#slowly making my way towards that all polearm team

[wesimpforxiao]

Say My Name and I’ll Be There:  5.2

Author’s Note:  I saw this on pinterest and thought it applied to Xiao XD  P.S.  Do you readers like that the story is in 2nd POV, or should I change it to 3rd person?  My thinking is this POV allows me to get away without mentioning appearances or a chosen name so ya’ll could be put in OC’s shoes?

..............................

Is it just me, or is he looking my way?  You caught Childe in the act while you and your team retreated into the opposite tree line after Aether had taken the dragon tooth.  Something didn't feel right.  The trees seemed to close in on you like tunnel vision.  Was he planning on attacking you with the skirmishers at his side? Was he going to show his true colors now?  Is it time to face death?

He dismissed the soldiers and retreated from the direction you had all spotted the skirmishers in the first place.  He made a point to cast a meaningful glance your way.

I can't let it happen now, you looked to each of your teammates as you all ran through the snowy woods.  If he brought all of those Fatui agents on board with taking you out, the entire group would be overwhelmed.  The sheer cold puts us at a disadvantage.  Bennett could get hurt.  Xiao can't fight with his full strength.  When was the last time Aether and Childe sparred?  I can't rely on those results to protect me either.  

No one was paying attention; you could slip away and try to strike a deal with the Harbinger.  Bargain for Xiao's freedom and safety. You were hypersensitive to the weight of your coat on your shoulders, and the crunching of snow beneath your boots.  He can't hurt us now...not now!

You peeled away from the group and they continued to run towards a cave several hundred yards from their current position.  No one had heard you.  When you finally reached the first firepit, you found Childe waiting next to it.

"Oh there you are, ojou-chan!  Did you get the tooth? Where are the others?  They didn't run into trouble, did they?"  He greeted you with his signature friendly stature.

"Drop the act, Childe." You came to a halt maybe ten feet from him, with your back to the firepit.  It warmed your body significantly and you could finally feel your fingers and toes again.  He was on the far end of the open area.

"Whatever do you mean, ojou-chan?"  The mask didn't crack.

"We're alone now.  Is that what you wanted?"

Childe stared at you for a moment before breaking out into a loud fit of laughter.  "Oh ojou-chan, you know me so well〰"  He took a couple steps toward you.  "You should know I've been meaning to talk to you."

"That's close enough."  He stopped.  "I know what you're after."

"Oh?"  A dangerous glint sparked in his eyes, one that you've never seen before.  "Enlighten me then."

"I don't want Xiao dragged into whatever mess you brought upon us.  Whatever your plan entails, it ends with me."

"A noble sacrifice for a man that will not love you," he smirked.  "Why do you try to protect him when he can clearly fight for himself?"

"He's been through enough already," your hands closed into fists as you recalled his horrific past.  "I'll go with you, but only if you give me your word you won't take him too."

"Ha!  I feel no need to fight you, ojou-chan."  The sincerity in his voice attracted your gaze back to him.  "I don't wish to hurt you."

"Huh..?"  That's out of character.  Is this some sort of trap?

"I...have other goals in mind.  They require your cooperation, of course.  And your cutting of ties with the adeptus."

"Cutting ties?  Why would I do that?"  Your brows furrowed.

"My loyalty lies with the Tsaritsa, but I have a special interest with this mission after meeting you, ojou-chan," he made his way closer, and you stood in total confusion.  "I will personally see to it that you will not get harmed at all in Snezhnaya.  It all depends on your answer."

"You...I don't get what you mean.  What answer?  What exactly are you asking of me?"  Whatever it was, you sure as hell weren't going to agree with it.  But as soon as the questions left your lips, you knew.

He does like you.

Childe took note of the realization--and the fear--on your face and continued. "Surrender is a valid option, I promise I'll be gentle.  This is a simple route that avoids all the fighting and pain.  All you need to do is allow me to love you, and I won't harm your friends.  You have my word."

"L-love me?"  The words left a terrible taste in your mouth.  "I...I could never!  I could never love you, either!  You killed my Granny...you stole her house from her frail hands.  You...You!" Your sword made a metallic sound as it was unsheathed.

Childe inhaled and manifested his bow.  He nocked an arrow onto his finger and drew the string to his cheek.  "A most expected answer, ojou-chan.  Thank you for strengthening my resolve.  This will be much more enjoyable now."  Whatever turmoil that shone in his eyes was long gone  and replaced with pure malice.  "Let's make this a fair fight."  The arrow shot into the fire and extinguished it.

"Tch." You ran toward him as fast as you could in the snow, and crossed sword with lance.

"Not bad," your opponent grinned with satisfaction.  "Where'd you learn this technique from?"  You somehow managed to keep up with his unrelenting blows thanks to the muscle memory that belonged to Xiao.  "I don't recall the adeptus ever training you."

"Ngh!"  He landed a kick to your stomach and you fell into the snow.  Childe let you get back up, completely high on the thrill of fighting you and more than intent on dragging it out so he could watch your fighting spirit diminish.  I may be keeping up with him, but I can't land a solid blow like this.  You slowly removed your two remaining jackets and tossed them into the snow next to the extinguished firepit.  If I can somehow finish the fight quickly...You knew it was a hopeless battle.  A fight between a non-vision wielder and a harbinger that wields both vision and delusion? Complete and utter self-annihilation will ensue.

"I admire your tenacity, comrade," he watched the jackets fall.  "But now that I have my answer, there's no reason to wait any longer."  He shoved his lance towards you when your guard was down.

"I won't let you hurt him!"   You swung your blade to parry, and a sudden blast of material sent the two of you flying backwards into the snow.  Your vision was suddenly looking into the tree canopy.  "Ugh, wha--?"  You sat up to find ice shards scattered across the snow.  Something cool and metallic sat in your free hand.  You opened your palm to reveal what you least expected.

A vision.

You stared at your hand with bewilderment while Childe rose to his feet with a mixture of shock, admiration, and annoyance.  "I see.  An unexpected development," he remarked with cold eyes.  "It's a shame you won't have the chance to wield it properly against me.  He drew his bow and aimed for your chest.  Another block of ice manifested before the arrow could pierce you.

You placed the artifact into your jean pocket, and you rose to your feet with a newfound confidence.  Maybe you could beat him here and now.  Images of Xiao's fights involuntarily crossed your mind, and a lance of ice materialized in your hand.  You held it so that the tip pointed directly at Childe.

Another clashing of blades, this time converting Childe's into an ice sculpture.  But not before you had managed to freeze his leg into the snow for a hot second.  You ducked at his swings, parried his attacks, and followed through with a sequence of your own--or rather Xiao's--attacks.  It looked like you were gaining the upper hand until Childe caught your blade in his gloved palm.

"Thank you for the entertainment, ojou-chan," he growled.  "But this is where it ends for you."  Did you really think he hadn't studied your newfound techniques during your previous fighting session?  So naïve of you, ojou-chan.  You can't use the same tricks twice.

You retracted your weapon and lay waste another blow.  He easily parried it.  You engaged in a combo before swiping your feet at his legs; he leapt away before you could knock him down.  You were frustrated now, your movements becoming sloppier with each passing movement.

There's the real you, he mused.  His frozen blade dug into your dominant shoulder with such force that he had you pinned to a tree.  He felt nothing but sadistic pleasure course through his veins at the sight of you squirming in pain.

"Gah!" A shriek escaped your lips and your lance dropped from your hand.  You tried to claw the spear out of your body as he stalked ever closer to you.

"I don't even need Foul Legacy to kill you. You could never defeat me, not even in your wildest dreams," Childe stalked towards you as he twirled a new hydro polearm behind his body, stopping once its blade pressed against your neck.  He could kill you in an instant, and he would if he wasn't required to bring you alive.

You were seething with anger and hatred. It was stupid of you to go after him on your own, to seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict when you knew all along that there wouldn't be one. It didn't matter now. Your anger subsided, shoulders releasing themselves from the tension in your muscles once you thought of an idea. Even the pain in your dominant shoulder seemed to subside a bit.  Your sudden change in demeanor made Childe's grip loosen for a moment as he questioned the newfound peace emanating from you.

Your eyes closed and your lips curled into a smile. Adeptus Xiao, you called to him in your heart.Please hear me and answer my prayer for protection.

A sudden gust of wind blew against your back, and Childe faltered. He looked to you for an explanation, and you met his gaze through his mask. "I know, but he can."

Xiao burst into Childe at an incredible speed, knocking him square into another tree. The trunk splintered in half from the force.  He conjured his polearm and held its blade at Childe's throat. "Why the sudden politeness in your prayers?" He called out over his shoulder without taking his eye off the Harbinger.  I'm cursed with hearing her rambling whenever I'm gone, and only now she speaks politely to an illuminated adeptus?  Despite that thought, he actually loved hearing your voice reach his ears.

"I-I don't know.." WAIT, he COULD hear me all this time?!  Blush further tinted your pink cheeks that were red from the sheer cold.

"Tsk," Childe spit blood onto the snow and glared at the yaksha.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't decapitate you here."

Childe wasn't going to give him a reason and debated on conjuring his polearm instead.  Here he was, about to die at the hands of the damned yaksha, and all because he had decided to give you a chance to 'escape' a portion of the hardship that awaited you.  Signora would lose what respect she had for him if she ever found out.  Oh well.

"Ngh," you writhed against the tree.  Your feet were just inches from solid ground, making this injury all the more painful as you hung from the lance.  You couldn't move your dominant arm anymore.  Xiao let go of Childe's collar and moved to your aid.  He slipped your other arm over his shoulder so he could relieve the pressure off of your injury, then yanked the spear out without warning.  Your shout of pain scared the nearby foxes away.

Xiao gave the Harbinger one last glare before he lifted you in his arms and took off at an incredible speed.  It was only a matter of seconds before the two of you caught up with the rest of the group, who were waiting just inside a small cave that held mysterious lab equipment.

"Be careful,"  the yaksha set you on your feet but refused to remove your arm from around him.

"There you are!  W-where'd Childe go?"  Bennett paled when he saw your injury.  "Here, let me see that."  Aether, Paimon, and Xiao exchanged knowing looks while Bennett examined your shoulder.  "You should sit down.  This isn't anything I can't fix!"

"What happened? Did Childe...?" Aether trailed off once he returned with a bowl of water from a boiling pot.  

"Mn," you winced when Bennett peeled your shirt off of your bloody skin.  "I thought he was conspiring with those agents when we were making a run for it, so I followed him."

"A foolish decision," Xiao grumbled.  He took the water from Aether and held it to your lips.

"Were you at least able to find anything else out about his plans? Or Signora?"  Paimon spoke up.  "It's not worth getting hurt over if you just throw yourself in harm's way like that."

"I thought he was going to..." your eyes flicked to Xiao's for a split second before they fell to the ground.  '--Hurt you,' you wanted to say.  But the yaksha would not hear of it if you said something so foolishly naïve.  You were just a measly human after all, with little knowledge of fighting and a large heart that wanted to protect those around her.  A big heart could only go so far; it proved useless in your battle today.  Or did it?  You nearly jumped up when you remembered, "I have something! I got something from this!"  Your loud yelp scared the daylights out of Bennett, and he nearly yanked the stitch out that he had just put into your skin.  You dug into your pocket and pulled out the artifact.

"Is that--?!"  Paimon and Aether sprung to their feet simultaneously.

"A vision?"  Xiao's eyes widened slightly.  And a cryo one, at that.

"So cool!" Paimon spun around with excitement.  "You're officially one of us now! Er, not that you weren't to begin with--"

"Congrats,"  Aether nodded and flashed you a toothy grin.  

"Yeah, congrats!"  Bennett also flashed you a bright smile and observed the trinket in your palm.  "Wow, we're like, polar opposites!"

"Heh, yeah," you nodded with a faint smile.  Your eyes found Xiao's, which were locked onto your vision.  "Xiao?"

"You received a blessing from the very god that's hunting you.  Do you not find that odd?"  His lack of enthusiasm made your chest ache in disappointment.  

Was he not proud of such an accomplishment?

"Yeah now that you mention it," Paimon held her chin and thought.  "It is really weird.  Why would she make her target more powerful? Wouldn't that just make it more difficult for her to capture you?"

"Did Childe say anything about it?"  Aether prompted.

"No," you shook your head slightly and pursed your lips.  "He seemed as surprised as I was."

To be blessed with the cryo vision, one must commit an act that revolves around love, Xiao's brows furrowed.  Had she done something on the behalf of her grandmother, or is this all in the Cryo Archon's plan?  It never crossed his mind that you had gotten it on his behalf.

#genshin impact #xiao genshin impact #genshin impact xiao #xiao x reader #fanfiction #xiao fanfiction #xiao one shot

[genshin-impact-updates]

Developer Insight #4: Character Stories (I) - "Vigilant Yaksha" Xiao (Part II)

3. Vanquishing Demons: Animating & Debugging

Greetings, Travelers. This is Xiaolong from the Genshin Impact Animation department.

When work on Genshin Impact first began, we in the Animation team set ourselves a rather challenging objective — to provide players with an animation experience as smooth as you would see when watching an animated film. To achieve this goal, we invested a significant amount of time and resources into making character movements as natural and polished as possible. Our hope was that players could view these animations many times without tiring of them.

When we received the character profile and concept art, the whole Animation team got very excited. "Conqueror of Demons," "Vigilant Yaksha," "mighty and illuminated adeptus"... As the image of Liyue's sworn protector emerged before our eyes, equally devastating in looks as in combat, everyone in the team wanted to be a part of it. We felt that in a sense, Creative Concept & Writing and Concept Art had created his soul, and our job as animators was to place his soul inside his body.

As a Liyue character, Xiao's movements naturally had to incorporate some Eastern elements. The notion of a classic martial arts hero instantly came to mind, and a thought took hold in my mind: "I have to capture something of this iconic Eastern aesthetic to show to players around the world, even if only a tiny glimpse of it."

In terms of how to combine polearm combat with Eastern elements, naturally we had plenty of martial arts tradition to draw on. But as an adeptus who has fought countless battles in his past, Xiao could hardly be limited to the physical techniques themselves. So, the way we animated him had to include Eastern elements as well as capture the swift and decisive combat style of a guardian yaksha who has honed his skills over thousands of years.

In the third phase of Xiao's Normal Attack, he performs a sidewards somersault. Typically, after performing a movement like this, one would expect to see further movement of the body to release the momentum. But to show Xiao's quick and nimble physical ability, we drew on the Chinese martial arts trope of the body being as "light as a leaf" as well as skills from parkour to have Xiao come to a soft and steady landing after his mid-air roll.

Clip from Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

Xiao's elemental affiliation is Anemo, and he was stated in his profile as having strong self-propulsion skills. After some brainstorming, we decided that we wanted the visual effect of Xiao's Elemental Skill to be like an arrow flying in a straight line through the air. When the skill ends, we have him slide along the ground as he slowly turns around, making the movement appear effortless and graceful.

Clip from Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon

As mentioned earlier, we wanted to make everything look as polished as possible. This meant ironing out a lot of details. Every flap of clothing and every strand of hair has undergone an animator's repeated scrutiny. After reviewing countless motion effects produced with dynamic simulation, we would select the one we were happiest with and polish the key frames further to finally produce the heroic Vigilant Yaksha we were happy with, whose every movement was filled with explosive energy and speed, and whose every posture in every frame was picture perfect.

We couldn't discuss Xiao without mentioning his mask, a key element which appears both in his Elemental Burst as well as his idle animations. Over the millennia, Xiao has fought constantly with the remnants of defeated gods and with all manner of monsters; at the same time, the burden of karmic debt has constantly been accumulating within him. When he dons his mask, this karmic debt manifests itself, greatly enhancing both his combat abilities as well as the suffering he must endure. And yet, time after time, he dons his mask to protect Liyue; time after time, he stays true to his contract.

According to Xiao's profile, his deepest, most hidden element is gentleness. When all identities and labels are cast aside, Xiao has a gentle side, shown in his curiosity towards phenomena in the human world, but he is very reticent to show this side of himself to others. This aspect was very difficult to capture in his animations, so in the end we created an idle animation that tells a short story: a spark of light that seems to be alive draws near; Xiao stretches out his hand to try to make contact with it, but because of his karma-ravaged constitution, he succeeds only in causing the spirit to fly away. He knew this would be the inevitable conclusion, but feels dejected all the same.

It took this kind of conflict between complex emotions to convey this character's richness and breathe life into his soul.

To perfect how Xiao is presented, our Technical Animation team used optical motion capture technology, which captures high-precision data to accurately recreate the finer details of the actor's limb movements. Meanwhile, more complex combat movements that could not be easily recreated in real life required the animator to go through and fine-tune the position of each bone and the movement of each streamer. On the foundation of smooth and natural animation, this added an additional element of exaggeration and novelty.

We are currently in the process of researching and developing character animation styles for several future world regions. Our dream has always been to create fresh, dynamic characters, build a vibrant fantasy world, and fully develop the various cultures across the different regions of Teyvat. Although plenty of challenges await us on the road ahead, we feel that the chance to bring you a product that is a true labor of love is something worth striving for.

---

Thanks to all our colleagues who worked on this article. We hope everyone reading it feels they got to understand something new about how we develop characters for Genshin Impact.

Please leave a comment if there is any aspect of Genshin Impact's research and development that you are interested in. We will continue to get colleagues from different departments to share their experiences and reflections with everyone.

Finally, thanks once again to all Travelers for your ongoing interest and support. See you again soon!

#genshin impact #official #genshin impact updates #genshin xiao #xiao #ok here's part 2 #there's another post about a live wallpaper but i'm in class so that'll be at 10 my time #developer insight

[bogkeep]

i wrote down a rough outline for the Timian Fable and Vinta Qir story, just to have it written down Somewhere, and i feel like it’s only fair to share it with people who care about them!! i wrote it in a google doc but i’m gonna copypaste it under the readmore, so i hope the formatting isn’t too fucky.

(here’s a toyhouse page for my iphimery characters)

Prince Aljanah (third son of the queen, pretty far down in line to the throne, generally bored, has zero responsibilities and zero accountability) seduces Timian mostly for the heck of it. I mean, Timian is super cute, so like. Why not. He gives him a smooch and a stealthy “think about it, OK?” and oh god does Timian ever think about it. It’s a really Big Conflict in his brain because he has a DUTY and this goes against ALL DUTY and Aljanah is almost literally his employer (his loyalty is sworn to the royal family) so it’s like! What the hell is he supposed to do!! What the prince wants is supposed to trump what he wants, unless it puts the royal family’s safety in jeopardy, and AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH (and he kind of really wants to?? There’s a lot to unpack here?????)

 There’s some genuine friendship in there, where Aljanah helps Timian overcome some trauma around magic, but for the most part Timian is left pining for a relationship Aljanah isn’t interested in.

(Aljanah teaches Timian some light magic maybe??? Timian isn’t too keen on using it, ever. He does learn some very useful magic blocks though.)

Vinta is on a mission to assassinate Aljanah. Timian stops them and they are equally measured in strength. Vinta is about to use their magic (which they only use as a last resort), but Timian then has a moment of Gay (their faces are very close together) and blurts out something like “oh... you’re beautiful” which takes Vinta so unexpectedly aback they kind of… flee

Vinta tries again another time, but Timian is there again to meet them, and this time Vinta goes straight for the magic - which freaks Timian out bc trauma, but he remembers what Aljanah taught him and counters it. The ordeal leaves both of them so exhausted, they kind of just lie down and… start bonding over how magic kinda sucks. Very begrudgingly, on Vinta’s part at least. 

(“Please don’t forget me?” “I don’t think I could even if I wanted to”) Unsure If Vinta Agrees To Stop The Assassination But They Certainly Seem Very Unhappy About The Prospect Of One

Despite it seeming like Timian may never meet Vinta again… Vinta keeps showing up. Not as an assassin in the dark, but like, on the street? Off the clock? So they sort of start hanging out?? Vinta has a real knack for finding Timian anywhere, anytime… one time they come across him singing by himself down by the water, but they don’t approach him. Just sit down and listen out of sight, a little guilty for intruding. 

Timian seems awfully forgiving of Vinta attempting to murder his crush, but hey, Vinta was just trying to do his job. Timian seems extremely reluctant to talk about Aljanah at all ever though. Vinta slowly pieces together that Timian has some really strong and painful feelings towards the prince. IT’S COMPLICATED

Vinta never ever addresses the whole “you’re beautiful” thing. Timian never brings it up either. THEY’RE BOTH THINKING ABOUT IT, CONSTANTLY

This is like. The first time either of them has a friend who’s really their equal and who kind of really gets them. It’s so incredibly precious and neither wants to mess that up. This has never happened before in the history of gay

Timian’s relationship to romance/sexuality is very… he has a duty, you know? He has to be stronger than that and not let it ever distract him. So of course Aljanah comes along and MESSES ALL OF IT UP. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

He has some issues. He’s working on it. 

In all honesty he started out very clueless like he didn’t recognize crushes as crushes for such a long time because “they’re just such lovely friends :)” you know. So it was very easy to say he was above these things BUT HE WASN’T!! HE WASN’T!!! HE WAS JUST A DUMBASS!!! What Aljanah does is essentially just confront the dumbassery head on and it’s like oh no *pictures of all his dear lovely friends spill out of pocket* “i’m gay???” “always was”

Vinta’s relationship to romance/sexuality was to repress all of it because they don’t belong to themself. They were like, keenly aware every time Some Feeling showed up uninvited and they would throttle it and shove it down where it never got to flourish. 1) they can’t have it 2) they don’t deserve it So don’t even try, you know? There’s no fucking point. 

AND SO THEY PINE FOR ONE ANOTHER

I mean they kind of… help each other a lot, sharing traumas, letting the other that they deserve to have nice things, and be a person maybe?? Maybe duty isn’t all there is for them out there? Sounds fake but ok [gazes longingly into each other’s eyes]

Vinta never goes through with the assassination on prince Aljanah but sometimes they kind of really want to. Not because of a job, but because oh my god Aljanah broke Timian’s heart and also AAUGHH HE DOESN’T DESERVE TIMIAN’S DEVOTION THIS IS UPSETTING I DON’T KNOW HOW TO COPE WITH THIS DSJKSDJKDSFJB!!

They also gotta deal with the pressure from the assassin’s guild. Since they’re one of the top assassins they got a lot of leeway at first, but now that they’re questioning both their purpose and loyalty and kind of push back… it’s getting kind of dangerous maybe. The other assassins start getting on their case as well and Vinta has to keep up appearances and prove that they’re not too Weak to do it.  Vinta has a lot of pride in their skills ok. Pride is one of the emotions they’ve let themself foster.

Meanwhile Timian is kind of slowly able to let go of his yearning for Aljanah, because he’s found a relationship that’s filling in all the wounds from what he’s not getting from the prince?? Like he’s investing in a friendship that’s actually fulfilling and a two way street? And maybe?? Something More?? SJAJHSDJKA???

It’s giving Timain the ability to set a boundary between himself and Aljanah that was sorely lacking before. Things are still kind of Strange and a little Painful but he’s on a healthier path and we’re all very proud of him

Look I haven’t thought too hard about the actual plot with the assassination and stuff but imagine that other assassins take on the mission to kill Aljanah and VINTA TEAMS UP WITH TIMIAN TO PROTECT THE GARBAGE PRINCE BECAUSE HE MATTERS TO TIMIAN. 

Aljanah hasn’t met Vinta before (he just sleeps through assassination attempts for the most time, it happens frequently enough that he just accepts that this is his lot in life???) and is like oh thank you and who do I owe the honor and Vinta just punches him in the face

Since that was overall confusing, Timian and Vinta kind of have to talk about it, and Vinta admits to having some… Selfish And Greedy Feelings and they are clearly not ready to confess properly yet

Timian has, for better or for worse, learnt some things from Aljanah. “You want to see something selfish?” he says, kissing Vinta. “Think about it, OK?” he says before he goes, leaving a VERY DAZED Vinta just standing there

[MORE THINGS HAPPEN????]

In the future. When Vinta has quit the guild and Timian is no longer a royal guard, and they make a home together and create a life where they no longer work in violence… 

Vinta collects knives because they love knifes. Knives have always felt Safe to them because magic has been the dangerous tool. Vinta gets really good at woodworking.

Timian helps out at an apothecary. Which is funny because his name just means thyme in norwegian. He doesn’t keep any polearms around, but if necessary he can wield a really mean pitchfork.

They’re both highly skilled fighters, but don’t try to drag them into any pointless wars, ok? It won’t end well for you.

They love and care eachother 

#iphimery #timian fable #vinta qir #aljanah #good kid and anger knife #oc #haiz writes #dont wanna link the doc itself in case i decide to write more stuff that i dont wanna share yet #this is more like a compilation of things i have already mentioned somewhere or sketched or idk. across chats and social medias

[fire-the-headcanons]

She paused on a poster of a woman in regal armor, frozen halfway through a powerful swing of a gravity Dust-enhanced warhammer beneath the words Queen of the Hunt. A long, starry cape swirled behind her, hood half-fallen from her head. "I've always wanted a cloak."

"Then why not get one?"

"I thought people might laugh…" Heat ran over her face. Nice going, idiot, he wears one on a daily basis. "B-but then I saw your cape, and I kinda wanted to again…"

"You're a Huntress. You decide what's cool," Qrow said, gesturing at the woman but freezing mid-wave. Squinting, he inspected the poster more closely. "Summer… is that Professor Mesánychta?"

Follow the Beacon Summer—Mission Critical

[Link to Masterpost]

Summer slammed her hands down on the counter, grinning. "What'cha got?"

The old man sighed, same as the last dozen times she’d come in. "I'm tellin' ya, kid, if any Reaper books go up for sale it'll be at an auction. The bundle you found here was a fluke, it's not gonna happen again."

"Not with that attitude, it won't!"

"I think I'm having a nightmare," Raven muttered, staring at the brightly colored walls.

Tai snorted. "Yeah, each one tries to stand out so you'll pick it."

"Well, that's a bust," Summer said to Qrow as she stepped back from the counter to let the next person up. Behind him, Tai and Raven drifted toward the weapon replica displays. "Come on, the posters here are always cool. So which Reaper comics to you have?"

Qrow scratched his neck. "I had Beowolf Migration part two and Death Stalks part four."

"Wait. Had?"

"One of the other hands trashed my collection."

"What?! That's terrible!"

"It's not so bad." He brushed the handle of the gunblade, folded down and clipped to his back and half-glancing at his sister. "I mean, I'm at Beacon, learning to become a Huntsman. I'm kind of… living it now."

"That's… a really nice way of looking at it… But that guy's still a jerk, " she muttered, slowly flipping through the vintage poster display. Wasn’t life hard enough without going around making it worse for other people? And Qrow wasn’t the type to defend himself. Dan’s teasing had proved that—it had taken her and Tai yelling at him together to get him to stop. Meanwhile Qrow never said a word in his own defense.

"What about you, though?" he asked eagerly. "I only ever got to read the two. They weren’t exactly common out there, since they're printed in Vale."

"Well… I found a few arcs’ worth here two years ago," she gestured at the counter. "But they’re out of print, so the ones that do pop up for sale tend to be really, really expensive. And they haven't been released digitally yet, so I, uh..." She dropped her voice, leaning in a bit. "I pirated scans."

"...What does that mean?"

Oh. Right. They were still getting used to email. "I'll explain later. But I have them all, and you can read them."

A shadow fell over Qrow's face, and she almost stepped back in surprise. What had she said?

"Oh. Thanks, but… you don't have to lend me your stuff," he mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and avoiding her eye.

Oh, Brothers, it was happening again. How was she supposed to know what to say if she didn't know what was wrong? And how did Tai always seem to figure it out, anyway?

Ozpin should have made him leader.

"Well, it's…" she faltered. "I can just give you copies. On your scroll."

"Really?" he looked up again, scowl vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

"Yeah, but… Do you think we could read some together? Tai's not really that into comics—Zaff was the one I'd talk about them with and he's at Atlas now—"

"That'd be awesome," he grinned. "Nobody at home liked them at all."

Summer smiled back. Tai was great and would happily listen to her ramble about theories, but that didn't mean he understood any of them. "I don't have too many paper comics anymore," she continued, rifling through the vintage poster display. "I subscribed to all the new ones online, so I wouldn't have to worry about lugging a bunch of books between home and Signal. And, well, I've always wanted to be a Huntress, so I knew I'd be traveling around." 

She paused on a poster of a woman in regal armor, frozen halfway through a powerful swing of a gravity Dust-enhanced warhammer beneath the words Queen of the Hunt . A long, starry cape swirled behind her, hood half-fallen from her head. "I've always wanted a cloak."

"Then why not get one?"

"I thought people might laugh…" Heat ran over her face. Nice going, idiot, he wears one on a daily basis. "B-but then I saw your cape, and I kinda wanted to again…"

"You're a Huntress. You decide what's cool," Qrow said, gesturing at the woman but freezing mid-wave. Squinting, he inspected the poster more closely. "Summer… is that Professor Mesánychta?"

She stared back at the poster. The cape—maybe this was why it had stood out, and she hadn't realized—was the same starry pattern as the professor's typical suit. Their headbands weren't identical, but both had a lunar theme. And she fought with a bow, not a polearm warhammer—

But no, that was Spring Tide, the engravings were all the same. The quiver formed the hammer head, and the bow was the handle. It must use gravity Dust to make it heavy enough to do damage. The woman was thirty years younger, but unmistakably—

"Oh, gods." Her hands flew to her mouth. "You're right!"

* * *

The sun burned the horizon orange and red as their shuttle docked at Beacon's cliff, and they followed a large group out onto the little airfield. A lot of other students were also returning to school for dinner.

"Mission success!" Summer shouted, spinning the poster's cardboard tube over her head like Gungnir. A nearby recruiter in red and white jumped, halfway through his speech to a group of semi-attentive upperclassmen.

Tai and Qrow glanced at each other. "…And what mission is that, exactly?" Tai asked.

"I learned something about each of you." She pointed at Raven, grinning triumphantly. "You like boats, and you actually know a lot about sailing!"

Raven's hand tightened on her bag as she blinked in surprise, but Summer knew she wouldn't like the spotlight if it stayed on her too long. She pointed at Qrow next. "And you want to become a Huntsman because you like helping people!"

He smiled, embarrassed. "Right again."

"Plus, Raven smiled like, three times today. So: mission Team Bonding accomplished!" 

"What are you doing back up here?!"

Summer cut off and the four of them turned to watch Professor Carmine storm from the forge, blowtorch in hand. The recruiter took a nervous step backward, spluttering as the little Forgemaster marched right up to him.

"Professor Ozpin has strictly forbidden any Merlot-Blanc personnel from recruiting on the school grounds," Carmine snapped as the students started to drift away. "So, mister, what makes you the exception to the rule?"

"Look, ma'am, I'm sorry, I'm just doing what they pay me to do—"

"What's Merlot-Blanc Industries?" Qrow asked as they began to drift toward the cafeteria as well. Behind them, the recruiter continued to stammer and back away nervously.

"Huh. I think they’re the companies that's building the development out past the mountains? They must be trying to find Huntsmen to guard the construction. Dunno why Ozpin wouldn't want them at Beacon's docks."

"Maybe someone caused trouble?" Tai guessed. "Though, speaking of trouble, I guess we have something to blackmail Professor Mesánychta with next time she tries to give us detention."

Summer stared down at the poster tube in her hands. He was right—maybe, just maybe, they had leverage.

She wasn't going to waste it.

Next Chapter: Raven—Liquid Courage

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #strq #team strq #summer rose #qrow branwen #raven branwen #taiyang xiao long #zelenia mesánychta #carmine eitri #ozpin #follow the beacon #mine

[gem-quest]

[QUEST o2. - E N T H R O N E D]

(written by @bebemoon)

mentions: @ayzrules @elissastillstands & @armadasneon​

. . . Quest 2 .

A few days passed without word from Inferna, and Neddy was beginning to think she'd been forgotten.

A pair of players were marrying in the gardens the week following the meadow fair. And Neddy made an appearance out of sheer curiosity-

The ceremony was within a tumble of pale pink blossoms beneath a flowering tree, and the fae—and even all who were stuck on the level—were in attendance, surrounding the couple of Moonstone players. Neddy recognised the groom as the gleaming Moonstone jouster from the fair. The bride was a tiny Healer with hair matching the blossoms overhead and a veil of glimmering chain mail set with white crystals. They seemed blissful- so much so that Neddy wondered about them.    

Besides, was this a binding union in the real world? Probably not since Finvarra was the one to marry them, and Neddy rather doubted the Prince was ordained for such an affair. He wasn't even real.

Maybe it didn't matter to them- at any moment, any of them could be skewered with a sword and die at once in two worlds. Might as well live happily and love when possible.  

Neddy shook her head. What an outlandish situation they all found themselves in . . .

-

There was a celebration afterwards, but in Yue City. Understandably, the happy couple wanted to be able to eat together as well as remain free of the fae.

Neddy stayed behind to put her feet up on the feast table alongside some of Finvarra's tittering wives to watch the dancing for a while. The feeling of isolation began to creep up on her once again.

Suddenly, there was a familiar trilling from her rucksack at her feet, barely audible over the fairy music. It was the sound the Plexus' messaging function made when a new message was received.

Excitedly, Neddy dug into the rucksack and drew the Plexus out. She swiped the screen, and the new message appeared. It was from Inferna- "Jack's Girlfriend" [fire emoji] in the Plexus.

The message read: WYD ???

Neddy replied with a long message detailing the wedding she'd just witnessed, overseen by the Prince himself.

To which the redhead pithily replied, "Bruh xD".

Neddy grinned at her screen.

Inferna went on to ask Neddy if she was ready to take on Aydina, and when Neddy indicated that she was "ready as she would ever be", the other girl sent back:

“Btw I invited 2 other ppl to join us for dodgeball- Morningstar and Balestra if u wanted to look them up! Hope that’s okay 💖💖💖 say hi to jack 4 me!!!!”

Attached to this was a selfie of the candy-redhead eating the apricot tartlets Neddy had paid her with.

Morningstar wasn't a name that Neddy recognised- but Balestra, she knew immediately. She was another Moonstone player- a celestial knight- with a griffin mount. If Neddy wasn't very much mistaken, the griffin ate some of the garden's fae NPCs. And Finvarra still recounted the incident like some sort of disastrous Biblical tale.

Maybe it would be good to have someone like that on her side? If Balestra's griffin ate Aydina, would that be an automatic win?

Neddy replied simply to Inferna with a thumbs-up emoji, but she couldn't help feeling a twinge of doubt.

-

I C T U I U M . to . M E R M A I D . C O V E .

Inferna and her two companions were already waiting in the level 30 foyer—a wide glass room looking into the beachy landscape beyond with huge, flat screens showing players already in action on the level—when Neddy blinked in.

Seeing the sparkling sea spread out to her left, Neddy's first inclination was to start singing “La mer”.

Inferna's disappointment that Neddy had shown up sans Jack was instantly perceptible. The redhead pushed her lip out and raised one hand to her hip.

“Where’s Jack?” she said, pouting dramatically. “I even brought him a huge thing of sugar cubes! And a fresh batch of sauce.”

Neddy pulled an apologetic face. "Sorry, he's been M.I.A. for a couple of days," she told her. "He does that, I'm finding."

A slip of a girl with a crown of curls and a longsword on her hip was leaned up against one of the glass walls. She nodded at Neddy by way of a greeting.

Inferna jerked her chin at her. "That's Balestra," she said, grinning. "Moonstone rider like yourself. Maybe you know her?"

Neddy didn't want to bring up the gardens fiasco in case it was a sore spot with Balestra, and so she lied. "Oh, er, no- I-I don't believe we've met, actually," she stammered. "I'm Neddy. I swear I'm a real rider- my mount is just . . . I don't think he'd be much good at dodgeball anyway."

Three pairs of eyes regarded Neddy. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but she knew everyone could tell that she was.

At least Inferna seemed to be enjoying herself, as usual. She snorted in the silence. "And that's Morningstar over there," she said, thumbing the other player in the foyer.  

The third pair of eyes were almost too haunting to properly look into. They belonged to a ribbon of white slashed with violent red- a crown of berries, Neddy realised. Intimidatingly, a crystal scythe lay across her shoulders and her arms were draped over either side of the polearm. She looked a bit crucified.

The phantom made no move to acknowledge Neddy. However, her strange golden eyes stayed pinned to her.

Neddy merely raised her hand in a meek wave. "Hello."

Morningstar said nothing.

Inferna clapped her hands to break the bizarre tension between the four of them. "Well, let's go kick some ass!" she declared and punched the air. “I just confirmed with the other seven people who agreed to join our party. Three Ammolite, two Obsidian, two Moonstone.”

Neddy was impressed. Inferna was certainly on top of things. Perhaps more apricot tartlets were in order.

Inferna flashed them a cheeky grin. “Let’s go down to the beach?”

-

Neddy considered herself fortunate to have gotten some intimidating figures on her side for this dodgeball match- especially considering the others Inferna had rounded up. Not an inspiring bunch. But Inferna had only been looking to fill out the team.

Mermaid Cove was beautiful. The beach was blush and the sky was bright. The harbour was bustling at one end of the shore and magnificent pirate ships bobbed in the offing. Up the beach, giant pink conch shells were set upright in the sand and hollowed out into stalls that sold necessities like medi-elixirs, pep potions, and replacement gear. An old one-eyed woman with a blue parrot on her shoulder was selling fried octopus tentacles in shell-shaped baskets. A length of fishing net was draped over the market area and all manner of scavenged sea treasures and seashells were strung up, dangling over the customers as they browsed.

Neddy wanted to roam the market area for a while, but Inferna was all business. 

Inferna led them through the intro ordeal, having one of the other players activate the in-game event with the NPC shopkeeper, since Inferna herself had already completed the level and therefore could not activate it again. 

Inferna tapped her foot impatiently as the NPC ran through her whole sob story about how the mermaids had created Angel’s Breath to revive drowned humans, how the pirate queen Aydina and her eleven crew members had killed off all the mermaids to keep Angel’s Breath for herself-

Finally, the NPC said, “If you get the pirates to leave the town, I’ll show you where the last Angel’s Breath is hidden.”

“Great, let’s go,” said Inferna, then she directed the rest of the group to the shoreline.

As they stood on the beach, she threw her finger in the direction of the sea where a massive dome was rising slowly out of the water.

"Look, look!" Inferna shouted. "There it is!"

The others crowded around to watch in awe as the dome continued to surface, throwing off water and a terrible mechanical noise that scraped the ears.

"We're going into that thing?" Neddy asked, her stomach flipping.

Meanwhile, a pirate ship-complete with a skull and crossbone flag-sailed into view. Inferna rolled her eyes. “Yeah, in a sec,” she replied. “Aydina has some dialogue that we have to sit through. God fucking damn, but the NPC shit in this game gets so tedious.”

It wasn’t much longer before Aydina, the pirate queen, sauntered up over to them, her crew right behind her. With an unruly mane of fiery red curls, fierce eyes, and dressed in sheer black chiffon that billowed dramatically in the breeze, with lacy black gloves that went up to her elbows and a pair of badass black boots to match. 

Inferna cut to the chase. Apparently, sometimes you could skip the intro dialogue if you talked faster than the NPCs. “Yo, Aydina! Get the fuck out of here.”

The NPC gave Inferna a disparaging look. “How are you going to make me?”

“I challenge you to a dodgeball game,” she replied tightly, and Aydina nodded her agreement.

“Time to go!” Inferna crowed, evidently pleased that she’d successfully gotten Aydina to skip through most of the annoying dialogue. 

A narrow walkway of roped-together driftwood began to rise out of the sea. It did not look the least bit steady, and Neddy was ready to forego the whole thing just at the sight of it.

The sea is beautiful, yes. But it is also crushing and fathomless. And Neddy had always had a fear of it. The prospect of going beneath the ocean's surface was almost debilitatingly frightening. 

She hated herself for wishing Callum was there to hold her hand.

But no sooner had the thought of him crossed her mind that Inferna was taking her hand and pulling her towards the rickety walkway. 

“Come on, move your ass,” Inferna said, shooting her a playful look as she tugged her along. “Be careful during the actual game, though. Aydina can randomly let water into the court and drain it out whenever she wants. It’s the biggest pain ever.”

Neddy wanted to sink inside herself at that, but- it felt almost as if Inferna was passing some of her chaotic strength through her fingers into Neddy’s. And her feet moved to follow after the redhead. 

-

They marched into the dome, and the door sealed off behind them, metal clanging as the dome sank back under the sea to rest on the sea floor. The dome itself was made out of some kind of transparent material, allowing them to see the various sea creatures and coral formations surrounding the place. 

Inferna paused, causing Neddy to pause too. The redhead seemed to have noticed a throng of excited players making their way back to the foyer, where they’d be able to watch the game on the screens. 

“What?” Neddy wondered, dividing a look between the Inferna’s face and the other players. 

“If we win-” Inferna cut herself off and then winked at Neddy. “When we win, those players will be swarming all over us the second we get back to land- for the Angel’s Breath. Best to have a few ictuium potions on hand.” 

Inferna said as much to Balestra and Morningstar as well. Then, Aydina was explaining the rules of the game to them.

“If the ball-” and here she summoned the “dodgeball” out of thin air, which was an enchanted turtle shell- “hits you, and then hits the ground, you’re out. If you catch the ball, you’re safe. If the ball bounces off of you and one of your teammates catches it, you’re both safe. But, if the ball bounces off of you and someone on the other team catches it, you’re out.”

Inferna cast Neddy a sideways glance. “Don’t get hit,” she advised. “That thing packs a punch on its own, but depending on her mood, Aydina can make it stab you with barnacles, shock you, or spray disgusting gross poisonous stuff that’ll kill you before the time is up.”

Aydina rolled the ball over to where Inferna was standing. “I’ll let you guys have the first go,” she said, smirking confidently at them, looking directly at Inferna. “Since I feel sorry for you. How many brain cells do you have, to be wearing such an atrocious hat?”

“Fuck you!” Inferna shot back as she picked up the ball. “You’re such a fucking cunt.”

The pissed-off redhead gave the other eleven people a questioning look. “Well, should I go for it? Or do one of you guys want to do the honors?”

-

[ You can pick up here or back up a bit or do as you like if you end up taking this quest up ! No instructions for Neddy (but keep in mind she’s not a strong player), just do as you like and make sure they win ! ^^ And, if you need any help at all, just ask either Ayz or me~ ] 

#enthroned #selah #moonstone #written by fanfan #q2 #MASSIVE THANKS TO ALLY FOR ALL THE ACTUAL GAMEPLAY INFO (she wrote some of this herself !!!) and of course for inferna's dialogue~ #C O M P L E T E #once again MASSIVE MASSIVE THANKS TO AYZ that whole last bit in the dome was basically her writing askjhfskjm #writing #neddy

[welcometohashihigh]

What I Fear Most: Yu

“Oh, so you all do have Personas. Our master was right.” A gruff voice echoed through the place, bringing Yu back from gawking at Arisato and the Persona summoned with the gun in his hands. They all turned to the new person who had just appeared while they were summoning. Kurusu pulled his mask off his face, his gray eyes threatening. The new person was tall and build strongly, wearing a cloak of black and white squares layered atop each other in a chaotic pattern. His face was covered in a flat black mask with an odd oval symbol across the front. “Our master does hate to be disappointed.”

“Who the hell are you?” Sakamoto glared at the newcomer, clutching his bat. Yu hefted his long sword, the white lights glinting threateningly onto the man. The man laughed, the monsters at his feet surging back to life. Yu instantly bent into a fighting stance, his grip tightening on the sword hilt. As he looked around, he saw that everyone else was ready to fight. 

“You’re all so angry. Just give in to our master’s will and everything will be fine.” The man’s eyes almost glowed behind the mask. The monsters at his feet lunged forward, taking the forms of three feline like creatures. “Just let these Shadows absorb you and we’ll be on our way.”

“Like that’ll happen. Arsene!” That Persona of Kusuru’s blazed to life in a grand flourish. What a showoff. Yu lunged forward too, Izanagi raising his polearm to slash through the Shadows. Arisato popped himself in the head again, his Persona Orpheus ready to unleash a hellstorm upon their enemies. 

“Izanagi!” A white hot bolt of lightning slammed into the Shadow closest to Yu, arcs of electricity crackling over its body. Yu didn’t wait to see if it would get back up or if the other two were dealing with the other Shadows, instead racing forward and slashing through the knocked down Shadow. It dissolved into nothing, filling Yu with satisfaction. He turned to see the other two Shadows dissolve under the weapons of Arisato and Kurusu. The cloaked man stumbled backwards, though his voice was angry instead of fearful.

“You’ll regret not giving in when you had the chance!” The man stumbled away, vanishing into the black and white lights. Yu sighed as Izanagi returned to him, sheathing his sword away. He wanted to run after the man but he wasn’t as used to his Persona as before. His swing was weak too, as he hadn’t been working out as much ever since the last case of the Investigation Team. 

“That was close. You guys all need to practice more, I could feel how weak all your swings were from here.” Yu turned to see what was making the irritating noise and ended up face to face with a strange cat-monster. 

“I’ll show you how strong my swing really is, you monster.” Arisato walked up next to Yu and glared at the thing in front of them. Kurusu rolled his eyes and crouched next to the thing, placing his hand upon its head. 

“I know he doesn’t look like it, but this is Morgana. It’s good to know you’ll be able to understand him in the real world too.” Sarcasm edged Kurusu’s voice, along with some kind of hostility. Yu narrowed his eyes at Morgana, who returned the glare right back. “I’m surprised his cognitive form is what shows up here though.”

“Cognitive?” 

Kurusu stood back up and tucked his hands into his pockets. “It’s hard to explain. I think we should leave for today and come back later. It’s clear we aren’t-”

“I don’t think you should be telling us what to do.” Yu fixed his gaze on Kurusu, who returned the piercing stare from behind his mask. He didn’t want to admit that he also thought they should rest, but the way Kurusu was so commanding angered him. “The Investigation Team takes orders from me. So we’ll be heading back through that window.” Yosuke muttered out a “sorry” as he walked by the Phantom Thieves, following Yu as he walked back to the window. 

Once back inside Yosuke’s room, Yu slumped against the wall. Why do I feel so weak? His muscles ached and his head was pounding with vehemence. He held his hand up over his eyes. Yu was so focused on his headache that he didn’t pay mind to the Phantom Thieves and S.E.E.S. slipping back through the window. There were a few words exchanged, but after that all that was left in the room was the Investigation Team. 

“Yu, partner, you ok?” Yosuke rested a hand on Yu’s shoulder. His head had stopped pounding and gone down to a dull ache, but there was still soreness in his limbs. “Jeez, I didn’t even do much and I feel exhausted. I think I got Jiraiya back though.” 

Yu looked up at Yosuke. He smiled softly despite his exhaustion. “Yeah. Yosuke, I think I’m going to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that he went to his room and flopped down onto his bed, exhausted. His gray eyes swept over the dark city through the window, the bright lights so innocent and free. How amusing. Yu chuckled to himself. No one down there knew about the window, the world behind it, or the three groups and their terrifying power. There was someone out there, someone who was filled with malicious intent to kill. 

He rolled over onto his back, gazing up at the ceiling. Makoto had apologized for Kurusu, but the way he acted like he was in charge… it didn’t quite sit well with him. And Arisato was so rude and headstrong… He didn’t like them, either of them. But he was stuck here anyway. 

Yu didn’t remember when he went to sleep, but when he woke up, the day was bright. The tall buildings of Shibuya soared on either side of him, almost too tall. How did I get here? He started walking down the street, people around him making way for the tall boy. A strange force pulled him towards a shadowy part of the street, the bustling crowd thinning out as he got closer and closer. The lights got dimmer and dimmer, though his eyes were adjusting to the bleak light. There was no one near him.  

Something brushed against his leg. Yu looked down to see a black and white object right next to him, and as he looked at it, it became clear that the thing was wrapped in the same cloak that the person from the window world was wearing. A cold chill raced down his spine as he nudged the thing over. It was bare chested, and that same oval symbol that was on the window looked like it had been branded there. Yu started shaking. Oh god no. The hood was pulled over the face, and while Yu didn’t want to pull it off he reached down and yanked it free. 

He couldn’t stop shaking as his eyes frantically searched the face and its agonizingly familiar features. Oh god no. 

The light brown hair was messy and a little burnt, but Yu recognized the color easily. Only one eye was open, and despite how it was glazed over, the dark brown was so familiar. Yu fell to his knees, panic lashing across every single nerve. His hands shook as he reached out to grab the large black and orange headphones from around Yosuke’s neck. The corpse’s other eye opened as many many voices all spoke as one. 

“We’ll all die…. It’s your fault.You could have saved us. But you can’t. We’ll all, we’ll all, we’re dead and it’s your fault Yu Narukami!” 

Yu sat bolt upright in his bed, a shout leaving him as he resurfaced from the nightmare. “Yosuke!” He panted, the voice of dead Yosuke still fresh in his mind. He was shivering feverishly, despite how warm he felt. What the hell was that nightmare? He had a lot of nightmares after dealing with Ameno-Sagiri and Izanami, but this was so different from those, especially with the robes and the symbol. 

“Yu?” There was a knock at the door. He breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Yosuke’s voice. He slowly got out of bed and opened the door. “Yu, dude, you look like hell. I heard you scream my name.”

“Ah, yeah. I had a bad dream. I’m fine, I promise.” He wasn’t sure if that was the entire truth though, considering how shaken he still was. It’s just my nerves. I’ll be fine later. Yu gave Yosuke a reassuring smile. “We were given the day off today, right?” A part of him wanted to meet with S.E.E.S. and the Phantom Thieves, but his pride didn’t want to admit the Investigation Team needed help. 

Yosuke nodded. “Yeah…” He looked a little sheepish. “Yu, after you left, Ryuji, er, Sakamoto came by my room. He was asking if you were ok. I told him you were tired and we ended up talking.” Yu couldn’t deny the spark of animosity towards Kurusu’s partner, though he knew it wasn’t Sakamoto’s fault. “He said that Sakura looked more into the murders and talked to Naoto and Kirijo. Apparently they always have that symbol we saw on the window. The snake.”

Yu frowned. He wanted to solve this thing himself, but if even Naoto was talking with the others he guessed he had to as well. “We should probably meet up in that room and talk. I’ll apologize for just up and leaving…” 

Yosuke shook his head. “The Thieves have already left to go find their informant in Shibuya. Ryuji invited me along but I said that I’d wait for you. Naoto went with them.” Yu chewed on the inside of his lip. It made perfect sense that they’d have an informant, though he thought that Sakura would have been the provider. 

“Fine. We can go scope out Shibuya.”

#persona #persona 3 #persona 4 #persona 5 #yu narukami #minato arisato #akira kurusu #hashi high

[rheisa-midnightfury]

Ninjago OC: Rheisa part1

Trees crumbled to the ground, making the earth tremble in the feeling of a dying field. Tearful eyes caught on the site and revengeful shouts filled the dry-cold air as half of the pine forest had been destroyed. Workers were sent to collect woods for the next building project in Ninjago city. A city to be rebuilt over and over again. It crumbles a day and stands again in another. Reborning from its own ashes like a phoenix.

Little did they know that the woods won’t forget.

As the lumberjacks shut down the machines, they were already making a table out from one of the pine-trunks covering it with a red-flannel cover. Sandwiches, cookies, fried chicken and beer, lots of beer was placed on the trunk. Lunch break. The perfect time to strike, the last time they expect it. 

From one of the still-standing trees, a lean shadow was watching, waiting. Eyes closed, try to contain her feelings. Clothing as dark as the night, such as her brown hair. It was almost like a catsuit, but with fabric. She had steal plates, protecting her hips and leather ones on her shoulder. Numerous weapons were gripped to her legs-mostly daggers - and one big polearm on her back.

 “Their life doesn't worth not a single cut to just blunt my blade.” The shadow stood up from her kneeling position, leaning to the tree.

“I don’t even know why I chose to be a lumberjack. I HATE the woods!” 

“Ya became a lumberjack, for da reason we are. To destroy what ya hate, mate.” 

Endless laughs. Laughs at the ancient innocent. That wasn’t a wise pronouncement.

The shadow had almost left the place, returning to her place to mourn the lives lost today. But, at the last moment, she stopped. Blunt tumps, she climbed down and approached the workers. Slowly, silently. Her dagger was pulled out from the scabbard, readied. No one noticed her. At least that was what she thought. Slow steps. Breath hold. Eyes sharp. No sound. And…

The dagger fell from her grab, landing on the ground. Taking a closer look at her palm, she recognized a scar. It was slightly bleeding, and she hardly felt any pain. She looked at her right and her left. A throwing star stuck to a trunk, from a pile of many others. She stepped closer, pulling out the sharp weapon. Easly holding it between her fingers she bent her head, looking directly at the splint covered ground. Like the blood of the woods.

“This… shall… stop… NOW!” And the throwing star was fired again, from the direction it had been shot in the first place. A figure stepped closer, in full black armor. Not even paying attention to the star fired directly at him. He just casually leaned his head, dodging it. His face was covered with a bandana, the light wind was playing with his also black and messy hair.

“You’re right.” His approach wasn’t threatening, not even rude. She found it… friendly? “This shall stop.” The stranger got closer to her. Too close. Judging by his body, it wouldn’t be a wise idea to put up a fight with him. However, the woman would gladly punch him in the face. Instead, she just grunted, eyes sharp as a knife. Purple, transparent fog festered around the woman, her body lowered and in another second she wasn’t anymore in the stranger’s corner. 

“Wha-“ Blinked the man, stepping back while his eyes were scanning the place, looking for the woman who was just standing right in front of him. He almost gave up, when… a swift shade made his move into the remaining part of the pine wood. “There you are.” Without hesitation, the stranger ran after her. He won’t let her escape that easily, he wanted to know why was the woman so desperate of killing the lumberjacks. The man followed her, restless, not slowing down, not even a bit. The stranger was fast, yes. But the shadow was faster. When she almost escaped and disappeared from the stranger’s sight, the man decided to play dirty. He pulled up his right leg, bending the knee. He stomped, the ground trembled, the shadow stopped as the ground raised up in front of her, blocking her way.

“You thought you can escape, didn’t you.” Laughed the stranger cheerful, which made the woman even more frustrated. The purple fog reappeared when the man stepped closer. He saw a feline-like creature vanishing and finding the woman in its place. He rubbed his eyes, blinked and took some more steps. This time the woman also got closer, pulling out another dagger which had been held in her tight’s pocket and placed directly to the stranger’s throat.

“Laughing?” She snickered ironically. “This is just game for you, isn’t it.”

Hands placed up, the stranger raised his head, as the sharp tool reached his neck. Maybe his mouth was covered, but his eyes surely told his emotion of surprise.

“A game…?”

“Do you have any idea what those men are about to do?”

 “Doing their job, to collect wood, to rebuild the city?”

“NO!” The dagger was eased, and taken away from the stranger’s throat. “No! They… they go to other places to get materials. They are here to kill, to murder. They are up to no good. I’m telling you.”

“Look! All I know is that YOU tried to kill some innocent men who were just trying to do their work. So… in my eyes, you are the bad guy.” Yet again, his eyes revealed his smile, underneath the pitch-black cloth.

The woman growled in frustration and shook her head. “So you don’t see it.” Suddenly, her voice filled with sadness. An uncomfortable lump was in her throat. A lump that she wanted to spit out so badly. A secret, which she wasn't sure if she can share.

Taking a big breath she closed her eyes and sat down. Making no sound, no motion. The stranger stood there in silence in some seconds, staring at the woman, eyes wide open. She was so furious, then confused and in another second, she was just sitting there silently.

“Er… what are you doing?”

“Hush!” Said harshly. “Just… listen.” Taking another slow breath and her words were like a soft stroke. She’ll see if the stranger is worthy of the secret. If he has the eyes to see. 

The man waited again, slowly sat down as well, and waited even more. Who knows how many minutes had passed, when the woman finally spoke again.

“Can’t you hear it. It’s not far away.” A soft chuckle. “And he’s mad at you.”

“Mad at me?” Shaking his head in disbelief he asked. “Who?” He did hear some weird noises, which he couldn’t understand. Almost like words in a different language. But before he could fully give himself to the strange sounds, the woman opened her eyes, stood up and walked towards him, offered a hand. “Come!” She smiled. “He wants to see you.” As the man got in his foot, the woman started running again in another direction. Slow this time, so he can keep up.

“W-wants to? Who?” The stranger freeze for some seconds before he ran after her… again. Strangely, the deeper he got in the forest, the brighter it became. Soft green and yellow light filled up a place, deep in the woods that supposed to be dark. Step by step he slowed down and stopped. He had been here with his friends on missions many times, but they never saw this. He took off his mask, his mouth was slightly opened, eyes widened from the wonder. His breathing stopped for some seconds. He turned around slowly, taking steps backward. The whole pine wood, that was dark suddenly became… bright, filled with life. Green grass, flowers in every color, bird song and animals were everywhere. He turned around once again, and he spotted a tree. Bigger than any other, denser and mightier than anything he has seen and older than his master, and perhaps the city itself. He approached it, sizing it up from roots to the almost infinite hight of it. Slowly he placed his palm on the bark, the moss gently stroke his hand. 

“You see it.” The woman’s sound was like a hug from the warm sunshine. She lay on one of the branches of the magnificent tree. Her clothes weren’t dark anymore, but green with brown details, such as her hair. 

“What is this place.” The stranger took his hand down from the bark and looked at the woman, pointing around. “I’ve been in this woods with my team many times, but I've never seen this place… it is… it’s….”

“Beautiful.” 

“Yeah.”

“You never saw it, because you never wanted to see it. You didn’t know it existed.” She jumped down, gently, landing in front of the stranger, poking his nose. “Someone had to open your eyes.”

“Open my eyes?” He hitched to his head and rubbed it hard. “You’re saying this place was here all along, I just simply didn’t have the eyes to see it?”

“Exactly.” She smiled and nodded gently. “Sometimes you don’t know the value of something until you dug deep down and see it yourself.” She pointed to his chest, poking it gently. “But you haven’t dug deep enough.” And she jumped up, grabbing a branch and climbed up to the top of the tree. 

 The stranger, trained he was, climbed after her. Many branches and even more leaf got in his was, making the climbing a bit difficult. After some small scars in his face and some leaves in his mouth, he finally reached the top. His eyes found the woman who changed in look again. Her armor was still green, but not as bright as before and her hair was brown again. The top of the tree looked like a grass field, so thick you can easily walk in it. Catching his breath the man laid down on his back. 

“This is not bad, but I still prefer the mountains. You don’t get to swallow this many leaves on your way up.” He laughed, placing a hand on his chest. “I never was a salad man anyways.” Another solid laugh and his hands were placed under his head, making himself comfortable. Still not looking to the direction of the woman he kept talking. 

“You know, I never followed anyone this long without knowing her name.” 

“And I never led anyone to this sacred place without knowing him or his name. Actually, I never showed this place to anyone else.”

“Then why you wanted to show it to me?”

“Not me. He.” She stroked the leaf-cover underneath her. ���He told me to take you here.”

The woman stood up and looked over her shoulder. “I’m Rheisa.” And slowly started walking. The stranger not noticing that Rheisha left, he started talking. Since his introduction got no reply, he looked around and realizing the woman had long last were left him there. Quickly standing up he made some fast steps towards her, looking at her.

“I’m Cole. Master of earth.” He backed out a little and gave a typical of a gentle smile.

“Earth? I could have guessed from your little trick. Now I understand why he was about to see you.” Her face was motionless, her voice was cold. Not the warm hug from the sunshine that Cole heard previously. And then… he understood why. He suddenly looked where the Rheisa was looking with almost tearful eyes. 

In front of them laid the field that the lumberjacks had already cut. The elemental master now understood the woman. He saw, what she saw. It wasn’t just some cut tree trunks anymore, but a shambles. He saw the dead, he saw the blood on the floor, he saw what will happen to the rest of the place. 

If they don’t stop them. 

#Ninjago #lego ninjago #rheisa #Rheisa Midnight #Ninjago Oc #OC #cole #Cole ninjago #cole brookstone #cole bucket #cole hence

[sonicrevival]

Reunions: Chapter 2 of 4: Back Together

Alright, next update.

Again, if Beauregard seems OOC compared to the book, that will be explained in Arc 8. 

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18573268/chapters/44028235#workskin

Sonic: Revival- Reunions

Chapter 2 of 4: Back Together

Sally’s team had arrived back in Knothole’s ruins under the cover of darkness, thanks to Silver’s Chronos Control allowing them to shift their landing forward several hours. They materialised standing outside the entrance of the Freedom HQ dome. Sally smiled, taking a deep breath of the familiar air, relaxing for a moment, before turning back toward her friends. “Alright, Silver. Lead the way.” “Okay, right, follow me,” He nodded, walking back toward the city. “It’s underground, beneath the city itself. And Nicole knows where it is, so she can steer Emerl right into it…” “So we won’t need to worry about infiltration… that’s good. Still, we should wait to discuss tactics until we have everyone…” “Right, right…” The walk didn’t take long, as the entrance tunnel was situated further away from the city. After all, Silver explained, if they wanted to remain hidden, not exiting into a population centre was a good first step. The tunnel itself was a long, dull walk, but soon enough, they reached the end, walking through the door and into the hideout. “Guys, I’m back, and I brought guests!” Silver called out. “Uh, aren’t we supposed to not do that?” Larry Lynx appeared from another room, pausing when he spotted the group. “Princess Sally! You’re... you again!” The small lynx’s surprise quickly brought Harvey Who and the wolf twins running to greet their returned leader, along with Rotor and Amy. “Where’s Elias?” Sally asked. “Silver told me he was a part of this team.” “During our last mission, the team got caught in a cave-in. They all made it out alive, but Elias took the worst of it. His leg is broken.” Harvey replied, just as Elias himself appeared, leaning on crutches, relief shining from his face. Sally ran over, throwing her arms around her brother gently, careful to not knock him over. He returned the hug as best he could. “Thank the Source you’re alright, Sally…” “I could say the same for you… I wasn’t sure if he kept targeting you after his attempt to use me failed…” “Well, he didn’t, fortunately… though I still managed to get myself in a scrape.” “I can see that,” She smiled slightly. “How long are you going to be out of things?” “A while, how long exactly depends on how much I rest it. I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you retake the city…” He sighed. “That’s alright… I’m sure we’ll be okay. You just stay safe.” Sally hugged him again. “How are Megan and Alexis?” “They’re fine, still in hiding. I wasn’t about to bring them back here when it could turn into a warzone again,” He explained. “Good, good…” “Unfortunately, Elias is not the only member of the team out of commission,” Harvey spoke up. “A few days ago, Eggman sent a new Metal Sonic here in an attempt to kill Antoine. Fortunately, Shard was able to halt the attack and force Metal to self-destruct, and Antoine was unharmed, but Shard was badly damaged in the process. His gem core is cracked, and it’s unlikely that he’ll ever be at full strength again…” “Oh no…” Silver and Amy gasped, while Rotor looked at them, confused. “Who’s Shard?” “The original Metal Sonic, the one that broke away from its programming and became a sentient being. We thought he was destroyed holding back a lava flow so that Sonic and Tails could escape, but the Secret Service found him entombed in the rock after it hardened. I had Sir Charles repair him, and he’s been working with us since…” Harvey explained. “I thought I saw another Sonic robot when Eggman sent the Metal Series to the city…” Rotor mused. “Still, if he’s out, I’ll take a look at him. I might be able to get him up and running again.” “That would be much appreciated,” The old owl smiled, before pointing to another door. “He’s just through there.” Rotor nodded, walking through to begin his work. “So, how are we going to stop Naugus now?” Lyco asked, looking at Harvey and the two Acorns. “I have something of a plan… but I’m going to wait until Sonic’s team return with Bunnie. Then we can get started…” *** “Please stop shooting me, it isn’t working. You’re just wasting energy,” Emerl groaned, slowly trudging through the hail of bullets and lasers, body wreathed in a blue glow. The shield absorbed every last one of them, but maintaining it slowed her down somewhat. ‘I don’t think they’re listening,’ Nicole sighed inside her new friend’s mind. ‘People don’t tend to listen to armoured robots that drop out of the sky into their bases.’ ‘Well what was I supposed to do, knock on the door?’ She threw her hands up. ‘I didn’t realise that round thing was gonna explode when I landed on it!’ ‘It said oil on it!’ ‘I can’t read your language, Nicole! I can speak it but I can’t read it.’ Emerl protested. One of the legionnaires ran up to her, brandishing a polearm. Her hand snapped out, catching the weapon and, with a wide sweep of her arm, she threw the assailant away from her. ‘Oh. Well, would you like me to translate in future?’ The lynx offered sheepishly. ‘That would be appreciated, thanks,’ She replied. ‘Ugh, this is getting us nowhere. I should just charge through and get to work on finding her.’ ‘That will probably just make more of a fight,’ Nicole sighed. ‘We may have to incapacitate them.’ ‘Well, that’ll work, Emerl lowered herself, stance tightening, readying herself to spring forward. Her third optic opened, flicking between each of the Legionnaires shooting at her. Information flicked across her vision- Nicole noted that all of it was written in Nocturnian- Highlighting target areas on each of them, nerves, pressure points, parts she could aim for to ensure a quick takedown. “Hold fire!” The gunfire stopped, and one of the legionnaires, with a slightly larger pauldron on his right arm, held up his hand. The others glanced at him. “Orders from the Baron. Apparently this robot isn’t hostile, and he wants to see her.” “Huh?” “Wait, what?” “Really?” “That’s a girl?” “Thank you!” Emerl relaxed, dropping her shield. ‘Can we trust this?’ ‘I’m not sure…’ Nicole mused, as they watched the Legionnaires back off, leaving the squad leader behind, putting his gun back into the holster. ‘But if it is a trick, they can’t hurt you, and it gets us closer to the office… so let’s roll with it.” ‘Alright then.’ She stepped forward, optic closing with a quiet click. “Let’s go.” The squad leader led Emerl inside the central tower of the base, getting into the lift to the top. “Er, sorry about the whole… shooting you thing…” He said. “Sorry for landing like that,” Emerl replied, shrugging. “I didn’t realise that barrel was going to go up like that.” “You certainly gave us quite the shock.” He laughed slightly. “That alarm went off about the hedgehog showing up and then someone crash-lands into our fortress, we were on-edge already... “ ‘What do I say to that?’ ‘Say you’re here to help. But make it vague, don’t over-detail. Don’t act like you know Sonic at all, aside from a name.’ “Well, actually, I came by to help with that hedgehog problem,” She lied. The man raised his eyebrows a little, and smiled. “Good to hear. Where’d you come from anyway?” “I escaped from a Freedom Fighter base. I don’t know anything before that,” Not untrue, but lacking in context. “Well, with power like that, I’m glad you did,” They came to a halt outside a door. “We’re here now.” The squad leader knocked on the door, announcing that he had brought the strange robot with him, after which it opened, and Emerl walked in. He stayed behind, closing the door behind her, and Emerl looked up to see an older, weary-looking rabbit meeting her eyes. “All clear,” He said, and, from various corners of the room, Sonic and Tails emerged, along with a younger rabbit that Emerl didn’t recognise, but Nicole certainly did. “Bunnie!” The lynx AI projected herself into the room, zipping over to Bunnie’s side. “It’s so good to see you again!” “Same to you, Nikki. I’m sorry I ran off…” She beamed for a moment, before her face fell. “It’s alright, I shut down as well. But we’re both better now,” Nicole replied. “Your limbs, though…” “Yeah, like I said to Sonic and Tails, this is who I really am. With ‘em, I can  protect the things that matter to me the most,” She explained, flexing her left arm. “Besides, it’s just my arm and legs now, no more awkward diets and uncomfortable maintenance for me!” “That’s good to hear.” “So, you gonna introduce us?” Bunnie glanced over Nicole’s shoulder at Emerl, who stood off to the side, arms folded, awkwardly tapping her foot. “Oh, of course!” She nodded, leading her friend over. “Bunnie, Emerl. Emerl, Bunnie.” “Nice to meet you, Sonic and Tails told me about you when we met outside,” Bunnie held out her hand for the Gizoid to shake. Emerl looked down at the hand, tilting her head quizzically for a second, before holding out her own in the same position, glancing at Nicole for pointers. Bunnie laughed, seizing Emerl’s hand in her own and shaking it gently. “Like this, sugah.” “Right, right,” She nodded. “And it’s nice to meet you too. A friend of Nicole’s is a friend of mine.” “Emerl is a Gizoid, a type of ancient robot that has the ability to mimic the powers and moves of others by observing them once. She was a great help in rescuing Sally.” “So I’ve heard. Thanks for that, Emerl,” She hugged the robot, who let out a started yelp before returning it. “Heh, looks like nobody warned you that I’m a hugger.” “Pardon the interruption, but I’ve been told that you have a plan that should free us from Eggman’s yoke?” Beauregard approached Nicole, leaning on his cane. The lynx nodded, turning to face him. “Yes, I do,” She nodded. “Previously, I hadn’t dared tamper with Eggman’s self-destruct bombs in case one actually went off, and getting my hands on one to safely test has been impossible. However, after he put one in Mecha Sally, I was forced to chance a deactivation or lose her, and I was successful. Since Eggman’s computer security is always terrible, and he never changes or updates things aside from Metal Sonic, I’d wager that the code I deleted to shut down Sally’s bomb will be the same in all of yours.” “Wager? Doesn’t sound certain to me…” He frowned. “I am not a betting woman, sir. I don’t take chances that I am not forced into. And I will make sure that the code is the same before I alter anything.” “Actually, since I’ve got legion tech, but no bomb or implants, there must be spares from my upgrade, right?” Bunnie suggested. “You can use those.” “That’s right, you could…” Beauregard nodded, walking back to his desk, opening a drawer and taking out a few parts. “When Bunnie had her surgery, I employed only a coupla doctors, the few that I trust to not sell me out to Eggman, then I smuggled the implants and bomb up here to make sure no-one found ‘em. You’re free to take a swing at it.” “Alright…  Tails, I need you to disconnect the detonator, just as a safety precaution,” Nicole glanced at the fox, who nodded and picked up the bomb. Opening it up, he cut the red wire, and the bomb went dead. “Done,” He stepped back, allowing Nicole free access. Her avatar faded into a small green orb, floating into the implant. After a few moments, she reappeared, floating above the desk. “It was indeed the same code, and I can mass-neutralise it. I should have it done in a few minutes…” The lynx smiled. “You have my gratitude, but what’s your reason for helping us?” Beauregard frowned. “We’re your enemies, after all.” “Until now, while we didn’t condone the actions of the Sandblasters, they were a necessary evil to prevent Eggman’s forces from spreading up from the south. Until I knew that I could disable the bombs, I was not willing to try and potentially harm the regular civilians forced under the empire’s command. But if you aren’t hostile… then we don’t need the Sandblasters anymore. We can make them face justice for their crimes against your people,” Nicole explained. “That’s the deal. I will free you, and we will help you with the Sandblasters, and you will become our ally.” “Seems fair to me… alright… do it.” The elder rabbit nodded. Nicole closed her eyes, raising her hands as a bright green flash rippled out from her body, flooding through the fortress. Beauregard heard a soft beep from the base of his skull, nothing like the frantic alarm that heralded a detonation, and a weight lifted from his shoulders. “It’s really gone… I can’t thank you enough, Miss Lynx. You’ve got yourself a deal.” “You’re welcome,” Nicole beamed. “I’ll make the preparations for the overthrow immediately, we should be good to go tomorrow. When should I contact you?” “Probably best to not do so until we’ve ousted Naugus…” Tails mused. “Which could be tomorrow, could be next week… depends on what Sally comes up with in terms of a plan…” “Basically, we’ll call you,” Sonic shrugged. “How are we gonna deal with him?” Bunnie asked, glancing at her friends. “I’m not sure I can be much help there, after what he did to Titan Metal Sonic… last thing I need is to have my new parts turn into foliage.” “I dunno, Sal’s working on it. Best I’ve got is ‘Make him look bad and then punch him in the face’, which isn’t much. We’re gonna have to work out the fine details later.” “I approve of the basic structure of this plan!” Emerl announced, clunking her fists together. “We know you do, buddy. Just got to make sure it works,” Sonic grinned. “Well, we’d best be off, then,” Bunnie said. She hugged her uncle tightly, and smiled up at him. “I’ll talk to you soon, Uncle Beau.” “Definitely. Good luck, Bunnie.” The three organics clustered around Emerl, and in a flash of blue, they disappeared.

#Sonic: Revival #Sonic the Hedgehog #Princess Sally Acorn #Sally Acorn #Emerl the Gizoid #Emerl #Nicole the Lynx #Miles 'Tails' Prower #Bunnie Rabbot #Beauregard Rabbot #Silver the Hedgehog #Elias Acorn

[fortunehasabandonedus]

Day 1: One Bad Day...

Welcome to Kenshi, the game about living day to day in paranoia, hunger, and depression. I decided to make this blog just to show my friend Cori that this game is worth playing even if it isn't the prettiest game. Ugly games deserve love as well and especially when they have a passionate team behind it. Kenshi i have found to be among the best when it comes to organic story telling.

I feel like I should warn you, this game is not for the faint of heart. We got the Sims for that ;)

Our story begins with choosing my starting game and character creation. I began with the start called “The Nobodies”. The description says “A group of five nobodies, with nothing to their name, ready to go out and do something about it.” So I designed my team of five as my best friends and myself.

This is me. I’m not fit looking but the more fat options just make me look bloated. I’m hoping to be the tank of the group. Probably gonna do manual labor for the group if we get a village.

Alfonso is next, he is the tallest but I also think he will be our glass cannon. All damage but not much armor to attack quickly. Hopefully keeping him alive wont be an issue. His jobs will probably be farming/processing ore.

Cori is next. She wanted to be the scientist/engineer of the group so hopefully I can establish a little village relatively fast. She will probably also be a medic because in every game we play which honestly is just Overwatch she is a healer extraordinaire.

Gabe is next, he is probably the most fit of the group and in real life has been a  physical person so I think he will be a martial artist here. He also likes to make things so probably gonna be our brewer or artisan if and when we have a village.

Amanda is next and she has always wanted to farm in real life and also study architecture so she will be our engineer/farmer.

So there is the fated five of us. Spawning at the default town known as The Hub in the center of The Border Zone. All of us were immediately hungry and penniless. WELCOME TO KENSHI!

Quickly we ran outside the town walls, I was leading. There was a copper vein I had spotted not far off and a bar was close to it on the far side.

However, as we ran there we heard a commotion. The sounds of distressed shouting and shrieks of pain.

There was a fight between Dust Bandits and Bonedogs. It looked pretty even, Bonedogs are quick at attacking and the Dust Bandits have some armor and some numbers. 

So we waited for one group to fall so we can use the opportunity to strike. After all, this is the world of Kenshi. A world where you cant afford not to take chances.

The Bonedog fell and off we went to finish off the dust bandits. They were hurt and we had numbers. This confidence made us blind. 

We had just finished dominating the bandit when two Bonedogs attacked! We had no armor, we only had rusty clubs, and we were weakened from our fight with the dust bandits. Our confidence withered into despair. 

Alfonso was the first to fall.

Amanda followed suite. 

Cori did her best but fell shortly after.

Amanda managed to rouse her self into consciousness and decided to try and bandage Alfonso as best she could.

I was next to fall, leaving Gabe to face the dire odds by himself.

Unfortunately, the more Bonedogs appeared and noticed Amanda and Alfonso and attacked!

Meanwhile, Gabe finally fell. He showed enormous strength and courage. I was very proud.

Alfonso’s injuries were severe after the second attack by the dogs. He began to bleed out from his chest. If he didn’t receive medical attention soon, he would die.

So there our team lay, having made a decision that seemed favorable at first but costed them dearly. Some of us lay dying, others slowly got worse. I felt like this might be one of my shortest playthroughs.

Some how, by some miracle, Amanda regained consciousness! Her legs were badly injured and she couldn’t walk but she was alive.

Slowly she crawled to a nearby dust bandit corpse in hopes that she could locate a medkit to save Alfonso.

Cori woke up shortly after, impressing me further. This team is made of stronger stuff than I thought. 

She spotted another corpse nearby and decided to investigate.

The shockingly, Gabe woke up. He fought the longest and the hardest and still is third to, albeit begrudgingly, get back on his feet.

Gabe, the hero. Gabe, the savior. He picked up Alfonso and...

...immediately got attacked by Bonedogs he didn’t see. Nobody is perfect.

Amanda and Cori both crawled stealthy to the two having successfully aquired medkits. 

Alfonso was minutes away from death but with the two of them there was a chance.

It was only then that I realized that I was also on the brink of death, having sustained a really nasty injury and not immediately having it seen to.

Cori decided to split the medical help and heal me.

Amanda managed to stabilize Alfonso, dodging the title of first to die by a narrow margin.

Suprisingly, Gabe seems to be superhuman and woke up once more and bandaged himself a bit. Meanwhile, Cori managed to stabilize me. it looked like our group would live to see tomorrow after all!

The three conscious members decided to take refuge at a nearby trading post/bar. There they had beds to rest and heal faster.

Unfortunately this meant leaving Alfonso and I at the mercy of the wilds.

Gabe saw movement and quickly played dead. He began to truly grasp just how dangerous this world could be. Especially when you have so many friends you can’t afford to lose.

So he sneaked back while the others continued to crawl towards safety. He decided to bring at least one person with him seeing as he was the only able to walk upright at the moment. 

While Gabe became even more heroic, Cori panicked as she saw a stranger approaching. It was an Escaped Servant of the Holy Nation, wandering away from the giant cities of religious obsession. Cori held her breath...

...and the guy kept walking. Finally, some good news!

Gabe decided to take Alfonso with him. He was the one one nearest to death so proper care would do him better. I could wait, he decided.

Along the way to the bar, one of the injured dust bandits had a few words to say to Gabe and there were...

...quite rude.

Cori was the first to enter the bar and the barkeep said hello before deciding just to state at the woman crawling to the upstairs roof area. If he thought it was weird, he didn't show it.

After such hardships, she lay down in a bed and passed out. 

Amanda was second to arrive and once again the barkeep said a brief hello and just watched. Maybe this was a regular occurrence?

Gabe came shortly after and said hello to the barkeep who this time chose to remain silent and just stared at Alfonso’s butt.

Amanda lay down, her legs aching and she wished for nothing more than the pain to go away.

Gabe lay Alfonso down frowned at how guilty he felt. Though he fought his hardest, he knew that there were other options he could’ve chosen other than to fight to the end. He almost lost all his friends today.

The bar guard just stared at the beat up figured and TSKed in disapproval.

As most of the group enjoyed the safety of the nearby building, Jonathan lay unconscious with a group of Hungry bandits searched him for food.

They were quite rude about it.

Gabe had decided to come get me but the Hungry bandits spotted him!

He turned around and ran as fast as he could but because of his injuries could only manage a quick hobble. To his surprise, the bandits ran passed him!

They decided instead to attack a better armed and better trained guard outside the bar. Gabe thought he had nothing to worry about and in fact could use this as a money making opportunity.

Unknown to him, there was a cause for concern. A hungry bandit had snuck into he bar and found the sleeping warriors. Amanda had heard him running up the stairs and leapt into action. She had endured so much, she had shown much care and resourcefulness. She saved the group once, she would save it again. At any cost.

The cost... was her leg.The bandit struck her already weakened legs and severed the left leg. Amanda got half her wish, the pain in one leg was gone. The bandit heard his comrades losing outside and was determined to escape alive and ran downstairs.

Gabe saw a bandit running downstairs and a guard rushed to kill him. The dead bandit had some good loot on him so the payday would be decent today.

Outside, Gabe noticed a dead Bonedog and his stomach growled. Meat is meat, he supposed.

All the bandits taken care of, the bar once again fell to its lazy silence and gabe walked up to the barkeep to trade and purchase.

He got enough money for some first aid kits and some cooked meat which he ate gleefully. He would make a fire later and cook the bonedog meat for the group.

He went upstairs to check on the other and that is when his face drained. Amanda’s missing limb stirred an anger in him he had never felt before. Just then he remembered that I was out there still.

Gabe dashed out and began to run towards where I lay.

Movement caught his eye and he saw a dust bandit crawling away, the one that threatened him as he lay defeated in the sand earlier. The rage boiled inside him and changed course to the fleeing bandit. Kenshi, A world where you cant afford not to take chances.

With bloodstained hands, Gabe left the naked corpses and walked with his new set of bandit armor towards me. 

He dressed my body in armor as well from other bodies and began to carry me back to the others.

It was then that Alfonso woke up and saw the faint outline of Gabe in the darkness. He ran outside, careful not to exacerbate his injuries, and began looking for Gabe and maybe food for the group. He felt the guilt of being the first to fall.

He had no problem finding armor.

Now all he needed was food.

He found a recently vacated den of Bonedogs nearby and the attacks became clear. They were just protecting their pups this whole time. He found a piece of meat by the pile of bones and a polearm weapon. Probably belonging to a past victim of their protective parenting.

Alfonso walked back to the bar and found the security force fighting what seemed to be the last Bonedog in the area.

Meat is meat, Alfonso also concluded.

Gabe reached the bar as well and laid me in bed. Alfonso and Gabe both looked at each other in exhausted relief that for now, they were together once again.

[wesimpforxiao]

Say My Name and I’ll Be There: 8.1

Author’s Note:  As for the next few or possibly several chapters, give me some time to write them.  I want to write the Lantern Rite chapter perfectly and in order to do that I need 1. for us all to experience the in-game event so I can capture it accurately and 2. to catch up on my schoolwork because my college goes by the 10-week quarter system and we are smack in the middle of it.  Apologies for the inconvenience, but I refuse to give a sub-par Lantern Rite chapter as I believe it will be the most important in this story!!  The next one or two chapters should be released by the end of next week.

......

Only on the eve of the Lantern Rite, several days before the celebration, did Xiao come to appreciate the hours of hard work you were putting into practicing music.

He had slaughtered a band of mitachurls, hilichurls, and lawachurls near Lihua Pool when he fell into darkness.  He collapsed to his knees, struggling for breath, spots filling his vision beneath the mask.  While he had dealt with karmic debt for two thousand years, this time had to be one of the worst falters.  He knelt beneath the somber moon that bore witness to his shortcoming.

The waves of pain drove him mad and the voices drowned out the singing of the crickets and frogs.  Xiao clutched at his chest in an effort to rid himself of the agony as he wondered if it was finally his time to die and join the fallen yakshas.  His mask disintegrated as he fell to all fours.  It's fine, just breathe, he reminded himself.

It was then when he heard the tune.  

"B-Barbatos?"  The yaksha groaned despairingly as he forced himself to raise his head toward the sound.  He was being saved by the wind god for a second time--No.  That's her, he realized when he recognized the all-too familiar tune.  But the way you were playing this time...had he only heard a fraction of your practice sessions? You carried the notes so well compared to last time--

Xiao rolled over so he lie on his back, eyes meeting the glints of the stars that shone down upon him.  It was like the pain had knocked the wind out of him.  No matter.  At least he would die listening to you.  The idea was peaceful to think about.

...miss...love you...

Your faint prayers that accompanied the moonsong somehow broke through the crowded shouting of the damned and eased the heavy knot in his stomach while he gasped for air.  The tune continued to build until Xiao could only compare your talent to that of the wind archon.  It was beautiful, soft, and it fit you perfectly despite your stubborn personality that was accentuated by the harbinger's shenanigans.

The image brought a faint smile to his lips, the expression slowly widening as you played on.  Your selfless nature; the need to protect a yaksha from harm's way...Your daring eyes when you butt heads with Childe...The honey-sweet grin you reserved only for Xiao and Xiao alone.  It was  the way you carried yourself in battle, the way you interacted with strangers.  How and when you prayed to him.  Your light humming accompanied your music.

Archons, you were remarkably stunning in every way imaginable.  The yaksha failed to notice how big his smile was as a few of his tears slid down the sides of his face.  It was his own longing for you that manifested and whirled around in his chest.  Beautiful, he thought as the music continued.  So, so beautiful.  It was as if the music described yourself.  For how could he give up and die now, after falling for you?  Maybe...just maybe...Xiao allowed himself to sit in the fluffy cloud of human 'compassion' as he listened to you play.  He wouldn't dare call the emotion for what it truly was.  Not now.  Not yet.  You had to understand something before he could allow himself to love you.  Er, to care for you.  Y-yes.  That's it.  Xiao refocused his attention on your music to avoid thinking any deeper on the subject.

Yet though his mind listened to your moonsong, his heart entertained the possibility of finally admitting his lo--er, compassion for you.

He didn't notice that the pain had long faded, that the spots in his vision had cleared and that the voices of the vanquished silenced themselves.  He drifted to sleep right there in the middle of the dirt road as you played into the night, and for the first time in a long time, he slept with mind and body in peace.

................................

"Morning, Mezzetin," Childe greeted you with two mugs of hot chocolate in his hands.  He gave one to you before indulging in his while he leaned against your door.  "Sleep well?"

"I did, surprisingly.  The pain was pretty bad until I started practicing."  You rubbed your bleary eyes and let out a long yawn.  "Why do you ask?"

"You didn't call for him."

"Hm?"

"You've yelled for the yaksha every night you've been here.  You were quiet last night."

"How would you know that? Are you just constantly sitting outside my room like a creep?"  Your quip brought a smile to Childe's lips as he sipped at his mug.  

"Well then, since you're feeling well enough to banter with me, I guess I have no need to reward you for your cooperation..."

"Huh?  What do you mean, 'reward?'"  You perked up when he faked reaching for the door handle.  "Tartaglia?"  In your effort to get him to explain, you jumped out of bed and subsequently spilled your drink all over the sheets.  A jarring pain shot through your bones, but you ignored it.

"The Tsaritsa has requested I return to my post in Liyue Harbor to...discipline a few underperforming officers during the Lantern Rite.  Since I am in charge of you, I requested that you accompany me.  Her Majesty agreed."

"W-what?!"  Your sudden shout made him jump slightly.  "You...she...you're letting me return?"

"Temporarily, yes, and it is for business reasons.  We figured it would aid in your...dilemma."

"I..."  Your gaze fell to the half-empty mug in your hands.  

"You don't want to go?" The harbinger raised a brow in surprise.  "Why, I thought you'd jump at this opportunity."

"It's not that..." you trailed, your finger absently circling the rim of your cup.  "Would I...be able to roam around by myself?"

"Depends on where you want to go."  His eyes narrowed slightly and he set his cup atop your bedside table.  "You won't be able to visit Qingce Village, nor the Wanshu Inn."  He watched your shoulders drop in disappointment before continuing.  "But I will allow you to enjoy the festival."

"...Am I allowed to talk to them?  My adventure team?"

Childe let out a small sigh before nodding.  "I think it would be good for your health to see them."

"Why are you allowing me?"  It was your turn to narrow your eyes in suspicion against the harbinger.  "Wouldn't this be, you know, a risk for you guys to let me see them?  Aren't you worried about that?"

"There will be several Fatui agents in Liyue during the festival; even if you're 'alone,' one of us will always be nearby.  I don't take you as a complete idiot," he admonished.  "Besides, Mr. Zhongli knows more about adeptal blood than we do at this point.  If you manage to gather more information, that would be a plus."

"I'm not gathering information for the likes of you," you retorted, crossing your arms much like Xiao does.

"I'm not asking you as your superior, nor your captor.  I'm suggesting it as your comrade in arms."

"Ha!"  You couldn't help but let out a full laugh at the set of statements.  "You really expect me to believe that?  All you guys do is manipulate and deceive.  I don't trust a word that comes out of your mouth!"

"Even if you learn something and keep it to yourself, do it for yourself, Mezzetin.  I've realized something after you joined us."

"Oh? What could you have possibly realized?"  You rolled your eyes and returned your gaze to the window, not particularly caring about his side of the conversation and instead wishing he would just leave already.

"I realized some of my actions were not for your wellbeing, but for mine."

........................................

It was sprinkling when Childe, the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers, finally tracked your rescue team down in Fontaine.  It really didn't take much of an effort, which was highly disappointing considering the harbinger loved to play cat-and-mouse with his foes.  Oh well.  At least Mr. Zhongli was here; the plan wouldn't work if he hadn't accompanied Aether and the yaksha.

The harbinger stood in the shadow of a nearby tree and scouted the sheltered camp.  Besides Aether, Zhongli, and an apparently-unconscious yaksha, there were two more opponents.  Childe recognized one of them to be the wine master Diluc, but couldn't name the other one.  Maybe he was one of Mondstat's knights, judging by the way he carried himself?  Then again, he seemed to be drinking pretty heavily...

Childe glanced back a ways where a few Fatui agents were waiting for his return.  This wouldn't take long; he knew two of the adventurer's tricks, and the knight didn't look like he'd pose much of a challenge.  All he needed was to speak with Zhongli.

"I have to admit I'm disappointed for finding you so quickly," the harbinger made his presence known and stepped out of the shadows.  A chill ran down everyone's spines.

"I still can't believe you were naïve enough to get involved with the Fatui," Diluc sent an admonishing look Aether's way before summoning his broadsword.  "And hid it from me, no less."

"We're sorry!"  Paimon squeaked with her hands in the air.  "We didn't trust him completely!"

"It was my fault for allowing this to continue without your knowledge, Aether."  Zhongli rose from his seat and manifested his polearm.  "Allow me to make amends."

"I assume you're the one we're after?"  Kaeya unsheathed his sword and stood side-by-side with Diluc, much to his bro's dismay.  Despite all the wine he had consumed, he remained unusually composed.

"I've come to speak with Mr. Zhongli," Childe answered, both hands raised semi-defensively while the expression on his face was no less than that of a sly fox.  "And to retrieve the yaksha."

"We don't think so!"  Aether charged first and swung his blade through the air.  It collided against the well-known hydro blades of the harbinger before parrying off.  

Next was Diluc, whose flaming weapon created steam as it sliced through Childe's blades.  His attacks were slower than Aether's, but the amount of power coming from them nearly made the harbinger flinch both in hesitation and in excitement.  It was then that Xiao's eyes had opened slightly before he lost consciousness again.  Kaeya lunged forth and used his skill to send a burst of ice at the harbinger in an effort to freeze him in place.

Childe barely dodged, one blade freezing over.  "Tch."  The last thing he needed was to deal with a cryo user in this weather.  He was already at a disadvantage by wielding a hydro vision in normal circumstances.  His hydro burst threw everyone backwards, and he switched to his delusion.  

Electricity surged through the camp as everyone got to their feet and readied themselves for an onslaught of electro attacks.  None came; instead, the harbinger stared straight at Zhongli, who remained reserved and unbothered as he pointed the tip of his lance at him.  "This is your only warning, Childe," the archon spoke in an especially deep voice.  "Return her to us, or suffer the consequences."

"I only came to speak with you, Mr. Zhongli," Childe's eyes narrowed beneath his mask.  "As much as I'd love to indulge in a fight, I came here with a proposition.  Would you hear me out?"

Everyone's eyes turned expectantly to the archon, and he returned their gazes before allowing his polearm to disintegrate.  "Lower your weapons," he ordered much to everyone's dismay.

"But Zhongli!  He could trick you!" Paimon reappeared before the consultant.  "You can't--"

"Relax, Paimon," Zhongli quietly assured.  "I may not have a gnosis, but a harbinger is still by no-means what I perceive to be troublesome in battle."  He followed Childe a few meters away so the group was unable to hear them.

Childe shifted his mask to its resting place on the side of his head.  "There may be a way to retrieve her," he started in a quiet voice.  "But it would only be possible if you declare war against the Tsaritsa."

"Tell me, Childe, why should I trust you after you breached our trust?"

"You can't, but I trust that we all have our comrade's best interests in mind, no?   If you're able to rally the people of Teyvat, the Tsaritsa may yield.  Her Majesty has no interest in declaring war against the mortals as you are already aware."

It was a fitting task for the God of War; declare a world war against the Tsaritsa, and she'd yield without calling his bluff.  Even so, the former archon was not convinced.  Childe would need to up his charming façade.  He was only lying for your own safety after all; he'd back you into joining the harbingers, and you'd be free of the Fatui's grasp in the outside world.  You wouldn't be hunted for the rest of your life; you could live freely in your captors' backyard.  The suffering you were being thrown into now would last a lifetime if you continued to resist.

Some part of the harbinger knew it was a twisted form of compassion--dare he call it love--for you.  He needed you to free yourself both of the Fatui's and Xiao's grasps.  The only way to do that would be to recruit you, but you weren't so easy to convince.  You wouldn't be in danger of getting hurt by his subordinates his way.  You wouldn't hurt yourself by chasing after Xiao if Childe stepped in either.  He didn't care that it was selfish of him to step between your struggling romance.

What better way to keep you safe, mentally and physically, than to break you into submission?

The two opposing forces continued their hushed discussion for twenty more minutes before Zhongli broke away from Childe.  He was about to fill the group in on the details when Childe attacked him from behind.

#genshin x reader #genshin impact #xiao x reader #xiao #xiao fanfiction #xiao genshin impact #genshin impact xiao