#//maybe things could work out. somehow. some day. even though he's immortal. and things are complicated. maybe they could be Okay//

[fullmetall]

thinking abt hohenheim 2day

[avocad1s]

Hello! I really love your works! I am writing to ask for a scenario involving the creator, still being with Capitano in Natlan, feels/sees Capitano's face unmasked for the first time? In 5.1 Capitano explained that his face is likely unrecognizable due to the rot and I was just hoping to read some fluff where the creator accepts him as he is or maybe heals him somehow? Anyways feel free to ignore this of it is something your not interested in! Thanks again!

Note: My love for Capitano has only grown. I don’t think I will ever mentally recover if he isn’t playable. And thank you so much for the support anon! Also sorry for the long wait! I got caught up in BG3 so I haven’t been playing Genshin lmao

Some spoilers for Natlan! You’ve been warned!

Could be seen as a part two to this, but could also be read as a standalone piece.

You’re starting to believe this wasn’t a dream anymore.

Days had passed since you encountered the Fatui in the woods of Natlan and have been staying in Capitano’s tent. Although you know time in Genshin passed differently than in real life, everything just felt too real.

You could feel the heat of fire on your skin, taste the food Capitano gave to you, feel the weight of his coat on your shoulders when he would drape it over you when you were cold. It didn’t matter what you would ask for, Capitano or his subordinates would get it for you.

However, it seemed like the only thing you couldn’t ask for was to go to the stadium or any of the tribes. Capitano always stating it was too dangerous for you there but he promised to fix it— to fix your world for you.

You dropped the topic for the moment, although you were incredibly disappointed not to get a first look at Natlan’s citizens. You didn’t want to just leave Capitano’s campsite, not after everything he’s done for you.

Yet not matter how kind and caring the Captian was to you, you couldn’t tell what he was thinking. His face was always obscured by his helmet, you could only take his words at face value even though you were sure you could hear the genuine tone in his voice.

When it came to eating, drinking, bathing or tending whatever wounds he had underneath his armor, he would never take it off in front of you. Always doing it in private. You’ve asked his subordinates about it but they seemed just as curious about it as you were.

Just like every night, Capitano brings you a plate of food. He didn’t let anyone else handle anything you would digest, maybe he was being too paranoid.

“Capitano?” You call out.

The Capitan’s footsteps immediately cease, although he hadn’t turned around to look at you it was clear you had his full attention.

“Yes?” He hesitates for a moment before speaking your name. You hated being called ‘Your Grace’ or any other formality and asked him to call you by your real name. You wonder just how flustered he was when you asked considering he stumbled over his words and asked to be excused afterwards.

“How come you never take off your helmet?”

A long silence fills the tent once the question leaves your lips. He doesn’t move nor speak as you stare at his back. You shift slightly on your seat, feeling a sense of discomfort crawl up your spine. Did you anger him? The last thing you wanted was to make him uncomfortable. He’s been a great host to you.

“Uhm— sorry I shouldn’t have asked.” You say, immediately backtracking.

Capitano shakes his head, his long raven hair flowing effortlessly behind him. “You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just I—“

He sighs, “—you will not like what you see.”

Your eyes widen at his statement as Capitano turns to face you. “As you know, I’m from Khaenri’ah and this…”

He looks down at his gloved hand, balling it into a fist. “… This curse of immortality has prevented me from dying but my body continues to age. Due to the rot, I no longer look how I used to 500 years ago.”

‘So he’s like Dain…’ you think to yourself as you stare up at him silently.

Capitano wastes no time to kneel in front of you bringing his hands up to his helmet. “But you’re my Creator, if you wish to look upon my face, I will not object.”

“Wait…” you place a hand on top of his and the Captain stops.

“You don’t have to if you don’t wish, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Capitano lets out a sound, it almost sounded like a low chuckle. “There’s nothing you could ask me to do that would make me uncomfortable. Serving you is my greatest pleasure.”

Capitano’s helmet is released with a small hiss then he pulls it off fully letting it rest in his palms.

You suck in a breath as you gaze falls upon his face. Different parts of it were at different processes of decay, it only made you wonder if this condition caused him any pain.

“I— I’m sorry…” are the first words to slip past your lips.

He shakes his head. “You have no reason to apologize, it’s not your fault.”

“Does it… hurt?” You murmur.

Capitano gives you a smile, a genuine one that reaches his eyes.

“Nothing that I’m not used to already.” He states.

You could feel your heart sink at his words. He’s been dealing with this for centuries, dealing with the weight of his home being destroyed and he still wants to do everything for you. This must be a great burden to bear.

Capitano on the other hand, watches your expression intensely. You’re not speaking. Did his face disgust you? Of course it did, he’d be a fool to think anything else.

Insecurity wasn’t something he’d ever felt before, at least not something he could remember. Capitano was confident in his strength and even in his worship for you. But having you look on his face, not being able to fully interpret your expression, he could only feel dread in his chest. What if you don’t want to be under his care anymore? Maybe sending you off to Snezhnaya with his colleagues would be a good idea.

Capitano clears his throat and moves to put his helmet back on.

“Wait!” You call out and he stops.

“You don’t have to…” You voice almost comes out as a whisper. “… Cover up your face I mean.”

He raises a brow. “My face doesn’t disgust you?”

You shake your head. “Of course not. I… like looking at your face. You have gorgeous eyes.”

The Captain quickly looks away from you, his dark hair shielding his flustered face. “…I— Im grateful for that…” he stammers.

After gathering himself he turns to look at you again. You were smiling at him, not a degrading smile, but one filled with amusement and fondness. He’d do anything to keep this for himself, no one else knew you descended, perhaps he could be selfish for just a bit longer.

Note: So if I read correctly, based on genshin wiki, I think Mika’s voice lines, Capitano should have deep blue eyes? I think…? I have no idea ☠️

© avocad1s 2024

[sunderwight]

disciple luo binghe, running errands for his shizun one day, somehow manages to be in the exact wrong (right) place at the exact wrong (right) time and catches shang qinghua meeting with mobei jun

in order to keep luo binghe from tattling right away, shang qinghua dissembles in a panic and claims that his clandestine meetings with mobei jun are happening because they're lovers and definitely not because shang qinghua is betraying the sect and handing their secrets over to demons in order to save his own hide. when that almost doesn't work, he also tells luo binghe that he knows he's part demon, and that if luo binghe rats him out then shang qinghua will take him down with him. mutually assured destruction

it works, and even though luo binghe threatens him quite a bit (jeez kid calm down, you might be the almighty protagonist but also you're like sixteen) he agrees to keep shang qinghua's fraternizing a secret. but if ANYTHING BAD should happen to the sect or especially to luo binghe's shizun because of this, luo binghe will take shang qinghua down even if it does ruin his life too

shang qinghua, now sweating even more bullets about the impending immortal alliance conference: cool! cool cool cool sounds great cool yeah

so shang qinghua can add "being blackmailed by the punk ass brat I sort of created" to his list of stress-inducing woes. which gets even worse when luo binghe keeps somehow sensing if mobei jun is around for more than a couple hours and showing up, and picking fights with him?? kind of??

wtf has the protagonist been taking tips from liu qingge or something...?

shang qinghua feels like he's gonna have a heart attack when mobei jun just snorts and tosses luo binghe by the scruff like he's an annoying yappy dog

mobei jun actually knows what's up though. teenage half-demon who has never been around his own kind has become spoiled by the lack of competition on this front, and now his hackles are all up because he wants to claim the whole mountain range as his territory, and his instincts are screaming at him to challenge mobei jun about it so that they can decide who is actually top dog. since mobei jun could easily kill him, especially with his blood sealed, and has been clawing rocks and pissing on trees along the borders of an ding peak since before luo binghe was born, he's clearly got seniority here

and since qinghua doesn't want mobei jun to just kill the little shit (fair enough -- that sealed bloodline does look kind of interesting) that means it's up to mobei jun to teach him how to do things like interact with other demons without making a complete fool of himself. lesson one: what to do when you challenge someone out of your league and they win, assuming they don't just kill you

so luo binghe reluctantly gains another demon tutor

meng mo actually approves. he's been out of the loop on demon high society for a long time, and has lacked a body for long enough too that he's forgotten a lot of the particulars of socializing. it'll be good for luo binghe to pick up some manners that aren't just silly human tea ceremonies and things. maybe he'll start addressing meng mo more respectfully for a change!

(lol no)

luo binghe is partly like "I don't need to learn demon social skills since I'm spending the rest of my life as a disciple of qing jing peak" but partly like, well, if shizun knew about this and didn't freak out about it, he'd probably say that knowledge is power and learning how to handle politics and diplomacy of all kinds is important. and despite himself luo binghe is also interested, because this is a whole perspective on his own nature that he's never really gotten advice about

also, mobei jun is the lover of shang qinghua? mobei jun is a demon who successfully seduced a cang qiong peak lord? does he have any advice about that?

(he does -- all of it very bad)

anyway all of this sort of fucks up the immortal alliance conference developments really good, so the system kind of gives up and settles on some other big transformative achievements that luo binghe has to complete in order to be suitably heroic

but shen qingqiu has no idea and so the reprieve just seems to come out of nowhere until several years later, when he walks in on luo binghe with his claws out and huadian gleaming in the company the demon king of the northern desert, the two of them playing weiqi or something while they wait for shang qinghua to get back from some random logistics crisis he had to rush off to

shen qingqiu: ...?!?

luo binghe, panicking: wait shizun I can explain it's not what it looks like SHIZUN I SWEAR I WAS GOING TO TELL YOU PLEASE DON'T BE MAD--!

shen qingqiu: all this time I thought you were sneaking out to meet a girl, and this was what you were doing instead?!

luo binghe: WHAT?? shizun no I'd never do that I swear I don't even like girls!

shen qingqiu: that's not -- wait what do you mean you don't even like girls?!

mobei jun, unperturbed and still focused on the weiqi board: he's gay

[colorlessjay]

Ok I love immortal Cas reincarnation Dean but also like what if it’s a reincarnation library? Like souls come in and Cas checks them in and returns them to the new shelf/life they belong to?

Cas is the librarian (it was some other angel but Cas just had too much heart so they stuck him where he could cause the least amount of trouble and turns out he’s really fucking good at it). His job is to guide souls to their next incarnation. One might think that it would get boring or he would hate staying in what amounts to heaven’s basement (like the other angel) but he doesn’t. The souls will sometimes tell him the stories of their last lives as he escorts them to the proper new section and he loves it (especially the bees who have wonderful description of flowers).

Then comes Dean. Cas knows right away that he’s NOT supposed to be here. Cas has gained the ability to see life lines, it’s how he knows where to place souls (past lifelines are gold future life lines are silver, it determines if you go in to become a tortoise, a mouse, a human, a butterfly, etc.) but Dean comes in and his lifeline is severed and green like his soul. Cas doesn’t know what to do. He thinks maybe it’s unfinished business so he has him reincarnate as a human but somehow every couple of years Dean comes back (he doesn’t remember much except that he trusts the blue eyed angel that always saves and cares for him) Cas is beside himself. No one from heaven ever comes to rectify the situation and the more times Dean shows up the more Cas talks to him and gets to know him, the more he falls in love. He shows Dean how he transfers the souls and how they become remade and whole in their new forms. He gets so desperate to see Dean’s soul the same way, he offers Dean any incarnation he wants. Dean innocently asks what incarnation would allow him to stay with Cas. Cas has to tell Dean he can’t stay. That’s not how it works. Dean is sad but asks to be reincarnated as a dog so he can watch over his brother. Cas let’s him even though the lifeline isn’t right, even though it’s breaking his own rules. It’s years until Dean returns and Cas doesn’t know if he’s happy or sad.

Anyway much anguish,angst, and reincarnations later Cas simply can’t bear to see Dean’s soul broken anymore (he’s tried everything, even breaking the rules again and waiting with Dean until his brother Sam dies and reincarnating them as brothers together) but nothing. Finally (after learning through many other souls like Bobby, Jody, Donna, Benny, etc.) that Dean’s soul has been cursed, marked by a god for eternal pain. It’s unbearable to see, torture to know that he will never be able to bring Dean the peace the beautiful soul deserves. Then a soul gives him the answer (Rowena) and he makes the ultimate sacrifice to break Dean’s curse. He gives him his wings. Dean is now free from the cycle of incarnation which means he will never return to Cas or the library and Cas has given up his wings so his sanctuary is now his lovely prison.

Only Dean starts dreaming. Starts remembering a place and blue eyes. Remembers a man. And if it’s the last thing he does, if he has to storm heaven itself: he’s going to find him one day.

He starts by sending messages with the dying (maybe he become a doctor or something because the closer he is to the boundary between life and death the closer he feels to the mystery man) he whispers in ears, sends notes in hands and sometimes he swears he’ll see a few more bees around him than normal, maybe some blue butterflies that aren’t native to the area and he doesn’t give up hope that there is a way to cross the veil back to Cas (and maybe Cas gets in trouble because the angels DEFINITELY take notice of a soul breaking free of the cycle that fuels heaven and they lobotomize him Ike they do in cannon, he doesn’t remember being in love with Dean but the old souls that have passed through and seen them together are the ones coming to Dean to give him hope)

So now Dean is remembering while Cas has forgotten and it’s just one complex and beautiful tragedy

Only. The god that Cas saved Dean from wants revenge. So he/she/they/it demand Cas is punished to forget and live a human life. Dean meets Cas and both know they are looking for someone they lost but neither know it’s each other (maybe they try not to fall in love with each other, still clinging to what they think they’ve lost and when they finally do give in they remember or something) except it’s not all happily ever after because remember that god that cursed Dean (Amara maybe)? Yeah it’s got a mortal vessel too and it’s determined to get Dean for itself

———

Oof sorry that was so long and if it doesn’t make sense, the idea got away from me as I was typing. Please ignore me if you hate it I just needed to get it out of my system somewhere 😅 I really love the other takes on this one too (the Epic/mythology parallels are awesome, 10/10)

Write a book, goddamn

Definitely not the direction my brain was going in but I fucking love it

Vibes. 10/10. Makes your own post about this and expand on it plsss

[temis-de-leon]

The brothers reunite with Trans!MC - Part 1

Main Masterlist

Part 2

Anon request: How do you think the Obey Me brothers would react to a trans (AFAB) reader? Like they spent their given amount of time in the Devildom, went back to the human world for a long enough time to get both top surgery and a hysterectomy (so at least a couple years), maybe some testosterone too if they wanted it. Then when the time comes to go back to the Devildom, the brothers almost wonder if they got the right human! And yet the human's pacts, personality, and verbal recounts are too detailed + specific to be fabricated - they did get the correct person, even though they look quite different now

A/N: there are two parts for this request because the introduction alone is 600 words, but don't worry because I'm writing the second part right now. I could've made this an only part, but I didn't want it to be super long <33

Also, please tell me if I'm incorrect regarding the trans experience in any part of this. I'll gladly correct it.

.

You would think time is a different concept to immortal beings like them. They’ve been alive for thousands of years, so what’s a couple more in comparison? What feels like an eternity for you probably translates to the blink of an eye in their standards. However, what no one expected was how desperately they’d need you once you went back home.

It started with the constant chatting and their messages keeping your fingers glued to your DDD for almost an entire week since your departure. Of course, it became a problem when you couldn’t even get dressed without them demanding your attention and immediate response, so it quickly changed to phone calls.

As a result, less than a couple of months later, while you worked to adapt once more to your mundane human life, hearing you talk with your mysterious friends on the speaker became the new normal for everyone around you.

They organised themselves to not overwhelm you, assigning turns to each other so everyone could have equal opportunities to keep in touch with you. As expected, not all of them respected their brothers’ time with you, but that’s something you would only know thanks to your access to their private chats.

And as you can imagine, they entertain you quite a lot.

One day they’re detailing a normal day at RAD and the next they’re explaining why Lucifer hanged the six of them and even Lord Diavolo for most of the weekend.

It’s not like they’re looking for trouble, but they still manage to find it.

And you can bet all your money they will be telling you all about it.

You’re thankful, though.

Somehow, although not that surprisingly, their stories become a great source of comfort once you’re alone during your hospital stay or while in bed, letting your body recover. Their nonsense gives you a strange sense of normalcy that keeps everything around you simpler and easier to process.

Your body might’ve changed, but some things will always stay the same.

The most difficult part of all is lying to the brothers about why you’re at the hospital.

It isn’t like you actively want to keep them in the dark. After all, they’re your friends, the ones who love you and would accept you no matter your appearance, but they do have a tendency to carry everything to an extreme and you seriously doubt they’d change that in a matter of seconds.

However, days turn to weeks and months and, although you physically get better, you still keep it a secret from the brothers. Is it the guilt? You’re not sure. It eats you alive and you berate yourself daily for hiding something so important from people who adore you so much, yet you’re unable to confess.

It all comes to an end when you suddenly bump into Solomon in the middle of the street.

Which is actually… kind of weird?

Despite being the one physically closest to you, you’ve barely seen the sorcerer since you both left the Devildom a couple of years ago. Normally, he’s too occupied to respond to your check-up messages right away, let alone hang out with you, so the sight of him leaves you dumbfounded.

Funnily enough, the sight of you also leaves him dumbfounded.

You both stare at each other for more than a couple of seconds while your brains process the situation.

And before you can realise what’s happening, you’re falling.

.

.

Taglist: @ilovecandys2010 @ollieoven @kingofspadesdelusion @whimsybloom @mia4gotcookiez

[nishnormp]

conagher brainrot

Sometimes I think about the fact that in Loose Cannon, dell's father never gets alluded to . like at all . Fred as the shabby little bridge between radigan and dell makes me a little sad though, so I'll just be looking at weird implications and make a poorly organized set of points

With how confidently Dell talks about his grandfather's personality and the state of his blueprints, I can only assume that a)he was practically raised by him or, b)his dad talked a lot about him (and by extension fred and radigan were close) while radigan was off doing...whatever

Dell is a genius, but a lot of his gear (most, actually) comes from his grandfather's blueprints (gunslinger over there was radigan's original design). Hell, even dell's iconic sentry gun was radigan's blueprint.

If you look at the first panel I showed, dell is immediately hesitant of his ability to fix it, but switches up just as fast when blutarch mentioned radigan's blueprints, blutarch even mentions that they've plagued him for 60ish years bc they were written in complete gibberish. HOWEVER, bluetarch has also been shown to be a complete idiot, so its possible that the blueprints were in english, but just completely incomprehensible to him.

Now, lets go back to the A and B scenarios earlier. The reason I mentioned some estrangement between family members is because things start to...not make sense. Let's say that all three conaghers were quite close (with fred somehow not having any time conflicts with his job and all), how come dell never alludes to him at all when referring to a 'mr conagher' in the field? How come fred never told him that radigan's blueprints were exhumed after his death? Dell's spy domination voicelines drops the lore that it was his dad that taught him how to deal with backstabbers, so if they were open about the nature of their work how come that one important tidbit was never told to him? There could maybe be some physical distance due to work and whatnot, but I cant imagine fred not revealing that about his father to his own son.

There's also...whatever this picture is. This is a photo of radigan in the years proceeding his influence under australium, which conflicts with the comics' and dell's portrayal of him. Its possible that this is merely him a few more years down the road, when both fred and dell are fully grown and out by themselves- but in that case that would be a TIGHT window for his death, blutarch's 60-year stressing over deciphering his notes WHILE fred's still in BLU, and the news to reach dell by the time HE'S the new engie.

The fact that fred is still up and kicking in the current day (hes pushing in the 70 at the VERY LEAST) also makes the timeline stricter, since theres no way he was born during radigan's youth (makes the estrangement thing more likely too cuz are you telling me that fred never corrected dell at all/dell dgaf that radigan was more like a jolly aussie than anything, or that they BOTH didn't know too much about him)

The hundred years thing is maaybe an exaggeration, I did the math and there's no way a literal hundred years had passed between the creation of the first LEM and dell's employment (this is with the consideration of 1890 being the absolute earliest time, and even then it reached 1990). HOWEVER the half a century (or 50 years) thing is probably, as it lands square into the 1940s-- a decade into fred's employment in BLU.

The 1890s was when Radigan was called to create the machine, and its also the time that is referred to right after the 60 years thing. So if the machine was built 60 years ago, but only started to malfunction around the 50 year mark; then there would be one entire decade of the thing just breaking down with no one to fix it.

Did fred get access to the notes? I'm not actually sure. There's this moment in the comics where he flubbs with the immortality machines, but I think there's more to it

"more biology than engineering" my brother in christ you have fully functional prosthetic LEGS and your guy best friend (who btw is a sniper aka guy whose profession relies on eyesight the most) let you pluck out his eyes and replace them with better ones. There's also the offhand mention of "lookin' at the old man's robots" aka probably referring to radigan's creations, but if we go by the thinking that radigan's notes were never shown to him-- that would mean he was reverse engineering them.

And honestly? It makes sense, esp if you consider tfc engie's gear in his own game.

TFC was created waaay before tf2 so the lore implications were most likely not intended at all, but just. Compare fred's sentry guns to the blueprints that radigan has on the walls of his workshop. The dispenser and the teleporter? Way different, and the dispenser even functions differently (it has to be restocked, but it can also damage people when it is destroyed by tfc engie). Fred had big shoes to fill, but he managed to live up to them anyways; I think cheavy would have kicked him out otherwise. The TFC gen is more militant than tf2's, and with how tightly cheavy runs his crew + is concerned about formal standards (like him not wanting to hire tf2 medic due to a history of medical misdemeanors), fred would have been long gone if his creations weren't up to par.

Keep in mind that most of the world is still kinda bummy while australia (and ig new zealand) have all the super fancy stuff to themselves (with the way aussies act with other non-aussies I highly doubt that they would just hand over their own formulas for Teleportation Tech) (these war-loving guys even canonically hid up the existence of australium too, and there's a newspaper clip showing a headline of the aussies calling the discovery of magic gold a false alarm) so fred figuring out all that shit on his own is kinda impressive.

But lets say that he DID have access to the blueprints. Did he deviate from them out of stubbornness? The want to be his own man? Was he smart enough to figure out the fundamentals, but eventually failed to understand the sheer complexity of the LEM? Or did he actually do work on it, but ended up not being significant enough? If the LEM started breaking down by the 1940s, is it really possible for it to STILL keep chugging for an entire decade without human intervention? Did he knowingly lie about the immortality machines cuz he didn't want a deranged cheavy to live forever, or was he actually thinking ahead and taking the potential australium shortage into account (esp since the thing cheavy was holding was a more greedy, simpler model)?

Still, whether or not he had access to the blueprints doesn't change the bits about virgil's eyes or his prosthetic legs. I know they knew each other before the war (gravel war, world war, idk) but it would still be a huge risk for a sniper to just let someone pluck his eyes out; that sort of trust takes a looot of time and experiences.

Tldr; fred is a smart little cookie and I think he gets underestimated too much : ( . also my math isn't the best so if I get anything wrong pls pls pls correct me

[zweetpea]

Contracts or Biddability (part 1 of 2)

cw: Pg13, innuendos and vulgar language, and so much cringe, some pop culture references too.

“The end.” The cryo abyss herald closed the book.

“That was a really sad story.” You said as your eyes glazed over. The Abyss order had kidnapped you and held you captive for a while now. You weren’t sure how long you’ve been down here but the food was good enough and they’d borrow enough books from the surface to keep you entertained.

“I’m sorry. We weren’t been able to borrow anything else because of the security around the Favonius library.”

“Well, you could just let me go and I can find something on my own.”

“No! We need you here to further our plans!��� He panicked.

“What plans? What happened to Dvalin? What’s the deal with Andrius?”

“Just calm down my liege. All will be revealed in time.” He patted your head and walked away.

“I want to go home.” You curled up in a ball.

“Aaaaahh!” Someone yelled. That ear piercing scream roused you from your sleep.

‘Should I shout for someone?’ You thought. ‘What if somebody broke in? But if it’s a fire and they don’t know that I’m still here…’

“Help! Help me please! I don’t care who! I just want to see the Sun again!”

The door squeaked open and you thought that maybe your pleas would be recognized, until you saw that the man who walked in was a Pyroslinger Bracer. “Why is the Fatui here?” You whispered meekly.

He raised his rifle towards you head. “Wait, please! Don’t kill me! I wanna live, wanna live!” He shot, but the bullet bounced off of your skull and fell on the ground. “Well… that was anticlimactic.”

He shot you again 3 more time. “Ow! That hurts, dickhead!”

“How are you alive?”

“Hehe. We’re immortal Buffy we can do anything. Oh yeah? Clap.”

“My name’s Vincent.”

“Oh for shucks sakes.” You roll your eyes.

“I’m sure the Doctor will be very interested in you. For now I’ll take you back to Childe though.”

“Ew! Dottore needs to back the F up before he gets smacked the F up for what he did to Collei.” Vincent bound you hands, then grabbed your arm and pushed you through the Abyss. “Hey real quick for my internal monologue I need to know what pronouns you use. My names Gen with a G apparently. I’m gender fluid and I go by they/them.”

“…uh, Vincent Powers and I’m a man.”

“So… he and him?”

“Yes? I’m so confused why you’re confused.”

“Well, I didn’t want to assume.”

He brought you back to the surface and it felt wonderful. Then he placed you in the back of a cart and you two and the rest of his squad set sail for Liyue.

It’s been maybe two hours since the Fatui captured you and you’re finally at Liyue Harbor. They’ve taken you to the Northland Bank to meet Tartaglia. Vincent threw you onto the ground at Childe’s feet.

“What the Abyss is that thing?” His presence is all consuming.

“That “thing” said that they’re name is Gen with a G.”

You look up and see the red head eying you up with disgust. You return the glare and proclaimed, “I finally get to meet my rival. I swear to you, I’m going to seduce Zhongli and get his cock!”

“Excuse me?” He looks at you even colder than before.

“You heard me! I’m willing to take him up my ass if he’s gay.”

“You are vulgar and repulsive.” He pressed his water blade things against my throat and sliced across it. You fell back onto your butt at the pressure.

“Ow. Yeah, um—Mr. Tartar sauce—that’s not going to work. I’m kinda immortal, somehow.”

“How dare you insult me! Do you know who I am!?” He grabbed you by the top of your head to look him in his eyes.

“Honestly if you look at me like that more often I’d let you have a piece of my ass any day. I just assumed that you were a bottom but I’ll let you creampie me if you become my sugar daddy.” His face burst into crimson. He threw me onto the ground and stomped on my throat. “This is turning me on.”

“Get this thing out of my sight.”

“Hey I’m a person! I have feelings you know!”

“But what about Dottore? Wouldn’t he like to examine them?”

“Dottore will have both of our heads if we bring him this thing.”

“I’m not an object, I’m a person! You see, this is why Zhongli will never love you.

“You know what? Since you’re so obsessed with Mr. Zhongli, why don’t I just send you to him?”

“You’d do that for me?!” You shouted excitedly.

“Sure. If it get’s you to leave me alone.”

“But Childe, they’re immortal. You don’t come across something like that every day.”

“Hey can I have a delusions? I don’t have power over the elements but I don’t think I can die so a delusion shouldn’t be a problem for me.”

“Fine!” He threw a delusion connected to a chain at you. “NOW GET OUT! TAKE THEM TO SEE ZHONGLI IF THEY WANTS TO SO BADLY!!”

“Hey! This one’s broken!” You yelled at him as you were being dragged away.

“You never specified if you wanted a working one or not!” He smirked back at you.

Ugh this sucks! You still have nothing to defend yourself with! You can at least tie the stupid thing around your wrist.

“Mr. Zhongli? Is Mr. Zhongli here?” You asked someone at the Funeral Parlor.

“Hm? Did someone call for me? I was just about to head out.”

“Hello Mr. Zhongli. I’m Gen Z, spelt with a G.” You extended you hand to shake his.

“Hello Gen.” He took your hand and shook it. ‘His hands are so big.’ You thought. ‘Heheh, dirty mind dirty mind dir-dir-dir-dir- dirty mind!’

“Excuse me. Why is your bracelet glowing?” He asked. You look down and see that your delusion has started to glow yellow. “Huh?”

‘Have I resonated with geo?’

[nonbinaryeye]

Alliance with Too Much Past and No Future

Written for @gortash-week

Day 5 - Redemption

Archduke Enver Gortash is happy to find out that his dear newly returned ally wants to talk to him and discuss the deal he made with him some more. At least till he hears what exactly the Dark Urge proposes to him.

Read on AO3

...

It is the middle of night in the city of Baldur's Gate and the Dark Urge, the way he used to do, has sneaked into private rooms of the newest Archduke, Enver Gortash. He said he needed to talk to him, discuss something with him. And how could Gortash ever say no to some plotting with his favourite accomplice in the hours far away both from midnight as well as morning? And so they have taken seats on the chairs by the unlit fireplace. But a promising start quickly turned sour.

“Apologies, my dear, could you repeat yourself. I think I must have misheard you,” Gortash says politely. He is quite sure he has not ‘misheard’ him, there was not anything in his words he could have heard wrongly or misinterpreted. Nevertheless, he can still hope he somehow completely hallucinated them. Because there is no way his dear assassin, his favourite long-lost ally, his Dark Urge, would say something among the lines-

“I said that you should… no, you need to abandon your plans. All your efforts to dominate the brain for your own purposes. They are bad. Dangerous. You need to reconsider the path you are walking on.” His tone is calm. Gentle. The dragonborn bhaalspawn is looking at him with solemn expression with no indication this all is just some very bad joke.

Because what in the nine hells does he mean by it?

Enver Gortash was running on three hours of sleep, spite and maybe a bit of potion of speed. That is nothing new nor unusual for him. To say the past few days were stressful would be an understatement; even taking in account the entirety of how the past year went and the mental toll it took on him. When the current part of the Absolute plan started, Gortash of course had his doubts about the reliability of his allies but even in his worst nightmares he did not anticipate for it to turn into such a disaster. It started with that damned illithid going rogue, Kethric failing to obtain the damned artefact. Then he also decided now it is the best time for his immortality to stop working and his netherstone got stolen by a group of ragtag adventurers. Next Orin, the wild card she is, decided she will no longer cooperate and after that…

He could have dealt with all the things previously mentioned. He is certain he could have. He is used to both working under pressure and plans failing. Sometimes even a machine one thought to be polished to perfection decides to malfunction and needs to be fixed. Even if one wanted to apply this metaphor in his current circumstances the said machine has crumbled into a pile of scrap metal and needs to be completely reforged. He really believes he could have dealt with all of that though. Unlike with what has come next.

What he at first assumed to be the silver lining in this entire mess has turned out to be the only thing he is uncertain what to do with right now. His favourite ally, his old co-conspirator, the only person he might consider a friend once, came back. Alive. And that should have lifted some worries off his shoulder, should it not? It should not be adding another layer of anxiety that keeps rising and rising with every new wave of earthquakes. 

Yes the Dark Urge was not the person they used to be. They... he changed. All his memories lost; mind wiped clear. Gortash tried to persuade himself that it still could have been fine, they could build their alliance and their trust once more. But he apparently mistook the thunderstorm for sunshine peeking from behind the clouds.

And so this is how they apparently got to this point. What does he means by ‘you need to abandon your plans’ ? Gortash is almost tempted to ask him. Almost. He does not though. Because such an idiotic unprompted suggestion does not even deserve to have anyone pointing out how nonsensical it is.

“This Absolute scheme of yours-“ the Dark Urge tries to continue but Gortash interrupts to correct him.

“Of ours! It used to be our plan. We stole the crown and the Netherstones together. We came up with the plan together. We -“

“Exactly. It used to be our plan.”

“And it will be once more. It was born only thanks to both of our brilliant minds working together. It failed only because we were apart, together nothing will stop us again.” There is earnestness in his voice. More than he usually allows to slip there but he is getting desperate. Frustrated. Why does his only ally not listen, what is so hard to understand about his words?

 The Dark Urge sighs, as if he got any rights to be exhausted or annoyed by their current conversation. “My point here is that it’s not too late. You can still change,” he flails his hand towards him in offering. A creature who used to be an omen of death trying to play the role of divine saviour. “Release all the people you hold captive, dismantle your Steel Watch, help us take the Netherbrain down. It is not too late. You can still redeem yourself.”

Gortash stares blankly at the stranger who dares to wear the face of the only person who was ever worthy of his respect. And what the fuck is he talking about?

“My soul belongs to Bane the same as yours belongs to Bhaal. There is no point trying to assign any morality to our actions. Only thing that matters is whether they align with the wishes of our gods. And they approved of our scheme and goal.”

The Dark Urge laughs but there is no amusement in his words. “You see, I couldn't care less what Bhaal thinks and wants me to do.” Be careful what you wish for. Gortash hoped, imagined, what kind of alliance they could have, what they could achieve, if the bhaalspawn severed the connections to his heritage, if only he could be unburdened by his urges and his godly father’s demands.

This is not what Gortash had in mind. He takes in a deep breath, trying to find footing, next words to say.

“Bhaal be damned, all gods be damned. This is not about them, this is about you and I, this is about us ! The offer I made you-“

“I am not interested,” he cuts him short before Gortash can even paint him the glorious future he imagined for them. But that is the real problem here, is it not? It is not just the two of them against the world. With his mind broken and memories scattered, the Dark Urge naively decided to put his trust into anyone and everyone who crossed his path till now.

“You or your new ‘friends’ whispering poison to your ears?” Gortash remarks, bitterness and accusation dripping of his words.

“None of us,” he shrugs, “But their opinion does not seem to matter too much to you, so I am making my position clear. For quite obvious reasons they would be against me talking to you right now and offering you this chance. They seek to destroy the Iron Throne and Steel Watch Foundry. And then kill you too of course.”

The Dark Urge hands him so casually a declaration that plans to betray him have already been made despite his generous offer. What a pitiful threat that should get him and all his allies killed immediately. And Gortash could kill him if he wanted. His guards are just one call away, his room full of traps ready to be triggered, his crossbow leaning against the chair he is sitting on. And he is here all alone.

In what feels like a lifetime ago, Gortash knew that none of those things would be enough to stop his beautiful murderous bhaalspawn. The Dark Urge used to be able to take down a small army and still come on top covered in blood and laughing. However, this is not his Dark Urge; the pathetic creature he has become Gortash could probably kill all by himself. He should. He will probably have to…

“You are a fool and idiot for thinking you can come here, blabber your nonsense and then, what? Threaten me?” The frustration of his words falling to deaf ears is quickly turning to anger. The Dark Urge refuses to hear him, to listen. He just keeps spitting this nonsense. And worst of all he remains so cold, so unaffected, the entire time.

Like this conversation does not really mean anything to him.

“It is not a threat. I am just saying things as they are. And I only came here to make an offer.“

“You cannot make an offer when you have nothing to bargain with. What do you even hope to achieve? Are you trying to appeal to my better nature? You are wasting my time!” Gortash rises from his chair. Wanting to leave and end this stupid conversation. Wanting to hit him and then keep beating him till he starts thinking clearly again. Wanting to get at least some reaction from him…

“Enver-“

“Do not! Do not call me that! You have no right to call me that name!”

“Lord-… oh, apologies, Archduke Enver Gortash it is then?” he asks and a bit of mockery slides into their tone and for a few seconds his voice sounds so sickeningly familiar. And it is too much. Gortash feels heavy in his chest as if he just squeezed his heart the way he always promised him he will do one day. Feelings of grief he never allowed himself to feel after he disappeared, feelings he thought that he buried starts crawling from their graves.

Enver Gortash had enough.

“Get out,” his voice is cold and full of resentment that might not be aimed entirely at just his former ally. But he does not allow himself to think about it.

“I just had to try,” the Dark Urge sighs and gets up  and turns his back towards him. Ready to leave, just like that. And he does not even sound really bothered, it does not even really matter to him. And as much as Gortash has not planned to say another word to him he relents because he has to ask, he want to know-

“Why?”

The Dark Urge looks back at him. There is sadness… no, not sadness – pity, in his scarlet eyes. “I think, the person I used to be, cared about you greatly. I owed it to them to try to deal with this peacefully.”

How dares he-

“If you wish to execute any favours for your past self you should slit your throat. That is what they would wish for, if they saw you now.”

The Dark Urge- no, the pathetic imposter with the same face, using the same name, chuckles. There is an edge in their tone that cuts like a dagger. “But they do not. They are dead. I am not them and they have no control over what action I will and will not take. Neither does Bhaal. And neither do you.”

“I never tried to control you, not before, not now” Gortash exclaims and it is only a half lie. He indeed never tried to control them directly, “I offered you an alliance of equals. Back then and now again, but you just spit in my face. Refuse my generosity!”

The Dark Urge steps closer to him and Gortash straightens up. They are looking into each other's eyes, both trying to find something that so clearly is not there. But at least now they emotions match. Both furious, both exasperated, both failing to understand the other.

“You are the one who stubbornly refuses to listen to what I am saying. But as you wish. I will do much more than just ‘spit in your face’. I hope you are not attached to your Foundry too much!”

“Go ahead. At least I know where I will find your corpse to pick the Netherstones from.”

There is a moment of silence. The Dark Urge is the first one to break their staring contest, taking his leave and this time for good.

“I will take it as that you gave me your final word.”

“That I did,” Gortash confirms. And this is the end then. Because his former ally starts walking away and Gortash cannot stop himself from feeling a pang of disappointment because… what? Their discussion led nowhere, of course there is no point to continue in it. He himself asked the other to leave. Neither of them would get anywhere if their argument continues. Why should Gortash care that he gave up so easily…

“Just so you know…” the Dark Urge stops in front of the window through which he got inside and through which he clearly intends to leave once more. “I think that if things were different I would have gotten to like you again,” he says and disappears.

Why… why would he say something like that?

Gortash cannot really ask him as he is already gone. He falls back into his chair. All the rumbling anger suddenly overshadowed by confusion. And is he… trembling? His eyes sting and when he raises his hand to them, he is surprised to find there tears.

It is the middle of night in the city of Baldur's Gate and in the hours far away both from midnight as well as morning archduke Enver Gortash sits all alone by the unlit fireplace finally caught up by grief that is long overdue. As if only now it finally hit him that his Dark Urge is dead for good.

[moonfurthetemmie]

this has been sitting in my drafts since the beginning of the month and i don't know why. it looks like everything's here

im going to blame @nom-de-plume-system for causing a good chunk of these thoughts.

Initially it started because i was rereading that H!DS/DS crossover fic I started and dropped ages and ages ago. I had made some offhand comment/joke about Nightmare selling his kidneys for something nice for Kevin.

but now I know that in OG dreamtale, guardians/spirits are very durable and have some really impressive regeneration. And that one-off joke got me thinking.

Hypothetically, a human-like spirit (such as DS Nightmare) could donate most of their organs, pretty much indefinitely. They'd have to wait for them to regenerate, obviously, but...mmmost of their organs they could get removed and live. Brain's an obvious no, heart's almost definitely a no. One lung is survivable, but both is iffy at best. Anything else isn't vital enough to cause serious damage for the (relatively) short period of time before they regenerate.

I mentioned this in the discord server we're in. For now, I will spare you the hypotheticals about how it would work for the receiver, and thoughts on the possible complications of getting an organ from a semi-immortal being with crazy regeneration, and skip to the fun part:

Horror!Dreamswap. The Delusional ending.

We made it worse.

I have officially dubbed this variant "Delusional Organ Donor"

Pluto's having a bad time but thinks he's fine

Gouge is having a GREAT time and knows it

Delusion has somehow managed to become more delusional

do you see where i'm going with this. Read the tags, and if you're prepared for some dark shit then buckle up

cracks knuckles

Let me lay down some 'rules' that were made for how this organ removal works for guardians.

As I said, the brain is absolutely a no. But most other things can be done.

The less vital the organ is, the slower it regenerates. Lungs regenerate quite fast. Gallbladder...eh. Maybe a couple of days.

They can also, generally speaking, feel that these things are missing. More important organs especially so, though what exactly this feels like very much depends on what the thing is. The most notable ones are large organs and vital organs.

I'm still not entirely sure on whether or not they'd survive their heart being removed, but I did figure out what it would be like if they could.

Firstly, they would still slowly 'die.'

Their fingers and toes, hands and feet, and eventually their whole arms and legs just start to go numb. Might be pins and needles numb at first, but it becomes more of nothing at all as the time passes. They also start to get a little loopy from lack of oxygen to their brain towards the end of it, before they’ve fully regenerated.

But their heart regenerates faster than all the rest. Because it’s still very very much a vital organ, and even their resilient bodies can’t live without it too long. Being without their heart is incredibly dangerous, and any more damage to their body probably would kill them. Moving around much is a terrible idea.

It’s not. Fun. Being able to feel a literal hole where your literal heart should be.

~

Delusion's main goal for getting Pluto to stay in JR with him is to have his friend back. Perfect world nonsense aside, he misses Pluto a lot.

At some point, it occurs to Delusion that he and Pluto should be able to donate their organs. Like, multiple times. They'll just regrow, right? So...maybe Pluto could actually help with his perfect world.

So he starts seriously looking into a fate splitter. With something like this, the possibility of accidentally killing Pluto is quite high. And as heartbroken as Delusion would be if Pluto died, he can't let someone's fuckup on Pluto be then end of him. He has a duty.

But still, his focus is on having Pluto with him again. So Delusion doesn't care what the status of that whole project is, until he gets Pluto with him.

Pluto spends quite a while in JR, once Delusion has brainwashed him I mean, reminded him of how close they were. He's pretty content there. He did miss Delusion. He just had some objections to a lot of Delusion's plans. Not anymore though! He's happy to

Eventually though the fate splitter is ready. And Delusion talks to Pluto about his idea.

Pluto considers. It doesn't occur to him that Delusion could also donate his organs. It doesn't occur to Delusion to do it, either. But Pluto eventually agrees.

The only problem is that none of the doctors in JR, not even ones who've lost family or friends to Pluto and his friends, are willing to do this. Not to the extent Delusion and Pluto are thinking of. For a while, sure. Some would even think he deserved it. But...for that long...

So Delusion, in a stroke of brilliance and foolishness, has some of them teach Gouge how to safely remove a person's organs.

Delusion, knowing Gouge rather well by now, sets some rules for her.

She has anesthetize Pluto before she takes his organs.

She can't take too many organs at once; if it's not something vital, she can do a couple so long as they aren't from the same organ system.

She needs to give him something for the pain.

Gouge proceeds to ignore one and two, aside from making sure not to take so many organs that she kills him. And she only gives him enough pain medicine to keep him from passing out from the pain while she's removing his organs.

Yes, you read that correctly. She is intentionally keeping him awake to watch her remove his organs.

It's great! Pluto is having so many regrets! But he doesn't back out.

He wants to help. Maybe not people in general, but definitely at least Delusion. He'll be fine. He'll definitely be fine, right? Right...

~

Now, since the whole point of getting Pluto to stay in JR was to have his friend back, Delusion comes to visit while Gouge's not doing her thing. For this purpose (and also because it's convenient, on the off-chance tries to bolt), there is a rather strong magic-suppressor in the disturbingly well-hidden and well-stocked 'operation room' Gouge for some reason already had. Delusion doesn't want to hurt Pluto anymore than he already is hurting after these operations.

But...this also means Delusion can Feel Things.

The first time Delusion comes down, Pluto's fucking tired, and definitely hurting, but he's doing alright. Really. Promise.

It was only the first time gouge took his organs.

But Pluto slowly began to look worse and worse. He still looks happy when Delusion comes to see him, but the pain and exhaustion in his face, and in his voice…

And Delusion, free from the pain of his own aura, began to wonder if this was really a good idea. For Pluto, i mean; it's definitely a great idea for the people getting his organs.

But, surely it couldn't be. He was a god. He knew was was right.

…Right?

He couldn't bear the idea that he was wrong; not in general, and especially not about this.

Pluto would be fine. See? He's smiling!

And he kept telling himself that. Over and over and over, until he finally believed it.

Pluto will not be getting out of there, so long as Delusion's in control of JR. Having said that, even once he'd convinced himself this really was fine, if Pluto asked if he could maybe just be left alone for a little while because he's so tired, Delusion would agree immediately. He might even have Pluto come up and hang out with him.

But...maybe not. Because a small part of him knows that this is wrong. And while that part has mostly been silenced, it's making him very, very afraid that Pluto would bolt if given half the chance.

gouge is laughing at delusion behind his back. she thinks this is hilarious. her boss is even more delusional than she thought, holy shit. Well, at least she's getting some good fun out of it.

Pluto knows Gouge isn't supposed to be keeping him awake or taking as much as she is. So why doesn't he say anything?

Well, you see, as painful as the organ removal process is, it's even worse to just live without them for a while.

Part of the reason vital organs missing is so notable is because it just fucking sucks. Generally it's pretty painful, too!

Gouge has threatened to take both of Pluto's lungs if he tells Delusion anything. Neither of them are sure if he could survive that, but Pluto doesn't want to find out. As awful as having only one is, at least he can still breathe.

~

Gouge, in the interest of keeping people from asking questions, stores some of Pluto's organs in her little torture dungeon. She can only donate so many at once before the doctors in JR's hospital get suspicious, and if they get suspicious then Delusion is going to hear about it.

Oh, they also found out that Pluto's blood works fine for transfusions. So Gouge will take as much as she can without killing him. Which is...quite a bit.

Pluto prefers blood draw days. It sucks, but the wooziness from blood loss is a lot better than the pain from getting his organs harvested. Especially since Gouge has to stop with the organ harvesting for a while.

~

Pluto does genuinely think he's happy to help Delusion. He just really wishes it wasn't Gouge.

That's all. (that's not all. but he hasn't figured that out yet)

It doesn't help that Gouge has been steadily getting more and more unhinged and eager to hurt him. She's loving this. An indestructible toy she can put through agonizing pain over and over and over again? And just...take pieces out? Is it her birthday or something?

Pluto's not the only one noticing that she's getting worse.

She was a little off before, but in a way that was easily passed off as her just being really anti-social. Which wasn't wrong.

But once Pluto "disappeared", she just…slowly got weirder. She's more distracted. Her eyes seem to light up at any expression of pain. Sometimes she starts grinning for no apparent reason and does this little laugh that sends shivers down everyone's spines. She seems more tired, and yet somehow more…more excited? Almost happier, but it's not quite that.

She's also disappearing more and more often. Delusion seems perfectly fine with this, so he must be having her do something, but no one can figure out what it could be.

Someone swears they saw her go into her apartment with a bag full of bloody clothes one night.

Someone else says they saw her delivering a suspicious package to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning.

Delusion seems entirely unconcerned.

[rosavulpes]

Blake finds Yang slumping into their side, curling limbs and tail around the other until the dragon faunus has decidedly settled in for a comfy little nap.

Taking a light sip of the hot mint tea that had been brought out for him , the smell of the mint mixed with a hint of parsley helped wake him up a bit .

Even though it had only been about a week since they'd finally arrived to Atlas , delivering the Relic of Knowledge to arguably the safest location on all of Remnant at the moment ... he knew better than to let these days of peace simply go by as normal given all that they had learned of it in their travels to bring it to safety in the first place .

The Relic itself posed a danger , a fact they had made certain of informing General Ironwood of once they'd arrived . As such , it's location was one that changed upon the hour , with only their team , and a select few individuals outside of it being kept informed of it's whereabouts when it was moved , and when it arrived .

It was best to keep the relic away from areas heavily populated by people , and at the moment ... Blake was hard at work sketching away at a solution to their current dilemma .

It had been quite some time since he'd last set foot inside of this room , an office space separate from his private dormitory that he'd been gifted some time ago with his rise through the ranks of the Academy . One that he'd decorated to his liking with time . Shelves lined from end to end with books separated by wooden dividers composed the entirety of the right hand side of the wall . Furniture situated around the room with the back end containing a spacious desk with a keyboard that was ready to connect to the Military's main network as needed .

He was currently sitting on a couch , lightly rapping his stylus pen against his elbow .

He'd been diligently working for hours now on this project , with the broken moon long since haven risen into the night skies over them ... working like this as ironic as it might have sounded was actually therapeutic for him . When faced with a problem he couldn't solve , it helped to take a break away from it by focusing on what he could solve . What was actually in front of him .

Making occasional swipes in the air with his stylus pen , the 3D holographic model being projected by the projector in front of him spun , twisted , and conformed to his desired shape with each of his strokes .

What was he working on ? An intricate and multi leveled prison system ... but one that was meant to hold only one prisoner ... and one he wasn't yet certain of how to catch or how to properly contain for that matter . That was why this system was just his best guess for now , a means of preserving hope that they still might win against an enemy that was now apparently an immortal being .

Had the revelation not come from the mouth of a literal genie in a bottle , he'd had never believed such a thing . Could Salem have possessed incredible regenerative powers as her semblance ? Yes , that he'd believe but the concept of immortality ? unaffected by the flow of time ? That ... that was still something he needed to wrap his head around .

Where there was life , there was also death . How could there exist a being outside of the gods of remnant that weren't bound to that cycle ?

They still had a question remaining that they could ask the Relic of Knowledge , and what that question would be , when it would be asked ? That would be left up to Ruby . Though , he wasn't going to sit idly by and wait for it to be revealed to him .

This prison system , if they could find a way to catch Salem , even if they couldn't put her down for good , maybe they could imprison her somehow . Somewhere far enough away where her ability to call the Grimm was rendered useless . Somewhere dark enough that she'd never see the light of day for the rest of eternity .

But where could such a place be found ... could he even create such a thing ? Or did it already exist somewhere without them knowing of it ?

Feeling a light headache starting to come on the faunus pinched his brows . There were so many more questions that he wanted to ask , but for now it seemed that Professor Ozpin resigned himself to silence within the boy they'd found .

With the door to his office sliding open , his feline ears perked as he spotted Yang at the doorway .

" Having trouble sleeping ? "

He'd given his teammates his dormitory to use as it was more comfortable than the standard bunks issued to new students and he didn't mind sleeping on the couch in his office at all .

" Yang , you don't need to worry about me . I'm fine , I promise "

Smiling as she silently walked towards him , he could only guess that she might have pitied him for his current sleeping situation but he'd , they'd all certainly slept on worse not all that long ago after all hadn't they ? The journey to Atlas hadn't been an easy one , challenges waiting for them along the way , seemingly at every turn .

As the dragon faunus embraced him , wrapping the length of her tail , and her arms around him before settling in . He found himself blushing at her sudden touch , before smiling softly as his tail moved to intertwine itself with hers .

Saving the rough draft of the 3D model he'd created , he supposed ... that maybe just one night of rest wouldn't be so bad right ? Maybe just for tonight he could take a break ... and maybe the answer they were seeking would make itself known to them tomorrow . Setting down his stylus on the elevated pedestal . The display would go dark , saved , to be worked on again at another time .

He'd place a light kiss to her forehead .

" Good night , Yang "

[lexical-lushes]

[Shivers, Vampiric] so, m-me, specifically. one of my facets.

there's two versions of me, r-really - one that's modern urban fantasy and one that's eberron-specific - b-but they're both fundamentally similar.

a g-girl wants desperately to have friends, and she does a lot of s-stupid things to keep people around. she becomes the girl that will do p-pretty much anything for attention. mostly, it means she hangs out with p-people older than she should be and going to parties she should know better than to attend and drinking too much and doing whatever drugs people offer her even when she's scared. she ends up keeping a lot of beds warm. she ends up a lot of places without beds.

but at least people keep her around because she's fun, right?

(this is how a lot of shiverses' stories go.)

but then one night with her head spinning she catches the wrong boy's attention, and the next thing she knows she has a set of fangs in her neck and she's dead not long after that.

but she doesn't s-stay dead.

she wakes up the next evening, and everything is different.

...in one version, she never sees her sire again and her life falls apart. she can't bring herself to feed the horrible hunger she's developed. she can't bear to see the few friends or family she still has left.

she rots away under an overpass, gnawing on her own arm, until someone kind starts to take pity on the weird homeless girl she walks past every evening heading back from work.

she makes a friend. she makes something more than that.

and she finds ways to earn her keep. a kind heart still needs blood to keep pumping, can only give so much to feed a hunger that never abates.

but perhaps there are people out there, people who have hurt such a kind heart, that might deserve to die for it.

...in another version, her sire sticks around. he's a pirate, a bloodsail, and he wasn't, strictly, supposed to sire her. undeath must be paid for, you see - immortality is a privilege. but all she knows is her utter certainty in serving her sire, her undying love for him, the bond between master and spawn.

until the rest of the bloodsails catch wind of what he's done and kill him for good.

they let her live, though. maybe they even help her get back on her feet, set up a payment plan. she's done nothing wrong, after all, but still - undeath must be paid for.

so she does what she's good at. she still has her body, and oh, it can take so much more punishment than it ever could before. sometimes someone wants a punching bag for a night just as much as they want to share a warm bed. her prices are cheap - she needs to eat, a-after all, but if you'll let her bite you you can do whatever you like with her before you pay.

a little bit, she likes the pain.

a little bit, she feels l-like she deserves it.

time slips by. she doesn't grow older. she covets what her clients have - experience, wisdom, some ineffable quality of maturity that she always wanted for herself. she can taste it in their blood and s-she's so certain that if she listens hard enough to what they say and stays near enough them she can, somehow, absorb it for herself.

so she does what she's good at. time had been passing by so quickly until that night, and then... it wasn't anymore.

...and then one day adventure finds her and sweeps her off her feet.

[angeldcgs]

portia couldn't help but wonder how things had never worked out in his love life before. sure, he'd said he was waiting for a proper relationship in order to lose his virginity, but how could he possibly have never had a girlfriend before? was everyone he'd ever dated out of their goddamn mind, or was his anxiety really that bad that he somehow blew every chance he got? hell, he'd been shy with her since the day they met, and she still wanted to jump his bones. it just didn't make sense to her, especially given how much caelum had going for him when compared to so many other single men. so maybe it really was just that his standards were impossibly high, which she could respect. a man like him deserved only the best, and maybe the best couldn't be found on a dating app, but they had to start somewhere, and it'd at least give her some idea of what he needed to work on going forward. she felt a strange sort of giddiness at the prospect of being his dating coach, having a level of control over his love life that he wouldn't have allowed just anyone to have, which meant he really trusted her. he was in good hands, too— she'd spent more time stalking such apps than she'd ever care to admit, so if anyone knew what worked, it would be portia. it was difficult not to swoon over just how vulnerable he looked curled in on himself, his cheeks turned a rosy pink as he was unable to even meet her eyes. hopefully she'd succeed at helping to bring him out of his shell a bit, but she almost hoped he remained the same timid mouse of a man forever, only to be consumed for her enjoyment. such desires were selfish, though, and she had to put her own wants aside in order to do what was best for him. "what?" she couldn't help but chuckle at his dramatic reaction, head cocked with a slight smile lingering on her lips. "you apologize too much... it's a shame, though. this face was meant to be immortalized." clearly she saw something in caelum that he didn't see in himself, and that hurt. he had so much to be confident about, and yet he remained so insecure, which only made her that much more determined to uplift him, and help him see himself through her eyes. some nice pictures wouldn't change his whole self image, but they couldn't hurt, either. "you don't have to worry about a thing, sugar," she grinned, finally releasing his chin so she could pinch at his cheek. "i bet you five hundred dollars you're gonna wake up to an offer from gq to be on the cover of the next issue when i'm done with you." with his phone still in hand, portia stood up from the couch and reached out for his hand. "c'mon, let's find some good lighting. we gotta highlight those cheekbones... i think i know just the spot!"

it didn't satisfy caelum to know that he couldn't take away portia's embarrassment, especially when she had no reason to feel it in the first place. she'd done nothing wrong, it was him who had decided to try and play pretend, her authenticity had frightened him and that was his burden to bear, not hers. he didn't want to push things to the point where she did get upset with him though, and that seemed plausible if he refused to let her take the accountability she wanted so he shut up on the matter. instead, he turned his focus to his phone and watched as she scrolled through his camera roll, his face still flushed from their brief discussion about the possibility of finding nudes. his photos were as family-friendly as it got, all beings the things that were important to him and it happened to be that his own face wasn't one of those things. he didn't run away from having his photo taken, there must have been a couple on the phones of his co-workers but that wasn't helpful for them at that moment, if anything it highlighted to him how strange it was to have none for himself. he didn't know what he had been expecting upon portia clicking on one of the few photos of himself, but the look of boredom didn't do wonders for his confidence. caelum found himself shuffling a little further away from her, with one arm wrapped around himself to offer some kind of comfort as he listened to portia speak. even if it was nothing more than flattery, an attempt to remedy some of the insecurity that had been brought to the service as a result of his confession, it still felt exponentially good to hear her say such nice things about him. a bashful smile grew and he turned his head down as to avoid showing off his embarrassment. he didn't have the chance to fully immerse himself in his shyness, portia brought him back as the centre of attention and caelum let himself be moved as she studied his face, like she hadn't seen it countless times before. the blush on his cheeks only brought out the heavy spattering of freckles that also covered them, warm sunkissed skin from long walks whenever he had the time to traverse nature like he loved to do. he never felt all that attractive but under her analytical gaze, he was forced to put himself in her shoes and imagine himself in a different light, one where there were things about himself to be admired. "oh god." the words escaped him before he had the chance to force silence and just as quickly, caelum jumped to apologise for his lack of enthusiasm. "sorry- yes, of course you can. i- sorry i'm not used to having my photo taken." he quickly explained. there portia was trying to help him and he was complaining, making a big deal out of nothing like he always did. "you'll have to, uh, tell me what to do..."

[wizardofgoodfortune]

i have been lurking in your asks for this moment: for the spotify wrapped fic prompt, #10!!

i'm going to ignore the very obvious and very painful daniel/hob implications of this song because i want to finish the comics first before writing anything outside of the show's canon. so have this instead!!

--

Dream had been visiting Hob more frequently than he'd like to admit. It all started with Dream wanting to carve out a small place of solace in his life, and what place was more perfect than The New Inn? Built for him like an altar for an absent god.

Though these days, he'd been more present than ever. He wished he had the privilege to say he'd been drunk the first night it happened, or the next night, and the next. But Dream, Lord of Dreams and Ruler of Nightmares, always knew what was going on, and what desires he'd recklessly indulged in again and again.

Tonight was no different. By now, Hob was a veteran in making Dream feel more than welcome. It was all too easy to fall into Hob's arms and into his bed above The New Inn. Somewhere down the line, Dream had made himself vulnerable to Desire's machinations.

But he had somehow convinced himself that it was alright, as long as Hob wasn't vulnerable.

Some nights they talked afterwards, and Dream wasn't quite sure whether it amplified or quieted his regrets. This was one of those nights.

"Tell me about the Dreaming," Hob said, his head propped up on his arm as he looked down at Dream.

"What do you wish to know?"

"I don't know. Everything. You don't work alone, do you?"

"...No, I suppose I don't, anymore. I have Lucienne. And Matthew."

"Ah, Matthew, yeah, we've met. Why does he talk by the way? Nearly gave me a heart attack the first time he spoke to me."

"He was human, before. He died in his sleep and became a raven of the Dreaming."

"Oh," Hob said. He paused. Dream observed the shadows cast on his face by the moonlight. "So if I die in my sleep, I get to stay at your place? As a raven?"

Dream felt the corners of his mouth lift up. A silly notion. "You do not have to die. You will always be welcome in the Dreaming, Hob."

Hob smiled down at him, and Dream felt a warm fire in his chest. "Thank you, love. But what I meant is I never had the chance to visit your, y'know. Your place. Is it a castle?"

"Yes, I suppose you could call it a castle," Dream said.

Hob hummed, and tapped Dream's chest with his free hand. "A wild thing," he said after a few seconds.

"What is?" Dream asked.

"I was just some peasant when we first met," Hob said, his eyes lost in memory. "Thought you were some ignorant lord. In the back of my mind, I thought were you just making fun of me, asking to meet you after a hundred years. Never thought this," he gestured to their bodies, naked under the covers, "would ever happen. Y'know? A wild thing."

Dream hummed in agreement.

"Guess I'm lucky, huh?" Hob chuckled, his fingers still tapping on Dream's chest. "Hey. Would you bring me to your castle some day, show me around?"

"Perhaps," Dream replied.

"Tease," Hob chastised. Then he pressed a kiss on Dream's forehead, then on his nose, and finally on his lips. "I adore you. You know that? I love you, Dream."

Dream froze. He looked into Hob's eyes, saw the fondness in them, and knew that he meant it.

This was just supposed to be a brief respite, some semblance of comfort that he did not have in his day-to-day life. He thought it was the same for Hob, that Dream was just someone immortal to hold onto once in a while. But it wasn't. Not anymore.

I should not have come here, he thought, tearing his gaze away from Hob's. He did not have the heart to say it out loud.

Dream stood up from the bed, already clothed.

This will be the last time, he thought. It was what he thought every time. And maybe tonight it will finally come true. No, it should come true. Lest he destroy even Hob Gadling, like he has many times to his other lovers before. It always ended in tragedy, whether Desire was involved or not, and Dream didn't want that for him.

A hand shot up from the covers to grip his wrist.

"Stay. Stay, darling," Hob said, sitting up. "Won't you stay?"

Dream turned.

Hob's eyes shone, watery in the moonlight.

It should not be fair, Dream thought, for Desire to easily toy with me like this.

"I cannot stay any longer," Dream said.

"Why not?" Hob said, with all the petulance of a child. "Come back. Just for a while."

Dream resisted the urge to climb back in the covers with him. That was his sibling speaking.

"I apologize. I will make sure your dreams are pleasant tonight, and on every other night."

"Will you be coming back?" Hob asked. "You sound like you're never coming back."

Dream said nothing.

"I can wait. I will."

"I know," Dream said. He didn't add, "beloved."

"I'm not sorry," Hob said, gripping Dream's wrist even tighter. "But I won't say it again, if it means you'll stay."

Something cold and heavy sat in Dream's chest.

"So don't go," Hob said, "please."

Dream dissipated into thin air, but not quickly enough that he did not see a tear roll down Hob's cheek. He can still feel his grip on his wrist.

[snowywanderer]

The Power of Patience (and a Little Almond Tofu)

Character: Xiao

Words: 2788

Warnings: blood mentioned briefly, healing from an injury (let me know if anything else needs tagged)

Details: You stayed at Wangshu Inn for two reasons: the low prices, and the strangely handsome immortal you hope to get close to. How easy that is rests entirely on him.

Alternatively: you bring Xiao almond tofu every day. You doubt he even notices, until the day you can’t. Apparently he notices more than you could’ve ever hoped for.

You had known what you were getting into the moment you had decided to try and get close to Xiao. At least, you thought so. You didn’t realize quite how much time and patience it would take, but it was something you were willing to do. For him.

He was an adeptus, which you’d somehow guessed after seeing him the first time. Most people seemed to think he was a very young mortal, if the bulletin boards were to be believed. Something felt lonely about him though, and you wanted to help. Perhaps you’d fail, but you at least wanted to try.

At first, you didn’t see him at all, even when you actively sought him out. Maybe he knew what you were trying to do. Maybe not. Still, you’d gathered the fact he would usually be on Wangshu Inn’s balcony if he wanted to be seen.

Unfortunately for you, he didn’t.

Maybe… you’d see him if you brought almond tofu. It was difficult to convince Smiley Yanxiao to let you borrow the kitchen. You were just a guest who stayed at the inn only for the low rates compared to staying in the harbor, after all. (“You know I could just make it and give it to you?” “It wouldn’t be the same!”) However, his hesitation stopped when you mentioned the adeptus on the roof.

“Just don’t expect too much from him. You’d be lucky to see him.”

Despite his words, and his tone, you could tell he was coming from a good place. The fact he let you use his kitchen was proof enough.

Your first attempt was quite impressive, especially considering you’d never made it before. Smiley Yanxiao even seemed to approve. With his vote of confidence, you climbed the stairs to the balcony.

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t disappointed to not see Xiao, but hey! Baby steps. You honestly weren’t sure if he’d even take your offering. Still, with a sigh, you placed the plate down and headed back inside.

The next night when you went to offer more, it was gone. You felt some sort of pride, but it was immediately followed by doubt. Maybe someone else had found it. Maybe it was ignored and someone working at the inn had to take it back inside. Worst of all, perhaps he had gotten it and didn’t like it. There were no signs in any direction. You sighed, shook your head, and left the food out.

It became a routine. You’d leave it out, the next night it would be gone. The only evidence it happened was your memory. Your doubt grew every day. Still, you pushed through. After all, if a worker at the inn had brought the plate back to the kitchen, surely Smiley Yanxiao would’ve told you. It would be a waste of your time and ingredients, as well as his kitchen, if it just sat there.

Someone was clearly eating it, but who? You just hoped it was Xiao. The fact it was being eaten meant surely it was at least good. Whoever took it kept coming back every time you left it, after all.

You, for better or for worse, had a job. Sure, it was routine to make the food for Xiao but you had other things to do during the day than just that. Which led to the first conflict: a hilichurl attack.

You headed back to the inn after a long day, trying to stick to the path. Was it your fault there was a stretch where the wildlife looked so peaceful under the glow of the sunset, and there didn’t happen to be any Millelith posted? It also happened to be the furthest point of the path from both Liyue Harbor and Wangshu Inn.

“Yaya ika!”

Oh. Well then, time to get going! Unfortunately for you, mitachurls were very fast. They could outrun their targets, especially if said target tripped and fell like an idiot.

You had a Vision at least. You sustained injuries, and yet you fought to the best of your abilities. You took out what you thought was the last hilichurl, and panted from exhaustion. How were you going to make it back to the inn like this? You prayed for a miracle… and were met instead with the sound of a hilichurl blowing a horn.

Reinforcements? Now? You were dead. Maybe you could just run— wait, no. Your legs began to wobble under you. No. Not here. Not like this! Yet, you couldn’t do much. All you could do was grab your weapon and hope you’d be seen soon.

To your surprise, you were able to at least hit a few hilichurls if not incapacitate them when they saw you.

That’s when you got the miracle you were waiting for. The sound of fierce wind, black smoke-like tendrils surrounding a small body, a mask that glowed teal… There was no mistaking your savior was none other than the one you’d been making offerings to.

It was his duty, you told yourself as you watched. You weren’t special. You were a citizen of Liyue and it was his duty to protect you. That was all assuming he’d even come here to help you and he didn’t just happen to be in the area.

Yet, watching him move swift as the wind, his hair flying, you couldn’t help but wish it wasn’t a coincidence he happened to be patrolling here. The final hilichurl fell, and no horn sounded. The yaksha moved his head back and forth, and finally removed his mask. His golden eyes seemed to glow under the light of the now rising moon. The stars around him shone so spectacularly that you felt your chest tighten.

His eyes turned to you. Oh no. He couldn’t tell what you’d just been thinking, right? Your heart began to race from fear this time. He opened his mouth and you flinched instantly.

“Are you okay?” So, it seemed he hadn’t known. You’d keep it that way.

“I think so. Thanks to you.”

“You’re lucky. If you were any closer, you could’ve been hurt much worse. I cannot guarantee the safety of those who witness my battles.” Then, something pulls his eye down your body.

You follow his gaze and realize finally there was a huge gash from your knee most of the way down your leg. It was bleeding profusely. Oh. In your adrenaline-filled state, you hadn’t felt it. Now that you did, your reaction was to laugh.

Oh archons, you must’ve looked insane.

“You… are very strange. What did you think you were even doing?”

“I don’t know. I guess that’ll teach me to wander.” Your words were punctuated by further bouts of laughter. “I thought I’d be able to get them all.”

“Here.” He walked close to you, but remained slightly distant. He then offered his wrist. “I wouldn’t usually do this, but I don’t think you can get back to Wangshu Inn like this. Just know I won’t be able to do this all the time. It would put too much of a strain on your body to deal with my karma.”

Wow… even one sentence he’d just said contained more words than you’d collectively heard from him before. You took his hand gently, not that you had to grip strength to put much pressure on him.

You closed your eyes tight, and with another whooshing sound, you were back at Wangshu Inn. Only Verr Goldet and Huai’an seemed to be awake, though you felt that had a lot to do with the fact most mortals weren’t meant to know Xiao stayed there.

You turned around to thank Xiao. He was already gone. You could still feel the ghost of his touch on your hand.

Verr Goldet, strange as she could be, helped you clean and bandage your wound. She asked you questions to distract you from the pain, mostly about your encounter.

“It was a bit odd,” you admitted. “I haven’t heard him speak so much ever. It was like he already knew where to go too, but I don’t know how he would. And he- ow!- he teleported me back here.”

“It’s true that would be a rare experience for any ordinary person.”

You were too tired to think too much about the fact she said “ordinary” in such a way it might exclude you.

“Still, it may have been strange to him to receive almond tofu every day, and then one day not.” She smiled slightly at that. “Perhaps he noticed your absence more than you give yourself credit for.”

Once she had treated you, you went almost straight to bed. What a strange day.

The first thing you felt as you woke up was panic. Not because of a nightmare, but because of the night before. Was any of that real? Maybe it was a dream too. Still, you remembered it better than most dreams.

Xiao had saved you from hilichurls. Would you have died without him? Maybe not, but it was the gesture that counted. Your mind lingered on the way he looked under the night sky. You shook your head, and thought back to Verr Goldet’s words. She said something about the almond tofu, right? So Xiao had been receiving it! And he had noticed when there wasn’t any. Maybe he was worried. Wait. Foolishness of assuming an adeptus would notice if you went missing aside, how actually had he gotten to you in time?

You startled at the thought, and the pain that shot through your leg confirmed it was all real. Wait, how would you get to work if you could barely walk? You hobbled out of your room with great difficulty… and were met with stairs. Yeah, you weren’t getting to the harbor anytime soon.

Verr Goldet noticed you from the lobby, and called out. “Be careful!”

“I… I don’t think I can move much,” you replied with a grimace. She left the desk and quickly ascended the stairs.

“I figured. I’ve already sent a letter to your employer saying you won’t be able to make it in for a while. Just focus on resting.

You figured it would be all you could do. Still… “I want to thank Xiao for everything. I don’t think I’d be in a very good state if he hadn’t come, not that I’m doing too good right now. I want to at least bring him almond tofu or something.”

She waved dismissively. “Don’t even worry. He doesn’t seem to like that sort of thing anyway. As far as he’s concerned, it was nothing.”

You didn’t want to offend him. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I think the best thing you can do is heal.” She lowered her voice and winked. “Still, if there was a way you wanted to thank him, I could always look the other way. I think it’d be good for him.”

You thanked her and said goodbye. With a determined expression, you turned back to your room and nearly cried out from the pain. Yeah, this might be difficult.

When you woke up again, there were two plates next to you. One of them, you noted, was almond tofu. You didn’t expect anyone to bring you food, much less dessert too. After eating, you saw why it was one of the only dishes Xiao could stomach. If you were being honest, it had quickly skyrocketed to being one of your favorite foods. A knock sounded on your door.

“Hello?”

“This is Verr Goldet. I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay and you got the food.”

“Oh, yeah! I’m great, and so’s the food. Especially the almond tofu.”

She didn’t respond for a second. “We didn’t—“ she cut herself off. “Well, at least you seem to be doing good.”

How strange. It seemed like she was going to say they didn’t bring you the almond tofu, but how else would it have gotten there? It was also strange to you that the staff seemed to be so kind towards you. Were they like that with every guest, or had you done something that caught their attention? You thought back to Verr Goldet’s strange actions when you mentioned thanking Xiao. Perhaps you had done something special.

The next few weeks were simultaneously the slowest and fastest of your life. The first days of rest were nice, but you grew frustrated being unable to move as you wanted. Still, you made a lot of progress and after a while your were able to walk down to get your own food at least.

When you finally were mostly back to normal, and had taken the bandages off, you marveled at how fast the time had seemed to fly in retrospect. You decided to test your capabilities one night before you went back to work, just in case. Before leaving, you left another almond tofu. This one had a note. You laughed to yourself and headed off.

Despite your curiosity about Xiao, you knew little about the actual work he did. You had no idea what sort of route he took or when he went out. He must have been at the inn around the time you left his food out. It was a cold dish, so surely it would go bad quickly. With your genius brain, you had the idea to help kill some monsters for him. It would test your leg, and you’d be able to thank him. Nothing could go wrong, unless you injured yourself again. Well, whatever. That wouldn’t happen.

To your credit, it didn’t. The night went well in terms of fighting, due in part to your Vision. Your leg felt about how it did before the injury. Just as you were about to rest against a tree, you heard a familiar whooshing noise. Xiao! What was he doing here?

“What are you doing here?” Apparently, he wanted to know the same of you.

“Thanking you?”

He scoffed. “You’re absurd.”

You laughed.!It sounded different from the last time you’d laughed around him. It was happy, not borderline maniacal. His eyes went back down to your leg.

“I’m fine, see?”

“That was still risky of you.”

“It ended up fine.”

“What if it didn’t? You really didn’t need to thank me for performing my duties.”

Wait. Was he worried? You certainly didn’t expect him to admit it, but you smiled at him anyway.

“I suppose you’re right that I didn’t need to.” His expression changed. It was still difficult to read, but it was something different. “You just missed the fact I wanted to.”

Xiao blinked, then turned away. “Mortals are so fragile, yet you’d never know from the way they act.”

You wondered briefly if he’d gotten your note. Was there any way for you to tell? You could ask, but would that be weird? You decided not to, but still wanted to say one last thing.

“If I were so fragile, how am I still here? Maybe I’m not like you in terms of strength, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything in my own right. Anyway, I want to say it properly. Thank you.”

Xiao’s back was still turned towards you. You couldn’t see his face, nor could he see yours. Still, you smiled. The thought entered your head once more, briefly, that he looked every bit as beautiful as the night he saved you.

“Whatever. Do what you want. I don’t think I can stop someone so stubborn. Insisting on thanking me, insisting on leaving me offerings as if I’m someone to worship, insisting on leaving handwritten notes… Truly absurd.”

That’s when you realized several things. First, he knew it was you leaving the almond tofu. Second, he had read your note. Third, he had a very strange perception of himself. And fourth…

“Before you go, I want to thank you for bringing me that almond tofu the that first day.”

The way he teleported put quickly seemed to confirm it. Of course he’d be the only one who could bring you something without the knowledge of anyone else at the inn.

As you headed back to the inn, this time for real, you felt your heart swell. Several months ago, you never would’ve thought you could experience anything like that. Your smile widened… and then dropped as you remembered you’d probably have to start working again the next day, and it was very late. Whatever. You’d gotten through to Xiao on some level, which was more than most could say. Even if you still had some way to go, you were proud of what you had done. Now, if only you could work on your heart rate upon seeing him.

[yantalia545]

yandere-dark-cupid asked: Yandere King England with a sea witch darling.

Don’t hate me. This is my first request and I don’t know how to add a quote another person makes into my posts, so this is all I could do. I did 

England:

No matter the amount of power, money, or refined skills in magic he possesses, there is just no controlling you. And he despises it.

Control has always been one of Arthur’s sour spots in his personality. Him being a king doesn’t make his hungry for control any better. No sir, his position only adds wood to the fire. 

You are certainly a thorn in his sea of obedient guppies. One that goes against the current and makes her own rules. Reveling prime fishing spots to his fishermen, nullifying treacherous storms, and washing away oncoming enemies of his empire are nice. (Just some of the things you do that he takes full advantage of), but only if you did them because he ordered you to. Not because of your own will. 

Reputation is everything to Arthur. He’s seen a great deal in his immortal life. Witnessing a firsthand of numerous powerful leaders being overthrown by a more preferable no-life has definitely brought some guard up in his personality. Your reputation of assisting the poor townspeople in their livelihoods by the sea threatens Arthur’s monarchy he worked so hard to build. 

With all of this in mind, your relationship won’t exactly be lovely. Arthur will despise you for the longest time. You’ll quickly become an enemy to the kingdom despite your graces to help them and have no choice but to hide in the shadows and out of sight of his knights that are on constant patrol for you. You do get by with a little help from those you’ve helped in the past, but eventually, Arthur catches on and permits his men to kill anyone and their entire lineage if found assisting you. 

Despite Arthur’s crude actions, you still help those in need, from poor humans to tattered sea life. You will never fully turn a blind eye to those in need.

That alone will be your demise.

After countless years and attempts to capture you, King Arthur decides to take a different route and use your own kindness against you. 

First, he will suddenly pull a large number of knights from the streets while lifting your bounty. Then, he’ll begin to open his castle to you in the form of an invitation. 

You’re not clueless though, you know he’s up to something more, so it takes another long period of time and persistence before you even decide to reply to his invitation. Mostly because you want him to stop pestering you and the people you help keep insisting you go.

When you finally did respond, you were prepared for a fight or at least an escape route. What you weren’t prepared for was a friend.

He’ll show you all kinds of sorcerer magic and opened your understanding of magic to new horizons. Fairies, spells, and mixtures alike; You’ve never experienced any other sort of magic or magical being but your own. It was a warm thought to be able to finally know someone else who possesses magical abilities such as yourself. 

It wasn’t long before you were visiting nearly every day. 

This wasn’t supposed to go on for as long as it did. Arthur had planned to snuff you out after your first visit to the castle where you’d be out in the open and vulnerable. However, something that day shifted inside him too. As he watched your face lit up with amazement while he performed simple spells, he felt a sort of pride to know the limitations of your knowledge in magic. The way your smile and brilliant eyes showed alone somehow caused a crack in his bricked-up wall of a heart left him hesitant over his original plan. It was strange to him how someone who was powerful enough to avoid an entire kingdom but knows nothing outside their own element of magic. If you did, maybe then you would have noticed the fairies he had sent out to spy on you for years on end.

Each visit the two of you shared from there on out had caused Arthur’s heart to chip away at his imprisoning walls little by little until his true feelings were shed. 

He was a rather lonely man who dealt with a sea of heartbreaks in his immortal life. Before you, he thought that by shielding his heart from others then he would be spared from another heartbreak. This tactic of his did indeed spare him from pain, but it also isolated him from others and left him abandoned by those he cared for most. Such as former Prince Alfred he has one day told you about, who had run off and started a new kingdom of his very own. It was only a matter of time before his fear and insecurities would taint his view of you.

The more your friendship grew, the stronger Arthur’s desires for you grew. It was an addicting feeling to have someone who he could share his knowledge of magic with. Of course, being the type of man that Arthur is, he wouldn’t understand his feelings for you and try to evade or hide them the best that he can. And this works. For the most part that is. It isn’t until another magic user he’s acquainted with, (King Lukas Bondevik from Norway), comes to visit does Arthur’s possessiveness of you really settle in.

Arthur isn’t the most skilled in the art of black magic as he likes to believe. He quickly feels threatened when he notices you conversing with King Lukas over magic. Fear of someone else abandoning him sets the way for your demise. 

From that day on Arthur will suddenly become overbearing. Insisting you move into the castle, constructing a tight daily schedule that involves you being with him for most of the day. Even sending more fairies to spy on you a report back to him the few moments you get to yourself. They all become quickly unsettling and when you try to confront the man on this he’s quick to turn to blame on you.

Arthur will always use your pity for him against you to keep you from further questioning him.

Do you want to leave me like all the others? Can’t you see that I only want to be with you because I enjoy your company? Do you not satisfied with mine?

When you get sick of the constant loop your in with him of Arthur always being the victim, you’ll try to stomp your way past him only for the knights to block your exit. If you don’t get the message there that you’re not leaving Arthur and try to get past his men, then you’ll find yourself reprimanded by the forces of his magic. Having been with you for so long now and understanding the works of your magic, Arthur now has all the information he needs to control you and your magic.

Until you learn you place, or as punishment for ever thinking of leaving him, you’ll be placed in an anti-magic room he’s been secretly preparing just for you. One that will elute your magic and restrain you from escaping.

He’s not as cruel when it comes to you though. You will be fed three times a day and occasionally be permitted to walk through the gardens with him. But only with him. On the rare days you are aloud out of your room, there will be a binding spell placed on you. 

No one but him would be able to see you. Knights would be waved to leave an area he brought you to, maids and butlers would be ordered to stay clear of you. People outside the castle walls would eventually begin to think you ran off somewhere while the castle staff would quietly gossip amongst themselves about you. If they were caught by Arthur so much as mentioning your name, then they would be fired of mysteriously disappear. You were his beloved. They had no place to even know your name.

His magical beloved. Blessed with the secrets of the sea. Common people like them will never understand the lengths of your abilities. Abilities that he alone controls.

[nineliabilityrisk]

This was... surprisingly not the weirdest situation Michael had gotten himself into. Tucked away in some dark, nasty-ass alleyway with what was probably one of the worst beings on Earth to be stuck in an alleyway with. He couldn't even leave, 'cause there were people out on the street. People that he'd drawn out with the sounds of the scuffle he'd just gotten into with the giant murderpanda when he'd first seen it. People that probably wouldn't take too kindly to seeing Mr. Walking Corpse pass them by. He'd already been evicted once for that. (Now that had been one of the more 'fun' things to learn about, once Ennard had left him.) At least the alley was pretty wide. More room to maneuver. Also, more room for trash to pile up absolutely everywhere. God, was he glad that most of his soft tissue rotted off, 'cause that included his olfactory system. Goodbye, sense of smell.

"Now, I agree with you on that first part, buddy," he said, voice sounding nearly as damaged as the bear's due to Ennard's unceremonious exit all that time ago. "But-" he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, or, what was left of it - "not so sure about the second half. Tried it once. Didn't stick. You know this, you were there. Still not forgiving you or your pals for that, by the way." He really tried to act unphased by Funfred's words and the situation as a whole. Yep, that killer animatronic bear basically just told him to off himself in the middle of some random alleyway. Normal Tuesday night for him.

He very much did not react to Funfred calling William - Michael's father - 'Papa.' That was fucking weird. It would also technically make them brothers. He did not have the energy for that kind of mental acrobatics at the moment. That was something to be compartmentalized and locked away and ignored until the day he finally found a way to get himself off of this mortal plane.

There would normally be no chance in Hell that Michael would be acting this calm around an animatronic, especially not one that has proven himself to be as dangerous as Funtime Freddy, but, well. He was technically immortal, now, for one - not willingly, but, hey, Funfred had technically been a part of the cause, so he would have to deal with it, and, two... The panda seemed to be, well, pretty well contained already. "So. Found someone to fix you up, huh? I will say, you look a whole lot better than when I last saw you - that soup of cables and eyeballs I puked into the sewers was not pretty."

He clasped his bony hands behind his back, the gloves he wore doing their job to keep everything in place. Giving an exaggerated wince, he walked in a semicircle around where the pastel panda was slumped in a pile of garbage, giving him as wide of a berth as possible to stay out of reach but not being too overly cautious. As far as he could tell, the bear's arms still worked, after all, and even though his overall mobility seemed limited, Michael wasn't exactly keen on testing it. "Doesn't really look like they finished the job, though, did they? Having some trouble moving, there, Fredboy?" Okay. Maybe he was having a little too much fun with this. But, to be fair, this bear did technically have a hand in ending his life not all that long ago. This was just... Karma. Or something. Maybe, like... Passive revenge. Either way, he deserved to have something go not-terrible in his life for once.

"Okay. I'm done for now. I got enough of it out. Looks like we need to talk, though, 'cause I'd rather stop meeting like this." Squatting down - a good few feet away, of course, he was still well aware of who he was dealing with - to be closer to Funfred's eye level while avoiding making contact with the somehow slimy-looking pavement, he rested his forearms on his knees and squinted into the bear's eyes. "What the fuck are you doin' here, man? What happened to you?"

❝  Living is overwhelming! Dying might just be your thing!

Cause Papa just taught me one thing; 'TAKE THINGS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS!' ❞