed utterly to keep. And now his soulmate -- Something Kaeya was sure he’d never receive in the first place, due to his heritage -- had been revealed to him, only to become a cruel reminder that he had already laid him to waste the same way he’d laid to waste all the other good things in his life.

And he’d been given so many good things, he had-- None of them he deserved, and still he’d ruined all of them. Kaeya shakes out a bitter laugh, only to hear it transform into wet, agonized sobs. Tears flooding down his cheeks as he grips his wrist tightly in one hand and brings it to his chest. He misses him so much. All he can think about is regret, and wishing he’d never told Diluc at all-- Thinking, selfish and needy, that perhaps if he hadn’t, he might still be with him. Or perhaps if he hadn’t been so childish, demanding understanding on the same night he’d implicated himself in his fathers death-- Refusing to apologize even when Diluc was the one who needed him most. Archons, there were so many chances he had to make things better, and he failed to take advantage of even one. He could’ve held it in just a little longer-- Could’ve said sorry while he had the chance-- And why, oh why, did he ever let Diluc leave alone?

On a night where most young people would be celebrating the first sign of their soulmate, Kaeya Alberich spends his hating himself more than ever before.

--

Two more years pass. Diluc Ragnvindr returns to Mondstadt.

He comes back without warning, word, or announcement. Not a single letter of his company precedes his return. The only precursor to his homecoming is the inevitable stray rumor of passersby and traveling merchants, who happen to cross his path or recognize him whilst coming and going from Mondstadts neighboring countries. All in all, leaving the citizens of Mond under-prepared to welcome him back.

Jean had wanted to receive him at the gates with a formal welcome as a knight, but she’s in the middle of a meeting when he passes through the entrance way, and Diluc does not plan to stick around long enough for her to find him. He’s just there to re-establish his presence with the local vendors in the area on behalf of the winery, and leave.

It’s Kaeya, always with his ear to the ground, one foot on the stage and one behind the curtain, who makes the fullest use of the preceding rumor-mill. He predicts that Diluc may not want his return to be the loudest, despite the crime that it would be for it to go unnoticed. Anticipating a quick return and a quicker retreat. It forces him to keep his eye tight on the entry point for days at a time, because Diluc won’t make it easy for him and simply send a falcon the Ordo’s way.

What he doesn’t expect is for a mysterious vigilante to show up in Mondstadt the very night before, and make it even harder. The sudden appearance of this unnamed hero unintentionally taking up both his and his knights attention-- As well as the attention of the rest of the city-- And leaving Kaeya run ragged the next day with sleeplessness. The night prior, he’d been woken up by his men claiming to have caught sight of the dark-clad figure, only to find he’d left behind a pile of neatly tied-up crooks and criminals in his wake. The whole thing had caused such an uproar that Kaeya was still nursing the headache from it, and that was without mentioning how much investigative work and report backlogs he was now being assaulted with.

It made matters of attending Diluc’s return all the more complicated.

It’s his Knightly duties that keep him bound to overseeing the head of the Winery's return safely-- Or that’s the excuse Kaeya tells himself, when he can’t force himself to pass this task onto Vile or any of his best men, and can’t make his feet carry him away from his seat overseeing the main gates.

It’s been two years since they learned they were soulmates, and two more since Diluc left. Four years would surely be enough to prepare him for this.

But the moment Kaeya’s eyes lock onto that familiar head of flame-red hair, he can lie to himself no longer. It’s been four years, and the sight of him is distant and cold and aching in his chest. So different yet so unchanging. Just as beautiful as the day he left and lost him-- Regret and sadness and anger and terrible, unforgiving yearning flooding into his gut at just the sight of him.

The clothes he wears are the only foreign thing to him. Covered from fingers up to his necktie, all black from the fur of his coat to the heel of his boots, like he’s overcompensating for something. Making him look bigger than he actually is, while imposing a sense of professionalism that Kaeya knows does not belong to the world of business. It appears he’s changed in more ways than one, and Kaeya finds the sharpness of his mind working against him as it automatically sets to unravel these small mysteries-- His lost love, a topic his mind could never stay away from if he’d tried.

Kaeya can’t tear his gaze away. His chest feels so tight and raw that he might as well be breathing out of a straw. “Archons, I was never ready,” He thinks to himself, breathless. Doing his best not to stare before he has a heart attack or Diluc notices. Whichever comes first.

Kaeya sips his drink from his table next to Blanche’s General Goods and does his best to quell his impending heartache. He could walk away now and save himself some pain, but he’s already there. He’s not going to hurt less tonight by leaving early, so he might as well see this through to the end.

For the most part, Diluc doesn’t seem to notice him, nor is Diluc doing anything particularly interesting or unexpected. He stops by the adventurers guild first, and leaves before too many members can come out to lift him into bone-crushing hugs for his safe return back. Then he makes his acquaintances with The Cats Tail, who are happy to receive their old competition back. After a brief conversation, Diluc predictably makes his way up to Good Hunter.

Kaeya realizes belatedly that a crowd is beginning to form around Diluc. Husbands and wives and other local business families have steadily come out to flock around him and reminisce, no doubt asking him how his trip was and remarking on how much he’s grown. The little crowd growing bigger and bigger with each passerby that recognizes him and comes to say “Hi”. Kaeya smirks. It ought to make a great shield to cover his presence-- That is up until Blanche, the shopkeep not five feet away from him, recognizes him from across the plaza.

“Oh my goodness, is that Master Diluc?!” She asks excitedly. Perfectly unaware of the trainwreck she’s about to cause.

Kaeya’s eye widens in pure horror, and he raises a hand out as if to stop her. “Wait, Blanche don’t-!”

“Master Diluc!!!” She yells from all away across the plaza, waving her arms and successfully drawing the attention of the entire crowd over to them. “Yoohoo! Over here!! Come say Hello!!!”

Suddenly the shield Kaeya had so masterfully taken refuge behind had become a spotlight, and he scrambles to get up before it’s too late. Sirens flare in his head as footsteps near. His chair skirts loudly as he pushes himself up from his seat-- Getting stuck on one irritatingly curved metal leg of the table before it will successfully let him go, heart racing as he struggles to free himself from it. By the time he’s gotten his long legs out from the cramped space, he’s no longer looking where he’s going, and runs right into the crowd only to crash face first into someone. Fortunately, the crowd is much too dense to knock the other person to the ground.

“Oh, my most sincere apologies, I didn’t see where I was go- ing..” He starts on automatic, but his words lose traction as he looks down to see exactly who it is he’s run into.

From beneath him-- Yes, beneath him-- Stands the very same Diluc Ragnvindr he’d been anticipating so anxiously this entire day. Rubbing his nose where it’d evidently hit Kaeya’s jaw, before looking up to have the exact same terrifying realization as Kaeya is now. His large red eyes snapping up in shock before moving to a familiar expression of conflict, cheeks going red with what Kaeya can only assume is anger.

“..Kaeya.” He says tonelessly.

Kaeya swallows dry, hearing his name. Seeing him so close for the first time in years. For a moment, he can’t breathe. They were the same height when Diluc left, (had been since they were kids) but as Diluc stands before him now, it’s more than obvious that that’s no longer the case.

Somewhere along his journey Diluc must have stopped growing, because now Kaeya stands over him with a staggering five inches, forcing Diluc to look up at him to meet his eyes, and the new perspective makes Kaeya’s heart flip flop inappropriately in his chest.

He’s never seen Diluc at this angle before, and he’s not ready for the onslaught of feelings and ideas that hit him all at once. Oh, the ways he could tease and torment him with this-- Things he’d never even dared to think of before, with the trench of guilt and anger so present between them-- It had Kaeya reeling where he stood.

And from the way Dilucs face was reddening and the frustrated furrow of his brows-- The exasperated, disbelieving, angry, yet oh so incredibly flustered expression on his face-- Kaeya knows he must be going through a similar experience, and smiles at the fact that he can still read him after all this time.

It’s not long though, before their moment is interrupted. Belatedly, Kaeya hears the crowd whispering among themselves and realizes that the people have stepped back to give them room. Making a circle around them and speculating loudly, with Diluc and Kaeya standing right in the center.

It draws his attention away from Diluc for a moment, and as he listens he hears the distinct whisper of the word “soulmate” repeating again and again.

When he looks back at Diluc, he’s not sure how he missed it in the first place. On the right side of Diluc’s face, sitting right below his eye, is a bright pink heart. One which glows faintly off his skin, as if alive.

A soulmark.

Not all soulmates got soulmarks. Some had more than one. This, evidently, was another of theirs. And from the way people were whispering, Kaeya was willing to bet he had one on his cheek too.

Diluc’s eyes seem to follow Kaeya’s to the crowd, widening as he no doubt goes through the same realization. Suddenly Diluc slaps a hand over his left cheek, and Kaeya barks out a laugh. “Wrong side, dearest.”

Diluc inhales a sharp breath and covers his right cheek with his other hand, turning as red as his hair. Fist clenched at his side and shoulders raised up to his ears as he seethes, “I will kill you.”

Kaeya doesn’t even try to hold back his laugh. It breaks free from him with a slight feeling of hysteria, and he can’t help it. He’s too anxious not to. “Oh, you will, will you?” Kaeya teases, more out of habit than intent. He knows he’s mad-- Kaeya’s mad too-- But it’s Diluc, and his energy is heat incarnate. Kaeya can’t help but get warm. Can’t help but want to get a little closer and see just how hot he can burn.

But now’s not the time. People are causing a scene, and Diluc looks seconds away from making good on his threat. “I suppose I’d better take my leave then.” Kaeya says mournfully, and makes sure to rake his eyes up and down Diluc’s shorter stature one last time, committing it fully to memory.

“Goodbye, Master Diluc. It was nice to see you again.” He says sincerely, doing his best to maintain his composure before turning on his heel and walking off.

As Kaeya cuts briskly through the crowd and does his best to disappear from it, the hearts from their cheeks fade-- Leaving only one very red Ragnvindr standing alone in the middle of the crowd.

Holding back a growl, Diluc pivots around and stalks past the crowd, ignoring as many shouts and calls as he can as he hastily makes his way back to his horse, riding back to the winery as fast as his steed can take him.

For weeks following the incident, Diluc curses Kaeya’s name in between bedsheets and huffed breaths, tormented as much by their meeting and their heights as Kaeya himself. If it were possible to control growth like that, Diluc would be convinced Kaeya had done it on purpose. As if it wasn’t enough to see him fulfilling Diluc’s old role as Cavalry Captain (A sight that has a conflicting amount of pride welling up behind his sternum), the man now jaunts around with an open shirt, flaunting his chest for everyone to see, unprotected, and that’s not even to speak of the lovelock that hangs over his heart-- It’s impossible not to think about, but that doesn’t stop him from trying anyways.

From then on rumors of Master Diluc and Cavalry Captain Kaeya’s fated soulmates spread like wildfire throughout Mondstadt. Few had seen it, and fewer still can corroborate it, but that doesn’t stop the information from reaching just about every local in the city.

Everytime the two are close the hearts appear once more to draw them near, so Kaeya and Diluc wordlessly agree to avoid each other in public as much as possible. This helps keep them both from becoming targets for which others might use as blackmail, as well as helping to keep the nature of their relationship private; But more conveniently, it’s one more excuse for them to prolong their stalemate.

--

Many Months Later

A little bad weather has never been enough to deter Diluc, nor has it ever been enough to deter the Dark Knight Hero. All the same, the last Ragnvindr makes an exception to his heroic duties for one special occasion.

The time is 1:56 AM. Outside it is pouring rain. The worst of which is flowing down the wineries tall glass windows in thick streams and rivulets, so cloudy with cold that one cannot see past it, save for the occasional burst of lightning. The thunder that follows would be enough to deter anyone from going anywhere tonight. The hour, even more so. But Diluc knows she will take advantage of it in order to reach him, as one of the few whom were aware that he’s not often awake for the day hours.

Diluc had sent his staff home long ago in preparation for tonight. Foregoing his office altogether in favor of the foyer, where several large pieces of paper sit over the dining table. One, an expansive map of northern Teyvat. Another, a calendar marked with several consecutive dates in the month of May.

Diluc trails a finger over the dates, expression pensive with thought. There is plenty of time to prepare, but nothing can be taken for granted. What’s to come may not fix everything, but it’s an opportunity they cannot afford to lose.

This mission could mean everything for Mondstadt.

Staring down at him from the second story, the large antique grandfather clock strikes 2, it’s bell ringing out loud into the silence of the winery. Diluc barely manages to hear the knocking at the front past it, and steps away from planning and schematics to answer the door. Deftly, he undoes the latches and opens the door to let her in.

“Good evening, Master Diluc.” Greets Jean, as she steps into the winery.

Diluc closes the door behind her, taking her rain-slick cape and hanging it for her. “You’re right on time.” He comments.

“Of course,” She says, more of an acknowledgement than a conversation. Neither of them are here for small talk.

Jean pivots on her heel to face him and produces a single letter from her person, lips quirked up into a knowing smile as she holds the letter between her two fingers. Diluc doesn’t need to read it to know that it is addressed to The Order of The Knights of Favonius, and stamped with the royal seal from Zapolyarny Palace. “I believe we have business to discuss.”

“Yes,” Diluc agrees, stepping up to the table and pulling out their chairs with a small smile of his own. “We most certainly do.” Next Chapter (coming soon)

#Kaeluc #Kaeya Alberich #Diluc Ragnvindr #Genshin Impact #my fic

[codenamewitcher]

hi! can i request some dating and travelling with geralt headcanons? your writing is so good thank you!

I don’t think its that great, but thank you so much for the compliment. Also I’m so sorry for the late response, life happened, and sorry if this is a little bit all over the place. I also tired to make this a gender neutral reader, so if there’s something I missed, please let me know...

Dating and traveling with Geralt would be like...

You were Geralt’s healer because let’s be honest, he gets himself into a lot of trouble (Jaskier adding to it when he was around).

While at first, he didn’t talk to you much, the longer you stuck around and always had his back, he would start to have a massive soft spot for you. 

This took years of traveling together though and a lot of trust building.

That soft spot eventually grew into feelings that both of you shared and one drunken night and a close call, there was a shit ton of sexual tension between the two of you

Also when you two stay in inn’s, you guys share a bed because it’s cheaper

And that night you may or may not have fucked each other

The next morning was extremely awkward 

He didn’t want to talk about it because he didn’t know what to say to you, because let’s be honest, this man does not know how to express his feelings.

You couldn’t take the tension, so you finally admited your feelings for the Witcher because you figured it was better to get it out there and get it over with.

His only response was stopping, turning to you, and then kissing you because he had no fucking idea on what to say, so he displayed his feelings through his actions.

And as they say, after that, the rest was history.

While you had your own horse, he would let you ride Roach with him whenever Jaskier traveled with the two of you and his complaining got too much.

You were also the only other person allowed to touch Roach.

There would be a lot of sex

Sex in front of a campfire

Sex in a lake

Sex in the bath

And of course, sex in whatever inn you were staying at.

Out in the open, the sex would be rougher and at a quicker pace while when you were in a room, he would take his time with you.

He might even put his necklace on you while you fucked because he loved the sight of you wearing his necklace while you were fucked out underneath him.

Just a lot of sex, okay? Okay.

Geralt would normally take up watch when you had to set up a camp, but during those times you knew Geralt wouldn’t be laying down so you could cuddle him, so instead you would lay your head in his lap. It was a win-win situation for the two of you at those times because you got to be close to him and your presence brought a calmness to his normally tense nature.

He’s extremely protective of you because he knows anyone could jump at the chance of hurting you to hurt him.

But he wouldn’t be protecting in an overbearing way, he would just keep an eye on you because the last thing he would want to do is make you feel trapped,

He would  teach you how to fight in case of the event of him not being there to protect you.

If it was just the two of you on the road, there would be a lot of jokes, teasing, and just talking in general.

He was a lot more open, softer with you.

Because he was comfortable around you.

You were his person and he yours.

You were also one that would talk your way out of whatever trouble he happened to get himself in.

When when your words weren’t enough, you had no problem guarding his back.

And he appreciated the hell out of that because someone having his back wasn’t something he was used to.

And it was due to all the hatred and stigma human held towards him for being a witcher that your loving nature towards him surprised and amazed him.

You also had no problem telling someone what was up whenever they acted nasty towards your witcher and while he would try to stop you because he was used to it, the act still made him feel warm inside.

Despite the need for him to hunt monsters and your love of getting the ability to see the world with the one you love, the thought of one day settling down in a quiet place somewhere appealed to both of you.

But you would still be content if that never happened because you loved the adventure and him.

And when the time approached that Ciri would come under Geralt’s care, you treated her as your own.

Geralt taught her how to fight and you taught her how to heal.

The two of you created your own little family despite the abnormal circumstances. 

You were everything Geralt could ever hope for and vice versa.

— ‡ —

I hope you liked this!

Update: My Masterlist is in my bio if anyone wants to check out my other works seeing as Tumblr is being an ass with the tagging system.

#Anonymous #geralt #geralt of rivia #geralt x reader #geralt of rivia x reader #geralt fanfic #geralt imagine #geralt headcanon #geralt of rivia headcanon #the witcher #the witcher x reader #the witcher imagine #witcher geralt #the witcher fanfic #witcher x reader #witcher headcanon #henry cavill #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill headcanon #fanfiction #fanfic

[wesokkasimp]

impulsive (part one)

TW!! mild swearing, mentions of death, bad makeout scene

word count: 8766

You woke up to a splitting headache. For a few minutes you couldn’t concentrate on, much less remember, anything. All you could do was focus on the pounding in your head while you pitied yourself.

Then, it all started to come back, bit by bit. Azula had split off from you, Mai, and Ty Lee to find the Avatar, tasking the three of you with finding his friends. You had found and fought them pretty easily, but things took a turn for the worse when the sky bison flung your comrades into the water. You  were spared from the lake, but had been knocked unconscious by the male Water Tribe peasants toy. That was probably where your headache had come from. But that didn’t answer the question of where you were. Suddenly, your thoughts were cut off by a shout.

“Guys, something’s moving in the tent. I think she’s awake!”

Okay, that was definitely not Mai, Ty Lee, or Azula. Something wasn’t right.

You tried to sit up and stretch, but found that your hands had been bound. You realized that your ankles were bound, too. An uneasy feeling began to settle in your stomach. It couldn’t be…

The tent flaps began to shuffle. As an unfamiliar figure entered the vicinity, you caught bits and pieces of conversation. Spirits of the islands, now was not the time for a migraine. 

“Are you sure she’s awake?”

“She doesn’t look conscious…”

“Is she falling back asleep?”

“Hey! Whoever you are! Don't…”

****************************

You woke up again, this time with a milder headache and a clearer mind. Unlike the last time you woke up, you were not alone in the tent. The waterbender you had fought with Mai and Ty Lee was sitting by your feet. As if on cue, she noticed that you were no longer passed out.

“Hey, you’re awake again! How are you feeling?” the girl spoke, genuine concern lacing her voice.

“Who are you? Where did Mai and Ty Lee go?” you mumbled.

“My name’s Katara. You and your... group fought me and my brother yesterday. Sok- er, my brother hit you with his boomerang and you were knocked unconscious. Appa knocked your friends into the lake, and they were taking a while to get out of the water. We didn’t just want to leave you there, but we had to get going to see if Aang was alright. So we, um… Took you with us.” the evidently uncomfortable girl explained.

“What’s an Appa? Who’s Aang? And most importantly, who gave you the right to kidnap me!?” you barked at the now annoyed peasant.

“H-hey! We may have just saved your life, so I would be a little more grateful if I were you. My brother hit you pretty hard, I had to heal some of your head injuries after we set up camp. Appa’s our sky bison, and Aang is the Avatar. Y’know, the person you’re trying to kidnap?” the Water Tribe girl snarked.

Suddenly, a boy entered the tent. You recognized him from your fight at the lake the other day, and he looked similar to Katara. He must be her brother.

“Did she finally wake up? I heard shouting.” the boy asked his sister.

“Yeah, she did. Now, if you could kindly untie my hands I can leave and we can pretend this never happened,” you huffed, not wanting to waste another second with these low-life peasants.

“We can’t just let you go! You’ll probably try to kidnap Aang, and even if you don’t, you’ll definitely tell your little girl gang where we are! We need to stay here for a while so that Aang can learn earthbending, Toph said that he’d pick it up quicker if he learned all the basics in the same spot,” the boy sneered.

“Who are you? And who’s Toph?” you asked, seemingly innocent. In reality, you were gathering possibly useful information to give to Azula when you were finally released. 

They would release you, right?

“I’m Sokka, the guy that hit you in the head with a boomerang,” he stated smugly, pride washing over him as he watched you scowl. “Toph is… Well, I’ll just get her in here.”

After a few uncomfortable beats of silence with the waterbender, the boy entered the tent again, this time with a small girl following him.

“This is Toph. She’s teaching Aang earthbending,” Sokka sighed. He was clearly already exasperated.

You took in the girl standing above you. She was quite small and delicate looking. As your eyes traveled to her face, you noticed her eyes were glazed over. Realizing she was blind, you let out a hearty cackle.

“What’s so funny?” the girl demanded. It seemed she also had a bad temper.

“Oh, nothing,” you sighed. “I just think it’s a little funny that the best earthbending teacher the Avatar could find is a tiny blind girl.”

A chunk of earth shot up from the ground and smacked you square in the forehead the second you finished that sentence.

“Hey! H-how can you see where I am?” you squeaked. Perhaps you had underestimated this girl.

“I see everything with my feet, dunderhead. Ever heard of seismic sense? You’re lucky that’s all I did, because trust me, Princess, I’m capable of a lot more,” Toph chuckled.

Okay, this girl was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Your gut was telling you, and your gut never lied. You made a mental note to report all of this to Azula.

“Well, it’s been fun, but I really need to get going. I know you guys don’t trust me, you’d be fools if you did, but what are you going to do with me? I’m a world class combat expert, I’ve been in worse situations, so unless you're planning to keep an eye on me 24/7 and  putting better restraints on me I’ll probably escape by dawn,” you drawled. 

“She has a point, y’know. Azula is the princess of the Fire Nation- it would only make sense for her to have the best team of warriors money can buy,” Toph stated.

“Azula isn’t paying me,” you scoffed. “I’d never accept pay. Serving beside someone in the royal family so closely is the one of the highest honors someone could get- that’s payment enough.”

“You think hunting down and kidnapping the world's last hope for peace is honorable?” Katara said, shooting you the deadliest glare you’d ever received.

“The Avatar isn’t the world's last hope for peace. If the other nations would just cooperate with the Fire Nation-”

“How could you expect us to cooperate with conquest?” Katara screeched, cutting you off in the process.

“Look, now is not the time to get into this argument. Right now, we need to figure out what we’re gonna do with…?” Sokka sent you a questioning look as he realized you hadn’t shared your name yet.

“Y/N.” you sighed.

This may be harder than you initially thought.

****************************

The group had come up with a temporary plan. They replaced your rope restraints with earth ones Toph made. They already had a night watch system in place, so they decided that whoever was doing night watch would simultaneously watch you.

You didn’t get a wink of sleep that night, so lucky you got to stay up through all four shifts. Katara had the first shift. Her shift was uneventful, it seemed she didn’t have the best social skills. She reminded you of Azula in that way. A lot of ways, actually. They were both 14, powerful benders, and overshadowed their older brothers. You couldn’t be positive about anything, but you were pretty good at reading people, and from the small amount of time you’d spent with these four misfits you had picked up a bit of jealousy on Sokka's end. Probably because his sister was a bender and he wasn’t. It was understandable- you’d probably be jealous of your own older brother if he possessed bending and you didn’t, even if it was a weak element like water. Lucky for you, you had firebending, the most superior element. Although you supposed it would be nice to be an earthbender right now. You had been thinking for hours about a way to escape with your firebending, but so far it had been in vain.

The next person on the night watch was Sokka. Unlike Katara, he attempted to make small talk with you.

“So, how long have you known Azula?” the watertribe peasant questioned. You thought about the question, and after deciding there wasn’t a way your answer could be used against you later, you answered,

“About two months. She knew Ty Lee and Mai from The Royal Fire Nation Academy for Girls. I went there too, but we didn’t know each other. When her father asked her to hunt down her brother, she saw my name on the top of a list of elite soldiers. She asked me to join her team, and I accepted.”

“You were in the military?” Sokka asked. His eyes widened, probably wondering why someone as young as you was in the military. After all, you were only 16.

“Yup. My family was pretty poor, until some soldiers came to our house one day and saw my brother and I were firebending prodigies. We got moved to a fancy housing unit near the Fire Nation Royal Academies. After I graduated three years ago, I was enrolled into the military,” you answered. You didn’t know why you were telling him all this, but Sokka was surprisingly easy to talk to.

“Wow. I can’t imagine joining the military that young. In the Southern Water Tribe the minimum age for joining is 17,”  Sokka replied. “I actually tried to join when I was 13, but my father made me stay.”

“That was a mistake on your tribe's part. You’re a strong, able, young man. You could’ve been trained in a few months and then your tribe would’ve had another set of hands,” you stated cooly. 

The boy only hummed in response. He knew it was pointless to try and get you to understand why sending a child into battle was wrong. He knew how the Fire Nation carefully bred its children to be cold-hearted, logical, and violent. Yet he couldn’t help but feel that there was something different about you. On the surface, you seemed like every other Fire Nation noble he’d come across: arrogant, cocky, and ruthless. But underneath, he saw more. Remorse? Guilt? Like you knew in your gut that what you were doing was wrong, but the Fire Nation had trained you to trust them and only them? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he had seen something similar in Zuko. It was more apparent in you, though.

The rest of Sokka's shift went without a word. The third shift belonged to the Avatar himself. This was the first time you really got a good look at the boy. He was shorter than you expected, but besides his height everything about him radiated maturity. You thought about what he had gone through to get that maturity- learning about the genocide of his people a century after it happened, the Northern Water Tribe fiasco, and being hunted down by two of the worlds most powerful firebenders. All in a few months, on top of the normal stresses of being the Avatar. You felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. Even if your loyalties belonged to the Fire Nation, you had never thought the genocide of the Air Nomads was anything less than barbaric, even if you would never dare say that out loud. But the Fire Nation had evolved for the better. Things were different now.

Right?

“You must hate me,” you chuckled darkly. Your voice was humorless.

Aang looked confused as he asked “Why would I hate you?”

“I’ve been hired by someone to kidnap you, and wholeheartedly agree with what they're doing. Don’t worry. I’d hate me too,” you replied.

“I don’t hate anybody. I could only hate someone that truly had no good in them, but there’s good in everyone. Even you,” the monk said. He smiled up at you.

You were surprised at his words. You shouldn’t have been. He was a pacifist monk, after all. Not many people had ever tried to see good in you. Why would they? You were a soldier that served your nation loyally. Nothing more, nothing less. There didn’t need to be good in you. In fact, it was better if there wasn’t any good or bad in you. As long as you stayed loyal and obeyed the Fire Nation, everyone seemed perfectly content with leaving you be. 

The rest of Aang's shift went by without another word between the two of you until the very end. Aang started to stand, eager to get back to sleep, when you started to speak,

“Hey! I just wanted to, um, apologize.”

Aang's eyes widened in surprise. Was it possible? Has his ~inspirational~ words touched your heart this quickly? Reversed the years of brainwashing and abuse the Fire Nation had exposed you to? Maybe you would even willingly join their team! Maybe-

He was cut off by your explanation, “What happened to your people, I mean. Not, uh, trying to kidnap you.”

“Oh,” the young Avatar replied. “It’s alright. It’s not like it was your fault.”

Okay, not exactly what he was looking for. But hey, at least there was some good in you. Not wanting a race of people to be brutally murdered or wishing an entire culture to be wiped out was… a start.

Finally, the fourth shift started. Toph. You didn’t have much respect for any of these kids, but Toph was definitely the one who had garnered most of your respect. Despite her lack of sight, Toph was the most powerful earthbender you had ever seen. In a way, her blindness enhanced her abilities by heightening her other senses. She didn’t take shit from anyone, which was something you were insecure about. Being in the Fire Nation militia, you had to take shit from your superiors, unless you wanted to be discharged. Or worse.

It seemed that Toph was not a morning person, so about 25 minutes after her shift started, Toph dozed off.

For a second, you couldn’t believe your eyes. What luck after such a pitiful few hours! But there was still the problem of your restraints. You hadn’t really taken in the campsite, as you had thought you wouldn’t have the chance to escape. While you were looking around, a sharp rock caught your eye. Perfect.

After scooting over to the rock, which took more time than you would like to admit, you raised your arms and brought them down hard upon the rock. The restraints broke instantly. After doing the same with your ankles, you surveyed the land. You figured you only had about an hour until somebody woke up, so you had to get moving quickly. You had a pretty good sense of direction, and that sense was telling you to go west of the campsite. You began spriniting in that direction. You knew you wouldn’t be able to sprint like this for long, but you had to get a head start. Once “Team Avatar” realized you had left, they might go looking for you on their giant flying bison.

 ****************************

You had been traveling for two days now. You weren’t anxious about a Team Avatar member hunting you down anymore. That was a worry of the past. Now you were more concerned with getting something to eat. You had  found some hope when you came across a town, only to be disappointed after finding it was abandoned. Even though you were hungry and thirsty, you were also absolutely exhausted, and this town could provide shelter. You walked into the first building you saw, ready to pass out as soon as you hit the floor. In fact, you were so completely out of it that you didn’t notice the building was already occupied. You simply entered, found a nice corner, and hit the deck.

While you may not have noticed the other occupants of the decrepit building, they noticed you. Well, one of them. A certain banished prince, to be exact. 

He watched as you slept, not even sparing him a glance before you fell asleep. It was a bit shocking, to say the least. Any normal traveler would walk in, realize the building was occupied, apologize, and find another place to rest. This behaviour was suspicious. Too suspicious to not give you a quick once over.

Zuko walked over to you as quietly as possible, even though he didn’t need to worry about his volume. You were an impressively heavy sleeper, especially when you were exhausted like this. He crouched over you, taking in your features. His face softened for a moment as he saw the pure exhaustion gracing your eyes, hardening again soon after. What did he care if you were well rested or not? You were just some random traveler. He looked around in your corner and saw that there was no weapon. You didn’t even have a small travel bag.

Assured you were no threat, Zuko walked back over to his sleeping uncle and decided to turn in after a long day of training.

 ****************************

You woke up feeling more refreshed than you had in days. That was the best sleep you’d had in, what, seven weeks? You began stretching your limbs, feeling ready to continue your search for Azula. Then the hunger pains hit.

You doubled over, letting out a small moan of pain. That small moan, however, was all it took to awake the Dragon of the West.

As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he looked around to make sure his nephew was okay. The prince was sleeping peacefully beside him. As you let out another hiss of pain, Iroh whipped his head around to see you, a young girl, clutching your obnoxiously loud stomach. He had conquered enough small Earth Kingdom villages to know what starving looked like, and that’s exactly what he was seeing. 

“Excuse me, miss,” he all but whispered. You whipped your head around, suddenly on high alert.

“I apologize, I did not mean to startle you. But I noticed that you seem quite hungry,” your stomach growled in response as Iroh spoke. “My nephew and I have a little extra food to spare, as well as some exquisite tea. Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

Under normal circumstances, you would have been way more skeptic of an old man you’d just met offering you food. But you hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since the night before you got kidnapped, and this weirdo was your only option. 

“I suppose,” you sighed.

“Wonderful! I will get started on breakfast. Would you like ginseng, green, or jasmine tea?”

“Jasmine,” you responded.

“Good choice. Jasmine is my nephews favorite,” the old man replied, a fond look painting his face.

As Iroh started breakfast, you couldn’t help but feel as if he looked familiar. Perhaps he had been on the news? Or possibly one of your textbooks? You shook off the feeling immediately; no. It wasn’t possible some filthy traveler had made it into a textbook. You laughed internally at the thought.

About 45 minutes had passed since Iroh began preparing breakfast, and he had finally finished cooking the meal. You walked over to the corner of the room the old man and his nephew had been staying in as Iroh beckoned you over. When you got close enough to the younger man to get a good look at him, you got that same familiarity ebbing at your insides. It wasn’t an unsettling familiarity, just… strange. But you supposed everything about this situation was strange. 

Just as you began to sit, you were interrupted.

“I’m sorry, young lady. But could you wake up my nephew? As you can see by the bandages, I got hurt quite badly recently and cannot move around very well,” the old man said sheepishly.

“Sure,” you replied. This old man seemed nice enough, and he was making you, a complete stranger to him, breakfast. So you didn’t mind waking up his nephew. It was an easy task.

Or so you thought.

As you walked over to the sleeping boy and crouched over him, your breath hitched in your throat. Oh wow. This boy was quite the looker. His scar made him look all the more badass. You shook off these thoughts as quickly as he came. No. You didn’t have the time to pursue relationships with boys you didn’t even know.

You put your hand to the sleeping boy's arm gently, shaking him just enough to wake up. Waking him up wasn’t the hard part. The hard part came after he woke up.

You know, the part where he proceeded to attack you.

You let out a squeak of surprise as he leapt onto you, pinning you to the floor in the process. All your normal reflexes and strength had gone with your full stomach. On top of that, you didn’t want to hurt this guy, spirits forbid his uncle reclaim your breakfast invite. His arms were by the sides of your head to keep from crushing you. He leaned down to your face.

“Who are you, and what are you doing?” the boy growled into your ear, his voice extra raspy considering he had just woken up. He sent you a glare that rivaled the one Katara had sent you the other day.

“Lee! This is not how we treat our guests. I invited this young lady to sit with us for breakfast and asked her to wake you up,” Iroh scolded.

“Uncle, you can’t just go around inviting random people to sit with us at meals!” Zuko protested. “It isn’t safe.”

“Hush, nephew. She’s joining us and that’s final,” Iroh retorted. 

Zuko sent you a final glare before getting off of you.

The meal was pretty silent at first, not that you minded. You were pretty focused on stuffing your face. After a few minutes of comfortable silence passed, Iroh started some small talk.

“So, young lady. I don’t believe you told me your name. What is it, if you don’t mind me asking?” Iroh inquired.

“Y/N,” you responded. “I don’t think I caught your name either.”

“Mushi,” the man responded. “And this is my nephew, Lee.” he gestured to the boy sitting next  to him. Said boy sent you another glare. You sent him your snarkiest stare back.

“So,” you began, “Mushi. Where are you from?”

“I come from a small village in the Earth Kingdom, you’ve most likely never heard of it. My nephew and I left a few years ago in search of a better life,” Iroh answered as his gaze traveled to the small travel kettle. “Oh! The tea is ready.”

Mushi took the kettle off of the fire. Huh. Fire. That wasn’t there when the old man had first invited you to breakfast, and you hadn’t heard him trying to make a fire. Unless he was a firebender, which was impossible considering he was from the Earth Kingdom, how did he start a fire so easily?

You brushed it off. He probably just had a lot of experience or something, right? Yeah, yeah. Sure. Instead, you turned your attention back to  ‘Mushi’ (you suspected that wasn’t his real name), who was pouring some jasmine tea for his nephew. The smallest fond smile graced the boy's face as his uncle poured his tea. His smile was a nice change of pace from his usual scowl. You wished you could see him smile more.

Wait, no. What were these thoughts? You couldn’t go around ogling at boys like a school-girl! It was simply out of the question. You had one purpose in life: Serve. The. Fire Nation. Maybe someday your parents would arrange a marriage for you or something of the like, but you had no intention of falling in love.Wishing someone happiness and a crush were two very different things. Besides, you could never fall in love with someone just because of their looks. You weren’t that shallow. 

Once you had finished breakfast, you walked back over to the corner you claimed to pack up. After noting that there was nothing to pack up, anxiety started to settle in. Realizing you didn’t even have a weapon to defend yourself with, you started to feel full on panic. You had been so preoccupied with escaping Team Avatar and staying alive that your lack  of, well, anything had slipped your conscious. 

This was not good. You were in the middle of nowhere with nothing  but the clothes on your back. 

Mushi must have taken in your state of dismay, because he walked over to you and placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. 

“You seem a little lost, Y/N. Is there any way I could help you?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. But I think I’m going to have to stay in this town another night until I can figure something out,” you sighed. Every moment you became more and more anxious about how Azula would react if- no, when you returned. Would she be angry about it? Or did she view you as a disposable tool? You hoped for the latter. If that was how she saw you, maybe she would be pleasantly surprised when you returned. While “disposable tool” might not have been the exact way you described yourself, it certainly was close to that. Serving your country was a noble thing, and if you died doing it, it would be an honorable death.

“I think you are making a wise choice. It would be foolish to go out traveling with no resources. However, because you are staying, I do have to tell you something. I have not been completely honest,” the man muttered, looking at you sheepishly.

“What are you talking about?” you asked, incredulousness gracing your features. How could he have lied? He’d barely spoken to you, for spirits sake!

“My name’s not Mushi, and my nephew is not Lee. We’re not from the Earth Kingdom. Our names are Iroh and Zuko, and we hail from the Fire Nation,” Iroh explained.

“Oh,” you said, relieved it hadn’t been something worse. “That’s fine. I’m from the Fire Nation too. But why didn’t you just tell me in the first place?”

“I was not sure if you were from the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation. Most people are not comfortable revealing that information to strangers. People from the Earth Kingdom do not always react kindly to Fire Nation citizens,” the old man replied.

“Damn right,” you scoffed. “Personally, I think they need a little lesson in respect.”

Iroh hummed in response, not showing any other sign of agreement or disagreement. He didn’t want to scare you off or fight you, but he also didn’t want to show any agreement with what you’d just said.

“Are you a firebender? I’ve been teaching my nephew, so if you’d like to train with us, you’re more than welcome,” Iroh inquired.

You thought about the offer. You hadn’t trained in a week. You had decided not to bend at all while you were traveling to conserve energy, so your bending was probably a little rusty.

“Sure, I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” you responded.

“Great! My nephew and I are currently working on a special technique that we started yesterday. We’re redirecting lightning. I actually made it myself,” Iroh replied eagerly.

“Wait, you can redirect lightning? Does that mean you’re a lightning bender?” you asked, dumbfounded. Lightning bending was one of, if not the most, powerful forms of bending. Because it was so powerful, the only people who got to learn it were members of the Fire Nation royal family.

“Yes, I can conjure lightning. But I don’t do it often,” Iroh chuckled.

 Then it all began clicking into place for you- of course! Prince Zuko and former heir to the throne General Iroh! It hadn’t clicked sooner because of Prince Zuko’s banishment. You hadn’t heard his name in a few years, and he had just kind of left your consciousness. 

“So you’re General Iroh? The Dragon of the West? The only man to ever conquer Ba Sing Se?” you squealed. General Iroh was a hero of yours. He was a strong asset to the Fire Nation and an even stronger bender. His loss of Ba Sing Se had been disappointing, and you personally thought he should have stayed. Still, losing a son must be hard. The loss of Lu Ten, whom you had thought was going to be the Fire Lord one day, was devastating for the entire Fire Nation. On top of all that, he was stripped of his heir status. The details on that had always been shady, as Fire Lord Azulon never mentioned anything about his wishes for Ozai to become the Fire Lord while he was still alive. Not to mention Fire Princess Ursa disappearing right before Ozai’s coronation. Still, reading into it too much was a waste of time. Fire Lord Ozai was a strong leader, and that was what the Fire Nation needed.

“Uh, yes. I did conquer Ba Sing Se for some time,” Iroh replied, trying his hardest to hide the discomfort that had now taken over his face. “But let's not focus on that. We should get to training.” he urged.

You walked outside with Iroh towards a cliff, where Zuko was waiting. As he spotted you, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Surprise quickly turned to annoyance as he said,

“Uncle! Was inviting her to breakfast not enough? Why is she out here?”

Iroh looked impatient while saying, “Zuko! Where are your manners today? Y/N here is a bit stranded, so for the time being, she will train with us.”

Realizing his uncle had called him by his real name, Zuko sent Iroh a glare, but he didn’t say anything about it. Zuko didn’t want to give himself away completely.

“I just remembered- you need to be in a calm state of mind for today's exercise. I need to go make some ginseng tea!” Iroh said, hurrying back to the decaying building to start the drink.

You groaned internally. You had grown quite fond of the old man already, but you couldn’t say the same for his nephew. 

An uncomfortable silence took over as he just stood there awkwardly.

“So, how long does it take for your uncle to make tea?” you asked, hoping to quell the silence and get an estimate of when you could begin training.

“Half an hour for ginseng. He likes to get it just right,” Zuko answered. He was clearly annoyed by your presence, as he has hoped to work on the lightning technique his uncle created. But alas, he couldn’t give away that he was from the Fire Nation. I mean, really? Why had his uncle agreed to letting you train them? A free meal was courteous enough, no? Now a whole day of training would be wasted on teaching some random girl the basics of hand to hand combat.

“Is he coming back while the tea steeps to get us started?” you sighed.

“No, he usually stays by the tea. He doesn’t want anything to happen to it,” Zuko explained.

“Well, in that case, do you want to get started without him? Just to warm up?” you asked.

“Sure, why not?” Zuko mumbled sarcastically. Was a moment alone with his uncle too much to ask for?

As Zuko got into a standard position for hand to hand combat, you crossed your arms and shot him a confused look.

“Spirits, don’t tell me you don’t even know basic fighting stances,” Zuko groaned.

“Of course I know basic fighting stances!” you countered. “But why are you in a hand to hand combat stance? I thought this was a firebending session.”

Zuko froze. “You know I’m a firebender?” “Uh, yeah! I also know who you are, princey, in case you haven’t picked up on that either. Now are we starting or not?” you cried.

Zuko stayed frozen. “How do you know who I am?” he demanded.

“Your uncle told me, idiot. You were also the heir to the throne of the country I live in for a hot minute. It took me a while, but you’re not unrecognizable,” you replied. 

“Oh.”

“Yep.”

After another few minutes of awkward silence, you spoke again.

“So hottie, are we sparring or not?” you asked, now impatient.

Zuko started to nod before he realized the nickname you had just given him.

“What did you just call me?” He tried his best to sound intimidating, but it was challenging considering his voice had gone up an octave.

You smirked. “Hottie. Y’know, short for hothead?”

“Oh,” Zuko sighed. He didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed.

“You’re also, like, totally hot,” you said nonchalantly. You knew you shouldn’t have been flirting. That’s what you had been telling yourself all day. But he was just too easy! His cheeks flared up immediately after you called him hot. And you never got to flirt! You were always too busy training, or on a mission. Besides, it’s not like this will go anywhere. You’ll have your fun for an hour or two, and by the end of the day you will have figured something out and leave. 

While you were trying to justify your flirting, Zuko was busy having an existential crisis. He was, for lack of a better word, bamboozled. Just… what? How could anyone, much less a pretty girl like you, find him attractive when he had a giant fucking scar covering a third of his face? He had barely even spoken to you, and his words had been cold at best. Why did you still find him attractive? Though he supposed he was thinking the same about you. Sure, he found you annoying and maybe even a little arrogant, but he recognized your attractiveness. 

“O-okay. We can get started now,” Zuko stammered, his blush quickly spreading.

“Alright,” you giggled. “But be warned, I’m a little rusty.”

You and Zuko got into position swiftly. After stretching, Zuko got into an intermediate bending stance. 

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

As the first plumes of fire left your hands, you felt feelings you only ever felt while firebending. Grace. Comfort. Complete and total warmth. Firebending had always been a form of escapism for you, and it had killed you to temporarily stop. But now, as you focused on the flames erupting from your hands, you felt a sense of peace.

Zuko was surprised by your skill. He outmatched you, but not by nearly as much as he thought he would. It was clear you were naturally gifted at firebending; your elegant movements said that much. Zuko had the best private teachers money could buy at his disposal growing up, so he being better than you was a given. He assumed you went to one of the many Fire Nation public schools growing up, but after seeing your bending, he realized you must have gone to a pretty good private school.

After the quick warmup, Iroh came out with the tea.

“Sorry I took so long. Ginseng is always fussy,” the retired general sighed.

“Nephew, since I already told you all this yesterday, how about you take your tea and meditate for a few minutes while I catch Y/N up to speed?” Iroh asked.

“That works,” Zuko said. Oddly, after the brief spar with you, Zuko found all his annoyance at you disappearing.

 ****************************

It had been a grueling day of training. You were a fast learner, but it appeared that you were not going to master this technique any time soon Zuko tried to help you, but so far it had been to no avail. Iroh left to rest about half an hour ago, after raising his eyebrows suggestively at Zuko, who rolled his eyes at the gesture.

“You’re not getting you chi low enough,” Zuko groaned. This was the fourth time he was explaining this to you. “You need to let it travel through your stomach.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” you cried, growing frustrated.

“Just- I’ll help you,” Zuko mumbled, trudging over to where you were standing. He positioned himself behind you, putting his hands on your arms.

“It’s like this,” he explained. He guided your right arm a bit higher, and put your left arm at a much lower angle. His arms dropped from your arms to your waist.

“You have to guide the chi lower,” he repeated.

You did the motion again, making sure your arms were in the position Zuko had put them in. The places he had touched were still tingling from his warm, rough hands.

“Good job,” Zuko muttered. His hands were still placed firmly on your waist.

“Well, you’re a pretty good teacher,” you giggled. Y/N, you thought. You were trying to have as much fun with this boy as you possibly could.

“Is that so?” Zuko murmured, suddenly feeling confident. He didn’t get to have much fun either. And his uncle was always teasing him about not being good with girls. Maybe with you, he could kill two birds with one stone. Have some fun and get some practice around girls. He’d need it someday, to court his future Fire Lady. “Maybe I could teach you other things. Like firebending.”

“I know how to firebend, Zuko,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“You don’t know anything too advanced, though,” Zuko retorted.

“True, true. I guess I could take you up on that offer. But with all the things you’re teaching me, I’m going to have to teach you a few things in return.” “Like what?”

 You smirked, tilting your head back until it was under Zuko's chin. “Oh, you’ll see. But for now, teach me some firebending.”  

Zuko's heart inexplicably started racing at your mysteriousness. Was he simply nervous that he didn’t know what you were going to be teaching him? Or was it the way your voice went a little lower? The new close proximity of your faces? The knowing smirk on your face?

Still nervous, Zuko took his hands from your waist. “Okay, in that case, I’ll teach you something I invented. I call it fire daggers.”

 ****************************

“You’re doing pretty well. You just need to push a little more chi to your wrists,” Zuko explained. He had been teaching you how to create fire daggers for about 45 minutes, and you had almost mastered it.

“Okay,” you replied. You took a deep breath, and tried your hardest to focus all your chi to your hands. You felt the warmth become more concentrated around your palms, and finally, you let out two, very concentrated fire daggers.

“Finally!” you exclaimed. “Wow, you invented this?”

“Yeah, but it took a while to perfect,” Zuko admitted. “So, what are you planning to teach me?”

“Oh, can we do it after we eat? I’m starving,” you said, careful not to tell him what you had in mind.

“I’m actually not very hungry. But you go eat with my uncle. I’ll train until you can come back.” “Sounds good.” You headed to the shabby building, leaving Zuko to train. As you were walking, you began thinking of what you would teach Zuko. You hadn’t planned that far ahead. Spirits, what about this boy made you so impulsive? Oh well, you’d think of something.

“Hello, Miss Y/N!” Iroh greeted.

“Hey, Iroh,” you responded. “What’s cooking? It smells good.” 

“Some jook,” Iroh replied. “Where is my nephew?” “He’s still outside. He’s not hungry so he’s training some more.”

“Classic Zuko,” Iroh sighed.

He served you a bowl of jook, which you happily began to eat. As you were eating, your mind wandered to other places. Team Avatar, to be exact. You thought about how they treated you. Sure, they put cuffs on you, but that was expected. They weren’t complete fools. You thought more about the way they had tried to make you comfortable. They offered you water, like, every fifteen minutes. And food, which you had refused. That wasn’t a good idea in hindsight. Sokka had even tried to make you more comfortable by making small talk, and Aang had been polite when you initiated conversation. If it had been the Fire Nation who captured them, there would be no such hospitality. Why had the enemy been so kind to you? Maybe- no. How could you think such a traitorous thought? Still, now that it was on your mind, you had to let it out.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” you asked, fidgeting with your spoon.

“Of course. What is on your mind?” Iroh questioned.

“Do you think this war is… right?” you sighed, not meeting Iroh’s eyes.

“What do you mean?” “Just… I was captured a few days ago, by the Avatar and his group. And some of the things they did and said got me thinking. Is it possible that the Fire Nation is in the wrong? We refuse to see good in anything but ourselves. I was taught from a young age to never show mercy; that mercy is weakness. But the Avatar and his friends were nothing but hospitable to me. I mean, what is the reason for this war? Conquest? Why are we trying to conquer the world? My school books say the Air Nomads were planning to invade us, but the more I think about that, the more absurd it sounds. They were pacifists, for spirits sake!” You hadn’t planned on saying all that, but once you started talking, you couldn’t stop. You felt confused, and now angry. Had the Fire Nation really been lying to you this whole time? Was everything you knew a lie? You felt like you were suffocating, shocked by the things that had come out of your own mouth. If you weren’t a faithful servant to the Fire Nation, who were you?

Iroh stared at his bowl of jook for a few seconds, contemplating what you had just said. Then, he spoke.

“Morals are something you must develop for yourself. Take a look at the facts and your own life experiences, and form a code of ethics to follow. I know how difficult it can be to question what you were taught, but we must always be bettering ourselves. Don’t take the easy way out, and always remember to trust your gut.”

You understood what Iroh meant. It’s easy to just follow someone blindly, especially if they’re manipulating you. Developing your own moral code, while harder, would be more fulfilling and worthwhile in the end. 

“Thanks, Iroh. I have a lot to think about,” you breathed at a barely audible voice.

“Of course, take your time.”

You slinked off to your corner, figuring you had about twenty minutes until you had to go to Zuko. You hadn’t eaten much jook. You thought about your brother, who had always been the perfect Fire Nation citizen. He never questioned the Fire Nations wishes, not for one minute. You had always looked up to him, and longed for his praise so badly, so you didn’t question the Fire Nation either. And look where that got the both of you. You were here, stranded in an abandoned Earth Kingdom village, and he was, well, dead. Killed in battle at the ripe age of 17, just as you were about to graduate from the Fire Nation Royal Academy for Girls. 

It was in that moment that you finally understood what Katara had meant. Why would the remaining two nations comply with the Fire Nation when the Fire Nation was trying to overthrow them? Complying wouldn’t result in peace. It would result in chaos.

Well, fuck. Now what were you going to do? You couldn’t go back to Azula, and your gut was telling you not to stay with Iroh and Zuko. You had to get going by tomorrow morning. 

“Iroh, I have a favor to ask,” you said.

“Anything, my dear,” he answered.

You rubbed the back of your neck sheepishly. “Do you have, like, an extra canteen of water I could take? Or a little bit of extra food? I really need to get going tomorrow morning, and-”

Iroh cut you off. “Of course, Y/N. I’ll get a few things packed up for you, but in the meantime, I think my nephew is waiting for you.” “Thanks, Iroh,” you said, smiling. Iroh nodded in your direction as you jogged out the door.

Feeling much more optimistic and more sure of yourself than you had ever been, you sauntered over to Zuko, who was doing a few cooldown stretches.

“Oh, hi Y/N. I was just finishing up. Are you ready to repay me yet?” he chuckled. 

“Not quite yet. Follow me,” you said in a teasing tone. Zuko got up and followed you despite the confused look on his face. Oh, how naive, you thought.

You led Zuko to a crumbling wall you had spotted earlier during training. When you stopped, Zuko began speaking.

“What are we doing over here? What are you even teaching me?”

You could tell he was getting impatient with you. Oh well, just give the boy what he wants.

“Never knew you were the eager type,” you giggled.

Zuko’s witty comeback died in his throat as you yanked him by the arm towards you and effectively pinned him against the wall.

“Wh- what are you-”

“Quiet, hottie,” you murmured. “Class is in session. Would you consider yourself a hands on learner?” “I guess so,” he whispered. The almighty Fire Prince was melting into a puddle right before your eyes, at your hand nonetheless. He really was too cute for his own good at this moment. His eyes wide instead of the default glare they were set in, his entire face red. 

“Good,” you responded. You took his hands, which were hanging limply at his sides, and stationed them on your waist. You then placed your hands firmly onto his shoulders. Zuko shuddered under your touch.

“Ready for the demonstration?” you asked, serious tone not at all fitting for what you were about to do to this boy.

“U-um, well, I… ah-” Zuko sputtered. Was it only this morning he was glaring at you for joining his meal?

You rolled your eyes. “Lesson one: Talk. Less.” you stated.

You leaned in until your lips were just barely brushing Zuko’s. You could hear his breath hitch in his throat. But you weren’t done having fun with him yet.

At the last minute, you turned away from his lips, instead opting to place a feather light kiss on Zuko’s cheek teasingly. 

You pulled away from Zuko slightly with a sly smile, just enough so you could see his face. His expression was shocked, confused, and longing.

Perfect.

“You don’t have to be so stiff, you know,” you giggled. “Move a little. It-”

Zuko cut you off with his lips, grasping at your waist like his life depended on it. You gasped into his mouth before hurriedly kissing back. Sure, you’d kissed a guy or two in your life, but none of them felt like Zuko. He tasted like jasmine and woodsmoke. His lips moved against yours with passion and vigor as he let out little sighs into your mouth. Your hands left Zuko’s shoulders, going to his chest instead as you grabbed fistfuls of his shirt. 

You pulled away from the kiss, smiling as he chased after your lips.

“Why… did you do that?” he whispered.

“I had to teach you something, didn’t I? Did you learn anything?” you asked.

“Talk less,” Zuko said, his eyes hazy.

You chuckled. “Yeah. Remember that one.”

You walked off, leaving Zuko to contemplate what  just happened.

 ****************************

You left that same night. Iroh had gone to the nearby forest to forage for some plants, and Zuko was still standing at the wall, dumbfounded. That left the building you had stayed in empty. There was a small bag sitting in the corner you had slept in, packed by Iroh. You found a compass in Iroh’s bag, found which way west was, and started off in the direction, taking the compass with you. It didn’t matter; Zuko had one in his bag. You checked.

You weren’t quite sure where you were going. Going back to Azula was obviously not an option, but the Fire Nation wasn’t a good choice either. There would be too many things to explain to your family, and you could be sent to jail for abandoning Azula. Or worse. It would be better for the time being if you were presumed dead, not that anyone besides your parents and perhaps a few of your friends would care.

That left a few options. You could become a nomad of sorts, jumping around from town to town, never staying long. You weren’t built for that sort of life, though. The few weeks traveling with Azula had been enough to last you a lifetime. Omashu, now New Ozai, had become occupied by the Fire Nation. The Northern Water Tribe was secluded and virtually untouched by the war, as the recent invasion attempt had failed. Unfortunately for you, it was nearly impossible to get to, even by high-tech warship.  That left settling down at one of the abandoned Air Temples or Ba Sing Se. The latter seemed less lonely and more attainable, so off to Ba Sing Se it was.

 ****************************

“Fine, but you’re closing tomorrow!”

“Okay okay. Thanks, Xia!”

You washed the flour caked on your hands from hours of work, left the keys in the small tray by the back door, and began your walk back to the small apartment you lived in, apron in hand.

You had been living in Ba Sing Se for two months now. After forging some papers and departing the ferry that took you to the city, you landed a job at a small, but lively bakery that locals of the outer ring loved. Your weekly salary was enough to pay for rent, food, and a few recreational activities too. Overall, you lived a comfortable life, and you would have been happy to spend the rest of your days in the life you’d built for yourself, even if you had to pretend there was no war. 

You had been hearing about a tea shop from some of your neighbors. It wasn’t new, but there was a new employee that really knew his way around the drink. You hadn’t had a cup of tea since the ginseng shared with Zuko and Iroh, and you certainly had the money for it. Deciding to treat yourself, you walked into the store and ordered a cup of jasmine tea. After paying, you sat down at a table by the window and waited for your tea to be served. Drumming your fingers on the table, you thought about how much your life had changed in just a few short months. You had gone from a loyal servant to the Fire Nation, ready to sacrifice anything and everything for a facist tyrant, to a normal young adult working in a bakery. You couldn’t help but feel grateful you had fallen into this timeline. What if Sokka’s aim had just been a bit off and you hadn’t been knocked out? You’d probably still be out there with Azula, hunting down the world's last hope for balance. Crazy how one little action can have such a huge impact. 

As you thought about Azula, your mind wandered to her older brother. You smiled at the thought of Zuko. Your time together had been brief, but you looked back on it fondly. Sure, he could be very aggressive and intimidating, but he could also be quite shy and bashful, if you got him in the right situation. 

Looking back on the kiss the two of you had shared, you blushed. You felt giddy and slightly embarrassed at the same time. You had been so impulsive in that moment, but you couldn’t help it. He was just so cute, stuttering under your soft gaze!

“Order up,” a raspy voice stated behind you.

Ah, your tea. You turned around to accept the steaming cup, tip in hand, but something stopped you from  reaching out to take the drink from the rusted tray.

That something was the wide-eyed stare of a certain Fire Nation royal family member. 

“Oh,” you choked. “Hi again.”

a/n okay i know i said literally yesterday that this would be out in december but you never know when motivation will hit ig. this isn’t the full thing but i think that’s understandable since this bitch is loooong. the second part will probably be shorter. the other zuko h/cs will still be out before thanksgiving! requests are still open as well, but i want to finish this so it may take a little for me to get to them. thank you to @ladyamaya (sorry it’s not letting me tag you :() for requesting this. sorry it took so long. also, sorry if this sucks :)

#Zuko #ba sing se #zuko x you #zuko x reader #zuko x y/n #sokka #katara #aang #toph #iroh #zuko angst #zuko fluff #bad makeout scene sorry

[life-rewritten]

THARNTYPE 7 YEARS: LOVE VS MISREADINGS AND INTERNAL STRIFES

So we are finally in episode 3 of TharnType 7 Years, and if it isn't apparent with my constant ramblings about this show, I am in love, like excited, obsessed, and incredibly happy in love. I know a lot of people are not like me, (it's always this way with this show) but the way the writer has left important character information, subtext and back-shadows in this plot has already made me hooked. The first thing I want to address is the couples in this show because I feel like people think the side couples are a waste of camera time and have no significance or depth, but this is one of the shows this year, where there is actual depth, plot and dynamics for the side couples. None of them is useless in fact; actually, if they don't have a plot, they're symbols/plot devices for the actual story. So stop seeing them as fan service, actually understand their characters, their flaws, their mindsets and see that we might have other couples in this show that are just as precious (with their own love story) as Tharn and Type. Or if you're one of those people who refuse to stop being closeminded about this show, then skip past this post.  But if you do love this show as much as I do, and want to know about what the story is showing; Let's begin.

First thing first is to look at the subtext, the patterns and what we could understand from episode 1-3 so far with TharnType 7 Years. The plot is all about all these couples having internal conflicts, sometimes psychological/ mental, which results in mindsets nurtured from their past experiences that have them become so flawed and stunted from growth. We've seen this same dynamic in season 1 with our couples, including Tharn and Type. 

With Tharn and Type the series, Mame uses love (the presence of it, the introduction to it and the feelings from it) to force our characters to learn from their mistakes, grow and change, and to reach self-acceptance and healing finally. Perhaps it's not always realistic (sometimes therapy is still needed, sometimes they take things too far, and sometimes the message isn't fully explored/translated) but its what I love about this show since season 1. The focus is on love, how incredible it can be for these characters and how it transforms them to their best version of themselves. In season 2 we have that with all these couples, they all have some kind of internal strife that is preventing them from growing,  And it's through love that they change.  Let me first analyse the couples, so you get what I mean; 

Misreading/Miscommunication/Misunderstanding in TharnType in 7 years

'How do past experiences shape your mindset, choices, and personal development and how does it affect your relationship with the love of your life.'

TharnType

Misreading because of internal scars

In previous season Tharn and Type has a fun time, getting together, this is me being sarcastic. In reality, these two struggled so much to cross that line, one because of Type's internal struggle with his past  assault making him ridiculously homophobic, and two because of everyone connected to Tharn's own history that contributed to his own internal scars at the end. Luckily our couple survived it all and actually chose to love each other properly. Except these scars aren't fully healed/gone, they still have affected our couple's ideologies, mindsets and actions, especially when it's time again to cross another line: Marriage. Tharn and Type are entering another conflict in their relationship despite their love for each other because of their internal scars. They're both for each other, 100% and they both concede and need each other, but their struggles make them incompatible despite the fact that they're actually trying to be selfless and caring for the other. Because of his past scars affecting how he sees publicity in relationships, Type doesn't want them to be exposed to the world or get married, because of his own internal strife of being abandoned Tharn wants them to prove to each other they won't be separated and needs them to get married for a peaceful mental state. 

Separately selfless and caring: Tharn is sacrificial and a pushover but we can see it's building up this episode and tearing him down, in fact, it was so depressing for him because he had to see Tong propose to his long term lover who by the way her speech was necessary because it showed what was on Tharn's mind. She says she's okay with being Tong's number 3 because she has known from the start who he was and she is willing to be selfless for him. In Tharn's mind, this is what Type should be saying, he should know who Tharn is by now and why he wants marriage, but also he should give in and let them get married because there's no problem to him with it. So that's another couple showing their love to everyone whilst Tharn has been in a relationship with Type for longer and is just not getting that. Still, he concedes this episode he pushes it down in front of Type, and secretly still hopes to get married a different time. But this is misreading Type because Type still wouldn't accept that proposal and it will cause a blow-up. 

The ring, the piano (playing their song) and the roses he was holding (passionate love) all symbolise Tharn's strife, he has everything ready, and was the one who played the song, held the flower, and bought the ring but he didn't have Type there. Type was avoiding going because he didn't want to bring back what happened in episode 1, being forced to again talk about marriage, (not selfishly, he's doing it, so they don't fight about it). Still, his absence also represented his misreading of Tharn's feelings.

In episode 3, we do see Type in denial, he is starting to realise that marriage could be a possible thing, and he knows Tharn wants it the most, (its what he wished for, for his anniversary in episode 1 for them to be together forever, marriage is proof of that promise)  he's frightened about hurting Tharn because he can see it is killing him. However, still, he can't get over his blockages and mindset, which is understandable. 

So he needs clues and evidence to start seeing Tharns perspective finally: the girl, Techno, his parents, Fiat.

 But we can see how Type is changing; he takes in Fiat because he wants to help someone like his past self feel understood. He feels inclined to help him not just because of work, but he kind of like takes him in as a young brother and nurtures him because he probably needed someone like that when he was younger. 

Hence this is why Fiat isn't meant to be seen as a devil in this show, but like Type, in season 1 he's meant to be misguided, stupid, irrational, and grow. Fiat takes the role of Type from season 1 (despite in his love story is more like Tharn will explain later), he'll do things and say things automatically. He'll cause issues, but if you notice  Leo (who probably is going to be in Tharns position in season 1 longing for him and being hurt because he's too late but also can be like Type in his own love story) is his calming influence. But Fiat will grow after his mistakes and love (losing Leo) will make him learn and grow from his mindset. Fiat is not just an object/boring second lead that just likes the main character, his involvement with the main story is going to cause growth for our couple but also lead him to his own plot with his own love story that's just as messy, angsty and romantic as Tharn Type in season 1. And you know what I can't wait to see it unfold. 

Fiat and Leo:

 Misreading because of reputation and protection

These two are so annoying, mostly because they're in the same position as TharnType in season 1 where they have perceived obstacles preventing them from the crossing the line even though they're in love.

We're introduced to Leo in episode 3 who definitely has feelings for Fiat. There are so many clues to the fact that he's automatically in love and romantically cares for Fiat. 

1.He clearly longs for his touch: they both keep glancing and looking wishfully at each other's lips each time they come face to face, it's there because they want to kiss each other, they're pulled to each other in that way

2. He drops everything for Fiat's safety, protection and needs. He will do anything; he even is seen this way by Fiat's 'friends' as the person who is the most protective and possessive over Fiat

3. He's jealous about not knowing about Fiat's state, he wants to be needed and trusted by Fiat above all. And he enjoys when Fiat is submissive and gentler to him. 

So why is he so adamant about keeping them as friends?

Fiat's reputation: 

Fiat reminds me of Stud (another messy, spoilt, selfish character who did so because of neglect) from another BL show Friendzone, he's flirty, and he sleeps around whenever Leo isn't around, he's a bit unstable without Leo by his side, rude, makes tantrums like a child who wants attention. When you look at it this way though, he's a child suffering from neglect, although he's rich, so he gets everything he wants he doesn't actually feel adequately loved;

He ran away from home when he was young because of a lack of attentive parents; he did this to get attention, and it's because he felt overlooked and not listened to. We see that he already acts impulsively whenever he feels slighted; this is important for his character.

.He says so sadly in the show to his date in episode 3: This was another exposition to his character's mindset; he feels misunderstood, unloved and not taken care of properly by everyone, including his so-called friends who also just see him as a child, and spoilt. He's felt always never seen. He says this after he realizes that Leo may be possibly happy without him in Italy. He was feeling lonely, irritated and bored with Leo there, but because he cared about Leo's happiness (Leo apparently said the camp was important to him), he didn't want to bother him. If Fiat were so manipulative and selfish and just saw Leo as a tool for emotional baggage he would have texted but no he conceded for Leo's wellbeing. 

His dependency on Leo: When he ran away from home when young it was Leo he went to. It's because Leo has always been his safe space, the only person apart from Type who shows Fiat in this episode that he understands why he's being so upset about the basketball thing, he protects and delivers care to Fiat. 

So why does Fiat feel neglected by Leo: because he's hurting from Leo's rejection/adamant denial that they are nothing. Fiat clearly has feelings for Leo (Stud did for Earth and also felt frustrated that he refused to take him seriously). Still, he's kind of been forced to sacrifice those feelings because he wants to keep Leo by his side. But it still 'breaks' him to do so: whenever he hurts he says stupid things, acts prideful and tries to seem spoilt hence how he spoke to Leo in this episode, but then he concedes. 

I think he's like Tharn when it comes to Leo a little bit, he's like Tharn was in season 1 when he was chasing after Type, but deciding to keep it unofficial whilst it breaks him inside and makes him even more distant that he's being overlooked.  One because like Tharn he wants to keep Leo by his side and do what he wants, so they don't fight, (sacrificial, he shows he cares a lot about Leo he's not selfish). Two because he also feels neglected by Leo for not accepting or taking his feelings seriously (hence being misunderstood).  

For his ego and self-defence mechanism,  he embraces his spoilt persona. You can tell that he only does it whenever he's hurt, scared, or his ego is failing, for example, with the basketball scene; leg hurting and throwing the ball in a fury in episode 3. 

Fiat is not selfish or manipulative; he's just spoilt. He's more like Tharn in season 1 than Type honestly. Tharn is also sometimes selfish, manipulative and stubborn when it came to Type. Tharn is just as rich as Fiat and was used to getting what he wanted. So he also threw tantrums when things didn't go his way, and he guilted Type always into conceding.  Type didn't always fall for it and was more stubborn and headstrong than Tharn.

 Leo is complicated, and if I'm seeing him like either Type or Tharn, these are his reasons for why he is not accepting his feelings.

Like Earth from Friendzone with Stud, he thinks Fiat's love is fickle; he believes he's spoilt, that he doesn't actually want him, he's just saying it as a joke. He thinks he's shameless and a nutcase, and he's just seeking attention. So even if he has feelings, he doesn't want to accept them because of this.

Because he is like Type and has some kind of internalised homophobia, forcing him to not think about Fiats feelings, they are raised in an interesting environment: status, money, reputation. Probably he, himself does not believe he could be gay and have feelings, so he sees everything he does with Fiat as friends, but he's clearly in denial about it, Just like how many times Type was in denial about what Tharn was to him and kept on insisting he didn’t see them as anything more than s*x friends. But Type learnt the hard way of what he wants especially when San entered the picture in season 1.  Type is Leo’s San, he will now force him to learn how he feels and finally accept it. 

Like Type with Tharn this season, it's about the reputation of the family, he's the person who is the closest to Fiat, and they're family friends it'll ruin what they have, the reputation of the family if they're in a phobic environment. It would be stressful to deal with the fallout. He's refused to cross that line to protect Fiat, and him like Type is doing to Tharn this season.

He just doesn't want their friendship to be ruined, so he does long and want Fiat, but he's too scared to be hurt or their relationship to stop. This is the same reason why Fiat sadly concedes, they both are keeping it undefined for each other not really seeing that they both love each other. The more Leo rejects and hurts Fiat and makes Fiat think there's no chance for them; Fiat latches more to Type who is this symbol for all the love that he never received.

 Although Leo doesn't neglect Fiat that way, he does make him feel misunderstood, stuck, and his feelings are being ignored. It's what he says to Leo, "You came too late" essentially you accepted your feelings too late. Jealousy is what will now make Leo embrace himself and push for their relationship (same as Type in season 1) whilst jealousy of Fiat's involvement will drive Tharn and Type to cross the line and get married.

Champ and Khun

 Misreading because of lack of self-esteem

Champ and Khun, my babies. Champ is going to be hurting Khun without realising it. Champ is really bad at love mostly because of lack of self-esteem, he doesn't think he's worth loving for some reason, he also doesn't see any point to love, and he's automatically cut himself of that. The thing with Champ is that Khun is different, he knows this, and I think we're going to see him feel this later on. But I think Champ and Khun are definitely like King and Ram, like King Champ is insecure about what Khun thinks of him and so he will also know how he feels but push it down because he doesn't think he's good enough for Khun.

We know that he's seen as dumb and dim, he mistakenly messed his university year, and he's just starting his business, so he's a little insecure compared to his friends.

We see how he is when it comes to love in season 1, he doesn't understand why people want him, and he doesn't feel anything to others in any way shape or form. 

It's either that or he's just so dumb that he doesn't even register how he feels for Khun as love, there other characters like him; Haruta from Ossans Love and Tonhon from Tonhon Chonlatee. They keep on flirting and doing this automatically to their love interest, but he's not going register why it's different, and this will hurt Khun because Khun won't say it out loud. 

Khun also seems like he struggles with lack of self esteem, insecurity, he's quiet and nervous all the time, he's shy and unsure about how to say to Champ how he feels, and yeh he also struggles to say how he feels. He's tried now to spend time with Champ alone twice, and he's shown annoyance in a polite way to both Type and Techno for being there. He's had feelings for Champ for seven years probably when they stayed in the same dorm, but he's not been able to gather up the courage to say so. So he's also going to be misread by Champ that he also likes keeping it cool and platonic because he doesn't know how just to say it. (Like Ram from my engineer) But I think he will get angsty the more he gets closer and unsure about what they are, and will finally say it out loud. 

Cir and Phu: 

The antithesis/symbol

Cir and Phu represent a couple that gets each other and makes an effort to let the other know how they feel, hence they don't hide or shy away from how they feel, they are blissful, in their own world, and they are the antithesis of these couples. But they also represent what these couples could be if they finally embrace their issues and see each other, Tharn and Type can finally be out and exposed to people, Leo and Fiat can finally be possessive over each other and show romantic ownership. Champ and Khun can finally tell each other how they feel and be in a relationship. 

So yeah, the couples in this show are all, significant, exciting and vital to the plot. They're not wasting camera time, especially Leo and Fiat in episode 3, we needed to understand why Fiat becomes our villain. He's perfect for it; spoilt, stubborn, and refuses to give this fight up because he's tired of being neglected. And Type represents a chance to be seen I guess to him. Tharn and Type and Leo and Fiat are mirror characters, they all learn and grow from falling in love, it doesn't mean they won't be messy, they won't make mistakes, but they're really understandable unlike some other one dimensional characters in this genre. Please give this show a break, and stop focusing on, on the surface information, listen to what the characters are saying, what has been shown and mentioned about them and think about how it affects them. Like Techno, for example, he's going to be a helping hand to these couples, for Tharn and Type he'll help push them to marriage (this is why he sends in the group chat that Tharn is cheating despite the fact he knows he's gay, he's not stupid or problematic he's up to something because he has to help Tharn find a way to make Type concede and want to be possessive of him), he'll also be necessary to Champ and Khun, he's already clued into their relationship dynamic, so he'll let Champ know the truth. He's playing the same role he did in season 1 for Tharn and Type. All these characters are essential, and they all fit the plot and pacing correctly. Stop thinking they're not. Okay, I'm done with my rant; let's see what happens next in episode 4, Ciao. 

#thai bl #tharntype 7 years of love #tharntype 2: 7 years of love #tharntype #tharntype the series #bl series #bl drama #november #cwg #fvete #mewgulf #tharn and type