#serious danger at worst - situations a child should not be in at best... if he did have any part in this i. well i dont know. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yamanaka-shin · 8 months

Text

Pact

9/6 birthday fic for Shin 🧡🧡 (though it's actually part of a backstory fic I hope I can write in full one day)

Characters: Shin (age 6), Hyakutori (OC, Shin's dad), Parduoc (OC, giant otter summoning animal)

Setting: pre-canon, Kusagakure

Summary: good intentions that have accidentally bad results are the worst, aren't they? back in Kusa, it's as rough as it's ever been, even when there's days that suck less than others. (if you notice a pronoun switch between the present and flashback, that's on purpose)

He has no logical reason to ever expect a deviation. It's always business as usual when your summoner calls you forth for whatever pain in the ass matter they're wrapped up in. You get the call, you answer it, you handle whatever task you're given, then you get to leave again. So when that proverbial blowing of the horn comes once more for Parduoc, he prepares himself to be greeted by the tried and true visage of the current contract holder. The sight of the silver haired man might be largely unexciting but at least Hyakutori has never wished harm on any of the otters under his command or treated any of them inhumanely. None of them ever get hit, yelled at, or forced to do errands that he couldn't be bothered to do himself. So, to the ringleader of the semi-aquatic musteline fighting force, this should have just been the standard get in get back out scenario. Until a huge wrench got hurled into every expectation that the giant otter tried to maintain.

"Shin?" Big, almost kelpy green eyes blink in disbelief when the face he looks up to behold is that of his master's only brat instead of the master himself. And then Parduoc looks around to make sure he's not dreaming and finds nothing is meeting his usual expectations. "Where the hell are we and what's going on? Where's your dad?"

"Shh, be quiet!" The six year old pleads with the water weasel before placing one small hand over its muzzle haphazardly. Parduoc looks up at him with a miffed expression as a brief wet feeling accompanies the rough placement of the hand but decides not to continue his statement in case this is an actually serious situation. "They're looking for me."

"Who's looking for you?" The words are muffled by the hand in front of his mouth but he manages to make it decipherable, even with his father gruff voice.

"I don't know. And I don't know what to do." He's clearly trembling with every word he's saying. The full picture is still not cleared up but the obvious details that can be ascertained from all the current clues do not inspire confidence in the large otter. He still isn't seeing Hyakutori either and that is the most worrying factor of all.

Parduoc knows he has to be careful and conservative with every movement just in case they're discovered by the mystery pursuers but he still manages to wriggle away from the loose grip the small child had had on him in order to properly get his bearings. Those swampy hued eyes of his take stock of his surroundings the best he can with what he assumes is limited time and it appears that they're somewhere upstream from where Hyakutori would frequently bring Shin in order to teach him Shinobi life skills in the absence of a formal academy. During a lot of those educational sessions, the former Kiri nin would summon a couple of his contracted otters so that they might provide extra eyes and ears (and teeth, frankly) to keep on hand in case he himself misses a whiff of danger or suspicious activity. It paid to be careful in this part of the Land of Mushrooms because the ruling party in charge of Kusagakure were not known for their benevolent or transparent or fair ways. It wasn't quite lawless out here but sometimes it felt closer to that threshold than it did to one of safety. It was hard enough out here to be an autonomous adult, let alone a child who may or may not have adequate parental protection. Which only fueled the ongoing maybe-crisis paranoia further.

"Can you tell me all of what you know? I just need to understand what is going on." Parduoc takes a deep breath after speaking as lowly as possible. He has to center himself and focus, preparing for whatever information was going to be hastily dumped on him in the next moment. Part of him had the suspicion that his actual summoner was not the one who called for him. And the implications of that were definitely not pretty. Thinking back, he hesitantly relives the moment that may have lead him here, quickly enough so as not to waste precious time.

~~~~~~

"I think that's about enough for today. You did a really good job." That reassuring voice comes from the silver haired man standing on the bank of the stream. He watches his child hop just then, the best she was able, onto the nearest rock once she gets the signal to stop.

But said rock was just a little too slick from the combination of the constant contact with moving water and a little bit of algae that had been growing on it because of said water. Too slick, in this case, for a young child who had not yet mastered the fine chakra control to establish and maintain a proper lasting grip on it with her feet. She struggled to balance and stay upright but quickly floundered a little too roughly in the wrong direction and was bound to fall backside first into the thankfully shallow brook beneath her. Until her father, still watching like a diligent hawk, motioned to one of his nearby summons to jump in and prevent this very minor slip up. Parduoc trotted faster than he had in ages in his attempt to catch Shin before the fall and ended up getting his protruding bottom teeth firmly enough into the bottom edge of her shirt. She stopped falling backwards just enough to avoid a very wet collision with nature.

"Got-tha." It's muffled by the shirt fabric in between his teeth, but the otter reaffirms his success. Though that turns out to be a premature celebration as in the next moment, Shin sighs a little in relief, and the minute movement frees her shirt from the half-assed grip Parduoc has on it after it had loosened ever so slightly from his mumbling. So she ends up in the creek even with the best attempt to prevent it.

Hyakutori slaps a palm to his forehead dramatically and sighs. Thankfully his daughter is tough enough not to be upset to the point of crying, but now he's going to have to wash those clothes again. Clothes that had just been freshly washed yesterday. It's such a petty concern but goddamn he should have swooped in to pick her up as soon as possible rather than trust an otter's grip, thus preventing emergency laundry protocol. "Okay, I THINK we all need to go home now and pick this up another day." He looks first to his summon and then to his daughter. "And it's a bath and fresh clothes for you first then when we get there."

"Sorry dad." She apologizes, but thankfully still seems relatively unfazed. "I don't have it yet."

"That's okay. You will eventually, give it time. Good job today, I'm proud of you."

He steps into the stream, the reasonably temped water running gently over his feet and shins and feeling like heaven, and retrieves his kid from the flowing creekbed. Parduoc waddles out on his own and shakes off. It's not really necessary as he's well adapted to these sorts of conditions but in this case it's probably more him casting off the embarrassment rather than the moisture, and of course making sure he won't be tracking unnecessary muddy wetness into the house. Seaweed toned eyes look up at the much taller adult man as if to confirm one last time that they're all headed home, and he receives an assuring nod. It's the giant otter in the lead all the way, trotting at a comfortable and easy pace in his uniquely musteline manner, returning to the relatively safe (as safe as it could be in these parts, any way) little place they had established in the heart of Mushroom Country. Both know it's not a life of luxury but at this point it didn't need to be. Really, all it needed to be was far from the reach of the Hidden Mist and now of course safe enough to raise a child, and it had fit both points of that bill just fine for as long as they'd been residing here. Hyakutori hopes his luck will hold out for as long as possible and counts his blessings that it's been this easy for this long.

Though he could have just left for his actual home back with his brethren, his job here long past done, Parduoc opts to stay and laze around the Sado-Fuuma home for a while as Hyakutori takes care of both his child and her filthy clothes. It's a comfortable little life for a hard working mustelid and he knows he's earned the break. Hell, he's not even reprimanded for dropping Shin in the creek, so he's got nothing to lament about. Observing from afar, in this perfectly peaceful stretch of time, is far more interesting than whatever was surely waiting for him back with the clan anyhow. Hime wasn't even here right now so there was no way said peace could get disturbed or distorted. The mat he's laying on has practically his name on it and nothing is immediately demanding his attention so he knows damn well he's got it made. Meanwhile, the subjects he's been monitoring, go about their business. The wet pair of pants and less wet but still dirty shirt, along with everything else that touched the river water, are laundered carefully as soon as the man of the house sees to it that his actual child is washed and freshly dressed. All the while he's humming something to himself and seeming to enjoy the simplicity of it all, creating a very reassuring atmosphere that lifts his spirits even higher.

"Do you want to go back out there and work on it some more in a couple of days?" He breaches the question out of the blue just as he's stringing out a small line to hang the clothes from. They will be low enough to run into so he has to make sure not to do that every time he passes it by. Getting tangled up in a clothesline is not his definition of a good time.

Shin, who had been making quick work of some baby carrots for a snack, looks over to him and cocks her head to the side. "Can't it be tomorrow?"

That's when he lets out a little sigh through his nose. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I have a couple of missions to take care of tomorrow. But I promise it'll be the day after. You can hold me to that."

Disappointment briefly crosses her expression but seems to get over it without much fuss. "Thank you, I can't wait." There's no denying the hopeful lilt in those words. Even with mishaps, the process of learning these sorts of life skills seems to bring her joy and she looks forward to it every day. He just hopes it will never come down to her having to use them in any sort of combat scenario or just to get by monetarily. Though...at heart, he knows it's unlikely that life will be as kind to her as he wants it to be. Especially around the Hidden Grass. Experience has taught him that more than once while growing up. Maybe if she ventures out somewhere less unstable she'll have a better set of options to choose from. Though that's still a long way off.

The exchange seems to prompt Parduoc to get up from the mat he's lounging on like a lizard in the sun, moving in his unique weasely way over to Shin, and he examines her a moment before speaking. "Do you think it'll be like today, the next time we go out there?"

A half assed growl and brief baring of teeth is directed at the man. "You're predictable, I know it'll be me you ask for. And you could never replace me. Not when everyone else is the way they are."

Hyakutori interrupts with an edge of humor to his voice. "Who says I'm bringing you next time? Maybe I'll call Poww instead. I'm sure he can hold his grip. I think you gotta earn your spot back as my favorite after today."

He waves it off and finishes hanging the apparel for drying. "You're right. I'm sure he'd be mad at me if I did that to spite you anyway. Your place as the golden beast is safe for another day."

Under his breath, in that gruff voice distorted by his underbite, Parduoc makes an indignant quip. "I'll show you who's a beast. Hmph."

Shin swivels her focus from otter to father and asks him, genuinely. "Would he really be mad?"

He crosses the short distance between them and sits himself down right next to Shin so he can give her his full attention. "Maybe. Poww has a higher standard than all of his comrades. Or maybe Parduoc is just that lazy."

Father and daughter share a good laugh at the expense of their third but said third shakes it off like the water on his fur earlier. "Get it out now so I don't gotta hear it later. Go on, laugh it up. I'm an easy target."

"No, no, I'm done. I promise."

"Fine." Parduoc huffs, breathing out his nose for emphasis. He changes the subject abruptly with his next comment. "Now, kid, I need you to listen to me closely for a second."

"Huh?" She cocks her head in confusion once again. This is not an expected twist though maybe she should have seen it coming since he got up to sit next to her just like her dad had. "What is it?"

"I know earlier wasn't anything that bad but. It makes me think." There is a deep breath in between the statements. "You're too young for an official signature in the contract yet. Way too young. But, if you ever find yourself in an emergency, I will let you call on me once. Call on me and I will do everything I can to help you."

Something about the incredibly bold proposal has Hyakutori too stunned to speak for several beats. It's one hell of a sharp swerve from their earlier lighthearted exchange. Parduoc isn't exactly an unserious creature but he's no liar and no slouch when it mattered either. Such an offer is one he definitely will commit his all to without fail. And though it's a lot of responsibility, it could indeed be the singular safeguard that one day prevents the worst from happening to Shin when her father could not be there to help. His contracted summoning animals have been called an odd choice by some but he stands by the fact that they have always served him well and treat his child with respect and kindness without being asked to. That's all a father, and a Shinobi, could ever want. Harmony between duty and family when such a thing can be so rare. It makes him proud to have such reliable mammals under his command.

Stars light up those dark eyes of Shin's at the thought of such an honor. She doesn't really, fully understand the weight of why Parduoc is offering this but one day when she needs his help, if that day ever comes, she surely will. Even an animal that cannot measure up to the size and strength of a human being could make all the difference in a dire scenario when they need to. She's watched her father work alongside the otters on lots of training days and demonstrations of skills he intends to teach her so she knows at least some of what Parduoc is capable of, knows that he is her dad's favorite for a reason. And that she can trust him no matter what. For all of his slothful and indignant ways when duty wasn't calling, he's a good individual, and will hopefully one day be as good of a summon for her as he has always been for her father. The urge to throw her arms around his neck for a quick thank you hug rises in her chest but she quells it just in time so as not to invade his personal space and bother him. Another time, perhaps, but she knows she should ask first.

"I just need you to know one more thing." His tone is serious but not mean.

"What is that?"

"Other people bleeding may not, but this will be you bleeding."

"Calling on me, or any of us, requires blood. Not a lot, though. Just a little bit. Most ninjas bite their finger but those who don't wanna be so crude use a kunai edge. Can you handle that?"

"Blood doesn't scare me."

"I can do it, no problem."

"As long as you know it might hurt, especially when you're already in trouble, then I think you should be set. Just be careful not to bite or cut too deep. And don't go touching anything that might give you an infection when it hits the open wound." He sounds like a concerned parent but it's sound advice. Adults understood all of this well enough, but it pays to emphasize it to kids who don't have the life experience yet.

"I hope so too." Parduoc agrees. He hopes beyond hope he'll never see the day when the one calling him before signing the formal contract is Shin, because it won't be a low stakes fall in the brook type of day that can fixed with a shower, laundry, and a snack. She may not be his kid but the worry he shares with Hyakutori is very real.

"I just hope she never needs to use this one summon. I don't ask for much, but I really don't want such danger that requires it to happen." Hyakutori chimes in, voice not betraying the fear for his daughter in the worst case scenario. It makes him sound like an even more concerned parent though in his case that's exactly what he is.

~~~~~~

"I saw them." Shin starts again, making sure to keep his voice to a hush. "I saw them looking around the village a few times. Dunno why, or what they wanted."

As he snaps himself out of the memory, another oddity overcomes Parduoc. He can taste something strange lingering on the tip of his tongue and on his lips as if he had licked a foreign almost metallic substance. So he takes a moment to try and focus on what's left of the taste and tries to think of what could have even caused it. Then it hits him like a brick: iron taste equals blood. But he's not bleeding, he's damn sure of that, and it's not like he had had any fresh bloody fish in the past five minutes. Where, then, could it have come from? More gears internally turn until he's arrived at yet another answer. One that he likes the least of all possibilities. This blood came from Shin when he had slapped a hand over the otter's muzzle to quiet him moments ago. That must have been the weird sensation he felt when skin met fur. Which must mean...that was who had summoned him. All traces of doubts were now dead in the water. All those fears from when he proposed the one time summon deal seemed to be realizing themselves in quick succession. Panic wants to set in so badly just then but he cannot afford to be irrational when this could be life or death.

"You've seen these specific people before? Are you sure?"

He nods vigorously, very certain of his brief history with the danger bearing down on their tails now. "Yeah I'm sure. They saw me today...while I was running."

"Shin." Parduoc is a bit louder than he'd hope to be with just that one word. "What are you doing running away?"

Parduoc looks around them again and is stumped, like every time he made it around one obstacle another one cropped up. This is a place Shin never went alone. For all his venturing out solo, he never came this far without accompaniment from his father. And the otter doubts he'd been chased this far without calling on his promised aid until now. Shin wasn't so stupid that he would hesitate to ask for help when he knew how serious the danger was. Some things weren't adding up and the confusion was really bothering the nonhuman mammal. But with limited space and time to grill the child for answers, he had to pick and choose questions to ask in hopes he'd get fed all the necessary information. "Where were you running from and to?"

Now this is when a look of confliction that quickly pivots to guilt is written all over Shin's face. He has something he's not proud to admit but the time to hold back is definitely not now. "Away from home. Dunno where to. Away, I guess."

"Shhhhh. Don't let them know I'm here. Or you. You gotta keep your voice down."

"I know now isn't the time for 50 questions but what you're doing is a very bad idea! What happens if those people catch up to you? You could be hurt or even killed."

"That's why I called you! You said you'd help me!" He gives in to the moment and yells his emotional response, not giving a shit if anyone heard him.

"I said that, yes, but this is still a very bad idea! Kusa isn't safe! This whole place isn't safe to be running around not knowing where you're going all alone!"

All of this commotion spirals without either of them reigning it in and before they know it, they have company. Unpleasant and uninvited company. One man in an animal mask drops down behind Parduoc and the giant otter can feel it in his very bones that danger has descended upon him and his charge. Now is the time to shut up and book it like mad even if neither had any clue as to *where* they had to go to get away. All he knew was run, and by the gods that was what he was going to do.

"Get out of here! Now!" The yell is more like a rough and throaty bark. But it gets the point across. Dignity doesn't matter when your life is on the line.

"Have we...lost them?" Parduoc is nearly panting, hackles still very much up, making him look like a game animal fleeing hunters. He can't afford to let his guard down when that didn't feel too far from being the truth.

Shin is immediately scrambling to dodge the masked man but another stranger immediately comes to the aid of his companion and now it's two against two. Except, the odds are horribly unbalanced, being a child and a relatively compact animal against two fully grown and probably well trained outsiders surely wishing some form of harm on the first duo. Though he barely got a proper look at the men, Parduoc was fairly sure those masks styles belonged to the Anbu coming out of Fire Country's premier center of power, the Hidden Leaf. And Leaf nin were not to be trifled with. They'd be lucky to escape, unscathed or not, if these Anbu has violence on their agenda. Two sets of far too short legs do their best to carry the unfortunate pair as far away from their pursuers as possible until a small amount of distance is put between both parties. The woods transition to a bamboo forest slowly and those plants certainly don't provide the same excellent cover as actual trees did when you really needed to hide. All they can do, when they catch their breaths, is try and continue to follow the river towards safer ground. Even if it meant leaving home in the dust for now. This river runs through most of Mushroom Country and is their only ally now.

"I hope so..." Unlike the animal, the child *is* breathing heavily and would be panting if he was anything other than human. This is putting him through paces that were more common for children 50+ years ago rather than these days. If he gets away successfully, then he's truly the luckiest kid alive.

A metaphorical dark shadow creeps into Parduoc's mind's eye and he can *feel* the threat descend upon them once more. Anbu were no slouches, especially ones from big and strong nations like Konoha is said to be. No wonder they caught up so fast. Sharp musteline teeth are bared in an emergency attempt to at least get the attackers to back off a couple steps. When in doubt, and you're cornered, remind them you're an unpredictable wild animal. He's the largest kind of otter in the world and is prepared to use that for whatever advantage it could afford him. This tactic shaves off about a half second of time as the two seem just slightly confused at the futile effort. That's just enough time for Shin to come up with their next move. Though, it's very much half-assed, as he's probably only a quarter of their individual ages at least. Both of his hands come together in signs he had seen his father preform and all of his might goes into one move that he prays will allow him and his guardian to flee again.

"Suiton." He forces out. "Drown!"

The actual result pales compared to what it's capable of as a Shinobi technique. Hyakutori wielding such a move could easily bring forth a localized flash flood to sweep up someone or something baring down on him. With Shin, it's more like a cold splash that would wake up someone slacking off. Still...it's something. The summoned precipitation drops over the heads of the masked Anbu men and takes them by enough surprise that they don't have time to stop their quarry from bolting like terrified deer again. But they sure as hell shake it off like it's nothing as soon as they come back to reality and resume the chase. The chase, which, won't last much longer because the kid is out of steam and the beast is short of leg and not equipped for serious combat of this magnitude without backup from his clan. They will catch up before either knew it and who knew what would happen then.

On the run, through heavy breaths, Shin calls out to Parduoc. He's running out of options but is still doing everything he can. "We gotta split up!"

"Are you crazy? What if they get you and decide I'm not worth catching too? How will I protect you then?"

"I don't know!" There's desperation in his voice. He has no idea what to do that will actually do any good. Crying won't work...but part of him wants to anyway. At least it seems like what most people would do in this situation. It's the right response, just the worst time for it.

Doubting the proposed strategy but praying it will have merit anyway, Parduoc swerves and banks a hard left. He still tries to keep Shin in his sights as long as possible in case the worst befalls the kid in the next few seconds. He would not be able to face Hyakutori if that were to happen. A decent path through the bamboo that doesn't get him smacked in the face every couple paces thankfully opens up to him and he's miraculously still within earshot of Shin because he can hear him fighting his own instincts to react in a way typical of kids his age: with tears. The poor boy has no damn clue what to do and is running on half formed instinct through parts unknown to him. It feels like the world's cruelest joke played by uncaring gods. A situation no one ever wanted to be in, even in their dreams. Hunted like wild animals by people with unknown but most likely ill intentions. All the guilt that's eating the otter threatens to overwhelm him and trip him up but he's stopped mid thought when there's a yelp from Shin that follows the thud of a person dropping from above. One of the men, or maybe both, have him in their sights. And it's probably too late to intervene. Still...he tries. Draws from his remaining reserves and charges like a rhinoceros on a suicide mission. Head first, teeth on full display, not giving a shit what his own fate would be. If this was his final act, then so be it!

But he's too late. When he gets to the scene of the action, he finds the boy in the hold of the one wearing the owl mask. Parduoc skids to a stop but still trips and tumbles anyway, instilling even more despair on top of some new stinging scrapes. Shin doesn't seem hurt but he's definitely trying to get away with all of his remaining might. There is even a moment where he goes to bite the arm around him, but Owl quickly covers his whole forearm in a layer of stone that would surely shield from any normal weapon let alone weak human teeth. Shin thinks better of it and goes back to struggling. "I don't know who you think you are, but you're putting up one hell of a fight and I think Lord Danzo needs to be the one to decide what to do with you." Owl states with a sneer and looks over to his partner.

The other man, wearing a Hare mask, gives him a quick nod. "Just put him out so we don't have to listen to screaming and crying on the way back."

So when Shin realizes he's doomed, he looks one last time at Parduoc and makes a plea. "Don't tell him, please!"

"Good point." And with that, the stones recede, replaced with pure voltage emanating from the man like he was a live wire. Such versatile skills make it clear why he's in the Anbu. It would not mesh well with an exhausted six year old. One good zap, non fatal obviously, and he would be out like a light.

"Tell who...?" Parduoc is lost, panicking, after picking himself up from the tailspin. Maybe he hit his head because the world feels like it's spinning around him.

"Dad can't know I ran away!"

"But he can come fix this!" Goddamn it is a bleak, hopeless situation they're in but his first thought still goes to Hyakutori. He's a well trained ninja himself. One that could fair better against these two than a kid and an overgrown weasel.

"Please!" He yells, pained. There's a plea in his eyes that Parduoc had never seen before. "Don't tell him!"

This is the hardest thing ever asked of the giant otter. No request before had had him so mixed up and broken and so desperate. It made his whole being freeze, so he did not see it coming when Owl zapped him out cold before also turning out the consciousness lights for Shin with a localized zap. The last thought to trail through his head was how badly he wished he could himself summon Hyakutori to come and turn these horrid tides. Away the two Anbu fled, knowing there was nothing the otter could do against them even if he woke up instantly, back probably to the Leaf. This might be the last he ever saw of his master's child. And worse...the last Hyakutori saw of him, he without even knowing it would be the last time. And with that begging plea not to tell the man about these events, he might never ever find out where his son had gone. The man would be crushed worse than he could have imagined. Despair would coat the household for years to come and guilt would eat Parduoc alive. When Parduoc awoke hours later after the entire violent incident...he had the worst trek home ahead of him. Getting his body to even make the return trip felt like a monumental task. Every step felt heavy and his stomach felt so horrendously sour.

Going in through the dog flap installed just for the otters, into the house he knew so well, the man who was there to greet him was none other than the former Mist nin himself. A curious expression lined his features and he made to inquire about the sudden unplanned visit. "Parduoc...? What brings you here? I didn't call for you."

"I uh..." Parduoc knows he has a hard choice to make immediately. On the fly, he opts to lie, hoping he'll figure out how to confess later. If only to deal with his own feelings. Prolonging the inevitable made him wish that that earlier strike had killed him. "Reverse summoned myself because I wanted to see what's going on with you."

"That's fine, it's good to see you." He shrugs. There's no reason to question it further. Parduoc is always welcome here. "Not sure where Shin is but I'm sure he'll be around soon enough. Hime is out back though. Stay if you want, we can spar or read or whatever you want later."

"I...will...thank you..." All the hesitation seems very suspicious, but his master is not one to pry. If something is eating Parduoc, he'll fess up when he's ready. That's how it always went. But all the mustelid could think was how awful and cruel life had been. And how he was going to have to come clean about it later. Yes, he'd been asked to say nothing, but there's no way he could be held to that impossible request. Hyakutori could do something about this, even though the Anbu men were miles away now, right? Something... anything...right? Otters were not known for their screaming but that's the only thing he wanted to do right now. Start screaming with reckless abandon and not stop.

5 notes · View notes

liminalpebble · 1 year

Text

The Refugee: Chapter 27

Masterlist Link

They took their time waking, lazily basking in the warm golden light of day. As Magnus still slept she watched the rose-gold silk of his eyelashes flutter with dreams. The breaking dawn drenched him in a blinding glow. When he opened his eyes to meet hers, the magnificent leaf-green in the sunlight made her ache at the beauty of him.

“Good morning,” he said, beaming to her.

“Good morning to you, handsome doctor.”

He hummed contentedly and stroked her hair, just watching her. In the sunshine, the violet halo around her dark irises illuminated, and then her eyes began to get misty. She was holding tears back with a clench of her throat. “Lea, if you need to cry, just let yourself. It's not a weakness. It's safe with me.”

With that, the floodgates broke. “Magnus, I'm terrified of him...of what he might do to you. I'm so sorry for the danger I've put you in. I just...I wanted you so much and for so long.”

He held her tight and kissed her forehead, wiped her tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. In his arms she felt like the child she had been once, crying and terrified of Loki; back when she still knew how to just cry when she felt like it. How strange, she thought, to be in this position again. He kissed the top of her head. “Lovely Lea,” he sighed, “I wanted this. I dreamed of this. It was my choice and I would choose it again...and again. Do you regret it?”

“No!” she gasped out, “No. It was beautiful and perfect. I only regret the mess I've put you in. I swear to you, Magnus, if he hurts or threatens you I will fight him myself.” He knew she meant it, but he also knew she would probably be no match for Loki's power. She knew it too, but it was the only protection she could offer him and the helplessness of this situation tormented her.

“Shhhh...sweet Lea, I can take care of myself as well. He has good in him. I know it. If he finds out, I think that he will be strong enough to handle it with some grace now. He's made such progress.”

“I think that's a bit too optimistic, Magnus. There is no 'if' about it. He sees through everything. He'll know.”

“Well, I'm nothing if not annoyingly optimistic.”

Despite her tears and both of their anxious fears over the situation, they laughed, as they had always been able to laugh in the face of the terrible and overwhelming.

She grew quiet and serious. “Magnus, I want you to promise me something.”

“Yes?” he said, holding her hand.

“If...if anything happens to me. If he kills me or...or imprisons me or...does something where I can never come back to you. Promise me you will let me go and live well...that you'll go on to live a happy life and let me be a good memory. Even if you're not sure about whether or not there's a hope of seeing me again, I want you to let me go and live your life well, without guilt. Know that it's all I would have wanted.”

“Lea...how could I....how could I ever leave you behind?” Tears were now welling in his eyes too.

She held his face, “Promise me, Magnus. Please. It's what I want, more than anything. For you to be okay. I know you're an optimist, but don't hang on any slim chances. If things go wrong, let me go.”

“I wouldn't have the strength, Lea. I couldn't do it.”

“You could, Magnus. You're stronger than you think. If I know anything from a life like mine, it's this...when you have to do something, when there's no choice but to be brave, you'll find the strength to do it.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “I will promise you that, but only if you promise me exactly the same should it go the other way. Live a good life and be happy.”

She nodded. “I promise.”

He held her close again. “But Lea, we're here, together, right now. Let's just live it to the fullest and love each other as much as we can. We've planned enough for the worst. Can't we just hope for the best now?”

She was still crying, barely able to get the words out. “Yes. Yes, I want to be here with you. With you, I never feel alone.”

They took their time; bathing, eating, strolling hand in hand through the bazaar like the lovers they were, free and easy. They relished the moment, willing to forget the storm clouds of the future for the sunshine of the present.

---

On the surgeon's last day in the Vanir Kingdom, the two of them reclined beneath a persimmon tree on a blanket, enjoying the view of the beautiful hillside and shoreline. They were drinking some of her special Morhari tea, carried all the way with her from her homeland. It contained a drug sacred to her people for relaxation and contemplation. When Lea suggested spending the day enjoying it together, he was elated and grateful to experience such a special ritual with her .

As the tea took effect, they laid flat holding each other's hands, eyes fixed to the shifting clouds. Magnus said lazily, “Tell me about your homeland. Your life before.”

She closed her eyes, reaching into the synesthesia of the drug to summon her memories. “I lived with my mother and father in a house by the harbor. It always smelled like cedar trees from the sun warming the grove. I would sit on a little hill, reading and studying for hours in the sun, while the fabric makers dyed their wares and left them to hang in the breeze of the seashore. They would grind our special purple stones to color the fabric and when all the sheets billowed in the breeze they showed every hue of purple, like a patchwork quilt hovering over the sandy coastline. When the sun began to set, and shimmer over the water, my father would come from his workshop to fetch me. He always smelled like sawdust. He loved to build things..invent things,” she trailed off, her sadness overwhelming her ability to speak.

He held her and kissed her. “I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to make you remember painful things.”

“No. I'm happy to remember them. I don't want to ever forget. What about you?”

“I come from a big loud lively Mid-Asgardian brood...all brothers.”

“All as beautiful and red-haired as you?” She asked, smiling up at him.

He chuckled, “No. Not at all. All three of my brothers are handsome...burly and strapping lads, and not a single one with hair like mine. I'm a bit of a runt and a black sheep. They all joined the Asgardian military, but I followed both our parents by becoming a doctor. I couldn't stand the idea of violence...of hurting others.”

“Where are they now?”

“They're all still alive and well in Asgard. I talk to them often. During the exodus of Loki's loyalists from Asgard, I stayed by his side and left my home behind me. It was the most difficult thing I'd ever done. I had dreams of having a home and children to dote on in the same country I grew up in. I would dream of showing them all the places I loved as a child...see joy and wonder in their eyes. That doesn't seem likely now.”

She held his hand tightly, and her heart ached. She never wanted children, never had any maternal instincts at all. It was hard enough surviving on her own. Even if she did want to give him a family, it was impossible for the Morhari to produce offspring with non-Morhari. She always felt guilt over deciding to never reproduce, when the Morhari population was so small and she was one of the few left who could keep her people from extinction. Lea couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to her before how Magnus seemed absolutely born to be a caring father, and what a tragedy it would be if he never fulfilled that wish.

“You're a remarkable friend. I hope he appreciates your sacrifices,” she said, burying the hurt of this revelation in an attempt to move the conversation to something else.

Magnus shrugged, “I think he does...but, who knows?” He noticed her sad expression. Apparently, she couldn't hide it from him. “Oh Lea, I'm sorry...what I said about children. I know you don't want....can't. It was just a dream from a long time ago. Everything is different now and that's okay. Life takes unexpected turns but so many of them are wonderful and surprising. One of those turns took me to you, after all.” He kissed her hand and met her eyes. He couldn't handle seeing those big sad eyes, so he decided to make her laugh.

“The most important thing, though, is that I'm clearly my mother's favorite, even if I did break her favorite vase when I was 7.”

They both chuckled and she kissed him, savoring the soft fullness of his lips, the feeling of her fingertips grazing his cheekbone. “I don't think I'll ever get over how incredibly beautiful you are in the sunshine,” she told him, and sighed a little. “But the sun is setting soon and we should walk back.”

He sat up and patted the blanket next to him.

“Stay with me here a little longer. Watch the sunset with me until it gets dark. I love seeing you in the moonlight.”

Lea agreed and they sat to watch the sunset, then remained at that quiet lovely spot for most of their last night. The quiet breath of the wind through the trees blending with their own sighs of pleasure and need. His warm palms found their way to her legs, parting her skirts, desperate to feel her skin, her warmth, the heat of need between her legs. As his deft touch found it's way inside of her she gasped the syllables of his name; the lovely sound of that word from her lips which he could never tire of. Laying beneath him in the moonlight, her hair and eyes gleamed and glittered in the pale glow.

“God, you're beautiful like this...like a goddess of the night,” he told her stroking her hair, seeing constellations reflected in the black mirrors of her irises. She offered him a smile, dripping with affection, which quickly shifted to a pleased purr as he moved his fingers within her. Magnus explored every sweet spot and was richly rewarded with her ecstatic responses.

“I need you closer. I need you inside,” she implored him.

This time, Magnus was pleased to feel how she opened easily to him. They fit together so perfectly; the asymmetrical pattern of their rounded edges nested together tightly, flawlessly. They were a precious broken tablet of verse, once cracked, both damaged, now mending together; all of the mysterious poetry written upon them regaining meaning and life as they reunited. It was silent and intense. The tumultuous tide of words and worries had passed by like storms over the sea, leaving only the warm waves of elation crashing over their hot skin. He moaned. She pulled. He pushed. She stroked. They gave. They took. They held tightly to each other and the moment with desperate grasps, kisses, caresses, bites, and sucks, licks. When they moved faster, he found his favorite spot between her neck and shoulder and began to suck, rewarded by her moans as they reached their climax together. The moment seemed to still and expand around them as they caught their breaths, then it popped like a bubble, effervescent and fleeting. Reality made it's entrance like an uninvited guest, and they ceded to it. The lovers returned home to hold each other as they dreamed through the small hours, until the inevitable morning of farewells could find them.

(Thank you, again, my lovelies) @gigglingtigger @unlucky-number-13 @lokisgoodgirl @goblingirlsarah @thenerdyoldersister @peaches1958 @thedistractedagglomeration @sweetsigyn

#loki fanfic

9 notes · View notes

mbti-notes · 1 year

Text

Anon wrote: Hi! I hope you're doing fine. I have a question about a neighbor that is most likely ENTP. He is almost 60 yo and he's been living alone since his mother died 10 years ago. He wasn't getting along that well with her but after that happened he changed a lot. He used to work as a driving instructor and made legal and illegal a lot of money and was always fighting with his brother because he despised how much he was drinking. After all of them died he started drinking a lot, and he left his job

because he couldn't drive anymore. As a person, he is pretty optimistic and funny but sometimes has this hopeless demeanor. He also sees many possibilities and has the most unexpected ideas. Apart from that he doesn't take care of himself at all even if he has the money and he also got sick from drinking so much. He also helped many people with money but because he had faith in a few nasty ones, he has some processes going on and I don t think it will end soon. The situation is upsetting him.

My father tried to talk with him a few times to make him take care of himself but that phase doesn't take more than 1-2 days. Is there something my father (ISTP) can tell him to help him realize how serious the situation is? I think he'll die in max 2 years if he doesn't stop drinking. The only thing that makes him happy is his 3 horses. My father tried with "You should take care of yourself so you can take care of the horses" but the result was the same.

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

It's hard to watch someone deteriorate before your eyes. The aging process can be very challenging for some people. We all accumulate experience as we age, but we don't all respond to those experiences the same way, and some of us are unlucky to be exposed to too many negative or traumatic experiences that are difficult to get over. There may be several issues that need addressing:

1) Purpose: Perhaps he's never had a stable and reliable source of personal meaning to ground his life. Lack of personal grounding is a common problem for extraverts with underdeveloped introverted functions. (It is a more common problem for EPs than EJs because EJs are, on average, more motivated to make themselves useful to the world and more easily distracted with busywork. It is a more common problem for ENPs than ESPs because ESPs are, on average, better at enjoying life. It is a more common problem for ENTPs than ENFPs because the impersonal nature of Ti isn't as amenable to generating personal meaning as Fi.)

There are many methods of grounding oneself and a good method also grants you some sense of purpose. For many people, especially Fe types, purpose can be derived through feeling responsible for another person. Although he didn't get on well with his family, it's likely their existence in his life granted him opportunities to be useful and productive, through caring about them or managing their affairs.

While many people do feel more grounded by caring for plants or animals, that can't really compare to a relationship with a mother, brother, spouse, or child. The death of a parent is especially difficult because, regardless of age or the quality of the relationship, parents are the archetypal representation of safety and security. Suddenly losing that existential grounding can make one feel quite lonely or unmoored, which could easily trigger Si grip in ENTPs.

Perhaps the only source of grounding he has had in life was his family, but it was an external source and now it's gone. The danger of relying only on external sources of meaning is that they can be taken away from you, and in the worst case scenario, without any warning. Your will to live is thereby easily disrupted because you lack the motivation to live for yourself, for the sake of your own well-being. No matter what type you are, it is ultimately in your best interests to make sure that your introverted functions are well-developed enough to generate meaning from within as well.

Of the four introverted functions, Ti is probably the hardest one to use for grounding. When ENTPs aren't in a good place emotionally, they tend to misuse Ti to rationalize their unhealthy behavior. This keeps them stuck and more susceptible to Si grip problems that damage physical and mental health even more. The longer they stay stuck in a rut of unhealthy routines, the more they lose hope of ever getting out. The "hopeless demeanor" is likely a symptom of this decline into Si grip.

Ideally, ENTPs should use Ne+Ti purposefully to do things such as: imagine ways to make life more interesting; uncover problems and solutions that help make the world around them a better place; generate curiosity for learning about new experiences; generate motivation to keep moving forward to greener pastures; etc. When ENTPs learn to make purposeful use of their knowledge and skills, they'll know their own value, and they'll feel more connected to life.

Maybe he can't do the job he did before, but that doesn't mean there isn't meaningful work for him out there. Many people near or of retirement age do part-time work or volunteer work to keep themselves active, engaged, and generating meaningful experiences. At that age, people start to feel a natural desire to contribute their knowledge and wisdom back to society. If loneliness is also a serious concern, you or your dad could help set him up with socializing opportunities or accompany him to get more involved in the community, then he has less time to brood and drink. In order for people to give up bad habits and routines, they have to develop some healthy habits and routines as a replacement.

2) Addiction: Substance abuse usually develops when people use substances to distract from deep-seated emotional problems. Being disconnected from emotional life is very dangerous because feelings and emotions are the tools of self-care. Pain is a signal that something is wrong, so making yourself deaf to emotional pain means you're not addressing the psychological imbalances that the pain is calling your attention to. The more deaf you become, the more likely you are to hurt yourself and not even realize the extent of the harm being done.

Unfortunately, the way psychology works is that you don't get to pick and choose what you feel. By trying to detach from negative emotions, you also lose the ability to feel positive ones. Eventually, you get cut off from all feeling and become numb. When you are no longer capable of feeling things like pleasure, enjoyment, happiness, wonder, or awe for any sustained period of time, you have little choice but to repeatedly reach for immediate comforts, gradually losing the will to engage with new experiences in the world.

Only he can tell you what kind of emotional baggage he's struggling with. Perhaps he hasn't dealt with the grief of losing the people closest to him. Perhaps he suffers from shame or low self-esteem because his life didn't turn out the way he had hoped. Perhaps he is depressed because life feels too boring/empty and he doesn't know what to do about it.

These kinds of problems aren't easy to address alone. It would be best for him to see a professional and get to the bottom of the drinking problem. Of course, he has to want to be helped. Beware that, if someone is intent on avoiding a problem, trying again and again to impress upon them how "serious" it is might actually make them avoid it even harder.

3) Stress: Chronic stress is also a significant contributor to addiction. A major source of stress in many people's lives is money. You say he's financially secure but he's embroiled in various conflicts with people related to money? If there is any way to remove those problems from his life more quickly, he should do so. If he isn't able to think of better ways to handle his problems, he can at least talk to people with more knowledge and expertise, such as lawyers. That way, he doesn't have to micromanage every step of the process himself. If being unable to cope with stress is a serious problem for him in general, it would benefit him to go to therapy to learn better coping strategies, or at least educate himself about how to maintain better mental health.

#entp #auxiliary ti #si grip #addiction #loneliness #depression #stress #mental health #purpose #meaning of life #aging #ask

12 notes · View notes

tenthgrove · 3 years

Note

Can I request a yandere poly! La Squadra with a darling that gains a dangerous stand? Maybe they felt they were in danger enough that it just suddenly manifests?

Panic Response

La Squadra (Poly) x Reader (GN), Yandere, SFW

Risotto doesn't like sitting out, but he knows it's probably the best thing he can do in this situation. He can't see you right now, crowded out of view by the four men desperately vying for your attention, as well as trying to get rid of each other.

He cannot make out a word that Illuso, Melone, Sorbet or Gelato are saying, though they all seem to be doing their best to comfort you so he won't intervene. Slightly clearer is Prosciutto behind them, chastising each of the men for their tactless manner in consoling you. Behind him, is Formaggio clearly contemplating whether to join in, Ghiaccio staring on in utter bewilderment and Pesci crying almost as loud as you are.

Risotto does feel bad. Seeing you so distraught really does wound his soul, but he knew days like this would be inevitable if he were ever to obtain you for him and his team. You will calm down eventually, and then they can start to explain their real intentions to you.

Perhaps it would be best to make them leave you alone for a minute.

"Hush sweetheart, don't cry. You'll feel better with some water," Gelato coos. Sorbet reaches out to pet you, but you bat him away.

"Don't be foolish. They aren't going to take water from us. You saw how they reacted last time we tried to get them to drink something we poured out for them," Melone reminds him. Gelato tuts angrily.

"Let me be alone with them for a minute, I'll calm them down!" Illuso suggests, like anyone's actually going to let that happen. "You never let me be alone with them, so you don't know until you try!"

"We are not doing that!" Prosciutto interjects.

"Illuso does have a point though," Risotto says, stepping forward. He locks with one of your eyes through a gap in the crowd, red and tear-stained. "Not about him specifically, but this may be easier if it's just one or two of us alone with them. I think someone ought to take them into a different room."

Everyone turns to you.

"What do you think sweetheart? Do you want to come up with us, or is there someone else you'd prefer?" Gelato offers. You shake your head.

"Wanna stay here," you sob weakly.

"How about we go to my room for a bit?" Prosciutto offers, stepping forward. "You liked it before, didn't you?"

"No! Leave me alone!" you whine more loudly. This isn't good. Risotto needs to put a stop to this before you lash out.

"Hey," he addresses you. Your eyes snap up in fear. "Don't be afraid. I'm going to take you into my office and then the others won't disturb you. I'll carry you, okay?"

"N-no," you protest, trying to back up further against the end of the corridor. "Don't!"

"Shh," Risotto hushes you. He reaches for your sides to lift you.

"I SAID GO AWAY!"

There's a jet of light, and the next thing Risotto knows he's being thrown back by the most brilliant stand he's ever seen.

____________

Formaggio- You have to hand it to him, he might not be known as the smartest guy in the squad but he does know how to react quickly. He jets forward to pull Risotto from the stand's grip, rapidly shrinking himself with Little Feet to slip back past the stand and towards you. He knows this stand probably isn't under your control yet so you could be in danger as well. Priority 1 is defending you.

Illuso- Not to be outdone by Formaggio's heroism, Illuso charges at your stand with Man in the Mirror and casts it into the mirror world (lucky Sorbet did get you that glass of water, otherwise he wouldn't have had a point of entry). It can't hurt anyone there, and will eventually demanifest once you calm down. The initial emergency is over, and La Squadra can focus on what to do next.

Prosciutto- Everyone agrees pretty quickly that they need to get you somewhere quiet to calm down, and after how you reacted to Risotto, it's probably best someone else does it. When Prosciutto gently leads you away to his bedroom, you're too tired to protest but still terrified. He assures you they aren't angry with you and can explain what happened once your ready. He lets you sleep alone in his bed.

Pesci- Fra said not to bother you while you sleep, but nobody is letting Pesci get a word in as they discuss down in the meeting room what to do about your stand, so he doesn't know what else he can do. Hearing his voice outside the bedroom door, you are relieved. Pesci is quite possibly the only one you completely trust not to hurt you. You let him in, and he reiterates Prosciutto's earlier promise. You ask him what the others have decided yet. He says they still don't know.

Melone- By the next morning, La Squadra still isn't sure how they're going to manage an unwilling lover with a dangerous stand, but they have agreed it's only right for you to receive an explanation for what you saw and for that they send Melone. Melone gives you a crash course on the nature of stands, why yours probably emerged and the fact each of them have their own. He assures you they don't view you having a stand as a bad thing, but it does create problems. He advises you not to attempt to bring it out again as it (truthfully) could hurt you. He hopes that will be enough to keep you secure for now.

Ghiaccio- He doesn't share it with the others, but this whole mess takes him back. He recalls how unfamiliar with stands he was when he joined the team, practically a child, and how White Album's great power caused a similar chaos for the team. Sure, your situation is different because you're here against your will, but quite frankly Ghiaccio agrees with Pesci that the others aren't respecting your boundaries enough. Maybe if they showed you the same understanding they showed him, you might come around. He'll bring it up with Risotto.

Risotto- It's rare, but Risotto doesn't know what to think. Of course he still loves you and of course there's no way he's abandoning the team's pursuit of you as a lover, but this development could cause some serious problems for the team, and you. Worst comes to the worst, they may even have to restrain you in the basement until your fight wears down enough to stop being a danger to them. Risotto would hate to do that to you. Pesci and Ghiaccio think they should try and make a deal with you. Maybe that's not the worst idea.

Sorbet and Gelato- It's them Risotto sends. They've always taken good care of you, and he rightly trusts them for this important task. Sorbet and Gelato begin by telling you how awesome it is that you have a stand; generally trying to get you excited by the possibility of learning to use it. They then move on to what happened, how scared you must have felt to react like that and how sorry all of them, including Risotto, are. Then they tell you Risotto is willing for you to go on as before. No extra security, no new restrictions on your freedom, and definitely no punishments. The squad has come to the realisation that if you're going to trust them, they have to trust you back, and therefore, they want to offer you this chance. If your stand comes out accidentally they won't be angry as long as you tell them, and if not, you'll get to learn to use it soon enough. Perhaps this is the first step towards peace between you.

221 notes · View notes

creativesplat · 3 years

Text

I often try not to be too critical on this blog, but I thought I ought to mention it.

Star Wars the Clone Wars has some serious problems.

Some things are just not handled delicately or correctly in any way shape or form. I’m not going to talk about the Clovis arcs here, since @englishlady has already done a very good job on that, and will instead elaborate on my opinions about the Zygerria arc.

Trigger warnings for discussion of slavery, non-consensual stuff, and sexual harassment.

Anakin’s portrayal was the thing that really frustrated me at first. This is a man who has suffered under slavery, abuse, and violence for the first nine years of his life, and the story writers are telling me that he is almost entirely comfortable bantering with his Padawan whilst surrounded by awful things from his past? After a few years you don’t just get over trauma, but his reactions seem to have.

I have been through nothing even remotely as bad as this, but the bad stuff that has happened in my past isn’t something I can get over, and when it’s brought up I feel rather uncomfortable, uneasy, or downright rotten.

The show writers really should have looked at this and said: ‘we are putting a character who has experienced childhood trauma into a position where he will be confronted by it and may experience it again, let’s try to handle it sensitively’ but what they actually went for was: ‘we’re doing episodes on slavery, there should be scantily clad ladies and the overall message that slavery is bad’ Yes. Slavery is bad. Everyone knows that. In dealing with such a sensitive topic, it should be handled better. Not just ‘slavery bad, but ooh look girls!’ (I will be getting on to the inappropriate costume design in a moment, btw), but also some delicacy and tact. These are real world problems that people today still suffer from, they should be handled more appropriately.

There was one line that really stood out to me (although all of them were rather poor) and that was where Ahsoka is discussing her roll on the mission.

Here’s the conversation from the Clone War’s TV show:

Here’s the conversation from the comic.

See the difference?

It feels really really tone deaf for the only character that is making light of the situation the only one who has actually experienced it. It felt a little like saying: ‘oh this sort of thing isn’t that bad, hehe lol’. It felt dismissive and not only unpleasant in terms of the real world as well, but also just incredibly poor writing and story telling.

You don’t even need to realise he has emotional trauma to realise his character would be uncomfortable in that situation, he doesn’t like sand and he’s on a desert planet. He doesn’t like putting Ahsoka in danger, and Ahsoka is in danger. I mean maybe I’m just a little judgmental or maybe I misread it… but… IDK, the portrayal of Anakin really cheesed me off.

---

Here’s the bits that may be a bit triggering, just a warning:

Ahsoka’s outfit is in no way shape or form appropriate. She is dressed like a sex slave, and she is a child.

Anakin would have probably chosen the outfits for this mission, because you know, he has the most knowledge on the subject. You can not tell me that the Ex-Slave Anakin Skywalker would gladly dress his underage female Padawan in saucy clothes.

This was a creative decision which made no sense in the story or for the characters, and it has some rather unfortunate implications. Whilst Ahsoka is not in any way harmed sexually there is the implication that something could have happened, had the Queen or Anakin allowed it. That is a rather distressing concept. It is inappropriate, particularly for a young child.

In the comics Ahsoka was dressed like Shmi Skywalker.

It would have made no difference to the story had they kept her dressed as Shmi Skywalker. I don’t really understand why they decided to dress a 15 year old girl as what appears to be a sex slave. It is disgusting and inappropriate.

Although, full disclaimer, I have never read the comics. I have only seen some of these pictures when researching to write this little opinion piece, so they may have handled the subject matter inappropriately too, I’m not sure.

---

Another monumental wrong doing on the part of the writers was to make the ‘romance’ between Anakin and Miraj Scintel feel (with the music and staging) like a pining love.

She had his friends captured and seriously harmed, had him electrocuted until he fainted, and is the queen of an entire slave empire.

It was not a romance, or even a pining one-sided love.

At best it was sexual harassment of a powerless prisoner/ slave.

At worst it was sexual assault.

He woke up on her bed (which a few people have pointed out is a little unnerving and suggestive), she was very touchy with him (and he is uncomfortable with it), and she threatened him with hurting Ahsoka and Obi Wan (indirectly but it was clearly still implied) and the people who wrote the show said that they wanted the audience to feel some form of pity at her death because of their ‘romance’.

There are some moments where the writers imply that Anakin might not be entirely as into their ‘relationship’ as she is, telling her that she had “all the power” in their dynamic, but he looks so nonchalant at this point that it might go over the head of an audience member. He is telling her that she is forcing a relationship on him, and that he is powerless to stop it, and it’s played off as a blasé interaction.

I’m not entirely sure you can put those things in a show and try to play it off as romantic to get the ‘child-friendly’ rating. They could have quite easily at least attempted to deal with the serious subject matter that they introduced. There was a suicide and a significant amount of torture and abuse in these three episodes, so there was no excuse when the show glossed over such obvious and unpleasant misconduct.

I don’t know what it is with the writers writing abusive, predatory characters who’s deaths are supposed to inspire pity. Miraj Scintell was handled as poorly as Rush Clovis was, and I don’t really have a solution to that.

Maybe if you’re watching the Zygerria arc of the clone wars, don’t watch it with younger siblings or your children.

Although, this is completely an opinion piece, so if you totally disagree or think I’m a bit of a hater or just being judgemental, that’s fine. I may be being too harsh, IDK.

I’d like to think that this was an honest mistake from the writers rather than them being deliberately obtuse or inappropriate.

#zygerria #Star Wars the clone wars #opinion piece #little rant #Star Wars meta

236 notes · View notes

vrishchikawrites · 3 years

Note

Some Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian friendship please?

Like wwx was the first person to understand that Nie Huaisang was a "useless" young master only on purpose.

You can choose if :

Post cannon?

Cannon divergence?

Cannon divergence: where he's a better friend so he makes him joint he Nie clan? Or something? who knows?

You can also choose if Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang are friends.

(Imagine NHS-WWX-LWJ are buddies since cloud recesses days and go forth, lol. Canon divergence from the point of JC denouncing WWX)

“Listen to me for once!”

Nie Huaisang didn't mean to shout, not really. It is never a good idea to shout at his da-ge because it only provokes anger in return. But Wei-xiong is in danger and no one is helping. Nie Huaisang may be a useless cultivator in many people’s eyes but he refuses to be a useless friend.

The desperation in his stone catches da-ge’s attention and his older brother looks at him with a severe frown, “That boy is cultivating the ghostly path, Huaisang! Even his sect leader distrusts him!”

“Exactly! Da-ge, I’m not stupid, no matter how much you like to believe I am-”

“I don’t!”

Huaisang ignores him, “I know Wei-xiong. He may be mischievous but he’s not evil. If you don’t believe me, ask Lan Wangji! You can trust his word, yes? If you can’t trust your own brother’s.”

“Watch your tone,” Nie Mingjue growls, “You have earned every bit of my suspicion, Huaisang. Don’t pretend otherwise.” Huaisang winces, “I’m not dismissing your concerns but I need more than just your instincts to intervene. Do you have anything more than ‘i know him, da-ge’?” His brother asks and arches a brow.

Huaisang takes a deep breath and collects his thoughts. Hundreds of little observations, pieces of a puzzle too scattered, swirl around in his mind. He has held these pieces close to this heart for years, knowing that it would’ve been disastrous to reveal them during the war. But Nie Huiasang can no longer afford to be silent. Every time he hears someone spitting out his best friend’s name like a curse, something in him burns.

Wei Wuxian is so genuinely good-natured, he will accept everyone as they are. Wei Wuxian is always willing to step between an enemy and a friend, ready to take the blow of them.

There are few people in cultivation as honorable and compassionate as Wei-xiong and Nie Huaisang doesn’t want to see that light diminish.

Da-ge is silent, as though sensing Huaisang’s turmoil.

He straightens and tucks his fan away, meeting his older brother’s gaze head-on, without hesitation. That is enough for da-ge to frown and gesture towards an empty seat. Huaisang quickly goes about making tea as he speaks, “Please be patient with me, da-ge,” He begs, “Let me explain the full picture so you can see what I see. All of this may seem like speculation, but I have proof, circumstantial, but proof nonetheless.”

Nie Mingjue’s expression is now serious and placid, like he’s fully willing to listen to what his brother has to say.

“You… you don’t know, Wei-xiong. He cherished his cultivation, da-ge,” He explains, “It is no accident or act of fate that he was so good at it - good enough to even challenge Lan Wangji. He did the work to get there; he was brilliant but he was also incredibly hardworking. His cultivation was the result of years of refinement. Suibian was his constant companion and he wielded it like it was his soul.”

His brother is still because he’s not stupid.

“Is it not strange that we hear rumors of Wei Wuxian being captured by Wen Chao- by Wen Zhuliu - and see him return with a new cultivation that doesn’t require a Golden Core?”

His da-ge is definitely paying attention now.

“But is it not stranger that the Wens claim they had taken Jiang Wanyin’s core, only for Jiang-zongzhu to come back stronger? His cultivation is so refined and powerful, he is now a force to be reckoned with. Is it not strange, da-ge, that a man that couldn’t push his core even after years of diligent training managed to strengthen so significantly in a matter of months?”

“What are you saying, Huaisang?”

“I’m saying that Wei Wuxian doesn’t have a Golden Core. He hasn’t had it for the entire duration of the war. He lost it during or before those three months he was missing. I’m saying those rumors about him being tossed into the Burial Mounds are likely to be true. I’m saying that Wei-xiong is exactly the kind of person who would use word games to make people believe otherwise. He’s also the kind of person who would do everything in his power to protect his martial siblings.”

Nie Mingue looks stunned, “He walked into war without his Golden Core?”

“I am absolutely certain he did.”

Nie Mingjue stares at his brother, “But you… don’t believe Wen Zhuliu took his core.”

Huaisang hesitates, “This is where I hesitate, da-ge. My instincts tell me it's not that simple. I have known both Wei-xiong and Jiang-zongzhu for a long time. We lived in close quarters and I may not be a good cultivator, but that doesn’t mean I miss small details. Jiang Wanyin feels just as powerful as Wei-xiong did, back then.”

“And you believe that’s impossible?” Da-ge arches a skeptical brow, “You, by your own admission, don’t like him.”

“Wen Qing nearly published a paper on Golden Core transfer. Wen Ning rescued Jiang Wanyin from Wen Chao’s grasp.” He takes a deep breath, “Wei Wuxian just gave up everything to repay a debt that Jiang Wanyin admitted he owed.” Nie Huaisang doesn’t know everything, but he has had years to figure out enough.

Suddenly, all the skepticism leaves his older brother’s face.

“Let’s speak with Lan Wangji.”

---

Wangji-xiong takes it like a blow to his chest.

Huaisang sees him flinch and he sees Xichen-ge step forward in concern, “Wangji...” Xichen-ge looks like he doesn’t know what to say and how to reassure his brother.

Huaisang may consider Wei Wuxian his best friend, but he firmly believes that no one cares for him more than Lan Wangji.

The Hanguang-jun believes him. That's clear from his expression.

Wangji-xiong has likely been aware of those scattered puzzle pieces as well. He just hadn’t put them together until now.

“This is all speculation,” Xichen-ge tries to interject, “There may not be any need to worry, Wangji.”

“Wei Ying’s heart hasn’t changed.”

Xichen-ge stills and Huaisang watches as icy resolve settles on Wangji-xiong’s face, “I’ll bring him.”

“Wangji-”

“Wangji begs your pardon, xiongzhang,” The Hanguang-jun turns around and walks swiftly towards the door. He offers no other word or explanation.

“Huaisang,” Xichen-ge’s voice is displeased, “You should have come to me with this first. Wangji is… attached to Wei-gongzi.”

Surprisingly, it is da-ge who intervenes.

“If you can give Meng Yao the benefit of the doubt, you can extend the same courtesy to Huaisang and Wangji’s friend, Xichen.” Nie Mingjue is scowling, “We have more reason to fault his character than Wei-gongzi’s.”

It is probably the harshest thing da-ge has ever said to Xichen-ge and it shows. The First Jade visibly calms himself and nods graciously, but there’s a glint of displeasure in his eyes. Jin Guangyao has been a bone of contention between da-ge and Xichen-ge for several months now. Huaisang should probably look into the matter a little more but Wei-xiong’s situation demands all of his attention.

Now that Jiang Wanyin announced Wei Wuxian’s defection to the entire cultivation world, he’s a free agent with a powerful ability and an even more powerful tool. With the Jins and their successful rumor-mongering, Huaisang fears they don’t have much time. Jin Guangshan has already driven a wedge between Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian. How much more can they accomplish if Huaisang doesn’t intervene somehow?

---

Wangji-xiong doesn’t return with Wei Wuxian. He brings Wen Qing and wears an expression of outright fury on his usually stoic face.

“I transferred his Golden Core into Jiang Wanyin.” Wen Qing declares with a straight back and a steady glare. She looks right into da-ge’s eyes, “I helped Jiang Wanyin recover from his captivity and then agreed to perform the procedure.”

Huaisang sits down as his worst fear is confirmed.

He had hoped… he had desperately hoped he had been wrong but as Wen Qing goes on to describe everything, explaining how the procedure worked and what Wei-xiong had to endure for his martial brother’s sake, he becomes certain she is telling the truth.

And this is exactly what Wei Wuxian would do. It would be too far-fetched and outrageous for anyone else, but Wei-xiong- his capacity for self-sacrifice has always worried Huaisang and Lan Wangji.

“Where is he?” Nie Mingjue demands, “Did you leave him in the Burial Grounds? In his state?”

“Wei Ying refuses to come,” Lan Wangji says, his expression pale and tight, “He must keep the resentful spirits at bay and protect the Wens. There’s a child among them, barely two years old.”

Xichen-ge sucks in a breath, closing his eyes in dismay.

“He’s injured.” Wangji-xiong continues, “He was gutted by Jiang Wanyin in a staged fight.” Huaisang looks up sharply, “He hasn’t healed and yet persists to place himself at risk.”

“Wangji, we will help him,” Xichen-ge assures, “I apologize for not understanding the situation, but now we know and we will help him.”

“So they fought to spare the Jiang Sect,” Huaisang speculates with a frown, “But… why not just tell us? Surely Jiang-zongzhu knows he just had to mention his debt to you, Wen-guniang.”

“We have misunderstood Jiang Wanyin’s character greatly.” That is a big condemnation coming from the Hanguang-jun himself. Huaisang is certain that Wangji-xiong isn’t inclined to be charitable now. Jiang Wanyin did hurt Wei Wuxian seriously, after all.

“He won’t move until we do something to help the Wens.” Huaisang concludes, opening his fan in a snap and waving it furiously, “Because he’s just that stubborn. If he owes Wen-guniang and Wen-gongzi a debt, nothing is going to move him, not even Wangji-xiong.”

“I have never been able to move him.” Lan Wangji says icily and it seems like they’re feeding off each other’s ire.

Really, Wei-xiong is so frustrating to deal with sometimes. He doesn’t know how Lan Wangji handles being in love with him, Huaisang already feels nauseous. Wei Wuxian is in such a precarious position now that if they don’t act fast, he would…

He would likely be imprisoned or killed.

“Let’s offer the Wens some protection then.” Nie Huaisang says.

“Huaisang,” Da-ge warns, “It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?” He demands, turning towards his brother and Lan Xichen, “Will the Jins retaliate? If both Lans and Nies stand together on the matter, what will they do? The Wens don’t need to be free, they need to be safe and healthy. We can keep them contained in a small farming village, forbid cultivation and absorb any children into one of our clans. Let’s take Wei-xiong into the Nie clan and let the Wens settle in the northern reaches. The area is fairly remote and life will be hard but safe, better than the Burial Mounds at any rate!”

He doesn’t know what kind of expression he has on his face but da-ge looks faintly amused, “You’ll take on the Jins?”

“If I have to!”

“He means that much to you?”

Huaisang swallows and thinks of days spent in merriment and comfort. Of a friendly arm tossed around his shoulder and a laughing voice dragging him into all sorts of mischief. He thinks of warm silver eyes that never looked down at him and nods, “Yes, he does.”

Wei-xiong has always helped him and treated him with respect. It is time for him to return the favor.

---

It is a near miracle that everything works out as planned. Well, almost everything. No one is pleased when the Lans and Nies band together to take over the Wen remnants. Fortunately, the Jiangs don’t have any room to object. Da-ge doesn't hesitate to reveal that Jiang Wanyin owes Wen Ning his life. Jiang Wanyin's honor is called into question but he suffers no other consequence for his dishonesty. Nie Huaisang doesn’t care but he notices how it guts Wei-xiong.

Apparently, when Wei-xiong and Jiang Wanyin agreed to part ways, Jiang-zongzhu only needed to say Wei Wuxian had left the Jiangs. There was no need to outright state that his sect brother had betrayed the entire cultivation world!

Either Jiang-zonghzu is incredibly naive or he deliberately placed Wei Wuxian in a difficult position without his knowledge.

Either way, Nie Huaisang is content to see that relationship severed. In his humble opinion, he makes a much better martial brother. And Wei-xiong could certainly benefit from being under the thumb of someone as protective as da-ge. He’s entirely too willing to place himself in harm’s way!

Humming under his breath and happy that everything turned out according to plan, Nie Huaisang turns around the corner and pauses. He quickly takes a few steps back until he’s out of sight. Peeking cautiously around the corner, he hides a grin behind his fan as he sees Wei-xiong fall off a tree and right into Lan Wangji’s arms.

Huaisang bites back a laugh when Wei Wuxian stays in place, arms around Lan Wangji shoulders and eyes peering up at the Second Jade.

He had been suspicious about them since Lan Wangji all but dragged Wei Wuxian to the Unclean Realm. His best friend arrived with flushed cheeks and suspiciously red lips but everyone pointedly ignored it, too eager to avoid that particular mess.

He smiles, chuckling under his breath when Wangji-xiong pulls Wei Wuxian closer and dips his head.

Turning around, he starts walking away, leaving the lovers to their business.

Besides, da-ge would want to know about this.

#short prompts #nie huaisang #lan wangji #wei wuixan #nie mingjue #anti jiang cheng #nmj is proud of his bb bro for standing up for what he believes in lol

271 notes · View notes

makeste · 3 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 317: My Boy Was Just Like Me

Previously on BnHA: AFO randomly blew up Lady Nagant as a good reminder of why you should never make a deal with this fucking guy, smdh. Hawks was all “well if it isn’t my two best friends, Deku and Lady Nagant, both of whom I respect and love tremendously.” Everyone was all “??” and Horikoshi was all “shh... just pretend” because it was too embarrassing for him to admit that he forgot to write a couple of set-up flashbacks I guess. Anyway so Hawks got Lady to tell them where AFO was hiding out, and everyone said goodbye to her and Overhaul, who never did get to see his boss (sorry buddy, I’ll send you a vial of my tears in the mail), and headed out to a house in the woods. AFO was all “hello Deku :) :) it sure is fun making you suffer :) :) :) anyways this is a trap”, and blew up the house. Yeah, we all here are getting reaaaaaaaal tired of your shit, AFO.

Today on BnHA: The Hawksquad and Edgeplatoon meet in a warehouse and are all “what should we do about the fact that everything sucks?” Mt. Lady is all “here’s a thought, what if we tried battling AFO with more than six people.” Hawks and Endeavor are all “great initiative, but just a friendly reminder that our friends also suck and would probably betray Deku which would suck further still.” Shouto is all “ANSWER THE PHONE DAD” and Endeavor is all “[IRONICALLY DOESN’T ANSWER THE PHONE].” Meanwhile over in Sadtown, capital of Sadland Prefecture, Japan, Deku is all “All Might, as you can clearly see I am completely fine and good, never been better in fact, definitely not caught up in the throes of an epic mental breakdown which is shutting me down emotionally, anyway so on that note I would like to leave you now goodbye!!” All Might is all “[can’t actually form any words because he’s too distraught].” Fandom is all “o(╥﹏╥)o.” Horikoshi is all “(*＾-’) 乃 [pew pew finger guns and barrel rolls into the darkness].”

sweet jesus lord

this literally doesn’t even look like Deku anymore?? this looks like Dark!Deku who shows up to fight you in that one room in the Water Temple. he looks like he’s about to crawl out of my television set and murder me with his psychic powers good lord

holy shit lmao Horikoshi is really just shrugging his shoulders and resolving last week’s cliffhanger with a single line of dialogue

fire is no one’s weakness. idk what other options you’ve got, AFO, but you’re gonna have to go back to the drawing board. maybe try bees or something. I’m just saying. we’re all expecting fire at this point but nobody is expecting bees

anyway so now they’re all sitting in some warehouse somewhere chatting about it I guess. shoutout to Horikoshi for finally giving my man Edgeshot some more dialogue at long last

well, Edgeshot, to answer your question, she exploded. so naturally she’s fine

nah just kidding, Hawks says she won’t be able to help them out much because she’s recovering from being exploded. this is the part where we all ignore the fact that Hawks got set on fire for like a full ten minutes back during the War arc and was only in the hospital for a day. anyways enjoy your temporary plot hiatus Nagant

man there’s a lot of dialogue here and I’m trying to figure out where to insert commentary but it’s kinda difficult lol. basically, Edge and the others are saying that they should gather up the other remaining heroes and get them all caught up on the whole OFA situation. which, hmmmm

like on the one hand, these guys definitely aren’t going to cut it on their own, so it’s a reasonable suggestion on the face of it. but on the other hand, do we really want to entrust the OFA secret to a bunch of other people, most of whom shat the bed during the War arc to be quite frank? is it really worth the additional risk? especially given that any one of them might go spilling the beans to the public -- or worse, betray them to AFO??

also just a quick side note here, Mt. Lady’s character development never ceases to delight me. she’s become so committed to her responsibility as a hero these days, and it fucking suits her. I genuinely consider to be one of the elites now. I mean it doesn’t hurt that all the other elites are fucking dead lol but still

wait what? Death Arms retired??

Death Arms as in the guy who was too afraid of a little fire to try and save a terrified 14-year-old kid who was slowly suffocating right before his eyes?? that Death Arms???? color me surprised. shocked, I tell you

...okay but holy fuck

Death Arms. bro. my expectations for you were low but holy shit. like I’m sorry, but I don’t even have it in me to try and pretend like I feel the slightest bit of sympathy for him or Old Man Samurai or any of those other guys today. thanks for a whole lot of nothing my dude. good riddance

(ETA: so I’m rereading this the next day and realize this comes off as kind of harsh, so let me just try to clarify. it’s not the fact that he’s quitting that bothers me, to be honest. it’s the fact that he’s quitting specifically because he feels like the public is being mean to him. that’s it.

seriously. it would be one thing if he was quitting because he was scared, because now that is human. nobody wants to die, and I doubt any amount of training can ever fully prepare someone to go up against that fear. but the thing is, he never once mentions that, or talks about the danger aspect. instead, I got the distinct vibe from this speech that Death Arms is one of those people who only became a hero because of the limelight. and I just don’t have any patience for that. if all you care about are likes and subscribes then go become a fucking youtuber or some shit. nothing wrong with that! but you didn’t; you signed up to be a hero and protect these people. they gave you their respect and admiration because they trusted you to protect them. and now that they’re no longer in the mood to worship and applaud your every move on account of them being scared shitless because they’re living in the literal end times, you decide to dip. so like okay, fine then. don’t let the door hit you on the way out. anyways lol sorry for the rant.)

anyway so yeah. perfect example of why I don’t exactly have a ton of faith in most of the remaining heroes out there lol. also let me just once again give a shoutout to my best girl Mt. Lady whom I suddenly find myself appreciating all the more

“please calm down makeste. drink some water and enjoy this fresh new jeans pun” listen Horikoshi don’t tell me what to do dammit

fine. it is a nice pun, I guess

-- damn so now Endeavor’s saying that the media is already being fed info by the retired heroes. so for some of these guys it wasn’t enough for them to abandon all the people they swore to protect and to leave their fellow heroes out in the cold; they decided they might as well actively make things worse for them while they were at it, huh. like I get wanting to spill all the dirty secrets from your old job that you just quit, but this isn’t Jeff Bezos you’re screwing over, this is a sixteen-year-old kid

-- like, yes!! this, right here!!

exactly!! let’s not forget that there are already two prior instances of this happening. Endeavor arguably deserved it, but Katsuki not so much

huh. Endeavor seems to have a more optimistic outlook regarding this than I do lol

I mean, this is the same public that didn’t hesitant to blame a kidnapped child for his own kidnapping, and then later on for being the downfall of the Symbol of Peace. but okay then

anyway so blah blah blah, more talk about how they need to use Deku as bait, which basically puts them back at square one, and then they’re all just trailing off into silence and sitting around in the dark lmao this is getting very depressing

SKDJFLSDKJ:LFKJ

SHOUTO?????

NOOOOOOOO ARE YOU KIDDING ME

OH HOW THE TURNTABLES OMG. THE GHOSTER HAS BECOME THE GHOSTEE. Endeavor you petty son of a bitch. and what a brutal cut to that flashback too. “let’s stop Touya together” nah Shouto I’ve got a better idea why don’t I abandon you in U.A. and sally off with Hawks and Jeanist to found the “let’s pretend like we’re doing something to help Deku” club, which basically consists of us sitting around making terrible decisions all day long

Shouto, honey. you deserve better my little Coca Cola can. .........but if you really do have something important you need to tell your dad you could just text it to him. all the love and support, hugs and kisses, you’re doing amazing sweetie. but if you need to pass on any vital information you can just write it down and hit send honey that’s all I’m saying love

now he’s getting another call?? -- or, no, Hawks is getting a call from All Might

ARE YOU FOR REAL HAWKS OMFG

so while you all were sitting around talking about how useless you are, the kid you’re supposed to be protecting was battling another hired gun. I see. please pardon me for one second, I have a phone call to make. the phone call is to RockLockRock and Manual. the reason for the call is to apologize for calling them the worst bodyguards ever back during the War arc. the reason for the apology is because it turns out I WAS SEVERELY MISTAKEN OMFG

JESUS CHRIST DEKU DID YOU JUST KILL THIS MAN LMAO

shoutout to Horikoshi for offscreening this fight. we get it, lol. Deku strong and scary, villains ineffectual and feeble, and AFO... [checks notes] yep, still a dick. the angst arc continues

-- the angst arc continues, SIR

jesus christ I may have to rethink all of my opinions about Deku being framed for murder in movie 3 lmao. never mind. he did it, your honor

holy fucking shit Deku. “he might blow up, so please be careful” fdlskjflk jlskdjflk lwkejflk anyway so I’ve decided the explosion running gag can stay, actually

DEKU WAIT YOU FORGOT YOUR LUNCH!!

lol why do I get the feeling some serious shit is about to go down. ALL MIGHT NEVER MIND BACK OFF I THINK HE NEEDS HIS SPACE

OH MY FUCK I GASPED OUT LOUD

NO NO NO. I KNEW THIS WAS COMING GODDAMMIT BUT NO. NEVER MIND, I CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT IT, I’M NOT READY TO CRY TODAY

shit. shit shit shit shit and OF COURSE all I can fucking think about is that stupid fucking prophecy and gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Deku please. please please please if you really are going to leave All Might here, please be so very careful in choosing your farewell words to him now because have this sudden horrible fear that this might be the last time you ever see him alive and oh god. oh god oh god

DEKU NO, YOU’RE REALLY NOT!?!?

I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE LESS FINE IN MY LIFE, ACTUALLY????

holy shit. and the fucking callback to the prophecy now. just in case we forgot. WHICH FYI, WE DIDN’T. but that’s basically confirming that this is all still very much on the table and HORIKOSHI NEVER FORGETS oh my god someone please hold me

and the fact that Deku’s flashing back to it now too, though?? because he never forgot either, because of course he didn’t, and now all this stuff is happening, and AFO’s words are getting to him, and this is literally his worst fear come to life and so of course he’s distancing himself from everyone, and now it’s finally come to even this. even the person he admires most

-- OKAY NO, FUCKING COME ON ALREADY I CAN’T TAKE THIS

I GET IT OH MY GOD, I ALREADY UNDERSTAND THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF THIS MOMENT WITHOUT ALL OF THE DEVASTATING FLASHBACKS THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!! YOU ACTUALLY DO WANT ME TO CRY, HUH, IS THAT IT. THIS MAN THAT HE THINKS OF AS A FATHER, THIS MAN WHO HAS BEEN EVERYTHING TO HIM SINCE HE WAS A VERY YOUNG CHILD. EVERYTHING THEY’VE BEEN THROUGH, JUXTAPOSED AGAINST EVERYTHING DEKU IS UP AGAINST, EVERYTHING THAT’S AT RISK. LET’S JUST PUT IT ALL SIDE BY SIDE. LET’S JUST PILE ON ALL OF THE FEELS

(ETA: just a quick note that even though some of the posts I’ve read have described these as All Might’s flashbacks, I’m pretty sure they are Deku’s. most of these are scenes that only he was there for, so yeah. even though All Might is the one thinking the thoughts on the next page, the flashbacks are what’s running through Deku’s mind right now, and so we’re getting that emotion from both of them, which makes it extra devastating lol.)

wait, what???

WHAT??? do you really think that’s why he’s been so determined to protect you this entire time?? simply because you’re his successor?

-- oh no wait lol I think I got that mixed up, this is All Might saying that Deku feels the need to protect him. well that makes more sense lol

oh my god I cannot

his last words. his last words to him. and we can’t even see if he is smiling, like All Might always encouraged him to do. but what are the odds he can’t actually bring himself to do it. what are the odds he’s actually crying. oh god this scene is going to rip my heart out and STOMP on it in the anime isn’t it. Deku’s VA is going to full on murder me with emotion. not that there’ll be much of me left to murder after the thorough job that Horikoshi has already done here

YOU’RE CRYING. DEKU IS LEAVING ALL MIGHT AND IGNORING HIS OUTSTRETCHED HAND AND YOU’RE CRYING. AND BY “YOU” I MEAN “ME”, FUCK

nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope no words just feels just a big ol’ pile of feels. I do not have the strength. future me... [broadly gestures] good luck with all that

(ETA: LOL, WELL THEN.

what breaks my heart here is All Might. All Might, and everything he’s been through, and history repeating itself, and forcing him to live this moment from both sides because he wasn’t strong enough to fix things.

Toshinori had only just turned eighteen when Nana died. like, I feel like we don’t mention this enough. the All Might we know is a sixty-something-year-old man, and so everyone always talks about him like he’s basically been an adult forever. but he was a child when he met Nana. and he was still just a child when she died. barely a year older than Deku is now. younger than Mirio was when we first met him.

and we don’t talk about that. we don’t talk about how devastating that was for him. and we don’t talk about how the reason he grew up to become so reserved and withdrawn -- for all that he always tried so hard to outwardly project the image of a bold, confident, smiling hero -- was specifically because of what AFO did to him. because AFO targeted him in the exact way that he is now targeting Deku. because that’s what he does. he goes after every new user of OFA, and he finds out what’s most important to them, and then he destroys it. and for Toshinori, that was Nana. if you’ve read All Might Rising, you know that AFO basically killed her in front of him (and only killed her, while letting Toshinori and Gran get away). Toshinori (while crying) later says she was like a mother to him. and interestingly enough, during this same conversation, Gran tells Toshinori that he can see “that madness in [his] eyes” when Toshi talks about becoming strong enough to defeat AFO. madness in his eyes. sound familiar??

what’s happening to Deku now is the exact same thing that happened to Toshinori when he was a boy. AFO tried every bit as hard to break him as he’s trying with Deku now. “the path you’ve chosen is a thorny one. every battle grinds away at your soul with no end in sight.” we don’t talk about how Toshinori experienced this same thing for forty fucking years. and all the while isolating himself, exactly like Deku is doing now. pushing people away, exactly like Deku. because he never had anyone who was able to reach out and pull him back. and those words that he now finds himself frozen and unable to speak -- “don’t push yourself”; “you can rest” -- are the same words that no one ever said to him until decades later, when it was already far too late to make any difference.

everything that Deku is experiencing now is what Toshinori also went through. and it’s only now, as he watches it happen to his student, the boy he loves like a son, that he’s finally starting to realize the full extent of how wrong it was. you shouldn’t have to fight alone. you shouldn’t have to bear that kind of enormous burden alone. you shouldn’t have to push yourself, and you can rest. you can rest.

but it’s too late. just as he’s finally coming to understand it all, it’s all too fucking late. and he can’t say the words, he doesn’t know how to say the words, and then just like that, Deku is gone.

and he’s alone. again.)

I can’t. this can’t be their goodbye. I’m not ready. for this to be how they finally part, and then they never see each other again except in OFA. how is that fair. how is that fair. how is that fair

fuck me. lol. how many pages are left in this thing. let’s just wrap this up lol. so now of all the times for this fucking guy to finally show up

I can’t believe Stain has been here literally this entire time hiding behind this random wall and cutting onions. that was you who was cutting the onions, right. no need to answer that we’ll just say it was

HORIKOSHI JUST END THE CHAPTER PLEASE I’M OUT OF SPOONS. YOU HURT ME SO GOOD AND I LOVE YOU FOR IT BUT YOU NEED TO LET ME GO NOW SO I CAN BEGIN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO PUT MY LIFE BACK IN ORDER HERE. SO WHERE ARE WE CUTTING TO NOW WHAT IS HAPPENING

Stain did you also let AFO give you a new quirk. what’s with you guys. do you like blowing up

oh nvm lol because they were talking about THIS GUY ohhhhhh my fucking god

THAT’S BECAUSE HE’S SAD, LINDA!! jesus

omfg. and so yes, good, the chapter is ending here now on page 15. for once I am FULLY on board with that lmao

anyway so tune in next week for more adventures of Werewolf Deku!! that is, assuming we don’t finally cut back to U.A. at long last, which is actually a strong possibility considering that this chapter will likely mark the end of volume 31. it sure wouldn’t kill Horikoshi to start giving us some hope after everything he’s just put us through lol. KACCHAN COME GET YA BOY

#bnha 317 #all might #midoriya izuku #and endeavor and hawks and mt. lady and all the rest of them I guess #literally forgot all about them by the end lol #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha meta #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #this wound up so long lmao I'm so sorry

368 notes · View notes

aetherarf · 3 years

Note

How would Zhongli, Kaeya, Diluc and Childe react to their teen daughter telling them she’s pregnant? (I don’t mean this in a weird way, teen pregnancy is a serious issue and I’m curious to how these Genshin guys would react to it)

I would have taken it the serious route since... nature of this blog. I may also lean into using some gender neutral terms for the kid cuz... nature of this blog.

I will say these are written very seriously but... healthily. Like, I can't see any of them kicking their kid out when they already fucked up. It goes without saying none of them know if they're doing the right thing but they're mostly doing what they would want done for them.

[Except Zhongli but you'll see why.]

WARNING: A few mentions of ABORTION. Nothing graphic or extreme just vague mentions or implications of it being offered as an option, but not enforced in any way. also PREGNANCY dont read if you dont wanna see pregnancy content.

Anyway, below the cut nonny.

Zhongli

He is... well... a little odd about the situation, with all he's seen through his very long life. Initially, when he sees his child shaking like a leaf in the wind, he assumes much, much worse. Did something happen? Did they do something vile? Oh, oh dear... He's half expecting them to admit to the most gruesome, vile things, and hearing that they're pregnant.

He breathes a sigh of relief for a moment, no fear of them taking adeptus drugs or having killed innocent souls... But then, as the gears in his head turn, he looks at them, then his gaze trails down to their stomach... Pregnant. As in, a child.

He's worried, now, and instantly begins going on some sort of ramble about medicines, the danger of having children with adeptus [whether or not the child was only half or full adeptus, there was still enough of that adeptus blood-- Prime Adeptus blood, that may cause issues.] He's immediately calling in a favor from Baizhu, medicines are in order, to fortify his child's body, because carrying an adeptus is no joke, even if the blood is diluted.

As time goes on... it sets in further. He realizes his child is having a child... who's the other parent? He has a hard time keeping himself away from his little one because... they're just a child themself... did he fail to keep them safe? Doesn't matter, he needs to protect them now, as feral as he feels about it, all he wants is for them to be safe.

If the pregnancy was a mistake, Zhongli... would consider offering medicine that would minimize the child's natural adeptus energy and it would effectively be... an abortion. Of course, it's not that simple, but it's an option. Sometimes, it's the safest, many humans had died giving birth to a partially adepti child.

If they decline, he understands, and he's going to be there for them. There's no guilt or anger, honestly, more fear than anything... Zhongli, out of the four, he's the one who doesn't seem to notice that the age itself is a large issue. The age was a concern, but in the grand span of centuries upon centuries, it wasn't everything. He was more fearful that they would die for this child, without having time to make a choice.

Kaeya

His heart sinks into his belly when he hears...pregnant... they're pregnant?

Instantly, he wants answers. Who was the father? Who put a baby in his baby? Did they consent? Did they plan this ahead of time? Why didn't they tell him before? Are they looking for 'Plan B'? Do they want to keep the child or to put it up for adoption?

After he has his answers, whether or not he likes them or not, there's an eerie silence.

And suddenly, he hugs them. He holds them tight.

"It's okay, little bird, it's okay... I'm right here for you."

He's not sure how to feel, honestly. A part of him just wants to lose it, to murder the bastard who got them pregnant, but he knows better. He knows that a pregnant teen with fear in their eyes and a new, terrifying life ahead of them needs comfort. And he's going to be there for them.

He will openly discuss every possible option, from the worst to the fluffiest, and when they're tired of talking, he's already changed the topic.

Were he to be completely honest, he's not happy about this. He was... well, he had learned who he was before he had a child, but they were... just that. a child. They were young and foolish, he does not think this out of anger, but... Kids are stupid! Teens are absolutely stupid! He was, too!! But... this was going to stop them from being able to fully grow up. Maybe he could take his grandchild, basically raise them alongside them, that would be the best option if he had that option, and while he would recommend/offer it, he won't make demands.

He's not happy, but... there's a lot he's not happy about in life, so, just like everything else, he can find his way to turn a bad thing into a good thing.

Diluc

As soon as he hears... he's quiet for a moment.

He feels... sickened. Sex as a whole is an uncomfortable topic for him, and... well, pregnancy isn't exactly great either. There's horror flashing in his eyes as he's told... But he doesn't say much. In fact, he's probably the calmest out of all of them.

He grabs his child's hand, "What do you want to do about it?"

He lets them talk, maybe they just cry out I don't know!, or maybe they say they want to keep the child. He nods and listens, no smiling, but he does seem calm enough to not rouse fear.

Hell, when Diluc became a father, whether it be from adoption or a partner giving birth, he... didn't know what to do. He didn't. Even if it was planned, or if it was a complete accident, he felt lost. But... holding them was... for a little bit, nothing felt wrong.

He figured, with their even younger age than his own, they must be even more confused. They will figure out what they want, and he will offer to do anything to help them, as long as he believes it won't harm his little phoenix...

Childe

Oh boy.

He's five seconds from murder depending on how they tell him.

If they tell him it was an accident, or them didn't want it, he's about to murder some poor idiot them knocked them up.

If they tell him it was planned and he didn't want him to stop them, he's more heartbroken than anything. Did... they not trust him?

No matter what, after the initial shock or horror or rage subsides... it depends on one last thing before he reacts.

If they don't want to keep it... he tells them he'll make everything better, he'll fix it for them, and goes to find out anything he can.

If they want to keep and raise the child... he's all smiles and happiness. Sure, they're young, and honestly... they fucked up, he'd say that, too... but if they want to keep the kid, then who's he to say no? He's already calling himself a grandpa.

He's sure that they already know they fucked up, and that they really screwed themselves over. If they didn't know now, they would when it was three in the morning and the screams of an infant would wake them over and over.

While, in one way, he feels like he should punish his child... life itself was more than enough punishment. He doesn't want them to run away and deal with that punishment alone, he wants to keep them safe, even if it's from the consequences of their own actions.

#genshin impact #childe #zhongli #kaeya #diluc #// everytime i see those four i think of dckz #// which makes me laugh cuz... dckz... d!cks...#// i am an ADULT ok #anonymous #request #bark writes #angst #// eh?#// idk #pregnancy

76 notes · View notes

phoenixkaptain · 3 years

Text

In episode 219, the Gathering of the Detectives! Shinichi Kudou vs. Kaitou Kid, you can tell, spoilers for something twenty years old ahead, the Conan knows that Kid is Kogoro. Otherwise, he never would’ve been so openly intelligent. You can tell from the scene he deduces everything, when one detective mentions that it was Conan’s idea for them all to pretend to die to bait the murderer out. Conan wouldn’t have made such a plan to the others if he didn’t know Kid was disguised as Kogoro.

But, more than that, I love the subtle hints they put in that Kid is disguised as Kogoro. The fact he doesn’t smoke while they’re there. How serious he takes everything is very against his personality, even if you think he’d act like that in such a tense situation. That early in the series, Kogoro really was still the worst at taking serious things seriously. But, it goes even further than that. For most of the series, one of the only good things about Kogoro is how protective he is of his daughter, whether consciously or subconsciously. I don’t think he would’ve let them sit seperately, even if they did play a game to decide seating. Who would begrudge a detective who wants to sit by his daughter during a high stress situation where they’re all in danger? The fact that he doesn’t is telling.

Kogoro as a character is a dick. He’s loud and obnoxious and we all know it. In this episode, he’s oddly laidback. Disguising as Kogoro also means that Kid doesn’t have to be an expert detective, because anyone who’s spent anytime around Kogoro knows that it’s a miracle he ever got a detective job in the first place. He purposefully doesn’t spend much time with Ran and Conan (look how well spending time with Conan has turned out in the past) by sitting apart from them and leaving in the car with the other two. You could view Senma askign for a ride as a blessing for him, since it meant there was less time for him to talk to Ran and Conan.

I love the subtle tricks they put in the show. Earlier in the show, episodes 132-134, you can see how Kaitou Kid would start to piece together that Conan is more than just a weirdly intelligent small child. He can see, from the house, that Conan is hiding behind the tree talking for Sonoko, because otherwise we wouldn’t have so many shots focused on Conan walking to the back of the tree. Shinichi and Kaito are both showmen in their own way, which is why Conan plays it fast and loose pretending to be a child and always does a pretty bad job of it, while Kaito pulls off the performance near flawlessly so the reveal is all the more shocking.

Shinichi is so bad at pretending to be a child that he straight up confronts Kid in the house, while he was talking for Sonoko in the hall of the house. And people wonder why Conan has been found out by so many people and Kid hasn’t.

One thing I love is when Kid, disguised as a random medical student/magic nerd, pops into existence to shoot the bowgun for Ran, making him the most suspicious person in the world as he says “I have experience with this.” You know, as all non-criminal, completely innocent people do. The scene where he randomly punches the ground gets me everytime. It’s so weird. It’s so out of left field. And we know, after the fact, that it’s just Kaito being upset because a magician died and he didn’t want that to happen, but it’s so jarring in the moment that it’s really funny.

We know the culprit from the second part, because Conan outright explains how she could be the culprit while pretending to be a dumb child. But Kaitou Kid is so bad at pretending to be an innocent civilian, he straight up ends up being the most convincing red herring of them all. His only good quality is that he has an airtight alibi, but he’s so good at coming across as a criminal, it’s really a talent.

None of this has any order, but to completely jump ship, I want to talk about Akako. Akako is straight up a witch, confirmed. She knows the future, she talks with Lucifer, she straight up is actually magic and the show, any of the shows, never explain why this one character is actually a witch. I love her. Anyway, her Jii both have scenes warning Kaito. Akako warns him about Shinichi, with her vague-but-clear fortune about the clock. It’s also where she calls him like a devil or demon or something and I sit there thinking “Akako, he’s only seventeen, give him a bit of a break, please.” But then Jii, right before Kaito goes to do the heist he was introduced in, is like “I have a bad feeling about this.” Jii invoked Akako’s name, somehow, and his ‘oh no shinichi kudou’ senses started tingling. Kaito: “What could possibly go wrong? It’s not like there will be a small child waiting on the roof for me to ruin my plans. That would be silly.” (Okay, he doesn’t say that, but it always passes through my mind)

From the very first episode Kaitou Kid is introduced, Conan has a spidey sense for his presence. This sense comes back in every episode with Kaito in it. It is truly unfortunate that Kaito doesn’t have a ‘Kudou Shinichi will be there so I should cancel’ sense. It would help him a lot. The way it’s shot in the series, however, makes it seem like Conan can just feel Kaito looking at him. There are similar scenes elsewhere where he can tell someone’s looking at him, so it makes it seem like Kaito is just increibly nervous and/or curious about this small child and so stares at him. Which is why it kind of makes sense that he chooses to disguise himself as Ran, then as Kogoro. And, when Conan runs back into the house during the mystery fan murders, he passes out with a fever. Kaito as Doi comes in and helps, and says that he studies medicine, but it’s a fact he pulled out of thin air since Sonoko, who had a lot of contact with him prior, didn’t know about it. Kaito must be taking those warnings about demons more seriously.

Anyway, what was the point? I love Kaitou Kid. I love that Kaitou Kid I decided to name his child Kaito. I love Conan. I love how bad Shinichi is at acting like a child and how evil he comes across in these episodes. I love their dumb relationship where Kaito tries to keep his poker face and Shinichi just pokes and prods and tries to bug him. I love them, in short, and I think Kaitou Kid episodes are the best. I also think it’s funny that a bunch of the episodes about the infamous jewel thief have murder in them.

#detective conan #edogawa conan #kuroba kaito #kudou shinichi #kaitou kid #sonoko suzuki #mouri ran #mouri kogoro #koizumi akako #long drawn out meta on a show no one cares about but me #thoughts #i really do love this show #love how bad conan is at acting #love how stressed kaito gets #its a party all around

84 notes · View notes

narrators-journal · 3 years

Text

Step four

CW: Congratulations reader-chan! You’re expecting! Illumi also really cranks up the yandere side, nothing too bad, but he’s definitely not proving to be a stable man in this part.

Previous part: here

First part: here

Illumi found his mother in the family library, doing some research for a job she'd gotten. "Mother, sorry for interrupting, but I have a rather pressing dilemma with my relationship." He said, and he could see the woman perk up slightly, but she only hummed and stayed focused on her research, "Sorry dear, I can't help right now, maybe try Gotoh." She spoke casually, but he could see in her body language that she was dying to hear about her eldest son's relationship. "I was wondering if it would be inappropriate to bring her here so soon." he added, and like that her research was forgotten and she was instead offering him a seat beside her. So, he sat in the intricately carved wooden chair and filled her in on his dilemma with the concerns for your safety after finding out Hisoka knew your name, and the concern of pushing you away unnecessarily. "I don't want to put her in danger, but my research on dating says that bringing her here is something to do later on, when we've been together for more than a month." he explained, his mother digesting the information before speaking, "This is a rather delicate situation...but since Morrow is here, it should be safe to leave her where she is. Maybe set some butlers as constant bodyguards, but hold off on bringing her around here. At least until I can prepare! Oh I'd have to get the chefs to cook a special meal for when your father and I finally meet your partner, and the mansion will have to be meticulously cleaned, and the gardens tended to!" Illumi sighed as his mother rambled on a tangent about how this sort of conflict was always so romantic in the novels she'd read and how she'd have to make sure the family was perfect so as to leave the best possible impression on you. "Mother, I am being serious. I have worked with Hisoka before, he's a dangerously clever man. I don't want to risk him harming my future spouse," he reminded the woman, who savored her excitement for a moment longer before regaining her composure, "I'm sorry dear, I just get so happy when I think about my sweet baby boy finally settling down," she said somewhat wistfully, and the assassin inwardly groaned. He was the eldest of at least five, he was far from her baby anymore, but he couldn’t really remind her of that without sending her into a sobbing fit. "anyway!" she chirped, drawing him back from his blank staring and practiced way of spacing out when she took advantage of the fact she was the only Zoldyck allowed to be mushy like this, "I really do think you should leave her where she is, at least for a bit longer. Once she comes to this mountain she won't be able to leave easily, and I'd hate for your future wife to turn out to be some spy or desperate journalist." While she said it in honesty, her voice lacked any real remorse. If you did turn out to be a threat, even Kikyo wouldn't hesitate to squash you like a bug. I think out of everyone to have after (y/n), mother would be the worst. Illumi thought as he pondered his mother's words, agreeing to keep you at your home for the time being. So, for the next few weeks Illumi alternated between jobs and returning to stalking you, but until he could rein in the possessive urge to kidnap you, he kept his distance. When he couldn't watch you himself, like when he was torturing Hisoka for adding extra steps to that job, he made sure someone was still there to ensure nothing bad happened to you. Another bonus of this set up he found was that the servants he had hidden nearby to watch you were able to warn him when you started acting odd. They couldn't exactly place why you were suddenly so anxious and slightly distraught though, so the ebony-haired assassin decided to finish the job he was on quickly when he found out and return to his secondary home. About a day after he'd returned, in the late afternoon, you knocked at his door, as he was expecting. "Hello," he hummed as he opened the door to find you standing in the slightly chilly daylight fidgeting anxiously, "Um...I think we need to talk." You said, your words shooting an arrow of anxiety into his heart, Is she going to break up with me? Should I have brought her home sooner? Should I just grab her now? he asked himself, his dark, empty eyes scanning over your form to glean any information he could from your body language while he wrangled in his moment of panic, No. Invite her in, if she really is about to break up with you she'd be easier to subdue where no one can be a witness. he told himself, temporarily quelling the urge to snatch you up and refuse to let you go again and instead inviting you inside to talk out of the cool late spring air. Once inside you sat on his couch, too preoccupied with your own thoughts to mind the bit of mess in the room that Illumi was swift to sweep under the couch or toss out of sight. Your tense mood drove Illumi crazy, but he skillfully hid the fact that he was growing impatient with waiting and beginning to plan out a way to sedate you and take you home, keeping his focus on the dirty clothes he was throwing behind the chair and the garbage he was shoving into his pockets. simply sitting beside you after a while, awaiting whatever bad news you might have for him. Is she really going to try and break up with me? Damn it, I should've never let my mother talk me into this whole 'dating' thing. He thought bitterly, his own sliver of anxiety adding to the tense, heavy air you had already created. However, after an excruciatingly long stretch of time, you took a deep breath, "Illumi, I t-think I'm...pregnant." you forced out, not looking at the dead-eyed assassin as the two of you fell into another stretch of silence while Illumi processed this news. Pregnant? We've only had sex twice, is she really that fertile? He pondered, an honest smile spreading across his usually expressionless face after it set in. In a flash, he'd jumped up and scooped you up, hugging your possibly smaller body to his tightly, making you squeal, "this is wonderful news!" he said, making you smile and turn a light pink, "Oh, well if I'd known you'd be so happy about it, I wouldn't have stressed so much," you laughed awkwardly, letting Illumi hug you for a moment longer before he put you down again and cleared his throat, his face returning to his bland expression, "Though, this does put a rush on putting together a wedding." he hummed, not noticing the way your eyes widened "uh? w-wedding?" you squeaked, drawing his attention out of his thoughts and back to you. Your panicky expression was rather cute to him, you were so innocent, "Well yes, I was originally planning to take things slow, but now I can't afford to wait. Not to worry though, I'm sure my mother will help you plan it," he assured, but judging by the increasing panic in your (e/c) eyes, it didn't work, "is something wrong, (y/n)?" "I-I don't want to marry you?" You squeaked, and while your words did sting, he knew this might happen, "Well, I can't let you parent this child without me, and marriage is the perfect way to ensure I stay involved as well as that you and our child are safe from harm." He explained, but you shook your head, "Illumi, no! It's only been a-a few months since we've started dating, it's far too soon to marry!" you tried to explain, but he waved your arguments away, "dating is already a redundancy, I've been very patient in waiting this long before moving on to marriage," he explained, getting a bit annoyed at your horrified look. It was intriguing to see you get flustered and slightly scared, but marriage was not something that deserved this sort of reaction. He sighed, I can't let this continue, the stress is not good for the baby, he reminded himself before speaking again, "Please explain to me why you are so against getting married. I don't think I'm understanding your points clearly enough." For a moment, you struggled to find words, obviously confused and shocked, but he made sure to be patient, "I-Illumi, it's too soon for marriage, that's something for later on down the road, i-if we even make it that far." You tried to explain, but the assassin grimaced, so you spoke again "Plus, it's perfectly fine if we don't get married before the baby's born, we can still parent them together," Your words made his expression darken further. Finally, you sighed dejectedly, "or...I could always just termi-" Illumi cut you off by grabbing you by your shoulders, his grip tight, nearly painfully so he was sure, but he was not about to allow the entertaining of such ideas, "You will NOT harm that baby, (y/n)." he said darkly, watching tears well up in your (e/c) eyes from fear and maybe pain. That made him calm down, he had to keep his temper in check before his malicious aura was the one to harm his future wife. "If you try anything to put yourself or our baby in danger, I will be forced to keep you under strict observation." he warned, his voice not holding any room for argument when he spoke, but than he tried to relax, hugging your slightly shaking form to him again. "It'll be okay, mother will plan a good wedding and you'll be a good mother when the baby's born." he assured, running his hand through your (h/l), (h/c) hair in an attempt to calm you down and show that despite his flash of temper, the excitement of your good news still zapped through his veins. "I'll keep you safe, i promise." He could feel the shiver his words sent through you, but fear was easier to manage than defiance. After a moment though, he let you go again, "I'll have some butlers help you pack your most necessary things, tomorrow I'll take you to the estate." he decided, and when you went to argue again he gave you a cold look, "you can't say anything that will change my mind. The Zoldyck estate is the safest place for you, so go home and pack." he ordered, his tone firm enough for you to get the message. You didn't get a choice.

#yandere illumi #x reader #yandere #illumi x reader #Illumi zoldyck #hxh #fanfiction #quotev #part 11 #hunter x hunter

112 notes · View notes

winterwolf0916 · 3 years

Text

Quarrel

Jason Todd x Reader

Requested by anon: hi could you write to jason todd x reader that they fight but don't realize their baby is there? Thanks for the reply:) Warning: Language, mentions of divorce, angst, & fluff A/n: Goodness! This is a sweet request and oooo here comes the fluff! *throws a massive cloud* Forgive me with the writing mistakes here 🤧 wrote it at 4 am my dudes. Happy New Years my dears! Word count: 2.6K

You know Jason is strong. He really is. But there are moments, moments where he can be so reckless in patrol to the point where he could’ve lost his life. It happens so often that you promised yourself to be patient in this. Reminding yourself that he has his family, the Outlaws, and you to help him out in his missions. But last night made your patience snap like a thread. You were worried more than ever about his well being.

What if he doesn’t arrive in the morning?

What if he dies and leaves you and your son?

What if-

Countless and countless thoughts radiated in your mind causing your body to weigh as more and more doubts formed. The sight of him huffing and puffing as he entered his and your apartment bloodied and beaten. You knew you were going to say something. Anything. You were fine with it at first since the job came with this. But more nights like these compressed your patience like a boot on a bug.

‘He shouldn’t patrol alone’ you thought. You should go with him to make sure he’s being cautious. But you couldn’t. You needed to take care of your child.

After patching him up and laying in bed in silence back to back, you heard the springs of the bed cry as Jason left the mattress to retrieve something while hissing as if he’s trying to ignore the pain. After a few minutes, you gave up trying to sleep off your uncertainty and decided to talk to him. The conversation went from small suggestions and corrections into bickering and confusion.

You didn’t mean to overstep boundaries. He didn’t mean to make you worry. But how he hides his pain is what frustrates you. How he would joke about the bullet wound in his shoulder didn’t bother him when playing in the park with Y/c/n. How he would flinch when Y/c/n hugs him after a hard patrol.

“You know how dangerous it is to go downtown alone!” You raised your voice. “You could’ve died again!”

“But I didn’t! Why don’t you trust me?!”

It repeated like this, going back and forth, for a solid 15 minutes. But in the moment, it felt like hours. Yelling and spitting out words that are not even meant. Pointing who’s to blame, cutting each other off, and wanting your haunted opinions to be heard. Caught up in the heated situation that you didn’t realize your 10-year-old witnessing it all in the hallway in his pajamas.

What's going on here?

Why are they yelling?

Don’t they love each other anymore?

Are...are they getting a divorce?

He’s seen arguments here and there but it's a different level now. It’s bigger. The picture playing of anger and hatred boiling from his parents. His two favorite people in the world, showing distaste in one another.

As a child, he doesn’t know what’s going on other than the air filled with loathe by the source of his parents. As a child, he felt the need to hug his parents and ask them about the situation. As a child, he felt his eye sockets sting and his mind not functioning of what was happening in front of him.

-------

You were making lunch for your son trying to calm yourself from the argument that occurred hours ago. The fight didn’t go so well that you and Jason agreed to give one another space after he drops Y/c/n off at the bus stop.

Jason left the living room to wake up Y/c/n for breakfast, acting strong from the awful wounds he received this morning. What confused you was the sound of his footsteps quicken.

“Y/c/n?! This isn’t funny!” There was shuffling in the room before Jason returned to the kitchen. “He’s not in his room.”

You both searched the entire apartment from top to bottom before searching the entire building. Finding no trace of your son made you two imagine the worst. The worst-case scenario and the last thing you would ever expect. Y/c/n being kidnapped.

Quickly changing into your suits and heading to the roof to discuss who is going to check what part of Gotham, you found your son sitting at the edge of the rooftop, his back facing you. As his head turned towards the sound of the door barged open, your heart broke and Jason caught his breath at the sight of your child in tears.

“What the-” He quickly wiped his tears in shock, “Mr. Red Hood and Mrs. Y/H/N? Here on my apartment building?”

“Oh crap uh-Don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here.” Y/C/N added, using the hem of his sleeve to wipe his tears, trying to hide his released emotion and pushing down the temptation to fanboy in front of his favorite heroes. Not knowing, they are his parents behind the masks.

“Hey kid, why are you crying?” Jason asked, taking a couple steps forward while you followed.

“It’s really silly.” He sniffled, not wanting to look back. “My parents fought.”

You and Jason paused in your steps, not believing what came out of his mouth. ‘He saw us?’

“Oh…”

“I know! Pretty embarrassing to say this to you guys.”

“Oh no no! It’s not embarrassing at all.” You said.

“It’s ok to tell the truth. I really need it from Gotham’s second-best couple.”

“Hate to ask this, but who’s the first best couple?” Your husband asked. You nudged him, giving the ‘really?’ look.

“My parents of course.” You and Jason melted at the spot from hearing how much your son looked up to his parents’ relationship. “But I guess not, after last night.”

His face fell and lowered his head in defeat after mumbling the last sentence. You and Jason glanced in each other's direction silently making a truce and putting aside your differences before taking a seat next to Y/c/n.

“Is it normal for parents to fight really hard? Please tell me. You guys are my number one from now on.”

“Honey, people argue every day. It helps us to grow as a person and learn about our partner’s troubles and what's important to them...”

“Even if it’s little things or big things or the harsh words we said, it doesn’t matter. We still love each other. We just step on the wrong foot sometimes.”

“Tell me about it, I remember bucket head over here accidentally left the sink on in our apartment. And guess what happened?”

“What?” Your son’s eyes were filled with curiosity while Jason cringed at the memory.

“It flooded our entire kitchen and I scolded him for an hour before he cleaned everything.”

“How long did it take Mr. Red hood to clean everything?”

“Two hours.” Y/c/n snorted but immediately became serious when he remembered who’s the other vigilante sitting right next to him.

“In my defense, I had to fight off Ra's Al Ghul for two weeks straight.”

“And?”

“Aaand, I wasn’t at total fault here.”

“It would’ve been better to not even open the sink at all!”

“I was tired, woman!” Then you heard your own son snickering before letting out a burst of warm laughter. The kind of laughter that made you smile while Jason gave a smirk.

“Wow-uh thanks. You guys really sound like my parents.” Jason opened his mouth to say something before you heard a hiss of a vehicle and the rumble of the engine fading in the distance.

“THE BUS!” You screamed as you jumped and ran towards the corner of the edge, the vehicle traveling away.

Your son’s face went pale at the sight of his transportation turning a corner before disappearing the block. Mostly afraid of his parents giving him a lecture for missing the bus rather than attending class.

“Oh shit.”

“Language.” Jason stated and pinched Y/C/N’s cheek as punishment for adding another curse word to the jar.

“Well! It was great knowing you guys! Ah, I would really love an autograph. Especially from you Y/H/N.”

“Me?”

“My dad has a fat crush on you, but don’t tell him that. He says it’s a secret between us men.” Surprised by the news, you glanced at your husband who then avoided your gaze and set his focus on a far off building, pretending he didn’t hear a thing.

Oh, he’s never going to hear the end of this from you. Your son quickly snatched his backpack that was resting by him and sprinted towards the door. As he opened the door to the stairs and was about to leave, he was lifted from the floor by his backpack, his legs still swinging as if he was running.

“Whoa there.” Jason placed your son down to his feet before gesturing between you two. “Why don’t we drop you off?”

“Really!?” Y/C/N’s eyes glittered with excitement that he’s going to receive the experience of traveling like a vigilante until a realization dawned on the boy. “But wait...I need my parent’s permission for that.”

“Don’t worry. All of the parents in Gotham trust us with their kids.”

“Wait really? You sure they won’t mind?”

“Crystal.”

“Yes! Ah, we gotta hurry. My bus might be a little far from here now.”

“Who said anything about taking you to the bus?”

-----

You and Jason were more than positive to never patrol in broad daylight unless it was an emergency. There are two reasons why. One, anyone can track you easily. Villains and crooks in Gotham don’t rest. Not only that, they have henchmen and machines that can detect vigilante activity which means a higher rate of danger to kidnap or take those who you interact with as hostage.

Two, the nosy journalists trying to snap a picture and give an odd headline to the Gotham press. It wasn’t anything new. This happens occasionally without the masks. So the Batfamily wasn’t bothered much by it. But it is rather important to not make the headline. Depending on what is put, it would falter the trust and hope that civilians have in the heroes of Gotham. Also, they would interview those who interacted with the vigilantes therefore more problems would complicate.

That’s when you both gave a conclusion of dropping off your son in an alleyway close by the school. As he was placed down from you, with wobbly legs and hair out of place, it took a load for you from fixing Y/c/n. But as a mother, you couldn’t help it. You bend down to his level and fix his hair and his shirt in place.

“There. All better.” You smiled at your bewildered son before pulling him in for a tight hug. “Have a great day, baby.”

“You really act like my mom,” you pull away from him, “she’s always picky that I would look nice for school.” You resisted the urge to pinch his cheek from that comment.

“I am not picky.” You stated with a serious tone and face.

“You are.” You heard your husband say.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Not.”

“Are too.”

“You’re not helping, Red.” You motioned at your son who is internally debating to join the small argument or leave it between the two of you since you remind him so much of his parents.

Your husband glanced at your son before winking at him, motioning that his wife is definitely picky. Y/c/n snickered before going silent as your focus landed on him.

“Ok, Y/c/n. Time for you to go to school.” Jason pats Y/c/n’s shoulder

“But...But I don’t want to go.” He wrapped his arms around yours and Jason's legs.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to face my parents when school is over. I’m really scared. What if they want to split up?”

“That won’t happen.” Jason’s tone was serious now.

“How do you know?” It was now Jason’s turn to crouch down to Y/c/n’s level, similar to what Y/c/n’s dad does.

“I’ll say this fast because you need to leave but if I were your dad, I would be an as-” You cleared your throat indicating to Jason to watch his vocabulary, “-idiot to even divorce your mom. Let alone to think of it. I love your mother so much to the point where I would still love her if she’d turn me into a frog. I would rather die again than to lose my family.”

“Wait, you died before-”

“Ah bap bap. Let me finish.” Y/c/n pouted.

“No fair.” Jason smiled under the helmet.

“I would also lose my precious kid. My partner in crime and a part of me. Even though we fought, big-time, I’d still love you and your mom. Relationships aren’t perfect. And neither are families. They’re rough around the edges but they’re still a part of us and we have our roles in them. And for your parents’ roles, they won’t split. I can assure that.”

There it goes again. Y/c/n’s eyes expressing his emotion. He wasn’t sad at all. More as if he’s relieved and content for someone to tell him that all is well. Y/c/n immediately wrapped his arms around his father’s neck and hugged the living hell out of him. Jason didn’t hesitate to hug back his son. As the two parted, your husband stood back up in his usual height.

“Now, get in there. You don’t want your teachers waiting.” Jason ruffled your son’s hair before Y/c/n left out of the alley and stepped on the school grounds.

As Y/c/n looked over his shoulder, he found the couple on a building waving him goodbye. He did the same and disappeared into the building.

-----

The two of you returned to the apartment. It was silent for the most part since the you both agreed to ‘get some air’ when you found Y/c/n. But none of that occurred when you helped Jason inside through the fire escape. He was slowly stripping from his suit and placing his pajamas on with caution. Another hiss from him caused you to place your mask down and help him pull down his shirt.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.” It took you a second to process the meaning of the words. Did he apologize? Wait- He apologized?

“...What?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll talk with Bruce about patrol and-”

“No, I should be the one who’s sorry… You… You always worked alone and risked yourself to get missions done. I should’ve trusted you more that you can defend yourself and come home safely. It was my fault.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I’m just afraid. Afraid...That you’ll die and leave me and Y/c/n alone. Like how you passed away and left your family and I when we were in high school.” His eyes widened at your confession. “I know! I shouldn’t even worry because you’re so much stronger now. But damn you. Damn you, whenever you come home ripping my soul from my body by how you suffer from your injuries. I know we have schedules for patrolling and taking care of Y/c/n but I’ll stop complaining and overreacting-”

You didn’t expect yourself to be in his arms, his face nuzzled in the crook of your neck, and your fired up spirit to be calmed by listening to the soothing beating of his heart. What a day.

“I think we have enough stress for one morning.”

“...Agreed.”

“I’ll talk with Bruce about patrols. In the meantime… let’s get some rest before Y/c/n comes back from school.”

“Alright…” Jason pulled away and was going to lead you to your shared bedroom before you stopped him. “I also have something else to say.”

“That is?”

“Well...more like an important question.”

“Ok?”

"How long have you had a crush on me?”

#jason todd x reader #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x you #Red Hood X y/n #red hood x you #red hood x reader #first time writing a big fic #4am my dudes #WHOO #dc x y/n #dc x you #dc x reader #batfam x reader #batfam x you #jason todd imagine #batboys x reader #batboys x y/n #batboys x you

411 notes · View notes

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Note

Prompt - Wen Ruohan insists that Jiang Yanli come to the Wen "lecture" as well...

ao3

Jiang Yanli tended to deal with stress in one of two ways: cooking and taking care of people. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the Wen indoctrination camp provided many opportunities for both, although not with the people she might have expected.

Wei Wuxian spent most of his days being valiant and light-hearted, trying to give them strength and courage, and Jiang Cheng followed his lead the way he always did, brave and serious and thoughtful and – well. It’s not that she didn’t appreciate both of them, because she did, but it was only that her own anxiety was more easily dealt with when she could distance herself from her current situation and focus entirely on someone else.

She might have tried to take care of Jin Zixuan, but the Jin sect disciples closed ranks around him, glaring at her as if she were the one who broke off their engagement. Either way, she won’t go where she’s not wanted, and so she backed off and went elsewhere to look for someone that needed her.

Luckily for her, Nie Huaisang was very loud and very vocal and very, very needy.

They made for a surprisingly great fit.

Jiang Yanli had perhaps been forced to step into a maternal role a bit too early – Jiang Cheng had always been a soft child, and their father’s dislike of him had hurt him deeply where it had always seemed somewhat unimportant to Jiang Yanli, and Wei Wuxian was of course a big baby masquerading as a man. Her mother had always been disinterested in playing the mother, more fond of training and discipline, and so they’d turned to her when they were young, and still did today. Back at home, they would often descend to bickering and playing for her attention when she was around, knowing how much she liked it: Wei Wuxian demanding to be called A-Xian and fed spoonfuls like a toddler (albeit one capable of eating extremely spicy food), Jiang Cheng too proud to go that far but somehow managing to lose at least ten years of maturity, always looking at her hopefully to affirm that he did well and to sneak him treats behind everyone’s back.

That was the way she liked it, too. Possibly more than she really should, but it made her feel wanted and useful in a way that her weak cultivation never would.

Nie Huaisang, in contrast, had always been babied - by his father, by his over-protective older brother, by his long-suffering sect that nevertheless indulged him in everything. He’d suffered some things (his father’s death, first and foremost) when he was very young, and it sometimes seemed as he’d reacted to that by purposefully staying that age forever: useless and self-indulgent, spoiled and with a tendency to fuss, an unreasonable expectation that he could just turn his big eyes on anyone in his vicinity and they would immediately feel moved to cater to his every need.

Nie Huaisang, in other words, was just her type.

He was calling her ‘Jiang-jiejie’ within a shichen, putting his head on her shoulder a shichen after that, and kicking up such a dramatic fuss about everything that even Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng – who had come over with threats in their eyes about a strange man, even one of their friends, sticking himself so close to her – had ended up encouraging her to see what she could do to calm him down a little.

After they left, she looked down at his pathetic form and said, “You did that on purpose, you little brat.”

Nie Huaisang looked up at her with an impish grin that somehow still suited the tear stains on his face. “That’s true, but Jiang-jiejie won’t tell on me,” he said, as certain as any child. “Besides, this way we get to spend time together – and if we’re together, my guards will protect you as they do me, and your brothers won’t have to worry so much. Aren’t I smart?”

“Such a thoughtful child,” she praised, and he puffed himself up. “But you shouldn’t mislead your big brothers like that, you know. You could have just told them what you were thinking.”

“But where’d the fun in that be?” he said, and put his head on her shoulder again. “Jiang-jiejie will take care of me while I’m here.”

“Of course,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t punish you if you’re naughty, either.”

She did, too. She made him food out of the terrible provisions they received, she brushed his hair and let him teach her how to do his braids, she tucked him in at night before heading back to her tent, and even sat with him and helped him with his memorization and his chores – and when it was called for, she smacked him lightly on the backs of his hands that he held out to her for the specific purpose, scolded him and made him apologize.

She didn’t have any time to spare to worry about the Wen sect.

It was great.

“Uh, shijie,” Wei Wuxian said after a while. “Are you sure you’re okay with Nie Huaisang? He’s really…sticky.”

“He’s adorable,” Jiang Yanli said.

“He’s taking advantage of you,” Jiang Cheng grumbled. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed how he gets to sit with you in the shade instead of working with us.”

“He sits in the shade because the Nie sect disciples do his share of the work,” Jiang Yanli pointed out. “Just as you do for me.”

“Yeah, but…”

“He’s harmless,” Jiang Yanli said, even though she suspected that if he were pushed to it Nie Huaisang could escalate from brat past menace into actual threat. Hopefully it would never come that. “And it’s good to have company.”

“What do you even talk about?” Jiang Cheng asked. His cheeks were oddly flushed red, and he was averting his eyes – even more oddly, so was Wei Wuxian, who she previously would have said was too shameless to be embarrassed by anything.

“Art, mostly,” she said, puzzled, and even more puzzled when they both flinched. “Recently we were discussing famous landscape artists from the southern part of Gusu.”

“Oh, landscapes,” Wei Wuxian said, exhaling in relief. “That’s all right then. Glad you’re having a good time, shijie.”

“Have fun,” Jiang Cheng agreed, bobbing his head up and down like a fishing bird.

Later, Jiang Yanli narrated the conversation to Nie Huaisang and gave him a stern look when he started giggling.

“Would you care to explain the joke to your Jiang-jiejie?” she asked, and he waved his hands for a moment of time to catch his breath before explaining to her that he had spent most of his time at the Cloud Recesses acting as a purveyor of a very different type of art.

Jiang Yanli rolled her eyes – fondly, of course, she was always very fond of her boys, even when they forgot that she was three years older than they were – and said, “All right, then, and when were you going to share some with me?”

“I was trying to figure out what types of things you liked first!” Nie Huaisang protested, and this was why she spent so much time with him even when her other boys were also here – he didn’t forget that she was the jiejie, the one who took care of him and made the decisions about what was appropriate, and he was the didi. He didn’t assume that being a man was more important than age, didn’t put aside their “games” of caring in favor of a valiant warlike demeanor; he remained, wonderfully, the same. “I’d gotten it down to three – here, you take this one; let me know what you think.” He winked. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out to make sure no one comes by while you’re reading.”

“If it’s anything too filthy, you’ll be punished,” she told him, and he looked so delighted by the notion that she suspected she was going to be getting something very filthy indeed. “Little boys don’t need to be looking at such things.”

“Without supervision,” he clarified, and sat down next to her with bright eyes full of anticipation, somehow even more shameless than Wei Wuxian. “From a qualified adult. Like Jiang-jiejie!”

The artwork was utterly filthy, but it was, in fact, just the sort of thing she liked when she snuck into her mother’s rooms to sneak peeks at books filched from the high shelves – better, even, and Nie Huaisang seemed to have an endless supply of it even though he complained bitterly that he’d only brought the cheap stuff that he wouldn’t mind losing, and that the best of that had been mostly bartered away.

That was what it was for, she discovered. Nie Huaisang was selling pornography to bored Wen sect retainers in exchange for creature comforts – better food, a nicer resting place, leniency when he inevitably failed to complete some chore or another – and using the conversations to elicit information.

Not spying, per se, that was far too serious for someone as determinedly frivolous as Nie Huiasang, but it was nice to know when the Wen sect was planning a surprise inspection in the morning or if it was a good day to put on their worst clothing because they were going to be wading through mud.

“You could be quite dangerous if you wanted to be,” she commented to Nie Huaisang one evening while she was brushing his hair. He was very particular about his braids, but he let her do the brushing and oiling; the repetitive action calmed his anxiety, and seeing him calm down and relax into her care in turn calmed her own. “You’re very good at being underestimated.”

“I think I’m estimated at just about right, actually,” he joked. If it had been Jiang Cheng saying it, he would have been turning a dagger on himself with the words; if it had been Wei Wuxian, he would have been boasting; with Nie Huaisang, it was just a joke. He had the confidence to be openly useless – the surest sign of a supportive loving family, she thought wistfully. “What about you? How dangerous are you when you’re not thinking about how to take care of someone?”

“I’m always thinking of that,” she chided him, and tugged lightly on his braids in chastisement; he shivered and quailed very satisfactorily when she did that. Such a good boy for her, when he wanted to be; a very good little brat the rest of the time. “And you know I’m not much of a cultivator.”

“Neither am I,” he said. “I still think Jiang-jiejie could be very scary if she put her mind to it.”

It was nice that he thought so. Nobody else did – perhaps what was why she’d become so interested in caring for people, in making food that they liked and brushing their hair and taking care of their clothing, the sorts of feminine arts that puzzled her mother and weren’t even necessary for a sect leader’s daughter to know how to do. She did it because it was something she could do that, and after a while it became something she longed to do.

Jiang Yanli loved taking care of people.

And Nie Huaisang was so very good at being taken care of.

Even better than her little A-Xian, if she would allow herself the traitorous little thought – Wei Wuxian liked to play the child for her sometimes, to be spoiled, but he would get bored soon enough, staying only long enough for a few bites of soup and then running off to bicker with Jiang Cheng or to be the brave and chivalrous da-shixiong of the Jiang sect.

Not so Nie Huaisang. He was her little brat all day long: whining and in need of comfort one moment, running too far ahead and in need of a scolding the next, always pushing his luck to see what he could get away with. He was soft, like her; bad at cultivating and good at things like painting and cooking and gossip, feminine things, domestic things, which meant that they had an endless supply of things to talk about that no one else cared about. He made mischief but was obedient, and he thrived under the structure she provided for him, coaxed into doing what he ought and directed away from doing what he shouldn’t.

He was adorable, in a way that she’d never felt about her actual brothers.

Her newest little didi, her A-Sang.

They were, perhaps, growing a little too close.

(But no, Jiang Yanli still maintained the boundaries of being a proper young lady, good obedient Jiang-guniang. Even if she had picked up a very specific pornography habit – but she was never going to tell anyone about that.)

Still, it came as a surprise when they were all in the dark, wretched cave, when the Wen sect threatened them and the corrupted Xuanwu lashed out against the walls to bring down rocks, when one of the Nie sect disciples pushed her behind a rock, shouting, “Take care of Nie-gongzi!” to her as if they really expected her to keep him safe.

“Your men trust me too much,” she said into Nie Huaisang’s hair – his arms were wrapped around her, his eyes watching the battlefield, flicking from side to side as he tracked the course of battle with far more expertise than her. “Don’t you think they meant for you to take care of me?”

“They want you to help keep me from being upset,” he said, and disengaged from her long enough to pick up a fallen sword and throw it with surprising accuracy into the fray – it pieced one of the Wen sect soldiers from behind, breaking their battle line, and the Nie sect disciples overwhelmed them.

It was a masterful stroke, but Nie Huaisang recoiled from his own hand as if he’d been burned by it. His eyes were wide and white all around the edges, old fears rearing up to rend him into pieces from the inside - she knew the look of it.

“It’s all right,” she said, whispering in his ear. “You did well, didi.”

His shoulders relaxed.

Whatever had made Nie Huaisang so very afraid of shedding blood must had hurt him very deeply, Jiang Yanli thought, and the Nie sect knew it. It all made sense now: that was why they indulged him, why they spoiled him, why they allowed him to grow up as useless as he was, even as they feared him falling into danger.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t be dangerous - but he wouldn’t be able to bear it.

(Jiang Yanli was very curious to meet the older brother he spoke so very much about. Nearly as much as she spoke of Wei Wuxian or Jiang Cheng, in fact, and didn’t that say everything she needed to know?)

“You should be careful, Jiang-jiejie,” Nie Huaisang murmured as they watched from their safe place as the battle raged on. Every once in a while, he intervened, each strike perfectly placed to cause maximum damage and showing that no matter how much he whined about training there was still muscle and deadly instincts beneath his skin; after each move, she would squeeze him tight and help him regulate his breathing, suppressing the panic attack he immediately fell into so that it could be postponed until a more convenient time. “I might grow to rely on you, and then where would we be? You’d have no choice but to come back to Qinghe and spend your life there with me.”

It was an offer, she thought in surprise, however gently phrased.

It seemed she wasn’t the only one getting a little too close.

As it happened, Jiang Yanli didn’t have time to respond before the battle finally ended as abruptly as it had started, the Wen sect fleeing the Xuanwu and closing off the exit to the cave, trapping them inside with a ravenous Xuanwu – although one that couldn’t reach them in the corner where they cowered away from it.

The valorous men and women debated what ought to be done next.

The useless ones sat around and waited for their fates to be decided.

Oddly enough, this was the part that began to wear on her. The battle had passed almost without her noticing it, all her attention on caring for Nie Huaisang, but this aftermath - or preliminary, depending on how you looked at it - was utterly agonizing. Watching her brothers ignore her (useless in a fight), think nothing of her (they don’t need her to care for them), no one thought anything of her (what use is she if they don’t need her?) – and then watching them yell at each other and argue and fight without quarter, without mercy, and knowing that she couldn’t intervene, that she was pointless. Her own stress began rising rapidly, her heart beating hard, her breath starting to come short –

“Hey, Jiang-jiejie,” Nie Huaisang said.

She looked at him.

He smiled at her. “I’m hungry. You should make me some soup.”

“Brat,” Jiang Yanli said automatically, and her shoulders slowly came down, calm returning to her heart. He was obviously saying it to comfort her, she wasn’t stupid, but at the same time the request somehow suited her down to the ground and did the trick the way nothing else might have – after all, if her cowardly little brat had enough energy and attention to spare to be begging for food, things couldn’t be that bad. “What type of soup were you thinking?”

His smile widened as he watched the Xuanwu thrashing in the lake, dissatisfied that it could not capture them and rend their bones with its teeth. “Turtle soup.”

(They served it at their wedding.)

#mdzs #nie huaisang #jiang yanli #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #does nie huaisang/jiang yanli have a ship name?#my fic #my fics #making tweaks to my general NHS headcanon #turtle soup #roseunspindle

432 notes · View notes

teyvat-imagines · 3 years

Note

I saw your work on the reader getting hit on and being saved by Childe and Diluc and I really really liked it! May I request pt. 2 with Kaeya and Albedo please?

Hiii! :D Thanks for your request ^w^ I hope you enjoy these too! :D

Reader Avoiding Being Hit On:

Kaeya:

○ It's been a long and busy day for you. All you wanted was to be left alone in peace with a nice drink. Maybe enjoy whatever songs tonight's bard wanted to play before going home for a long sleep.

○ Unfortunately for you, fate had other plans in mind. A group of drunken adventurers had been eyeing you all night, talking with each other in hushed whispers as if it wasn't painfully obvious they were talking about you.

○ Determined to not let them spoil your night, you stayed there and continued to sip your drink. Somehow taking this as a sign of interest, one of the older of the adventurers walked over to you, the rest of his party cheering him on with vile enthusiasm.

○ You ignored his greeting, just as you ignored the way he slid onto the barstool next to yours and leant even closer. He wasn't deterred it seems, talking your ear off and trying his best to chat you up.

○ Finally fed up of his antics, and noting that he clearly wasn't paying attention to the way you constantly turned him down, you looked at him and told him you were taken.

○ That seemed to annoy him and he scowled and demanded proof. Who were you dating and where the hell were they. You panicked a little internally, blurting out the first name you could think of - Kaeya.

"Yes dear~?"

○ You had never been more thankful for his flirty nature, or for the way he tended to listen in on various conversations, as he moved his head to rest on your shoulder, a lazy smirk on his face.

○ The adventurer backed off somewhat, clearly not wanting to get on the bad side of a Knight of Favonious, before crossing his arms and demanding proof.

○ With a puff of your cheek, you say fine, and quickly turn to face Kaeya, kissing him softly. Without missing a beat, he pulls you onto him, letting you straddle his lap as he kisses you back. His hands dip low, but still stay fairly respectable, and you can faintly hear the adventurerer skulk away and Rosaria grumble and the two of you need to find a room.

○ The kiss lasts a tad longer than it needed to, and when you finally pull back, he's smirking at your flushed face.

"Mmm. Now as much as I'd hate to see you uncomfortable, maybe you should get hit on more often if it means I get to do that~"

○ He's teasing of course, but you still slap his shoulder for the comment. Still, you don't move to get off his lap, and you find his arms stay around you for the rest of the evening.

Albedo:

○ You were out on an expedition in Dragonspine with a group from the Adventurers Guild and of course, Mondstadt's very own Chief Alchemist leading the way.

○ It wasn't exactly a serious expedition, but at the same time it was best to keep your wits about you when on Dragonspine. Worst thing you could do would be to lose your concentration and make a possibly fatal mistake.

○ Now if only the adventurers with you would understand that. Apparently this lonely lot haven't felt the touch of another human in a while, so rather than pay attention to the dangerous icy landscape around them, they were more interested in staring at your backside and making crude comments.

○ Getting more than a little fed up with it, you told them to back off. They weren't exactly worried, laughing with each other and asking why the hell should they. You just sighed and pointed to Albedo, letting them know that was your boyfriend so they should stop.

"Hm, interesting... I don't believe this particular plant has been found around Teyvat before..."

○ The adventurers took one look at the blonde alchemist, so wrapped up in what was possibly a new plant species he had uncovered he had not paid the slightest attention to the situation around him, and laughed. Your ruse was getting you nowhere, so you decided actions spoke louder than words.

○ You marched over to Albedo and cleared your throat to get his attention. The second he looked up at you, you grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him upright and towards you, meeting his lips with your own in a soft kiss.

○ The little surprised noise he made and the way his pale cheeks flushed a deep red was absolutely adorable to you, even more so was the cute little confused blink as you pulled back. You smiled softly at him and apologised quietly.

○ Despite the show you'd just put on, the adventures still persisted. Insisting that there was no way you were dating Albedo, not if the shy expression on his face had anything to say about it. Thankfully, he seemed to have caught on and spoke up quickly.

"Ah, (Y/N), I thought we had agreed to wait until we returned home for that... Still, that was a pleasant surprise dear, thank you."

○ He took your hand and smiled warmly and that was enough to finally persuade the adventurers to stop pursuing you. Albedo stayed by your side for the rest of the expedition, and even for some time after.

○ It was a month of casual kisses and hand holding later that he finally asked you out, and you said yes with full enthusiasm.

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin x you #kaeya #kaeya x reader #kaeya alberich #kaeya alberich x reader #genshin impact kaeya #albedo #albedo x reader #genshin impact albedo

75 notes · View notes

everythingsinred · 3 years

Text

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Natsume (pt. 20)

PART TWENTY! I've written thousands and thousands of words about this particular character's love. That's really crazy. And you guys read thousands and thousands of words! And we're not even done yet!

We will talk about the second half of this "gap arc", including one of my favorite chapters, and then the school will turn upside down, as we will see in the next part.

Chapter Ninety-Three

Mikan was so exhausted saving Narumi from Persona’s alice that she ended up hospitalized. Nobody else seems to know much of what really happened except Natsume, who spends so much time in the hospital these days that it would have been more surprising if he didn’t know she was there too.

Besides, Natsume knows so much about Mikan. He knows about her mom and that the ESP is interested in Mikan possibly possessing the stealing alice. He knows that she’s in danger. He’s vigilant, as I’ve said, and this vigilance means absorbing all possible information. He overhears Narumi warning Mikan to keep her new alice a secret, and Natsume gets confirmation that Mikan does indeed have the stealing alice, that Narumi knows and wants to protect Mikan too, and that this information could possibly get to the ESP if they’re not careful.

Dead man walking. Or rather... dead boy walking.

He walks away from her room, unseen, coughing. He walks down a hall of doctors and patients and nurses and he doesn’t stand out at all. Natsume’s presence in the hospital is so normal that nobody bats an eye anymore. Kaname is hospitalized for long stretches of time, as we shall continue to see, but Natsume merely goes to the hospital for limited periods of bed rest and for getting huge bags of medicine to take before bed so he doesn’t accidentally pass away in his sleep. Natsume might be in just as much need as Kaname for long periods of hospitalization, but he can’t for two reasons.

One, the school absolutely does not want that. They want their favorite child soldier to be always at the ready. He can’t be at their beck and call at all times if he’s cooped up in a hospital bed. He needs to be where they can grab him easily, and pumping him full of medicine and pretending that’s enough for him is the most they will do.

Two, Natsume absolutely does not want that. Mikan is in more danger than ever, and being sequestered in a hospital without seeing anyone leaves her alone and unprotected. How is he supposed to spy on the ESP and Persona for information on Mikan if he’s hospitalized? He needs to be free as a bird, just like they want him to be, so that he can be at Mikan’s beck and call. At the slightest threat, he will be there for her.

Later, when Bear follows Mikan around while Kaname is sicker than ever, Koko can discern that Bear wants Mikan to steal Kaname’s alice from inside of him. Many people are onlooking, and Natsume has a shocked expression, not because he didn’t know that Mikan has the stealing alice, but because he’s concerned for what consequences may come if more people find out. If the ESP comes to hear any of this, serious issues will arise. Things are already dangerous enough, but if the ESP finds out, then turmoil will come sooner than later.

This is an "Oh, shit" moment! How terrible.

Things get worse when the rumors about Mikan’s alice spread through the upper divisions. Mikan gets chased by upperclassmen who want her to steal their alices because they think their star rank will go up if they can catch her in the act. The ESP seems to have purposefully spread such a rumor in order to speed things along. He wants to push Mikan into a corner, perhaps force her into using her alice and exposing herself, so that he has an excuse to swoop in and take her into his custody.

We see a panel of Natsume hearing the news of the middle schoolers’ pursuit of Mikan and he’s just as shocked as before. Her life is endlessly hectic in the worst way. She is always under attack from rumors and speculation and being honest about her alice will only end poorly for her. This is the last glimpse we get of him this chapter, but his reactions, despite the fact that he says nothing this whole time, is enough to give hints to where his mind is right now. His priorities and concerns are all made clear, building up to when he will eventually be quite needed.

Chapter Ninety-Four

Class B is getting ready for swimming lessons in P.E. Most of the class, especially Mikan, are excited for this.

There’s not much Natsume in this chapter either, but we can see him on the poolside, obviously not well enough to swim. Swimming is one of the most physically taxing exercises because of how much it requires you to use your full body. Natsume can’t waste what little energy he has on P.E. when he has missions to do. Those are much more important.

Mikan may get occasionally down or sad about her alice and the uncomfortable state of things, but Ruka is there to cheer her up and play water polo with her. Natsume simply looks on.

Tsubasa spots him, and instantly looks troubled. He and Natsume are not just both in the DA class now, they’re also going on many of the same missions. He’s also the only one who knows the truth about Natsume’s alice shape, and how much the taxing missions affect his body. Seeing Natsume sit on the side and not join in with the others is not a good sign. He’s not doing well.

Fun and games are over! It was never gonna last long anyway!

The panel of everyone having fun while Natsume coughs by himself, isolated from everyone, brings to mind the page from Chapter Nine, so long ago. The last page of that chapter has Natsume being sent on a mission, in stark contrast to the final panel of the rest of the class having fun and bonding over dodgeball.

He could never join in for long was the message we got then, and it’s not any less true now. Natsume let himself get attached to Class B and to Mikan in particular but his fun happy times of joining in on the fun were never meant to last. He can’t play the sax anymore. He can’t run around with the rest of them. Luna was a warning to him as much as she was to Mikan. His time is running out and his life will always be too different from the rest of theirs. He will always be shrouded in darkness and an imminent death. They can take occasional breaks from the stress and worry of their lives, but he can’t. Not anymore. Not in any real way. Not without it taking a serious toll on his body.

The last page features two groups of best friends: Natsume and Ruka looking out the window at Hotaru and Mikan as they walk through the rain.

Bad things are going to happen. And that right soon.

There’s a feeling of foreboding in this arc. The last page carries some threat with it while also trying to stay on the side of hope. One should not take things for granted is the main take-away, a harsh lesson for these kids to learn, especially in this way.

These few chapters between the Sports Fest and the next arc are almost similar to the gap chapters between the Hana Hime den chapters and the Sports Fest. They are a much needed respite from the heavy chapters before and after. The difference is that these gap chapters are heavier and there’s a threat looming over Mikan and the others in each one. The happiness and lightness of the Valentine’s day chapter are not present, even in this sweet chapter about swimming. Everyone is unsettled and disturbed, aware that something horrible is to come.

Chapter Ninety-Five

And nothing good ever lasts, as this chapter reveals. The tension that has been building for so long is starting to reach a boiling point.

A lot will happen here. Hotaru gets called to the headquarters. Yuka returns to the Alice Academy campus to find Mikan. Tsubasa goes missing.

God, could they stop sending children to get blown up for FIVE MINUTES?!

Natsume and Tsubasa are separated during a nondescript mission. A warehouse explodes and Natsume screams out for Tsubasa, not knowing where he’s disappeared to, or if he’s even still alive.

Tsubasa is missing, his location unknown. Natsume has returned to campus from the mission, but he hasn’t been seen by anybody yet either. He’s busy trying to locate Tsubasa, trying to find information.

Natsume goes on missions all the time. He goes with other DA types and is frequently in life or death situations with them. That being said, he hates most of his classmates, Youichi being one exception. But Tsubasa is different. They have an unspoken respect for each other, and might even be considered friends. They spent a lot of time in the DA class on missions that we haven’t seen in the manga and their work to find--or rather not find--Yuka and protect Mikan has probably brought them closer.

Natsume wants to find Tsubasa because he’s so important to Mikan, because she loves him like a big brother and losing him would break her. He wants to find Tsubasa because Tsubasa is his friend too. If something happened to him on a mission they went on together, then it’s his responsibility to bring him back, and he might even feel guilty for his disappearance as well. Knowing what we do about Natsume’s self-esteem, martyr complex, and tendency to blame himself for everything, he is probably not taking this very well.

It’s exciting and nerve-wracking to see so many people involved in this chapter, but seeing as everything’s coming to a head, many of the characters narratively have to be involved.

Nobara, who discovers that Narumi plans to run away with Mikan to keep her safe from what’s to come, is soon after made aware that she will be blessed with a friend in the DA class: Mikan. Nobara and Natsume do not get along, but so far she’s been diligent in communicating with him about information she discovers that he would not otherwise find out. There’s no way she wouldn’t try to reach out to him, which explains why he knows about it.

Natsume has been mainly absent from the chapter, and from school as well. Nobody has seen him, because he’s too busy trying to find Tsubasa. But it’s nighttime now and everyone is going to sleep. The rumors about Tsubasa’s disappearance are all around the school and he knows that Mikan knows by now. And she’s all alone.

So he takes a break from all the work he has to do to go and comfort her. He cannot leave her alone, even if he originally planned on it.

He appears in her window and she rushes to him. She asks him questions, about where he’s been and all those wounds on his body, but he didn’t come here to talk about what happened to him. He’s here for her. He confesses that he hadn’t wanted to see anyone until he’d found Tsubasa safe and sound, but he had to see her, fearing that she was crying on her own.

They're both sad. They're each other's comfort.

Natsume knows Mikan, that she frequently acts fine even if she’s suffering. Her resilience and determination are great traits, and it’s easy to get lost in the illusion that she should always be bubbly and optimistic and smiling, but even a girl like Mikan needs to let it out sometimes. Finding out that someone you love is missing is not easy, and smiling in the face of that is not something that even Mikan can do all the time. She needs comfort, and Natsume wants to be there for her.

He’s wanted this the whole time, deep down, to be someone she could rely on, someone who could comfort her, and now he’s the only one who can. All the things he’s wanted to do for her this whole time: to comfort her, to tell her it’ll be okay, to hug her. He does it all because after all they’ve been together, she knows now that he’s someone she can rely on.

She’s crying, and she admits that she couldn’t stop even if she wanted to, because she has to cry in Natsume’s place.

Natsume came to comfort her, yes, but he’s been through a lot too. He also cares about Tsubasa and has been suffering on his own for even longer. He also needs comfort, and because he won’t let himself cry, she’ll do it for him. Mikan can see that he can’t afford to not be perfectly composed all the time. She’s thinking of him, too, and it must be nice to be seen so clearly by somebody he loves.

She knows that he's close to Tsubasa too, even if he won't admit it. THEY'RE EACH OTHER'S COMFORT.

He tells her he will find Tsubasa, and “about her too”, which means he’s letting her know he’s taking care of her. He will keep an eye out and try to keep her safe. He’s hinting that he knows about her other alice, and that he’s on top of it. He has to go now, but his farewell--his promise--is his final way of comforting her for the night. She doesn’t need to worry too much about Tsubasa or what will happen with the school, because he will fix it all. He will protect her.

Conclusion

There's something looming over the kids at the academy. Something really bad is going to happen, and everyone seems somewhat aware at this point. Natsume is at the ready for the slightest threat to Mikan, and he will finally be able to spring into action in the next edition of this already-too-long essay.

So... This is the twentieth part. If I'm to guess, I'd say there's not going to be another ten parts to make it to thirty, but I might be wrong, depending on how long my analysis gets in the last parts of the manga. As I post this, I'm about fifty chapters ahead (which sounds impressive but actually isn't considering the Time Travel Arc has groups of entire chapters that I had to skip). Maybe it'll get to something like twenty-eight but I'm not sure about thirty. We'll see. Once upon a time I thought it'd be forty, even! No, not Natsume's. Mikan's, maybe, but not Natsume's.

<- Previous Next ->

25 notes · View notes

downywrites · 3 years

Text

I feel bad for my radio silence, so please have the draft lol

Skeppy finds that there is a way to tame beasts without ever drawing his sword.

Skeppy was not fond of the nether. It was hot. It was humid and dry, all in the wrong places. The piglins were rude to him, the hoglins were wild and liked to cause him all kinds of trouble, and the netherrack burned his skin whenever he touched it. He had no kind of interest in the area, he really didn’t.

And yet, he found himself floundering in the vastness of the nearest nether fortress. The almost-black bricks were refreshingly cold under his hands, a breath of fresh air within the stuffy stratosphere of the nether. He glanced bemusedly at his compass, the usually faithful tool rendered completely useless by the biome. “Prime, where the hell is the exit of this damn place?” The sounds of zombie piglins groaning in the background echoed through the halls, making him shiver. “Ugh, just get me out of here already…” The diamond-encrusted hybrid’s feet made slight screeching noises as he scrabbled for a good grip on the tile. He tried his best to ignore them. “Come on, come on…” As he weaved through familiar hallways and rooms, his impatience bubbled at the top of his throat, begging to be let out. His tail lashed impatiently as he walked. After a few more minutes of searching, he threw his hands up in the air in annoyance, making a few confused piglins grunt and turn to look at each other. “Are you serious? Just get me out of here, Primedamnit!”

He growled under his breath, exposing a few filed down teeth as he did. In the back of his mind, he hoped he didn’t make the piglins angry. Slamming his eyes shut, he tuned into the air around him, trying to sense any sort of familiar substances around him. ‘If I can’t get out of here, at the very least, I’m taking some loot with me.” The vibrations of gold armor around him squealed loudly, but he ignored it for the sake of finding some diamonds or some larger portions of treasure. The heat of the fortress pressed down on the hybrid. “Is there anything nearby, or did I get into this mess for literally nothing?” Opening his eyes to glare at the piglins, he scowled at the floor he walked on, stomping wildly like a child having a tantrum. As he walked, he continued to tune in, clinging onto the idea he had in mind. ‘If there is nothing in the whole of this place, I might as well just go and troll someone by telling them to come to these coordinates.’ He chuckled to himself. ‘That would be funny to see.’ Before he could continue on his train of thought, a large ping made him gasp. Blueberry colored eyes widened at the sheer mass of diamonds and gold directly below him. “Holy shit!” Kneeling down to touch the floor, the vibrations of the valuables had him shaking with excitement. “Jackpot!” He ruffled through his bag, careful not to drop anything as he did so. He wasn’t one to leave anything around, not when there are piglins nearby. Within moments, he had made a hole in the floor, the small area inside dark and black as pitch. “Well, here goes nothing.”

He sincerely regretted the way he entered the cave or riches. Like the intelligent, mature human being he was, he had left his bag just barely out of reach, his pickaxe inside of it. And, in a similarly benevolent and logical fashion, Skeppy had immediately tried to escape the hole with his entire torso already in it to grab the item. Ironically enough, the world had it out for him. Why? He certainly didn’t know. But whatever karmic god he had pissed off was really, really mad at him that day. Because when he reached out to grab it, the whole of the ceiling crumbled, taking him down with it. In short, he was not having a good day. A small sigh escaped his lips, rubbing his head from where he had smacked it on the floor a little. “Ow. Jeez, why does everything hate me so much?” The whining noise of gold and the gentle pinging of diamonds surrounded him. His eyes gazed upwards at the small cascade of light above him from his endeavor. “Fuck, how am I supposed to get back up?” His eyes darted over the shadows of riches untold, drinking in the glitter of blue and yellow in the soft, barely visible light. “Hmph.” Crossing his arms and pouting, he rested against a firm chunk of nether brick, gold clinking around him as he did. “Guess I’ll just rest for a bit. It’s not like some fuck’s gonna get me here.” As if the gods themselves had it out for him one last time, the sound of valuables clinking to the floor startled him back to his feet. Legs wobbling from the effort and the sheer waves of fear he felt rippling through his body, he got into the best fighting stance he could and turned to face the source of the noise. The shimmering lights shifted in from of him, like a tide of danger forming to wash him and his ignorance away. Once again, the back of his mind informed him that perhaps he should have listened to the others when they said not to try anything stupid. ‘Then again, who would I be if I didn’t do anything stupid? Isn’t that my defining characteristic?’

That was the defining thought in the front of his mind when the shadow growled, white eyes slowing and casting a beam of light directly at his trembling form. Not exactly the best way to start off a fight, he would say. His knuckles gleamed back at the creature, sending light bouncing off of its scales. It snarled, a loud, guttural noise that threatened to take him down without a single point of contact with the beast. “W-would you believe me if I said that I didn’t mean to come down here?” Heated breath, even warmer than the outside air in the nether’s outdoors, buffeted his face and forced him to dig into the ground as much as he could just to stay standing. The shape shifted into the light, glimmering scales morphing into an identifiable (and distinctly terrifying) muzzle shape above him. Little diamonds skittered on the floor as it moved. Tiny little pinpricks of glitter and noise danced in his eardrums through the cacophony of screeching rocks and piglin shrieks and the musty, dank breath of death looking above him. Eyes struggling to focus on the the looming shadow that was beginning to block out the little light he had, he yelled up to the creature in panic. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Don’t fucking kill m-” An even louder growl hummed through the air. It opened its maw, nether vines and natural substances writhing like snakes on its face and horns. “Language.” If this were any other situation, Skeppy would have laughed. ‘It languaged me? A gigantic nether mob that is trying to kill me LANGUAGED ME?’ Unfortunately for him, he had no time to laugh as a large claw came down, large sinewy fingers extended outwards toward him. With a rather unmanly shriek, he vaulted himself onto a mountain of gold coins, running up it as well as he could. He spluttered as a few coins somehow found their way into his mouth, metallic taste staying in his mouth for several moments longer that they should have. All the while, the claws reaching out for him continued to swipe at his form. The wind from its movements blew into his face, causing him to take a step back. “Woah, woah- AGH!” The foothold below him shifted like dunes in the desert. With a small exclamation, he fell onto his butt, eyes wide with fear. A beam of light fell upon his form, a low, guttural growl singing through the air. “You have trespassed. And you broke my ceiling. You will pay.” Its low voice reginited the pit of fear that was currently planting its roots into his stomach. He scuttled back, shaking his head no. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, p-promise!”

A large claw encapsulated him, tight and rough around him. The diamond hybrid scrabbled and squirmed in his grip, spouting fear-fueled insults and small, very fake reasons for breaking and entering, literally. A single squeeze to his midsection made his voice freeze and choke up in his throat. “Silence.” A white-eyes glare sent him reeling. ‘Too bright!’ “You have caused me problems.” Another squeeze made the bright light look like a vignette for a moment. Unable to speak, he scrabbled even more at the scales on the claw that held him, trying to find a soft spot to prod. A snarl rippled through the air, the vines on its muzzle swaying from side to side dangerously. “You will pay for your crimes-” A small, almost comically high-pitched yelp escaped the dragon-like creature. The grasp on his torso lessened. With it, came extra clarity on what he was doing exactly. There, right at the smallest spot where the underside of its wrist and lower palm melded into one, was a barely noticeable irregularity. Without knowing it, Skeppy had scribbled his nails over it. He raised a single eyebrow, unable to censor the words that tumbled out of his mouth. “You’re..ticklish? I big, strong creature of the nether.. Is ticklish?”

A series of sputtered, rumbling words didn’t help the creature’s case. “No, that’s not.. No. It’s not that, it’s sensitive. I swear on the bastions, do not- ACK!” Skeppy dug his nails back into the spot, giggling at the noise he got in return. “Aha, take that!” A frustrated, chuckly laugh made his very bones vibrate. “You know what, forget it. I’m going to put you down, and you...leave. Just leave. Do not mess with me anymore, got it?” He nodded in agreement. ‘I am so not going to let this slide. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? I die?’ The air wooshed around him, the only indication that he was moving downwards beside the glaring beams of light flicking around the area. As his feet touched the ground, he squirmed out of its grasp impatiently. “I can get down by myself, thank you. And,” he pointed up at the creature with a grin, “I’d like to see your face. Do you have a human form or something? And like, a light? I promise I won’t take any of your stuff for myself if you do.” The sound of scales scraping against metal made him wince. “Are you really making a demand out of me? Badboyhalo, the great demon of the Nether?” He sharply retorted, “Well, I can certainly say I have something, saying that I have blackmail on you right now! How would everyone react to word that you are ticklish?”

A sigh, much smaller than the other vocalizations from the beast, echoed through the room. “Fine, then.” Skeppy craned his neck to look at the shadowy shape, desire to watch the beast transform outweighing he dangers of doing so. However, all too soon, it was over. It didn’t take long for a shape to climb out of the scales they had shed, shaking off a few pieces of extra skin and ragged things he wasn’t quite able to make out. With a stretch of their back, a pair of wings, ragged and sharp in all the right places, flapped outwards from behind him. As they came closer, it was more and more obvious that the person was not human. From the red-tipped horns pointing upwards from their head, to the obviously inhuman pair of bat-demonic wings, all the way down to their lower back, which sported an appendage that was reminiscent of one of his friend’s old card decks full of angels and hell-demons of long ago. The flat, spade like appendage sported the same color scheme as their horns, pitch at the base and a shade of maroon crimson, quite like blood, at the tip. It gave their body a form that certainly reminded him of the towering creature that loomed above him minutes before. Their white, glowing eyes had not changed either.

They stopped a few feet away from him.

“Happy now?” Skeppy hesitated for a moment, confused, before remembering it was just him in the room. “Ah, sorry, you look really...cool! And yeah, it’s all good. Thanks for not, clobbering me, I guess?’ Looking straight into the demon’s eyes, he learned, was a bit of a challenge. They were double his height, and certainly didn’t look like they cared much about changing it. They scoffed, but it didn’t seem to be an insult, more of a normal, reflexive reaction. “It’s fine. Are you going to go now?” Skeppy pondered that for a moment. “Perhaps, but...I wanted to know something- no, two things.” They leaned in closer, eyes narrowing in a look unrecognizable to him. Perhaps irritation? “First thing, what’s your gender and your name? And second…” He looked at him dead in the eyes, gaze unwavering, even though the glare that seemed to burn in his retinas tingled a bit on his face. “Do you get a lot of affection, as the ‘great demon of the nether’?” Putting air quotes around the title made the demon look the slightest bit annoyed at the gem, but he didn’t care much at all about it. “I am male. And my name's Badboyhalo, if you didn’t hear earlier.” He balked slightly at the last question. “Affection...What do you mean by that?”

A small gasp of shock ripped from his throat, but he tried to play it off with a cough. A questioning eyebrow dispelled that idea quickly. “Is it something rude? Did I say something wrong?” Badboyhalo growled lowly. “If you made me say something bad, I will not hesitate to send you back where you came from with a tapestry shredded on your back.” The gem hybrid winced at the imagery that flashed to mind. He flailed his arms a little, shaking his head vehemently. “No, no! I’m just a little…worried for you, is all.” A scoff. “Worried? For me? And not for you? You have a lot of nerves for a strider-rider.”

#Lee!bad #Ler!skeppy #Dsmp tickle #mcyt tickle #tickle fic #sort of there’s not that much tickling rn lol #I’ll connect the queue thing once I update this #Downywrites #Downy writes

47 notes · View notes