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dxncingwithastrxnger · 10 months

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1. one step closer

A/N: Hello everyone!! I present to you my very first LoZ fic!!! And also my first ever poly ship fic that's been posted, so I hope I do this as well as I'd like to. This story is actually inspired by a post I came across that was posted by @fangirlingpuggle, who gave me permission to use their idea as story inspiration!! I'll provide a link to the post if you'd like to see it!! Now, one thing I'd like to say about this story is that it's not just a Sidlink fic or just a Linkona fic. It is also a Sidyona fic. It is all three ships. I will try to balance out each one, showing each individual love story, plus the big one of just all three together. I have not yet decided which ship will be getting together first, or if it'll be an all three all at once type of thing, and because of my indecision, I would like to hear from you guys, my lovely readers, as the story progresses, on which ship you think would make the most sense when it comes to getting together first. It all depends on how I write it out, of course, but I just wanted to let y'all know ahead of time!! Last thing, this chapter is a little short compared to where the other chapters will be at length-wise, but it's also just a letter exchange this chapter, so there will be lots more in the next chapter!! Enjoy!!

Inspiration Post

Pairing(s): N/A

Summary: Sidon and Yona exchange a series of letters, keeping each other updated on everything happening in their lives, as childhood friends do

Tag(s): N/A

Word Count: 2,258

Song Inspiration: A Thousand Years By Christina Perri

Not beta’d, all mistakes are my own.

~*~

[Chapter 1]

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[Read on AO3]

[Series Masterlist]

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Dear Lady Yona,

I hope this letter finds you well. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, things around here have been a bit busy. Vah Ruta, the divine beast that my late sister Mipha once piloted, well, something has gone wrong with it. It's caused a near constant downpour of rain here in our domain and if we don't find a way to stop it, our reservoir will flood over the dam and completely take over not only our home, but much of the rest of Hyrule as well. And of course, us Zoras can survive just fine in such a situation, but the others in our land cannot, none of them have such an affinity for water as the Zora do.

With that in mind, I am terribly worried. We've been doing so much research it's making my head spin. I'm not sure I can take staring at another book right now, especially when everything it says is completely useless to our attempts in finding a solution to this problem. I just pray that we find a way to stop it soon.

How are things over in your domain? Good, I hope. I would never wish anything like the mess here on anyone. I miss you much, my friend, though I know if you were to visit right now, I would not be very good company to keep. And alas, I cannot bring myself to leave home at a time like this. As prince, I must face this head on. But once this is all over, we can work out the details, I suppose, no matter how far off that is. Get back to me whenever you find the time to do so.

Sincerely,

Sidon

~*~

Dear Prince Sidon,

Oh my. Please be careful. I, too, will be praying for a quick success in taming that divine beast. I wish I could help in some way. I am sending with this letter the few sheikah books I could find in our royal library, though I'm not sure if they'll be of any help, considering the sheikah have never spent much time here. But it's the least I can do. And do not worry about sending them back once you've looked over them. These have been collecting dust for decades over here. They will be much better off with you.

Things here in my domain are very well, though nothing very exciting has happened at the domain itself. However, recently, I've taken on two new handmaidens. Mother suggested I have them, especially since I've started doing a lot more traveling around our land. Khira and Chroma are lovely, when they're not bickering at least. Chroma can be a bit easily frazzled and Khira is usually very serious and strict. But I just try to remind them both that I am not counting on either of them being perfect. Just their companionship alone is wonderful to have.

But anyways. On your land, you have those winged tribe, yes? Those that resemble birds? I remember meeting one when we were younger, but I never had much contact with them besides that. But in my travels, I came across a very small village of them on our land! All the way across the sea! But they're much more colorful than the one I met. Brilliant greens and oranges and reds. I spent a few days there, learning about them and their culture. It's absolutely fascinating!

I may visit them again eventually, but for now, I've come back to the domain for awhile. I'll be setting out again soon, so I'll be sure to tell you lots more of my next adventure. And once this whole divine beast thing has settled down, I'll come visit your domain as soon as I can. Besides, mother has been a lot more pushy recently when it comes to our...arrangement. She believes it is time for me to finally marry, though I've tried to remind her that it's not just up to her and I, but you and your father as well. But there's no need to worry about that right now. That's for another time. Take care, dear Sidon, and I hope to hear from you again soon.

Yours,

Yona

~*~

Dear Lady Yona,

Thank you so much for the texts you sent. I will be going through them soon. The rain is still neverending, but we're learning to get used to it for now. It's all we can do. And do not worry, I am being as careful as I can be. But enough of that. I'm so glad to hear of you going on such wonderful adventures, Yona. The... winged tribe, as you say, those are the Rito. It is indeed fascinating to learn of some being on your land, I thought they were only in Hyrule. The way you've described them, I bet they are quite the sight. Maybe one day I shall get to see them as well.

Tell me, what is having handmaidens like? I've always wondered. I have nothing of the sort, though I'm okay with that. Is it true they always follow you around and try to do everything for you that you may usually do yourself? I could never imagine having to deal with such a thing. Though my only experience with them is the few vague memories I have of Mipha having one and the stories I've heard about them, so maybe I'm not one who could be so biased against them.

Oh, yes. Our arranged marriage does seem to be coming up more and more these days. Both here and there, it seems. Father has been talking about it as well. Says he wants me to be prepared for when I finally take the throne, but I'm not so sure that will be happening anytime soon. But I suppose it would be best for us all to talk about it eventually. Once Vah Ruta is back to her normal self, our domain will happily host both you and your mother. Until then, I can't wait to hear of all your adventures to come. Please do keep in touch to the best of your abilities during your travels, I will find great joy in reading about them.

Sincerely,

Sidon

~*~

Dear Prince Sidon,

Ah, yes, the Rito! Forgive me for forgetting their name, it's been so long since I've heard it. Those I found here did not go by that name. They called themselves the Zitty. But they were the same species, I'm sure of it. Next time you find yourself on my land, I will definitely be sure to take you to see them. They're quite the lively bunch, and wonderful company to keep. I think you would fit in very well with them.

Silly Sidon. Yes, some handmaidens are very much like that. However, Khira and Chroma are not. While they do follow me to most places, they do not attempt to do something for me unless I ask it of them, thankfully. I could not handle being coddled in such a way either, so I am very grateful that they are not pushy in that regard. And no worries, I take none of your assumptions unkindly. I am happy to answer any questions you may have, about handmaidens or otherwise. You know that.

That sounds like a very good idea. I'm sure mother would love to spend some time overseas as well. Oh, it's been so long since I've paid a visit, I can't wait. Has any progress been made with Vah Ruta? Did my books help you at all? I apologize if they did not, though I hope that something has been found either way. Please keep me updated.

Yours,

Yona

~*~

Dear Lady Yona,

Yona. I cannot believe what this day has become. I do apologize if my writing isn't the best, I just can't keep myself from shaking. So much has happened in just this last pass of the sun through the sky. I will start with this. All of our research finally paid off and the books you sent me were definitely of great help with that. We learned of the way Vah Ruta works, of her mechanisms and what controls the water she spews. The best solution is to shock her system with electricity, like shock arrows. However, as you know, electricity is deadly to Zora, therefore we cannot use them.

Because of this, we'd begun asking for help. Traveling a bit away from the domain and looking for travelers, asking if any of them would be willing. We had no luck finding such a person, until yesterday. A young traveler was making his way past and I asked for his help. Later I found out that many others had spoken to him as well about what was going on. I asked for his help and he actually said yes! I was beyond grateful. He carried with him armor and weaponry, including a bow and arrow, so I already had high hopes for his success. He made his way to our domain and I did as well, trying to guide him whenever our paths crossed.

I had asked his name when we first met, and I didn't think too much of it at first. His name is Link. I'm sure he wouldn't be the first to be named after such a well-known hero. However, upon bringing him to meet my father, I found that I had been wrong. My father knows this young man. Because this Link is the same exact Link from one hundred years ago! And he came here to our domain to fix Vah Ruta as part of his quest to complete what was started all those years ago.

Oh, Yona, he's even more amazing than either one of us has ever imagined. Even better than all of our childish wonders. Him and I worked together quite closely in order to get Vah Ruta working properly again. I carried him on my back as I swam through the reservoir, getting as close to Vah Ruta as I dared so that he could shoot each of her mechanisms. I would launch him up and he would shoot up into the air, pulling his bow out with such ease. Once he had an arrow nocked, it was like time slowed down just for him. He made perfect shots each time. And then he ventured inside the divine beast to destroy the beast inside, the waterblight created by Calamity Ganon all those years ago, the same one that killed my sister, Mipha.

As soon as he was inside, I returned to the domain and waited anxiously for his return. He was gone for so long. He only just returned about an hour before I'm writing this, and the moon was already high in the sky. And when he finally returned, he looked exhausted. But miraculously, not a single serious injury was on him. He was covered in scratches and bruises, dried blood on most of them, and dirt all over his face, but that was the worst of it. And Yona, oh Yona. He's so beautiful. He's fierce, determined, kind, and gorgeous. I can understand why my sister fell for him so. I can't get him out of my head and my entire body is positively vibrating with excitement.

Now that Vah Ruta is tamed, you must come right away. With your mother, too, of course. You must come and meet him. He'll be staying in the domain for a few weeks before he moves on, so he'll definitely still be here when you arrive. Oh, I can't wait for you to see him. Please, come as soon as you can.

Sincerely,

Sidon

~*~

Dear Prince Sidon,

My friend, I write to you as my bags are being packed for my visit to your domain. Mother is delighted to be taking the trip and much like you, I find myself buzzing with excitement. What you've described...I cannot believe it. Link? The Link? How is that even possible? Oh, I'm sure you'll explain it when I get there. I'm so glad that the threat to your land is no more, I am so very grateful for whatever brought such a hero to your domain.

Oh, I want to know all about him. I haven't felt such a feeling since we were children, Sidon. And even now, my childish dreams are coming back to me, even if I know how silly they are. What do you think he thinks of you? What do you think he'll think of me? Do you think he likes women or men? Maybe both? What things does he like? What things does he dislike? I can't wait to ask.

Oh my, the excitement is overwhelming. I apologize for how short of a letter this is. It's mostly just to tell you that we will be leaving shortly and should arrive soon after this letter does. I cannot wait to see you again, Sidon. Make sure you put in a good word for me with our new hero friend, if it's not too much to ask.

Yours,

Yona

~*~

A/N: What did y'all think?? Please let me know!! I'd love to hear your thoughts!!! All feedback is much appreciated!!!

~*~

Taglist:

@fangirlingpuggle

@soniclozdplove

Let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist for this story and any others relating to it!!!

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secretgamergirl · 11 months

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Some thoughts on Nazi morale

That earlier reblog about bullies and leverage coupled with some recent news coverage has me in the mind to do a little public educating about the complete lack of a spine any given nazi out there has, the weird rituals and behaviors this leads to, and how some basic knowledge about all this leaves them a completely toothless threat in the vast majority of situations.

The really important thing to remember here, and I always have to remind people I’m not saying this to be mean, but because it is true, and genuinely important to understand, is that to become a nazi you first have to be just the most absolutely pathetic loser in the world. For real, it’s baked in. They have this whole mythology about their own innate superiority and right to rule over everyone else in the world based on some pure magical bloodline BS, but that’s inseparable from the fact that none of them actually have any sort of real power or success or happiness or friends. It’s not some class of nobility making stuff up about traits they have that justify their position. It’s just pathetic losers imagining all this secret untapped potential they have and then a whole second set of fictional beliefs about how everyone else in the world is keeping them back from realizing that potential by cheating at life somehow, all as a pretense for how they’re going to actively do every underhanded thing they can to get to their “rightful” place.

The two important takeaways here are that from the get-go the whole experience of being a nazi involves just this constant immersion in propaganda, self-delusion, and keeping up kayfabe that they have no barometer for what the reality of any situation is (our enemy is simultaneously weak and strong, etc.) and that there are in fact many very real reasons a given nazi’s life falls so short of the life they tell themselves they “should be” living which they’re never going to examine.

All in all, they just... don’t do well in reality. They don’t know anything, they have no social skills, they don’t really have the drive to actually do anything with their lives. They need hype and propaganda like a normal person needs oxygen. And while they’re never going to sit down and really self-reflect on that, they at least get that getting all hyped up and having people cheer them on is important for some reason or other. So here’s how that works out in terms of interactions with the real world.

Most of the time, a nazi just kinda sits around in their little isolation bubble where they don’t interact with anyone besides other nazis, and most of that is one-sided in the form of watching propaganda videos and following simple instructions. Every so often, one of them gets hyped up enough by the bootlicking the rest do to delude himself into thinking he has some sort of actual power to flex, and it’s time to plan an attack. “An attack” can take a lot of different forms. Might be a big organized effort to do something that gets national media coverage, might be terrorizing a single arbitrarily selected teenage girl. Might be a weird elaborate prank. This year for pride month for instance, some nazi had the bright idea to set up a website selling poison as fake HRT drugs and having followers hype it up with impersonations of trans people. The one important thing though is that unless the target is proven and tested as “safe” previously, it’s always going to take the form of something with basically zero risk of blowback or personal harm.

Letter-writing campaigns are a very popular choice. It’s pretty trivial to set up a burner e-mail account (or several thousand even) paste a form letter in, and hit send. Tracing it back to you would be a huge pain, and not something most people would even be inclined to do if you don’t use overtly violent language. This has been the absolute backbone of nazi attacks for the past decade or two at least. Other stuff gets more sensationalized, but if you look at the internal operations of something like Gamergate, 98% of it has always been form letters addresses and quota goals, trying to get various organizations to make public statements or fire people they’d arbitrarily chosen to target.

Now, this is the really important part. People often mistake nazi letter writing campaigns or similar activities for the real thing. When actual normal people organize a letter-writing campaign, it’s collective action. Can we show that enough people care strongly about this thing the company is doing that they reconsider if it’s worth it? If so, hey, mission accomplished, score one for direct feedback over flawed marketing research, everyone moves on with their lives. I feel like legitimate letter writing campaigns are pretty passe, with social media attention grabs having taken over the niche (which nazis will also imitate, but random burner accounts have less impact there). Still, people in positions to field these e-mails are largely still trained, I assume, with metrics like “if X number of e-mails come in griping about something, tell management, we’ll do what we need to to shut people up.”

Nazis however do not organize campaigns like this for the same reason, and capitulating is a tremendously bad idea.

Nazis do letter writing campaigns as a safe form of organizing an attack. It’s testing the waters. The entire purpose is to determine if and how the target will react to what perceived weight they are able to safely through around. If they go, “hey, video game company, apparently one of your employees once did a risque photo shoot, are you OK with values like that?” or “I don’t like seeing a bunch of queer pride stuff when I walk into a store” those aren’t customers you have to worry about losing if they don’t get what they want. That’s a predator in the woods staring you down to see if you’re going to hold your ground or if you’re going to try to run.

See, the whole “our enemies are both weak and powerful” thing completely destroys nazis’ risk assessment capabilities, so they’re relying on yours instead. If they try to scare you with a letter writing campaign about lost sales (or for that matter, if they’re trying to scare you with anonymous letters threatening you with violence), they aren’t making a demand. They’re asking if you are afraid of them. Because if you’re afraid of them, that means they can escalate to attacks that carry more personal risk to them, with the confidence that you aren’t going to fight back.

So what happens is you have the mistaken impression that you can just fire this one employee or pull this one marketing promotion and that’ll be the end of it, but now suddenly you have people showing up in your spaces acting violent. Not so violent it’s likely going to lead to a physical altercation (they’re still testing the waters and building up to that), they’re probably just going to shout slurs at your actual customers to scare’em off, or camp out like they own the place, maybe they smash up some products on shelves if they’re feeling really spicy. And if you don’t respond to THAT in a way that makes them think twice about messing with you, they’re going to keep on escalating, with threats to your employees and families, actual physical attacks, maybe some fires or bombs.

Also every time they take a bite out of someone and it doesn’t turn out to be more than they can chew, it’s just this huge rallying moment they use to do more recruiting and pushing for bolder attacks elsewhere, so they just become more of a threat to the whole world because you went and flinched.

On the upside, you can pretty much always deescalate things no matter how far they get just by demonstrating you aren’t afraid. You just have to do two things. Forcefully rebuke them, and loudly and publicly acknowledge that what you are doing is showing nazis that they can’t push you around. No euphemisms. If you don’t explicitly specify “nazis” or some more specific organization (Proud Boys, TERFs, whathaveyou) they’re going to internally spin that as you secretly being on their side. People constantly falter here and get stuck dealing with the same attacks forever as a result.

Also when I say “forcefully rebuke them” there’s a lot of ways you can do that, but you will need to step it up based on how far you’ve let things go. If you’re just course correcting because you realized you caved to a nazi letter writing statement, a big public retraction should have you covered. If they’re showing up on your doorstep in riot gear, you might need to get a little physical. You don’t have to like, walk up to whoever’s at the front of the crowd and see how many times his head bounces when it hits a concrete slab (although I’m sure that would be quite effective. You can literally throw a milkshake at one of these losers and he’ll start crying and run away like you threw a brick.

#nazis #target #bud lite #fascism

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cerealmonster15 · 5 months

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HELLO. YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS !! IT IS GAME TIME !!!

This quiz is very simple :) you shouldn't have any problems with it :) it's just their names after all !!!! Tell me which character each name is 😊

Admittedly though, taking this chance to study up on them myself bc even though I play on the JP server, I only recognize a couple of these 😭

カリム・アルアジーム

ルーク・ハント

ジャック・ハウル

ジャミル・バイパー

フロイド・リーチ

リリア・ヴァンルージュ

ジェイド・リーチ

ラギー・ブッチ

リドル・ローズハート

トレイ・クローバー

アズール・アーシェングロット

エース・トラッポラ

シルバー

マレウス・ドラコニア

オルト・シュラウド

エペル・フェルミエ

デュース・スペード

ケイト・ダイヤモンド

イデア・シュラウド

セベク・ジグボルト

レオナ・キングスカラー

ヴィル・シェーンハイト

excuse me. Oh my god.

see if you had asked me these back in like, late 2020/early 2021 i maybe wouldve done slightly better than im about to do bc the only way i could ever find twst fanart back then was by constantly copy pasting their names into pixiv bc there wasnt much of an english fanbase at the time... virtually none on tumblr... but i havent done it much recently- i did a few days ago [from when u initially sent this LOL] but it's nothing compared to when i did it like, DAILY jklfdsjklfds

at least. at least silver is a freebie LOL

umm. Ok this one both first and last name end in ム but I don’t know what ム is 🤔 I think this is gonna be Kalim or ruggie. The ム is probably either -im or -ie bc they’re the only ones left that have names that have that pattern… going with KALIM bc I have another guess later for ruggie

uhh. god i remember the dashes in some of these names specifically tripping me up when i was learning how ship names worked LOL. Mmmm I think it’s either gonna be rook or vil bc the name is short and snappy and written similar to Ace (I think. Maybe I got fucked on the Ace guess bddbcbfbf) but the last name seems shorter which makes me wanna think it’s rook? The last names both end in the T/-to sound…. ト you are Everywhere…. OH but I think it’s ROOK HUNT bc the next one I said is Jack howl and both of the last names for those two start with ハ so maybe that’s a hhhhhh sound??? Rook bb is that you???

Backwards process of elimination from 7 and 4, I think this one is JACK HOWL

i think this one might be azul or jamil but idr which LOL. i mean it looks too long to be either of them BUT im almost positive that triple line thing was in there when i looked up azujami LOL and i dont see it anywhere else so umm. idk jamil maybe??? unless i recognize that one for a different name and remember wrong sfjdsklfjd. Ok yes I think it’s Jamil bc of my same reasoning for #7

leech. Floyd?

Liiiilia? Going off ア at the end of probably idia matching here. Lilia please do not bamboozle me AGAIN

leech. Jade? I was back and forth for a while but since three characters start with the Ja- sound and there are three names with that same character at the start… I think this is Jade.

Ummm. R-ruggie. Maybe. Going on yet another limb bc it ends in チ and the only other names that end in that are leech, so maybe bucci’s ch sound matches??

A bit of a stretch guess but I’m gonna say riddle? For the same ド reasoning i say in 17; riddle has that -do sound near the end of his name but I feel like there’s an extra sound thing after it. Specifically when trey screams his name in book 1 but I can’t really remember LOL. But the last name also has ト… -to… rosehearts… rosehear-to….

trey or cater. i think trey.

Doing another stretch guess and saying azul, bc he’s the only one with same letter for both his initials and this one has a same character at the start of both. I am hesitant bc az and ash I would think might be different? But I can’t think of anyone else that would have a similar start 🤔 and the length of names looks possible. And by that logic, ト at the end might be the -to sound, which does line up with the to- for like trey’s name. Idk how it’s actually spelled but when I mumble it to myself that’s what it sounds like hdjfjfngng

Ace I think, with the ト in tr- appola to match tr-ey and ashengrot-to… which I mean in English maybe doesn’t match but I think I’m Japanese spelling/pronunciation they are??? Also this one looked familiar from my pixiv days and I couldn’t place it, but I think the A for a-deuce is what I’m remembering LOL

SILVER

Malleus? The ア at the end of maybe draconia matches the -ia for maybe idia and lilia

idia or ortho. I think ortho once again bc of the ト -to sound??

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION YOU WERE THE LAST ONE LEFT. EPEL???

Deuce? Bc names like Jade, Floyd, Diamond, and shroud all have the ド at the end, and spade should have one too I think 🤔 beloved juice spade please don’t fail me now 🙏

cater or trey. i think cater.

idia or ortho. Going with idia bc I decided the other is ortho probably….. ooh and his and lilia’s names mmmmmaybe would end the same? Possibly???

Ok this one and 22 last names both end in ト, that -to sound, and all I have left are Leona vil Epel and sebek, so this one has to be either Schoenheit or Zigvolt… I’m going to completely guess and say this one is SEBEK. bc of the two this name looks less familiar to me and I k ow I used to look up several vil ships on pixiv LOL. also the last name looks shorter. So I think sebek

Ok down to Epel or Leona. I’m going with Leona tho bc it’s Slightly Longer than #16 AND bc silver and Probably Viper both end in the same dash and I think phonetically they sound more like -ar??

Reasoning for 20, I’m saying vil 🤔

LAYS FACE DOWN ON THE GROUND. DO UR WORST WHATS MY GRADE ☠️

#asks #felix-The-lemon-king #OH BOY PUZZLES!!!!

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recurring-polynya · 2 years

Note

For the ask meme (feel free to answer any/some/none):

🌙 - What’s their sleep schedule like? — Yamamoto

🤡 - What’s something dumb they’re embarrassed about? — Kira

🖌️ - Do they have any hobbies? —Hanatarou

💤 - What do they absolutely need to have to fall asleep? —Byakuya (and does this change over time?)

I hope your weekend is shaping up to be nice!

🌙 - What’s their sleep schedule like? — Yamamoto

Here’s his entire daily schedule, because, as you will see, sleep is strongly integrated throughout.

5am - rise, fully rested. Consume a light breakfast of nattou and kombucha. Hit the gym early, when all the young bucks in their short shorts are there.

6:30 am - Drink a glass of vinegar and eat an entire raw sweet potato.

7 am - Squad 1 morning standup

7:15 - Sit down at desk. Fall asleep.

9 am - Sasakibe brings in their morning grapefruit and talks about British things for an hour.

10 am - Write half a strongly worded letter to whichever captain is on his shitlist today and/or the Seireitei Bulletin. Fall asleep partway through.

11 am - Lunchtime. 12oz of cod, two raw eggs, and another sweet potato.

noon - Set things on fire

1 pm - Official nap

2 pm - Captains’ meeting, if applicable. Otherwise, wander around and grumble.

3 pm - Dinner. 8 oz of steak (he’s the Head Captain, he can afford it), large pile of veggies, rice.

4 pm - Drills with the youngsters (no one in Squad 1 is younger than 400 years old)

5 pm - Bath. Likelihood of drifting off in the bath: high

6 pm - Drinks sake, contemplates the universe.

7 pm - Before bed second dinner. Another 12 oz of cod, some roughage, more kombucha, 4 pickled plums.

8 pm - A responsible bedtime!!

🤡 - What’s something dumb they’re embarrassed about? — Kira

You mean aside from existing?

Izuru is embarrassed about so many, many things, but this is the dumbest, which is that until very recently, he didn’t think that chameleons actually changed color, he thought it was a folklore-based metaphor, like the way people associate salamanders with fire. The reason he thought this was very simple, which is that Gin mentioned this, in numerous offhand ways, for the purposes of messing with him. I mean, it wasn’t personal, ‘chameleons can’t really change color’ was just one of a number of similar bits Gin did to anyone he thought would fall for it, it just happened that Izuru a) spent a lot of time with Gin and b) isn’t tremendously good at telling when people are lying to him, especially about things dropped in casual conversation. Chameleons aren’t native to Japan and they don’t have them in Soul Society, and who has time to keep track of all the weird animals from other parts of the Living World, some of which are made up. I mean, narwhals are real, but unicorns are made up???

Anyway, at some point after the Winter War, the topic happened to come up in the context of a painting Momo was doing (Shinji had asked her to do something colorful to hang in the office) and they got into a big standoff about it. Izuru refused to take Shinji’s word for it, because the man is at least as full of shit as Gin, so they decided to take it to the man who knows everything about the World of the Living, except that they didn’t want to explain why they were asking, so one night at the bar, Momo just casually asked Renji if he knew anything about chameleons.

Boy, does he. Apparently, at some point during the Advance Team mission, Chad had shown Renji a multipart documentary series called “Remarkable Reptiles,” and he spent the next hour regaling them with Chameleon Facts, including their weird feet, their incredible eyesight, the fact that they glow under UV light, and, of course, their ability to change color (which is not as good as a cuttlefishes, according to a different animal documentary Renji had seen). Momo grew more and more smug as this recitation went on, Izuru attempted to dissolve his own organs through the power of shame. Shuuhei was there also, but was so enraptured by the magic of chameleons, he did not notice that Izuru himself had turned bright red (not for camouflage purposes)

Anyway, Momo is a kind and compassionate friend, and did not rub this in, but it doesn’t matter, the damage was done. Izuru sometimes lies in bed and wonders how many people he casually mentioned the chameleon thing to. He wonders if they noticed. He wonders if there is any possibility that Gin himself was also misinformed about the nature of chameleons.

Shinji loved the chameleon painting (it looks vaguely like him) and hung it in a prominent spot in the office. He also framed the large, extremely random nature column that coincidentally appeared in the Bulletin shortly afterward entitled “Chameleons! Did You Know?” and hung it up next to the painting. Izuru hates going to the Squad 5 offices.

🖌️ - Do they have any hobbies? —Hanatarou

I think Hanatarou would collect stickers! He’s very chill about it, he just buys ones he likes and he occasionally sticks them in notebooks, just making little collages of ones he things look nice together. He prefers ones that are cute or funny or pretty, but he also loves ones that come from different places or that commemorated a particular event or festival. When she gets an opportunity, Kiyone will sometimes bring them back from the World of the Living for him-- he loves the shininess and quality of the printing.

While he does have some hard-to-get ones that he keeps special, he is very generous with his stickers. The Coordinated Relief Station doesn’t see a lot of children, but Hanatarou is the one who maintains the sticker stock, just in case, plus Yachiru will often drop by for the sole purpose of demanding one.

💤 - What do they absolutely need to have to fall asleep? —Byakuya (and does this change over time?)

His wife. 😭😭😭💔💔💔

Like many neurodivergent people, Byakuya had a lot of trouble falling asleep as a kid. Byakuya is a Kuchiki though, he bends the world to his whim. He would carefully consider why couldn’t fall asleep. Was he too hot? Was there a noise bothering him? Was he hungry? Thirsty? He eventually figured out the optimal Byakuys Sleeping Conditions, which didn’t solve the problem, but it helped. From there, he tried out numerous sleep inducing techniques-- counting imaginary animals, visualizing peaceful surroundings, reciting various things he had memorized. He never found a precise recipe for getting to sleep, but he developed heuristics, and was generally able to get himself to sleep one way or another.

And then he got married.

He worried, somewhat, in the run-up to this, that sleeping with another person was going to require acclimation. A person. Next to you. Breathing. Making body heat. What if Hisana didn’t like the sheets he preferred? What if she wanted the windows closed when he wanted them open? She was the most wonderful person in the world, though, it would be worth going through all of it all over again.

As it turned out, lying in a dark room next to a person he loved was the most peaceful Byakuya had ever felt in his life and he fell asleep immediately, no alternate nostril breathing necessary. For roughly three years, Byakuya slept easily and deeply and awoke well-rested every morning.

Eventually, Hisana’s illness worsened, and Byakuya would often lay away, worrying, listening to her labored breathing, wanting to be awake in case she needed anything, thinking about how sleep chipped away at the limited number of hours he had left with her.

He slept very poorly in the year after her death, which is when he got into the habit of wandering his garden in the middle of the night. The following year, Rukia came. She also liked to wander the gardens in the dark hours, and Byakuya did not regard haunting the grounds as a group activity, so he returned to his old practices and managed to get himself back to sleep most nights. He is grateful to Rukia for this, actually. Sleep is important, and it is very irresponsible for a Clan Head and Gotei Captain to neglect his own rest.

Rukia’s own need for nighttime perambulations decreases eventually as well. Since night air can be calming, Byakuya slowly allowed himself to indulge in it again, occasionally, if he truly felt it would be effective. Even more eventually, he realized that while haunting is best done by your lonesome, a bit of companionship in insomnia isn’t so bad after all.

That was sad, so here’s a chaser:

Because Byakuya has invested so much effort in it, he can pretty much fall asleep in any conceivable conditions. He can and does fall asleep with his eyes open during Captains’ meetings. He never gets insomnia on field missions, because sleeping must be done in turns and if you do not sleep on your turn, it is a betrayal of your comrades and a risk to the operation, in short: you gotta. Renji is also an incredible Field Mission sleeper, and the two of them will just fall asleep and wake up at any time of day or night with no preamble, basically on command. Byakuya and Renji do a lot of awe-inspiring things, but it is the general opinion of Squad Six that this is the most impressive.

(original ask meme)

#misc ask meme #genryusai shigekuni yamamoto #izuru kira #hanataro yamada #byakuya kuchiki #lol i know i spend way too much time on these #so i hope y'all are enjoying them #i did have a nice weekend actually!#it featured THUNDERSTORMS

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alihightowers · 6 months

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20 Questions for Fic Writers!

tagged by @stars-of-kyber thanks bb 💕

1- How many works do you have on AO3?

2- What's your total AO3 word count?

103,319

3- What fandoms do you write for?

I’ve written a few things for the haunting of bly manor (damie), bridgerton (kanthony), and I'm slowly working on getting into hotd (rhaenicent).

4- What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

letters to my beloved, light a flame and let it burn, a love found in secret, as the dawn breaks, love me tender.

5- Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

always. It blows my mind all the time that people actually take time out of their day to read some silly story I wrote and liked it enough to leave feedback. I'm just forever grateful and want them to know that.

6- What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

None of them have angsty endings. I do have an idea for one that will just be angst, but that’s barely hit the drawing board.

7- What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Idk, they’re all happy lol.

8- Do you get hate on fics?

thankfully, no I haven’t, but I'm always afraid of it.

9- Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yes, and I don’t know? cringe explicit? lmao.

10- Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

no.

11- Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I doubt it.

12- Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope.

13- Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no.

14- What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don’t think I have one tbh, I have several ships that I love for different reasons. they're all on the same level.

15- What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I started a POTO kanthony au that’s in my drafts and it’ll stay there lol. also probably 'a love found in secret'. it's my least favorite.

16- What are your writing strengths?

honestly, I'm not sure. I enjoy trying to write emotions and setting scenes but have no idea if I'm any good at it.

17- What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm very critical of myself, so I often spend too long going over something until I get it “right”, which then elongates my writing time and I end up taking forever to finish anything. and usually by that point I've convinced myself that I suck and give up lol.

I hate dialogue. character mannerisms I usually feel okay with, but when it comes to their voice, I feel like I fall short most of the time.

I also feel like I recycle details/descriptions from story to story which I hate.

18- Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i only speak english so I've never written in another language.

19- First fandom you wrote for?

the first fandom I wrote for for and posted on ao3 was carmilla lmao.

20- Favorite fic you've written?

probably 'light a flame and let it burn'. It was the first thing I wrote for kanthony, before I let myself get self-conscious lol. It was also the first thing I'd written in literal years and was/am proud of it.

#writing things #my stuff

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jasonsutekh · 8 months

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Hercules (2014)

The famed son of Zeus is recruited, along with his comrades, to defend the kingdom of Thrace from insurgents.

Although the plot is fairly basic and saves time by drawing on a story most of the audience will already know, it still has enough twists to remain entertaining in the gaps between fight scenes. The references to the original myths are muddled somewhat which is in keeping with the oratory nature of the stories and the many versions that are recorded today.

There are no actual monsters which is a big let-down, they’re just cut-aways to stories or hallucinations, the rest is just a fake up but it’s interesting to see how they bring some aspects into the real world of the film. We see very little of the revolutionaries after their capture which is disappointing, one would expect some development from them. It’s never made clear if Hercules is really strong or not as he manages superhuman feats but it’s not specifically remarked upon.

The effects are all good quality, most notable the monsters which makes it all the more of a shame that they get so very little screen time. The choreography of the battles is at least interesting as some real ancient stratagems are used and there are some traps too which keep it engaging. Some of the actors also work out well in their roles, nobody falls short.

Much of the run time is taken up by long action sequences that barely even need any dialogue and only provide superficial entertainment. The universe in which the film takes place is a sadly dull version of Ancient Greece, eradicating much of the culture apart from columns. We see none of the beautiful lettering, the birth of democracy, or the attitudes towards sex and relationships that was arguably more modern than today's view of it.

3/10 -This one’s bad but it’s got some good in it, just there!-

-The wirter died the year of the release after having disowned the movie, despite this, condolences were still used as a way of advertising it.

-The original Greek name of the character was Heracles, Hercules is the Roman version of the name.

-The Trojan War is referenced as a past event, but in most myths Hercules died before the war.

#Film #Review #Hercules #2014 #Action #JasonSutekh

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bastart13 · 3 years

Photo

I’ve had a lot of fun recently coming with with female mercenary characters for TF2. I really liked where the concept art was going with making them all individual characters rather than simply “if the characters were women”

The design style is fantastic for distinct simplicity so I tried limiting myself to basic colours and shapes to make these

and I’m pretty confident they pass the silhouette test!

Character names/bios under the cut!

Heavy

Name: Marie Jarrett

Age: Mid 30s-40s

Height: 6’5

Nationality: American (Hawai’i)

Bio: Raised in Hawai’i, growing up she developed more and more drastic measures to fend off the tourists swarming her home. Land mines, electric gates, guard dogs, none could stop them for long until she picked up her trusty minigun to send her message. But even still, she hears the click of cameras in the night.

Eventually, she left her home to explore the world. Enthralled with the image of seeing different wonders across different countries, she’s always disappointed. She’s travelled every continent and still finds nothing that lives up to her expectations. No place, no person. She’s outgoing and open to new experiences, only she usually hates them.

Mercenary life is a great opportunity to earn money, see sights, meet new people and kill them after they don’t meet your expectations. She hates New Mexico and takes every opportunity to destroy the buildings and insult her employer’s tastes. She finds some people she tolerates within the mercenaries as she hasn’t yet visited where they live. However much she hides it, she has a deep, instinctual fear of the Engineer.

Soldier

Name: Linda Smith

Age: Early 40s

Height: 5’10

Nationality: Canadian

Bio: Canada’s perfect woman… or so she claims. The star of war propaganda posters and clearly decided for the role because of her great tactical assets. She’s there to motivate people into the fight. To spread the glory of Canada and inspire her allies. She believes she has higher orders than anyone else she’s working for (ignoring the fact she hasn’t heard from them for a good few years) and is determined to follow them to the letter. She may have lost the letter but she remembers it good enough.

She represents the ideals of Canada: polite, friendly, apologetic, and pacifistic. None of these are contradicted by how she throws around rockets. That’s not what Canada means. She’s superior to everyone around her and graciously educates them on how to improve through example. She loves her French and British allies and will kindly tell the Americans how to be better.

She’s motivating and actually fairly competent, it’s just that competency might be misdirected. She’s damn good at rocket jumping, shooting her shotgun, and supporting her team, it’s just that you really need to get it in her head when she’s meant to be doing it.

Scout

Name: Patricia “Pat” Herald

Age: 50s-60s

Height: 5’4

Nationality: English

Bio: In her years, Patricia has learnt fear… and she’s learnt to laugh in its face. She wakes up at the crack of dawn, ready to leave at the drop of a hat, boots polished and laced the night before. Her years have taught her that with a gun and Jeremy by her side, she can survive!

The postal route of Appleby-in-Westmorland.

She’s been chased by geese, dogs, cows, elderly ladies, and when her postal route had her delivering post during the war, she developed a taste for blood. Nothing will stop her from delivering her post on time. Every day before 6am, every postbox will have their letters and parcels. One chucked across barbed wire, another house jumped over a river, another house miles into the country with dogs on her heels, she WILL get there and she’ll get there FAST.

But after a couple of decades, she needs a change of scenery, and the Gravels wars are just the holiday she’s needed. With her trusty black and white cat by her side (ignoring the yowling and scratches) she reckons it’ll be great time to enjoy herself.

Quotes: “Oh, hello, Human Jeremy.”

“Bloody fucking Ethel! Building her house out in the country… surrounded by bloody hills and rivers!”

Pyro

Name: Nikephoros Papadopoulos

Age: Late 20s

Height: 5’11

Nationality: Greek

Bio: Survival of the fittest. Nature gives and nature taketh away. If you’re not prepared for that, well, Pyro is more than happy to teach you the lesson. They embody the old values of the Greek gods: f*ck or fire. She indulges her every whim and unfortunately for the people around her it often involves arson.

One year for the Olympic games, she was given the noble title of torchbearer. On complete coincidence, the Olympics shifted to primarily water sports. Underwater sprints became the hot new trend!

She’s merry and chatty, never missing the opportunity to talk to other people about herself and her world view. She can’t wait to spread her gospel to help other people improve themselves (though she always gets a laugh out of those who go out screaming in the flames). She can’t help it if she has a sadistic side.

Engineer

Name: Mikawo Kojima

Age: Early 20s

Height: 5’0

Nationality: Japanese

Bio: Japan’s early-rising industrial revolutions in technology are best exemplified in Mikawo, a young upstart determined to rise to the top, learning everything she can and building the best of the best. Unfortunately, she’s never been the most creative but when you happen upon other people’s blueprints and happen to construct them first, what does it matter who came up with the “concept”?

At first, she appears to be every bit the quiet and demure young woman people expect, only when silk hides steel, that steel is a massive automatic sentry gun. She’s motivated by a distinct contempt for the people who get in her way. Especially those who try to be better than her. She enjoys the flexibility of English, especially the cusses, and she has no reservations about swearing up a storm, even if she still refuses to give a straight rejection, preferring instead to give a small “I’ll think about it.”

Quotes: “This GUN is fair use on your head!”

Demo

Name: Qingzhao Zeng

Age: Late 40s

Height: 5’3

Nationality: Chinese

Bio: The Zeng family has a long-standing family trade in demolitions and explosives, traced down the line all the way to the Song dynasty. Luckily, Qingzhao has sisters so, you know, it’s not all that important. She doesn’t even have to stop smoking and drinking. She hasn’t blown herself up (that much) so clearly, it’s working. Precision is for other people to worry about. She’s apathetic to a T, having seen everything. Measurements come from the heart. A pinch of gunpowder there, a splash of paint there.

Her family has a deep-seated rivalry with the DeGroots. Long ago in ancient China, a Zeng matriarch woke up in a cold sweat, a message from the stars to let them know of their Scottish rivals. Due to being a continent away from each other, the families have actually met each other only a handful of times, but the hatred needs to be kept up because, what if?

Turns out, Qingzhao has met Tavish even before finding employment under the Mann brothers. One drunken night, the two of them had a short, whirlwind friendship, sharing secrets and declaring each other to be their best friends. Luckily for them, they both forgot the night, merrily hating each other as tradition dictates. However, headaches and flashes of this terrible night haunt them both. Could they really get over centuries of hate and become friends?

Absolutely not.

Sniper

Name: Ansa Aaltonen

Age: 27

Height: 6’2

Nationality: Finnish

Bio: Snow. Sugar. Cocaine. Her life is run by many white powders. Ansa is a professional sniper, with a sharp eye and a steady hand… when she isn’t also high as a kite, lost in the snowy wilderness of Finland and screeching to the sky. When you’re up in the dark and cold, you need something to give you a little pep in your step. It just so happens Ansa liked having a bit more pep than most.

She’s there for a THRILL. There’s nothing better to get your heart pumping at 200 beats per second than a good headshot, embracing the chill, and a hit of sugar. She no longer feels the cold or heat or even pain, shrugging it off until she collapses. It just makes her feel alive. She’s efficient, fast, and determined to get her kicks.

She has an unusual taste, living off fermented fish and tree bark. To most people around the Finnish wilderness, she’s nothing more than an urban legend, but she’s very real and she’s looking for some excitement, happily found in employment in the Gravel wars.

Spy

Name: Yvonne Pleshette [Real name N/A]

Age: 30s

Height: 5’8

Nationality: American (California)

Bio: The silver screen calls to his woman and she’s happy to answer. She trains herself to act in every possible role she can, having a wide range of accents, body languages, and backstories. To truly test herself, she gave up her identity long ago. Lately she’s been going by the name “Yvonne.”

The world of Hollywood is cutthroat and full of backstabbers so she learnt to cut throats and stab backs. While some people tell her the terms are metaphorical, nothing else has given her more roles. Living the mercenary life is simply gathering research for her roles (and earning some much-needed money in the process).

She presents herself as a classic film star, despite being a minor name at best, mostly because she’s always changing it. She has high standards but a cheapskate personality. She’s a bit of a bitch, happily criticising others, especially if they’re working with her. What can she say? She’s a diva.

[Slutshames other spy]

Quotes: “Ugh, actors these days, they know nothing about getting into character. They still have names.”

“’AHHHHH—’ Wait, no. Once more from the top. Scream in agony.”

Medic

Name: Susan Monks

Age: 30-40s

Height: 5’7

Nationality: American (New Jersey)

Bio: The American Healthcare system. Is there a more glorious sight? The exploitation of pain. The money. The debt. The fear it strikes into the entire population it’s designed to help. To Susan, there’s nothing better. She squeezes every last drop from the people she helps, working on a purely transactional lifestyle. She’ll never help someone unless she has all of their insurance information and the payment secure in her bank, and god forbid she ever accept help. It’s not like she can afford her own prices.

She’s very self-aware of her own corruption and proud of it, though she refuses to be exploited in the same way, suspicious of anything “free” but also doing her best not to pay for anything.

That said, she doesn’t much care for how good a job she does. In her eyes, asking for surgery is one thing. Asking for successful surgery is another. She has a variety of skills in both cosmetic and military medicine. She just wishes the license board would stop sending her “malpractice” letters. Ugh, stick to your own business. “Disappearing” all their messengers is becoming a pain.

Quotes: “Why get someone else to do something for you when you can scrounge a way to do it yourself?”

#team fortress 2 #team fortress #tf2 #fem tf2 #tf2 heavy #tf2 spy #tf2 scout #tf2 medic #tf2 sniper #tf2 engineer #tf2 soldier #tf2 demoman #tf2 pyro #character design #art #i'm very happy with how these turned out

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cloudenthusiast2 · 3 years

Text

To be a human - Scaramouche x reader - Part 1

Synopsis: You knew committing to a relationship Scaramouche would be no easy task but you loved him dearly and unlike others, you believed he wasn't evil. But as a mortal and the devoted protector of your village you were too much of a good person, too much of a human compared to him and your differences slowly start to show.

Next: Part 2

Type: mostly angst, this part is still light tho

Warnings: none... yet

Length: not as long as it seems. I'll try to write the next chapters as soon as possible

Scaramouche turned his back to the mountains he's been staring at to look at the path leading to Qingce village. The sun shone through the fog above the rice fields, colouring everything in golden light. Trees sighed as the gentle morning breeze caressed them while glaze lilies slowly started to close their blossoms.

The view was absolutely mesmerising but it didn't absorb the exoticly dressed, short man even for a minute.

'Finally' he snorted unpatiently as you appeared out of the fog, walking towards him with a big smile. 'What took you so long?'

'Good morning' you answered in a calm, low-key but still visibly cheerful manner.

He mumbled some words to himself but you didn't even try to understand what he was saying. It was probably for the better anyway.

You were both happy you could finally see each other but Scaramouche would obviously never express such feelings, not even towards you. You didn't care so much about that though since the time you spent with trying to bare with him finally paid off. You could confidently say now that you actually knew him and his difficult personality well.

Yes, the constant need to search for clues that could tell you about his hidden emotions was a little tiering but you could usually put up with it.

You haven't been able to see him in a really long time as well. You were living in a small village in Liuye while Scaramouche was always travelling around Teyvat and could only visit you between two jobs. He wasn't the type to write letters so sometimes even months passed without you hearing anything about him.

He came back to you yesterday agter five weeks, to spend a little time in Qingce, the village you lived in and protected with your biggest gift, a Hydro vision.

'Where do you want to go?'

'Doesn't matter.'

'We could go to the forest! It's really pretty in the morning. And later we could pick some chili. I promised Pops Kai that I would bring some to him.'

He didn't react. You knew he didn't like you - his words - 'being a slave of those people' so he just ignored the fact someone requested something from you again.

'How did your last job go?' You asked as you two were slowly walking below the rice fields, watching the sun come up from behind the mountains.

'Could have been worse' he answered curtly. 'Inazuma is a pain in the neck. And there were some... unfortunate events I do not wish to discuss. But at least now I'm back.'

He looked up to the village and his piercing blue eyes narrowed as he took a glance of the neat but definitely archaic looking houses.

'Even this hick town is better than thet hell hole.'

Your facial expression strained for a moment as you heard him insulting the village which happened to be your favourite place all in Teyvat. You calmed your expressions but couldn't help and sting back a little.

'I thought you liked Inazuma' you retorted in a dry tone. 'It's where you're from after all.'

Scaramouche's face immediately darkened and you instantly realised the big mistake you made.

You knew a little about his origins, just enough to understand why he never told about it to you. Regret appeared in you for mentioning his past. At least Scaramouche didn't scold you for it but the air between you two visibly got heavier.

You continued your walk in silence and you couldn't stop cursing yourself for saying such insensitive things. It took two minutes for you to start bickering - this number made you feel sad and stupid.

But then again - he didn't even realise how hard he insulted your village and even if he did, he probably wouldn't regret it by one bit.

You lifted your chin and looked straight into the distance. You could see the various fatui agents scattered around the village, all standing guard for the sixth harbinger next to you.

You didn't like him being a part of the fatui at all but there wasn't much you could do about it. You only hoped and prayed that he one day would leave them after getting enough of the Tsaritsa and her overwhelming, suffocating power. After all, he only joined them because they 'seemed fun' and so far they were more of an annoyance then an genuine source of amusement for him.

'Unless he likes all the bloody tasks they're handing to him' you thought to yourself and then couldn't help but feel a little sick in the stomach.

You loved the man walking next to you but not every part of his personality. Not that part which screamed evil.

You weren't blinded by love. You knew he was indeed cruel sometimes. The part affecting you, his rudeness, his hatred towards any type of affection didn't concern you, it was actually kind of amusing. You loved to tease him about it and when he had an actual soft moment... it was heaven itself.

But you couldn't help but feel worried for others. What was he actually doing behind your back? Did he ever... kill someone? He seemed to be enjoying ending monsters a little too much. And he was quite open about his feelings towards humans. He hated all of them... you were probably the only exception.

'Say, Scara' you decided to broke the silence. He glanced at you, his face and movements still stiff. 'If there was a job suiting you in Liyue...'

'Stop tryna make me quit the fatui' he cut into your words in a harsh tone. 'It's not going to happen.'

'That's not what I was trying to do. I just... want to see you more often. Even after months I can only get a day or two with you... and we're not even alone.'

'If it's the Tsaritsa's order then I will follow it.' You averted your eyes. Barely a sentence in and you were already dejected by his words. 'Even though... I'd like to see you more too.'

You quickly rose your chin just to catch a glance of him rolling his eyes before he quickly turned his head away.

A wide smile lit up your face and you couldn't help but instantly start to gently tease him.

'Oh my, am I mistaken or is the almighty Balladeer actually admitting his oh-so-ridicoulus wishes to a mortal? Scara, are you okay? Yore getting soft, be careful before you get so weak even a slime could defeat you!'

'Just shut up, okay?' He growled at you but you just happily laughed. He's back. 'I'm gonna take my words back if you only show disrespect at...'

'Sure, sure' you smirked. 'Just admit you have a crush on me, Weeky-mouche!'

'Your nicknames are absolutely ridiculous' he claimed, ignoring the rest of the sentence.

'Oh, so what do you want me to call you then?' The temptation was too strong, you couldn't help but wink at him which made him growl in disgust again. 'Sweetheart, perhaps? Or honey?'

'I swear, you're as annoying as that damn red scum' he snorted, referring to his colleague, Childe.

You wanted to continue teasing him but as you turned right on the path you were walking on, a small shilouette - even smaller than Scaramouche's - appeared in front of you.

'Oh, little Yu!' You gasped, recognising the little 4-years-old girl.

Her dark hair was sparkling from the light of the morning sun and it put a tiny fire into her golden eyes as well. She looked like a magical little creature in the mystical forest, surrounded by old trees and young flowers.

A precious smile lit her face up as she saw you and the little girl reached out with both of her hands.

'Miss Y/n!'

You picked her up in an instant. Your favourite thing in guarding Qingce village was the people that lived in it and Yu always had a special place in your heart.

'Are you picking flowers?' You asked her and gently brushed her hair out of her face. 'For who?'

'Mommy' explained the little girl. 'It's her birthday tomorrow!'

'You're a very kind little lady, Yu' you praised her with a gentle smile. Holding a tiny, adorable creature like her was amongst the best feelings you've experienced, next to being with your lover, Scaramouche.

You didn't realise it was mainly because you were completely touch-starved.

Yu nodded but she didn't look at you. You followed her glance and you realised she was staring at Scaramouche.

The man was standing three feet away from you, with crossed arms and a hostile look on his face.

'Who is he?' Little Yu asked from you, fixing her eyes on the unfriendly expression of Scara's.

'His name is Scaramou... Just call him Scara.'

The man and the girl stared at each other.

'You needn't be afraid of him. He doesn't bite' you said jokingly but the little child's face remained serious.

'Why isn't he smiling?' She asked quietly. Scara glared at her.

'He's a little hard to make smile but he's still a good person' you promised her.

'Are you sure?'

Her words were innocent but they hit you really hard. Your breath stopped for a second and the fake smile on your face faded away.

'Now listen here you little...'

'I am sure. Don't worry' you cut down Scaramouche, sending a warning look to him.

He stayed silent but he looked like he could explode at any moment.

Maybe the child was able to sense it, maybe not, but she tried to get out of your hug all of a sudden. You put her down carefully, not forgetting to caress her hair and rosy cheeks even though her words upset both of you.

'I'm gonna go pick more flowers.'

'Yes. Be careful in the forest.' You warned her. 'Call my name if you're in danger!'

She nodded and ran away on her bare feet, looking like a little fairy among the old trees.

Leaving you alone with Scaramouche.

#cloudenthusiast #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact #Scaramouche #scaramouche x reader #genshin x reader #genshin angst #scaramouche angst #genshin fanfic #genshin #genshin Scaramouche

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the-sugar-crash · 2 years

Note

Could we get hcs for the damn polycule(including Gavin) of when the freelancer has a little sister? I’d imagine the FL is in their early-mid 20s, and their sister is like 11-13.

Okay. So. This was a lot of fun to write. I had a lot of different ideas and the hardest part was just trying to make them fit together in a way that makes sense. So if this seems all over the place that’s why. I will say, I accidentally went with a very dark tone at the end, and I go into the Freelancer’s strained relationship with their bio family. So please note that if you struggle reading that sort of thing. And once I had it all written out I was kinda like ‘oh no, what if that wasn’t what they wanted, cause I kinda just wrote a really sloppy fic instead of actual head canons.” So I went back and wrote some shorter head canons on top of the almost fic. So long story short; the first part is some general HCs, and the second part is a scene where their sister comes up to visit the Freelance at damn without telling anyone. For convenience I gave the sister a name. I went with Ava just cause I don’t know any Avas and it was one of the first that popped up when I googled ‘basic girl names’. Sorry for the long note and thank you for the request!

CW for part 1: none

CW for part 2: Strained family, crying, parental negligence, feelings of self doubt

So, Ava

She and the Freelancer were super close despite the age difference

The Freelancer had to babysit her a lot as a kid, but because of that they have a really special relationship

Ava would try to copy her older sibling a lot

Stealing their clothes or trying to copy their hobbies, that type of thing

She looked up to them, and wanted to be just like them

It usually didn’t bother the Freelancer that much

Unless there was a limited number of something available, and Ava only decided that she wanted it after the Freelancer expressed interest

Especially when their parents would try to make the freelancer share with Ava

That, or if Ava ever accidentally ruined some of the Freelancer’s things while trying to copy them

It was never out of mal intent, so the two of them would make up quick

Ava was really young when their powers manifested, so no one ever told Ava about it because everyone was afraid that she would tell other people

It sucked not being able to tell someone you’re so close to about a part of your life of course, but it made sense

Not to mention that the Freelancer’s parents liked to pretend that their powers didn’t exist and encouraged them to suppress them

But to make up for keeping it a secret, the Freelancer would make up fantasy stories to tell Ava, like bedtime stories and such

They were besties until the Freelancer had to move out

They lost contact for a little bit

But as Ava got older, she started writing letters to them

They reconnect years later, and they click just like before, only this time they’re closer than ever

Okay, part two-ish:

There’s one night not long after the start of the new semester when it was just the Freelancer, Gavin, and Damien at home in the apartment

Lasko and Huxley are both out late

Lasko is running a late night study session for his class and Huxley had a night practice

The trio decided to order a pizza for dinner, making sure there was enough to go around

About half an hour later there’s a pounding on the door, which Gavin is the one to answer

But instead of the usual pizza guy that Gavin enjoys teasing, he finds a young girl

He just says “I think you have the wrong apartment,” and then shuts the door in her face

There’s a moment that passes before someone knocks on the door again

Gavin opens it a second time to find the same girl standing in the hallway

“Can I help you with something? Are you selling girl scout cookies or something?”

That’s when the Freelancer calls from inside the apartment

“Gavin! Are you torturing the pizza guy again?”

The young girl’s face lit up and she pushed past Gavin and ran into the apartment

“Wha- Hey! Get back here!”

He isn’t sure what he’s going to find when he turns around, but he definitely wasn’t expecting to see the girl clinging to the Freelancer for dear life.

“Ava?”

The poor Freelancer looks like they’re seen a ghost

Once they seem to get their bearings back, they lean down and hug the girl

Now Gavin is really confused

The Freelancer is the one to break the hug, pushing the girl away and holding onto her by her shoulders an arm’s length away

“Ava? What the hell are you doing here?”

“I came to see you!”

Gavin clears his throat.

“So do I get an explanation or…?”

“Right! Gavin, this is Ava, my little sister. Ava, this is Gavin, my boyfriend”

“Boyfriend?” she asked, looking him up and down before nodding in approval. “Not bad.”

“Well, I’m so glad I got the stamp of approval from the 12 year old.”

“I’m 13 actually.”

“Ava, seriously. What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you! I missed you!”

“I missed you too, but how did you even find me?”

“I found the address you gave mom and dad in case of emergencies and I took a bus all by myself to get here!”

“You what?” Do mom and dad know you’re here?”

“Well, no. But it’s alright! I packed a bag and everything!” she said, gesturing to her backpack

Which, when the Freelancer checked, only had one extra set of clothes, a stuffed animal, and a whole lot of junk food.

That’s when Damien came out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

“Why is there a 12 year old latched onto the Freelancer?”

“I’m 13.”

“This is Ava, the Freelancer’s younger sister.” Gavin introduced

“We’ll, that’s definitely not what I was expecting.”

That’s when there’s a new knock on the door.

“That’s probably the pizza, I’ll get it. Do you two mind watching her for a moment?”

The two boys sit Ava down on the couch while they get the pizza

“So… what do kids even do? I think we have some coloring books? Maybe a juice box in the fridge?”

Neither of them really know what to do

The Freelancer comes back a second later with three boxes of pizza and nods the boys into the kitchen. Leaving Ava by herself in the living room.

“Alright team, what the hell does one do after their 13 year old sister that they haven’t seen in years shows up unannounced?”

While the three of them are coming up with a game plan in the kitchen, Huxley comes home.

Huxley is amazing with kids, you can’t change my mind

So he just sits down with her on the couch until Gavin pops back in to check on Ava while the Freelancer and Damien put the pizza onto plates

Gavin greets Huxley with a kiss, which apparently is a bad move, because as soon as the Freelancer comes back, Ava tries to snitch

“He’s cheating on you!”

Hux is very confused

To his credit, he just found a random kid in his home and immediately tries to make the kid feel more comfortable, and now she’s accusing him of cheating on his partners and trying to start a fight

Poor boy is slightly confused

So the Freelancer has to explain that no, Gavin isn’t cheating on them with Huxley, because Huxley is also their boyfriend. So is Damien.

And contrary to what some parents believe, explaining gay relationships to a child doesn’t confuse them or scar them for life

Shocker.

“So you have… 3 boyfriends?”

“Well, technically I have 4, but Lasko works late sometimes, so he isn’t home yet

Speak of the devil

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late. Some of the students wanted to stay a little longer to ask me some questions and that is a child. Why exactly is there a child?”

“This is Ava, my younger sister.”

“Oh? Oh!”

Ava sticks her hand out for him to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you boyfriend number 4.”

“Uhh, you too?”

With the second round of introductions out of the way, everyone settles around the living room with their pizza and sit in a somewhat awkward silence

That’s when Damien suggests putting on either a disney or Ghibli movie

It definitely makes things easier

And after traveling all day and eating more than her fill of pizza, Ava falls asleep curled up next to the Freelancer

The Freelancer is having a moment

They missed their sister so much since they had to leave home, and it hurt to know that Ava would have to go home soon

But they could enjoy the moment, at least until the movie ended

After all the credits rolled, Huxley helps carry Ava to the guest room where the Freelancer got her all tucked into bed

But when they got back to the living room, that’s when the hard part begins.

The Freelancer has to call their parents, who they haven't heard anything from in years.

Lasko understands the most, so when the Freelancer is ready, all the boys cuddle around them on the couch as they dial the familiar number

There’s a very heavy silence as the phone rings

“Hello? Who is this?”

“...Mom?”

The person on the other end of the line doesn’t say anything, so they continue.

“Um, Ava is fine. She showed up at my apartment a little while ago. She’s asleep now, and she ate dinner, but I just wanted you to know where she is and that she’s safe.”

Their mom hesitates for a moment and just says, “I’ll pick her up in the morning,” and then the line goes dead.

And when the Freelancer puts the phone down, they’re crying

It wasn’t fair

They never did anything to deserve this. They had never asked for their powers. They never did anything wrong.

They knew all those things, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt to be turned away by the people who were supposed to love you unconditionally

As they cried they boys held them close, each of them telling the Freelancer how much they loved them

There was something almost ironic about crying about losing one family when being held by another

They weren’t sure who carried them to bed that night, but they spent the night being held until they fell asleep in their lovers arms

The next morning was much better

Someone (probably Damien) had made pancakes and Ava was sitting at the kitchen table swinging her legs, working on a coloring book that the Freelancer kept for when Caelum stopped by

They took a seat next to her and they enjoyed their breakfast together

Ava caught them up on everything that had happened

She told them about her friends at school, her classes, and the new shows she was watching

They two enjoyed their first morning together in a long time

Until the dreaded knock on the door arrived

Huxley was the one to open the door

Anyone who knew Huxley knows that he’s a sweetheart

But when this mountain of a man opens the door with his arms crossed over his chest and an unhappy look on his face

He looks a little scary

Not to mention the tank top he’s wearing shows off of how big his arms are

Sorry, small Hux appreciation moment. Moving on.

Their mom is definitely intimidated

The Freelancer comes up to the door and invites her in while Ava packs up her stuff

The silence is thicker than Huxley’s thighs

(alright I’m actually done this time)

All the boys are kind of milling around the room

They’re trying to act casual, but they all kind of look like guard dogs

Their mom doesn’t say anything to any of them

That’s when Ava comes back into the room, giving each of them a hug before latching onto the Freelancer last, squeezing them as hard as she could

Ava at least knows her older sibling’s address now, so she can write them letters now

Once she lets go of them, she turns to her mom

“Can I visit more often Mom? I missed them!”

She looks hesitant and just says they’ll talk about it in the car

Ava looks saddened by this but doesn’t protest. She hugs the Freelancer one last time and then heads out the door.

Their mom looks like she’s about to follow her without saying anything when she stops

“Have, have you been doing okay here?”

This catches them off guard. They look back at their boys and then back to their mom.

“Yeah. I’m doing okay. I- I’ve missed you,”

Their mom gives them a small smile

“I’m glad you’ve found your place here. We’ve all missed you too. If… if you wanted to you’re welcome to stop by sometime”

And then she’s gone again, and it’s just the 5 of them in the apartment again

There’s a lot of cuddling that night

The end :)

#thanks for the request!#redacted asmr #redacted head canons #redacted damn #redacted d.a.m.n #damn polycule #damn poly headcanons #redacted gavin #redacted freelancer #redacted lasko #redacted damien #redacted huxley #redacted hc #gavin x freelancer #gavin x freelancer x lasko x damien x huxley #thicc Huxley appreciation #redacted audio

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helpistolethesecharacters · 3 years

Text

Down By The Docks

Bucky Barnes x Male Reader

Word Count: 1810

This is inspired by another request, from an anon this time.

The idea is a '40's AU. I wasn't totally sure if that meant they wanted a story totally set in the 1940's or something that just didn't reference the war, or pretended the war wasn't on/our characters aren't involved in the war, so I just picked one.

Hope this is what you wanted anon!

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

Bucky Barnes was one of the best looking fellas Y/n had ever laid eyes on, of that he was sure. It was only his second day working down on the docks, but he was sure he could happily spend the rest of his life working this menial job if the view never changed.

He was always quick with a smile for a pretty dame or even, Y/n had noticed, a particularly handsome fella.

Y/n had thought for sure he had imagined seeing his 'impressing a pretty dame' smile aimed at the bloke who had delivered a sack of letters to the area they were working in.

He would have written it off as the heat getting to him if not for that very same smile being directed his way later that day while they were all sitting around eating their lunches.

None of the other's seemed to have picked up Bucky's brazen flirting with both genders, or maybe they just didn't care. That last one seemed pretty unlikely though.

Y/n just hiked up a brow at Bucky the second time he shot him that pretty smile. He had no idea what to do with that. It couldn't be helped that it was illegal to be that way, that was just the way of the world.

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

Y/n was sure that Bucky was trying to kill him.

He had shown up to work wearing his standard work wear. Just the worn whites and browns of clothes that had been washed too many times but that you couldn't afford to throw out yet.

It just wasn't fair that the day was particularly warm, so everyone had ended up stripped down to their pants. All those half naked male bodies glimmering with sweat, the noises they made unconsciously as they lifted boxes full of cargo and moved them to where they needed to go.

And right there, in the middle of it all, Bucky Barnes. Poor Y/n had ended up being sent home from being 'affected by the sun'. It wasn't his fault dammit, Bucky had been parading around looking good enough to eat. Y/n was ashamed to find himself literally walking into poles and walls in his preoccupation with the half naked Bucky.

----------

Y/n sighed in relief. Tonight was going to be blessedly free of one Bucky Barnes, perpetual thorn in his gay side.

He was going out to a bar. It was an open secret that this particular bar was a gay bar. The cops in that area were happy to turn a blind eye to it largely because several of them were known regulars there.

That didn't mean you could just go about talking about it, or anything that went on inside it while you weren't there.

It was still illegal after all.

Y/n leaned back into his booth and sighed happily. A nice drink, some eye candy that wouldn't beat the crap out of him just for giving them the eye, and a little dancing ought to make his worries just float away.

Y/n had been looking forward to this all week.

Damn Barnes to hell and back.

Y/n moved over to the bar to order himself something silly. He was feeling the need for some ridiculousness tonight.

He had just taken his first sip of his drink when he spotted him. There he was, standing by the bar just a little ways down from Y/n, seemingly ordering a drink.

Y/n tried valiantly to not spit his mouthful of booze all over the bar. He had paid good money for that drink and he would be damned if he wasted it.

It didn't work very well. Some of it ended up coming out of his nose, and as he hacked up the parts of it that went down the wrong pipe to choke him, the rest dribbled down his chin.

'Well, that was attractive,' Y/n thought drily.

"Oh gosh, are you alright? Here, let me help."

Y/n turned watering eyes on the man addressing him.

He was met with a short blond who looked like a stiff wind could knock him over if he wasn't careful.

He was holding out a handkerchief and looking unsure of himself.

Y/n went to reassure the stranger that he was fine, but some small remaining part of the drink that hadn't been attempting to kill him before chose that moment to do so. Instead of words, he could only hack and cough, trying to get the liquid out of his lungs.

Y/n felt a hand on his back moving in firm circles, trying to help. He looked back over at the man to find him at his side frowning as he rubbed at Y/n's back.

When Y/n could finally speak properly he took the handkerchief, which had once again been offered, to clean his face of tears and spit and snot.

'Who'd have thought that alcohol burned so badly going into a person's nose and lungs?' Y/n thought disgustedly.

When he had cleaned himself up properly and turned back to his savior he suddenly realised he had no idea how to make this situation any less awkward.

The other man apparently had no such reservations.

"I'm Steve by the way. That looked pretty painful. Are you okay now?"

He was so earnest, and it didn't look like he was laughing at Y/n at all, so he could only nod vaguely.

"Yeah, I was just surprised by something. I'm Y/n, just so you know."

Y/n paused, feeling every bit as awkward as he ever had.

"Um, after that bit of excitement, I think I'm gonna call it a night. Murderous drinks aside it was nice meeting you. Can I clean this and bring it back here some time for you Steve?"

Y/n held up the thoroughly soaked handkerchief, cringing internally.

"Oh, don't worry about it, but are you sure you don't want to stay for a little bit longer? I'm here with my friend, but he's never very good company when there's dancing and alcohol involved."

Y/n mulled it over for a second, before manners kicked in.

"Yeah, no worries. I could stay for a bit longer, if only to save you from a lonely evening."

Steve's smile was sweet, but Y/n also couldn't detect anything else behind it. It didn't seem like he was trying to hit on Y/n, just that he didn't want to spend the night alone while his 'friend' danced the night away.

Y/n followed behind Steve as he led him over to the booth that Y/n had originally been sitting in.

Y/n stopped still at the sight of who was sitting across from Steve. Bucky dang-it-all-to-heck Barnes.

At their approach, Bucky turned away from the two women sitting with him in the booth. His handsome face lit up when he registered who it was standing in front of him.

"Stevie, there you are. I was starting to think you ditched me earlier than ever, but look what you found. I should bring you here more often."

Steve just gave Bucky a blank look.

Y/n couldn't blame him. If his 'good friend' had taken him out for a night of fun, he wouldn't have appreciated him looking at other guys that way either. He wasn't exactly backward in letting people know he was interested from the sounds of it.

Y/n stood awkwardly by the booth, not really sure if he should still be there. He had followed Steve to keep him company, but if it were him in Steve's shoes right now, he'd want him to leave.

"Um, I think I should probably head off actually."

Steve turned back to Y/n looking confused.

"Oh, well if you're sure. You don't have to stay if you don't want to of course."

Y/n refused to acknowledge the fact that Bucky was honest to goodness pouting. Was there anything in this world that was fair?

"Well, at least let me walk you out."

There would be no arguing apparently, as Bucky was already out of his seat and herding Y/n to the door.

"It was nice meeting you!" Y/n barely managed to turn to yell to Steve as he was pulled away by the ever insistent Bucky.

Once they made it outside Bucky paused and turned to face Y/n.

"Hey."

Y/n turned to face him.

"Gotta say, I'm gettin' a bit confused here."

Y/n frowned but stayed silent.

"When we met at work I thought you were pretty cute, but you don't hit on people down by the docks if you wanna live to see the next sunrise, you know? But then you were always starin' an I thought, maybe you mighta been interested. Then that day you kept walkin' into things happened and I was pretty dang sure you were."

Y/n was blushing by now.

'Great so he did notice.'

"But then I see you here."

Bucky had moved closer and lowered his voice, speaking softer.

"An, no offense to Stevie, but he's not exactly every guys dream-boat. You know, I don't even think he knows this is a gay bar."

He broke off here to chuckle quietly. He was standing so close, he was practically pressing Y/n up against the wall of the bar.

"But then you're actin' all stand-offish. Like you can't even bare to look at me. So, what's a guy to think?"

Bucky seems to realise how this might be coming across and pulls away to give Y/n some room.

"Do I got a shot with you Y/n?"

Y/n had been floating somewhere dreamy with Bucky pressed up so close to him, but when he pulled away, reality came crashing down. How dare he ask questions like that when Steve was in there waiting for him to get back?

"You got some nerve Barnes. You can't just ask anyone out. Not when you got a fantastic guy like that waiting for you in there!"

"Fantastic guy? What-"

Y/n cut him off before he could sweet talk his way out of this.

"Steve! He's sweet, and kind and probably way too good for someone who flirts with everyone on the block!"

Bucky was laughing, which Y/n thought was way out of line.

"Wha, Y/n, Steve's just a friend. He don't even swing that way."

Y/n's face lit up with the brightest blush he had ever felt. He was sure he was going to actually self-combust before long.

"Oh."

"Yeah. So is that why you looked at me like that?"

He moved closer again, and when he spoke that damned silver tongue was back.

"I would never. When I'm with someone, they're the most important person in the world to me. Besides, how could I ever look my ma in the face again if I treated my partner like that?"

Y/n blushed fiercely.

"So whaddya say? Give me a shot?"

Y/n could only nod, face still a brilliant red.

#Bucky barnes x male reader #Bucky barnes #James barnes x male reader #james barnes #Male reader #marvel fanfiction

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anemo-writes · 3 years

Text

hello travelers! again, thank you for putting up with my inactivity, it’s been hard to write lately haha. anyways, i thought this would be something fun to post and for everyone to enjoy, whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not :) (note: this will probably be more fanon than canon so please bear with me, i’ll make it as canon as it can be :’) i also kept this pretty short, so hopefully that’s okay too,, and sorry for this being late haha—i wrote this very late at night so don’t mind any typos you find please)

much love,

~ anemo-chan <3

(The Playable) Genshin Impact Characters on Valentine’s Day (Romantically)

super romantic; gifts you a bouquet of flowers and takes you out to eat at a fancy restaurant/cooks for you.

Diluc

He is nervous. He’s never paid close attention to the countless amount of people who have lined outside the tavern to ask him to be their Valentine, only to be rejected. There was absolutely no way that he would turn to Kaeya for advice, so unfortunately this was something he would have to figure out for himself. He figures that it wouldn’t hurt to go traditional, so that’s what he does; he buys a large bouquet of roses (which he had to get from Donna, seeing that at the hours that he ended work were very late and Flora’s shop was not open at the time—yeah, that was not fun) and presents himself outside your doorway, to which he invites you to join him for a late dinner—which he makes!

Lisa

She leaves a letter on top of your nightstand, paired along with a singular rose. The letter states for you to meet her outside of Good Hunter, where you find her sitting at a table with a candle dimly-lighting up the surroundings. She greets you with a warm smile, gesturing for you to sit down—the two of you enjoy a candle-lit dinner as well as bolognese she specially requested for Sara to make for the two of you to enjoy together why does this remind me so much of Lady and the Tramp,,

Tartaglia

Oh boy. It’s always a fun time spending a holiday with him, seeing that it could go two ways; one, he would be too busy to celebrate it with you on the day of, and he would take you out the day after, or two—have a store’s entire line of merchandise presented to you outside your doorstep, in which a very, very smiley Tartaglia hidden within the pile (after all, he was the best present!) After you’re done moving all of the gifts into your house (it took up the space of your entire living room), he tells you to cover your eyes and follow him. He takes you to one of the most well-known restaurants in Liyue (which currently doesn’t have a name because it is very late here!), and insists that you order whatever you want, and however much you want.

Zhongli

Over the years, he’s witnessed many, many couples celebrate this holiday and every year he’s wished to do the same. He finds the perfect opportunity to do so when Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and boy does he plan it out for the two of you. He’s even made sure to have his wallet on him at all times—it would be extremely rude for you to have to pay if he happened to forget his wallet. He makes sure to stop by to pick up a bouquet of flowers, as well as a bottle of perfume (not in a bad way, just to clarify) from Ying’er’s shop that he recalled you liked. He makes sure to pick you up early from your work place to make sure you made it to your appointment on time; after all, being late to an appointment was similar to breaking a contract, no?

surprises you with homemade sweets.

Fischl

Oh, she is so nervous—of course, she doesn’t show this. The entire week, she spent researching recipes to create a special batch of chocolate-dipped strawberries just for you—she even sent Oz to the nearby farms to “borrow” the freshest strawberries for the treat (the farmers were too scared to confront the talking bird who “borrowed” their strawberries, so luckily they got away with it). She dips them in a purple-colored chocolate (because what other color would she use, really?) and drizzles on a dark-chocolate syrup to top it off. She’s too shy to actually give it to you herself though, so she has Oz drop it off for her.

Ganyu

Even though she’s quite busy, she’s somehow found time to whip up a special batch of chocolate just for you! She shapes them into Glaze Lilies (which she found quite hard, which is why there are so few of them) and presents them to you in a neatly-sealed box. She’s quite modest when your eyes widen and tell her it’s the best chocolate you have ever eaten, claiming that she only followed a recipe, when she really made it from scratch.

Keqing

Like Ganyu, you have no idea how she finds time to create a perfect array of chocolates, which she made herself! However, with her tightly-packed schedule, she has to drop it off at your house in advance, to which you accept happily. She tried to decorate them with designs of cartoon-versions of your faces, but they’re a bit...messy. Nonetheless, they’re tasty, and to her relief, you enjoy them.

Mona

Somehow, she’s managed to scrape up enough mora to buy you a necklace; yes, a necklace, and a real one at that—none of that fake, costume jewelry stuff! She even added a pendant shaped like star, just so you could be reminded of her whenever you fiddled with it or even glanced at it. She’s quite flustered when she gives it to you, ignoring the way you ask how she managed to save this much mora to be able to buy something like this, changing the subject on how you should never-ever take it off (because it looks great on you.)

Noelle

One word: pancakes. (Have you seen the ones she makes for her special dishes? They’re frigging amazing) As a dutiful maid should, she wakes up especially early to prepare a homemade breakfast just for you, to which she serves to you just as your wake up in bed. The fluffy stack of pancakes are decorated with fruits cut up in heart-shapes, as well the words, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Y/N”, written neatly with chocolate syrup—it’s quite a sight to see, to be honest, and utterly delicious. Lucky you!

Xiangling

The day before, she tells you to meet her at the restaurant around noon. When you arrive, the restaurant is adorned with Valentine decorations, as well as a terrifying amount of food; she insists that she only made it for you, so you better eat up! Before she can show you the other dishes, the restaurant is suddenly filled with a strong, bitter smell—something burning. With a yelp, she runs into the kitchen, coming out a few minutes later with a tray of half-scorched cupcakes, their Gouba-shapes adorned with...a lot of burn marks. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, doesn’t it?

buys/makes a present for you.

Albedo

Without your knowledge, Albedo has been creating a collection of artworks throughout all the time you had spent together. The pieces include portraits of you, portraits of you and him (sucrose helped with this), as well as just random sketches of the little things that remind him of you, such as the bare, snowy-white terrain where the two of you first met, as well as its flora and fauna. If you request it, he’ll even make the painting come alive (literally), and the two of you run to Sucrose’s dwelling, who is very shocked to see the pair of you running from a Frosted Lawachurl when she peered out her window to see if she could pinpoint the sounds of distant screaming.

Amber

Is there anything better than a matching set of wind gliders? Not only that—they were homemade! She spent the last couple of weeks putting together a pair of gliders for the two of you, customizing them to your tastes (which she nailed!) She quite literally drags you to the nearest hill to test them out, and the two of you end up challenging each other on who can get back to the Knights of Farvonius Headquarters the fastest—spoiler alert: she did.

Barbara

Oh, she would make the cutest card for you—the envelope is decorated with cute stickers (some of them even had her face on it; there’s nothing like promoting merchandise, am i right? jkjks) She also pairs it off with a box of chocolates that she bought from Sara—however, what she didn’t know was that in the box was a special-edition spicy chocolate truffle. With your luck, that was the first one you chose—and boy, were you met a surprise (it was so bad that you were begging Barbara to use her Vision on you, which she refused of course). Fun times.

Chongyun

He’s real sweet. After his expeditions and commissions, he opens the freezer (yes he keeps them in there, don’t judge him) to an array of ice sculptures, shapes varying from flowers, hearts, and such—although it’s quite the simple gift, he’s put a lot of effort into them, even putting in the extra effort to cast a spell to make sure they would not melt; it’s all worth though, when he sees the absolutely giddy expression on your face, and the look of pure awe as you pick one up and study it closely, admiring all of the details and work that’s he put in.

Ningguang

She sends out informants to find out what you like, whether it be something that your gaze settled on for too long or something you’ve mentioned while talking to her—on the day of, you open your door to a mountain of gifts, with Ningguang herself peering out from behind it with a calm smile and a wave (which was the opposite of your reaction, because who has that much mora to purchase all of these gifts?!?)

Razor

He doesn’t have a clue on what the holiday until Lisa asks him if he’s planned something for the two of you during one of his lessons. When he shakes his head no, Lisa suggests that he make you something, to which he sets out on an adventure to do, looking for flowers and flower stems to weave into a pair of matching bracelets—they’re not the prettiest, but he is pretty proud of it; after all, it was his first time making something like that. He’s quite nervous to present it to you, afraid that you might not like it, but all feelings of worry melt away when you slide it on with a huge smile on your face, insisting that he wears his too.

Sucrose

At first, she considers gifting you a present that she created herself; of course, with her work being alchemy, she isn’t sure if that would be the safest option, despite being talented herself. And so, she resorts to buying a present for you—she is very picky with the present though, insisting that it should be perfect since she could not make one herself. She even consults Albedo when selecting some of the presents (he doesn’t help her unfortunately; he believes that she should figure it out herself haha). Like Razor, she’s quite nervous to give it to you, but lets out a huge sigh of relief as you thank her happily for the gift, wiping a bead of sweat from across her forehead (sucrose bby anything you give us would be perfect,,)

whisks you away somewhere sentimental, where the two of you can enjoy a special date.

Beidou

It’s ungodly early in the morning when Beidou presents herself in front of your doorstep, announcing that you’ll be joining her and the crew on a special ride. She tugs you along beside her until you reach the harbor, where you are met with the sight of her ship adorned with streamers and banners, varying between shades of pink and red. Onboard, there is a table filled with goodies the crew collected and made, and boy do they look delicious. The group sets out to sea, and you take your place next to the captain, who even lets you steer the boat (momentarily, at least.)

Bennett

He takes you to meet his dads; yes, yes—he knows that it’s not the most romantic thing to do on a day dedicated to lovers, but he figures it’s just as important. Besides, they’ve been asking about you for quite a while—they even set up a small party within the Adventurer’s Guild, with the help of Bennett, of course. You spend the day listening to their old adventuring stories, as well as bits from Bennett’s childhood (poor boy is flustered from all the information his dads are spilling, but he’s still happy either way; after all, he’s with the most important people to him.)

Kaeya

He quite literally kidnaps you; one second you’re walking in the streets of Mondstadt on your way to work when suddenly someone grabs you by the waist and pulls you into an alley way (that sounds so creepy but i swear he means it in a good way). He only chuckles and shields himself with his arms as you punch him lightly, retorting that he scared you. He doesn’t care that the two of you have an overwhelming amount of work to do—after all, Valentine’s Day only comes once a year, right? Surprisingly, he doesn’t take you the tavern, but instead...Dawn Winery! Diluc received quite the surprise when he is met with the two of you standing outside his gates, with Kaeya requesting a wine/grape juice taste-testing. Yeah...you guys didn’t get any of that, but you did manage to snag a couple of grapes on your way out! Good for you!

Venti

You wake up in your bed, opening your eyes to see a very-smiley Venti laying beside you, chin propped up against his hand as he watches you yawn sleepily as you force yourself out of bed. You’re then presented with a handpicked-bouquet of Ceceilias, the freshest of the bunch, if he may add. You barely have time to thank him before he hoists you up in his arms and out of your dwelling, gliding over the city of Mondstadt as he whisks you away to Starsnatch Cliff, where he’s prepared a special performance just for you (and no, you don’t need to pay.)

Xingqiu

While he’s not the most romantic, he does have a clue on what people look for on Valentine’s Day; after all, that’s what cheesy-romance novels were for, right? Unbeknownst to you, he takes you on a date very similar to the one the main characters in his favorite novels partook in—and you don’t find out until you catch him peeking into the pages while you weren’t (you were) looking. Again, it’s the thought that counts—

doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Jean

Sadly, she probably forgets about the holiday. She’s too busy holed-up in her office to notice the couples gathered up in the courtyard, sharing moments with their lover. It’s not until she walks out to take a breather that she notices the commotion—she immediately calls you over, apologizing frantically. Of course, to this you respond that’s it’s okay, but that you would much rather her take the rest of the day off to spend time together, to which she reluctantly agrees.

Xiao

“I do not have time to celebrate silly human traditions like that.” He would say as you bound up to him, exclaiming that it’s Valentine’s Day, the day where you can give sweets to your loved ones, and asking if he had someone special in mind to spend it with. He’s irked when your gaze falters and the grip on the object you’re hiding behind your back tightens—he only grows more irked as you mutter to yourself how you’ll give the chocolates you made to someone else. He scoffs loudly, avoiding your gaze as he lays out his hand in front of you to accept the chocolates (just because he doesn’t celebrate the holiday doesn’t mean he can’t get jealous!)

#anemo-writes #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact imagines #THE WAY THIS IS A DAY LATE #can you tell that i’ve never written for zhongli before :’)#bennett’s is my favorite i almost cried while writing it because it was so wholesome #diluc x reader #Childe x reader #zhongli x reader #chongyun x reader #razor x reader

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inawickedlittletown · 3 years

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Queerbaiting and Buddie

(word count: 1,900)

I keep saying that I don’t want to spend any more time on 9-1-1 meta or fic, but the events of this weekend made me open up a document where I had some unfinished meta and in light of the S4 finale airing tonight, I thought I might at least write this:

“Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation. They do so to attract a queer or straight ally audience with the suggestion of relationships or characters that appeal to them, while at the same time attempting to avoid alienating other consumers.”

That is how Wikipedia defines queerbaiting. And I really feel like everyone needs to read that and then read it again and realize that what is happening on 9-1-1 with Buddie is NOT queerbaiting.

I don’t want to go into the long history of queerbaiting because we would be here all day and anyone that wants to do some research should go and do so. There are a lot of resources out there. Use them.

But the short of it is this: queerbaiting has a lot more to do with the way a show is promoted, with the way that anyone involved in the show talks about a queer ship, and with the show deliberately scripting scenes that hint at a relationship without any intention of following through. Expectations and wanting a queer ship to go canon and those expectations not being met do not alone equate to it being queerbaiting.

For any of us that have been around a long time there are a lot of perfect examples and if you compare Buddie to any of them, they are very different. I’ll name a few:

Merlin/Arthur

John Watson/Sherlock

Emma Swan/Regina

Derek/Stiles

Castiel/Dean Winchester (though they did go canon...barely)

Lena/Kara

Buck and Eddie do not fit into that list. Which isn’t to say that someday they could belong there, but I just do not believe that they will even if Buddie never becomes canon. And this all lies in how Buddie as a ship has been treated both on screen and off. I’ll break it down by season.

S2:

Eddie is very clearly introduced as a new character, a straight Army veteran with a disabled kid and family drama. He and Buck have immediate chemistry. We can’t deny that, or deny that from that first episode there are immediate sparks. Unintended sparks, but sparks nevertheless. And it is easy to tell that no one on the production team expected that and the story reflects that.

Yes a foundation for their friendship is formed and yet the season long story focuses on Eddie’s relationship with his estranged wife and Buck is dealing with his own growth after being left by Abby. Their friendship shines and their scenes are great but none of them suggest romance and there are actually a lot of episodes where Buck and Eddie barely interact in S2 aside from in the background or for small work related moments (this mostly happens after Shannon returns).

S2 does give us the first acknowledgement from the powers that be aka Tim Minear that they know what the fans have seen. This is why the elf scene exists, but it exists in a space where it’s a nod to the fans and not meant to do much more than that. The other moment is during the call with the livestreamer. But S2, places them completely and without question on a strong friendship.

S3:

We see a lot more conflict for Buck and Eddie in this season and we see how close and important they are to each other. Those are the two main things. That can be read as friendship easily and it’s a season where both Buck and Eddie deal with their pasts and in one way or another start to get closure while their friendship remains intact.

Yes there are some scenes that make us squint and go huh, wtf? (I’m looking at you kitchen scene), but narratively we also know that neither of these boys is ready for a real relationship with anyone, let alone each other. But we can bask in how close they are as well as how Christopher fits in into all of it.

But in S3 we are also introduced to Ana and we see the return of Abby. We also get to see that Buck and Eddie have become closer than ever and that the lawsuit only serves to highlight the importance that they both feel about having the other available to them. I’ll also quickly mention that Eddie Begins worked hard to highlight Buck’s devotion to Eddie.

S4:

Without considering the events of the finale (I am avoiding spoilers and know nothing about it or the speculation), we’ve seen Buck and Eddie both grow and get further closure on their past. This season has paralleled them well and their friendship has not faltered, they’re as close as ever.

The beginning of the season was heavily focused on Buck and we saw him grow as a person and begin to work on himself in a healthy way and we’ve seen Eddie be supportive of that.

We also have Ana to consider and her relationship with Eddie as well as the return of Taylor and yet the appearance of these women has not changed the Buck and Eddie dynamic. And I find it fascinating that Eddie beginning to date Ana, is the thing that prompted Buck to start dating. The parallels are all over the place but it is the strength of the friendship and the way they care so deeply about each other that remains whether that becomes romantic is still to be seen, but it could still go either way.

Off-screen by the end of S2, Tim Minear had already addressed Buddie by throwing in that elf scene in a wink/nudge fashion that said “I see you” and in the scene with the girl with the livestream with the comments. During S3 he tweeted about being frustrated by the fans demanding and being hostile and thinking that that would make him more likely to do what they want (I’m paraphrasing what I remember seeing). Tim has never once said that Buddie will happen or shut the door on the ship entirely, but he did say he did not want to engage in conversation about it because he doesn’t want to get into arguments with fans.

Oliver has always been enthusiastic about Buddie and has even said that he would be perfectly fine with it happening both a while ago and more recently in promo for S4. Conscious of queerbaiting and not wanting to give fans false hope, he has specifically said that he does not know if it will or won’t happen and that he wouldn’t speak on that as he’s not the one making that decision. His support for it happening does not mean he has any sway one way or the other. He’s said this a few times and even wrote a letter to the effect to make it clear to fans that the last thing he wants is to disappoint someone due to something he’s said.

All in all, it just isn’t a constructive environment for anyone working on the show to interact with fans on this topic because any time that they do, they get attacked by overly enthusiastic buddie shippers that in many ways are making everything worse.

In all of the interviews from Tim that I’ve seen, he has always been very quick to hint at what was coming up on the show in a way that at times has been misleading on purpose. The number one thing that comes to mind is early in S4 where Buck was said to get a new woman in his life. Tim absolutely made it out to seem like it was a girlfriend while knowing fully well that it was a therapist. This is an excellent example of what promoting and hinting is actually like. No one from this show has done that in regards to Buddie.

No one has gone out of their way to hint that it may happen in a way that excites the fans. And this is one of my main reasons for knowing that Buddie is not a queerbait. At no point in the life of the show so far has anyone used Buddie in a promotional way to bring in viewers. Because THAT was the whole point of queerbaiting in the past.

It was a way that some showrunners found to bring in a lot of viewers when they needed to up their numbers in order to show networks they were worth keeping around. Someone figured out that LGBTQ people wanted to see themselves represented so much so that they would tune in to anything that promised an LGBTQ character in some fashion. It was a tactic that worked well in the landscape of tv where there was so little LGBTQ content on mainstream media that anyone wanting it would latch onto anything. And then they just wouldn’t deliver on those relationships or characters. In 2021, that is not the world we live in any longer.

In today’s tv landscape there is so much to watch and so much to pick from and diversity has grown, it is celebrated. Queer characters are well represented as are queer relationships and queer stories. The times are different. A while back I was listening to a podcast (Bait: a queerbaiting podcast) and something I found interesting was how the hosts both agreed that in today’s tv landscape there is no more real queerbait and that we won’t easily find anything like the ships I mentioned above. I think I agree more with this than I expected to, because I do think that it exists in some spaces, but it definitely isn’t what it used to be. This is a good thing.

Specific to 9-1-1, this is a show that has that diversity and that isn’t afraid of tackling that diversity and giving us interesting and nuanced perspectives and stories embracing that. We have characters of color, women in positions of power, a F/F relationship, two multi-racial relationships, a disabled character, other queer characters including a M/M relationship. There is so much in this show that embraces diversity and that embraces the reality of what the world looks like. To call it queerbait is to disrespect everything else that this show is and has done and the hard storylines that have been tackled that we would not have seen on tv ten years ago.

And I get that Buddie would be another breakthrough. It would be a novel way to tell a queer story, and it would be amazing if it were to happen. The set up is there, but it isn’t fully realized, and Buck and Eddie can still be read as just friends if we take off the shipping goggles. But it also isn’t queerbait or likely to become queerbait and people have to stop calling it that.

What Buddie resembles is one of the many unintended slow burn ships that have frustrated viewers in many forms across fandoms and we just have to go along for the ride and maybe it will happen. Or maybe it won’t. But if we know anything about relationships on tv, it is that a lot of the fun comes from the journey, even if the destination is good too.

#911 fox #buddie #911 meta #911 on fox #buddie meta #buddie is not queerbaiting #long post #this is almost 2k long

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thebiscuiteternal · 3 years

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“Paper Scraps”

Post-Canon, Angst, Hurt/Comfort...ish?, Reconciliation, Discussion of Suicidal Ideation, Ghosts, Implied Sangyu, Mo Xuanyu Gets To Be Mourned, Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang Are Going Through It

Series Link on Ao3

__________

"To what do I owe the surprise visit?'' Nie Huaisang asks, and his voice is so devoid of emotion that Wei Wuxian has to bite back a shudder, suddenly very much aware that he is treading in completely new and potentially dangerous territory.

Nie-xiong is as dead as his beloved elder brother, and the Headshaker was nothing more than a mask. All that's left now is Nie-zongzhu, whom he knows nothing about and threatened the last time they actually spoke to each other in person.

Still, he sucks up his nerve and plasters on one of his usual careless smiles. "We need to talk, you and I. Just you and I."

"Wei Ying-"

He holds up a hand to cut off Lan Zhan's protest. "How about it?"

"And what, exactly, do you think there is for us to discuss, Wei-xiansheng? Have I not been behaving well enough for your liking?"

Ouch.

"Okay, I deserved that," Wei Wuxian says as he waves off his defensive husband and friend a second time, suddenly wishing he'd just snuck out and come alone.

Then again, that probably wouldn't have gone well either, judging by the wary looks he keeps getting from the handful of Nie disciples who linger defensively near their sect leader.

Okay... okay. No more trying to joke around. He takes a deep breath and lets it out, then straightens his back. "I'm here about Mo Xuanyu."

Nie Huaisang’s face betrays nothing, but the fan in his hand snaps shut with enough force that it's audible throughout the room. “Everyone, please escort our other two guests to the main gardens so that we may speak privately.”

“Zongzhu-” one massive bear of a man starts to protest.

At the same time Lan Zhan moves in front of Wei Wuxian to growl “We are not going anywhere,” and the tension in the room ratchets sharply to hair-on-end levels as the situation threatens to turn into a standoff.

Wei Wuxian pinches the bridge of his nose to stave off a building headache, then reaches out in an attempt to tug his husband back. “Lan Zhan. I’m the one who requested a one-on-one meeting, remember? Literally just now?”

“He cannot be truste-”

“Wei-gongzi, he might-”

“Enough,” Nie Huaisang snaps, the unexpected whip-crack of his voice making them all, a few disciples included, jump. “Let me remind all three of you that you came here and none of you are required to stay. In fact, today would be much improved if you didn’t.”

“Lan Zhan.” Wei Wuxian hisses.

Lan Zhan doesn’t budge, hand still tight on the hilt of Bichen. “If you harm Wei Ying-”

“Yes, yes, you and the Ghost General will cut me open and hang me with my own entrails just to start with,” Nie Huaisang replies irritably, giving a dismissive wave of the closed fan. “I’m well aware.”

Judging by the startled and utterly appalled looks that cross Lan Zhan and Wen Ning’s faces, that had decidedly not been on the list of options of what they might potentially do. But the descriptive suggestion does work to knock them off guard, and Wei Wuxian bites his tongue hard to keep his expression neutral as the two of them are herded out without any more fuss after Nie Huaisang makes a short gesture to his disciples. “You did that on purpose.”

Nie Huaisang turns without responding to the jibe at all and walks off towards another door.

Ouch again.

He trots after the other man and falls into step beside him as they enter a hallway that’s clearly not for public use. Part of him wants to ask where they’re going, if just to break the uncomfortable silence, but he keeps his mouth shut.

They finally stop at a door that, when Nie Huaisang slides it open, leads to a tiny garden so deep in the sect's keep that the back wall of it is cut into the mountain itself.

And in that little carved out cave, shielded from wind and rain and snow, sits a funeral tablet on a table shrine.

Wei Wuxian involuntarily sucks a sharp breath through his teeth at the sight of it, his hand coming up to clutch at his chest. Guilt wells up hot and stinging and bitter in his stomach, then higher into his throat. Dizzy, he sways on his feet and is only vaguely aware of the hands that catch him.

Once his resurrection had been revealed, everyone simply accepted him as “Wei Wuxian”, not “Wei-Wuxian-In-Mo-Xuanyu’s-Body”, seemingly having just... forgotten that the face he has now once belonged to someone else. He had grown so settled into this body that until the dreams had begun, he had barely given Mo Xuanyu a second thought.

But right at this moment, staring at the name carved into that tablet, held up by the one person left who had remembered- had loved the original owner of this body enough to memorialize him, he has never felt more like an invader in it.

His vision, gone fuzzy from the sickening torrent of emotion, slowly begins to come back into focus and, for just a moment, he is staring through Mo Xuanyu’s eyes into the worried expression of Nie-xiong before the lingering memory clears to the more neutral face of Nie-zongzhu.

He is on the ground, his head in the man’s lap, and the sudden urge to cry hits him hard. “Do you hate me?” he asks without meaning to, voice coming out plaintive and half-strangled by his effort to hold back the tears.

“You were the one who decided there was nothing left between us worth salvaging.”

“I did. And it was stupid. But that’s not what I mean, and you know it. Do you hate me for having this face?”

There is a pause, then a quiet sigh. “No, I don’t.”

“Why?”

“If it wasn’t you, it would be someone else. Or something else. Yu-er was…”

Nie Huaisang turns his head away, expression softening into a complicated mix sadness and pain, and Wei Wuxian finds himself thinking that while ‘his’ Nie-xiong might be dead, Mo Xuanyu’s Nie-xiong might still exist somewhere deep under the protective layers of Nie-zongzhu.

He swallows hard, then makes himself sit up and looks again at the tablet and its small offerings.

“Determined,” he says quietly, finishing the sentence. A tiny wet laugh bubbles out of his throat. “I thought… I really did believe that you had forced him into it,” he continues, and in the edge of his vision, he sees Nie Huaisang flinch at the accusation. “But no. No. He... really was determined to see it out to the end.”

“How do you-”

“Ah.” He scratches his cheek, then scoots to face the other man. “That’s actually the reason I needed to talk to you. I’ve been seeing- fuck, dreaming his memories, I guess… though they were more like nightmares, considering what was in them-”

“Wait,” Nie Huaisang says, holding up a hand. “When did this start?”

“Mmh. Just a little over ten months ago, I think? Or maybe closer to eleven. The first one was of your visit right after his mother died.”

Nie Huaisang goes slightly pale at that, though whether it’s from the admission of the length of time or the contents of the memory, Wei Wuxian can’t tell.

He gets an answer when Nie Huaisang gets up and rushes to the table, returning with something carefully cradled in his hands.

It’s a spirit pouch.

His hands are shaking as he holds them out to accept the tiny burden, and he’s vaguely aware that he’s gaping like a fish. “Huaisang…” he chokes out when he finally manages to find his voice again, but that’s as far as he gets.

“I… have studied a lot of ways of finding and contacting the dead,” Nie Huaisang says, and Wei Wuxian nods along numbly because that makes a ridiculous amount of sense, given the circumstances. “I know what the ritual notes said, but seeing that there was still something left of Da-ge after everything that had been done to him…”

He reaches out and touches the pouch and Wei Wuxian finds himself thinking of a gentle hand ruffling his (but not his) hair.

“I’m just sorry it took me two years to get up the nerve to go looking.”

But you went, Wei Wuxian thinks. You went.

He’d never even considered it. It had never crossed his mind at all.

“Eleven months ago, right?” he asks, voice still a little squeaky.

“Mm-hmm. I should have written to you about this long before now, but it seemed like every time I’d prepared myself to send the letter, something would happen that would remind me that… well.”

That we’re not friends anymore.

That you want nothing to do with me.

Wei Wuxian closes his eyes and rests his hands in his lap, still holding the pouch as if it’s made of porcelain instead of cloth. “I probably wouldn’t have read it,” he confesses quietly. “Or I would have, but I wouldn’t have believed you. I would have thought it was a ruse, a setup-” A tiny, wounded laugh escapes his mouth and he tilts his head back to stare up at the sky. “Maybe that’s why I started having the dreams. His way of telling me I’m an idiot.”

“A little drastic on his part if it was.”

“Can’t say it wasn’t necessary.” The pouch gives a jangling, discordant little hum when he pets it, the fracturing of the soul within vastly different from what he’d felt from Xiao Xingchen. The pieces feel smaller and fewer, yet heavier. “Oh,” he murmurs when he realizes why.

“Oh?”

“The array was designed to consume the resentment of the caster based on negative memories of the person or persons they wanted to curse. That’s why the memories of you and the flashes of his mother were so vivid when the rest of them weren’t. That’s why you were able to find these pieces. He really did see you two as the only bright spots in his life, so those memories were spared.”

Nie Huaisang makes a choked noise in the back of his throat, and when Wei Wuxian turns his head, the other man is looking away in a clear attempt to hide his expression. “He was wrong.”

“A year ago, I would have agreed,” Wei Wuxian mumbles. “After everything he showed me, though… I don’t think he was. I get it.”

He takes a deep breath. He has never talked about this, not with Lan Zhan, not with Wen Ning, and certainly not with Jiang Cheng, even if they are taking tentative baby steps towards being less awkward around each other. He’s not sure he should be talking about it with Nie Huaisang either, but-

“I know what it’s like, just wanting everything to end. Deciding the whole world can go to hell. Maybe I didn’t intend for the backlash from breaking the seal to kill me, but I sure didn’t fucking care what it would do to me one way or another. Nothing and nobody could have saved me by that point. You couldn’t have saved him even if you’d dragged him home with you like Lan Zhan wanted to do to me.”

“Wei Wuxian-”

He ignores the little flutter in his chest that they’ve at least moved back to an address that feels less precarious than the icy ‘Wei-xiansheng’. “Let me finish, okay?”

“Okay.”

“So... So... Ah, fuck,” he mutters, gently shifting the pouch so he can scratch the back of his neck, trying to catch the lost trail of thought. “You know… I never questioned the clothing I woke up in when I was resurrected. As brutal and nasty as the Mo family were and as disgusting as that little shack was, it should have come off as weird that I was wearing such nice robes.”

There is a quiet sniffle, and Wei Wuxian pretends not to see Nie Huaisang wipe wet eyes with the edge of a sleeve as he continues talking. “He appreciated those. Appreciated that you tried to take care of him.”

He raises the pouch to eye level, and it gives another little crackly hum. “And clearly he still appreciates your efforts, considering his method of dragging me here to make me apologize for thinking the worst of your relationship. So, I’m sorry for that.”

Nie Huaisang gives a watery little chuckle and swipes at his eyes again. “Accepted. Is he… Is he alright? I only know how to contact souls, I don’t know anything about tending to them.”

“Honestly… I’m not sure what can be done,” Wei Wuxian admits as he begins another examination. “There’s really so little of him left, I don’t know what will happen if a purification ritual is attempted. He seems to be more stable as he is than Xiao Xingchen was, but there’s no guarantee he’ll stay like that. Still, I owe it to him to find some way to help him out, so I’ll do what I can.”

“If it would be easier for you to take him back to the Cloud Recesses for study, then… then you should,” Nie Huaisang says, and Wei Wuxian is a little bit impressed that he was able to make the offer despite how much it must have hurt.

“I think he’d be much happier staying here,” he says, then tentatively adds, “But that would mean visits, plural, and while I’m definitely going to have a very long talk with them about all this, I doubt I’ll be able to come without either Lan Zhan or Wen Ning… probably both at first.”

Nie Huaisang rubs his temples with his fingertips, his expression cycling through a complicated series of emotions too quickly for Wei Wuxian to follow, then he sighs. “We’ll figure something out,” he says as he reaches out and takes back the pouch.

Wei Wuxian can’t help smiling at the tender way he cradles it against his chest as he gets up to approach the funeral tablet and put it back in place. “Yeah. We’ll figure something out.”

#mdzs #wei wuxian #nie huaisang #mo xuanyu #not tagging the cameos #sangyu #fanfic

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perlukafarinn · 3 years

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(ao3)

The day starts out pretty unremarkable. Dean wakes up at the crack of dawn to Cas slipping out of bed for his morning jog. He pulls him down for a good-morning kiss that turns into a make-out session that turns into them trading lazy handjobs and then falling asleep in each other’s arms again.

Their actual start to the day is around ten AM, when Cas finally gets up for his jog and Dean gets up for his cereal and a scroll through the morning news. He’s on the look for hunts, mostly out of habit since there’s been very little monster activity since Chuck went and fucked off for good. He doesn’t find anything this morning but that’s hardly a surprise. It’s been a couple of weeks since they’ve been out on a hunt and that inactivity, weirdly enough, is starting to bother him less and less.

Cas comes back from his jog about an hour before noon and with the mildest of prodding convinces Dean to join him in the shower. Afterwards, they throw together a lunch made from yesterday’s leftovers, taking their time eating and playing footsie under the table, because that’s apparently the kind of couple they are.

Usually by this time of day, Cas would be off in the Men of Letters’ library working on translations or cataloging and Dean would be on the phone helping Garth help out young, out-of-their depth hunters or in the garage, working on one of the beautiful but sadly neglected vehicles left behind there decades ago.

Today, both of them are seemingly feeling kind of lazy and so hardly any work gets done. It’s not until late in the afternoon that Dean feels the urge to do something productive and suggests they go out for groceries, which Cas readily agrees to.

The ride into town is quiet. Cas plays his mixtape - the damn thing should be worn out by now and Dean should long since be sick of it but for reasons too sappy to mention he isn’t - and they sit and listen in comfortable silence. It’s not until they pass the town hall on their way to the supermarket that Cas gets a contemplative look on his face.

“Should we get married?”

Only years of experience behind the wheel prevent Dean’s hands from twitching wildly and veering them into oncoming traffic.

“What.”

Cas looks over, frowning. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Is there any reason for us not to get married? We’re already planning on staying together for the rest of our lives.”

“Is there any reason-” Dean wheezes. “What the fuck, Cas? Is this your idea of a proposal?”

“Are you saying no?” Cas asks, mildly curious, as if they’re talking about the fucking weather and not getting married. “Because we don’t have to.”

Dean stares ahead, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “Are you actually asking?”

“I suppose I am.”

“You ‘suppose’,” Dean mocks. “Gee, Cas, that’s real romantic.”

“Will you marry me?”

Dean pulls over. It’s far too sudden, probably leaving tire tracks in the concrete, and the driver behind them honks his horn loudly as he passes. Dean ignores him, taking a deep breath as he finally turns to face Cas.

“Are you sure?”

He doesn’t really have to ask - Cas wouldn’t have brought it up if he wasn’t sure - but he needs to hear it.

Thankfully, Cas seems to get that. “I want to marry you, Dean. Do you want to marry me?”

“Son of a bitch,” Dean breathes. “I mean - yes. Yeah, I do.”

Cas nods decisively. “Alright then. Now?”

“Now?”

It’s not exactly how Dean imagined this scenario would go (not that he - shut up) but it’s somehow the most romantic fucking thing that’s ever happened to him since Cas first told him he loved him. And hey, this time no one had to die!

They turn around, since there’s no point in going in without (forged) birth certificates. Once they get to the town hall, shortly before closing, they find out that it’s a three-day mandatory waiting period between applying for a marriage license and them actually being allowed to get married.

Cas suggests they use the interim time to pick up wedding rings. They wind up spending the next day driving to Topeka, where they find a couple of silver rings in a pawn shop. They’re tarnished but otherwise in good condition and once they get home, Dean spends the rest of the evening cleaning them while trying very hard not to think about just what they’re for.

The second day, Cas spends out back tending to his garden while Dean almost dials Sam’s number repeatedly before hanging up, torn between wanting to let his brother know that he’s getting married and not wanting to jinx it.

The third day, they head back into town. They arrive at the town hall just after it opens and it’s not until they’re standing in front of the clerk that Dean realizes they don’t have any witnesses. The clerk assures him that they don’t need one for civil ceremonies and the next ten minutes pass in a blur until Dean is being prompted to place the ring on Cas’ finger.

He does so with shaking hands, stilled only once Cas places one of his own on top and gives Dean a patient smile. He’s this calm for a reason, Dean finally realizes.

This doesn’t change anything.

Married or not, they’ve already promised themselves to each other for the rest of their lives. Til death do them part doesn’t even begin to describe it, and in sickness and in health is almost laughable at this point.

This really doesn’t change anything.

Dean’s own hand is still as Cas takes his turn, sliding the silver ring upon Dean’s finger. They say their “I do”s when prompted by the clerk, exchange a short, firm kiss, and just like that it’s over.

They’re married.

When Jody invites them to dinner about a week later, they still haven’t told anyone. Sam and Eileen will be there as well as Jack and the girls - it’s a regular family reunion and the perfect chance to announce the big news to everyone.

Dean has a better idea.

“Let’s not tell anyone,” he says. “At least, not before dessert. Let’s see if they notice first.”

They’re in the Impala, about half an hour away from Jody’s place.

Cas shoots him an amused look. “Is this because Sam claimed he always knew we’d get together when we first told him we were involved?”

“No,” Dean lies. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel, seeing Cas still giving him that look from the corner of his eye. “Fine, yes. But he didn’t know, for the record. He just likes to pretend he’s always on top of this shit.”

“He doesn’t like to admit when you’ve surprised him,” Cas agrees.

The conversation ends there but Dean’s plan is apparently agreed upon since once they arrive at Jody’s, Cas doesn’t say a word about their recent relationship upgrade. Jody doesn’t seem to notice anything different, but then Dean didn’t expect her to. She’s not the one they spend most of their time around. Neither do Donna, Alex, Claire or Kaia, none of them surprises. Patience, Dean is less sure about, but she at least doesn’t say anything. Her eyes do linger unusually long but that could mean anything.

Damn psychics.

Sam and Eileen arrive half an hour after Dean and Cas, Jack in tow. This is the real test; Sam and Dean may not spend as much time together in the past few months as they did in the years before but he’s still the person who knows Dean best and would be the most likely to notice a difference.

And yet, nothing.

Dean tries not to feel too smug.

They go through dinner without anyone mentioning it. Dean makes a point of reaching across the table as many times as he can, showing off the ring glinting on his finger. Cas must notice him doing it, judging by the fond exasperation on his face, but he’s the only one.

It isn’t until dessert that Patience breaks, patience (hah) clearly run out:

“Is no one going to mention that Dean and Castiel are wearing wedding rings?”

And all hell breaks loose.

Sam is wounded - mostly over Dean and Cas not telling him before they got married, though Dean can tell some part of it is his pride at not seeing this coming - but he’s over it soon enough, once they explain that it wasn’t a big deal, not some proper ceremony, just a quick affirmation of what they already knew.

“See if I make you Best Man at my wedding after this, jerk,” Sam tells Dean.

“Your wedding?” Eileen asks pointedly.

Jody and Donna offer their congratulations before the conversation can get awkward, and Kaia, Alex, and Patience chime in with theirs as well. Jack looks confused at the whole proceeding, finally asking whether this means there won’t be any bouquet to catch, which only means Dean has gravely failed him in his pop culture education (oh, who’s he kidding, as if half the romcoms Jack has watched didn’t come directly from the recommended tab on Dean’s Netflix account).

Finally, with a pointed elbow from Kaia and a hangdog expression from Cas, Claire mumbles that she’s happy for them. While Dean doesn’t doubt that’s true he also knows that this is more complicated for her than the rest of them, and for the first time he kind of feels guilty about springing this news on everyone.

It doesn’t last long, not after Donna cheerfully raises her glass and proposes a toast to the happy couple and everyone else follows suit. They chant for them to kiss and, blushing outrageously, Dean complies, leaning over to press a quick kiss against Cas’ lips.

“So, who proposed?” Sam asks once the hooting and hollering has calmed.

“Cas did,” Dean says, slinging an arm around his husband’s - his husband’s - shoulders. “And it was the least romantic proposal of all time, you should’ve heard him.”

Cas rolls his eyes. “If I had left it up to you, we never would have gotten married.”

“He didn’t even give me time to pick out flowers,” Dean informs Sam gravely.

“There’s always the vow renewal,” Cas says, the casual statement managing to sound like a threat, and Dean shuts up.

The conversation moves on, the mood noticeably cheerier. As Jack and Sam launch into a story of their most recent hunt, Dean leans against Cas.

“We could have flowers, if you want,” he mutters.

Cas smiles at him, so bright and easy that it makes Dean’s heart stutter. He takes Dean’s hand, rubbing his thumb over the cool silver of Dean’s ring.

“That’s not necessary,” he says. “I’ve got everything I want right here.”

#deancas #destiel #spn fanfic #perlukafarinn writes #fluff #domestic #post-canon #established relationship #thank u to miriam who read through most of this #and assured me that it's plenty gay!

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sabraeal · 3 years

Note

Consider: Obi is green-red color blind

A Color by Any Other Name

Written for @aeroplaneblues for a surprise birthday gift! Many months ago she mentioned wanted to see a colorblind Obi, and I said, WELL WHAT A GOOD EXCUSE TO WRITE THIS PROMPT JOANNA GAVE ME. I hope your birthday is a good one, filled with a lot more nice surprises!

“Are you ever going to introduce me to your guard friends?” Suzu asks around a mouthful of dumpling. “Or are you embarrassed?”

To say Obi is unprepared, would be an understatement; there’s a pork bun lodged between his teeth, his gloves not only coated in pig grease but also far less effective against steam than he’d thought they’d be back when he’d just grabbed a plump little blob off the stall. He’d laughed off Suzu’s concerns about protective equipment; after all, if smiths use leather gloves, they’ve got to be just as good as an oven mitt.

They aren’t. Not to mention the roof of his mouth starting to have a real good think about peeling off and having a vacation. Maybe even with someone who doesn’t eat entire dumplings straight from the basket.

“Wha?” he manages eloquently, nearly drooling spicy meat drippings onto the street.

“I know I’m not cool like they are,” Suzu continues, warming to his new thesis. If his sudden flush of confidence is any measure, he’s spent more of time composing his arguments for this than Obi’s ever seen him work on his actual defense. “And I’m no good with a sword. Or fists. Or really any implement that isn’t a scalpel, and any opponent that isn’t already anesthetized. But I am very smart.”

There’s a thoughtful pause before Suzu adds, “Some people do enjoy that, you know.”

What Obi knows is that this kid tried this conversation on for size in front of Yuzuri, and she didn’t even bother to warn him as a courtesy. See if he buys her any more meat-on-sticks when she’s ‘left her purse in the lab’ now.

“That’s not--” he takes a hurried minute to swallow-- “not what’s happening. I didn’t...”

Even know you knew I didn’t work for the pharmacy. His teeth clamp shut around that winner, and its friend, I didn’t think you lot would want to hang out with a bunch of men without degrees. Not only would that encourage Suzu to make a scene right here, right now, but if it got back to Jirou-- well, if he thought Suzu could turn any day into a disaster, the lieutenant would make that seem like a vacation.

“I didn’t think you wanted to,” he settles on instead. Similar enough in feel, if...creatively edited. “You scholar types tend to flock together.”

“Well, sure,” Suzu murmurs, stymied, “but we’re friends too, aren’t we? If all my friends are your friends, then all your friends should be my friends.”

Only an academic could talk about arithmetic with that amount of confidence, especially the kind that involved transitive properties and letters, and all sorts of things that made Obi’s head spin.

“Well,” he hums, one boot scratching his calf. “You would know.”

Suzu whirls on him, staring down his long fox-snout of a nose. “You mean it? You’ll really...?”

“Sure. If that’s what you want.” He twitches his shoulders, more casual than he feels. “It’s fine if it’s you.”

There’s always been a lazy lilt to Suzu’s eyes, but it disappears now, all the sleepiness gone to surprise. “Me? You wouldn’t want to bring anyone else?”

“Well, definitely not Kazaha.” The glares he’d get bringing that twiggy pedant into the guardhouse might be enough to drop him dead on the spot. “And Yuzuri would be too popular.”

Suzu grimaces. “The number of admirers she’d get from a wink alone...she’d be unlivable.”

He can see it now, her ponytail bobbing with a buoyant glee, giggling through every painstaking penned line from her fan club-- “Think of all the bad poetry.”

“Honestly, that might make it worth it. At least I’ll feel better about not knowing the difference between a quartet and a quatrain.” Suzu takes a thoughtful bite of him bun. “And you couldn’t bring Shirayuki, of course.”

“Right.” Not a one of them could be trusted to keep their lips sealed; she’d hardly have to take a breath and someone would call her Obi’s lady, or ask how they met, or whether she’s still Mistress behind closed doors--

But Suzu wouldn’t know any of that. “Wait, why?”

“Well...” He has the grace to look chagrined about it, whatever it is. “You know. Her hair...?”

“Oh.” Obi shrugs. “Sure, I guess.”

“You guess?” Suzu stares. “Shirayuki has a non-zero amount of stories about being kidnapped for looking like a candied apple, and you guess there might be a fuss about bringing her ‘round to the guardhouse?”

“Well, none of you acted weird about it,” he snips, hiding his annoyance behind a bite of dumpling. “There’s no reason they will.”

“Of course no one at Lilias acted weird, Obi!” he squawks, arms flailing as he talks. “You couldn’t pay them to look at anything but their own project. But when a bunch of normal men with eyes and, uh, other working appendages see a cute girl with red hair and a soft voice, they’re gonna go crazy!”

His palm hooks around his shoulder, thumb digging into the hard knot at his collarbone. “Aw, come on. It’s not that special.”

“Not that--?” Suzu whips around, eyes round as dumplings. “Obi, she’s the only person I’ve ever seen with red hair.”

“You don’t get out much,” Obi deadpans. “No offense.”

“That’s not--” Suzu grunts, throwing up his hands-- “She’s the only person anyone’s ever seen with red hair!”

“Her dad’s is kind of red.” That observation wins him an unimpressed look, one that says you’re missing the point. “And Yuzuri had blue hair when I met her. That’s way more interesting--”

“It was dyed!” Suzu wobbles over to a wall, sitting with his head in his hands. “Shirayuki has a hair color so rare that the birth records in Clarines haven’t noted it in more than fifty years! And you think Yuzuri dying her hair with woad is more impressive.”

“Well, even her natural color is brighter than Miss’s. Not--” he waves a hand between them, quelling-- “that Miss’s hair isn’t nice enough. But I’d think that people would pay more attention to that.”

“...Brighter?” Suzu murmurs after a long moment, stilted. “Obi, could you tell me what color that sign is, right over there?”

“The one for the tea shop?” He wrinkles his nose. “Why--?”

“Just...indulge me for a moment.”

“All right.” He squints up at the moon cresting over a wolf’s head. “Blue.”

“Right, and, um, that coat over there.”

“Yellow.”

“Right.” Suzu’s voice is tight, stressed. “And what I’m wearing?”

Obi squints. This one’s a little harder, but he’s confident when he says, “Green.”

“Ah, right.” Suzu stands, a unsteady on his feet. “That would explain that, then.”

Obi blinks. “Explain what?”

“Obi,” Suzu begins, with all the gravitas of both a grim prognosis and a terrible joke. “You can’t see colors.”

It’s not the first time Obi’s played hound to his prey’s fox, but there’s something distinctly unsettling about it being Suzu that leaves him lagging behind, unsure of himself. Especially with the way he scurries through the concourse, bounding toward the mess hall with this idea caught between his teeth like chicken feathers.

“I can see colors just fine,” Obi informs him with far less confidence than he’d like. “Some of them are just hard to tell apart. Weren’t you and Yuzuri arguing yesterday about whether salmon is orange or pink?”

Suzu waves a hand at him, dismissive. “That’s different. Salmon’s both orange and pink, and what color it looks most like has to do with the composition of your eye-- and it’s pink by the way, with orange undertones--”

Between the two of them, Obi knows who he’d trust to know their colors. “Uh-huh.”

“You can’t make out red and green, which is different entirely, and--” the doors to the mess burst open beneath his hands, a noise lost in the din of a hundred scholars trying to share the same table-- “YOU GUYS WON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND.”

The whole of Shidan’s lab-- minus the man himself-- have taken up right by the door, bags and coats piled to save them their places on the bench. Suzu makes short work of the pile on his seat, haphazardly shoving them to the floor as he sits.

Kazaha peers at him and ventures mildly, “A new way to avoid finishing your thesis?”

“No,” Suzu hums between his grit teeth, “but I have found out--”

“I don’t think we need to do this,” Obi murmurs, handing Miss her muffler. “It’s not--”

“Obi,” he intones with far more gravitas than his name has ever strictly deserved, “can’t see colors.”

“Not at all?” Kazaha turns those sharp eyes to him, like he’s a specimen under glass. “Just black and white?”

“I can see just fine,” Obi huffs, tossing Yuzuri her coat before he slides onto the bench, knee knocking into Miss’s in a way that puts his heart through its paces. “Suzu is just making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“Is that so?” he hums with a grin. “Then what color is Shirayuki’s hair?”

He stifles a sigh. It’s best to put all this to bed now, before he’s stuck playing what’s this color for the next two years. “Red.”

“What’s the point of this?” Yuzuri yawns, already bored. Obi shoots her a grateful look, glad that at least one of them isn’t going to play Suzu’s game.

It’s too bad he’s already puffed up with unearned confidence, like an evolutionist at a botany lecture. “And what’s the color of Ryuu’s cloak?”

He knows it by heart-- how could he not, when the two most important people in this city wear matching ones-- but still Obi glances up, anticipating a trick. Ryuu stares back, confused and guileless. “Blue.”

“Great, good.” Suzu’s grin stretches from ear to ear. “Now what color is your scarf?”

Obi’s fingers knot in the fabric, the weft tickling the pads of his fingers. “Well, it’s...sort of reddish, isn’t it?”

This is the wrong answer.

“It makes so much sense,” Yuzuri murmurs in wonder. “You really don’t know how ugly Suzu’s outfits are. That’s why you still hang out with him.”

“Hey!” Suzu pouts. “That’s not very nice.”

“No, that has nothing to do with color, it’s the cut.” Anxiety spikes through him. “But wait, it is red isn’t it? My scarf?”

“No,” Miss murmurs at his side, cheeks flushes. “Obi, it’s...it’s green.”

He stares down at it, trying to imagine what that might look like. “Green.”

“It looks very nice on you!” Her small fingers wrapping in the fur at his elbow. “It’s your color, really.”

“Oh, sure,” he murmurs, faint. “I guess it matches my eyes.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘it has nothing to do with the color?’“ Suzu’s hands fly to his hips, brows drawn tight over the long line of his nose. “My clothes are just fine.”

“They aren’t.” Obi leans in next to him, grin feeling thinner than it should. “But I hang out with you anyway, which means you know we’re really friends.”

Kazaha rubs at his chin, where his ode to Shidan’s goatee is failing to thrive. “You know what this also explains?”

Obi blinks. “What?”

“All the black.”

It’s not Kazaha that says it, oh no. That would be too merciful for a mortifying moment out of his life. Instead it’s low and feminine, and when Miss Kiki leans out from the other side of Miss, it’s like a siren emerging from the depths, teeth bared to tear a man to shreds. “What an interesting thing I’ve learned today.”

“Miss Kiki! How--?” He gulps. “Why--?”

“I came to deliver a message from Wirant,” she drawls, too pleased. “And it seems I’ve earned myself a fine tip.”

“No,” he breathes. “You can’t-- you’re not going to tell Master, are you? Or Sir?”

“Oh,” she hums, looking particularly hungry for manflesh. “I certainly will.”

“Oh, there there.” Miss pats his back, the sensation lost among the dozen layers of clothing between them. “I’m sure Kiki won’t tell them, not until you’re ready! You asked her not to.”

“I think that just means,” Obi mutters, voice muffled by his arms and the wall he’s throwing himself over, “that she’ll just enjoy telling them more.”

“Ah...” He doesn’t need to see her to know her grimace. “Yes, that’s...probably right.”

He lets out a heavy, dramatic sigh. It helps a little. So does a bit of flailing.

“They won’t make a big deal out of it,” Miss says, changing tack. “It hardly changes anything! I’m sure they’ll just forget as soon as she tells them.”

He peeps one eye over his elbow. “That’s easy for you to say, you haven’t spent the last half an hour playing What’s That Color.”

“Well,” she wheedles, “they are scholars.”

Obi groans, loud and long, which doesn’t help; but it echoes out over the rooftops, returning back to him, which does.

“How...?”

Miss hesitates, a gloved finger pressed to her lips. He sighs, already braced for the onslaught-- how didn’t you know? how did you go so long without knowing your colors? how do you find people if you can’t even tell what hair color they have--?

“How did you notice?”

Obi lifts his head, unblinking. “What?”

“How did you notice?” Miss repeats, more firmly this time. “You’ve spent your whole life this way, haven’t you? It must have taken something really special to realize there was more than what you see.”

“Uh.” It’s nice that it’s darker here, that it’s cold. He has perfect legitimate reasons to be flushed. “Well, it was Suzu really. He mentioned that--” his teeth clamp down around his words, not letting them out without a hasty edit-- “that people think your hair’s pretty special, and I said I didn’t get why...”

Miss stiffens beside him, a statue that breathes, and he hastily adds, “Not that you aren’t special, Miss. It’s just, the red...”

“Right.” The words comes out stilted, strange. “You can’t see it. You actually...haven’t ever seen it.”

A silence settles on them like a wool blanket; not one of those nice ones at the castle, or the fleecy ones Miss stockpiles like one day the North might run out of sheep, but the itchy, coarse-woven ones of his childhood. Uncomfortable and smelling faintly of animal.

“So,” he coughs, fixing his gaze out over the city. “What did Kiki want?”

“Oh...” Miss shifts, mouth pulling into a guilty grimace. “She came to tell me that the Queen Dowager has invited me to dinner. Tomorrow night.”

His brows raise. “Well, well.”

“Don’t,” she murmurs, head giving the barest shake. “It’s not like that.”

“Are you sure?” He shouldn’t press, but if he doesn’t, no one else will. “After you told Master--”

“I told him a list of reasons why I thought I would be a better ally as a friend, and not as a...” Miss loses steam, letting her words sigh into the air. “I’d like to believe this has to do with my work with Phostyrias.”

He watches her, careful. “But do you?”

“I don’t know,” she says, which is as good as any no.

Obi’s barely stepped into the Protector’s solar when Master asks, “What color is my jacket?”

His head swivels, delivering a glare so flat carpets would be jealous. Miss Kiki only hums, shoulder lifting in a disinterested shrug. “I said I was going to tell them.”

Fair enough.

“It’s blue,” he deadpans, flopping onto the cushiest divan. He’s too long for it, his boots spilling off one arm a idling over the floor. “Apparently I can see that one just fine.”

According to Miss, at least; she’d unearthed a slip of a book from the university’s library, outlining the limits of his sight. Little Ryuu had pored over it for a day before showing up at his door, flushed faced and nervous.

Garrack always told me I had nice eyes, he’d admitted, lingering at the threshold. I was hoping you could see them.

Cross as he is about the whole thing, Obi can’t regret that. He might not have Miss’s hair, or Suzu’s coat-- thankfully-- but Ryuu’s eyes would always look true to him.

“But not red.” Master’s mouth twitches, far too entertained. “Or green.”

“I do see them,” he protests. “They just...don’t look very different to me.”

Just another shade of yellow and brown, if those books are right. Which they are, since he’d always thought so. Subtly different, like the way Suzu and Yuzuri fought over salmon, or Master and Miss Kiki would dither over chartreuse. Just enough that he’d been able to eke by on keeping his mouth shut and a fondness for black.

Still, there’s nothing worse than finding out something new about yourself this late in the game. Especially when--

“What about the curtains?” Master inquires. “Can you see those?”

--Especially when it’s so endlessly entertaining to everyone else. “I can see them,” he grumbles, sinking further into the cushions. “Just because I can’t see some colors doesn’t mean I’m blind.”

“Then what about the note?”

Obi rolls his gaze to where Sir perches at his desk. “Huh?”

“To our red-haired guest.” Sir coughs, a flush working its way up his neck. “It’s just-- you wrote that.”

“Oh, His Grace told me that one.” A lifetime ago, it seemed. “‘The red-haired girl, you’ll know her when you see her, I’m sure.’“

Master winces. Obi can admit his talent doesn’t lie with impressions, especially ones of dour old men.

“Right,” Sir presses, voice oddly tight. “But you don’t see-- I mean, how could you find a girl that looks just like everyone else?”

“Ah...” He grimaces, scrubbing at the top of his head. “Well, I just looked for the girl who didn’t belong. It--” he hesitates, suddenly aware of Master’s eyes on him-- “didn’t take very long.”

Master’s frown belongs above one of those prie-dieu, to remind penitents that forgiveness isn’t absolute. “What is that supposed to--?”

“So what does she look like?” No one could say that after a decade of dedication, Miss Kiki doesn’t know how to do her job; she deflects Master’s brewing sour mood with the ease of a professional. “What does her hair look like to you?”

“Uh.” He clears his throat, tugging at his collar. “I wasn’t lying when I said I bought my scarf to match...”

There is a stillness to the room that is too much, too pitiful. Much as he hated it, Obi would much rather be a joke than a charity case.

“Huh,” Sir grunts, gaze still fixed to his neck. “Now I wonder what we all look like to you.”

“Well, I sort of wonder what you all look like to yourselves.” Obi let a sigh float wistfully through his lips. “At least I know that me and Miss still have the same eyes.”

There’s silence again, but this one buzzes, filled with words no one dares to say.

“What?” he laughs, nervous, pulling himself upright. “Don’t we?”

Sir grimaces. “Ah, Obi...”

Miss is quiet when they walk the walls home that night, the winter stillness making the silence and heavy as any drift. Her mouth is pursed, not with anything like anger, but something closer to consideration. As if there’s words back there she’s sorting through, trying to compose a thought that just won’t come.

Well, she should know: she won’t get anywhere if she doesn’t air a few of them out to look at. “Something wrong, Miss?”

She blinks, shaken out from wherever she gone away. Her mind palace, maybe. Suzu’d told him about those once, with busts and painting and curtained alcoves. What she’d do with a place like that, he couldn’t imagine, but if anyone asked, he’d put his money on hers having apothecary drawers instead, and gardens too. The kind with half crumbled walls, ivies curled around every stone. Cluttered desks piled high with books, and one of them with curtain drawn to let its owner nap the afternoon away.

“Oh,” she breathes, finally. “No, no. Nothing’s, um, wrong. I was just...thinking.”

He lifts a knowing brow. “So something is wrong.”

“That’s not what I said,” she informs him, primly. “I was going over my meeting with Haruto, and...”

Her lips snap shut around the words, distress narrowing her eyes. “And...?”

“She didn’t know about my work,” Miss huffs, arms wrapping tight around her chest. “Or, she did, but only what Zen had told her. Which...”

Was far less than the whole of it. He’d heard that part of her argument that night, try as he might not to. “So she invited you as Zen’s ally?”

“No.” The word is colder than any he’s ever heard fall from her lips. “That I wouldn’t mind-- I’m still trying to be his ally, after all, and if she saw me as an asset...” She shook her head. “No, she wanted to meet his...paramour, even if she didn’t say as much.”

Obi grimaces.

“And even that wouldn’t be so bad if...” Miss took a deep, steeling breath. “When I came in, after all the curtsies and pleasantries, she said, your hair is just as red as he said it was.” Her knuckles are white where they wrap around her elbows. “All those years, all those letters, and the only thing he thinks to tell his mother is that my hair...”

The rest is lost in a sigh, a cloud of mist swirling off the wall.

“It must really be something,” Obi deadpans, gaze following it off the edge. “Since it makes all these people forget how smart you are.”

She’s watching him; he can feel it as she sidles up to where he stands, hands unclenching from her arms and splaying on the crenellations instead. “Obi, you really can’t...?”

Miss hesitates, falls silent. He lets her; she’s put enough words in the air to sort through, and now all she needs is time. Obi’s happy to give it to her.

Especially since there’s a rabbit down there in the dark. A small one, moving slow, hind legs churning like clockwork winding up. It’s nose digs into the snow, snuffling around, searching--

“Can you really see better?” Miss asks, startling him back to the wall. “In the dark, I mean. That book said you could.”

“Well, after the past couple days, I’m a little shaky on what’s normal.” He jerks his chin over the edge. “Can you see the rabbit down there? Right by that sapling?”

She blinks, pressing in close. “The what? It’s just...dark out there.”

“Well,” he says, grin tight on his lips. “There’s your answer.”

Miss settles back on her heels, one hand already cupping her chin. “It makes sense. Without the distraction of color, your movement tracking must be much more acute...”

Obi only half-manages to stifle a laugh. “Seems like it definitely distracts everyone else.”

Miss goes quiet; almost too quiet, enough to make his teeth sit on edge. The seconds tick by, and Obi might play at patience, but it’s not in his nature. He glances down, just from the corners of his eyes, but Miss is already watching him, eyes strangely shuttered.

“Obi,” she says, so clear his name rings in his ears. “You don’t...? My hair, it’s not...” Her mouth works, quiet, before she manages, “It’s not anything to you?”

Anything special, she means. Because that’s what he said so stupidly last night, nothing special.

She’d tied it up tonight, finagling the strange looping knots that were partial to the queen’s court, but already some of it’s worn loose, slipping from its pins. “It is,” he murmurs. “I like it.”

She huffs, unimpressed. “But you can’t see it, not really.”

“Of course I can see it,” he laughs, weary. “Maybe not the color, but that’s fine. I like it because it’s yours.”

She ducks her head, and Obi might not be good at colors, but he can see her cheeks flush in the lamplight.

“Miss.” Her gaze lifts to his, no longer shuttered, just full. “Can I ask you something?”

Her breath catches. “Anything.”

“Be straight with me,” he pleads. “We do have the same eye color right?”

“Obi!” Miss‘s laughter bubbles bright with betrayal as she hops down the stairs after him. “Obi, please--”

“Let me grieve, Miss,” he grumbles, hands shoved in his pockets. “I’ve been a real champ about the rest, but let me have this.”

“Obi!” She catches him round the wrist, mouth twitching as she turns to him. “Is it really so bad that they’re gold?”

“No,” he mutters sullenly, shoulders slumped enough that with two stairs between them, they’re nearly the same height. “It’s just...”

Her eyes flutter wide with curiosity. “Just...?”

“It’s fine enough that they’re unique.” He spits the word with more venom than it deserves. “I just I wanted this one thing in common.”

“In common?” Miss blinks. “You mean, me and...?”

Obi would lay down his life for his mistress, but even she can’t ask him to do this, to lay down his pride for her to walk on.

“Oh!” She flusters, limbs fluttering in the air between them. He’s half-tempted to turn away again, but she grabs his face and holds him steady, her cold, slender fingers caught behind his jaw. “Just-- just one moment...”

“Miss?” he wheezes. This is entirely too close, too much--

“Yes!” He breath flutters over his lips, her own parting in a celebration of teeth. “That’s it. I see it. There’s a little, right there.”

He blinks. “A little what, Miss?”

Her teeth flash around the word, “Green.”

It’s cruel to throw a starving dog a bone, but he snaps it up anyway, heart nearly clogging up his throat with hope. “D’you mean it? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Really,” she promises, her nod serious and officious as any she might give Little Ryuu. “There’s a thread, right around the middle. Green. Just like mine.”

“Oh.” His own hands raise, leather muting the feel of her skin, but-- Master always told him about the red thread that bound him and Miss together, that drew them toward their fated meeting, but this-- Obi will take this too. “Thank you, Miss.”

She smiles, eyes shining bright in the lamplight. “No, Obi, it’s my pleasure.”

Not much different between green and red to him, anyway.

#obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #my fic #ans #this request has been sitting in my box since 2017 #when i FIRST started joking about this au #and i always meant to get around to it #but obviously my last few years have been filled with some things that have perhaps kept me #from being able to do all the things I meant to 🤣#but once Anne brought this up again #I knew i had a very good excuse to finally get this thing out in the world #AND HERE IT IS #it takes place some amount of time after the current arc

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