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see-the-fandom-imagines · 9 months

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What's in it for me?

Pairing: Kyouya Ootori x Reader Author: see-the-fandom-imagines Warnings: None, really Author’s Note: Sorry this took again forever, I will upload the next 4 chapters in the next days :) Thanks for reading <3 Tag List: @radical-bunny, @redsakura101, @ellouisa17

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46325452/chapters/116633701

It was the last weekend of your break and you had decided to spend the day at Haruhi’s today to cook a little and hang out just the two of you before you both had to go back to school. You knew that you’d be seeing each other in the host club, but it was nice not having to put up a front every now and then and to spend some time together, just the two of you.

Chatting happily, Haruhi and you had just gotten out of the convenience store to buy a few items, some tea and snacks, when suddenly a huge commotion right in front of her apartment complex caught your attention.

“Hm? What do you think is going on there?”, Haruhi asked, and you shrugged.

“No idea. Let’s go check it…”, you began, but your voice got caught in your throat as you spotted the Rolls Royce in front of her building and heard the voices of the passers-by. “What is this? Who’re these rich people?”

“Oh no”, Haruhi and you sighed in unison, looking at each other exasperatedly. You knew what would be coming.

“How dare they just show up unannounced?”, Haruhi already complained and dropped her grocery store bags, letting her head hang low.

“Are you really surprised, though?”, you asked back, watching the six boys get out of the car. When they got out of the car, you couldn’t help but notice how stylish they were dressed for a visit like this, and you sheepishly looked down at yourself. You had just thrown on the first best thing you had found in your wardrobe as it was not only Sunday, but also Haruhi had seen you in every state possible, so you really didn’t care anymore how you looked when you went over to her place. You suddenly felt very self-conscious.

This feeling didn’t get better when you heard what Kyouya was saying.

“No, this is what’s called a ‘commoners´apartment complex’. Haruhi’s place is probably just one of the rooms among these.”

He wasn’t wrong, that was exactly what it was, but you couldn’t help but wonder what that meant for how their houses must look like. You knew they weren’t even looking at your flat, but let’s face it, yours wasn’t a lot bigger than Haruhi’s and technically she lived in the better neighbourhood.

You looked at Haruhi, while Tamaki began yelling at Kyouya.

“We could just make a run for it, Haru, what do you think?”

She held up your groceries. “These will spoil, though, if we do not refrigerate them.”

“True that. Alright”, you agreed, accepting your fate. Maybe it could be fun to have them over. It was not like you didn’t like seeing them. Just maybe not today, when you really had wanted to talk to Haruhi about what happened on Okinawa. The entire weekend had left you emotionally agitated and you really needed to vent, eat lots of junk food and then argue with Haruhi, who saw everything always way too rational, about everything once again.

Your self-pity got interrupted by Tamaki who was now loudly proclaiming why they were here. “This is just a nonchalant visit, because we happened to be passing by, and it’s not to research Fujioka’s standard of living.” You could feel Haruhi become more annoyed with every single word he uttered. “The words shabby, cramped and run-down are absolutely forbidden.” Every word made you flinch a little in secondhand embarrassment.

“Yes, sir!”, the other’s complied, and you suddenly felt a gaze on you. When you looked up, you noticed that Kyouya was glancing over at you. He had noticed the both of you, but obviously preferred to stay quiet. Typical. Thinking about your phone call, you awkwardly nodded in his direction to greet him, and cursed yourself in the same second for how absolutely stupid that must have looked. You saw a smirk form on his face and quickly you averted your gaze, before you could turn bright red, looking back at Tamaki, who had still not noticed the both of you approaching.

“Under no circumstances are you to say or do anything that would make them want us to leave.”

“Well, it’s too late for that!”, Haruhi exclaimed, now highly annoyed, snapping you out of your thoughts about Kyouya. “Go away, right now!”

You awkwardly lifted your hand from behind of her to greet everybody. Haruhi’s brows were twitching and you realized she was slightly embarrassed, too. Although probably more of the spoiled rich kids treating her like a commoner in front of all of her neighbours. And yet, all they had to say to this was “That pink dress is so cute!” You hid your own outfit behind your grocery bag. Not everybody could look as cute as her all the time. Haruhi did not appreciate this comment, though and instead told them to shut up and get the hell out of here.

“Haruhi’s so mad, she actually cursed at us! This is your fault”, Tamaki immediately began to blame the twins, who did not seem to be realizing that they were part of the problem.

All of a sudden a middle aged woman approached Haruhi. “Excuse me, Haruhi, but is everything alright?”

“Oh, Hi Ms. Landlady”, you and Haruhi greeted her. You had seen her a few times before when you were around.

“Those young men are driving such fancy foreign cars, they’re not yakuza are they?”

You laughed embarrassedly. “No, they’re not …”

She seemed genuinely worried. “Do you want me to call the police for you?”

“Well actually”, you started to think but were interrupted by Tamaki grabbing the Landlady’s hand in his usual flirty manner. “Pleased to meet you madam. My name’s Suoh, I’m one of Haruhi’s friends.”

“Really?” She blushed. “My goodness, well aren’t you just adorable.”

That was one way to put it. Haruhi stepped back next you.

“And he’s got her.”

You nodded. “I can’t believe this keeps working.”

<p>After a lot of back and forth you had allowed all six hosts inside Haruhi’s small flat and they were now sitting and standing around the living room, looking and commenting on everything.

You listened to them bicker and sighed, helping Haruhi prepare the tea. This was really not how you had expected your Sunday to go and based on her expression neither had she. “Sorry about this, (y/n), let’s talk later, alright?”

You nodded, for some reason, slightly blushing, just in case Kyouya was actually smart enough to know that this was about him. “(Y/n), is this book yours?” You turned around looking at the devil you were speaking of, disassembling the bookshelf one title at a time and accidentally dropping an entire scroll to the floor. You had expected everyone else to make a mess, but him. “Yes. But would you please not touch everything?”

You took a deep breath to calm yourself down and turned around. Haruhi had brought the tea to the table and you noticed in awe that Honey had unpacked a generous selection of amazing looking cakes. Your gaze froze on them, they reminded you of the first cake he had given you on your first day and you remembered how delicious that had been. The glee must have been visible on your face, because the older host gently nudged the packaging closer to you.

“Haru-chan and (y/n)-chan can choose first!”, he exclaimed happily and the two of you looked at each other, equally excited about the treat you were about to get.

“Are you sure?”, Haruhi asked, and you stepped closer to get a better look, waiting for the answer. “Sure, we’re used to eating that stuff.” You didn’t even mind Hikaru’s comment, today you were not going to allow them to spoil your mood.

“Well then …”, Haruhi began thinking for second, “the strawberry one.”

“And you?”, Mori asked looking up at you from where he was sitting.

“Hm… if it’s alright, I think I’ll take the chocolate one then!” He smiled and nodded.

“I am going to get plates”, you said and moved over to the kitchen cupboard to get out eight plates and forks, distributing them. Honey carefully placed the cake onto them.

When you turned around again you realized that Kyouya had decided to sit between Honey and Mori and for a split second you wondered if he had done that on purpose. But your suspicions were short-lived, for the prospect of the cake in front of you let you forget everything else.

The oldest host smiled at you and patted the space next to him and you grinned back, positioning yourself between them.

Although you didn’t like to admit it, it was a bit crowded in here with eight people and when you sat down you felt your thigh touch Kyouya’s knee. Yet, he didn’t seem like he was going to move in any way. You took a deep breath, trying to ignore the touch of his leg against yours and everything related to that and instead took a bite of your cake. It was heaven. Happily you smiled and didn’t notice, that Kyouya was watching you from the corner of his eye, also very aware of the touch of your legs, but a small smile forming on his face nonetheless as he saw you this genuinely happy about something as small as cake. He didn't get to see such genuine joy often.

You just sat around for a while, eating the cake and talking, doing your best to focus on anything but the host next to you, when suddenly someone became peckish.

"After eating that cake, I am a bit hungry", Honey proclaimed and you raised an eyebrow. After the cake? But then again, it was Honey so you were not too surprised. You just wanted to suggest that this must mean they had to leave, when Tamaki and the twins replied, not realizing anything wrong with their utterances. You really liked them, but in moments like this you really wondered how any of them would survive on their own.

"Oh yeah, it's way past lunchtime", Hikaru confirmed.

“Is lunch ready?”, all three then asked in unison.

You took a deep breath. "You guys are another kind of spoiled."

"Yes, could you please stop living in your own world?", Haruhi added, but before anything could escalate again, you felt Kyouya shift next to you.

“Now, we’re the ones who dropped in on you without a warning, so we’ll pay.”

Surprised you looked up at him, as he was getting out his wallet. “Why not order some of your favourite sushi, or something?”, he suggested.

He looked down at you, waiting for a reply. “No, it’s fine, really”, you said, definitely not wanting to owe Kyouya anything, and Haruhi seemed to have read your mind. “Yes, really. I’m scared of what would happen if I let you treat me.”

“Yeah”, you agreed, but immediately kept thinking. Were you really scared? Part of you wanted to see what actually would happen to you. What he would ask of you and if… Quickly you looked back at the table. Enough.

Kyouya however did not react to your declination. Instead, he pulled out a golden credit card. “Not to worry. This comes out of sales of your photos we auctioned off.”

“Of course it did”, you sighed.

“Then isn’t this actually on me?”, Haruhi added.

“All right”, she proclaimed. “I have a friend who runs a nice sushi shop nearby. So I’ll give them a call. They’ll have some high-quality stuff.”

Tamaki handed her a note and Haruhi was reading it out loud, before throwing it out. "Even if the Sushi pack says 'premium' on it, you can't call it high quality. Be very careful." Haruhi didn't even turn around and just crumpled the paper up into a ball, trying to stay calm. “I know that.”

While Tamaki was having another existential crisis, Haruhi took the telephone, yet, could not even fully type in the number as Honey appeared in front of you, smiling brightly.

“I’d like to have something made by (y/n) and Haru-chan. Breakfast last time was just so delicious.” You smiled at him and somehow you couldn't even be mad. It was really kind of him to say that.

You all agreed that Haruhi and you would cook something and after a lot of back and forth you mentally braced yourself for a supermarket shopping trip with 6 hyped up hosts.

“I’ll wait outside”, you proclaimed, anxious to get out of the crowded space. You made your way down the stairs first, waiting a few steps away from the stairs to get some fresh air and some calm before you would have to deal with the rich kids in another confined space. You leant against the wall, eyes closed, when suddenly you felt a presence next to you.

“How have you been, (y/n)?”, he asked and surprised you looked up at him. You had not really expected him to so suddenly appear. And even less had you expected him to actually directly ask you how you were doing. And as if he had read your thoughts he added. “I don’t want you to have any remaining injuries that can be traced back to our private property.” Ah, now it made sense. You shook your head and couldn't hold back a small giggle. In return he raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. The way you’re asking if I am alright, I guess.” Kyouya chose to leave this unanswered, and you looked back up at him. By now you had him figured out for the most part, you noticed. You shook your head. “I’m fine”, you said. “I am not going to sue you. This time.”

“Will be looking forward to the next lawsuit then.”

You scoffed. “Just you wait. Give me a couple more years to save the money for the lawyer and you’re going to be done for.”

A comfortably silence engulfed you for a second, when Kyouya spoke up again.

“Actually”, he said, leaning next to you against the wall, while still facing you. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Hm?” He wanted to talk? About what?

“It’s about …”, he started but he didn’t get much further, for you heard screaming and a huge bang from Haruhi’s apartment.

“Tamaki”, you said in unison, before making your way back up the stairs to see what was going on.

When you entered the apartment together you did not only see Tamaki on the floor, though, but you realized that you had been so focussed on yourself and Kyouya that you hadn't even noticed Ranka coming home. You assessed the situation, Tamaki on the floor, twins grinning next to him and before you could say anything you were engulfed in a tight hug that obstructed your breathing a little more than would have been comfortable. “Aaaah, (y/n), you’re here, too, it’s been quite a while! I missed my second daughter so much!"

“I missed you, too… Ranka-san”, you managed to get out inbetween breaths, until she finally let go of you. You stumbled a few metres back, and bumped right into Mori, who thankfully stabilized you again.

"It has been way too long since you came to visit! Now come, come let's all sit together and have a little catch up!" When she said this, her gaze was darting between you and Kyouya, followed by a gaze like a dagger in the direction of Tamaki, who let out a gurgling noise, but you all complied.

Again crouched around the table you smiled at her. "So you're the host club, I keep hearing about!" You raised an eyebrow, and looked at Haruhi who just shrugged. 'Keep hearing' sounded like a bit too much information for whatever Haruhi would tell her father, so this was surprising to hear. The mystery was quickly solved though, when Ranka turned to Kyouya and the coin dropped. Of course, if he had been contacting your aunt, of course he had been contacting Ranka as well. You looked at him raising an eyebrow and whereas he did notice your judging glare, he kept his pokerface as usual. While you tried to pry the information out of his motionless features, Ranka continued without missing a beat. "You really are a fine set of boys, I don't know which one of you I want. Right, Haruhi? (Y/n)?" Tamaki was still sulking in a corner, while the rest of the hosts smiled at the compliments her father was giving them. "Oh, you can just call me Ranka-san. Ranka is the professional name I use at the drag bar I am working at!"

"Professional name?", Honey asked, "like a stage name?"

"That's right, Mitsukuni-kun."

"How do you know my name?"

At this point you were glaring daggers at Kyouya, while Ranka was listing the names of all the boys, but he still didn't move a muscle.

"Haruhi told you about us?", one of the twins finally asked, you were too focussed on trying to make Kyouya's face fall to pay attention to which one was speaking.

Finally Ranka admitted it. "No, Kyouya-kun tells me everything over the phone." He did not just act innocent, all of a sudden a smile spread over his face, as he pressed his hands against Ranka's. "You really are beautiful, Ranka-san." The man knew no shame. Everybody was freaking out, and Tamaki grabbed Kyouya, obviously feeling as betrayed about this as you.

"Did you know, (y/n)?", Kaoru asked, apparently realising that you were not as shocked by that as everybody else.

"He called my aunt, too", you mumbled, a little embarrassed that you didn't connect the dots and told Haruhi, too. For some reason it somehow bothered you that he had called Ranka about Haruhi as well, although you knew it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Of course you weren't special to him, after all it was just his professionality with these things. You began chewing on your lip and looking at the table top, scratching away a little dirt that had been left from the cake earlier.

You were lost so deep in your own thoughts, ignoring the usual commotion Ranka made, that only Haruhi grabbing your hand and pulling you up with her brought you back to reality.

"Where are you going?", Ranka cried out and you looked at Haruhi just as confused.

"The supermarket." She opened the door and you followed, grateful to be out of the house and away from the hosts for a while. You threw a last glance into the round and noticed Kyouya staring intently at you. He had noticed your shift in behaviour. Quickly you gulped, putting on your shoes to leave the house.

"We are going shopping, by ourselves. We'll be right back, so everyone, please behave yourselves." And with these words you left the flat, ignoring Hikaru yelling after you.

You were grateful that Haruhi had suggested you two should go to the supermarket together. Once outside you took a deep breath, glad about the calm for a second. You knew your pang of jealousy had been stupid, but it felt good being away from the situation nonetheless. Ranka made all that mess, she could deal with the boys for a while. And something told you she didn't mind either.

The walk to the market was comfortable, although you barely spoke about anything in particular. It was a very short walk after all and you mostly listened to Haruhi complaining about the nuisance Tamaki was being. You nodded, thinking about whether or not you should talk about what you wanted to talk about, but decided against it. There wasn't enough time and Haruhi had other worries. So instead you just said, "Thanks for taking me with you."

She smiled her usual sweet smile. "Of course. I felt like you needed a breath of air, too." You nodded, suddenly feeling very at ease again. Sometimes you forgot how well Haruhi knew you. "Come on, let's buy what we need. I will get the veggies and you can get whatever else you like."

You maybe had been at the supermarket for 5 minutes, when you began to spot familiar faces around. Of course. Smiling to yourself you remembered Ranka following you and Haruhi to places ever since. Haruhi never seemed to notice her and you never pointed it out, for some reason. You liked to leave Ranka to believe she was protecting her daughter well and now that she found her perfect replica in Tamaki, you had known it was just a question of time until he would show up here, too. And although you had prefered some calmness, somehow the way they all tried to hide, while simultaneously being overwhelmed by this very normal supermarket made you smile a little. Your gaze followed Honey who was pushed in a shopping cart through the store by more, when you suddenly spotted Kyouya looking at something with actual interest. For a second you hesitated about whether or not you wanted to talk to him, but then you saw him pack several glasses of spicy korean radishes in his cart and you sighed. These rich people.

Kyouya had to admit that he had never spent this much time in a commoner’s supermarket before. The chefs were taking care of meals and groceries, so usually he did not have to worry about food. If he wanted something, someone would bring it to him. Nonetheless, was this a rather interesting experience. He tried to remember some prices, to compare them to the market value later, when something caught his eye. Carefully he picked up one of the glasses and read the inscription. Spicy Radishes, Korean, harvested in Jeju Area. A memory flashed before his eyes, he remembered that he had eaten them a few times before. A korean housekeeper had brought them in a few times when he was a child and she would let him have some, whenever he got a little hungry. He smiled at this memory he had suppressed for so long, briefly wondering how she was doing today, but he quickly shook off such sentimental thoughts. Still his eyes darted back to the pile. Surprised he notice how cheap they were and after thinking for a short moment, he grabbed a few to place them in his cart as well. This all barely cost anything and he couldn’t help but be surprised by it. He took another one, when suddenly a well-known voice interrupted him.

“You like these?”, (y/n) asked, appearing behind him and picking up one glass out of his basket to give it a better look. Surprised about her sudden appearance, Kyouya hesitated for a second, before simply nodding. He noticed her gaze wandering over to the price tag, and she shook her head.

“Don’t get them all now”, you lectured him, placing the glass back into the shelf.

“But they’re so cheap. It is really quite peculiar. Furthermore, I am not sure if I will be back in such a store and the offer is too good, not to …” He got interrupted by her laughter for the second time today. Usually he would be quite annoyed, but for some reason he really enjoyed her laugh. Well, he knew it was because of his silly crush, but he still took a mental note of that.

“They’re not even on sale”, she interrupted, smiling up at him. Her smile was really beautiful. How her eyes closed ever so slightly and her eyebrows moved slightly downwards. He suddenly had to fight the urge to touch her face. “You’re rich after all, hm?” The smile seemed to falter a little, but only for a split second. Kyouya still noticed it. Yet, she was back to her old self before he could say anything. “You can buy some now, but I’ll get some for you once they are on sale!”

He looked down at her, not sure what to say, but he nodded, nonetheless.

“Come on. Let’s see what else we can get for lunch!”

His gaze followed her as she vanished behind one of the store shelves, before his look fell back on the glass he held in his hand, carefully placing it back, while smiling to himself. “Not on sale, huh…” He looked at the radishes one last time, before following her, curious what else this commoner’s supermarket had in store.

#kyouya ootori x reader #ohshc kyoya #ootori kyoya #ootori kyouya #kyouya ootori #kyouya #ohshc x reader #ohshc fanfic #ouran x reader #ouran high school host club

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utilitycaster · 15 days

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Do you get the impression CR has been subtly trying to tamp down speculation C3 is the last campaign lately?

No, I do not.

I'm guessing this was prompted by the WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED video but that just tells us that they have ongoing production plans going into 2025, which, we knew, because if nothing else the Mighty Nein animated series is still in production. They will still exist as a production company that puts out new stuff long after they stop running longform campaigns.

I want to stress that what I'm about to say is not directed specifically at you but at the fandom at large based on some patterns I've seen - this ask felt like a good opportunity to do so because it touches on some of those patterns but please understand I'm not holding you accountable for all of this; I just use anon asks as this sort of jumping off point sometimes.

I think the cast overall cares WAYYYYYYY less about what the fandom is doing and saying than much of the fandom thinks they do. I think most of them are barely aware of what the fandom is doing and saying. When they do know and care, they are not shy about saying when they think the fandom did something they think is obnoxious (Bowlgate freakouts, sharing Braius's original backstory, thinking Orym or Ashton should have stopped Laudna; or on a more serious level, Liam and Marisha both did a lot of damage control after Molly's death when people were being hostile towards Matt and Ashly Burch and told those people to cut it out and be nice to their guests.)

I've gotten a few questions about whether I think C3 is the last campaign, and my genuine answer is I feel less certain it is than I was before, but as I have zero insight into the CR cast's discussions or priorities or production plans, this means literally nothing, because I was guessing wildly then and I'm guessing wildly now. (I'm pretty solid on making narratively-based guesses but that goes out the window when it comes to production decisions). But also I saw a poll yesterday on whether this is the last campaign, and like. Look. Someone asked me towards the end of Campaign 2 if this was the end of Campaign 2 and I was like "Surely not! We still have Molaesmyr!" and then Campaign 2 ended like 3 episodes later. It's normal and understandable to try to say "but we'll get more, right? RIGHT?" and I've done so myself, but that poll could get a 100% response rate of "OF COURSE THERE'S A CAMPAIGN 4!" and then 5 months from now we could get an announcement that C3 was the last longform campaign, because no one answering that poll knows the answer. It's very normal to want an answer and to hope for more campaigns - I would be thrilled with a Campaign 4 - but literally we don't know. It's entirely possible the cast is still deciding; and if they have, this is probably information that only the company and like, their immediate circle of friends know, if that.

It's literally impossible to shut down speculation, and even subtle attempts to do so are likely to backfire. Without going on a rant about one of my most deeply felt subjects, while fandom is a great place in which I've met many wonderful people, it is also fertile breeding grounds for conspiracy theories, a thing I loathe with every fiber of my being. Again, I think that the cast could run a QA panel in which every single cast member said in unison "The canon ships in TLOVM are Vax and Keyleth; Vex and Percy; and Pike and Scanlan" and someone would be like "well, I saw Taliesin in the bathroom two hours later and he took precisely 47 seconds to wash his hands and from this I can conclude PERCY AND VAX REAL." And from what I understand regarding anime fandom it's about a million times worse, which is to say, I think the cast knows that and knows to just not bring up a Campaign 4 until they're good and ready and to let the fandom do what they will.

tl;dr the cast cares way less about what any of us think than many of us think; you will almost certainly not find out if there's a campaign 4 and what system it is in until the cast announces it; and the thing about wild speculation is that there exist people who will straight up ignore direct unambiguous statements in order to persist in their own personal alternate reality.

#answered #Anonymous #this did actually remind me of the person who leaked chetney's name ahead of time #i cannot express how much i hope their kneecaps spontaneously combust. what a loser. that's also a separat convo tho #critical role

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deathmetalunicorn1 · 1 year

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Hello!!, can we get a part two of blue diamond reader but this time she moved on finding out that pink diamond gave her life for her child and now reader is the guardian/mother of her sisters child. But then one day the child then got attacked by the same god that shattered her dearest sister but the god has an army trying to conquer readers palace so out of rage reader most literally deleted their entire existence without of course feeling her pain and anguish to them, affecting the other gods that's watching this unfold cause the fight took in the middle of a god meeting🧍‍♀️ after the fight reader just went back to spoiling her child lowkey panicking if he got hurt.

And out of lol's i imagine some gods would come up to her kneeling down on one knee and just say "Marry me" simultaneously (for comedic effect) i also imagine that she's taller than most gods cause i saw that blue diamond is actually a giant women🤩 anyway that's all!! You're carrying the ROR fandom by writing these fics❤️‼️

My sweet darling, you’re gonna give me a big ass head with your sweet words!! When I read your request I almost literally cried! You’re so kind!!

-It had been years since Pink had been shattered, years since your heart had been shattered.

-You had hid yourself away, hiding your pain, your sorrow, until news came, news of Pink.

-She had been shattered, that part was true, but she was shattered saving the life of her child, choosing to give her own to keep her son safe.

-The young child was small, smaller than Pink was when she was only a child, but seeing him, seeing your Pink in this child, your heart soared with pure joy.

-With no hesitation whatsoever, you adopted your nephew, raising him with compassion, educating him on anything he wanted to learn, and being the parental figure that he always wanted to have, as he had been living in an orphanage until his powers bloomed, Pink’s powers.

-To celebrate the one-year anniversary of this reunion, you decided to hold a ball and everyone, humans and gods, showed up to help you celebrate.

-Many were put at ease, seeing you smiling so warmly, seeing the child you now cared for so tenderly, a few were a bit jealous, wanting some of your affection for themselves, but this party was for you and your nephew.

-You were speaking to several of the gods when a loud crash was heard and your eyes widened, seeing a large god, one you recognized as the one who had shattered Pink!

-He had escaped after he was being sent to prison, vanishing and you were in anguish that none could find him.

-Behind him was an army of other warriors, ones that wanted to kill the gods, and kill any trace of the Diamond Goddesses.

-Their mistake was going after your nephew, in an instant, your power exploded, sending everyone in attendance to their knees, overwhelmed by your emotions and with one swipe of your hand, the gods and his minions were gone, immediately being turned to dust.

-Jaws were dropped all over, gawking in awe over your breathtaking power, turning to you to see you near tears, holding your nephew, demanding to know if he was okay, only worried about him, and not batting a single eyelash at the gods you just singlehandedly destroyed with one move.

-Once you were calmed down, you heard several voices shout out in unison, “‘MARRY ME!!’” you turned, eyes wide, seeing Hercules, Thor, Loki, Raiden, Lu Bu, Ares, Zeus, Rudra, and Chuck, God of Accounting, all kneeling before you, staring up at you, holding up a hand to you, proposing to you.

-You froze, your mind completely shutting down as you gaped at the mass proposal, unable to process that they all just proposed to you.

#record of ragnarok #ror x reader

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nuttytani · 8 months

Text

Celestia's Cruel Thesis

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Pairing: Tartaglia | Childe x Zhongli

Premise: Childe gets isekai'd to a Liyue where Rex Lapis still rules over it.

chapter 2 link

You can also read this fic on ao3 here

Chapter 3: May the odds be ever in your favour

“Dear Milleliths, you might have the wrong person,” Master Liu Siu speaks up at last and tries to walk closer to where Childe was.

He is blocked by the Millelith that crowded around the redhead and gets a polite warning instead. “We indeed have the right person. Please don’t be fooled by this innocent looking man, Liu Siu Xiansheng,” the commander of the group says as he gives a nasty glare towards Childe.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have never used counterfeit mora in my life,” Childe counters, feeling confused about this predicament he is currently in.

The commander looks as if he wants to roll his eyes but refrains himself and continues to speak, “Further discussions regarding this matter will be after we take you to Jade Chamber. Stop resisting, and perhaps you might receive a lighter punishment for your blasphemy.”

A handful of the teahouse patrons start their murmuring. It’s not loud, but enough to make out what they’re saying.

“Tsk tsk tsk… See, this is why we should never trust a qigai.”

“What do you mean by qigai? He doesn’t behave like one. I’m sure you meant to say Snezhnayan. Aiyah…Sometimes I wonder why Dijun and the Qixing let them all trade in the harbour.”

“Hush now! Don’t be rude. It’s the Fatui who are trouble.”

“And? Most Fatui are Snezhnayans.”

“Oh...I thought the boy was from Fontaine, blue eyes and all.”

“Pshhh… I heard the boy talk distinctly in Snezhnayan a few times to himself. I’m not that old to be deaf.”

So they’ve already begun to gossip, huh.

There was no way out of this. The gods must truly hate him. Not only did he get fooled in Liyue, arrive in a strange Liyue, and get called names by the locals, but also got accused of creating counterfeit mora. Well, the gods hated him, since the instant he was born. How could he forget about falling into the abyss at the shy age of 14? Which entirely changed the trajectory of his life.

Childe pauses his self-deprecating thoughts, with a resigned sigh, he holds his hands out, and the Milleliths in charge quickly handcuff him. Meanwhile, Sir Fan Er’ye and Master Liu Siu observed the entire scene play with an unfamiliar look in their eyes. Surely, it must be disgust. He couldn’t tell– with the way the two were frowning so hard.

With arrogance, one of the younger Milleliths harrumphs, and tips his head upwards, “Let us leave.” He then pointedly scrutinises Childe and resumes his spiel, "Don't think about escaping! It’s nearly impossible to. Those handcuffs are made specially by Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenzhun.”

I wasn’t even going to escape, you doofus. How annoying.

“Yes, yes…. Tie me up, bind me, strip me, whatever. I will not run away, lest I want the wrath of the rock,” he says in an annoyed voice. Speaking with these haughty Milleliths and nobles rubbed him in all the wrong ways.

The Millelith however looks back at him with scorn, it seems like he said something wrong because the soldier replies with seething venom, “How dare you carelessly speak of his imperial majesty like that! Another word and I might as well chop that tongue off!”

“Youxu– that’s enough. There will be consequences if you act without orders,” the commander cautions the younger.

“But Ge… I mean… Seargent Fengyan, this lunatic needs to be disciplined!” the one named Youxu says in earnest.

“Indeed, however, we are unqualified to issue such punishments.” He reprimands Youxu, before facing his team. “Soldiers, make haste. It will be sundown by the time we make it to Yujing Terrace,” Sergeant Fengyan barks out loud enough for the entire teahouse to hear and there is pin drop silence. All the chattering stopped.

Every single Millelith saluted Sergeant Fengyan and in unison, all yelled hooah.

Now, that is how Childe stood, in front of the three Qixing ladies. His hands were still bound by the handcuffs and the Milleliths had blocked his every movement with their spears all around him. They were on guard twice as much. It appeared that his his last encounter with the soldiers in Yiyan Temple was not forgotten.

If it weren’t for the strange Adepti handcuffs on his wrists, he would have escaped this place in record time. Except then he’d be 1) fugitive with a bounty on top of his head for apparently using counterfeit mora 2) his imperial majesty, the almighty Yanwang Dijun and his Adepti friends would capture him in a second. So frankly, there’s no point in running away. He just hopes this is all some strange misunderstanding because he has never used fake mora, ever.

“You foreigner, named Childe, speak at once, about how you got hold of counterfeit mora.” Tianquan, Lady Ningguang, looked down at him, from the stage she stood, alongside Yuheng and Secretary Ganyu. Her gaze was sharp, her bright umber eyes stared deep into him, examining.

Someone from the Milleliths surrounding him whispered amongst themselves, “I thought it was child– as in haizi.”

“Tsk tsk, Yong’an-Ge… It is Childe, as in young nobleman,” the other Millelith responded in a hushed tone.

“Oh… Isn’t he a qigai? You know…The clothes and all.”

“That’s the confusing part, is he trying to play the game of opposi–”

“Please, remain silent. We wish to hear what the convict has to say,” Keqing ordered, especially at the chattering pair. The hall indeed becomes completely quiet, save for the constant breathing of all and the heavy atmosphere lingering in the air.

Childe cleared his throat and brought the attention of everyone in the Jade Chamber hall, to himself. Ah– he is unsure about what to say. It’s not like the Qixing would believe his words, not after their last meeting and specifically after they’re convinced that he made fake mora.

With carefully constructing words in his head, Childe raised his voice, “Members of respected Qixing. I’m confused as to why I’m brought here in your office, in such a manner, it might be hard to believe since you all seem to have a biased opinion of me… however– I swear on my life and the Archon of love, that I have never created nor distributed counterfeit mora.” He took a deep breath and kneeled on the ground, while the Milleliths adjusted their spears around him. “All I want is to go back to my original world, and there is no reason for me to produce fake mora, especially when I require the help of your Archon to send me back home.”

As if tired of hearing him talk, Keqing heaved a loud sigh. She glanced back and forth between Lady Ningguang and Secretary Ganyu. Finally, she beckoned one of the secretary ladies, who stood on the side.

“Baixiao, please bring the pouch over and the records please,” Secretary Ganyu addressed the shorter woman.

“Yes, right away.” Baixiao bowed, disappeared quickly and appeared just as fast. Her hands held a huge pouch of mora and a stack of documents, she handed them over to Ganyu.

Click-clack of Ganyu’s heels echoed in the Jade Chamber hall, as she delicately stepped down the stage and walked towards Childe. Her expression betrayed no emotions, as she opened the pouch of mora (the same pouch he gave to that perverted Lao Guai) in her hands, and proceeded to pull a coin out.

She took a long look at it, flipping the sides over and over until she was satisfied with whatever she saw. “Baiwen, please take a note of serial number LE22300769.”

“Yes, Secretary Ganyu.”

“This year’s minting of mora started with the letter C. The serialisation of mora with the letter L is supposed to happen 9 years from now. The letter E denotes the batch number. The serial number of the mora I have just read, which I shall repeat; LE22300769.” Ganyu closed her eyes and muttered something under her breath, before staring him down with cold and unfeeling eyes.

“This originated from you, Mister Childe.”

That doesn’t sound good… At all. Is he doomed? An ex-harbinger put into jail for the production of counterfeit mora, how funny. Especially when the Qixing couldn't even lift a finger at him after the release of Osial. Funny indeed. He was actually doomed.

He thought all mora was the same. Well, not exactly, but mora is mora. The ones he has or had in possession are in fact, very real and not fake. At least not in the other Liyue. Who knew using it would land him in shit? Childe thinks hysterically. Doomed from the start, he was using his precious mora pouches from day 1 in this Liyue.

“Mister Childe? Will you still claim to not know anything?” Ningguang questioned, sweetly.

Her words were like the final nail to his coffin, or so he felt. Would he even get a coffin? Perhaps he should have brought Hu Tao’s free 2 coffin coupon deal. Although it would be invalid in this Liyue.

Someone snickered, finding this situation entertaining at his expense.

Laugh at me all you want, assholes.

“Mister Childe, if you don’t have any evidence to prove yourself to be innocent, then I’m afraid, we have no choice but to sentence you to 3 years of imprisonment, such states the law of Liyue,” Ningguang resumed speaking, while also giving the snickering fools a stern look. “I must say, these new Milleliths have no sense of dignity. Sergeant Fengyan, I believe your work is cut out for you.”

Sergeant Fengyan felt quite ashamed on behalf of his new unit. It didn’t look good for him as their leader; it painted Fengyan as an irresponsible commander. The soldiers of his unit had misbehaved multiple times in front of the Qixing today. He bowed deeply and apologised, “I will make sure to discipline them well, Lady Ningguang.”

She simply nodded.

Although the attention from Childe was shortly directed elsewhere, Keqing, the Yuheng, had been staring at him for quite some time. Never straying her gaze from him, observing. When he at last met her unwavering and quite uncomfortable watch, she gave him a mischievous grin.

“So, I’ve been wondering, and please indulge my genuine question, Mister Childe, how were you able to replicate mora? They feel like the real deal, the only mistake you’ve made is the serialisation of them.” Keqing quirked a brow and took a scroll out of her dress pocket, scribbling something down with her brush pen.

Childe grimaced, he knew she wouldn’t believe him, they clearly didn’t when he tried to ‘explain’ himself mere moments ago, opting to completely ignore what he said instead. A million thoughts passed in his mind. What would he do? What should he say? What options were left? He was once again aware of how alone he was in this place, no one he could trust, no one to rely on and certainly no one to pull him out of this mess.

Sure, he may be friendly with Granny Ping, Master Liu Siu and some other elderly people who were kind to him, but do they truly care for him? For Liyuens in this world, he’s nothing but a sorry looking miserable qigai and now a criminal. For all he knows, the elderlies might have felt pity about his circumstances and wanted to be generous to score some moral points. Plus, it’s not like the people back in the other Liyue liked him.

He breathes in.

He breathes out.

Grounding his emotions right now is the most important task at the moment. If there’s one thing he learned from Master Skirk, is that nothing can be done with a tangled heart. Childe, with much hesitation, opens his mouth but the words are stuck in his throat. He has nothing to say nor any evidence to prove his innocence.

“Mister Childe? You don’t have to tell me, we will eventually find out ourselves. The Qixing is capable enough for that, so there’s no need for the magician to reveal their secrets,” she mocked, with her self-assured grin.

There was an abrupt murmur. All the Millelith stood at attention. The golden door to the Jade Chamber hall opened up. The pair of guards by the door clacked their spears against the marble flooring and stood ramrod straight before announcing in unison, “His Imperial Majesty, Yanwang Dijun, arrives!”

“Pay your respects to Dijun.”

The heavy ornate door flung open, as the Archon made his entry. Every single person bowed and recited, “Thousands of blessings to our lord!”

Yanwang Dijun, in plain words, looked stunning. He was dressed to the nines, as usual. He wore beige coloured robes with golden iridescent embroidery on the cloth; they were scale like patterns– Childe concluded after a proper look. His silky hair was in a loose braid today, tied at the end with a yellow ribbon. In his hand, he held a foldable fan. A dainty little thing, a white background that had multiple blue glaze lilies painted.

Childe could only stare at him with a dumbfounded expression. Not even bothering to rise from his kneeling position. Not for long, though. The Millelith who stood next to him must have witnessed his less than respectful stare. The soldier grabbed him by the arm, yanked him up to his feet and pushed on Childe’s back to make him forcefully bow.

This was like deja vu. He swore something like this happened before.

Dijun’s amber eyes briefly looked at every person, before eventually stopping at the young man with copper hair. It lingered there for a moment before he finally cleared his throat.

“Rise.” Yanwang Dijun’s voice reverberated in the hall.

All stood straight once more, and the soldier let go of Childe’s back.

“Pray tell, what is going on here?” Dijun asked quizzically while fanning himself. His people were stunned at their Archon’s arrival, they did not imagine he would show up at the Jade Chamber, not at this hour. Besides, he rarely ever visited the Jade Chamber, unless the Qixing required his help. Dijun mostly spent his time in Yiyan Temple, busy with his own set of responsibilities.

Everyone stood in silence for a minute or two. That is until Ningguang broke the awkward air by finally speaking, “Greetings, my lord. As you can see, we’re all fulfilling our duties as the Qixing. Rest assured.”

“Qixing duties that include accusing innocent foreigners,” Childe muttered softly. He could hardly hold himself back from rolling his eyes. Though at the moment he had no proof or evidence to prove his innocence, it didn’t change the fact that he didn’t commit any crime. Well… no crimes in this Liyue, yet.

Unknown to Childe, Yanwang Dijun heard him mumble, every single word. Possibly thanks to his extraordinary hearing from being an Adeptus. He snapped his white fan closed and slowly stepped towards Childe.

“Innocent foreigner, you say?” Dijun placed his fan underneath Childe’s chin and tipped his face to meet the god’s gaze. Golden slitted eyes stared deep into his own, seeking something. Seeking what? Childe did not know. But he felt a wave of goosebumps rise on his skin from the sudden act. He was caught off guard, and that wasn’t good. It meant his mask of calm had slipped.

“Hmm? Tell me. Do you consider yourself to be innocent?” Dijun questioned again.

Childe was silent as he pondered. Would answering the question make the man step away and give him some personal space? Would it make his fake mora predicament better? He doubted, but even so, it was worth a shot.

“Yes,” he replied with furrowed brows.

Dijun kept staring into his eyes, unblinking. Eventually, the fan under his chin lifted away and with a sunny smile, the Archon moved away at last, turning his back. The fan in his hands snapped open and Dijun sighed, “You all heard him. He’s innocent.”

At that moment, the entire Jade Chamber hall erupted in chaos. Millelith and the respected members of the Qixing were crying and shouting at poor ol’ Yanwang Dijun to rethink his choice.

“Your majesty, he is a foreigner qigai who committed blasphemy! How can you let him off so easily?” someone from the honourable Qixing, raised their voice.

“My lord, you know nothing of his deeds. He basically scammed the old and used his young and pretty face to get into their hearts!” one of the Milleliths yelled.

“Are you enchanted by him too, your majesty? Is that why you’re letting this… man named Childe, off the hook?” Keqing joined in.

Baishi, who had been quiet this entire time, speaks up, “Dear Yuheng, how could you accuse our lord like that! Our esteemed lord is not one to be charmed by a pretty face,”

“I agree!” The other two Tianquan secretaries; Baiwen and Baixiao, also jumped onto the bandwagon.

Amidst the chaos of constant arguing and protests between the members of Qixing and the Millelith, Yanwang Dijun stood in the middle, looking slightly amused. The corner of his lips had a slight curl. For some reason, he seemed to find the state of his government humorous.

Childe did not find this funny at all. Not a single bit. He wanted to pry open the Archon’s head to know what was going on inside that head. Was he off the rockers? Did he take something? His entire government was fighting and the old man wasn't even doing anything? Even the ever quiet Ganyu was taking part in this.

At last, Dijun seemed to have enough kick from the crisis. He raised his hand halfway, motioning all to keep quiet.

“Now, I do find all of your theories and assumptions to be interesting, to say the least.” Dijun smiled in such a way that his eyes crinkled around the corners and formed crescents. He continued, “Even so, this is getting out of hand. Please refrain yourselves, you are all members of the Qixing and Millelith… Maintain some semblance of professionalism.”

The entire crowd looked like children who were scolded by parents. Shuffling their feet and unable to face their lord. They all kept their heads down in embarrassment. Baiwen, on the other hand, seemed to be looking serious by the second as she whispered into Lady Ningguang’s ear. As if agreeing, Ningguang nodded with a severe look on her face. She glanced towards Childe, with a distrust.

He wondered what she was plotting; it was difficult to tell. This entire scene felt like a part of a comedy from the theatre plays back in Snezhnaya and he held himself back from laughing his head off, which was becoming tough as each moment passed. Except, he was the source of comedy, the clown, and that wasn’t something to laugh at.

“I beg your forgiveness, on behalf of the members of Qixing and Millelith, my lord. We’re all expressing genuine concern, as you do not know the severity of the crimes, Mister Childe, has committed,” said Ningguang, as she motioned for Ganyu to pass over the documents to Dijun; to which, he received with a thanks and proceeded to look over them with a cursory glance.

“Mister Childe has produced and distributed counterfeit mora in huge amounts. We found out after a thorough investigation, that the employees of Bubu Pharmacy received a suspicious amount of mora from one of their customers. Out of the blue too, I might add,” Ningguang carried on.

To which, Dijun responded with a soft chuckle, “I am well aware, Lady Ningguang.”

“I believe you do not. Ganyu, please bring in the pouch of mora,” she ordered. Not a minute too late, Ganyu arrived with the pouch of mora. Once again, Ganyu presented it to Dijun. He didn’t even bother to take it.

“Please, I implore you to check them, my lord.”

“Hmm…But I can already tell that these mora coins are not fake, Lady Ningguang. The geo energy within the pouch of mora you have shown me is undoubtedly the same as any other mora coin in the Golden House–”

Keqing frowned and opened her mouth, “But–”

Dijun raised his hand halfway. “Let me continue. I know of your concerns. I am well aware that the serial codes on these mora coins do not match with what we have available amongst the common folk, also the fact that these should have been distributed at least 9 years later,” he paused, and gave a short look at Childe. “However, this does not mean that the mora Mister Childe has distributed is fake. It’s very real. Now we may all be wondering, then why is it that the codes differ so much?”

The emperor positively glowed when he said, “Simple! The mora he has used is not from this world.”

“Your majesty, that is absurd! Do you really believe the words of a nobody?” It seems Keqing had enough of Yanwang Dijun’s speech and couldn’t help but intervene at last.

“Ah yes, a nobody indeed. Don’t you find it strange that there is no record of a person named ‘Childe’? After our brief encounter with him in the temple, I contacted Devi Kusanali. She confirmed that there is no one such as Childe nor Tartaglia in Teyvat.” The god hands the documents and the pouch over to Ganyu and steps closer towards where Childe stood. “No record of him in the world tree at all, which is impossible. His claims about being from another world are true. It explains why his ‘mora’ feels real yet the codes are different.”

The entire hall stares with uncertainty at Childe. They couldn’t believe their ears. Even their lord confirmed that this so-called qigai, was in fact from another world, how could it be?

“Now, now. No need to be surprised. First, let us release Mister Childe from his handcuffs.” Dijun calls for one of the younger Milleliths, named Yong’an, who held the keys.

Childe felt his body tense as the god strode towards him, a bit too close for comfort. Childe could smell the mild scent of silk flowers wafting from his robes, as he slipped the key into the hole of the cuffs and twisted it back and forth. The key made squeaky noises while the god struggled to unlock the handcuffs.

The key made a weird click sound, and the esteemed Yanwang Dijun paused in his ministrations. Blinking slowly at the handcuffs.

Dijun peeked from beneath his eyelashes and smiled apologetically. “Ah. It seems the key is stuck.”

“What?” asked Childe, feeling wary.

“The key which unlocks your handcuffs. It is stuck,” the esteemed Yanwang Dijun repeated himself.

All the officials and soldiers wanted to laugh, but they resisted the temptation. Biting on their lips to keep their giggles in. But a few of them couldn’t help but snort like pigs at how things were progressing. Childe too, wanted to join in and laugh hysterically. Not at Dijun, not at himself, but at his luck. His terrible luck.

“I heard you fine the first time,” he replied. “Are you doing this on purpose?”

Youxu, the young Millelith harshly pointed at Childe in anger. “How dare you accuse our lord like that! Apologise immediately, you–”

“Youxu-Ge, please… Calm down!” Yong’an covered his friend’s mouth, as Sergeant Fengyan glared at the two. They were given a final warning by the Sergeant, and if they didn't behave themselves, the two would be escorted out and be barred from joining in cases for a month. The two young Milleliths immediately paled and profusely apologised and bowed multiple times. The rest of the soldiers were also given a warning, and all seemed pretty mortified for their actions.

“My apologies, Mister Childe… Please, hold still for a moment.” Dijun grabs Childe’s hands to extend the arms out. He placed his palm, in a spearhand position, between the handcuffs and swiftly struck it. The cuffs split in half and fell with a clang onto the marble floor.

Lady Keqing was not impressed as she folded her arms. “You’d have to replace that, my lord.”

“Of course, I shall ask Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun to provide you with another.” He then shifted to face Childe. “Well then! You are free to go, but before that, I would like to apologise to you for the disrespect.”

Childe tilted his head and pinched his chin as if contemplating, before he immediately replied, “No, why should I? What will I receive in turn if I do accept your apology? Nothing– exactly. No, thank you.”

Hundreds of eyes were glaring at his back, if they stared any longer, Childe would be burnt to a crisp, like the one time Anthon left the fire on and accidentally charred the rice. Of course, his brother was scolded by Tonia, who put him in charge of making rice. She pulled him by the ear and stood next to him to watch as Anthon started to cook a new batch of rice.

Dijun made a blank face as if he didn’t expect it, but he instantly changed it back into his polite smile. If Childe wasn’t staring so intently at the Archon, he might have missed it.

“Well then, how about a tour of Liyue? You haven’t been long in this world, I assume. There’s a lot to see and shop in the land of commerce,” Dijun quickly regained himself and countered. His officials did not like the idea as they started to grumble and chatter again but stopped as their lord gave them an exasperated look. “What do you say?” he asked, sweetly, with that blinding smile and warm amber eyes.

Wait– why is he even thinking like that? Childe scolds himself in his mind.

“Fine. On one condition though,” he sighed. “You, Yanwang Dijun, the Lord of Geo, shall pay for everything.”

“It’s a contract.” Dijun looked pleased as he lightly nodded.

Cicadas hummed and a pleasant summer breeze passed by. Bubu Pharmacy was quiet and serene. Most of the employees were on a lunch break. Well, most being Qiqi. Herbalist Gui had to stay behind as Dr Baizhu was away from the harbour.

Someone pushed the door, causing the wind chime next to it to ring. An old man with his walking stick slowly shuffled towards the counter.

“Oh… Guai Yeye! Welcome!” Herbalist Gui greeted the old man with a wide smile.

“Long time no see, here again for your joints?” the youth asked, whilst placing measured doses of medicine into paper pouches and labelling them neatly with his inky brush pen.

“Good afternoon, young man, ahh yes yes. The usual please,” Lao Guai rasped. He coughed into his fist as his body shook. He looked around the pharmacy with keen eyes. Particularly at the herbal blends that had tags such as ‘great for stamina!’ or ‘no more back pain’.

Herbalist Gui nodded at the old man and twisted to face the wooden drawers, opening a few. He flips through the paper pouches with the names of the customers who’d receive them.

“Hmm…Not here.. Just a moment, Yeye.” The young man glanced back and promised to return soon, as he went into one of the staff-only rooms, and in a brief moment came out with a bright smile.

“Here you go, and that will be 850 mora.” He hands the medicine over to Lao Guai.

Lao Guai opened his mouth only to erupt in a coughing fit, once he calmed down he thanked Gui and paid him. Gui, however, looked at the old man with concern. He knew that the elderly had developed a nasty cough because of the ever changing weather recently, but instead of improving, whenever he met the old man, he seemed to get worse.

“Would you like me to pack you some expectorants for your cough? On the house, since you’re a regular.”

“Aiyah… I’d feel too bad for that, young lad… But who am I to deny free medicine?” Lao Guai’s eyes crinkled as he chuckled heartily. “That reminds me, would you mind packing a few of those back pain and stamina blends? Maybe it’ll help me a bit, my wife’s been complaining that I’m always crying about my back and lack of energy… If you know what I mean”

Gui hummed and grabbed the blends from the display shelves. “That will be 5000 mora in total.”

Lao Guai just drops a big pouch of mora on the counter. “Take this entire thing. Recently landed jackpot, you see. Think of it as advanced payment.”

The young man quirked his brow but he kept quiet and took the heavy pouch without complaint. He had seen plenty of things in this pharmacy, and this didn't even make him bat a lash. He just hopes that this elderly hasn’t taken an interest in gambling, otherwise he will make sure to inform his wife promptly.

He sends the man off with a wave and resumes work. Lunch break was probably over as Qiqi came back and placed her basket, filled with herbs, on the counter.

“Did you have your lunch, Qiqi?” Gui asked while grabbing the basket from where it was placed and carrying it back into the storeroom. He came back and sighed, plopping down on the chair in front of the little girl.

“Qiqi…ate…” she replied, in a slow manner; to which she received a soft pinch on the cheek.

“Gui is sad now– I thought we would eat lunch together,” he makes a comically sad face at her.

Now, Qiqi also frowns looking at Gui and gives him a pat on the shoulder. “Qiqi… Eat lunch with Gui… Tomorrow… Don’t cry.”

While Herbalist Gui and Qiqi were having a sweet moment, a lady in dark blue clothing sneaked in and rummaged through the cash counter. After finding whatever she was looking for, she grabbed the heavy pouch of mora and replaced it with the one hanging on her waist. Effortlessly, she tiptoed out of the pharmacy, unnoticed.

Author’s Notes for Chapter 3

I did not expect this chapter to be so dialogue heavy… I kind of feel that this was a bit crack and maybe a bit exaggerated? But I’m not sure. Sorry in advance if it is TT

[1] Handcuffs - With Fontaine’s release and all, I thought having proper metal handcuffs would be much better. Though I thought about the Millelith binding Childe’s arms with rope! But he’s too strong for that, so magic-strengthened metal handcuffs it is!

[2] Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun - Cloud Retainer’s CN name. The zhenjun part is a title, it means lord. Sorry, I won’t be using CR’s human/mortal name; Xianyun, even though it’s tempting and probably much easier, gotta keep the names consistent, since Rex Lapis goes by Yanwang Dijun.

[3] Ge - Short for Gege which stands for elder brother / big bro. Used for family members and close friends.

[4] Hooah - A type of greeting that soldiers use, it means everything and anything, except no. I always thought it was spelled as ‘hah’. You learn new things everyday.

[5] three Qixing ladies - Found out that Ganyu was not actually a Liyue Qixing member, as in the bigshot members who do the important work. She is their secretary :”D omg and I’ve been playing the game for the past 2 years now… I’m disappointed in myself, not that it’s a new thing.

[6] NPC Milleliths - They are actually in the game! Nope I didn’t make them up. The only made up characters were Luo Xiansheng and Lao Guai from the first chapter. Again, any names you’ll see in this fic are most likely in the game, unless I state otherwise in the A/N

[7] Devi Kusanali - Nahida’s title. I hate to use the “lesser lord lord Kusanali” thing so I just went with Devi (which means goddess).

[8] Spearhand - It looks like this.

[9] Yeye - Grandfather/grandpa

[10] Expectorant - A type of cough medicine that loosens up the mucus in your airway and helps the secretions to come out more easily through coughs.

#tani writes!!#childe #zhongli #genshin impact #zhongchi #tartali #zhongchili #zhongli x childe #childe x zhongli #childe tartaglia ajax #childe tartagalia #zhongli genshin impact #rex lapis #morax #childe genshin impact #tartagila

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masterofrecords · 9 months

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WIP Wednesday

So, the actual wip is going to be under the cut purely for being a huge spoiler to the end of chapter 35. Couldn't find a bit that didn't reference it, and I promised Weil an infatuated octopus

And then, after Floyd had left them alone, Jamil had leaned closer and whispered, “Thanks for counting the fouls,” and all at once the rushed preparations, the stress and the expenses were worth it. Three hearts skipped a beat in unison, and he took a moment to remember how to breathe, as if having come on land yesterday. “Don’t mention it,” he answered, and managed not to stutter. “It’s your victory.” He would have expected Jamil to roll his eyes and move on, but Jamil must have been in a particularly good mood, because after a few moments of silence he cocked his head to the side with a mischievous smile and prompted, “Is that all? You’re usually a lot wordier than that.” Well, if Jamil wanted compliments, who was Azul to deny him. Needless to say, he kept replaying that interaction in his head all through the rambunctious bus ride back to NRC, and while falling asleep and through the morning spent chasing perfection in the kitchen. The twins laughed, of course, but he paid them no mind.

And as a bonus, some numbers and a bit of vanity, but mostly just being awed by how amazing and welcoming this community is. Truly, the commenters are the backbone of fandom.

I don't really read TWST fics, but occasionally curiosity takes over and I scroll through the tags just to see what kind of stuff there is. And of course, on the scale of the entire fandom Ashenviper is smallish, and the reach of the fics is small compared to some popular ships and 1 mil word behemoths - but guess what? Aquarium is, like. 28th most commented on TWST fic. Out of 14k+ stories.

#masterofrecords writes

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nanaosaki3940 · 2 years

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His and Her Circumstances [Tokyo Revengers]

Fanfic: A Condition Called Love

Fandom: Tokyo Revengers

Pairing (romantic): Keisuke Baji X OC/Reader

Genre: Romance, Fluff, slightly suggestive (no smut)

Note: I know this is an xOC fic, but you can read it as a self-insert if you like.

TR masterlist

Nana’s POV (February 19th, 2006)

It was still early in the evening when Chifuyu and Takemichi arrived at Keisuke’s place today to help him out with the furniture redecoration of the Baji household just because Keisuke’s mom, Ryoko Baji felt like doing so. The thing was, Ryoko heavily believed in astrology, good luck charms, and stuff like that and she also believed that redecorating her whole house would bring good luck to the Baji family’s life, especially in Keisuke’s life to be more accurate.

“Sorry about this, guys…” Keisuke stated in his usual deep yet soft tone to Takemichi and Chifuyu who were shifting heavy furniture from one room to another. “Nana and I were supposed to help my mom redecorate our whole house. Feng Shui says it’s good luck. But obviously, it’s impossible for just the two of us alone, so you two are really saving us here…”

“So heavy!” Takemichi grunted out through his gritted teeth when he tried to lift a box that was filled with showpieces.

“Careful, Takemitchy!” Chifuyu called out in concern before rushing over to his friend to help him out. “That box has showpieces in it. Drop it and everything in it will break into millions of pieces.”

“Thanks, Chifuyu and Takemichi…” Ryoko stated with a wide grin of gratitude on her face as she talked into the room while holding a book in her hand. “My Keisuke here is a weak boy, so he ended up troubling you two.”

“Who’s weak?!” Keisuke snapped, growling at his mother with furrowed eyebrows before I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“Calm down now, Keisuke. Let’s not make a ruckus now.” I mumbled into his ears in a gentle voice to which the said boy immediately went quiet before returning to work.

“N-No, we're fine!” Takemichi stuttered out in embarrassment with a blushing face, smiling sheepishly at Ryoko.

This was the first time Takemichi came to the Baji household and the first time seeing Keisuke’s mom, so naturally, he was feeling quite flustered – after all, he didn’t expect the matriarch Ryoko Baji to be so young-looking and beautiful.

“Where should we put this, Ryoko-san?” Chifuyu asked her in a polite tone before the Baji matriarch started to guide the two boys with the whole redecoration again.

“Alright! That's it then!” Ryoko stated just after the two blonde boys shifted a cupboard to a different room.

“Okay!” Chifuyu and Takemichi responded in unison, sweat dripping from their bodies from all their hard work for the past few hours.

“Chifuyu, Takemichi, apparently the living room furniture is important too, so after you're done with that please take care of it.” Ryoko instructed with a smile while her eyes locked down at the pages of the book which was still in her hand.

The book in her hand happened to be one of those which tells you what’s good luck for you or not and using that Ryoko had been guiding us through this entire time.

“Oh! Ah, yes!!” they replied before dashing towards the living room.

“Hey, Mom!” Keisuke called out with a frowning face as he pulled out some manga books from his mother’s bookshelf. “I thought all my manga were gone. Why are they here?!”

“Keisuke, I’m still reading them!!” Ryoko snapped back.

“Please, don’t fight over some manga, you two…” I spoke up again, sighing heavily at the antics of these two Bajis while rearranging some showpieces on the shelf just like how Ryoko wanted.

“Oh excuse me, Chifuyu. Can you go to the convenience store on the corner and get me a garbage bag?” Ryoko asked in a gentle, motherly tone.

“Yes!!”

“And Takemichi, please be a dear and get me a small parfait from the sweets section. The waitress there often forgets to serve it with a spoon, so make sure it’s ready to go.”

“O-Oh, okay, yes!!”

Making Keisuke’s friends do all of her work - that was one of Ryoko’s personality traits which I found very funny sometimes, like how she was ordering around Chifuyu and Takemichi and making them run around the house but none of them could say anything to her because one, she was a parental figure to them, so they couldn’t be disrespectful towards her which was obvious and two, she was ordering them around in such a soft, motherly tone that the poor boys didn’t exactly know how to refuse her orders.

“Finally, we are done!” a sweaty, tired Takemichi exclaimed out in joy with a grinning Chifuyu standing beside him as we all looked around at the redecorated house.

“Oh, I’m sorry. This is wrong.” Ryoko suddenly spoke up in a concerned tone, staring down at her book with furrowed eyebrows, and in response, Takemichi and Chifuyu went stiff as a stone in their spot.

“Huh? What are you saying?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“I was looking at the wrong page!” Ryoko stated, showing me a certain page from the book. “This isn't gonna bring me good luck!”

“What the hell are you doing?!” Keisuke snapped at his mother again with his hands on his hips. “You're kidding me! Come on woman, this is enough!”

“This isn’t good!” Ryoko snapped back at her son. “My lack of fortune caused you a lot of problems before, Keisuke! Remember that one time you broke your left arm?!”

And her words suddenly made me recall one incident from early 2004 which was just two years ago when one delinquent gang named Killer Bee forcefully barged into our school to attack Keisuke because they were aware of the fact that Keisuke Baji would never fight and throw hands inside the school campus. Although Keisuke didn’t fight them back and ended by breaking his left arm when he was defending himself from their attack, his former vice-captain Ryusei Sato and Chifuyu were the ones who jumped into the action right on time and saved his life from that gang. I was also there with them and I remembered knocking the commander of that gang out cold in one go by throwing one of Manjiro’s infamous roundhouse kicks on that man’s head.

“I don’t care! And that had nothing to do with this!!” Keisuke shouted out in frustration again as he and his mother began to throw fiery daggers at each other through their sharp glares.

“A-Ah don’t worry! We’ll do it again!” Chifuyu intervened in a nervous tone, trying to calm down those two Bajis before looking over at a concerned Takemichi. “Right, Takemitchy?!”

“Y-Yes!!” Takemichi squeaked out, furiously nodding his head before they both rushed over to the room to shift around the heavy objects again.

“Ngh! Uaghhh!!!”

“Ha!! So heavy!!”

“I know right!!”

“What’s wrong?” Keisuke asked as he walked over to the boys who were now on the ground, all sweaty and tired and out of breath, taking a break for a moment before they started redecorating again. “Are you two worn out? Well, I suppose you two did carry a lot of stuff.”

“N-No we are totally fine, Baji-san!” Chifuyu tried to convince his former captain but failed miserably.

“Just give us a moment, Baji-kun and we will carry-“ Takemichi was about to say something more but was cut off immediately when Keisuke lifted a huge cupboard with just one arm.

“No more. Just rest.” Keisuke stated in a cool, nonchalant voice before he walked away with the cupboard in his arm while the two blondies stared at the ravenette man in complete shock with dropped jaws and widened eyes.

“And his mother calls him weak?!” Takemichi gasped out, causing me to chuckle in response. “Just how strong is Baji-kun?!”

“A lot actually. Just like Manjiro and Ken-chan…” I replied with a smile before walking away as well to help out Keisuke.

And it wasn’t long before we redecorated some of the rooms again and our entire work came to a completion.

“Okay, that’s more like it.” Keisuke stated, slightly nodding his head as we looked around the house to see if anything was left to be done.

“Yeah, it’s good, isn’t it?” Ryoko grinned with a satisfied look on her face.

“Well, then. Let’s get something to eat.” Keisuke added before I started to walk towards the kitchen with Ryoko.

“Ryoko-san and I’ll go and cook something for us. You guys take some rest in the meantime.” I stated, causing the faces of the boys to light up in pure happiness and excitement.

“Thanks, Nana-san!” Chifuyu called out with a smiling face to which I smiled back in response.

After entering the kitchen, Ryoko and I pondered for a while, thinking of what to cook for dinner tonight. After going through several different options, we finally chose to cook a hot pot for dinner.

“I appreciate your help!” Ryoko stated with a smile as we all gathered around in the living room with the Baji matriarch sitting on a couch while the boys and I were on the floor with our legs crossed, the TV in front of us was turned on and the food was served on the kotatsu table beside us. “Feel free to eat whatever you want.”

“Yes!! It’s good!!” Chifuyu and Takemichi stated happily in unison as they took a bite from their food.

“Also, thanks for the help too, Nana-chan.” Ryoko stated as she turned to look at me, her smile widened a bit more. “You were a great help today, especially when we were cooking for dinner.”

“I’m glad I was able to help you, Ryoko-san.” I smiled back. “Feel free to call me for help whenever you need it.”

“Ah, sometimes I feel like what I’m gonna do without you, Nana-chan.” Ryoko let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back on the couch in a relaxed manner.

“Now, you’re exaggerating, Ryoko-san. You’re gonna make me blush.” I added before the said woman and I both started to chuckle together in unison.

“Oi, Shitty-mitchy.” Keisuke who was sitting close beside me called out while pointing at the TV, causing the time-leaper to look over at the ravenette boy. “What do you think?”

“Huh? What’s this?” Takemichi asked in confusion, looking over at the TV as well.

“That’s Baji-san's favorite TV show.” Chifuyu informed while chewing his food.

“It’s Kayo Suspense Gekijyo.” Keisuke stated, staring at the TV screen with a serious look on his face, furrowing his eyebrows a bit. “I found out that the woman behind him is the culprit. She claims she wasn’t there when it happened, but I’m pretty sure she’s playing some kind of trick.”

“Oh! You like this kind of thing, don't you, Baji-kun?” Takemichi asked excitedly, his lips curling up into a smile. “No wonder you were always suspicious of Kisaki from the very start.”

“Keisuke’s really into the mystery, crime-thriller genre. Movies, TV shows, novels - doesn’t matter. As long as it contains this particular genre, Keisuke engages himself into it with all his heart, mind, and soul.” I chimed in with a smile before looking over a Keisuke for a moment. “Sometimes I wonder why you wanna be a pet shop owner when you get older… You’re smart and hella perceptive. You can become a police officer or a detective if you want.”

“Police officer or detective, huh?” Keisuke trailed off, getting lost in his own thoughts.

“Yeah, I also think those professions will suit you, Baji-kun…” Takemichi added.

“I can guess the killer too, you know!” Chifuyu chimed in as well, his lips curled up into a wide grin. “I have really good instincts when it comes to that sort of thing!”

“Dumbass! It’s got nothing to do with intuition!” Keisuke playfully scolded his former vice-captain with a smirk. “You have to think in terms of music.”

“Keisuke, it's logic, not music.” I muttered into his ears, immediately correcting his mistake and in response, Keisuke’s cheeks went red in color in complete embarrassment.

“Ah, yes! That's it! That's it!” the ravenette chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

As the four of us continued to chat and laugh while watching the TV show, Ryoko who was sitting on the couch behind us decided to intervene in our conversation.

“You idiots!” Ryoko suddenly spoke up in a loud tone with a beer can in her hand and we all turned over to look at her. “In most of these cases, the fourth guy fighting on the TV is the culprit! the main character, the sidekick, the girl, and then the killer! That’s why the old man is the culprit!”

“Huh?!! That’s not funny at all!” Keisuke snapped at his mother yet again for the umpteenth time this evening.

“Look, the old man is the murderer!” Ryoko countered back, now pointing at the TV. “He’s the killer, only one person can get in that car…”

“He’s not that old!” Keisuke growled out with a frowning face. “If he's an old man, then you are an old woman too!”

“Huh?! What did you say, Keisuke?!!” Ryoko finally snapped back before she threw a kick at her own son.

And the rest of the night went with me and the blonde boys trying to disrupt the fight and calm down the two fiery Bajis every once in a while. As time passed by and the clock almost struck midnight, I found myself the only one in the Baji household to be wide awake while the rest of them were all passed out either on the couch or on the floor. Since I was the only one still up and functioning, I decided to go ahead and engage myself in some household chores, like putting blankets on their sleeping bodies to keep them warm, cleaning up the kotatsu table, putting away tonight’s extra food into the refrigerator, washing all the dirty dishes, and then last but not the least, cleaning the kitchen up completely spotless.

It took me some time to finish my job and as soon as I was done with it, I noticed Ryoko finally waking up from her slumber and sitting up on the couch.

“You’re awake, Ryoko-san.” I smiled, walking up to her.

“You did everything by yourself?” Ryoko asked with a sheepish smile. “Thank you, Nana-chan. Sorry for causing you all this trouble.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m happy to help anytime you need me.” I responded in a reassuring tone.

“Well then, Nana-chan… Can you be a darling and go to the convenience store around the corner and get me some turmeric? And some of those cake rolls with that chocolate chips… the cheeky ones that try to up the quality a notch.” Ryoko stated with a closed-eyed smile and I sweat-dropped at her in response.

She’s never gonna change, is she…?

“Okay, sure. Be right back.” I smiled back before turning around and walking away towards the front door.

“Don't worry about the house key. Oh and uh, Nana-chan…” Ryoko called and I turned to look back at her again, noticing a warm, gentle smile on her face as she was staring at me with her soft, bronze-colored eyes. “Take care of Keisuke for me, okay?”

In response, my face softened a bit as I blinked at her a few times.

“He was born to an idiot like me and an even more idiotic father.” Ryoko went on in a light tone, her eyes shifted from me to her sleeping son on the floor. “And now he’s a fool too. But… he’s always sincere in what he does. He's simply irresponsible. I taught him that much. Keisuke rarely brings his friends home with him and it’s even more shocking that he fell in love and decided to date a smart, capable girl like you… This is the first time I’ve seen him laughing with all his friends like this. Keisuke is an only child, so maybe Chifuyu and Takemichi are like little brothers to him. And I have nothing to say much when it comes to you, Nana-chan. You and Keisuke have been best friends ever since you two first met years ago at the Sano dojo and now you’ve become lovers. I’m really happy for you two, you know?”

“You’re… happy that Keisuke and I are dating?” I asked as my lips slowly curled up into a small smile.

Ryoko-san’s happy… it means she approves of our relationship, right…?

“I always wanted Keisuke to end up with no one else but you, Nana-chan. I’ve been shipping you two ever since then.” Ryoko replied with a soft chuckle and my smile widened a bit more upon hearing her response. “I hope Keisuke doesn't make too much of a fool of himself. Please keep a close eye on him.”

“Yes, I will, Ryoko-san. You can count on me.” I reassured her once again.

I love Keisuke to death, Ryoko-san… He’s just so precious to me… I promise to love and protect him till my dying breath…

As soon as I walked out of the building to head toward the convenience store, someone familiar called out my name from behind me.

“Oi, Nana.”

I turned around to see Keisuke making his way towards me, yawning while running a hand through his silky, raven locks.

“Why are you going alone at this late hour?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows a bit, his eyes telling me he was still tired.

“You were sleeping, so I didn't want to wake you up.” I smiled at him apologetically and in response, he rolled his eyes at me.

“Don't be stupid. I’m coming with you.” He scoffed before we both headed towards the store together.

“Thanks for coming.” I smiled at my lover after we finished our shopping and stepped out of the store.

“Don’t thank me, stupid. As your boyfriend, I have to tag along with you wherever you go.” He scoffed again before gently taking the shopping bag from my grip. “Also, I’m sorry about Mom being super annoying today…. I said I didn’t care about my mom’s fortune, but…”

“No, it’s okay.” I giggled in response as we walked down the quiet streets together side by side, the moon in the sky glowing brightly above us, illuminating the whole area like a spotlight. “It’s been a while since I hung out with Ryoko-san like this.”

“You sure? She’s always so pushy.” He muttered, letting out a heavy sigh tiredly.

Somehow, her being a Baji kind of justifies her behavior….

“Besides I got your mom’s approval today.” I informed, grinning at him.

“She always approved you ever since we first met 11 years ago, Nana. She thinks you're the right choice for me. Well, I think that too…” Keisuke smiled back before reaching out and grabbing my hand in his larger one, intertwining our fingers together.

He then looked away from me for a moment and set his eyes on the ground underneath us, that breathtaking smile was still dancing on his face.

“You know, Nana, I… I have known you ever since we were four years old, but then again sometimes I feel like I still don’t know very much about you. I’m still learning about you, little by little. At least, I hope I can fully know and understand you someday…” he muttered in a low, gentle tone which was enough for me to hear his words given the quiet environment around us.

“Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual…” I muttered as well, tightening the grip of our intertwined hands. "For the past 11 years, we were just childhood best friends and now we are lovers. Our relationship changed and took a completely different form, so obviously, we’ll start rediscovering each other from scratch.”

“Really?” he asked as he looked back at me, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” I replied with a smile, causing him to smile back in response.

Soon later we both came back to the Baji household where we found Ryoko and the other two boys on the floor in the living room, sitting in a circle with a big bag placed in the middle.

“What’s that?” Keisuke asked, raising an eyebrow as he and I moved closer to see what it was.

“Candies.” Ryoko replied with a smirk as if she just achieved something great.

“Damn, this is a huge bag. Is it all just candy?” I asked, looking at it while Chifuyu and Takemichi excitedly went through the bag to find anything else other than the sweet treats.

“Yeah. I won an online contest.” Ryoko replied with her smirk growing even wider than before. “The bag is full of candies of different flavors. I wanted to give these to you kids earlier but for some reason, it just slipped away from my mind. Anyway, choose whatever you like.”

“Huh? Online contests? When did you get into this kind of shit?” Keisuke asked in confusion as he and I took a seat with the rest on the floor.

“Doesn’t matter, Keisuke.” I stated before looking through the bag with Chifuyu and Takemichi, pulling out some candies as well. “Let’s see… We have strawberry, fig, pomegranate, orange… There are some weird ones as well, like cheese…”

“Cheese, huh?” Keisuke trailed off, taking the candy from my hand before looking over at his former vice-captain. “Oi, Chifuyu… You don't like cheese, right?”

“Hell no. I’ll rather throw my wallet in a ditch than choke down cheese.” Chifuyu scoffed before huffing and looking away with a pout while Keisuke unwrapped the candy and took it in between his two fingers.

“Right…” Keisuke muttered with a sadistic smirk before he leaned a bit toward the blonde boy, holding the candy in front of his face. “Say aah.”

Just then, for some reason, Chifuyu’s whole face went red.

“Baji-san's feeding me candy!” Chifuyu started mumbling to himself, squirming around where he was sitting as his face was showing all sorts of emotions – shock, happiness, disgust, and a lot more. “This may never happen again! But it’s cheese flavor… Cheese flavor!”

And seeing Chifuyu like this caused me and Takemichi to deadpan at him while Ryoko started to giggle in amusement from beside us.

“Is he in love with Keisuke or something?” I mumbled to Takemichi.

“You creep. Eat on your own.” Keisuke scoffed in disgust, throwing the candy at Chifuyu before moving far away from the blonde boy.

“Huh, B-Baji-san?! I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable! I’m not in love with you, I promise! I see you as my big brother!” Chifuyu cried out in a reassuring tone but Keisuke moved away from him even further yet again, causing Ryoko and Takemichi to laugh at them in amusement.

While this whole commotion continued in the middle of the living room, I quietly moved a bit far away from them and started to go through the candies that I picked from inside the bag- one of them was clay flavored. I simply stared down at the candy in my hand with a confused look written all over my face.

Huh? Clay-flavored candy? What in the world is that?

“Which flavor is that one? Strawberry?”

I quickly looked up to see Keisuke now sitting beside me, also looking at my candy while the others (Ryoko, Takemichi, and Chifuyu) were busy with their own activities just a bit away from us.

“Huh? No, it's clay.” I replied before unwrapping the candy and putting it inside my mouth.

As soon as I did that, I felt like gagging right at that moment. The taste was bitter and so horrible that it literally killed me.

“Why are you eating a clay-flavored candy?” Keisuke deadpanned at me.

“Just wanted to try the taste… It’s really bitter.” I replied with a small pout, not realizing the look in his eyes and how close he was leaning to my face.

Keisuke then looked back at the others for a bit just to find them still talking about different flavors of candies before he turned his attention back to me and that’s when I looked up and noticed his sharp bronze eyes boring into my brownish-amber ones. The look in his eyes was completely different, something I had never seen before. The emotions behind those pretty eyes were so intense and passionate that they started to draw me toward him even closer without me even realizing it.

What’s with this look? What’s with the strong emotions behind those eyes?

“Bitter, huh…” he whispered in a deep, rough yet smooth voice before he leaned in even closer to my face, his eyes flickering between my eyes and my lips.

In the midst of the unexpected chaos, Keisuke's actions caught me completely off guard. Before I could process what was happening or even formulate a question, I felt something soft and warm pressing gently against my own lips. It was Keisuke's lips, and he was kissing me.

Huh? Wait, what? Keisuke’s kissing me now?!

My eyes immediately shot open in astonishment, my body freezing in place as my mind raced to comprehend the surreal turn of events but even with that, I found myself incapable of moving, anchored in place by the sheer shock of the moment as the world seemed to have shifted on its axis. Keisuke, who was doing all the work, was kissing me, delicately yet passionately, as if he believed I were as fragile as thin glass. Gradually my eyes closed, almost of their own accord, surrendering to the intoxicating sensation that washed over me as I leaned into the kiss.

I felt him smirking into the kiss, his lips moving tenderly against mine, slow and soft, as his hands crept their way up to my cheeks, holding my face firmly in place with a gentle yet possessive touch so he could lead the kiss. A warm, tingling sensation surged wildly through my stomach, a desire awakening within me that went beyond the kiss itself. I couldn't help but respond, my hands instinctively finding their way and grasping his chest, pulling him closer with a fervor I hadn't known I possessed, holding onto him tighter than I intended to.

At that moment, the presence of Ryoko, Chifuyu, and Takemichi faded into insignificance. I didn’t care if they noticed us kissing. I just simply didn’t care. Nothing else mattered except the sensation of Keisuke's lips and hands on mine, his warmth and existence enveloping me, and the unquenchable thirst for more. That's all I could care and think of in that moment. I wanted more. I craved more. I yearned for Keisuke to ravish me, to consume me, to take me to the heights of ecstasy in heaven, or to plunge me into the depths of desire in hell; either way, I would have remained extremely satisfied with the outcome.

I could feel the heat and warmth radiating from Keisuke’s body with his sweet breath mingling with mine in a tantalizing dance. He smelled very nice; a captivating mix of mint and sandalwood, invading all my five senses, literally driving me to the edge, to the brink of desire. His tongue then gently teased the seam of my lips, seeking entry, and I eagerly granted it, inviting him into the intimate realm of my mouth. Our tongues intertwined with one another and danced with a fervor that escalated the kiss into something passionate, raw, and demanding. Euphoria began to blossom within me, setting off fireworks of sensation that sent tingles and desires coursing through my entire being, the whole feeling became completely blissful. At that moment, it felt as though the universe had faded away and nothing existed or mattered, leaving only Keisuke and me in a world of our own making. Only me and him.

Keisuke's hand moved from my cheek to the nape of my neck, deepening the kiss further. I could almost taste the faint remnants of the cola he had been drinking earlier, a tantalizing addition to the sensory overload, as it rolled off my tongue and seeped down my throat with every push of his tongue against mine. A kiss is one of the most sensual happenings, aside from sex and of course, I loved it. His lips were so warm and soft and tasted of mint and cola which caused trembles to shake my body while the euphoric warmth blossomed within me once more. He then gently tilted my head to the side and continued to kiss me, intensifying the kiss, his lips demanding. I felt a smoldering heat deep within me as he slanted my head further, deepening the kiss while his fingers in my hair gently ran up and down the back of my neck, coaxing shivers out of me and down my spine.

The kiss had a raw intensity; breathing fast, heart rated faster. To me, Keisuke was like my personal drug, each touch an instant intoxication that electrified every nerve in my body and set my mind ablaze. I think probably it was the anticipation of being together in a way that was more than words, in a way that was so completely tangible, beyond anything I had ever imagined. In that moment of the kiss, it felt as if our chemistry became an ever-bright flame, promising a depth of love and connection that transcended the superficial. His kiss was not at all the same as those movie stars, but one steeped in a passion that ignites. It was the promise of realness, of the primal desire that lived in us all. In his kiss, I found the promise of years and the sweetness of waiting for real love. In his kiss, I finally found my sanctuary, my sense of belonging.

The kiss lingered for several exhilarating seconds before we broke apart, gasping for air, panting slightly, our foreheads resting against each other's before we opened our eyes together. In that brief second of pause, all I could do was gaze lovingly into Keisuke's eyes while he took his time to study my face. I felt my blush deepen under his scrutiny as Keisuke gazed at me endearingly, his eyes softening with tenderness.

In my eyes, Keisuke Baji was the embodiment of perfection. He was so gorgeous that my heart seemed to plummet into an abyss of longing. His long, ebony hair; his perfect, carven features; his arrogant, sensual mouth – fuck, right now, I wanted to kiss him again so bad. I yearned to lose myself again in the intoxicating world he had opened up to me. His kiss was so tantalizing, that it left me breathless, greedy, and utterly unsatisfied, wanting more, craving more.

Just as I entertained the thought of diving back into another passionate embrace with Keisuke, he abruptly withdrew, his expression inscrutable, leaving me in a state of profound confusion.

“Keisuke, could you get me some water?” Ryoko suddenly spoke up from her spot with Takemichi and Chifuyu by her side and her voice brought me back to reality.

And that’s when I noticed something weird – the candy that was in my mouth earlier wasn’t there anymore.

“You’re such a pain.” Keisuke groaned out, rolling his eyes before standing up and walking away without sparing a glance at anyone.

On the other hand, I was still sitting in my spot with a hot, red face burning like the sun. Not only Keisuke and I just shared our first kiss seconds ago in front of his mother and our friends but also he stole my clay-flavored candy which was literally in my mouth.

“What’s up, Nana-chan?” Takemichi asked as he came over to me with a confused look.

“Keisuke stole my candy…” I muttered out as a response, not meeting the gaze of the time-leaper.

“Eh, really? What flavor was it?” Chifuyu asked, who also seemed clueless about what just happened earlier as he pulled out some more candies from the bag. “We still have a bunch more, Nana-san.”

“I-I’m good, thanks!” I stuttered out in embarrassment.

“Okay then, you should give this flavor a try!” Ryoko stated before tossing some candies at me who also looked clueless and I let out a heavy sigh in relief.

Looks like they didn’t see what happened between me and Keisuke, huh…? Thank God…

3rd Person’s POV (Meanwhile in the kitchen)

With a burning face and a racing heart, Baji leaned back against the refrigerator and let out a heavy sigh, trying to process what just happened right now - He just kissed Nana and for both of them, it was their first-ever kiss. Well, he won’t call it a simple kiss; it was more of a small make-out session for them. His breathing was heavy, his hands were now all sweaty, his heart hammered hard against the ribcage as if it would burst out of his chest at any moment now but even after everything, he had never felt so alive and loved before.

Fuck, I love her so much…

Baji then slowly reached up and touched his lips with his fingers, getting himself lost in a deep trance again, thinking about how Nana’s lips felt against his own ones – it was sweet, it was soft, it was sensual, and most definitely, it tasted like cherry because of the lip balm she always used.

“She’s right…” Baji mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes, and sighed, twisting the stolen candy with his tongue inside his mouth. “It actually tastes like clay…”

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blu-eh · 1 year

Text

Title: the new york conspiracy corner

Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)

Words: 6,888 (1/3)

Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT), The Turtles (TMNT) & New York

Characters: Leonardo (TMNT), Michelangelo (TMNT), Raphael (TMNT), Donatello (TMNT), April O'Neil (TMNT), various random ppl on social media

Additional Tags: POV Outsider, Identity Reveal, Social Media, Texting, Chatting & Messaging, Twitter, Mixed Media, Family Dynamics, Donatello and Leonardo are Twins (TMNT), chat fic, buckle up bc this goes through the Entire Show & Movie, Does Anyone Know How Mikey Became An Undercover Admin Of His Own Discord? The Answer is No

Summary:

“You cause a small explosion with dubiously legal lasers one time,” Donnie says under his breath. Then, louder; “Dearest brothers, this situation is worse. Much, much worse. In a circumstance that not even my superior algorithm could detect—we are trending on Twitter.”

“WHAT?!” Raph and Leo shout, in unison.

Donnie’s not great at the whole tone thing most times, but even he can see that there are two widely different emotions going on at this exact moment, especially the wild look in Raph’s eyes and the stupid, smug smirk on Leo’s face. The kind that usually gets more than one of them into trouble at the most inopportune times.

Mikey shakes the back of Leo’s shell. “We’re gonna be internet famous, baby!”

Or: the lives of superpowered teenage mutant ninja turtles, as seen through the eyes of New York (and, subsequently, the world).

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #my fics

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quietwings-fics · 9 months

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The Stars Glow for You

Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Fandom: Doctor Who Ship: Martha Jones/Rose Tyler Additional Tags: First Kiss, Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Cute, Martha Jones Deserves Better, Missing Scene, Fluff and Humor Wordcount: 1653 Summary:

Martha finally gets to meet Rose Tyler. It's almost like Rose is more excited to meet her.

Here she is: Rose Tyler. The legend. The myth. The… woman.

She sits down beside Martha on the edge of the central platform, their legs dangling and swinging slightly as the TARDIS tugs Earth home. Her hair is a mess she’s trying to comb back into sense with her fingers, and when she smiles, her teeth poke out, and she threw herself across the void to find the Doctor again. She succeeded.

Martha knows exactly why he loves her.

“Martha,” Rose says, “Martha Jones?” Like she’s making sure she has it right. Martha nods. Rose’s smile brightens. “You were fantastic.”

Not that Martha needs to be told.

But it’s still something, to hear it from her.

“And you,” she replies. It feels lackluster, but Rose ducks her head.

“Well,” she says, “did my best, anyway.” She peers back up at Martha. “You’ve traveled with him. You’ve got a… look. Like you’ve seen the worst things the universe has to offer standing right beside the most wonderful ones. He does that. To us, I mean.” Martha wants to ask. She wants, desperately, to know what those things were for Rose. It was one thing to pull herself free of the Doctor’s orbit. Rose is something else entirely; Rose is what his universe revolves around.

And before she can, Rose tips her head, worries at her bottom lip, and asks in a hushed tone, “What was it like when you-” Martha leans forward, her questions replaced with a dozen different stories all fighting to be told first, all scary and beautiful and exhilarating.

“Are you gossiping about me?” the Doctor- one of the Doctors calls. Martha doesn’t turn around quick enough to see which, and they’re both looking at her and Rose. Rose shifts beside her, drawing her leg up to fold on the platform. Her knee brushes Martha’s thigh and then rests there, warm and more tangible than any lost dream.

“Stop eavesdropping!” she calls back with ease, and the Doctors huff and harrumph in near perfect unison. One of them casts another glance towards her before focusing on the TARDIS again. Rose shakes her head. Part of Martha expects her to get up and go back to them, but Rose looks back at her. “Do you want to get some privacy?” Martha’s mouth feels drier than it should. Is that a side effect of not being used to traveling the TARDIS? She can’t really remember.

“Yeah,” she says. Rose reaches for her hand, and Martha, like a piece falling into place, lets herself be pulled up to her feet.

“Where are we going?” she asks. She should have the moment they stood up, but she’d been caught on Rose’s hand wrapped around hers. No one had noticed them wandering off. (Except maybe Jack, though he didn’t call attention to them, only raised his eyebrows and grinned.) Rose hesitated in the TARDIS’s hallway. The engine thrummed peacefully, and the light around them seemed to grow and dim like breathing.

“I-” Rose laughs, but it’s not a happy sound. “I was going to take you to my room, but it wouldn’t be here anymore, would it? I haven’t been-” The TARDIS, in its way, ripples and bends until there’s a door that wasn’t there. It even opens slightly with the next wave of light as though beckoning them in. “That can’t be...” Rose says. Martha knows that it is.

“Might as well look,” she says. She squeezes Rose’s hand, and Rose glances down to where their fingers are still tangled together, as though she was so comfortable that she’d forgotten. She doesn’t let go.

Rose’s room is a mess.

“Oh my god,” she says. Her cheeks flame bright pink as Martha stares at her bra on the floor and then very quickly looks anywhere else. “I’m sorry. I’ve been in another dimension. I haven’t really had the chance to clean- Hey!” Rose cuts herself off to pick up a skirt off her bed. She turns it over a few times like she’s inspecting it for damage. It’s perfectly fine. Martha swipes her hand over the (cleared) part of a dresser and doesn’t even come up with dust. It’s like a time capsule. “Sorry,” Rose says, “I got this a few hundred years in the future, and they haven’t been created yet for me to replace it.”

“It’s cute,” Martha says. Rose holds it at her waist to show off. It’s a friendly yellow.

“That’s not even the best part,” she says. She slides her hand against one of the pleats and then into it. “These are all pockets. Folded up space or something.”

“Really?” Rose grins.

“Yeah. Come see.” Martha’s too curious to stop herself, and it only occurs to her when her hand is already inside that she’s sticking it down Rose’s skirt. Rose’s hand bumps hers inside, and Martha’s face gets hot.

“That’s. Um.” She pulls her hand back while Rose puts the skirt down. “That’s amazing.”

“Until you need to find which one you put something in,” Rose says. “I lost the sonic screwdriver in here once. Life or death situation, and I’ve got Jack and the Doctor both rummaging around in there.” A laugh escapes Martha. “No, that’s not the worst part. Jack says, ‘I’ve found it!’, so sure of himself. He pulls out-” Rose has to bite her lip to finish. “He pulls out a tampon.” Martha loses it, and Rose struggles to keep speaking around her own laughter. “Points it- Points it right at the bomb- There was a bomb, Martha, and he pointed a tampon at it!” Martha puts her hand out to lean on something and keep her balance. It lands on Rose’s arm. “The Doctor found the screwdriver in time, but that could have been the last thing I ever saw!” Rose’s head falls forward and bumps Martha’s. They both catch their breath between giggles.

“I can’t imagine why the Doctor never told me that story,” Martha says. She wipes at her eyes. God, those tears feel good after the chaos of today.

“Did he tell you a lot about me?” Rose asks, as if it’s even a question that needs to be asked. Martha schools her expression carefully.

“Yes,” she says. Rose frowns at her. She looks around at her perfectly preserved room and licks her lips.

“He ever talk about anything but me?” She sounds genuinely apologetic, as if it’s her fault.

“Once or twice,” Martha says. Rose sighs shortly.

“I’ll smack him for you, if you like. Both of him,” Rose offers. Martha huffs out another laugh. “I’m serious,” Rose says, but she can’t keep a serious expression to back that up. “I will. I could get my mum to do it, too. She’s been waiting.”

“I don’t need you to,” Martha says. She pauses. “I kind of want to see that, though.”

“It’s good for him. He likes it.” Rose flushes suddenly. “He- I meant, it keeps him humble.” Martha opens her mouth, considers whether she really wants an answer to what she’s dying to ask, and shuts it again.

“He did lose you,” Martha says. “I try to keep that in mind, so I feel a little more charitable.”

“Yeah, but he had you,” Rose says. “What’s he doing not shutting up about me when you’re here? You’re incredible. You just tried to hold the Earth hostage to get rid of the Daleks.”

“It didn’t work,” Martha points out, but her face is getting hot again.

“You still went for it, though,” Rose says. “You’re bold, and you’re smart, and you’re gorgeous-” Rose’s mouth snaps shut around whatever she was going to say next. She looks like she’s trying to keep a frog trapped in her mouth until she finally manages to speak again. “This is Jack’s fault. I stand around him too long, and I start saying… anything, apparently.”

“I don’t mind,” Martha says. Rose’s mouth quirks.

“Course you don’t. You’re the one getting compliments.”

“So those are the only ones I get?” It’s a bad idea to let Rose draw her in, but orbiting the Doctor had always been such a lonely thing to do. Rose is like the sun. Martha feels warm beneath her gaze. All of Rose’s attention is on her, and it feels amazing.

“I think I could come up with a few more.” That, Martha’s sure, is a line she’s stolen from Jack, if only because the way she says it sounds like him.

It’s an even worse idea to let Rose kiss her, but when Rose reaches for her hand again and looks down at her mouth, Martha can’t do anything else. Rose’s other hand rises to her cheek when she kisses Martha. Martha’s sure Rose can feel the way she’s flushed beneath her palm. Martha’s hands hover at Rose’s waist, and Rose leans forward into the kiss until Martha holds onto her to keep them both steady. Rose’s shirt rides up, and Martha’s fingers find themselves against bare skin.

Rose giggles against Martha's mouth. She’s ticklish, Martha thinks, Rose Tyler is ticklish. There’s something the Doctor never thought to mention.

Kissing the Doctor, once, had been like a run-in with a tornado, something she was lucky to survive and had chased the thrill of until she realized it might just kill her.

Kissing Rose is like… like the first night Martha was on the TARDIS and the gentle hum of it lulled her to sleep. Kissing Rose is like when she woke up the next morning with an extra pillow under her arm for her to hold and a heavier blanket over her feet like she’d always liked to sleep when she was at home. Kissing Rose is like she’s being invited to stay.

Rose pulls back first. She looks a little nervous. “Alright?” she asks.

Martha wiggles her fingers at Rose’s side again to hear her small laugh again.

“Amazing,” she says.

(Enjoyed it? Any interaction is welcomed. You can even support me on Ko-Fi <3)

#fanfiction #general audiences #1001-5000 #doctor who #martharose #martha jones #rose tyler #fluff

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polizwrites · 1 year

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There Would Be No Courage Were It Not For Hope

This is a fill for today’s @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt [#FFF207 Can We Kiss?] as well as the final WinterIron Pride Prompt Party prompt - Day 30: Hope.

Fandom: MCU/Marvel Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating: General Tags: Pride, Parade Floats, pining, hope, love confessions

Part of Bucky still didn’t quite believe this was possible. It had been beaten into his brain (and his body) when he was younger that men weren’t allowed to be attracted to men. But now, in this new century, things had changed. Or at least, they were changing.

There was now an entire month dedicated to celebrating queerness - people who defy expectation and categorization. There were parties and parades, film festivals and so much visibility over all. And it was all wonderfully colorful and exciting and hopeful.

Bucky heard Tony talking about the Stark Industries float in the New York City Pride Parade and asked if he could get a sneak peek. Tony in turn seemed a little caught off guard by the question, but was more than happy to arrange a tour. “Would you maybe be able to come too?” Bucky asked, feeling his cheeks heat.

“Um, sure, I can make some time,” Tony had replied to Bucky’s request. The two of them had built a friendship over the past few months, and Bucky in turn had managed to develop a crush on his handsome, brilliant, kind and funny companion, who was also out and proud pansexual who flirted like breathing. He had been the second person Bucky came out to – Steve had known that Bucky liked fellas and gals since the 1930’s – and while Tony had been amazingly supportive, Bucky still didn’t dare do more than hope that maybe, someday, he might possibly have a chance with him.

The next day, they drove way up into Jersey, past Newark into an industrial district near Clifton. “This guy is the best,” Tony explained “he and his people have been making floats for Pride since the 70’s.”

The owner himself came out to greet them when they arrived. After Tony made the introductions, Mister DeVito brought them over to show off his work. “Matter of fact,” he said, “we were just gonna go run her around the block a bit. Make sure she steers good and nothin’ falls off. Wanna go for a ride?”

“Sure!” they both exclaimed, practically in unison. They climbed an interior ladder to the top of the SI float, accompanied by one of the workers, who put safety harnesses on them. “This isn’t the first time I wore a harness at Pride,” Tony joked, “but I usually don’t have this much on underneath it.”

As they pulled out of the warehouse, several of the workers were waiting, waving and cheering at them. They responded in kind, with Tony saying, “I feel like we should be doing something a bit more flamboyant.”

“Can we kiss?” the words spilled out of Bucky before he had a chance to stop them.

A surprised expression flashed over Tony’s face, replaced by a speculative look. “If you want to, sure.”

“Yeah, I do,” Bucky replied, heart in his throat. “Been wanting to for awhile.”

Tony smiled softly. “Then let’s make that happen, sunshine.”

#writing stuff #flash fiction friday #fanficlet #mcu/marvel #WinterIron #Pride Prompt Party #Shameless Self Promo

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cornflowershade · 1 year

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bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

Thank you for tagging me @lamonnaie!

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself Sonia (she/her). 24. I love getting to know people & chatting about shows so lets goooo

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom? I watched Bad Buddy in one week, in late October 2022. I owe it to @airenyah honestly. I think I found their blog through an SPN post and clicked over for that reason. In my scrolling, I happened upon a lovely gifset (wish I could recall who made it) of InkPa. It was the scene where they're outside and Pa says anyone taller than her is fine and hops down off the sidewalk. :) Love that scene. Anyway I reblogged it and in the tags was like WHAT IS THIS I MUST WATCH IT. To which airenyah gave me a whole blessed reply telling me the show name, giving a small synopsis/what to expect from my first thai drama & telling me where I could watch it. I immediately watched the series and adored it. I've seen it twice thus far.

favorite ship(s) PatPran & InkPa :)

favorite character(s): Okay I adore all the main 4 but I'm gonna go with Pran. I love him. There's just something so soft about him and how on earth do his eyes communicate so much?? I think I relate to his messy little overthinking and silently in love brain—very "me the first time i had a queer crush and simply wallowed the whole time bc it was impossible" lol. Also, he's always making the funniest facial expressions which gets me every time. I could go on about everything I like about his character (for instance how clever yet sometimes oblivious he is & how he gets all annoyed lol). Though I do question his sense of interior design and that smiley face obsession.

favorite episode(s) Honestly I'm not certain if I have one?? It's all so good! I do really like their "whoever falls first loses" era though. Wait actually?? My favorite ep might be the early one where Pat thinks he's hitting on the "girl" across the hall and they end up running into each other on the roof. Also both of the beach episodes.

favorite scene(s) *pastes in the entire show* Okay okay I'll try to pick a few:

~ The scene where Pat is staying over and he and Pran are lying in the dark, counting down to say in unison whether they have a crush on Ink. Idk I remember that scene having an emotional impact on me. Pran's face??? Then when Pat asks "would you like me?" and Pran says "I hate you" and then he yanks the blanket away but you saw him crying?? ahhhghrhghgh

~ The scene in the darkroom with Ink and Pa. I remember getting so emotional. Pretty sure Pa's dialogue and acting made me cry. "I do [like you being nice to me]. I like it so much that I thought I was special to you." ARE YOU KIDDING ME ASDFGZ. And then Ink says she is special to her!! And it's so sweet!!

~ OH and how could I forget. This should be at the top of the list. I realllly like the scene where Pran stands up to his mom and they have that emotional fight in their front hall. That whole thing is just. AHHHHHH. AHHH. AHIOFJEIOsdJIO. SIJDGRIOGJRIGJORE

~ And the scene at the stairs where Pat yells how much he loves Pran in front of Pran's whole faculty. :)

(Also any scene where Pat & Pran are being silly. Like their dumb little chopstick fight :p omg or the designing the bus stop at night scene)

one thing you would change about the show if you could Ohhhh I don't know! Maybe I'd throw in a few more InkPa scenes :)

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people? Ahh fun fun fun. Get ready for some fanvid recs! (What else do you expect from me, a fanvidder.)

• Just My Type (Pat x Pran) by samyvids • Physical (Pat x Pran) by coldties • Enchanted (Ink x Pa) by rheaprodz • I really like you (Pat x Pran) by dkyth73 • Rebels (Pat x Pran) by coldties • Dandelions (Pat x Pran) by hylian fanvids

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made? I've made two fanvids for Bad Buddy, as well as one song cover haha. I'll stick to the fanvids here. :)

• All I Need (Ink x Pa) • That dimple is illegal (Pat x Pran)

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol) Physical by Dua Lipa. The fanvid using that song is my all-time favorite BBS edit, so hearing the song reminds me of it.

idk anything else you want us to know? Uhhhhhhhh. I mean I could ramble about BBS and why it means so much to me for a long time haha. Should I do that? I guess I'll do that.

Okay so BBS was the first Thai drama I watched. I was still feeling a lot from the SPN-finale/confession scene era (yes that happened 2 years prior but it's SPN okay iykyk) which had me especially sad about and aware of media censorship etc. etc.

On top of that I was still working up the courage to leave this group chat of childhood friends, some of whom liked to complain about media "making everything gay" etc. (Amazing how you can not know people are homophobic for the entirety of your childhood bc the topic just never comes up lol.) Which was of course upsetting to me for multiple reasons. However the universe decided to do something nice and Heartstopper was released. That series felt really huge to me, but after it was over, I was left with this feeling of like... what else is there to watch? Where else will I ever find a queer ship this canon where they're also the main characters?

That's when I came across BBS and it gave me this realization that OH WAIT we aren't limited to western media and OH LOOK there's so many great shows that I didn't even know about!! And they keep making them! Also it was a queer story where the main obstacle wasn't being gay (Plus, Asian leads!!). And BBS itself is just such a standout show. First of all, I love a good comedy and the series made me laugh so much. It's heartfelt but full of ANTICS [like yes lets have fun! Lets not take everything too seriously!], and Pat & Pran & Ink & Pa are just such wonderful and lovable and real feeling characters—who have this lovely friendship too—and the show is just! Such a fun ride. <3 I recall watching the series and feeling like my world just got a little bit bigger. Anyway Bad Buddy goes all in for everything it does and it's such a joy.

Tagging @airenyah and @distant-screaming and @feralmuskyscentedhoepran if you haven't done this yet and would like to!

#bad buddy #bad buddy series #get to know you meme #mine

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red-riding-wood · 9 months

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Chapter 4

OC: Aleera

Fandom: Game of Thrones / ASOIAF

Summary: Former protector of the last Targaryens and bastard daughter of the Mad King Aerys, Aleera ventures to Westeros in search of the family she's never known, and finds herself swallowed by a world of cruelty, ambition and lies... She must leave behind her heart to survive, and, like her ancestors, forge her path through fire and blood. Madness and greatness, they say, are two sides of the same coin, and may the world hold its breath to witness how this coin lands.

Warnings: (for entire story) angst, graphic violence, gore, cursing, sexual assault, graphic sexual content, incest, torture... standard GoT stuff. I'm not holding back with this story so if you're not a fan of dark or disturbing content this is not for you. Also future Ramsay x OC and Petyr x OC and those two are their own warnings.

~ Combines content from Game of Thrones TV series and the ASOIAF books. Some canon changes are made to suit the story. ~

The Lannister’s head turned to the sound of my blade against its scabbard too late; I pierced him through the ribs, thrusting upward just enough to strike him in the heart. Blood bubbled from his lips, a wet gargle in his throat. I had only the time to spare him a cursory look, to glimpse briefly the widening of his hooded eyes before my attention was stolen by the others. When I pulled my blade from his corpse, crimson splattered my roughspun tunic.

Two more swords were drawn, and gasps sounded around us as the passing peasants and fishmongers ascertained the violence. I broadened my stance, the sheen of blood glinting off the steel of my blade as I held it to the last golden fingers of dawn, my eyes darting between my two opponents as I awaited their retaliation. My heart beat fiercely against my chest, my veins singing with fire.

The first blow came from above, and steel clashed with steel in a resounding clang across the docks, reverberating through my bones and gritted teeth as I forced the assassin’s blade back, staggering him but opening myself to his counterpart, who followed up with a jab toward my guts.

Jumping back, my stomach roiled as I felt the soft brush of the blade’s tip over the fabric of my belly, and feinting left I attacked the first again, swords meeting once more in a furious clash. The grating of steel rang in my ears as my blade slid and nicked him in the side, brought just in time to deflect the second’s steel as it came downward.

Growling with frustration, the wounded soldier’s guard fell, his sword no longer ready and his hood falling over a bald, indented skull. I fought aggressively, seizing my chance to bury my blade in his gut but once more brought to heel by a ferocity to match from the second. I was forced to one knee as I blocked his blow, both hands clinging round the hilt of my sword and my arms trembling and my teeth grinding together as sweat pricked the base of my neck and my muscles screamed with strain.

He was much stronger than I, and from the corner of my eye, his bald friend was recovering, so I let my blade slide from his and tumbled to my right, threads of crimson wisping across my dirt-streaked face as I pulled myself up, hand scraping against the ground and my feet nearly tripping over a rope left careless across the wooden dock. Between the threads of my hair, the warmth of Lannister gold and the bright of steel winked in the dawn.

They advanced in unison, and I had no choice but to hobble back, soon finding my balance enough to leap; I needed distance, and perhaps surroundings I could better use to my advantage rather than the openness of the docks. The still-hooded man was far too aggressive to let me get a hit in.

Just above the docks, I spied an alley behind the shops narrow enough that it would be difficult for both to face me at once. I turned and ran, the laughter of the Lannisters taunting me to turn back.

A woman dropped a basket of bread as I practically ploughed into her, shouldering her aside. The bread cracked under my boot it was so dry, but it did not unbalance me. Casting a glance behind me, I saw her scrambling away, bread left abandoned, to evade the two men that came charging at me with drawn swords.

“Get back here, you troublesome little shit, you,” the bald man sneered, and my heart slammed against my ribs as I came to a corner, the toes of my boots digging into the dirt and sand of the ground as I came skidding to a halt. Blade ready, I swivelled to face them once more when I heard the whistle of metal by my ear, and a startling thwack against the wooden frame of a building.

Clammy hands gripped the hilt of my sword as I turned my head to see the dagger imbedded in the wood, an inch or so from my face, having caught no more than a wisp of red hair that tugged from my scalp as I drew back.

I was being charged from both sides now, by the two men I’d been fighting and now a fourth, his dark hood and robes matching his accomplices but his hands reaching beneath the folds of fabric for another dagger rather than a sword.

Thinking fast, I kicked at a small stand of empty bread baskets, wicker and crumbs spilling to the earth and feebly barricading the fork in the path behind me. I ran, my blood pumping ice cold death and my heart in my throat.

“Foolish fucking girl,” I heard the bald one taunt again from behind.

The alleyway opened into a small courtyard overseeing the docks, alive with the blurs of panicked and fleeing civilians dressed in muted cloths and tunics. All but one, who advanced on me, causing my stride to falter. Tall and lean, the man moved like a cat, though he did not don the dark robes of the Lannister assassins but rather, the bright, warm yellows and orange and emblazoned suns of a distinguishable Westerosi house.

House Martell, of Dorne, my recognition of the bronze skin and distinct design of emblazoned speared suns fed my mind, watching as he seemed to dance with his spear, deft arms spinning it in a tasseled whirl. Though flashing me a smirk, his eyes, sharp as his spear, were pointed to my aggressors, who came spilling into the courtyard behind me.

Careful not to turn my back on the Martell, I turned side face and held my sword firmly at the ready, between myself and the Lannister assassins. I was in the open again, but for whatever reason, this spearman seemed to be on my side, lunging for the man on the far left. So I stood my ground.

Livid and murderous, the bald man rushed me as the other two were preoccupied with the thrusting spear of the Martell, blood trickling from his wounded side but only seeming to plunge him into a blind fury. Feinting to the left, I dodged his swing entirely and brought my sword across his arm, slicing past cloth and ring mail and hitting solid bone.

The bald man cried out, his sword clattering to the ground as blood poured like a calamitous tide down the forearm that hung at an odd angle from the slice, blood red as thick wine spilling through fingers curling as if desperate to collect it in his palm. Wasting no time, I thrust my blade into his guts, earning another broken cry to my ears as his knees buckled beneath him.

To my horror, the others were right behind me, the Martell having chosen to back away and offer his opponents an honourable chance rather than cutting them down in the narrow alley, where he could have easily reached them with his spear without fretting over their blades. He grinned at them, his spear a bronze-brown flurry against the darkening sky as he spun it over his head. Though he was clearly quite arrogant, perhaps even foolish, I could not help but quirk my lip at the confidence he exuded and the grace with which he moved, seeming to dance rather than fight. But the point of his spear was still painted in blood.

One of his opponents, the hooded one that had been with the bald, was bleeding from his shoulder, which slumped from the injury, but his sword-bearing arm still swung strong and true at the Martell. The spear checked it before I could even react, and it and the Lannister’s sword became another flurry of motion. To my right, I spotted the dagger man reaching beneath his robes, and as the second knife sailed through the air toward me, I vaulted back, bumping my shoulder against the spine of the Martell.

His theatrics stilling, we took up a defensive stance; he proved himself adaptable as my movements became his, the aggressive Lannister’s sword aiming again for my partner but meeting my sword, and his guts skewered by the flash of the steel-pointed spear. Invigorated, I knocked the sword from his arm and sent my blade swinging for the neck of Daggers.

Swiftly, he dodged, just as I heard the squelch of blood and catch of ring mail to my left, telling me the Martell was only just freeing his weapon from the corpse of its unfortunate victim.

And that was all I heard before the air was knocked from my lungs, and my opponent’s weight ploughed into me, sharp pain stinging along my left forearm and nicked collarbone. Blood roared in my ears, numbing the world around me. I gasped, fingers reaching for the hilt of my blade but my arm trapped beneath a powerful knee. My own blood fell in a hot droplet against my face as I watched the silhouette of the man against the darkening sky raise his dagger to bring down in a final blow.

Without thinking at all, really, I brought my other hand up to shield my face, my eyes wincing shut as I anticipated the pain of the dagger tearing through my palm. Instead, the bloodied dagger fell across my chest, and I fluttered open my eyes, chest heaving as I watched the Martell’s spear knock Daggers from me. Rather than following up with a simple thrust, the spearman circled his prey.

Bleeding, sore, and acting on impulse, I grabbed the dagger in my shaking hands and rolled over, thrusting it where I knew his lung would be. Daggers shuddered, coughed, blood spewing upward in a geyser from his mouth before the bright left the blue of his eyes and they stared up as pale, lifeless pearls.

Collapsed over the man, my fingers finally releasing the dagger, I heaved out a final breath and rocked back onto my knees, bloodied fingers swiping the hair from my eyes and leaving my forehead sticky.

And as I remembered the man who stood above me, his dark, nearly pitch black eyes studying me with a certain intrigue and his sculpted brows narrowing but spear held lax at his side, I yanked the dagger from the corpse’s breathless lung and stared up at him, wild, my weight sinking forward again as I readied myself to spring upward.

Dark eyes twinkled like stars in a black sky, and he smiled, the base of his spear resting against the ground and the tip of it pointed to the heavens, a bronze-gold serpent slithering along the steel and the leather of its tassels finally beginning to settle like the writhing tails of rattlesnakes. He reached a hand out, slow and innocuous.

“Why did you help me?” was my first question, eyeing the hand he reached to me in aid and deciding to bring myself to my own feet, dagger switching to my left hand and my sword to the other.

The Martell eyed me with curiosity and amusement, sharp eyes darting from the hand he now retracted, slow again like a serpent coiling its neck to strike, and told me in an accent I had only heard once or twice in my lifetime, the syllables lilted but soft and flowing seamlessly into one another like song,

“Anyone who wars with the Lannisters is a friend of mine.”

I narrowed my eyes at him now, and asked, “Who are you?”

Smiling, he wiped the blood of his spear off on the dark robes of Daggers’ corpse, and as he sheathed it along his back, he said, “Forgive me, my friend. My name is Oberyn Martell, Prince of Dorne. And you are?”

My eyes must’ve widened in disbelief, for he seemed to enjoy my confusion; the sharp, distinctive lines of his face contorted into a prideful yet easy grin. A Westerosi prince, in Essos? The Red Viper himself – a legend I had grasped fleetingly in Willem Darry’s lessons, the Dornish prince said to poison his spear so that his enemies would fall dead with a mere cut. I recalled little if anything else about him, only tales of the Viper and the tragedy that had befallen his sister, who was wed to the older brother I had never known, Rhaegar Targaryen. The Martells and Targaryens went far back, our bloodlines having tied on numerous occasions after Aegon had conquered the Seven Kingdoms.

But although his prowess in battle lived up to his name, and he did indeed wear robes of the sun and spear of House Martell, why was he a continent away from home, unguarded, in this place of cheap wine and poverty and cobblers who reeked of old leather?

Unconvinced, I eyed him now with caution and a slight amusement. “And what is a prince doing in a place like this? You’re a little far from home.”

The false prince looked around at the now near-empty courtyard, save for a few curious onlookers in the far pockets of vendor stalls. Though flies were already swarming the pools of blood and fresh meat, he inhaled the scent of viscera and sand and salt as if breathing his first taste of anything. Almost reverently, his gaze gave a final sweep across it before settling back on my own.

“Adventure,” he told me. “The world is a big place. A shame it would be to hide away in one corner of it, for the entirety of a life that could end at any moment.” Eyes trailing down to the dagger and sword I still clutched in uncertain fingers, he added, “You could do away with those, my friend. I do not harm those who fight by my side.”

Reluctantly, I sheathed the dagger in my boot. Though the gold stripe of the handle was perhaps a bit garish for my liking, it could come in handy later, as a ware to sell or a concealed weapon, and I sheathed my sword after wiping it across the dark robes of Daggers as the false prince had his spear.

“Walk with me,” he said, and for a moment I did nothing as he turned, footsteps silent but his presence known to all by his finery and lazy yet dignified stride. He paused when I didn’t follow, casting a saturnine look to me and cocking his head.

“You do not believe me,” he concluded, to which I chuffed a nervous laugh.

“The only prince I’ve ever known,” I said, “certainly wouldn’t have stepped in to save a commoner.” The last words to leave my tongue began to dip into venom like a quill tasting black ink, for thoughts of Viserys were dangerous, heart-wrenching, sickening.

Dark eyes lit up, and his grin curled around white teeth. “Your saviour, now, am I?” he teased. “It seems you would be in my debt, then.”

“Hardly… I could’ve… handled myself,” I said indignantly, though my thinking seemed to whittle down from the throbbing in my arm that came to me, slowly, and my fingers reached for the cut across my tunic. They came away stained in a bright, fresh blood.

The prince – or false prince – cast an unbothered look down at the cut; it was shallow, after all, blood dribbling leisurely down my forearm, the most uncomfortable thing about it being the way the now-dampened roughspun clung to the stinging wound. Still, he cocked a brow at me, especially as I bunched the fabric of my tunic over it to stop the bleeding and the evening chill forced a shiver through me in my sweat and blood.

Are you really going to just stand there? His gaze seemed to say. Look at you.

Men began to slowly trickle into the courtyard – men with spears, pitchforks, daggers and shortswords that seemed to itch at their belts. They looked at me with their beady, frightful eyes and my flesh began to crawl, but when they looked at the prince, their jaws seemed to roll slack.

The prince, he seemed to not pay them any mind.

The huff of a capitulant sigh escaped my lungs, and I started forward, falling astride the Martell.

“Mayhaps you could’ve held your own,” he said, though his thoughts were distant, brow ponderous. “You fight almost like a Westerosi knight, from your stance, the way you hold your sword, though for certain you do not fight as honourable, but swifter – though not as fluid as the dance of the Braavosi. Sharper, wild, lawless. Are you a sellsword?”

He led me through the narrow, winding alleys of the seaside market, the scents of overlapping spices still lingering in the air, the residents and shopkeepers poking their heads from creaking wooden doors hesitantly. Had I not been tending to my injury, my hand would’ve been poised over the hilt of my sword, expecting someone to leap from the pockets of shadow the dying light didn’t dare touch.

The docks slowly began to come into view, a relief gradually settling in my bones with each step I took.

“No, not a sellsword,” I said. “I do not fight for gold.” “Then what do you fight for?”

A silence stretched between us, impossibly thick at first, until it pulled so taut I scarcely found the word in my chest,

“Survival.”

“Stabbing that Lannister through the spine, that was for survival?” He cocked a dark brow at me.

Another silence. My swallow felt heavy. Supplying information to a commoner or shopkeeper was a risk enough, but to a possible prince? I could ruin myself. And with everything still so fresh in mind, with the sun having just finally toppled completely below the horizon, I had hardly the time to think up an elaborate story.

Something akin to a smirk slithered upon the prince’s sharp, yet playful features. He must have taken my silence for his answer, and continued on to his next wonderment,

“Are you a warrior?”

I chuffed out a semblance of a laugh. Women weren’t warriors, nor knights, though I supposed I was the closest thing to one; I had offered my blade and my soul to blood, had practically made the protection of Daenerys and Viserys my life’s duty, so much so that I scarcely knew what I planned to make of myself next.

“Almost,” I answered.

He seemed intrigued at that, but continued to press, “A thief?”

“When I need to be.” I eyed him cautiously from the corner of one eye.

“An adventurer?”

Though I was now embarking across the Narrow Sea to find a mother I only knew of in tales and whispers, to a continent I hadn’t seen since I was too young to remember, adventure was not what I sought. A home, I realised; the closest thing I’d once had had been burnt to its foundations by the usurper’s men. A family, I mused rather wistfully.

“Hardly,” I said.

“A beggar?”

My mouth weaved into a bitter line. “No longer.”

“A whore?”

“Sometimes.”

The prince’s gaze lingered on me on that one, brow arched and a quirk in his mouth. I returned his gaze unabashedly, as if I had claimed to be innocent. He seemed to like that, I noted, as he chuckled and set his gaze forward again, for which I was thankful for. A slight blush suffused my cheeks.

“Whatever you really are, consider me intrigued,” he said.

Though our conversation was, at the least, a formidable distraction from the pain of my wound and the ache in my tired bones, he was too curious for my liking, and without knowing where exactly he was leading me, I couldn’t be certain what fate he planned.

“I must return to Westeros,” I told him. “I ask that you leave me on my way, my…” I fumbled for the words, my own smile quirking my lips as I bowed my head at him rather clumsily. “… my prince.” I was still not entirely convinced this wasn’t one foul trick. “Though well met, my quest does not concern you, and my time in Essos is rather short.”

That proved to be the wrong thing to say, for his dark eyes lit up and his playful smirk seemed to stretch wider over his face.

“I always find myself so intrigued by a quest,” he intoned. I wondered at this point how much of this he was saying to get under my skin. “Especially a quest that involves spilling Lannister blood. Perhaps you should tell me of it on board my ship? We are sailing to Maidenpool on the morrow.”

Maidenpool. I vaguely recalled having pointed out the city on an old, withered map in Ser Willem’s manor. It docked the Stormlands, homeland of the Baratheons and the usurper. Host to King’s Landing, the capital of Westeros and the fabled Iron Throne.

As the ocean air came wafting through the alleys, the brine and rotten seaweed and fishermens’ catches, the land beyond seemed to call to me again, my aching joints renewed with a new energy. I tried my best to keep my excitement and dangerous hope from my tone as I asked,

“And if you really are The Red Viper, what exactly would you want with me?”

“You killed three Lannisters today. Those are three reasons alone to offer you board on my ship. As I said, you are my friend – a friend who has not yet offered her name, but a friend nonetheless.”

I could scarcely believe it when the yellow of a sail poked from behind the last of the shops, a massive ship of red-tinged chestnut wood bobbing slowly on the restless waters, a golden man and spear protruding from the bowspirit, a bronze snake coiling round his body.

“Aleera,” I told him, unable to ward off all awe from my tone.

“And so, the mystery begins to unravel.” His footsteps were silent as they landed on the boards of the docks. “Well met, Aleera. Perhaps when we dock in Maidenpool, I shall finally know your second name.”

Targaryen, some voice sprang from the depths of my bosom to supply, but caught on my tongue like a thorn. I could call myself anything now, but calling myself the blood of the dragon would either elicit a laughing fit or place a target on my back.

Snow, I thought next; I was a bastard of the North, after all, and in Westeros, bastards were given the appropriate title of their region of birth. But I had never even seen the snow, nor the weirwood trees or wolves or shadowcats. I swallowed both titles, realising for one sickening moment that mayhaps I didn’t belong in either world of fire or ice.

“Your curiosity will only bring you disappointment,” I told him, deciding. “It is only Aleera.”

“No family?” he asked, as the magnificent sails of the Martell sigil came into full view: a vibrant yellow spear thrust through a crimson sun, emblazoned on the billowing fabric of orange fire. Now closer to the crewmates, I noticed several warriors – men and women alike – dressed in the warm colours of Dorne and fine, rich leathers, pale yellow shawls. Their skin gleamed shades of bronze and olive where the leatherwork made sensual patterns over their flesh, and at their sides or backs they wielded spears, bows, or curved blades of various styles and sizes.

A woman with engraved leather epaulettes and a tangerine silk dress and dark, curly hair that tumbled over her breast in coils of untamed beauty seemed to take an interest in Oberyn and I; long, bedazzled fingers curled over the edge of the ship and she studied me from black painted eyes with equal parts caution and intrigue. Though donning the warm, inviting yet fierce colours of Dorne, she was cold as stone.

“No family,” I confirmed, my gaze back to his as we came to stand on the ramp leading to his ship.

“It must be rather lonesome, having no one in this world.” I could tell not if he was attempting to worm his way beneath my skin or genuinely sympathising. His words were almost sullen, gentle, yet his black eyes were piercing, stripping me of my tunic, my flesh, my bones, until I was almost certain my secrets were secrets no longer. His gaze, I found I almost could not hold; my eyes darted to the toes of my boots, to the cracks in the wooden barge that seemed to undulate in my blurring vision, black threads twisting round my heart.

“Aleera, I would be honoured to have you come aboard my ship,” he said, and I blinked away my sudden tears to witness his hand gesturing with a flourish to the upper decks. “That is, if you do not still harbour misgivings about the legitimacy of my title,” he added, a teasing lilt to his tone. He could switch from melancholic to serious to playful in a heartbeat. I needed to do the same if I wanted to keep up.

Looking him up and down, I said, with a quirk of a smile on my lip, “You are perhaps too sharply dressed for a mummer. Too well-groomed for a pirate.” Lifting at the bottom of my tunic clumsily, I did a mock curtsy this time, feeling ridiculous in my peasant clothing but deciding this whole situation was rather ridiculous. Surreal. “Forgive me, Prince Oberyn,” I proclaimed dramatically.

Pleased, he grinned back at me, though before he could speak, the woman in the tangerine silks appeared by his side, her long, gold-ringed fingers grasping his jaw and pulling his gaze from me to her.

“Lover, I’d nearly sent out a search party,” she said, voice breathy with concern but purred with affection. Looking down at the blood splatters on his robes, she smiled, though her eyes betrayed her fear. “Getting into trouble, I see.”

My brows lifted as she tugged his mouth to hers, and Oberyn’s hands lifted to the small of her waist, feeling her nearly-bare skin beneath her silks and seeming to devour her as he sank into the kiss. Not often had I seen such public displays of affection. Shifting my weight uncomfortably, the boards of the docks creaked beneath my boots. But Oberyn ended the kiss on his own time, as if nothing existed in those moments but the two of them, one arm still cradling his lover’s waist and brushing his cheek to hers as he turned his gaze and his gesture to me.

“Ellaria, this is Aleera, my new friend. Aleera, this is my paramour, Ellaria Sand,” he introduced us, and her dark, smoky gaze settled on me with full attentiveness as her tongue darted between bow-shaped lips. “She is in my debt for saving her from big, scary lions.”

Ellaria’s purr-like giggle chimed with his sarcastic flare, and the quirk of my mouth turned sardonic as I shot him a sharp look.

“Perhaps if you’d not been so preoccupied with your theatrics, you may have actually killed more than one,” I said.

Oberyn chuckled, smirking. “I like this one,” he murmured in his lover’s ear. “She’s hot-blooded.”

“We like them hot-blooded in Dorne,” Ellaria said, to me or her lover or herself I could tell not, her tone sultry and her dark gaze trailing over my body, lingering on the curve of my hips, the line of my mouth – the places I was not accustomed be made such keen interest of a woman. Then, it caught on the torn and bloodied fabric of my sleeve, and she smirked at me as she remarked, “She wears blood like a second skin.”

“And she calls herself a commoner, yet her skin is pale as milk,” Oberyn observed. “You do not work the fields or hawk your wares to the bazaars without gaining a little colour. A Westerosi, she claims, but she does not say where. Her accent is not of the North. Perhaps of the capital, though her penchant for killing Lannisters makes her survival unlikely… and I do not taste bile on my tongue when she speaks…”

“While your lack of disgust for me is truly flattering, Prince Oberyn, I am not for sale, if that is where this is headed – ”

“Sometimes.” His movement was almost jarring, had it not been so fluid, the silks of his lover’s waist barely causing a stir as he pointed a finger at me, and a devious smile curled his lip. “Sometimes, you are,” he reminded me, and it wasn’t until he laughed, white teeth flashing in the quickening dark, did I realise I might have appeared startled.

I mustered a sneer, which only seemed to amuse him more, and Ellaria rolled her eyes as she looked from me to him, her seductive tone now laden with boredom. “If you’re finished with your games, and the girl does not wish to accompany us tonight, I beg you to return to me, lover. The night grows dreadfully cold in your absence, and I have a hunger…” Her fingers pawed at the bare of his chest where his robe dipped generously low.

“Then before I sate your cravings, my beauty, I must extend my offer to our guest one last time,” he said, and though his tone changed when he turned his attention back to me, his accent still carried his speech with a soft, lulling nature, like a rattlesnake luring in its prey. “We have a maester to tend to your wound, and fires below deck to warm your bones, clothing soft against your battle-worn flesh…” His black gaze swept across me again, as if to make his point. Then, narrowing, it bore straight into mine as his curiosity returned to him. “You could not possibly come from the capital, for you do not hide your intentions well enough. You are looking for something; mayhaps this is why you seek passage to Westeros. But your eyes…” Ellaria seemed almost disappointed when he pulled from her, and I refused to look away as one calloused yet graceful finger gently tilted my chin up. His breath smelled of spices and wine. “They say the eyes betray one’s darkest secrets. What secrets lie beneath such cold steel?”

For one moment, I was suffocating; I desperately needed to swallow against the dryness of my throat, but I dared not. Silently, calmly, I returned his gaze, whilst wondering if he could feel the raucous beat of my heart against my flesh. His finger was dangerously close to my pulse.

“My secrets are not for sale, either, my prince,” I told him.

“Of course, because you do not want gold, but you do want something…” He trailed off to ponder this, but I interrupted sharply before he could,

“Everyone wants something.”

My breath hissed through my nose as he released me from his touch, and though his smirk was near devilish and the spear that glinted on his back would be so bitterly cold buried in my insides did he decide I was no longer his friend, his black eyes were bright and the feel of his skin was still warm against mine. “Not like you do,” he corrected me, and I knew that I was not boarding this ship without offering something in return. Perhaps I could’ve offered to share his bed, but my flesh still crawled from the way the hands of the Dothraki warrior had grabbed me, and tonight my blood sang with war, not love.

“Admittedly…” I said, easing my tone. “I was only born in Westeros. The country is rather foreign to me. But I believe it is home. And that it holds promise of new life.”

Sated with this information, for the time being, he nodded approvingly, but his eyes told still of great curiosity. “Tell me, Aleera, do you wish to live and die in the same corner of the world, or will you sail with us to find this new life you seek?”

A smile twisted my lip slightly, something in his words stirring an excitement in my veins despite every intuition telling me that this was too good to be true. I looked back over my shoulder, at the alleyways that still buzzed faintly with activity, an agitation set upon the marketplace by the violence we had enacted. A breeze lifted the curls of hair from my shoulders and watered my eyes, sending a shiver through my body as I began to release the pressure of the blood-soaked roughspun against my arm. The damp chill of the wind settled deep in my bones, as cold as the arakh that had been held to my throat, as cold as the ice that had settled in my veins as my sister cast me away.

“Mayhaps I was wrong about you, Aleera.”

Whispers of her came to me on the wind, and as I turned my back, they seemed to disappear into the noise, the fluttering of the sails aboard the ship and the drunken rumble of the beginnings of a sea shanty somewhere above decks.

“Thank you, Prince Oberyn. It seems I find myself in your debt after all.”

NEXT CHAPTER coming soon!

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#game of thrones fic #a song of ice and fire #game of thrones #asoiaf #fanfic #asoiaf fic #my writing #fanfiction #a song of ice and fire fic #got #got fic #series

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iddybyddybee · 8 months

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I miss Lovelyz

As someone who has been in the Kpop fandom since the 3rd Gen, I've seen a lot of trends and specific types of groups debut in droves. It can be hard to stand out, but some groups manage to do just that, even if standing out actually means being consistent.

Lovelyz was one of those groups.

They debuted right in the boom of the "cute, bubbly, and innocent" concept. Other groups that emerged in this were GFriend, Oh My Girl, and Twice.

One of the fascinating things about Lovelyz is that their sound was very consistent with every comeback. Why? Because they mainly had a few select producers (1Piece comes to mind) make all of their songs, so there was a natural flow from one album to the next. I nickname it "Innocent Techno" because it's appears very simple and fluffy, but under the surface, there's a whole lot of layers. Other groups I would put in this category or Cosmic Girls & IZ*ONE. I recommend listening to their Instrumental album if you want to know what I mean.

The members also just WORKED with their sound. That might sound weird, but there are some groups that can't pull off specific styles based on the vocal arsenal they've got. Lovelyz fits right in with the cute and innocent styles. All of their voices are either high, bright, or both, making their unisons sound more cohesive.

I can think of other groups that follow this mindset and are some of my favorite groups of all time. Girls' Generation, Dreamcatcher, Day6, Seventeen, f(x), Red Velvet, etc.

I'm not as active in newer groups as I once was, but I have a feeling I'm correct in saying that there aren't a lot of current groups that are like Lovelyz; That have a specific sound that flows throughout their entire career and who sound perfect for it.

TLDR; I miss Lovelyz because their music was so good and consistent, and I feel that newer groups aren't modeling after them.

#kpop #lovelyz #music thoughts #any groups you feel are consistent in their sound?#i feel so “back in my day” grumpy #i'm a musician so i care more about this aspect of kpop than anything else

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anncanta · 1 year

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Cyclopes, Laestrygonians, and Skylla

Fandom: Dracula (2020)

Characters: Count Dracula, Agatha Van Helsing

Relationship: Dracula/Agatha Van Helsing

Rating: Mature

@hopipollahorror @ravenathantum @dragatha @ladyhaley28

Read on AO3

Or read below

He recognized her at first sight, from the first word, and when she spoke, she had a complete feeling that he had touched her Dutch accent. This is how one touches a noble Damascus blade, carefully, slowly, wanting to feel the sharpness.

‘Where is Zoe?’ he asked, as soon as they exchanged the first phrases and Agatha and Jack crossed the threshold.

‘Gone,’ said Agatha.

Dracula nodded.

‘What do you want?’

She was silent. It would be right to say, ‘We are here to understand what you want.’ But instead, she went up to him and, looking at him across the table, answered,

‘I want to know something about Lady Balaur.’

Dracula`s black eyebrow rose. Leaning forward, he asked without taking his eyes off her:

‘Do you remember her?’

‘I remember that her husband took her with him to England.’

Jack knows nothing about Mr. Balaur. For him, it`s just a foreign word. Agatha closed her eyes, feeling that word seep into reality with the mist of those old times.

‘He had the audacity to think he would be happy,’ Dracula said.

Agatha`s ears rang.

The ringing went on and on until she realized that the sound was not inside, but outside – seeing that Dracula again stepped towards the door.

He and Jack were talking about something – Agatha was trying to concentrate on the words – must be about Lucy. She felt pity for Zoe`s young friend. But pity did not stop her from giving the vampiress a smartphone.

‘They won`t agree,’ Agatha said, looking at Lucy, writhing in hysterics on the floor. Jack hugged her, swaying quietly, stroking her burnt shoulders and what was left of her lush curls.

‘I told her,’ Dracula replied. ‘I warned her not to let them burn her.’

‘And not to dress so provocatively,’ Agatha said wearily. ‘You turned a teenager. A child,’ she said, looking at how Jack plunged a stake into the girl`s heart.

‘The perfect bride,’ said Dracula.

Agatha turned to him.

‘Jack, go away,’ she said without looking back.

‘Zoe, I won`t leave you –’ Jack murmured.

‘Go away,’ she and Dracula said in unison.

Maybe Jack left. Because it became so quiet as if all sounds disappeared on the whole earth at once.

‘Zoe`s body is sick,’ Agatha said. ‘This means we don`t have much time.’ She stood opposite Dracula. ‘I want to know.’

‘You already know,’ Dracula replied.

‘So say it.’

‘Do you want my humiliation?’

‘I want …’ Agatha raised her hand and reached out to him, touching his cheek. ‘I don`t believe,’ she said, ‘I don`t believe that after the monastery you used me.’

‘I drank your blood.’

‘It`s not the same.’

‘I penetrated your thoughts.’

‘Not fully.’

‘I know what your body tastes like.’

‘And still –’

‘Yes!’

The word came out in the silence, loud, sharp, louder than anything Agatha had heard in her entire life.

‘You wanted to know.’ He had a face like that was him who had only minutes left, not Zoe`s body. ‘You wanted to know, so get it. Yes, yes, and yes.’

Confusion seized Agatha. Confusion and some kind of childish joy in half with resentment – at him, at herself.

‘Our marriage is invalid,’ Agatha said. Dracula looked at her.

‘Invalid,’ he finally said.

Agatha stepped forward. Now they were standing close to each other. Zoe`s body ached, it did not give determination. She raised her head.

‘You killed all the nuns in the monastery.’

He was silent.

‘Killed half the crew on the ship.’

He was silent.

‘Ate almost all the passengers.’

Dracula didn`t answer.

‘But our marriage …’ a new outbreak of pain, ‘our marriage is invalid.’

His eyes were terrible. But Agatha was no longer afraid of him.

‘So make it real,’ Agatha said. She ran her hand through his hair. ‘Make it like that and stop killing.’

His lips were hot, bitter. Agatha bit and grabbed them, but not because she wanted to fight. And because it was not enough for her. She wanted to be on time.

And when everything went out, she had no thoughts left – only joy, trembling like a string.

…

The floor was cold, and the ceiling above her was covered in some obscenely expensive paint. Or was it some kind of cover? Agatha lay looking up.

‘Maybe we should move upstairs to the sofa?’

She turned her head.

‘Will you ever learn to do what you are asked to do?’

‘You have all eternity ahead of you to check it out.’

Agatha rubbed her temples.

She got up. She looked at Zoe`s things scattered around, at the designer table, at the drops of blood on the smooth floor.

She turned to Dracula.

‘No murders, just donors.’

Dracula was rising from the floor. As he was, naked, he went to the table.

‘As you wish, Lady Balaur.’

Agatha watched him uncork the decanter.

‘You turned me to give me new life. But you can`t make me immortal. Everything in this world is finite,’ she said.

‘'Cyclopes, Laestrygonians, and Skylla',’ Dracula replied. ‘However, it consoles me that marriages,’ he approached and handed her a glass, ‘are made in heaven. So, wherever we go, in the end, I will be with you.’

Agatha frowned. The poem he was quoting was from Zoe`s memory – it had not yet been written in her time.

Picking up the glass, she inhaled the metallic scent through her nose. She drank a little. Listened to herself. The vague thought that haunted her from the moment she came to him, from the moment she saw Lucy sobbing on the floor, saw Dracula`s reaction to her death, took shape, and acquired the completeness of a musical phrase.

Putting the glass on the table, Agatha went to the window. She pulled back the curtains with one hand. Turned around in a blazing bright light.

‘Because Cyclopes, Laestrygonians, and Skylla

Are not in the seas, but in your soul.

And Ithaca is so far away,

Waiting for you being old man,

Enlightened, wise, rich,

For only for her,

Stony, wretched, meager,

You swam to become what you have become.’*

* Dracula and Agatha cite the poem ‘Ithaca’ by Konstantinos Cavafy translated by Mikhail Gasparov. By his own admission, he did not know Greek well and therefore translated Cavafy using parallel translations. Perhaps that is why, or to get rid of the ‘common’, a little too popular Poseidon for the Russian language, he mentions Skylla. In my opinion, this makes the Russian text more accurate and, paradoxically, closer to the Greek spirit of Cavafy.

In an attempt to convey the same text in English, I relied on the Russian translation of Gasparov, since both the image of Skylla and the image of Ithaca are important to me, especially Ithaca, for the sake of which, and not to which the lyrical hero of Cavafy floats.

For context, here you can read an English translation of the poem.

#bbc dracula #dracula 2020 #dracula bbc #count dracula #agatha van helsing #dragatha #fanfic

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darkspine10 · 11 months

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GF Fanfic - Fallout

Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Past (42,392 words) by darkspine10

Chapters: 9/9

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Rating: Teen and Up

“Now… pull.”

Bang!

The crackers burst open all around the dinner table as the Pines family pulled them apart in unison. At the head of the table, Dipper cheered. “Wahey! Nice one, Merrise.”

She was clutching the larger half of the paper cracker, eagerly pulling out the gift inside. She found a green paper crown and put it on. It fit snugly on her bald head. She continued rummaging around. “Ooh, there’s a little spinning top.” She flicked her wrist, sending the wooden toy careening past her plate of turkey slices. Dipper grabbed it as it fell off the edge of the table.

“It’s a dreidel actually, but close enough.” He sent it going again so it spun in place between himself and Merrise. Wendy, sitting in her high-chair beside her sister, was transfixed by the spinning motion.

Dipper’s own dinner plate was loaded down with dumplings and a noodle dish, the same as his sister’s. Pacifica and Merrise’s grandparents had the same as her, turkey alongside mashed potatoes and cooked vegetables, while Zera was sustained on a plate that consisted entirely of sushi. When asked by Mrs Pines if that was akin to cannibalism, Zera had simply flashed her pearly whites and bitten down on a shrimp puff.

Zera was now holding the floppy remains of the cracker she’d pulled with Mabel, looking at it like something was missing. She’d got the short end. “What are these things anyway?”

“It’s a human seasonal tradition, in some parts of the planet at least,” Pacifica explained. She was sitting opposite, wearing a contented tipsy grin. The Christmas sherry she’d partaken in was already having an effect. “Forget about it. You’ll learn the ropes soon enough. I mean, I needed Mason to explain what taxes were when I was 17 for crying out loud, there’s always something new to discover.”

“It’s not a human tradition. It’s an old family tradition!” Mr Pines thumped his chest, and Mrs Pines and the twins gave a chorus of ‘Pines!’. “Some of Mary’s older generations lived in London before emigrating and they brought it over with them.”

“Humans are weird,” Merrise giggled, drawing a smile from her aunt Zera and lighthearted complaints from everyone else sitting around the table.

Dipper hushed them all by clinking a fork against his glass. “Quiet down everyone. If I could have a moment of your time-”

“Boo, no speech!” Mabel jeered. “We did that last time we met up. No talk, only eat!”

“I won’t be long Mabes, jeez.” She pouted, but quieted down nonetheless. “Thank you. On this day two years ago, Mabel, Pacifica, and myself were in India. We’d meet Zera for the first time only a few days later, and hadn’t even begun our journey into the multiverse where we met Merrise.” His thumb played with the neck of his glass. “Now to have you all here, with no disguises, fully revealed at my parents’ table, it’s… like a dream come true. Cheers!” He downed his sherry. Everyone raised their glasses in toast, though Merrise only had fruit juice to toast with. “So Merry Christmas to all of you goobers! Happy Hanukkah! Xochtil Assura Tengosa Mulakht to my daughter! Am I saying all that right, Sixer?”

“Eh, close enough, Dad,” she replied, already back to wolfing down her food. It wasn’t often she ate so readily, still coming to terms with the lingering effects of having had to scrounge for scraps and make her food last. Today must be a happy day for her indeed.

Down the table, Mr Pines had Journal 9 open and was reading snippets between each bite. Dipper had penned a new entry after they’d all got back from the power plant safely. The page was dominated by a detailed sketch of Errata “So,” he said, swallowing, “run it past me again, son. Where exactly did this fella disappear to anyway?”

Mabel flashed an annoyed look. “Dad, we agreed, no journal biz at the table until dessert.”

“Heck, I’m a curious man, pumpkin. All these stories in here are exciting. I want to soak it all up as quickly as possible.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for late-night reading later,” Mrs Pines said, as she furtively glanced at Journal 3 open on the table next to her. Mr Pines chuckled, but threw a questioning look at Dipper.

“Honestly Dad, it’s one of those things even I don’t know.”

“A vanishingly small pool, I’m sure you’d say.” Pacifica rested her chin on her steepled fingers, smugly satisfied with herself.

“I guess we were lucky,” Mabel said, spinning a pair of chopsticks around a particularly slippery noodle. “It all got wrapped up pretty nicely. Errata was made out of all of Dipper’s paranoia and conspiracy junk written in the journals, so all he had to do was get over his hang-ups and embrace a little loss of control. Errata’s chaos was the problem and the solution.”

“You could write an undergrad psychology paper about it,” Pacifica teased.

Mrs Pines gripped Dipper’s hand across the table. “I know it’s taboo to be talking about New Year’s when Christmas isn’t even halfway over, but I was wondering what your plans were? Jetting off back home?”

Zera answered first. “May and I were thinking of taking advantage of the winter weather, going on a ski trip somewhere.”

“Aunt Mabel, skiing? With her hand-eye coordination?” Merrise sniggered. “I would pay money to watch that.”

“You scamp,” Mabel said fondly. “What about you, Dip, Paz?”

“I think a few quiet days at home before the holidays end would be very pleasant,” Dipper said. “Besides, I know our job prospects are a tad fluid at the moment but Merrise has school starting up again in a few weeks. We’ve got some extracurricular homeschool lessons planned to help her catch up.”

“I have to do math, at home!” Merrise visibly slumped in her seat. “Can you believe it? I wish I could stay here in Piedmont longer.”

“And we’d love to have you,” Mrs Pines said warmly.

“Whatever happens,” Dipper said, “my new year’s resolution is to meet up with Mom and Dad way more often. Either we drive down to Piedmont or you travel up north, both work. I’ve missed having you two in my life.”

“It would be nice. Maybe you could show us some of those magical creatures you write so eloquently about in these journals.”

“Well, we’ll… take it slow.” Dipper grimaced. Telling his parents the truth seemed like an appealing idea on paper; introducing them directly was another kettle of fish. Though if his father could nonchalantly accept a Cycloptopus and his mother could be intrigued to encounter the denizens of Gravity Falls then maybe he was worried over nothing.

Mr Pines sat back in his chair. “I’d certainly love to see what I missed, catch up with all the sights from the last time I was there. Reading all about your experiences reminds me why I sent you twins there in the first place. Even back then I always felt there was something special about Gravity Falls.”

“It certainly is a special place,” Dipper said, smiling over the memories.

“Though don’t think we aren’t a little aggrieved that you didn’t come up with the idea of talking to us sooner,” Mrs Pines said, slightly harshly. “We’ve missed you the same way you’ve missed us.”

“You shouldn’t blame him too much,” Pacifica said, surprising both Mabel and Dipper with her earnestness. “He was an opinionated teenager who thought he knew best, but his heart was in the right place.”

Mrs Pines nodded. “And anyway,” she flashed a wicked grin, “I want to try out some of these magic spells Mabel keeps telling us about. They sound like a lot of fun.”

After they’d all finished eating, full of food and good spirits, the Pines retired to the living room to hand out presents. Undisturbed in the corner, Waddles and Apep wore new matching green sweaters knitted specially by Mabel for the season. They started by lavishing their attention on Merrise, since it was her first proper Christmas celebration. Her grandparents hadn’t known her interests beforehand, but she appreciated the glitter paint kit and light-up planetarium globe (with the Pines having hedged their bets and got what Dipper or Mabel probably would have enjoyed as kids, since they had nothing better to go on). Merrise had her toy T-Rex as a more personal gift in any case.

For Wendy, too young to appreciate gifts for herself, Mr and Mrs Pines supplied old baby clothes from the twins’ youth. Pacifica didn’t want to seem rude, so accepted the gifts despite her smile hiding her pain at the fact another of her kids would be doomed to poor fashion choices.

As an olive branch for the decade-long deceptions, Mabel had put together a thick scrapbook for her parents, her own equivalent to the journals. The photos within didn’t cover any of the supernatural incidents they’d encountered, but rather focused on personal moments of the last few years, giving Mr and Mrs Pines a window into the casual normality of their lives alongside magic and aliens.

With the presents all handed out, the family spent an hour regaling each other with some of their favourite dramatic events or strange creatures written in the journals, with Mabel in particular doing a complex recreation of Weirdmageddon where she provided the voices of every single person involved. Her Bill Cipher was scarily accurate to Dipper and Pacifica’s ears. Mr and Mrs Pines listened, at times enraptured and incredulous depending on the events being described. It would take them both a long time to fully process quite how weird their children’s lives had been.

As the light outside fell, Mabel had wanted to revive an old tradition of watching classic Christmas cartoon specials, but was disappointed to find that no channel was showing any she remembered. Both she and Zera ended up chilling with her dad, watching the train videos he liked to zone out too. Mabel’s eyelids closed as a steam train chugged along somewhere in snow-blanketed Europe.

Dipper kept Merrise entertained and awake by trying to explain that the seasons were reversed in the southern hemisphere, a fact that she couldn’t get her head around at first. Dipper had to resort to shining a flashlight on one of the baubles hanging from the Christmas tree to properly get the point across. By the end of the night she drifted to sleep curled up on the couch, clutching both her llama and T-rex toys tightly.

Well into the night Mabel and Zera dazzled Mr and Mrs Pines with displays of minor magic. Making small light orbs or other non-taxing spells. Dipper even added a few of his own, though his skills weren’t nearly as honed as the others. Pacifica, pleasantly hypnotised into sleep by the colourful magical lights, drifted off into a sherry coma. Zera volunteered to put Wendy to bed upstairs, herself ready to sleep after all showing off her magic all evening.

In the end the twins were left awake with their parents. For the first time in ages they were together as they’d been all those years ago. Dipper kept himself from falling asleep by sketching the scene in the living room, capturing the Christmas tree, his sleeping wife and daughter, Mabel crouching on the floor, and his parents sitting side-by-side. He knew this moment wouldn’t last forever. But tonight was long enough to appreciate it.

Dipper Pines had no more problems

Dipper Pines had told the truth.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfic #dipper pines #mabel pines #pacifica northwest #dipper and mabel's parents

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