#aether is just the best boy and no one can make me believe otherwise

[eletainart]

My favorite boy and his most favorite thing Used pictures of possums with bananas as a reference XD

[henrike-does-writing-sometimes]

i got a LOOOOONG list for ya 👀

the fool, the magician, the lovers, strength, justice, death, 7 of cups, ace of swords, 3 of wands, 5 of wands, knight of wands! :’)

REN :D !!!

Thank you for asking, this took ages <3

00. THE FOOL: BEGINNINGS (What is the opening line to your current work?)

Very few of my wips have their opening lines written, and those that do have already been shared. So instead, here’s a bit of an exchange from Garden of Corpses that is currently the “opening lines”.

"Oh, we must be roommates!" the boy gasped. "Hi, I'm Nils!" he smiled widely, and held out his hand for Isak to take. "Um, Isak." he said and carefully took the other boy's hand. Which immediately sent a small shock through both of their arms. "Woah," Nils said as Isak quickly retracted his hand. "Wait, you have an Aether affinity?" "Uh, yeah?" "That's so cool! I've never seen Aether magic in real life before! My affinity is Fire, by the way." "That's… nice."

01. THE MAGICIAN: SPARK OF MAGIC (What inspired you to write your novel?) 

Going with Wayward Carnival and uhh…

You know the circus scene in Madagascar 3 where they play ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry ?? That. That is what sparked this whole mess. Because yes, originally it was supposed to be a circus and not a whole carnival.

I honestly have no idea where the rest came from.

06. THE LOVERS: RELATIONSHIPS (What are your favorite relationships to write about, whether romantic, familial, or platonic?) 

Honestly relationships that are unclear whether they’re romantic or platonic and bonds that go deeper than labels can describe are my shit. I like the ambiguity of it, I like when love runs so deep that it almost becomes unclear what it is. That “I would both kill and die for you, I love you, we’re partners in crime, you’re my brother, we’re best friends, home is in your arms, I’d marry you for tax benefits, I’ve never felt safer than when I’m with you, you make me insane, you’re the only thing keeping me sane.”. 

I’m not fully sure why these are my favorites to write, but they are <3

08. STRENGTH: COURAGE (What has been the hardest part of being a writer?) 

I think believing that there is an audience for my stories, and keeping to it. That is basically every writer's concern but like, it’s scary when you don’t really see said audience, if that makes sense lmao

11. JUSTICE: TRUTH (What is the 'truth' of your novel i.e the prevalent themes or overarching motifs?) 

Going with The Divine for this one, because I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before. Light and Darkness are equals, you can’t have one without the other.

While I was figuring out some character arcs details I came up with this “mantra” of sorts;

Find the Light within the Darkness. Accept the Darkness within the Light.

Trying to translate that would take forever but trust me it makes sense.

13. DEATH: ENDINGS (What is your favorite ending to write i.e happy, sad, bittersweet?) 

I like my endings happy. My characters go through a lot of bullshit and I can’t just be mean to them, there has to be proper closure and a light at the end of the darkness. That being said the ending always depends on the story and what is both satisfying and in line with the rest. 

Gamellunden has a happy ending because it’s a love story that focuses on falling in love with yourself through someone else.

To The End has a seemingly happy ending, until you start to think about it. Because that story is all about questioning reality.

Realm of Mirrors has a sad/bittersweet ending because it’s a tragedy that tells the tale of losing ones innocence and being forced to leave things one otherwise wouldn’t want to leave.

28. SEVEN OF CUPS: OVERWHELMED BY CHOICE (How do you decide which story idea to pursue? How many do you have?)

I fight for my life. There are times when a wip enters ‘main’ territory and I’m able to focus on it for long periods of time, as was the case with To The End. But now she’s gone with the Alpha reader and I don’t know what to work on. So I’m just hunting down motivation and inspiration and writing a little here and there. Which, tbf is how it usually goes if the wips arent in rotation lol.

36. ACE OF SWORDS: NEW PROJECTS (What project/WIP do you want to work on next?) 

I don’t have one answer for this lmao.

I’d like to workout the plot more for The Garden of Corpses, and get back into my Swedish wips. I also have some wip art to get to, including just drawing the Divine boys more.

66. THREE OF WANDS: FORESIGHT (Do you know what your book cover is going to look like? Do you have a color in mind?)

Kinda ? I have idea but they’re both hard to explain and get down on paper. Though the general list for To The End is gold, eyes, and loose threads. Those are the important ones that need to be on the cover.

68. FIVE OF WANDS: DISAGREEMENT (Do your characters ever act of their own accord? Or do you find that adage false or silly?)

All the time ! It’s actually quite handy when it comes to figuring out arcs and dynamics. Some examples;

Doto was originally supposed to be more in line with Mike’s personality (passionate, creative, reliable), but when I began writing them they turned into this dramatic, rebellious, snobby diva type. Which honestly works much better considering the Lumens are supposed to complement their Wielder. This also made their dynamic infinitely more interesting than if Doto hadn’t gotten a life of their own. 

Asher’s abusive parents was never intended. I knew most of the Martyrs gang would have strained parental relationships, but then Asher showed up in Thea’s apartment crying because his parents were being manipulative assholes and, yeah it added a lot to his character and helped solidify his backstory. 

And on the topic of To The End, Thea’s Borderline Personality Disorder. It’s honestly funny because I kinda had to do a whole evaluation of her, because some things just came a bit too naturally for her. This is usually how it goes when it comes to mental disorders with my characters; they show signs and I’ll be like “Hold up-” (See Robin’s schizophrenia and Janan’s autism). And sometimes you have cases like Ruben, where him being autistic worked better with the story than if he was neurotypical so no evaluation was needed. 

75. KNIGHT OF WANDS: PASSION (What are you passionate about other than writing?)

Filmmaking ! Drawing ! Photography ! and a bit of design too ! I just love to create, don’t know what else to say <3

[areislol]

I just read the response you gave me—Haha! I'll try my best to come up with some random scenarios, like this one!

•••

“So... Uh, how are you guys doing? Is everything... Good?”

(Y/n) was in the living room a few days later after the group came, she stood there awkwardly.

I... Probably should have checked them when they stayed at Ace's house.

She thinks looking at Aether then at Thoma that was at his side; she didn't smile, she just crossed her arms and looked at them with her "nonchalantly attitude". She only wanted to see how they were doing so she asked Ace to just let a few people on the living room so she could speak with them.

I own a lot to Ace after this.

She thinks looking at the few people that were there, such as Aether and Thoma, she could at least handle two people, right?.

“Everything has been wonderful your grace!” (Y/n) silently cringe at the 'your grace', Thoma kept smiling while looking at them with hopeful eyes. “...Although we are a bit sad that you couldn't stay here with us, we were wondering if we could perhaps spent some time with you, your grace? I-If that's alright with you of course!”

(Y/n) lips turned into a thin line, pressing them a bit while her jaw tenses.

“Some time with me? Not sure, I need to complete some of the training and get to work.” She said raising her eyebrow a bit skeptical, she bites her tongue when she saw how Aether visibly looked a bit ashamed.

“O-oh, is that so?” He said putting a sad smile, (Y/n) tense, she looks at Thoma that his smile visibly was going down. (Y/n) screamed in her mind how awkward was turning the conversation.

Ace said that i should try to be less harsh? But I wasn't lying about that and besides, since Ace is making them stay at their house then the least I can do is to work a bit more so we get more money, right? Not like Ace needs it but... I feel bad just using his money when this guy's are supposed to try and... Meet me.

“...I can try in a week to get some job done so we can hangout?” It sounded much more like a question rather then an answer, but Thoma and Aether immediately brighten at the idea.

“Really?!” Aether said excited coming closer to them, Thoma did the same thing and (Y/n) stepped back a bit.

“Hn.” She nods sweat dropping a bit at their faces.

...Golden retriever energy?

She thinks again looking at their excited faces.

•••

As you can see, our dear reader is an introvert! And she's not use to a crowd so she tries to appear when they are less then 5 people in the group.

And yes, she almost avoids them whenever she can, she's painfully awkward when the boys call them her grace, while she said that she wasn't and Dainslief try to convince them otherwise that they were... She only got more awkward and nodded, didn't bother to correct them anymore.

Although if they guys did call her by her name rather then the 'Title' she will immediately answer more quickly and try more harder to talk and try to talk. She doesn't say much but tries to help them adapt, if the boys ever tell them that they want to go back or they didn't like her...

Well, the only thing she would do was shrugs and said "You are not the first person to say that and honestly I believe you won't be the last one." Still, she will try to get them home.

While she will feel hurt, it really wouldn't be anything from another world as she was used to negative energy and stuff.

Buuuut, if you get close to (Y/n) once they trust you, you can see that they are a person that is probably the first one to try to sacrifice themselves if their friends get to live (Mainly Ace and Daniel, she likes her other friends but... For those two if the asked to help them bring the world to hell, she will follow them in a heartbeat)

Ace is more contrary of (Y/n) he's kind, but not naive, while he prefers to be pacifist he knows that unfortunately not everything can resolve peacefully, he's not that strong, since he's more of a support then everything (an a medic, well, he's studying since (Y/n) doesn't like medics that much and he worries a lot for her, so he tries his best to try to follow her footsteps.)

Daniel both kids mentor, is serious and sarcastic (Y/n) got that from him, yes, he's pretty smart, he wouldn't be a leader of a large organization of he wasn't, right?:) Anyways, despite always being cold, he shows his worry by patching up the students, making them meals and we'll, basically what a parent does for their child, although he does admit that overtime he doesn't like (Y/n) getting to involve in a lot of mission:

•••

“Kid, how many hours have you slept?” Daniel stands in front of them with his arms crossed, a dark gaze in his eyes while his frown increase as the girl looked at him with her eyes narrow, the dark circles under her eyes where pretty big and dark, that made Daniel's eye twitch a bit annoyed.

“Uh...five hours?” They said, Daniel could only frown more.

Five hours and she got those dark circles? Bullshit.

“Five hours huh.” He said with a dark tone, (Y/n) felt some goosebumps and sweats a bit. Did the kid seriously try to lie to him, out of all people?

“Maybe a little less then five hours?” They fix their sentence while smiling nervously.

A few minutes later, everyone could see Daniel carrying (Y/n) like a potato sack in his shoulder with a little bump in her head.

“I said I was sorry...” She mumbled grumpily, Daniel scoffs in disbelief.

“You don't look like your sorry at all kid.” He said still carrying his student back to his office where he had a nice an big sofa so she could sleep and he could keep an eye on her.

God knows I only let her back alone in the office and she sneaks again through the window.

He thinks mumbling some curses under his breath.

But after leaving the kid to rest some people could catch the faint gaze of fondness and exasperation while he looked at (Y/n) sleep and ensuring they didn't have any nightmares.

And after they rested for almost Ten hours and got up, a nice and warm meal was on the little table with some hot chocolate with a side note that said:

Take more care of yourself, brat, eat everything and don't leave anything.

•°Kura°•

OMGGGG YES GOLDEN RETIRVER VIBES!!! YES TYHANK YOU FOR TIS DIEA SYAGSUAH THIS WAS ALSO SO FUN AND NICE TO READKSAMDFDS

[gowriarun]

From my heart

Warnings: jealousy, eavesdropping, nothing else much characters included : Kaeya, scaramouche, childe.

You and the traveler were simply sharing adventures and recipes completely oblivious to the pair of eyes that watched you afar in jealousy and doubt. Seeing you smile did make him happy, yes, but not when it was so late and with another man that wasn't them.

Kaeya

he was strolling through the city one last time before heading home before he say you and the blonde talking to each other, sitting on a bench nearby. Honestly? I think he'd be too impatient to even hear what you were talking about, approaches you two with his usual smile and starts a conversation "Y/n? Well isn't this is a pleasant surprise, what are you doing this late at night? And hello to you traveler." His voice quite low toward the end of the sentence "I was going to good hunter to buy some food" you explained "he was too, so I caught up with him" "Oh, I see. Well, we should probably go home, you too traveler." He says "Oh yeah, I know! Why don't you come over tonight for dinner? I'm sure the food we bought has gone cold by now." You say, quite excited at the suggestion you made yourself. Oh, so you've been here long enough for your food to go cold? He notices everything "I wouldn't want to intrude..." He says very politely but his companion thought otherwise "Oh! Oh! paimon wants to taste y/n's cooking!" the small girl fairy thing says "Yeah!" Y/n smiles For a second there kaeya's eyes twitched. But you weren't paying attention to him now, where you?

ma'am- Please just go home-

"Well of course, only if you want to!" kaeya says as if paimon would change her decision "Oh! You don't have to worry about that! paimon would love to-!" The angel was cut off by the traveler who seems to have somehow noticed kaeya's hostility "Y/n, maybe another time, I still have somethings to do" He says almost glaring at paimon "Oh are you sure?" You ask "Now, we wouldn't want to force them dear." Kaeya smiles "B-but aether! Y/n is-!" "I mean, do you know how to make anything out of paimon? then I'd come." That shuts her up "haha I'm afraid not. Well, I understand! I hope you have a good night!"

The moment you two leave he would pull you closer and walk behind you resting his head on your shoulder, yes it was not the best position to walk in "Kaeya? what happened?" you ask chuckling "Oh, nothing dear! by the way what were you and him talking about? Have you known him for long?" He asks "Oh yeah, we've come by each other sometimes, not much though. Why?" "Oh, it's noting, just asking" No that was him making sure

the type who'll believe you but still be wary of the blonde

scaramouche

Unlike ice boy, he listens into your conversation. A few hundred thousand questions and thoughts in his head that started with 'who the hell is she talking to' to 'Is she falling out of love' and 'I'll kill that traveler' I mean, idk if i have to say this, but he is VERY possessive. two times the anger you think a short person will be able to store in them he waits for a while to just look at the audacity of you talking to someone he clearly saw as a rival (in power) and idiot. He'll approach you alright- and if aether don't get the hell up on the sight of him he'll make use of his snake tongue to make sure he does. "Ah, y/n and you." insults the traveler while asking what you two were doing every chance he gets lmao "You don't have to be that rude to him you know?" You ask "he's not worth your praise darling," yes he will compliment you and make sure the other guy knows you are with him You would understand immediately he doesn't like the blonde and the fact that you were talking to him nevertheless "Aether, I'm sorry about him-" you say "I'm not." He mutters "I should get going, my cats not fed yet-" you try and excuse yourself "Oh, I understand. I'll talk to you some other time?" he asks smiling "yeah su-!" "No you won't." Lmao sorry you aren't gonna talk to him again But he asks you that when you get back home saying how hes not friendly with the fatui and it could put your life in danger. Silly excuses really, but he makes it seem believable.

Childe

This guy will interrupt your conversation and won't even be sorry about it "oh! Fancy seeing you here traveler. What brings you to liyue again?" he asks like he cares "I had a few commissions" the boy will answer truthfully He proceeds to look at you next "Oh, I was just taking a stroll when I bumped into him" you say Honestly, he'll inspect you both right then and there "oh? you've known him before?" He asks "Well he is quite popular around here and yes, I've commissioned him a few times myself-" Woah woah woah!! Rewind ! You what!? "What why?" He would've helped you free of cost why'd you wanna go and hire this sorry excuse of a sibling "Oh, you were not around since you had to do something for the tsaritsa and-" WHO CARES ABOUT THE TSARITSA???? is what he wanted to say but he didn't "Ah I see, next time just call me instead of posting a commission dear" Pissed off and lwk glaring at the blonde "Oh no it's ok!" You smile, he returns the gesture with a shrug and then looks at the traveler "I'll keep my eye on you" Very quietly "Well dear, we should go home I'm-" you cut him off "Oh! would you like to join us for dinner?" you ask Oh- Oh? Oh reaally? You wanna do that?

"Oh, sure if you're-" Aether is cut off "Y/nnn!!" He whines "remember? Remember??" He asks "What?" You're so confused cz you are very cure theres nothing to remember for today- "Today!! Todays the day!!" He tries again knows that the guy next to you two already had something in mind "Ah! If you two are having some thing special I really shouldn't!" He says getting up "No wait what-" You ask childe puts on an apologetic face toward the traveler "maybe you we can dine another time?" he asks "Oh it's ok!' he says before running of to god knows what trouble "What on earth was that for! and what 'remember remember!'" you try to imitate him "Todays the day you learn not to talk to guys at late at night!" childe smiles "What?" "Ooh! I get it" You say with a smug look "you jealous shit" huffs "Did you see that guys look ?! he obviously thought you were single!" He says "Childe... you-" "I'll teach him a lesson if he tries to get with my girl"

[ajaxwrites]

GENSHIN IMPACT FANFIC REC LIST II

(previous: part i)

Seaglass by Aevas

There was more to the contract than a gnosis and test of Liyue. It seemed like a simple deal five hundred years ago: so long as Morax never had a soulmate, the Tsaritsa would never harm Liyue and she would not get his gnosis. But the moment he gained a soulmate, all that belonged to him was forfeit. He thought the deal left Liyue safe—he'd lived thousands of years without a soulmate. The Tsaritsa would be dead and gone by the time she'd have a chance to collect.

Five hundred years later, Childe appears in Liyue, Zhongli gains a soulmate mark, and everything falls apart.

(The obligatory soulmate AU, featuring a Zhongli with PTSD, an oblivious Childe, and demon-worshipping cultists.)

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: I CANNOT BELIEVE I SLEPT ON THIS FIC FOR SO LONG. Read it and I mean it! I admitted initially steered clear of this fic because I wasn’t comforted with a soulmate tartali fic pre-Osial but this fic is actually post-Ostial *facepalm* The writing is phenomenal and Aevas does some beautiful worldbuilding that you typically don’t see in Genshin Impact fics. I love the dynamic between Childe and Zhongli here and the angst is real. The author writes the two as very human characters who makes mistakes, etc. and notably Zhongli struggles with the concept of Childe as his soulmate (who understandably is upset by the rejection when he realizes). They get better though. Also very plotty. A+ writing.

it's a hard rock life for us by reptilianraven

“Ah, no need to worry about that,” Azhdaha waves a dismissive hand. “There is no real Kun Jun. He’s dead.”

A leaf blows past and plaps onto Aether’s face.

“You killed him???” Paimon screeches.

“No,” Azhdaha scrunches his eyebrows. “He was dead when I found him.”

“And you just decided to wear his corpse?” Aether says, leaf still on his face.

He shrugs. “It was free real estate.”

“Azhdaha...” Morax says, sounding vaguely pained.

-

Or the one where Historia Antiqua Chapter II: No Mere Stone goes a little bit different and Azhdaha gets more time.

He ultimately uses that time to bully Morax into confronting his immortal neuroses, to make Aether and Paimon suffer, and to figure out how to get that ginger boy Morax has his eye on to make a move already.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe, Past Azhdaha/Zhongli

Notes: Very lighthearted, humor-filled fic. Love how Azhdaha is so flippant. Interactions with Zhongli and Childe are pure gold.

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes by moonlight_mist

Childe has a Weapon problem- specifically, that he can't keep one.

He's too reckless, too wild, and too keen on pushing his Weapon partners past their limits. He's just about ready to give up when he meets Zhongli, a Weapon who just might be the solution- so long as Childe can manage to keep his dick in his pants.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: This is a Soul Eater AU with some college/university AU vibes (?) but you don’t really need to know much about the anime. It’s a cute AU and I love the premise. Light angst but otherwise, it’s a pretty semi-plotty fic. Easter egg Kaeya and Diluc though.

To Kill A God by IlluminanceinTales

In Snezhnaya, they call them sansis—lost souls that have no guidance but themselves. It’s an apt description, given that most of the time, wannabe-Archons have to go through dozens of tests with nothing as their reference, relying solely on their wit and strength and hoping it would be enough. At least, until they survive the end of the whole game—and they might not have to undergo a painful reincarnation which feels like a hundred bones being stitched together again.

On his seventh game, Childe Tartaglia reincarnates this time in the body of a young man.

Damn, he thinks, looking down at his thin body, his slightly calloused fingers. This won’t be good when facing the other Hydro Decisions.

In a world where an Archon's position is not chosen but fought for in games, Childe Tartaglia is a Hydro Decision who's poised to become the next Hydro Archon. Of course, that's only if he survives his seventh reincarnation. All would be so much easier if it weren't for a certain Geo Archon interfering with every possible chance he gets.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Think Hunger Games meet Political Intrigue meet Genshin Impact. Love the premise and world building that’s done. Features overprotective Zhongli and lots of Childe whump. Has one or two supplementary OCs that aren’t really important outside of plot device reasons. Warning for character death tho lmao.

Three's a Family by IlluminanceinTales

Childe finds a kid that looks just like him.

Of course Zhongli wants to keep him.

Or: How a harbinger and an archon accidentally become fathers. The kid is their wingman

Ships: Childe/Zhongli (?)

Notes: Your everyday cute AF kid fic. Fluffy as hell and super cute. Zhongli and Childe get domestic pretty quickly. Xiao gets dubbed a grandfather and begrudgingly plays along. Super wholesome.

in pitch dark i go walking in your landscape by snowbrigade

He glanced down at him, at the silvery scars peeking out from beneath his robe, and at his eyes, properly now. They were the bright blue of high quality noctilucous jade, but he could see it, an underlying darkness.

Zhongli wondered what his eyes betrayed about himself. --

Rex Lapis is dead. Zhongli, formerly known as triad leader Rex Lapis, is a detective investigating his own "death." Childe, also known as Tartaglia of the Fatui mafia, is undercover as an escort looking to kill Rex Lapis- until someone beats him to it, and he wants to know who. Goals intersecting, they form a partnership of ulterior motives.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: There’s like one scene that skews NSFW but otherwise surprisingly not explicit. Really fun AU. Like how the author addresses Childe’s reaction to being stuck with the undercover escort stuff and how the dynamic between the two develops. Pretty plotty so far.

Phantom Lines by iskendaris

“It’s a measure of one’s self, Mr Zhongli.” Childe says. “Maybe you don’t understand it since you work as a consultant, but as an ambassador from the Tsaritsa, as one who fights in her name— this is how I learn to know the measure of myself.” “I understand,” Zhongli says thoughtfully. “It is a warrior’s way, to test one’s strength against the incomparable. To find where one falls short. To find where one has risen to the challenge.”

In which Childe has insomnia, vandalizes public property and runs into a mysterious funeral consultant on his first night in Liyue.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: THE FEELS. I can only describe this as the fic where Zhongli pays Best Boyfriend Ever only to FUCK UP big time (via Gnosis deception). Poor, poor Childe. Look, he gave the boy feelings and then broke him. You can really feel Childe fall in love in this love. He also does mental swooning a lot lmao. 

adventitious by Anonymous

It's said the Ley Lines remember all things that happen in this world, from the surface down to the deepest depths... But in the hidden corners where the Gods' gaze does not fall, there are those who dream of dreaming.

There's a dormant bud where Kaeya's eye once was. One day, it will bloom. (Never forget: memory is untrustworthy.)

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: I don’t even know where to start. This is very headcanony and lore-focused. Very much concentrated on Khaenri'ah. The implications of this story is grotesque to say the least (according to this fic, Visions are the literal eyes of the people of Khaenri'ah). Warnings for eye and body horror.

Without Those Dark Memories by StrangeDiamond

Diluc awakens in Stormterror’s Lair with no memories of the past five years. Kaeya is on the trail of a rogue alchemist, with a habit of testing his chemicals on unwilling human subjects. Now, in addition to capturing the criminal, Kaeya has to shake him down for an antidote . . . and deal with an amnesiac Diluc who acts exactly like he did before their brotherhood fell apart. (Standalone Fic.)

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: This is sort of a classic amnesia fic. I particularly really liked the way that Kaeya was written in this. I feel like the author did a really good job nailing his character and they have a way of capturing the subtle things.

Through the warmth, through the cold by strikedawn

“It’s you!” Paimon shouted with a twirl in mid-air.

“…Excuse me?"

They were drunk. Were they drunk? Was he drunk? Because Kaeya had the feeling his guests had been talking to him for a while now, but none of their words had made any sense whatsoever.

That was, until Venti stepped firmly in front of Kaeya’s desk and set his hands on the top, the better to lean over towards Kaeya and say: “For the end of the Windblume festival, Sir Kaeya Alberich, we’re going to auction a date with you.”

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: Shortword, Kaeya gets auctioned off. Diluc makes impulsive (but good) decisions and scores himself a Date but displays an inability to do Date Planning. Venti deserves a pat on the back. Very sweet.

Hide and Seek by Kiri_Kaitou_Clover

Childe did not expect regaining his memories would bring him such frustration.

He makes the best of the situation by messing with one amber eyed consultant in anyway he can.

A reincarnated storm god wades through life in Liyue, all while screaming about one dragon god's incompetency at being human.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Features Childe as Osial’s very exasperated reincarnation, who gets the joy of discovering that his rival/enemy Morax is not only an idiot but also broke AF. He still falls in love anyway. Contains this golden line: 

"Did... did that complete blockhead really use my money in order to get me a gift that basically says that he is proposing to me?!"

(Osial was screaming. When had the other god become like this?! Had he always been like this?!)

Getting that Bread by tzitzimeme

Concubine AU where Zhongli is Emperor, Xiao is an assassin sent to kill him while disguised as a woman in his imperial harem, and the only reason he doesn't actually do it is because he pities Zhongli for being so catastrophically stupid (also Xiao falls in love).

Ships: Zhongli/Xiao

Notes: Like Xiao says, Zhongli is an idiot. Fluff and humor filled. Xiao spends a good 95% of this exasperated by Zhongli’s bullshit. 

prayers for a boy by Recluse

The only way to reconciliation is fierce combat!

Hm... Come to think of it, there will be a lot of interesting news to be heard the next time we gather for drinks. Filling in the blanks.

Ships: N/A

Notes: I...don’t really know where to begin with this? It’s exactly what the summary implies...but more? I was tempted to describe this as the fic where Zhongli puts his foot in his mouth but...that’s not exactly write? I feel like this was more of a character study. It explores the aftermath of the Osial Incident and how Zhongli and Childe reconnect. Platonically...though I guess it can be read romantically. 

one kind of longing, two places of sorrow by lady_peony

Zhongli's hands rest behind his back, both gloved hands clasping one another. His fingers tighten around one another for the merest moment, before he relaxes his grip.

"There is a tradition in Liyue," Zhongli says, his back still to Childe standing behind him, "of inviting out a companion to a last meal before a farewell."

A pause.

"A tradition?" Childe echoes.

"Yes."

"With a companion?"

"Yes."

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: The fic where neither of the two communicate about jackshit but go on a quiet, sad not-date before Childe leaves for Snezhnaya. Childe pulls (? on accident or on purpose, I can not tell) the equivalent of leaving the jacket in the car post-date to get date to call for the second date. Also, the author has a gift for like...writing angst...without writing angst? Like the whole fic is like brimming with everything that the characters aren’t saying but the thoughts aren’t necessarily written out BUT YOU KNOW THOSE DUMBFUCKS ARE JUST LIKE. BRIMMING WITH FEELS? 

The People of Liyue by queer_occurrences

But Zhongli whispers, his low voice rooted in the back of Childe’s mind. “Changsun, the merchant, who is never too Mora-enthralled to turn away a needy child. There’s Tiantian—she will allow anyone to join the Adventurer’s Guild—she knows what it is to be desperate.��

Childe ducks away from them and hurries out over the bridge. It’s a warm, sunny day, the kind he would have complained about, whining about his delicate Snezhnayan skin. “It’ll burn, or worse, freckle. Would you still like me if I was freckled?”

Then Zhongli would say, “The people of Liyue will remember your sacrifice.” And he would wrinkle his nose.

Or: after it all goes down, Childe takes a walk.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: The author has a way with perfectly balancing angst with humor in a way that makes you cackle. There’s a lot of feels in this one. Zhongli tries communicating--Childe runs away a lot. There’s a lot of love for Liyue in this one.

cold blooded, warm blooded, hearts all the same by reptilianraven

Teyvat Petting Zoo @tyvtpettingzoo

Well would you look at that! Zhongli, our resident spinytail iguana, has gotten quite cozy with Childe, our new (and very feisty) ginger ferret! Aren’t they adorable all cuddled together like this? 😍😍😍

[Attached image shows a brown spinytail iguana curled up against a ginger ferret. The iguana’s head is nuzzled under the snout of the ferret.]

-

At the Teyvat Petting Zoo, Zhongli and Childe fall in love.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: ...I promise I’m not weird. This is just super cute. Cross-species love affair? Childe the ferret is very besotted. The internet is confused and the zoo keepers are just done.

a geo archon's guide to the modern era by Erina

“Morax,” Xiao says after Zhongli finishes his retelling of the incident. “He thinks you’re a weirdo.”

“No, don’t say that,” Barbatos snickers. “You’ll give him hope that this is salvageable.” He lowers his voice. “Morax, he thinks you’re a boomer.”

(In which Zhongli hibernates for centuries and wakes up in the modern world)

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: This took me, I shit you not, FIVE SEPARATE ATTEMPTS to read. Not because it was bad but BECAUSE THE SECOND HAND EMBARRASSMENT WAS REAL. Like, omg, just reading about Zhongli’s introduction to modernity made me want to dig a hole and die. Super funny though. Do not read in public or you will look like a lunatic. Has a...parallel (?) fic in the same series called  buy two get one archon free where Zhongli gets reversed isekai’d into an anime convention.

time flies like an arrow by Erina

He’s tired, tired of the unbreakable loop of watching his loved ones pass on, tired of getting attached only for the connection to be violently ripped away from him. He wonders if the real victors during the Archon War were those who perished, who died long before their godhood turned into a curse that chained them to the land that they were fighting for.

But that is not a problem for Childe to worry about. That is Zhongli’s burden to bear, delivered to him in a pretty package years ago in the form of a gnosis.

His very first contract.

(Zhongli and Childe, across many lifetimes)

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: This is a quiet fic. It’s this kind of slice-of-life fic colored by this overpowering sense of love and loss as Zhongli remains immortal and Childe dies and lives and dies and lives for hundreds of lifetimes, but always finds his way back to his geo archon. It’s so lovely but also unbearably sad.

Tartaglia’s Favorite Professor by GreyLiliy

The famed hitman Tartaglia of the Fatui Syndicate spends his days as the charming college student Childe. The two lives remain as separate as possible in order to maintain a flawless cover to keep the authorities off his back and to better serve the Tsaritsa.

However, new intel about a rival syndicate intersects his two lives in a way he could never have predicted.

Ships: Zhongli/Childe

Notes: Mafia AU meet College AU. Childe is somehow both a horny AF college student and murderous hitman. Zhongli gives off major DILF vibes. GreyLily somehow makes this work while also avoiding cringe. Highly recommended!

like a handprint on my heart by fallingintodivinity

“Strictly off-the-record,” Jean says, with a small smile, “I’m really happy to see you and Captain Kaeya getting along again, Master Diluc.”

“We’re not – we’re not getting along,” Diluc tells her, indignant. “We’re working together. Unwillingly, I might add.”

“Yes – oh, yes, of course.”

Diluc stares at Jean suspiciously. “Are you laughing at me?”

Jean clears her throat primly. “I would never.”

Ships: Diluc/Kaeya

Notes: Super, super cute! Sort of reads like a first date fic except genshin impact style? Writing style is very refreshing!

[bobataeminsuga]

everyone's talking about music in your asks so i wanna know what your music hcs are for the genshin boys 👉👈

anon im so sorry for taking so long to reply but i really thought about it... and this is the first time ive ever made like a list of hcs so bear with me

i didnt know whether you meant hcs for the type of music they listened to or like them as musicians so i kinda did both

Genshin boy’s music headcannons under the cut!!

characters: kaeya, diluc, venti, albedo, bennett, razor, xingqiu, chongyun, zhongli, childe, xiao, scaramouche, aether, dainsleif

kaeya:

I get big sweater weather by the neighbourhood vibes from him

bi icon i guess

He loves the neighbourhood

Daddy issues by the neighbourhood yessir

He can play the guitar. his voice is okay, he’s not bad, he can sing and its really nice but its not the prettiest out of all the genshin boys

he loves serenading people and it just works bro, he knows exactly how to make people fall for him

diluc:

a lot of ppl say he would listen to like emo music or something but he listens to classical music

i mean he's a nobleman after all

he grew up learning the piano so he fell in love with classical music at a young age

unlike kaeya, he doesnt serenade people, instead you can find him playing piano at midnight, very captivating (i think i said this in a previous post lol)

hates it when kaeya gets control over the music

definitely the "pop music is so annoying and meaningless" bitch

venti:

nicki Minaj

I dont know why but nicki Minaj

Maybe doja cat too ngl

tbh venti just loves every genre of music

but he really loves everything the nameless bard has ever sung to him - whether it was an original song or not

Learnt every instrument just so he could play the nameless bard’s music wherever he went - venti loves him and his music very much

albedo:

Something magical

ghibli soundtracks maybe?

he likes merry-go-round from howls moving castle that's for sure

maybe chill vibey music

Luke chiang, maybe?

I wouldn’t be surprised if he could play the piano too but violin me thinks… or maybe viola just to prove how much better he is at music theory oooh so fancy he can read alto clef even though violas suck

Only sings lullabies to klee, doesnt sing otherwise, but he has a very calming and pretty singing voice, everyone wishes he sang more (khoi dao singing :,) )

bennett:

number one victory royale- no jk he doesn't listen to that shit unironically

bennett likes Wilbur Soot

really likes your new boyfriend

but other than that he really likes music with deep lyrics, he likes meaningful things

he also really likes singing, he's not that great at it but he loves it and he wants to get better at it

would probably be a band kid, probably plays the trumpet or something

razor:

razor doesn't really understand music

he doesn't have a favourite genre or artist or song

but he really likes bennett's singing

even if bennett thinks he's bad, razor likes listening to him sing, he thinks bennett is the best singer in all of teyvet

he doesn't know this wilbur soot guy, he thinks those are bennett’s songs and that bennett wrote im in love with an egirl about fischl and doesn’t know how to feel about that

Razor cant play any instruments but if he did maybe drums??? Hm… 

xingqiu:

everyone thinks he likes classical music - which he does, its just not his favourite

he listens to cavetown me thinks

like i think he listens to cavetown if you get what im saying

Sings lemon boy to chongyun even if he isnt a good singer

He plays the flute, not the best, he’s still learning

his older brother plays the violin and they often argue about which is the better/worse instrument

chongyun:

rnb? I get an rnb vibe from him

maybe krnb? like junny and crush

Chongyun is very swaggy imo so i feel like he’d like swaggy chill music therefore krnb

Not the biggest fan of cavetown but if xingqiu is listening to this is home then chongyun knows he has to be there to comfort him and sits through the song anyways 

Chongyun doesnt play any instruments, he sings all the time without realizing it though

he has a very nice voice and xingqiu always tells him this but he doesnt believe this (kinsens singing voice ;-;)

zhongli:

yet another classical music enjoyer

doesnt really mind other genres but he doesnt really like rap

also really likes old rock

journey, the Beatles, queen, he loves it all

but his favourite song is the song guizhong sings to the glaze lilies, nothing can replace that

Cant sing for shit, which is why he cant pick glaze lilies himself

Cant play any instruments either, playing music was always guizhong’s thing, not really his so he never bothered learning

childe:

pop music, whatever’s on the radio im sorry white boy

but also… hayloft? I feel like he would listen to hayloft but the question is would he listen to hayloft?

Surprisingly listens to rich brian bc he heard scaramouche listening once and loved it

Can sing, like he gets the notes right and stuff, nobody wants to hear it though (im so sorry griffin burns)

But sometimes he sings lullabies to tonia, anton, and teucer and :,)

Knows a little bit of piano - he had to teach tonia a bit back home bc they couldnt afford a piano teacher for her until he became a harbinger

xiao:

my chemical romance- nah I'm just joking he likes calming music, mcr and music like that would actually get on his nerves

he likes whatever venti plays

which makes him another big fan of the nameless bard - he doesnt know the songs aren’t venti’s though

JOJI

I think he likes joji, slow dancing in the dark and like you do are his favourites

Agoraphobic by corpse husband

Wishes he knew more about music but whenever venti offers to teach him he gets all “an adeptus doesn’t need to know such things”

He only sings to venti and the traveler whenever he thinks they’re asleep or sings them to sleep but he has sUCH A NICE VOICE (orz kinsen) - traveler and venti team up to get him to sing more

scaramouche:

CHOKE ME LIKE YOU HATE ME BUT YOU LOVE ME

Corpse husband.

literally just loud music with heavy bass I can see scaramouche listening to that

blasts that shit at the zapolyarny palace so that everyone knows he's there

signora hates it - childe, not so much but finds it a bit annoying sometimes

This man cant sing, he refuses to and he refuses to play an instrument

NO WAIT HE LIKES TAKAYAN

Cheating is a crime by takayan is his anthem

aether:

He likes whatever reminds him most of home, whatever makes him nostalgic

butterfly by bts

Youth by troye sivan

how to save a life by the fray

Mr loverman by ricky montgomery?

yeah sad music, he doesn't know where his sister is, he wants to go home, of course he'd be sad

Aether likes troye sivan, he gives me that vibe

Ukulele boy aether :o

He used to play the ukulele and sing with lumine (luyin kana’s voice :”) )

abyss prince aether tho hmmm… might be a different story, i feel like he wouldnt be a ukulele boy but he would still listen to sad music me thinks

dainsleif:

He doesn’t listen to music

Knows about music, but doesn’t listen to it

They say long ago he used to sing a lot, rumour has it he was one of the best singers in Khaenri'ah, he doesnt sing anymore

Hears aether singing and gets sad about lumine (or vice versa)

[iamartemisday]

Lokane Untold Truths

Jane was six the first time it happened. It was mid-December. She’d exhausted every option available to her to complete her mission. In desperation, she threw all caution to the wind and came out with it. “Daddy, what am I getting for Christmas?” 

He looked into her eyes and said, “a junior telescope set and that scientist Barbie doll you wanted. Also a young reader’s copy of Pride and Prejudice. I think your mother wants to corrupt you early.”

When he finished speaking he looked shocked for all of a second. He didn’t have long because he’d, unfortunately, spilled the beans within earshot of his wife, who spent the next few minutes berating him while Jane danced in place at the thought of a telescope.

Over time, more incidents like that began to occur.

“Mrs. Mason,” she asked her third grade teacher the day she announced they’d have a sub for the rest of the week, “how come you’re going on vacation now instead of on the weekend?”

“Oh I’m not actually going on vacation,” Mrs. Mason said. “I’m getting a colonoscopy and I need to spend the next few days cleaning out my bowels.”

Everyone laughed as their poor teacher turned bright red and tried to backtrack. 

For a while, Jane actually thought it was pretty funny.

“Hey Bobby, how come you won’t go down the slide?” she asked the playground bully.

“Because I’m afraid of heights,” he said. “They make me cry.”

No one took his bullying seriously after that.

One day, it stopped being funny.

“Why don’t you want to eat lunch with me?” she asked Maggie, her best friend in the world since kindergarten.

“Because I don’t like you anymore,” Maggie said. “You’re a weird geek and I want to hang out with the cool kids now.”

Jane didn’t really sit with anyone after that.

By the time she reached high school, she knew something was wrong with her. Or maybe something was right. There were perks to her strange little ability just as much as their were downsides. She’d long since figured out a few things.

Her power only worked when she made eye contact with the target.

Glasses of any sort would not protect them.

Wearing glasses herself would.

Jane couldn’t understand that last one. Perhaps it was a mental block she’d placed on herself to protect her relationships after what happened with Maggie. Or maybe it was just always there.

In her sophomore year, she got up the courage to as the boy she liked on a date (simple yes or no question, it couldn’t possibly go wrong). 

“I’d like to, but I can’t,” he said. “My dad beats my mom and I’m afraid to date because I don’t want to be like him.”

The next day, Jane bought six pairs of contact lenses.

For years, she wore them religiously. Nobody ever questioned her. Not in college, not in grad school, not in the desert. Darcy called them lens buddies and Jane didn’t have the heart to correct her. 

It got easier to forget about all the chaos her power had caused. She’d remind herself that it could’ve been a lot worse and all things considered, she’d made it to adulthood relatively unscathed. Every now and then she’d forget to put in her contacts and get to hear all about a neighbor’s marital problems or how the overly macho guy at the bar was deeply in love with his male best friend. Otherwise, her days were uneventful and she could almost pretend she was completely normal.

Thor came to her in a storm and they had their adventure.

He came back to her in another storm when an ancient power was (not so) inexplicably drawn to her. That was a bit rough of a reunion. Jane was not exactly happy about his two years of radio silence. Even worse, whatever was inside her had decided it didn’t like contact lenses. They burned like pure fire when she tried to put them back in.

“It’s good to see you,” Jane said, instead of asking where he’d been or any other question she both did and didn’t want the answer to. 

He was nice enough to explain, and it was a good explanation. Taking her to Asgard and giving her the grand tour also helped his case. 

Jane still couldn’t find the same affection for him that she’d once had, if she had it at all. Their three days in the desert had been a whirlwind of confusing emotions as her entire life was upturned in an instant. Now that they had time to stop and think, Jane wasn’t seeing much more in him than a good friend. 

And then came Loki.

Or course Jane knew him, if only in name and face. She got to know him about more closely when she punched him in the face for attaching New York.

“I like her,” he said, smiling evilly at her.

Jane stared at him with her uncovered eyes and got a terrible, but all too tempting idea. “Do you get off on being hit?”

“Not precisely,” he said, “but I do love a woman with fire.”

Jane didn’t know what was funnier, his face or Thor’s. She glanced at Sif and shrugged like she had no idea what was happening and then casually reminded the brothers that they should probably get moving. 

The ride out of Asgard was bumpy, and Jane only remembered parts of it. She woke up as they reached Svartalfheim. The Aether called to her, swirling through her with renewed ferocity at the prospect of going ‘home’. 

“Finally awake I see,” Loki said, grinning evilly. “That didn’t take long at all.”

“What scared you most as a child?” Jane asked.

“Freya’s cats,” Loki said. “One of them bite me once and I’ve never liked them since.”

Even given the circumstances, Thor couldn’t not laugh. “I knew it.”

If Loki smacked the elves around a little harder than necessary, Jane wouldn’t comment. He was actually kind of gentle with her, even as he shoved her out of the way of a vortex sucking them up. 

When he died, Jane actually felt bad for making him expose his secrets like that. Even for someone like him, using her powers like that was just petty. Now that the Aether was gone, those contacts were going right back in. She didn’t even take them out a month later when she and Thor agreed to go their separate ways. It was all for the best anyway.

Late one night, when she been planning another all nighter to finish updated her bridge schematic, she was suddenly overcome with sleep. She awoke in a misty place. Nothing was around for miles, but she wasn’t scared. Nothing could hurt you in a dream, she knew, no matter what the old wive’s tales said.

Even when Loki appeared before her, she didn’t react. Dream or no dream, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of scaring her.

“Ask me anything,” he said.

Jane blinked her naked eyes. “Is this real?”

“Yes.”

“Are you alive?”

“Yes.”

“How can that be when I saw you die?”

“You saw me lose consciousness, though in fairness, I thought I was dying as well. It seems luck was for once on my side.”

A vision of Asgard appeared. Odin alone on his throne with Gugnir. He smiled warmly at his subjects, though for a moment, his eyes turned green.

“Are you pretending to be Odin?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“What did you do with him?”

“He’s in a retirement home on Midgard. Don’t worry, I chose a nice one.”

“Do you visit him?”

“Once a week.”

“Nice. The orderlies must love you.”

“That wasn’t a question, but yes, they do. I’m a loving, dedicated son in their eyes.”

Jane was fast getting sick of this dream. And she really hated her sneaking suspicion this wasn’t a dream at all and Loki really was alive right now. 

“So what now? What do you want from me?”

He stepped closer. “You have an amazing gift, Jane. One which not even I can resist.”

“Thank you,” Jane said. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He laughed. “I don’t believe I have you under a spell, my dear.”

“Do you?”

“I don’t.” He smiled. “You are free to speak as you wish, though I am bound to your every whim.”

“What if I asked you to tell me your greatest secret?”

“You know I would tell you. I would have no choice.”

“Would you want to?”

“I would,” he stepped closer. He was so tall and actually extremely handsome. Weird how she was only just starting to notice. “I would happily tell you anything. You and only you.”

Jane swallowed. Even knowing what she could do, he looked so sincere. “Do… do you regret what you did?”

For the first time, he hesitated and all but whispered his response. “I’m starting to.”

“Do you want to make it right?”

“I don’t think I can.”

“But would you try?”

Another, longer hesitation. A quieter response. “Yes.”

Jane nodded. She took his hand and held it tight. “Then when you’re ready to visit Odin again, come find me.”

The dream ended there and Jane was awake in her lab. She stared at the clock and her heart missed a beat. Not even a minute had passed since she closed her eyes. Almost like that whole event occurred on another plane of existence. 

‘It did,’ she told herself. ‘In a dream world.’

But did it really?

She heard footsteps behind her, but wasn’t afraid. He was there when she turned around. Not as Odin, but as himself. He had trimmed his hair a bit and donned a suit. Though he held her gaze, there was a hint of trepidation behind his eyes. 

Jane stood and approached him. This time, she had only one question. “Why?”

He took her hands “Don’t you see, Jane? I am the God of Lies. You are the Goddess of Truth.” He leaned in close. Jane couldn’t stop him if she wanted to as their lips met. “We were made for each other.”

And that was the God’s honest truth.

[a-memory-of]

Ellere Valahan was relatively quiet on the walk back from the ruins to the ship. The captain briefly questioned the lack of the third passenger, but Ellere simply told him it was fine. Once they were on their way back to the mainland, she found a spot on the deck near Nathaniel to linger.

"I will not lie. I expected Ruran to go against his word, when I tasked him to come alone. Though of all the members of his entourage, I didn't expect you to show up."

"Mm?" she rose a brow, "Well, I suppose I am insistent. Do not blame him, he did try." There was another pause, and she leaned against the railing, elbows bent as her eyes were out on the sea. "You can call us friends, you know. Though, Ruran never mentioned you, it was the first I had heard he had a mentor."

"He was not supposed to mention me," Nathaniel Salem stated, clear as day. "I did not want anyone to be even aware of my existence until all of this was done and complete. Men of Ruran's ilk are meant for greatness. Their entourage tends to fault them. Push them to failure. Based on petty feelings and sentiments - even when it was never about them."

"Ruran's heroism was praised only when it pleased them. They feared Ari'doram, and did not realize its worth. The boy was misusing it, but nothing that couldn't be fixed,” he continued. "If I hadn't isolated Ruran the way I did, many would have pushed the crystal to break his body with words alone."

Ellere frowned, shaking her head. "I do not agree. Perhaps Ruran is meant for greatness, but even a hero needs help. It was not Ari'doram that he nearly lost himself to, but his sorrow. The strength that took, is worth more praise than taking up the sword."

"For a long time I did see Ari'doram as an enemy, I hated it, hated what it was doing to him," she looked down to the waves. "But I understand it differently now. Feelings are what brought him this far. If you believe them to be worth nothing, then that is of your own mind."

"I was not dismissive of his feelings. I was dismissive of yours." He added, calmly. "Something you can not stand, it would seem. But you are admitting it yourself, are you not? You saw Ari'doram as an enemy; you just admitted to hating it. That time spent fighting the wrong the enemy pushed this... Sorrow, as you called it."

"His incredible drive is the reason why he was chosen. We need not debate on such a thing. And yes. I did think he needed help; otherwise, I would not have sacrificed so much of what little free time I have to truly help him navigate this issue for the past half-year. Regardless of what you think now, what you thought in the past is precisely what I want to avoid. Men and women acting like cattle, fearing aetherial constructs, and what they do to the soul. Fearing power, even in the hands of those they trust and love."

"Selfish thoughts. To 'save'. To 'preserve'. When Ruran consented to Ari'doram's aetherial push, even if it was to swallow him whole,” he looked elsewhere, slow in his movement, detached in his words.

"No," she shook her head again, "I know Ruran believed my intent. I cared for him, I always will. I wanted him to live, and therefore I felt I was set against whatever entity lived in the stone, long before I knew what it was."

"I never feared it. Call me selfish all you will, but I have spent the last three turns reminding Ruran how to live, even when he believed he was dying. He wanted to stay, deep down. He had hope, yet. The sorrow came from pushing others away."

She went quiet herself, sighing. She likely was not going to make the man understand. "But you are right, what use is debate. I have no doubt that Ruran is one of the few that could ever do what he has done. And he is alive now, and that is all that matters."

___________________________________

With @will-of-the-traders​

He paused for quite some time after her. "It must be nice, to love and think as you do." The delivery is gentle, but it does not feel right.

"Let us admit you were an exception, then. Would you still deny my words? That the world is not ready for men and women like Ruran? That it needs to be taught, first? Mages of our standing study, research, to become lorekeepers. To give the mundane truths they can not even conceive."

"I had not seen you. But I had seen the others. Not knowing my involvement with Ruran, they would seek me out that I may help. I lied to them, of course--but kept helping where they could not see me. The way they spoke with such concern, and disgust of the stone -- and with so much love of Ruran. Failing to understand he was both, and one, at the very least in ideals."

"This sorrow was not always of his own design, and I believe, deep down, you also knew this. He was not unlike those saints that would have been stoned in life by the people they sought to protect, only to be canonized in death. No more."

"Think what you will. I protected him. If you were here, then it means you were meant to be. I will not deny Nymeia a right to surprises." He went silent.

Ellere finally glanced away from the ocean and to him instead. "I am not so foolish to not see him as others might. I have seen what the two of them can do, what that power does. They were not wrong to fear for Ruran."

"I am also not so foolish to deny that I have hurt him, speaking as fervently as I once did that he should shirk his duty and think of himself, and that others have said the same," a hand still leaned against the railing curled into a fist.

"But I fell in love with the man. He was one before, he still is. He deserves to be. I cannot fault others who see him as such because they do not understand," she shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe we sought to protect different things. But what do I know... after all, I am selfish in thinking so, mm? I do not see us changing each other's mind."

He looked back to her, as if gracious enough to not deny her such a thing. Lidded eyes studied her from head to toe, and it feels as though he's partaken in this conversation a thousand times before. "Why would we need to? Our thoughts are in the same place. I do not know what it is you seek to defend with such ardor. You have done your best, haven't you? And you are now about to be rewarded with a man made whole."

He unfolded an arm to gesture with it a gloved hand, light. "I learned what I wanted to learn. Thank you for this."Nathaniel tilted his head back slightly without breaking eye contact, his earrings chiming in the process. "A good thing to know he will have people to return to, humanity regained."

"Perhaps I still think I am but dreaming, that I am still being tested," Ellere shook her head, "Here I am arguing with a man I do not even know in name. I know not what you thank me for."

She sighed heavily, leaning a her hip on the railing, "All I have wished for so long is for him to live, to know happiness again, even if I am not part. He has many that wait for him."

"Azeyma is here of our trials, Nald for our opportunities. Do not blame me for probing as I do. You are a physician, are you not? A common act when one is to determine what kind of..." He licked canine as he looked for the right word, though seems to settle for something nicer, "...Subject they are dealing with. My name is irrelevant either way. All I do, I do for the sons of man. It is all you need to know. I bear no ill feelings toward you. Even if I did, I doubt I would have time to act on them."

"I suppose it is true," she nodded her head, "As I bear none to you. Ruran is, after all, a fairly good judge of character I find. If you hide your name, I will not pry. As with people who wear masks, they have their reasons."

"I apologize, I am usually of more sound mind, but as you can imagine my thoughts have been overly troubled. My heart still races."

"Keep your apologies for when you will have committed a legitimate offense. In dismissing my pragmatism, you showed you felt more than you thought. At least more than me."

He gestures dismissively, looking ahead. "It's a formidable trait. I can not fault you for feeling even now. Have your little heart race away." He gestured dismissively, looking ahead. "It's a formidable trait. I'm used to barking."

Ellere looked away herself, but her gaze finds itself back on the water willing for land to get closer. "Barking? What company you must usually keep, then." She looked to the sky, then pulled back from the railing a bit.

"It should not be long. I believe I should... sit for a bit, I know not what will find in the temple. You mean to stay out here?"

"I will not deny you the right to privacy. Go and get that well-earned rest. Should you fall asleep by the time we get to our destination, I will come and wake you."

Ellere actually let out a breathy laugh, "As if I could truly sleep now. I merely take precaution when... I use such an extended amount of my aether. And it is best to be prepared. Thank you, for that chat. And for the rest."

The man nodded in her direction, perfectly affable. He said no more.

[sootcloak]

Crow’s Shadow: Carrion Circle

Second part of a short serial installment I’m working on as a general exercise on plotting, editing and the like. You can find the other parts linked here - {Part One: Repair Required} - I’ll add the last link once Part Three is up. Same spoiler warnings as Part One apply. Same general content warnings apply.

~2400 words, featuring Hilda the Mongrel and Rostnthal the Reborn. Centered around a tense cross country trip, and the looming specter of a dangerous foe. Twelve help me I’d hoped I could fit more of the plot into this one the last part is gonna be so long, such a pain to edit.

A cold, mountain spring cuts through the highlands. The water runs babbling over old, long-smooth stones. Along its bank, a cart is still. A pair of chocobos sleep, curled in on one another. Bright yellow feathers pool starkly against the grey and white of the highland’s snow-covered earth.

The campfire, dim and growing colder by the minute, pops and sizzles in the moonlit dark. Every few moments, the earth rumbles with a heavy snore from deep in Rostnthal’s chest. The old Sea Wolf is leaned up against the back of one of the birds, a canvas sheet thrown over both he and the chocobo. Hilda lies beneath the cart itself, nestled up in a tight ball of quilts and jackets.

In the back of the cart, Vavara rifles through the packed supplies. She loads specially marked shells into her revolver. It’s reflective white metal glints in the moonlight. It has a mirror shine in the dead of night, it’s engravings doing little to break up the perfect polish she’s maintained. It is a slow process, painstaking with just one hand. The cartridges hum and vibrate in their chambers, the ether concentrate within nervously singing to her heightened hearing.

Six shots in each cylinder.

If he’s there, it’ll take at least fifteen of these to break his barrier. Even with aether-charged rounds, the inadequacy of her armaments hangs over her. Missing an arm means choosing between her spear and a firearm. Damaged as she is, she might not even have enough aether at her disposal to ignite the spearblade.The core nested between her lungs is pressed cold and stark against her heart, like a long-dull knife. Her soul, nestled within it’s crystal depths, aches from long-faded scars. Her whole body would be a treasure trove for him, secrets to decipher, power to steal. Weapons to wield.

Even then, measured against his life - her secrets, her safety, all things are cast into the pot.

--

She loads a spare cylinder with slow, committed strokes. It’ll take a long time to reload the weapon, even with this preparation.. She didn’t pick this hand, but she’ll play it till the cards are on the table. Folding was never an option, anyways.

Light falls on the small camp, the morning sun casting light into the narrow crevice beneath the cart. Hilda wakes up with a yawn. Her arms stretch across the dirt, eyes squeezed shut. She growls softly deep in her chest, and sits up. Her forehead slams into the wood with an audible crunch.

“Seven hells-” She snarls.

“Gyahah!” Rostnthal’s laughter echoes over the small glade, watching with a gleaming eye as she clutches her forehead.

“‘Ey, Ashenheart! I won! Ye’ owe me a drink when we get back!” His grin is audible, a chuckle reverberating in his voice.

“I never agreed to playing your game.” Vavara says. “Besides, I owe you more than a drink if we all return safely.”

“Heh. Humorless. What with ye’ hangin with the Scions lately, thought you may’ve lightened up some. Guess even they can’t get ye’ out’a that shell.” His voice is no less mirthful, seemingly unfazed by her chilled tone.

“A’ight, come get yer food. Breakfast’s done.” He slaps the side of the kettle, ringing loud and full. Still groaning and clutching a bloodied face, Hilda drops into a cross-legged sit besides Rostnthal.

They goad and poke at one another, the words fading into white noise as Vara sits atop the cart.Her eyes’ light dims, old, ash-soaked memories rising from the shadows of memory. A wave of nauseating nostalgia hits her in the gut.

“You not eating?” Hilda prods Vara with an empty bowl. The old, smoke-scented memories submerge into the dark again. 

“Not right now. I had hardtack before you two were up.” She pushes herself up to her feet, her arm stretching, slight shoulders squaring for a moment under the winter overcoat.

“I’ll get the birds ready while you two eat. We need to move soon.” Her footsteps crunch in the snow as she walks away. A hanging tension in the air slowly seeps into the air as she walks away.

“Y’know,” Rostnthal calls out, voice low and rumbling. “Ye’ still haven’t told us where we’re goin’. Or anything else of substance, really.”

“Yes,” She says as she hoists the barding onto one of the birds. She glances over her shoulder, eyes dimly glowing with an unnatural, cold light in the shadow of the brim of her cap. “I am aware.” The words are biting, dismissive.

“D’ye intend for us to go into whatever trouble is brewing blind?” His tone is calm and grim, his one, good eye locked on hers.

“I do.” She returns his gaze, ironclad.

“An’ if that means things get bloodier than they ‘ad to?”

“It won’t. I can’t protect you on the battlefield. Not in my condition.” She turns away, leading the chocobos to the cart’s front. She clips their barding in, the ‘coos’ and ‘kwehs’ of the birds giving her occasional pause to double check her work.

“So you won’t be there.” She says without turning. “I’ll be leaving you and the birds out of danger. When my student finds you, you’ll take him to Dragonhead.” 

“Wait, what?” Hilda pauses halfway between bites, eyes narrowing. “I came out here to help, not to be a damned taxi. You’re not traipsing off on your own, ‘specially not after all your talk about this fucker who’s hunting you.”

“You want to help?” Vara’s grip on the wood tightens, words turning venomous. “Then I’ve told you how. You want to die? Then go on, follow me after we part ways.”

“Oh, that’s rich.” Hilda’s tone sours, “What’s your deal? We went over this on our first day out, and now half a week in you’re changing your tune? We know it’s dangerous, we get it.”

She sets her half-finished meal aside, standing up. Her hands come to rest on her hips, Rostnthal’s eye moving to rest on her.

“We signed on for this. We knew it’d get bloody, we knew it’d be a close thing. Y’think we’ve not learned to read you? That we were blind to what we were getting into?” She says, defiantly staring down at Vavara.

“So you’re going to ride in and save the day? Vanquish the bad man with your shiny gun and sporty marksmanship? You think you have what it takes to stand against  a man who’s decided he’d rather be a demon?” Vavara takes a deep, steadying breath. There’s something about the question which makes Rostnthal’s hairs stiffen. The skin on the back of his arms and back prickles. He’s still watching Hilda, a blooming anxiousness slowly taking up more space in his chest. He pushes the feeling down.

“Wouldn’t have stepped up if I didn’t think I could help” Hilda says, “An’ I may not be some vaunted champion of the realm like those you’ve been keepin’ the company of, but I-”

“You sound like a child. Too busy playing hero to see the danger you’re in.” Vavara’s chiding words cut through her momentum.

“What do you believe you are wagering? Your life? That in failure, you would die?” Her laugh is a single, wrenching cough. “This isn’t a battle of life and death. I’d sooner shoot myself in the head than allow any of those ‘vaunted champions’ to face him. Even the Warrior of Light, no especially the Warrior of Light.

“He does not kill. He captures. And those he captures become another one of the Empire’s experimental weapons. You would not die, you would become a monster to be sicked on your allies, your friends, and your loved ones.

“So I will face him alone. And you two will ensure an innocent boy does not become a monster because my past came to call. And if after hearing that, you still want to be the hero? Fine. You can be like all the others before you and die like one, too.” Her voice nearly chokes at the end. Shoulders tense, she pushes out a hoarse, whistling breath.

“I’ll do what I do best. Survive. And whatever I have to do to make sure he gets through this too? I’ll pay that price. Worry about yourself.”

“Vavara.” Rostnthal says, leaning in. “What’s so important about this kid that yer so concerned about ‘im getting captured.”

“Nothing. He’s just-” She begins, only for him to hold up one hand to silence her.

“Ye’ never go this far ‘just because’. I’ve seen ye’ in the ‘eat of battle. Cuttin losses ‘as never been somethin’ yer averse to. Even with lives. So if this kid is a hazard to himself more than anyone else, I reckon ye’d try and save him, sure. But to be willin’ to train and tutor a complete greenhorn, let alone throw yerself into the fire for ‘im?? Doesn’t add up.”

He waits. His eye locked on her back, her greying, braided hair shifting with a breeze. Hilda glances between the two, silence bubbling and steaming with tension.

“He is Blessed.” She speaks with a hushed admission, her voice accompanied by an undercurrent of choked, hissing metal.

“And from my observations, he has an aptitude for its power rarely seen. But he is young, foolhardy. I took him in because he otherwise would have found the Scions. And I refuse to see them make another martyr.” She glances back to the other two, over her good shoulder.

“His power will invite controversy and challenge, especially if he cannot wield it. And should Llain capture him, the prospect of an anti-eikon weapon imbued with the power of the Echo is a looming threat I cannot risk. If he can wield the Echo, if he learns how to use it to reinforce his sense of self and being, then he would retain his sanity through any kind of augmentation. Any kind of torment.” Her hand reaches up and rests flat against her chest, claw-tipped fingers scraping against the cloth and leather of her coat. 

“His soul could reside in even steel and crystal, and be unharmed by the process. But if he is captured before he learns to understand and wield the Echo, he could well become a weapon of terrifying power. An incarnation of death made manifest in steel and ceruleum.”

“I refuse to be the mother of death.” She says, softly, almost-inaudibly.

Rostnthal opens his mouth to speak, but the glare he receives from her in return stifles him for a moment.

“None of that changes what you must do. I trust you enough to determine your own path, if you will not heed my warnings. I will tell you what you need to know, even if it is not all you want to know.”

“No, it does change what we need to do. Whether you think so or not.” Hilda says, her confidence returning.

“That kid. What’s his name?” She asks, eyes fixed on Vavara’s.

“Tahve’ir.”

“Well, he’s going to need a teacher still, by your tone. So getting him out isn’t enough. I’ve got to make sure you both get out.”

“And if you can’t?” Vavara says as the two share a long, grim stare.

“Then I get him out, and come back for you. You said he doesn’t kill, and I doubt he can make it back to Garlemald in a single night. So, we get Tahve’ir out, and if you get caught in the meantime, I’ll run back and get you out in the night.”

“Nah.” Rostnthal’s voice rumbles softly, quietly. “Ye’ ain’t got experience with that kinda work. I’ve ran with the yellow jackets and the like, bustin’ slave rings and smashin’ smugglin’ ops. If she gets caught and we have to pull out, I’ll go. An’ you’ll take the kid.” He looks towards Hilda, a confident spark in his eye.

“Alright. Best not mess it up, y’old drunkard.” Hilda says, she cocks a nervous grin and playfully jabs his arm. He just chuckles grimly.

“So you won’t heed my warnings.” Vavara’s voice is distant, a kind of shrill, haunting whistle riding under the injured voice. “It always happens like this.”

“Chin up.” He says, crossing the distance between himself and her in a few steps. He drops to one knee, and rests one hand on her shoulder. He grips her softly, confidently.

“I’m not ignorin’ what ye’ said. We can’t win in a direct fight? Then we’ll just have to run ‘im ‘round the bush. Keep ‘im guessin’. Keep ‘im dazed. We’ll work on strategies on the way there.” He takes a deep breath, and then stands. He climbs into the driver’s seat.

“Have faith.” He says, patting the birds with a solid, steady palm. “‘Ave faith, an’ all will be well. Besides. Yer not meant t’look so glum. Doesn’t suit yer’ image. Times like these, a snarl’s better.”

She just takes a deep breath, steadies herself, and nods.

She jumps up into the back of the cart as Hilda finishes dumping the last bits of the kettle, and scooping her bowl back up into one hand. The dinnerware sack lands in the back with a cataclysmic, chaotic crash.

As soon as her boots are fixed upon the wood, Rostnthal whips the reins and the birds kick up dust as they run.

--

The sun sinks back low in the sky again. Pale-red light streaks across the untamed mountains between Ishgard and Ala Mhigo.

A small shack with a sprawling, chaotic garden sits on a low, narrow plateau. Heavy, metal boots scratch into the wet, snow-melt fed earth. A man with sandy skin, a straight back and strong shoulders stands at the edge of the homestead. His hair is neatly, painstakingly pulled into a long, salt and pepper braid. It rests on his armored pauldrons, and hangs down to his waist. His eyes, a gilded, ember orange, take in the small, humble abode.

In one hand, he holds a thick, angular blade. It’s gunmetal edge reflects no light, despite the bright morning. Coarse and rough, like a painted, sharp thorn of ink clutched tight.

In the other, he holds a stark, shining revolver. It’s pearly white metal casts myriad colors onto the ground around him, and up onto his own blackened platemail. 

In the light of dusk, his aura shines bright and ethereal around him. Dancing, half-there reflections in intangible glass.

He takes a deep breath, and cracks a cheery grin His shadow stretches over the gardens in the evening light. He can smell the faintest hint of ceruleum in the air.

“Finally. Progress.” His smile is all teeth and ambition.

[0poole]

Some Retrospective Thoughts on Gen 7

Galar’s making me go nuts. You already know. Let’s look back on Alola because why not. I feel like I have stuff to say about it. Also, I just watched the last episode of the Alolan Anime, so there’s that.

Whenever I first think back to Gen 7, I think “Eh, it was alright. Nothing special, I guess.” The Pokemon were decent, apart from being almost universally slow, apart from like 3 speed demons, the starters weren’t much, the story was alright, the location was alright, etc. etc. 

Then, I ACTUALLY think back, and I realize… I have no idea why I was thinking that. This generation was actually amazing.

First of all, they finally put the motif of the Sun and Moon into game types. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air after they tried to use the fucking dimensions in 3D space for titles in Gen 6 (Loved that gen too, but seriously “Life” and “Death” would both be more fitting and not as strange. Maybe they don’t want “Death” as a title tho). Really fits in with how naturally themed everything is too, which is obviously for the best, since this is the most “natural” game to date. Even though we technically already had an America-based region in Unova, Hawai’i is so unique in its own right it definitely fits for a region. I’m usually the type who doesn’t like super overt themes in things, and kind of just wants a very generalized experience, but it’s probably for the good of everyone that they don’t actually follow through with that idea. 

Probably the biggest thing to come out of this generation is the new habit of them posting short little videos on Youtube revealing new Pokemon/features/etc. Obviously they were super trigger happy with them then, but now it seems they’ve taken a step back a little. I do love this idea, though, because it actually hypes me up more than anything else ever could. I remember before, even though I was kinda-sorta trying to follow the updates on Gens 4-6, I never really felt like I could, and even though I was going to get the games no matter what, now I realize I really want to know what I’m getting into. 

I remember exactly where I was for some of the major announcements. For the starters, I was in my high school geometry class, where I watched and re-watched that video dozens of times just so I could keep looking at them. I started off on Rowlet’s side of course, but once I realized he was getting all the attention and ol Popplio was getting basically none, I changed my allegiance and stayed there to this day. Ignoring the fact that I don’t really like any of the final evolutions enough to actually use them in game, I LOVE Popplio himself. It’s seriously a shame that he didn’t become some clown seal like everyone was speculating. Unlike how it seems, I really, really like “normal” clown characters (as in, not “horror” clowns), so he could’ve easily become one of my favorites in that case. Decidueye is definitely my favorite of the final forms, and Incineroar I think is still underrated. Sure, whatever, he’s bipedal, and it’s weirder than it otherwise would be, but for some reason I love how his mouth was an actual modeled mouth and not just an image slapped on there like most Pokemon. It really made him more expressive than the average Pokemon. Plus, the animation for Darkest Lariat is really cool, with his hands flashing against a flat back background for a second before actually doing the move. Even better, it’s great meme potential when hacked onto other Pokemon, like Wailord.

I don’t remember if Solgaleo and Lunala were introduced in that first trailer too, but either way I love both of them. I was a bit more drawn to Solgaleo at first, but Lunala has since grown to be one of my favorite legendaries of all. The starry wings, golden rims, and white skeleton-y body are such a great combo. And yeah, sure, Solgaleo would’ve been more fitting as a fire type or whatever, but since stars form the heavy metals that make it onto planets it’s fine. I won’t accept that Lunala should’ve been a dark type, though. The Moon is a major embodiment of light in the night sky, so if anything it shouldn’t be related to darkness. As for Necrozma, I love his base form a lot. It’s such a strange look, especially how the back of his head is transparent. It’s the perfect “evil prism” pokemon. I really just wish Ultra Necrozma had more detail to him, though. He looks so flat for such a major figure in the games… At least he had a good battle and an even BETTER theme song, hot damn

Guess that’s a good transition to talk about the music, and I guess tangentially about Team Skull, since they were probably the best possible departure from the usual “Evil Team” formula. Them just being random hooligans causing trouble instead of a formal organization trying for world domination is a good change of pace, as pretty much everyone agrees… It wouldn’t have been so great if they didn’t at least try to incorporate rap/trap music into their themes. They’re probably the most music-oriented Team canonically speaking, so they’d have to have a great theme. Also, the idea that they feel left behind by the traditions of the Trials really makes sense, since something so important in their culture would definitely make someone feel left out if they couldn’t get through it. 

Other themes for the more calm situations, like Hau’oli City’s night theme, are also extremely good. I didn’t even realize how much I loved that track until I heard Insaneintherain’s cover of it. It almost sounds like something out of Steven Universe, for how pleasant it is (apart from the piano). Lillie’s theme still gives me the warm fuzzies every time I hear it, too. I don’t think a single game before this has ever done the credits so well, too. Apart from the fun artwork, the last shot of Lillie and the game’s legendary actually just kills me every time. She’s such an adorable, pure soul, it’s crazy to think that when she was first revealed, we thought she was the secret supervillain of the game, just because she looked kinda peeved in her official art. We weren’t far off, though, with the Aether Foundation and all. I love both the calm theme of the Paradise itself AND their evil battle theme. Even though one is obviously an evil theme, it does feel like it came from the same source. Same goes for Lusamine’s theme. I really love the Aether Foundation as a whole too, where we can now have “Good” Foundation archetypes to counter the Evil Team archetype. Plus, their designs all involve white with gold accents, which is basically my brand. I tried to design my own Aether outfit the instant I saw them, since I love their look so much. 

As for battle themes, I love how jazzy Galdion’s battle theme ended up. It made him so much more interesting than just a generic edgelord. The Elite Four’s battle theme might actually be the scariest theme to date for some reason, and yet all I can picture when listening to it is Acerola bobbing joyfully back and forth… Basically the same way, the Tapu battle theme is also pretty crazy, with tribal chants in the back of it. The Tapus are probably the coolest group of legendaries in the game, considering how unique they are, with their oddly wooden shells that represent animals. It really makes them feel like spirits brought about by the people of Alola themselves, instead of just some being that came out of nowhere. Probably the one theme that is the most nostalgic (yes, I know it was only 3 years ago, you can still feel nostalgia damnit) for me is the Kahuna battle theme. It was probably just some random comment on Youtube, but somewhere someone said that it was the perfect theme because it starts off intimidating, but quickly switches into a super fun melody, because ultimately, the Island Challenge is for fun. I just love that. I’m always looking for “Fun” stuff in pretty much everything, so I like a theme that represents that. Also, it’s just super catchy, and even expanded upon in Pokemon Masters. Let it be known that Hapu is the best Kahuna by the way. She cute. Also, watching her become the Kahuna is the best world building you could possibly muster up for this kind of setting. 

Of course, I’m intentionally leaving out a certain group…

You know what I think of when I think of Hawai’i? Pearly white sand beaches… Palm trees… Fruity drinks… oh, and let’s not forget fucking interdimensional aliens. 

The Ultra Beasts are the exact type of thing I’d want to insert into the Pokemon world, and that’s why I love them. They’re so weird in the best ways possible. When they were introduced in a trailer, I had the same reaction as I did with Type: Null. They put him up on the screen for a bit and was like “Haha here’s ‘Type: Null,’ okay next” like EXCUSE ME? YOU CAN’T JUST SHOW ME A POKEMON CALLED “Type: Null” AND NOT EXPLAIN WHAT’S GOING ON. Of course, that’s kind of what the games were for, but it was seriously a shock to the system to see Pokemon with code names instead of actual names. You also can’t convince me that Pheromosa wasn’t designed after Lusamine, and to a lesser extent that Xurkitree wasn’t designed after Guzma. I think it’s canon that Lusamine styled Lillie after Nihilego in her crazed state, but the uncanny likeness between those other two is pretty darn notable. I think from the first batch, Celesteela was my favorite of them all, being like a rusted copper rocket ship or something, who can even smack you with her two giant rockets. Also, Pokemon directly based on folktales are always welcome, no matter what. Meanwhile, with the Ultra games being the first sequels to introduce brand-new Pokemon, Blacephalon easily took top spot. I did say I liked clowns, didn’t I? Plus, the biggest evidence that he’s best boi is that in the anime when he appeared, he didn’t even try to attack anything. He just wanted to show off (specifically, believe it or not, by moonwalking… Whoever’s idea that was needs a raise). I also love detachable heads, which is a great idea to mix with clowns, and I guess also fireworks in this case… I just love him. I really hope that there will be future instances of Ultra Beasts, since it’s apparently super easy to just make them however the hell you want them, and since you’re not limited to a region’s natural environment. Lord knows whoever designed Buzzwole didn’t have any limitations. Exploring his, and really all of their worlds in USUM was extremely fun. It’s a damn shame Blacephalon and Stakataka (again, what a name) didn’t get the same privilege. 

As for the Pokemon as a whole, like I mentioned, off the top of my head I don’t feel super crazy about many of them, even though that’s a total lie. Shiinotic appealed to my inner mushroom-character-lover so much that I basically designed a character that looked identical to him. He’s easily the best mushroom Pokemon to date, where he looks pretty cute while also being just slightly creepy enough, with those souless eyes. The concept for Araquanid is amazing, where he’s a reverse Diving Bell spider. I might’ve designed him a bit differently, but he still looks super cool. The ideas behind Oranguru and Passimian are also cool, since we haven’t delved much into intelligent ape Pokemon enough. Wishiwashi is another great concept, and probably the best fish Pokemon in my opinion because of it. Lurantis and Minior are total cuties, the latter being one of those Pokemon that isn’t always in the forefront of my mind, but the instant it is it reclaims its place as one of my all-time favorites. Golisopod and Kommo-o are two of the coolest Pokemon designs to me, the latter being my all-time favorite Pseudo-Legendary. Vikavolt looks awesome, despite being deceptively slow. Dhelmise looks weird until you realize it’s actually insanely large (like, Wailord large). Mudsdale is just an all-around good-looking horse. Oricorio also looks really cool, especially in her fiery form. Tsareena is, well… Tsareena… That’s not even including the adorable Magearna and Marshadow, who are in generational limbo… Also, I think Mimikyu might be the overall best addition to the franchise ever. No Pika-clone could ever compare. 

I mean, specifically as far as a single Pokemon goes, Mimikyu is definitely the best addition to the franchise. Meanwhile, as far as concepts go, the absolutely HUGE idea of Regional Variants is the best addition. Again, I remember where I was when I heard the announcement: it was some sort of weird fantasy house, with a ton of cool details in it to make it look like a setting in some movie or something. It was awesome there, even if we were staying for only a night or so I think. Either way, the concept of different Pokemon adapting to different conditions in the region is the most perfect way to bring attention back to older Pokemon, and I’m so glad they seem to want to keep the idea for all future generations too. It’s especially fitting for Alola, since it’s a super remote island. I love how goofy Alolan Exeggutor is, especially because everyone else seems to love his goofiness too. Same sort of goes for Dugtrio, since his hair is actually based on a real thing… Marowak becoming a spiritual fire dancer is definitely the best possible iteration for him. My favorite might be the colorful Alolan Muk, though, even if Alolan Vulpix is infinitely cuter and better than fiery Vulpix in every way. I cannot be convinced otherwise.

Also, she’s a perfect fit for Lillie, so I guess I’ll use that as my transition into talking about the characters/anime. I’m just gonna be real with you. I’m not going to hold back. Alola has some of the cutest girls in the entire franchise. But first of all, let’s divert that train and instead lust after a man who is easily the hottest professor in the games yet, Kukui. What self-respecting researcher wouldn’t wear his professor-mandated lab coat without any undershirt? He needs his bulging abs as target practice for his Pokemon’s moves, people. He needs to let them breathe. Also, I was kind of enamoured with Sycamore before him, but you can’t deny the tinted skin gets to you a little. Burnet’s a lucky gal, let’s just say.

Okay, now that we’ve established that my pants don’t discriminate, we have to talk about Wicke. So now that that’s covered, can I just say I love Mina? I’d say she deserves more attention, but she was the only Alolan to make it into Lets Go for some reason, so I guess she’s well off? First of all, I love hippie-esque girls (idealized hippies, at least), so that’s a major plus… I mean, I should probably stop using the word “cute” altogether because it applies to every girl in the game, but yeah. Lana’s highly deserved spotlight in the anime made me love her too, where she was a perfect combination of extroverted while still more soft-spoken. I don’t know if that kind of characters’ an anime trope, but lord knows it’s not in western media, so I love how unique her personality is. Her interacting with Mallow and Lillie in cute, girly ways felt so wholesome. If the anime’s anything, it’s wholesome. 

One sec, though. I have to mention that I really like Hau. He’s obviously the one pinned as “Boo, he’s not a giga-asshole! That means he’s bad!” because I guess the fandom’s hive mind has collectively agreed that the only good rivals are assholes now. Like I said before, this stuff’s more about fun now. Hau’s a fun friend to fight, to the point where you beat him as the Champion you kinda feel bad for knocking him down so much. You feel bad because you like him, you know. Also, I forgot to mention this earlier but even though he isn’t entirely difficult himself, the trials in these games are actually both a difficult and interesting challenge. A 2v1 where you’re at the disadvantage is a great boss battle idea, especially with the strategies set out by a Pokemon’s different abilities and moves. Probably the best was Totem Lurantis, who of course summoned a Sunny Day-based Castform to activate her Chlorophyll and buff her Solar Blade, while adding a diverse fire type into play. It was really difficult, to be honest. Those who say it wasn’t either got lucky or have insane standards that cannot be met because they’re Pokemon Veterans who know every little thing about everything. I’m pretty much in that camp, and I still had to actually plan during the fight. Same goes for Totem Araquanid in USUM. I literally had to poison (not toxic, base poison) stall that guy because I couldn’t do anything to him otherwise. He was pretty much one-shotting everything I sent out, anyway, so I had to stall however I could. You can’t argue that that means it was “easy” because I knew how to beat him. It’s only “easy” if you can just send out pretty much whatever and do whatever and still win. Then there’s the Rainbow Rocket episode in USUM, which is just crazy… There’s not much to say that isn’t obvious there. It was fun seeing the villains that were victorious in a different dimension.

Anyways, for the anime, I also have a similar stance. It really seemed like the only people who started off hating it were anime nerds who had no concept of an in-between frame. I will say that it was a step down from XY/XYZ though, but those seasons’ quality was unusually high. Compared to the animation quality of every other season, it was so much better. First of all, I really don’t even like “anime style” that much, so a slightly more western style was very welcome. Like pretty much every show ever, the animation quality is seriously high where it counts, so there’s not much to be said about that, but I’d say the overall animation quality is a step up in general. The more simplified style only really looked weird in Ash because we’re so used to his more pointy style. Every other character looked totally fine, in my opinion. 

As for the story, I will say I would’ve wanted the scope of the plot to be much larger, like how with the other seasons Ash was going on an adventure, whereas here it was very contained, and centered around the Pokemon School. But, still, like I mentioned, I did enjoy the casual wholesomeness of it all. Not only do I just like mindless fun, but it made the crazy shit feel even crazier. The episode where Faba was trying to catch Nebby is a perfect example. It begins with a nice fun game of all the Pokemon and people jumping rope and having a good time, with some slapstick humor with Faba failing to capture Nebby. Then he does, and shit goes down. First of all, he’s torturing the little thing. Then, ASH (not his Pokemon, Ash himself) tackles Faba. Tell me, what other season had humans fighting other humans? I honestly can’t think of a single time when fighting was done with fists and not Pokemon (although surely I’m forgetting something, there’s gotta be at least one other example, right?) Then, Lillie re-experiences her past trauma of almost being abducted by Nihilego, except now her mom gets abducted in her place… Like, what happened? It was so cute a second ago. That’s always the selling point for any cartoon, for me. Stay casual for a decent amount, then break it with some uncharacteristically high tension. The same goes for the segment where Ash goes into Guzzlord’s post apocalyptic dimension. As for mega-feels, It’s great that they made Litten/Torracat an actual character instead of just some random Pokemon, with Stoutland and whatnot. The episode where they go into Tapu Fini’s mist and Mallow meets her mother, and Torracat meets Stoutland just destroyed me. It was strategically remedied by Lillie and Gladion not seeing their father, suggesting he’s still alive. There were some really great episodes in the season, for sure.

So, yeah… Alola was a good time. Don’t deny it. Galar’s gonna be great too. No game’s ever going to be perfect, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun.

[ariannadi]

Finally, Just You and Me

Wow I actually managed a Pokemon fic :O In actuality I started this premise back when USUM came out but didn’t have the motive to finish it then xD

Gladion x Kira (Moon), Hau x Lillie - characters have been aged up a bit.

Can also be read on Ao3

Kira’s eyes wandered to the beachfront of Hau’oli City, a sigh leaving her mouth as she meandered about the strip. Nazo, her Mimikyu, followed aimlessly at her heels, pausing to look directly at its trainer when it noticed her disposition turn sour.

“Sorry, Nazo,” the girl said to the Pokemon with a sad smile. “Suppose my mind is just elsewhere today.”

“Kyu?” the Mimikyu responded, then nudged its head against her calf affectionately. Kira laughed and bent down to scoop the little creature into her arms, returning the gesture by nuzzling her forehead against the crooked grin that donned the Pokemon’s disguise.

Nazo had been one of the last Pokemon to join her team, but it had grown to love her far quicker than any of the others. It got to the point where the little being simply refused to be encased in its pokeball, preferring to follow Kira on foot instead.

She remembered the moment she caught him vividly, it had been at the abandoned supermarket just after Acerola’s trial. She’d had to rescue a stolen Yungoos from Po Town after that, but when Kira returned to the Aether house where she had left Lillie, that was when everything had gone south.

That was when Gladion had joined their brigade officially.

A shaky sigh left Kira as she thought of the standoffish boy. It had been just over a year now since he had departed for Kanto and Johto to become a stronger trainer, and although he had made an effort to keep in contact with her, Lillie, and Hau through video chat, it just wasn’t the same. More often than not, their late-night conversations left her heart aching, knowing it could be another year, maybe more, before he returned to Alola. He had insisted they weren’t friends when they parted ways after traveling together, but the bond that had developed between them had proven otherwise.

She missed him. Very much so.

The sudden beeping of her Rotom Dex snapped Kira out of her depressing thoughts; the conjoined Pokemon flying out of her purse and switching to the video chat screen. “A call from Lillie! BZZZrrrzzzZZZ!” it announced, before the aforementioned blonde popped up on the screen.

“Hey Kira! What’s up?” the girl asked, Hau peeking over her shoulder and waving excitedly.

“Um, not much? What are you two up to?” Kira asked in return.

“Lillie and I were wondering if you wanted to come grab malasadas with us!” Hau butted in, nearly knocking Lillie over. “We’re helping Professor Kukui at his laboratory but malasadas always have priority!”

“AND Kira,” Lillie berated him gently, causing Hau’s face to turn sheepish as he rubbed at the back of his head.

“Heh, of course!” the boy agreed.

Kira smiled to herself at their humorous banter. Ever since her best friends had begun “dating” or whatever the equivalent was for two fifteen-year-olds, they had been nearly inseparable – which more often than not rendered Kira the third wheel when they all hung out. If she were honest, though, she really didn’t mind it. Seeing them so happy together made her happy, in turn.

“You’re in Hau’oli City, right?” Lillie asked suddenly. “We’ll meet you at the malasada shop in a few, alright?”

“Sounds good,” Kira replied. “See you in a bit.”

The girl made her way to the restaurant, grabbing a booth off to the corner that would be big enough for her and her accomplices. Nazo took it upon itself to crawl into her lap, chirping excitedly when she pulled out a pouch of pokebeans and handed it one.

It only took a good ten minutes before Hau and Lillie arrived, both hurrying to her when she waved them over. Hau offered to order their food at the counter, as was expected, leaving Kira and Lillie to talk one-on-one for a bit.

“Feels like forever since we hung out last!” Lillie said, reaching over to pat Nazo on the top of its disguise.

“It’s been a week, Lillie,” Kira laughed, which Lillie just rolled her eyes at.

“You know what I mean,” the girl retorted. “With me helping out at Aether and you having to defend your title almost every day, it doesn’t leave much time for us to do stuff together anymore. Even Hau and I don’t get to do much together since he’s training to become a Kahuna now.”

“Makes you wish we all hadn’t grown up so fast, huh?” Kira said sadly, and Lillie sighed.

“Now I know how Gladion felt when he took off on his own,” she muttered. “I suppose it all worked out for the best.”

At the mention of Gladion, Kira felt her cheeks heat.

“Hey, Lillie?” she asked shyly, her tone causing her friend to stare at her curiously. “Do you… have any idea when your brother is going to come back here?”

“None at all,” Lillie answered. “I mean, he says he’s almost done with his training but you never know with that boy. Why do you ask?”

Kira wiggled in her seat a bit as she stared toward the table, her fingers idly playing with the ears on Nazo’s disguise.

“I was just… I-I was actually thinking about him earlier, and well, the thought crossed my mind. It feels like it's been a lifetime since he was here. And with you and Hau always together I just…”

Lillie studied her silently for a while, before a beaming smile broke out on her face – one that left Kira quite terrified.

“Oh, Kira…” she nearly cooed, “You have a crush on Gladion! I knew this was going to happen eventually, you two just had too much chemistry for it not to!”

Kira, having been found out, knew her face was as red as a tomato at this point. Waving her hands furiously, she hissed, “Will you keep it down? I don’t want Hau to hear, he’ll never let me live it down.”

“But it’s so adorable!” Lillie sang, ignoring the request completely. “I mean, the fact that you talk to him more often than I do rang a few bells – but for you to actually confirm it?” the girl clapped her hands together, “My entire week has been made!”

“And why’s that?” Hau asked as he approached the table, a tray of malasadas and drinks in his hands.

“Oh! Er… because… because the malasadas were ready so quickly!” Kira yelped, flashing Hau a convincing smile.

“And here I thought I was the malasada enthusiast,” Hau teased, taking a seat next to Lillie and setting the tray on the table.

“Oh, I’d say some of us are just as excited,” Lillie replied, sending a knowing look Kira’s way and earning a deadly glare in response.

When the three of them were finished eating and catching up, they made their way out onto the strip of Hau’oli City – Hau wandering ahead to let his Pokemon run around on the beach. This gave Lillie the opportunity to yank Kira aside, the aura about her entirely serious.

“Okay, you can’t just drop a bomb about liking my brother on me and expect me to let it blow over,” the girl said with a harrumph. “Are you gonna do something about it?”

“There isn’t much I can do, Lillie,” Kira argued in her defense. “Gladion is off in another region and I have duties here as Champion. Even if I did say something, it’s not like he’d reciprocate it. I don’t think he would drop everything just to come back for my sake.” Admitting such a truth made Kira’s chest tighten, but attempting to deceive herself into believing things would work in her favor would only set the stage for heartbreak.

“You may be surprised,” Lillie offered, resting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “Gladion cares about you a lot; both as a friend, and as a rival. The only way you’re going to find out if those feelings go one step further is if you talk to him about it. So, please consider it?” It didn’t help that her friend was regarding her with a puppy-eyed look, but Kira found herself sighing in surrender.

“I’ll… consider it,” she mumbled.

“Good!” Lillie cheered, her face becoming its usual perkiness once again, “Let me know how it goes when you do talk to him!”

“I said I would consider it, Lillie!” Kira shouted to the blonde as she bounced away to the beachfront. The girl’s shoulders sagged in defeat as she glanced downwards toward Nazo, who just chirped curiously up at its trainer.

“What am I gonna do, boy?” she nearly whispered, her chest feeling fit to burst. Her little Mimikyu was receptive, thankfully, shuffling over to her leg and nuzzling it in comfort. Kira knew the answer to her own question quite well – but, just as Lillie had stated, it would mean having to sit herself down and confront the object of her concerns directly.

It was definitely going to be her biggest challenge to date.

That night, after she had eaten dinner and her mother had settled in the living room, Kira forcibly parked herself at her desk – proceeding to open the video chat program on her computer. The cursor on the screen hovered over Gladion’s name, but Kira found that she couldn’t convince herself to click it.

“C’mon, Kira…” she muttered as she chewed at her lip, “It’s the same as calling him any other night. You can do this.” She took a deep breath, and, taking the leap, double clicked on the single word.

The video chat rang for a good twenty seconds, and with every one that ticked by, Kira felt her stomach sink lower and lower. A series of explanations plagued her all at once, each one sounding more convincing than the last.

Was he busy?

Was he already asleep?

Did he not want to talk to her anymore?

Had he… had he met someone else?

Finally, just as she was about to hang up, Gladion answered, his slightly disheveled appearance causing Kira’s heart to thunder frantically.

“Kira,” he acknowledged, his smile barely visible, “It’s been a few days. What’s up?”

It took a moment for the girl to respond, but once she did, she immediately apologized. “You were sleeping, weren’t you? Arceus, I’m so sorry. I-I can call back at a better time…”

“Nah,” Gladion interjected, waving his hand in dismissal. “I wasn’t sleeping. I just barely settled into bed, is all. I was actually kinda anticipating you calling me, so…”

“You couldn’t have done it?” Kira teased, her nerves starting to ease with their lighthearted conversation. “You do have fingers, right? Or did they fall off with all that training?”

“Ha-ha,” the boy scoffed, but the smirk on his lips remained. “I have an image to keep, y’know? What kind of reputation would I have if people found out I was calling the Champion of Alola every night?”

“I don’t know…” Kira said slyly, “Most people are crazy about the edgy types with a secret golden heart.”

“And do you consider yourself ‘most people’?” Gladion retorted, his eyes narrowing in curiosity. Kira swallowed thickly, her attention wandering away from the screen to stare toward her feet.

“I… I, er…” the girl stuttered, and Gladion chuckled.

“Stunned into silence. You know, you may have a point,” he admitted, his voice rough. It was then that Kira’s eyes returned to the screen, her gaze locking on Gladion’s and staying there.

“Glad?” she nearly whispered, and swallowed again. “When are you coming home?”

The boy didn’t respond right away, but his eyes never left Kira’s face. “The reason I left to begin with was so I could battle you properly someday. I don’t know if I’m ready to face the Champion of Alola just yet.”

“I know, it's just... you've been gone for so long, and Hau and Lillie are always together, and...” Kira trailed off, her gaze moving toward the floor once again. She heard Gladion sigh, but made no attempt to move.

“Kira, I’ll come back soon, okay? Promise.” Gladion said softly. Kira nodded, slowly raising her head to meet his eyes. “Hey uh…” the boy then added, all of a sudden looking hesitant, “I really like that clip in your hair, by the way. It looks nice on you.”

Kira absentmindedly touched the flower barrette that sat in her pink-brown hair, a tender smile rising on her cheeks. “T-thank you,” she uttered bashfully. Gladion’s responding smirk only made her smile widen.

“I um… I should probably go to bed. I’m heading to Cinnabar Island in the morning, so…” the boy explained, scratching at the back of his head.

“Oh! Yes, you should definitely get some rest,” Kira agreed. Neither made an attempt to close the video chat, however.

“Kira? I need your help, dear. I think Meowth is stuck in the trash can again,” Kira’s mother’s voice suddenly spoke from the hallway, causing the girl to jump in her seat.

“Again?” Gladion laughed. “That’s the fourth time this month. Maybe you should invest in glue or something.”

“Hush, you,” Kira hissed, then called over her shoulder, “Be right there, mom!”

Gladion was still laughing, albeit softly, when she turned to face him again.

“Suppose I’d better let you go, now,” he sighed, but his smile remained. “I’ll talk to you soon, Kira. Have a good night.”

“Yeah,” Kira replied, void of breath, “You too.”

And with that, they simultaneously ended the call.

Kira was startled from slumber early the next morning when a series of poundings sounded on her bedroom door.

“Kiraaaa! Lillie and I are here to see yoooou!” came Hau’s voice from beyond the barrier, followed by Lillie, who was tutting at him in disapproval.

The rudely awoken girl grumbled as she slumped out of bed, then threw open her door and mustered the most annoyed look possible.

“Alola, cousin!” Hau greeted, and Kira just huffed.

“I told you we should’ve waited a couple more hours,” Lillie sighed, shaking her head. “Sorry, Kira. We wanted to hang out with you today but Hau decided that meant 9 AM sharp.”

“I have title defense today, guys,” Kira yawned, stretching her arms. “I mean, I’d love to shuck my responsibilities, but…”

“Oh! No need to worry,” Lillie explained. “We told Professor Kukui we’d be stealing you away today; you don’t need to be at the league until late afternoon.”

That had Kira raising a brow. Kukui had always been insistent on her being available for challenges. Before she could interrogate her friends, however, Hau barked, “Alright, up and at ‘em, cousin! We’ll wait in the living room while you get ready!”

Groaning in defeat, Kira retreated into her room to throw on clothes and comb out her disheveled hair, clipping in the barrette Gladion had complimented the night before with a smile. She met Hau and Lillie in the living room afterward, the latter showering her appearance with praise despite it only taking a good fifteen minutes.

“As cute as that outfit is, I think we can find an even cuter one at the mall in Hau’oli City,” Lillie said, clapping her hands together. “It’s been forever since we shopped together!”

Kira cocked a brow. “And… Hau is okay with this? He’s not exactly the shopping type.”

“I can shop!” Hau protested with a pout. “But I was thinking I would hang out at the beach until you guys get finished. Then we can all grab lunch!”

“Fine by me. Just, no malasadas today. Okay, Hau?” Kira insisted, which only earned her a wide smile.

“Everyday is a day for malasadas, cousin! You should know that by now!” the boy laughed outright. "But alright. We can grab sandwiches or something."

After saying goodbye to Kira’s mother, the trio set off to Hau’oli City. Kira and Lillie headed to the shopping mall, while Hau made a hard left toward the beachfront. The girls set to work on browsing through the numerous racks of clothing, Lillie taking it upon herself to grab a selection of items for the sole purpose of Kira trying them on. Nazo turned out to be quite interested in the matter, as well, as the little creature had its own pile of various materials accumulating on the top of its head.

“Aren’t you going to look for something, Lillie?” Kira eventually asked.

“Don’t worry about me!” the blonde replied, balancing an armload of outfits. “I shop all the time now with Wicke. We’re here for you this time around!”

Kira twisted her lip, but let the matter be, knowing she wouldn’t be able to convince her friend otherwise. After trying on everything she and Lillie had gathered, she settled on three outfits – one in particular being her favorite of the bunch.

“Oh that looks so adorable on you, Kira!” the blonde said as both she and Kira observed it in the changing room mirror. The outfit consisted of a white tank top with frills around the neckline, pink capris, and pink sandals with white flowers on the buckles. Such a combination was inspired by the look and color of her barrette, and Kira ultimately decided to wear the outfit for the remainder of the day (with some heavy persuasion from Lillie, of course).

They met Hau at the sandwich shop afterward, where the boy already had their food waiting for them by the time they sat down.

“Nice clothes, Kira!” Hau said with a bright smile, offering a thumbs-up. “You and Lillie have such a good taste in fashion. Well… from what I know about fashion, anyway.”

“Thank you, Hau,” Kira laughed, ripping off a piece of her sandwich and handing it to Nazo, who sat in her lap. “Really it was Lillie who picked everything out, I just kinda gave the final word.”

“Oh, nonsense,” Lillie dismissed. “You have a much better eye for style than me. I knew you were set on something matching your barrette when you started rejecting everything that was dark in color.”

“Surprised you wouldn’t go for something dark, honestly,” Hau muttered, which earned him a not-so-subtle kick under the table from Lillie. Kira’s brows furrowed at the action, but the timely beeping of her Rotom Dex prevented her from questioning the situation further.

“Call from Professor Kukui! BZZzzzZZRrrr!” the hybrid device announced as it flew in front of Kira’s face, and a few seconds later the man in question popped up on the screen.

“Alola, cousin!” Kukui greeted. “We already have some challengers lining up at the league – are you all done catching up with Hau and Lillie?”

“Hi, Kukui!” Hau shouted, waving like mad even though the professor couldn’t see him.

“Erm, hello voice who I assume is Hau,” Kukui replied with a chuckle. “Anyway, head to Ula’ula as soon as you can, alright, Kira?”

“You got it, Professor,” Kira replied, and Kukui ended the call.

“You gonna go to Ula’ula, then?” Lillie asked with the tilt of her head.

“I’d better,” Kira responded, then started packing up her things. “If I don’t head there soon and start battling, I’ll end up being there all night.” She stood from the table, Nazo perching itself on her shoulder. “Thanks for inviting me to shop and dine with you guys,” she told both Lillie and Hau gratefully. It really was nice to be able to hang out with them like this for once.

“It was no problem! Now, go defend your title! And good luck!” Lillie cheered, and was quickly joined by a muffled Hau, who had been busy stuffing his face.

Defending her position as Champion of Alola had become like second nature to Kira at this point. She’d held the title for nearly two years and not one of her challengers had even come close to taking it away. Some didn’t even make it past the Elite Four – but Kira couldn’t blame them when the league had only just been established in the region.

Entering the domain that sat on top of Mount Lanakila, Kira headed to the platform that would take her to the very top of the league. Upon climbing the steps, she took her seat – Nazo scrambling into her lap with an excited chirp.

“Ready for this, boy?” she asked the Pokemon, who made a whirring sound in response.

“CHALLENGER APPROACHING,” the intercom announced, and Kira rose from her throne.

As was expected, all of the trainers that came her way left in disgruntlement and without the Champion title. Between Kira's Primarina, Persian, Mismagius, Lycanroc, Ninetales, and Mimikyu, it was almost impossible for the opposite to happen.

Night had fallen, and Kira was just about to head out for the evening when the intercom sounded again.

“CHALLENGER APPROACHING!” it blared, and Kira let out a long, annoyed groan.

“For real? Shouldn’t the league be closed by now?” she complained to no one in particular, then threw herself back into her seat with a huff.

But then, a shock of platinum blonde hair came into view, slightly longer than she remembered but unmistakable in appearance. When a pair of piercing green eyes followed, Kira absentmindedly stood to her feet, her heart pounding like mad as the final challenger of the night came face-to-face with her.

“Gl-Gladion…?” she breathed in disbelief, taking a wobbly step forward. The boy in question just smirked, before reaching for a pokeball on his belt.

“Champion, I’ve looked forward to our battle – trained for over a year in another region just so I could prove my worth,” he said, his voice confident. “I hope you’re ready for this.”

Kira wiped at the tears that suddenly blurred her vision, sniffling once before taking a steady breath. “You bet I am,” she answered just as boldly, and threw the pokeball containing her Primarina into the air. “Flounder, go!”

“Silvally, you’re up!” Gladion shouted in return, calling out his signature Pokemon. Silvally had been prepped with the grass-type memory disc beforehand, its trainer obviously anticipating Flounder being part of the match.

“Flounder, hit ‘em with a Moonblast!” Kira called out, praising her Primarina when it landed a direct hit.

“Silvally, use Crunch!” Gladion commanded, his Pokemon following the order and doing considerable damage to its opponent.

The battle continued for a good half-hour; Gladion having the upper hand a majority of the time but Kira managing to barely break even. He had gotten considerably stronger as a trainer since he’d been away, and it was exciting. Never had Kira faced someone so powerful and determined. It was a refreshing feat, to say the least.

Finally, the battle came down to Nazo and Gladion’s Blastoise, which was a rather surprising addition. The Mimikyu’s disguise had been busted previously, leaving it vulnerable to any physical attacks. Despite where she stood, despite the fact that she was on the verge of losing her title, Kira was completely fired up.

She managed to win the match with a timely Wood Hammer.

“You did it Nazo! You did it!” Kira cheered, running over to the Mimikyu and scooping it into her arms. She watched as Gladion soothingly patted the head of his collapsed Blastoise, thanking it for its hard work before returning it to its pokeball.

Kira turned to face her opponent, not knowing what to expect next. He had returned to Alola, had faced her and nearly won. What did it all mean for the both of them?

“Here I thought you’d be throwing yourself at me considering our conversation last night,” Gladion teased, and Kira breathed a shaky laugh. Without even realizing it, she inched her way to him, the tears from earlier making an unwelcome return. When she was but a hairsbreadth away, she fell into him, her head coming to rest on his chest and a wobbly smile forcing its way onto her cheeks. She couldn’t contain the wet giggle that slipped past her lips when she felt Gladion’s arms snugly circle her waist.

“I’m finally home, Kira.” he murmured, and she could hear the smile in his voice. Could picture it in her mind.

“You’re finally home,” she echoed, her heart feeling lighter than it had in months.

After they descended from Mount Lanakila, Kira and Gladion decided to take the bus to Malie City. They arrived just as the lights in the village flickered to life, encasing the area in a soft, green glow.

Walking side by side along the streets, Kira was tempted more than once to take Gladion’s hand, but continued second-guessing herself. They hadn’t said much to one another since their embrace inside the league, but the silence between them was a comfortable one, thankfully.

“Wanna grab some cocoa? My treat.” the boy offered at one point, and she nodded, letting him lead the way to the Pokemon Center. Kira waited at a table inside while Gladion went and ordered their drinks from the café, thanking him when he eventually made his way over and handed her a steaming mug.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet,” Kira murmured, staring into the brown, sugary liquid in her palms. “It’s just… hard to believe you’re really here.”

Gladion quirked a brow at the confession. “Is it?” he inquired, taking a sip of his cocoa. “I promise I’m here, Kira.”

Kira nodded, but sighed dejectedly. “But for how long?” she questioned, not really wanting to know the answer.

“Indefinitely.” Gladion responded bluntly, and Kira’s eyes flew upward.

“R-really?” she breathed.

The boy shrugged. “Yeah. I can’t rely on my possibly-insane mother to make sure Aether is running smoothly. I told myself and Lillie that I was going to be there the next time something went wrong. I can’t spend my life just training and running away, after all.”

Kira smirked at that. “You’re giving up on defeating me, then?”

“Psh, you wish,” Gladion scoffed. “I’m not gonna be traveling to other regions for the time being, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be improving my team when I have downtime.” He leaned back in his seat smugly, then said, “Better prepare yourself, Champion. That title is gonna be mine when you least expect it.”

Kira found herself giggling despite the obvious challenge Gladion presented. “I look forward to it,” she replied firmly, mimicking his stature.

Malie Garden had become one of Kira’s most favorite places in all of Alola during her island challenge, and that was where the pair wound up after they finished their drinks. Kira’s eyes flickered to Gladion every so often, whose sole focus was set on the scenery before them.

“Is there a reason you keep looking at me?” he asked, catching the girl off-guard.

Okay, so his attention wasn’t entirely focused on the scenery, after all.

“N-no,” Kira stammered, twiddling her fingers. “Well…”

“Kira?” her companion pressed, stopping in his tracks to look directly at her. His intent gaze was enough to cause the thoughts flooding her mind to spill forth.

“Why did you really come back, Gladion?” she questioned breathlessly, but the boy just narrowed his eyes.

“I told you, I need to-“

“Return to Aether so your mother doesn’t accidentally screw everything up again, I know. But why is it that you decided to return the day after I asked you when you would come home? Why did you decide to come back the moment I basically confessed how much I missed you?”

Gladion looked to be at a loss for words, his mouth slightly agape as his eyes searched hers.

“K-Kira…” he finally managed.

“Glad… did you come back just for me?” she implored, gathering enough courage to reach for his hand. His calloused skin was rough, but warm and comforting all the same. Kira’s breath hitched when she felt Gladion’s fingers intertwine with hers, before offering her hand a gentle squeeze.

“You sounded so sad when we talked,” he quietly said, closing his eyes. “To know someone like you wanted me home so badly? I had already contemplated returning soon, but…”

“Gladion…” Kira whispered. She squeaked slightly when the boy suddenly tugged her to him, his arms enveloping her in a hug and his head coming to rest on her shoulder. Things couldn't possibly be more perfect in that moment, Kira mused in disbelief - between where they were and what was currently happening.

“Guess you caught me, then. I'm actually a complete sap,” Gladion chuckled lightly, and Kira couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“Oh, Glad,” she sighed, bringing her arms around his neck. “You really are the sweetest, you know that?”

It would seem neither really registered the position they wound up in, for when they slowly began to pull away from one another they only ended up being inches apart. Gladion’s eyes lowered slightly as he studied Kira’s face, and the girl was completely mesmerized by the striking emerald color. She couldn’t possibly move away now, even if she wanted to.

It was when Gladion impulsively leaned forward and left a single, sweet kiss to her lips that Kira knew she was completely lost.

“S-sorry,” he breathed nervously when he quickly pulled away; but was seemingly shocked that instead of being offended, the girl in his arms began giggling like mad.

“Don’t be,” she reassured him with a beaming smile, “I-I don’t know if I would’ve ever had the courage to do that, honestly.”

Gladion’s shocked expression morphed into one of confusion. “You… wanted to kiss me?”

“Yeah,” Kira admitted, her smile shy. “Well, more like I wanted to confess that I have a crush the size of Kanto on you, but, whatever works.”

Gladion smirked at that, his hand moving upward and brushing at the flower barrette in her hair. It was obvious that he didn’t need to voice his reciprocation.

“Lillie insisted that I would be flabbergasted when I saw the outfit she and you picked out today. Should’ve known that this would be your inspiration.”

“How could it not?” Kira inquired. “You said it looked nice on me.” That’s when his previous statement really clicked in her mind. Blinking, Kira blurted, “Wait a second! Lillie knew about all of this?!”

“And Hau. Oh, and Professor Kukui,” Gladion added nonchalantly. “They agreed to keep you busy for the day while I made my way back here.”

Kira managed her most frustrated pout possible. “Oh, those little…” she grumbled, but Gladion just laughed as he looped an arm around her shoulders.

“Don’t be too hard on them, Champion,” he softly chided her. “We might not be here right now if they hadn’t intervened.”

She knew he was right, despite her aggravation. Even so, she would definitely be having a few choice words with her friends much later on.

“Yeah,” Kira sighed in surrender, leaning into him with a smile. “I guess you’re right.”

She was going to savor this moment. Right now, it was just she and Gladion - just as she had wanted all along.

Likes, comments, reblogs, yadda yadda, always sincerely appreciated ^^

[gems-of-lirema]

✎ for any of the muses we've interacted with and it doesn't need to be 10, it can be as many as you'd like ^.^ 💛

Send “✎” and I will write 10 headcanons about our muses interacting (Currently not accepting)

//3 for 3 because why not ^-^ (Though I ended up writing 10 anyway .-.)

N Harmonia:

💚 N can be extremely wary of himself and other people, and Riz is no exception. In fact, Steven’s the one pushing him to interact with her more. He’ll try his best to satisfy his boyfriend’s need for him to get out more and make more friends, and he may flaunt his pride around, but deep down? He’s petrified. It may take a year or two before he starts to open up to her...

💚 However, once N discovers she can communicate with the dead, his fears will diminish. She’s a gifted trainer, no doubt, and her powers not only prove that, but also prove that he can trust her. After all, N can speak with Pokemon, so he’ll definitely develop a strong platonic relationship with her over their similarities.

💚 Perhaps one day, N will introduce her to his boyfriend Steven...If he wasn’t so busy rock collecting ._. In fact, the idea won’t even cross his mind until he can finally consider her his friend. He’ll probably have a much easier time dragging Guzma along with him for them all to hang out together instead of dragging Steven xD

AZ:

❤️ Just...AZ bringing his baby Alolan Vulpix to her house for playdates. And AZ sobbing at the sheer cuteness of it all. He doesn’t care if her Mimikyu is slightly off-putting he just wants to see his baby happy c’:

❤️ Riz is one of the only female Trainers whom AZ’s Floette actually trusts. Maybe because of the sunflower aesthetic...or because she knows about her crush as well. And is slightly against it. She’ll chatter about how she deserves way better, but without AZ translating for her, he’ll lie and say she’s chirping at her ghosts. Expect Floette to bonk her master on the head often when they’re around Riz.

❤️ Also I just want to throw my version of Lysandre into the blog just so I could make AZ throw him onto her xD I don’t know how she’ll take it, though, since this Lysandre’s...depressing, to say the least ._.; Otherwise, expect AZ to barge in randomly just to ask if she asked Lysandre out yet xD

Ya boi Guzma:

🖤 Every interaction with them will always start with Guzma kicking the door open and screaming “omg girl you would not BELIEVE what just happened to me.” Riz probably needs to replace her door often with him around.

🖤 Although, despite being childhood friends, he definitely wouldn’t tell her about his plans to blow up Aether. Whether he succeeds or not (probably not), I can’t imagine Riz will take it kindly. Or even worse, if he manages to kill himself in the process...

🖤 I wonder how long it’ll take before Guzma will eventually tell her about his weird powers and past lives as well, let alone how she’ll take it. If Guzma’s at her house, he’s either there because he wanted to tell off a grunt/Plumeria or because he was hungry. He never talks about himself, and he knows he should probably tell her about his problems, but he just can’t bring himself to do it. Which is why he’ll probably create dents/holes in her wall as well from banging his head in frustration ._.

All of them:

- If all four of them managed to get together (via Guz or Riz accidentally inviting the rest to her house), you can expect N and AZ acting hostile towards each other. Either Guz or Riz are going to have to make the letter-named people get along, which could take minutes or months depending on how long N and AZ have known her for...but in the end, I’ve love to see them all hanging out and watching Netflix and/or having their Pokemon over for playdates c’:

[irlpinkiepie]

a house built on sand, chapter 2

a bnha fic

Dreams are fickle creatures.

Sometimes the most certain can fall apart at a moment’s notice, and sometimes, the most fantastic dreams have a chance of coming true.

Of course, that all depends on the dreamer.

[ao3]

Katsuki Bakugou was an anomaly.

“Explosion: A pair of otherwise harmless quirks uniting in powerful harmony. The user can manifest sparks at will, which ignite nitroglycerin-infused sweat produced in the palms to create explosions. Powerful in combat scenarios, due to the raw power and unpredictability of its manifestation; however, like most body-localised quirks, it lacks range and is easily countered by attacking the combat style rather than the quirk. Rescue applications thus far unknown, but the quirk’s strength suggests potential.”

Partly anomalous in that he had an unusually powerful quirk by sheer chance, coupled with enough ambition to fully utilise it; partly so in the way in which he approached life with a certainty nonpareil; but mostly, for Izuku, in his seemingly uncanny aptitude for being unnervingly present as far back as she could remember.

Some of that was just a fact of life; she had moved houses a couple of times, but her mother and Katsuki’s parents were friends and tried to coordinate their moves as best they could. But for some reason, they also seemed convinced beyond belief that Izuku and Katsuki were friends as children and therefore must always stay that way, regardless of how much things change.

At least she'd accepted one thing.

In any case, it became evident within about five seconds that her original high school plan was a clear mistake.

“Are you kidding! I already aced the mock exam - I’m practically made for it!”

She knew that normally no student without a quirk would be able to get into a hero school, let alone graduate. But would trying really hurt anyone? Besides, worst case scenario: this kind of research and analysis would be invaluable in the hands of a hero who knew how to use it. Sidekick, maybe; secretary, most likely. As much as the idea of glamour and heroism appealed to her, there was something comforting about the idea of being just outside the spotlight.

“I’m the best student in the class already! I doubt any of these other losers could even come close.”

Especially now.

“Well, I believe Izuku here was also thinking of applying…”

Twenty-eight stunned faces, and one burning glare, all suddenly turned to face her.

~~~~~

Never satisfied with just the last word, Katsuki took the first as well.

“Are you kidding? Deku?” he roared, his voice booming around the classroom. “I know you’re a special case and all, but there’s only so far studying can get you.” Pulling his legs off the desk in front of him, he leaned forward towards her, resting his chin on one hand and mockingly tapping his forehead with the other. “You’ve gotta have a hero’s quirk to get into a hero’s school, you know!”

Panic. Calm.

Try to ignore the stares.

“Well, I mean…” Play it off. “Sure, it’s not been done before, but there’s a first time for everything, right?” Hopefully that’s enough to deflect suspicion.

Oh. Too late for hoping, right.

“Listen,” Katsuki snarled, all pretenses gone now. “If you were any other kid in this class, I’d think you were trying to steal my thunder.”

A spark. Pressing forward. Where’s the teacher?

“But this?” He paused for a moment, savoring the room’s utter silence. “A Quirkless bookworm, trying to get into UA? Trying to upstage me?”

No more smile.

“I, uh…” don’t let him get mad don’t let him get mad don’t let him get mad-- “I really, truly, wasn’t trying to show off, or, or say I was better or anything like that.”

Confusion; doubt, maybe. An improvement.

“I just.” Don’t let on more than you need to. “Getting into UA has kind of been a dream of mine…… ever since I was little. So I thought it would at least be worth it to try--”

“Listen,” Katsuki said, loudly clapping Izuku’s back as he sat down on top of her desk. “Don’t try to get yourself killed this young. Stick to something more fitting of a book boy like yourself. Who knows, maybe one day when I’m out fighting villains and saving the world, you can wave to me from your office.” He flashed her a faint smirk, then trudged to his seat and put his legs back up on his desk.

Not mad. Friendly. Maybe. Hard to say.

~~~~~

Izuku’s third memory. Age 4. The night she came home from the doctor’s office.

She wasn’t sure how she felt yet, but she was shaking, and her eyes were floodgates that might burst at any moment. She guessed that this was sadness, but something didn’t seem quite right about that description. It was the best she had, though.

There was only one thing for it. Pull up the video on her computer. At this point, its existence was so integral to her that she didn’t even think as she tapped at the keyboard.

When her mother walked in and saw her staring at the screen with tears pouring down her face, her expression fixed in place as she gazed blankly at the Symbol of Peace’s first and most famous rescue, she instantly knew something was wrong.

“I’m so sorry,” she sighed before falling to her knees and wrapping her arms around her grief-stricken daughter. Izuku, on the other hand, remained motionless, fixated on the events unfolding on the screen as she had seen them more times than she could count.

As far as she knew, she had failed her hero.

Clutching the charred, damp remains of her notebook, Izuku ran from the school grounds as quickly as she could. Duck through the alley, down the hill towards the underpass through the bridge; technically, this wasn’t an emergency, but she had been embarrassed enough today without strangers making it worse.

Had Katsuki forgotten? Or was he just playing it up to keep her safe? They didn’t talk much outside of school these days, so it was difficult to say for sure.

The book had been a little much, though - as much as he claimed to be “making sure you don’t get your hopes up too high”, she nearly panicked when he threw his stolen goods out the window. Fortunately, she had acted fast, and the pages were still mostly intact when she fished it out of the fountain. Some marginal notes lost to the aether, but those can be remade; some of the later pages burnt away in his grasp, but she still had the news articles bookmarked; it wouldn’t be hard to recreate. Wiping the notebook gently across the front of her uniform, she did another quick check, then tucked it gently into her bag before lying down in the grass by the side of the road.

Malicious. Maybe. He tried. Maybe. He--

Blinking vigourously, she shook her head to clear those thoughts.

Izuku’s second memory. Earlier that day.

She didn’t like how cold and mechanical this place was. At school and at home, the walls were filled with life, and the people always stopped to say hello. She wasn’t used to having this many people refuse to acknowledge her, in this weird place where every surface shined a sickly white light.

Even now, kicking her legs back and forth in the chair outside the room where her mother was talking to one of the doctors who had examined her, there was not a single thing which threatened to catch her attention, so she turned around in her chair and pressed her ear to the wall, trying desperately to catch snippets of their conversation.

“…and you’re sure it’s not just a mutation? Those happen.”

“…would explain a dissimilarity but not a failure to manifest…”

“…far past the typical age for…”

“…better to know now then be crushed later.”

It didn’t all make sense to her, but she knew it was something bad.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but your son--”

“Ahem.”

“…your daughter just isn’t going to develop a quirk.”

In the car ride home, she listened to her mother try desperately to explain what had happened. She didn’t have the heart to tell her that she had already heard.

“Mom? Do you…… do you think I can still be a hero?”

Sometimes silence speaks volumes.

She didn’t remember the rest of the car ride, or her frantic dash into the house and upstairs to her bedroom.

For some reason, the last couple years of school had been exhausting. Ordinarily, after a day like this, Izuku would want nothing more than to run home, curl up within the safety of her bed, and escape for a moment. But today felt like a special moment for some reason, and she wasn’t about to squander the advantage.

Sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest, she thought again about Katsuki, about UA High, about her future, and she resolved herself.

“I, Izuku Midoriya…” She didn’t know where the words were coming from, but she was too swept up in the moment to care. “…promise to seek out my own future, and never give up! No matter what!”

The decisiveness of her exclamation filled her with resolve, but it still felt somewhat out of place in the uncertainty of the moment. She still didn’t know what would happen after this year, she still didn’t know how to feel about the one kid in class who still paid her any mind - and yet, bolstered by a newfound courage, she picked herself up and headed into the underpass on her way home.

After a few moments, she became acutely aware that she also didn’t know the consequences of not checking local news before walking so close to a drainage grate.

Her first memory.

Only hints of details. A field, a path - some other children?

A flash of blond hair.

Understanding feelings is difficult; putting them to words is harder. Still, these words feel natural enough.

“I don’t think I’m like you. I don’t think I’m a boy. I think I’m a girl.”

Waiting for a response with bated breath.

“Cool,” comes the reply from the boy with blond hair, and he smiles and lets off a flash of light and heat that still dazzles her. She’s a late bloomer, her mother tells her, and seeing a quirk like this is almost magical.

The conversation turns, as it often does. This time it’s in a direction that favours her interests.

“Do you think,” she says, not knowing what to expect even from herself, “that we can be as strong as All Might one day?”

“You can feel free,” he says without a care, “but I’m gonna be stronger.”

She hadn’t felt tense and uncomfortable a single time that whole conversation.

By the time she saw the man made of slime, he was already enveloping her.

She tried to struggle and break free; she tried to call for help; failing everything, she began to panic, but even that was cut short by her breath suddenly being cut off.

A voice in the distance was all she heard as she lost consciousness.

[sage-nebula]

noegenesis,tarantism and hamarita please!

Oh whoops sorry about that! I meant to say Alan!

I will always answer all of the questions for the ultimate best boy. ♥

Hamartia: What is their worst character flaw that they themselves don’t recognize?

He’s so. self. sacrificing.

Like most flaws, this isn’t necessarily a flaw / bad quality on its own, in moderation. Everyone should have some degree of selflessness within them, some degree to which they’re willing to compromise or give something up for the sake of others. Those who are, in desperate situations, willing to lay down their lives in order to protect others are called heroes for a reason. It takes an incredible amount of valor and inner strength to be able to do that. It takes a certain type of person to be able to do that simply because it’s the right thing to do, rather than because they want any sort of glory, or because they feel they have no other choice.

The problem, like with anything else, is when this is taken to extremes. Alan is self-sacrificing to a fault. He is willing, as demonstrated in canon, to give up everything he has for the sake of others, particularly those he loves. Alan will sacrifice not only his own happiness, but any sense of security, safety, and even his own life if it means protecting others and keeping them safe. On the milder end of the scale, we see him sacrificing (mostly from his end) his relationships with Sycamore and Manon to keep them safe, even though he believes that Sycamore must be angry with him for dropping out of contact, and knows for a fact that he upset Manon. In his mind, although this is a sacrifice on his part (he’s miserable over the fact that he can’t go home to Sycamore, and we see this clearly enough within the first ten minutes of TSME 1, and he’s not happy about having to end his friendship with Manon as forcibly as he does, either—though in his defense on that last one, she pushed him into a corner and gave him no choice, but still, he blames himself regardless), it’s a worthwhile sacrifice because, even if Sycamore and Manon hate him, at least they’re alive to hate him. He would much rather them loathe him and be alive than love him and end up dead. (Not that he wants to be hated, of course, because of course he doesn’t, but if those are his options, he knows what he’s choosing.) On the more extreme end of the scale, meanwhile, we see him continuing on with missions even after he sustains injury, we see him volunteering to go stop the primal legendaries despite the danger, we see him nearly dying in the process of rescuing Lizardon, and we see him nearly skewered while trying to rescue Hari-san from inside the megalith. In all of these cases, he never so much as hesitates before volunteering himself for more life-threatening danger. And the few times when he is questioned, and he is made to think about it, he actually gets a little angry at the suggestion that he would ever back down and walk away, because in his mind, facing this danger is the Right Thing to do.

And don’t get me wrong, don’t get it twisted: It’s never wrong to protect others. I also think that it’s very heroic to want to save the world. My point here is not to drag Alan for some of his finer qualities (selflessness, protectiveness, a sense of justice, and valor). Instead, my point is that Alan demonstrates in canon that he is willing to sacrifice everything he has without a second thought. In fact, the only thing (using that word loosely) that Alan seems actively averse to sacrificing is Lizardon. Lizardon is the one concession he will not make. He will not part from Lizardon, nor will he let Lizardon die. He will die before he lets Lizardon die, and that’s a solid fact. But otherwise? While he’s not willing to part with Lizardon, he will give up everything else. He’ll give up his home, all of his other relationships, and even his own life. He’ll do all of that in the time it takes you to snap your fingers if doing so is the Right Thing to do.

And that is a detriment to him. It’s a detriment to him that he values himself so little that there’s no sacrifice too great (Lizardon aside, once again). It’s a detriment not only because this could very well get him killed, but because it makes him easy to take advantage of. Lysandre was able to use him the way he did because Alan was so determined to protect Sycamore that he was willing to put himself through whatever Hell was “necessary” in order to do that (and then later, he was able to take advantage of Alan’s wish to make Manon happy again by healing Hari-san). Alan can be pushed into doing things that make him uncomfortable, tense, or anxious if he thinks it’s what others want, particularly since the few times he is allowed to assert himself in canon end disastrously (see: finally puts his foot down and enforces his boundaries with Manon in TSME 4, but ends up giving in to what she wants even though it makes him very obviously uncomfortable in XYZ045). If he’s unhappy, if he’s in pain, if he dies—well, okay, so long as others aren’t suffering. He’ll suck it up and deal with whatever consequences, because it’s okay if he’s hurt, he just doesn’t want to see others hurting. 

And the thing is, it’s not as if he’s doing this to be a martyr, because he by and large does not tell others when he’s suffering. This goes hand-in-hand with the self-sacrifice, because Alan is willing to shoulder every burden imaginable, but he does not want to let others share those burdens with him (once again, excepting Lizardon). Sycamore has to drag Alan’s problems out of him (and he does so with varying degrees of success), there’s no way in any universe that Alan would ever share anything with Manon (I’m pretty sure he would actually rather die than confide problems in her / put burdens on her shoulders) … really, the only human character we see that Alan freely shares things with is Ash, and Ash leaves Kalos at the end of the Kalos saga, so. Alan’s only real confidant is Lizardon, and while Lizardon does disagree with him sometimes, he also stays by Alan’s side as they go into battle together, so. It’s not exactly mitigating the self-sacrifice issue.

So what I’m getting at here is, to wrap this up, by and large this should be a good quality in Alan, and it is, to a degree. His selflessness, his valor, his protectiveness—these are all good qualities, they are heroic qualities, he has been called “pure” and “noble” in canon for a reason. I love these things about him, and I support him 150% in his desire and quest to protect those he loves. He was not in the wrong to do that; he was in the right, in the sense that he did the right thing with the tools / options he had available to him, and the information he was given.

However, Alan takes this quality of his to an extreme that is detrimental to him. It’s not always a massive detriment, but the things he does could very easily cost him his life, and he doesn’t very much care about that. Even when he is forced to stop and think about it, it doesn’t matter to him. His own happiness and well-being are pretty much inconsequential to him, and that’s where the problem sets in. Selflessness and valor are good things to an extent, but a healthy human being has to have some degree of selfishness as well. A healthy human being has to care about themselves to some extent, so that they can be in a position to care about others, and Alan just doesn’t, to the point where he could very easily die or run himself down into nothing, burning out. 

To use an example:

In my ongoing fic To Devour the Sun, Sycamore tries to get Alan to talk about his Aether investigation at the end of chapter three. Alan pretty much refuses to admit his concerns, insisting that he and everything is fine, and at the end of the chapter he thinks to himself that he will only get Sycamore (and the others) involved over his dead body. As a result, he tells none of them about the nightly reconnaissance missions he and Lizardon run, and as a result of that, none of them are aware of where he is or what he’s doing the night of chapter five. Come morning, they won’t know to look for him, and when they do realize that they should look for him, they won’t know where to start. Because Alan was so determined to keep them out of this, and to keep it between himself and Lizardon—and hell, because he was so averse to the idea of Lizardon dying, that he would gladly die himself if it meant saving Lizardon’s life—he ends up being run through and bleeding out in the basement of Aether Paradise, his family none the wiser. (Well, his curiosity played a part into this as well, in that he just had to see the chimeras first hand, but still.) Because Alan was so averse to sharing burdens with those he cares about, and because he didn’t want to bother them in the least bit, he ended up in a situation that could cost him his life, and they have no idea. They’re going to be left with millions of questions and no answers.

So that’s what I’m talking about. It wasn’t necessary for Alan to keep what he was doing to himself, but he did because he didn’t want to burden those he loves, because he values them so much more than he values himself. And this isn’t a conscious thought, he’s not actively thinking, “They’re more important than me so I have to give everything for them,” but it is an ingrained thought process, a way he acts instinctively. Some of his best qualities are also some of his most debilitating flaws. This could—and quite possibly will—get him killed someday.

So yeah, while I love his selflessness, his protectiveness, and his valor, and think that those are some of his finest qualities … at the same time, his extreme self-sacrificing nature is definitely detrimental to his own health, safety, and well-being. He doesn’t value himself pretty much at all. He needs some self-worth, needs some selfishness at some point, because right now his scale is tipped so far in the other direction that it makes it real easy for others to use and abuse him, and that’s not good.

Noegenesis: Are there any topics that they love to think about deeply?

Haha, the thing about Alan is that it’s often hard for him to turn his mind off. His mind rakes over various subjects and topics with maddening intensity whether he wants to or not, most of the time. This means that he does sometimes dwell on the fact that he’s an orphan (prior to Sycamore officially adopting him), and especially means that he combs over past mistakes to see if there’s anything he could have done differently, no matter how miserable such thought spirals make him in the process. It’s a problem, and he knows that … but intrusive thoughts and vicious thought spirals can be hard to drag oneself out of, even if you know they’re not good and you shouldn’t be dwelling in the first place. Trust me.

But as far as topics that he actually loves to think about deeply? Well … on a non-sentimental level, Alan actually does like thinking about various lore (or what to him would be history) pertaining to legendary pokémon. Although science is easily his favorite subject, he does love learning a lot about history as well, because history informs science, at least to a degree. Ancient tablets are what first told them that mega evolution was something that existed—ruins were crafted around certain Mega Stones, and those ruins contain an air of mystery and wonder that is tantalizing to him. He likes thinking about these things, likes studying them—likes discussing some of the philosophy and theology surrounding them, too. It’s interesting, to him, to examine the way people thought back then. It’s interesting to examine people now, to see how even if it’s commonly acceped across the world that Sinnoh has the right of it when they claim that Arceus created everything, that Arceus’ level of importance in various regions varies drastically. People in Kalos prefer Xerneas, and the Draconids in Hoenn revere Rayquaza most of all, and Kanto doesn’t really have any faith to speak of. These subjects are fascinating to him, because he likes to examine the whys of it. Yes, there are fact-based statements to be made about the nature of faith and belief in each of the regions, but why have those regions developed the way they have? Those things are interesting to think about and discuss, particularly when his area of expertise (mega evolution) is brought into it, and he examines the impact that mega evolution might have had on the cultural development across the world.

But on a more sentimental level? Well … I’d have to say on a more sentimental, emotional level, his favorite subject to think deeply about is, well … Lizardon, and their relationship.

For Alan, his relationship with Lizardon is something practically ineffable. He can describe it to some degree; he knows that they’ve walked the same path and aimed for the same goal together, that they believe in each other, that their bond is one that overcomes reason. All of this he knows. But he also feels, on a deeper level, that their relationship is something he can’t necessarily put words to. Their bond overcomes reason—but it’s something unique and powerful on a level that rests on the tip of his tongue, yet refuses to be defined. It’s something he feels, when he thinks on it, like a little knot of pressure in his chest. It’s not painful or unpleasant. The opposite, really; it’s like an anchor grounding him where he stands. As I said above, Lizardon is the sole exception to his self-sacrificing nature. Not only will he protect Lizardon with everything he has, but he also refuses to give Lizardon up. He cuts ties with Sycamore and Manon, but never once considers doing the same with Lizardon, and he never would. In truth, all of this is because he and Lizardon are platonic soulmates, but Alan doesn’t have that language. He doesn’t think of it in those terms. Instead, he just thinks about how the bond he has with Lizardon is unlike anything else he has ever experienced in his life, and how grateful and fortunate he is as a result of it. Lizardon feels the same way.

Tarantism: Describe their dancing style.

Nonexistent, if he has anything to say about it.

[potential-zine-blog]

Lead Creators

Lead Creators are people who are helping the mod run the zine. If you can’t get a hold of the mod feel free to ask them your questions.

Mintless - Lead Editor

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tumblr : feedthemintless

portfolio : http://feedthemintless.tumblr.com/

Err, hello ? I'm Mintless, and I am use to live under pressure so don't worry about giving me more work and less sleep. Beside that I am grateful for any person who give me food and fluff. Please listen to the mod, Nika, or else i will imaginary Slap you and give you a "you-deceive-me" stare.

Mebuki - Page Creator

My main socials are:

http://meteorysh.tumblr.com

http://twitter.com/Meteorysh

Hi! I'm Mebuki and I'm an artist. I love Keith more than everything in the entire galaxy. And also Shiro!! They're the lights of my life. All of my work can be viewed on my artblog, http://meteorysh.tumblr.com ~ Everything's properly tagged so you can easily browse, too. (e.g. tagged 'voltron', tagged 'sheith' etc). Looking forward to help saving the universe with this amazing team!!

Grayson/Gray - Lead Cosplayer

https://twitter.com/ghostyjpg

http://ghostyjpg.tumblr.com/

Hey there, my name is Grayson but I also go by Gray or Keith. I'm an

artist and cosplayer and will be your lead cosplayer for this zine!

You can check out my cosplays over on my instagram @ghostprincecosplay

if you're interested! I have a lot of free time and am probably the

most awkward Canadian you'll ever meet. I look forward to

participating and helping out in the zine!

Kat - Lead writer

Hi, thank you for the opportunity for a lead position!! I'm so excited for this zine and can't wait to see it come together.

My preferred socials are twitter.com/jedimasterkat7 and jedimasterkatwrites.tumblr.com

You can see all my work on Ao3 under the name jedimasterkat! Here's a link just in case: http://archiveofourown.org/users/jedimasterkat/works

And here's a little description for me (this was harder than I thought lol):

Hey cool cats, my name is Kat and I'm a writer! Voltron has single handedly saved and ruined my life. I love the whole Voltron team, but Keith and Lance make me cry on a daily basis. You can see my work on Ao3 under the name jedimasterkat, and I encourage you to check out the amazing work of the mod, Nika, and my fellow leads as well. Feel free to message me or talk to me, I'm the chillest of chill and love meeting more people!

Viperfish/Viper - Lead Artist

Tumblr - https://viiperfish.tumblr.com/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/Viiperfish

Artwork - https://viiperfish.tumblr.com/tagged/viperart

Hey! I’m Viper (they/them) and I’m an animation student from England! My hobbies include drawing monsters and demon boys as well as crying over fictional characters haha. As much as I love all of the Voltron characters, my favourite character is Pidge, with Lance being a close second!

The best place to contact me is through tumblr messenger/tumblr ask (but you can still contact me through my gmail or twitter!) I’m happy I can help and I look forward to working with you guys!

Sam/Aether - Page Creator

here are my socials:

twitter: aetherlogic

tumblr: aetherlogic

discord: aetherlogic

Ii post most of my doodles through twitter and only a select few pieces on my tumblr, but most of my stuff would be in my portfolio: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1GfWM8hTySqQTM3ZDZ5dkszbjg

Hi! I'm Sam/aether and I'm really excited to be a lead creator for this zine. A little about me: I'm an artist who basically runs on no sleep and is stressed 24/7. I really enjoy participating in Voltron fan events, and I will actually throw myself off a cliff for (especially) Pidge, Coran, and my ships.

I'll do my best to make sure that everything runs smoothly and effectively! I'm an artist for the zine as well; I post my doodles on my twitter and some finished pieces on my tumblr.

Brii - Lead Editor

My works can all be found on Ao3  - archiveofourown.org/users/StygianLotus/works

Hey, my name is Brii (they/them), and I'm a writer. You can find my works on Ao3 under the name StygianLotus, but I also encourage you to check out the other amazing leads and the mod, Nika. Voltron dragged me back into fandoms (not that it's a bad thing), and my favorite character is Shiro, with Lance and Hunk not too far behind. Feel free to send me a message whenever!

Hannah - Page Creator

My work will be here (it will be soon, I will post the rest as soon as possible): https://www.wattpad.com/user/phoenixninja978

twitter is: https://twitter.com/hannahzgrace

main tumblr is: https://startled-seastar.tumblr.com/

second tumblr it is here: https://trouvaille-love.tumblr.com

Hi there! It's Hannah! I am an avid fandom nerd and figure skater (not a very good one, I believe), and I'm glad to help with this project! Reading is one of my favorite pastimes, and I would love to just sit on the couch and read all day. Realistically, though, I'm probably either stressing about where my life is going or distracting myself from that by watching VLD, attack on titan, or yuri!!! on ice. I'm awkward, my inbox is always open, and I'm excited to get started!

Kayt - Lead Writer

Socials @Sleeping4tNight on twitter and tumblr. Um... a self description? I like to proofread I guess. That's a thing...I'm not good at describing myself. I love being in fandom and participating in stuff because that's fun. I love music so I like making playlists and writing stuff. I'm pretty open to talking whenever. Oh dear, I promise I'm not as boring as I sound.

Ninna - Lead Writer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/annattata

Tumblr: https://ninnani.tumblr.com/

i all, I’m Ninna (she/they). I’m a creative writing major in Florida. I’ve been writing for most of my life, and I have two original short stories pending publication in my campus literary magazine.

I live and breath AU’s, I’m a huge multishipper, and I love Lance a perfectly healthy amount. I’m always available if you need to talk through a plot hole or need a quick beta read. I give really in depth critiques and constructive criticism, and I try to give the feedback that I would want to receive as a writer. I’m a big fan of comment sandwiches, I’ll tell you want works and what doesn’t and I’ll give you advice on what to do next. Don’t let the intimidate you though, I love, love, love encouraging other writers and helping them grow

The best way to contact me would be through discord and tumblr. Twitter works just as well, I just check it less often.

Cara - Lead Editor

Kay - Page Creator

Twitter: twitter.com/futuresounclear

Tumblr: fallenangels181.tumblr.com

Discord: DarkAngels181 #2821

YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/fallenangels181

Hello, the name’s Kay! I'm so happy to be a part of this zine! I am a writer and an AMV editor who is very invested in the Voltron and loves to see positivity for our beloved Paladins. I'm Shiro and Sheith trash, though I am a multishipper too. Please feel free to check out my channel or social media. I will respond as quickly as I can on twitter or Tumblr, so feel free to message me to just chat anytime! I look forward to working with everyone!

Jax - Lead Artist

Tumblr: flyingmintbunny32.tumblr.com

Instagram: instagram.com/jaxarts32/?r=sun1

My insta is also the best place to see my work as well

Ciao, Jax here and I'm one of the Lead Artists. I'm about as socially adept as Keith in real life but I tend to be easygoing online so feel free to chat with me. I do get distracted or off-topic easily but otherwise I'm pretty chill about most things, just respect me and I'll do the same with you. I'm also nonconforming so use whichever pronouns for me you'd like. Art wise I love drawing backgrounds and thighs mostly but I've definitely been trying to reach out more so if my art changes or looks different that's normal. Also I literally love all ships so if ya need to fangirl I'm your human.

Danu - Lead Artist

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danuqq/

Tumblr: danuqq.tumblr.com

Art Tumblr: danuqqart.tumblr.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/danuqq?s=09

Hi, I'm Danu! I love cats and pastel things, I'm an artist but I'm still learning, so don't be afraid of sharing your WIPs with me, we're all friends here.

I'm gay for Allura and Pidge, but I love all my Voltron boys too .

If you want to contact me the best way of doing so is on Instagram or Tumblr, I don't really use Twitter but if you can't contact me in the first two socials go there, I'll try to check it once in a while.

Raven - Lead Artist

Tumblr: http://emptyfishtanks.tumblr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emptyfishtanks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fishtanksart/?hl=en

Hello! I am Raven/Mikey and I go by They/them! I am a digital art and animation student, and have been seriously doing art for about 3 years. My current occupation is being a student and doing art commissions. My favorite Voltron character is a tie between Pidge and Keith. I love talking to new people, and anyone can feel free to message me at my social media!I am looking forward to working with everyone on the zine!

[killiangeroux]

voix égaré

              Killian sat cross-legged on a rock, tome on his lap, whispering below his breath as he memorized incantations, the nature of the elements. Aurelie was nearby, giggling as she chased a small bird, which hopped across the ground before finally losing patience and propelling itself into the air, whisking out of sight. “Where it going, Key?”

               Killian smiled without looking up from his book. “Home, I would guess.”

               “I want it to be my friend!”

               He shut the book, fixing his little sister with a look of feigned perplexity, one eyebrow cocked. “Is that so? Why, are you a petit oiseau?”

               “No! Help find it, Key. Please.”

               Killian sighed heavily, glancing laconically at his tome before looking back towards Aurelie’s big, pleading eyes. “First we sneak into a port settlement and now you want to go look for a bird’s home?” He shook his head. “No, no. I believe that it is far too much excitement for someone your age.”

               “Key,” she whined, pouting dramatically.

               With a light laugh, Killian sprang from the rock, tucking his book under his arm. “Fine, I shall concede. Now, where did that bird go?”

               Aurelie pointed in the direction it had flown. It was likely useless, but Killian saw no point in refusing the request. Saying no to her was never easy. They began to move across the forest floor, the scent of salt-chipped air blowing off the sea towards them, although its breakers were still too far away to hear.

The soft chirping of birds drifted into Killian’s senses. He put a finger to his lips, motioning for Aurelie to be quiet and keep her steps light.  They crept forward, pushing aside lichen, and came to a claustrophobic clearing, hedged in by thick brush and an even thicker line of trees. One of the trees disrupted the clearing as it pushed its thumb up through the ground. The birds hopped on its branches, fluttering around a crook where a nest was gathered.

               “I think we found them, ’Lie.”

              “I can’t see,” Aurelie whispered back, before giving her brother a big, hopeful grin. Killian picked her up effortlessly. She smothered a giggle, nearly wriggling out of his grasp as she leaned forward, placing a small hand on the trunk to steady herself. One of the birds spotted her and let out a chirp before hopping to a different limb.

               “They so small and funny!”

               “Yes, just like you.” Killian lowered her.

               “What are they?”

               “You mean what type of bird? They’re moineaux, I believe.”

               “My favourite!” Aurelie declared.

               Killian laughed softly. “And just how many other types of birds do you know, petite oiseau?”

               “I’m not a little bird, I’m a moineau!”

               “But a sparrow is a little bird.”

               Aurelie frowned at him with the greatest look of disapproval Killian had ever seen on a six year-old’s face. He restrained a laugh and crossed his arms over his chest, leveling a matching stare at her.

               “Okay, I’m not mad anymore!” she announced abruptly. “Pick me up again? I want to see better!”

               “Alright, alright.”

               “Can I ride on your shoulders?”

               “I suppose that way you can see the world the way a moineau does?”

Aurelie giggled, clapping. “Yes! You’re so big!”

Just as Killian was about to lift her, something slammed into the back of Killian’s head. Bright light burst across his vision as Aurelie’s shrill scream filled his ears.

Consciousness returned, bringing confusion along with it. Killian blinked dazedly, gaze swimming across his surroundings. He tried to make sense of the dim space, the men standing around them. All at once realization struck him. Aurelie was sobbing and kicking frantically as they pinned her down, tying her wrists behind her back. He stirred, needing to protect her. Just as he started to rise, one of the men grappled him. Another wrenched Killian’s arm behind his back, thick rope in his other hand, preparing to bind him as they had Aurelie. Killian twisted sharply, ignoring the pain, adrenaline taking over. With his free hand, he pulled the scepter from his belt, drawing aether as rapidly as he could. Flames encircled him, scorching the men’s hands. They stumbled away, howling in pain.

Killian channeled his aether into the scepter once more, but before he could finish the spell, a roegadyn ploughed into him, bashing him against a stone wall. He gasped for breath.

“I told you to take away any weapons, you bloody idiots!” one of the men shouted.

The scepter was wrenched from his grasp. Killian glared fiercely at the roegadyn as he moved away from him, crossing the small room towards a fireplace. Fear mingled with hatred as Killian watched the roegadyn feed his scepter to the flames.

“Let us go!” Killian yelled, throwing himself at the man who had spoken. Cold eyes turned upon him. The hyuran calmly intercepted Killian’s attack, jamming his elbow into his stomach. He pivoted, grabbing Killian by the throat, and pushed him backwards until his spine touched the wall. Killian pried at his fingers uselessly.

“Stop fighting, boy.”

“What the hells do you want with us? Let Aurelie go!”

“Got a lot of fight in you, don’t you? We can fix that.” He bashed his forehead against Killian’s. The impact stunned him. “Get the brand from the fire. Help me pin him down.”

The roegadyn reached for something, a long bar of metal that had been resting in the blazing maw of the hearth. He held it aloft, turned towards Killian. Panic jolted through Killian’s chest, his lungs heaving as he stared at the piece of metal, glowing orange from the intensity of the heat.

“You need to learn that you’re never going to be free, else you’re going to be in a lot of pain during our voyage.”

And suddenly he understood. Slavers. He had heard horror stories of them, that city-dwellers were dangerous, that they ran an underground that would put the poor reputation of his own kind to shame.

Killian resisted as best he could, but there was no escape. Not when three men were holding him down.

“Watch little one, see what you have to look forward to this evening,” the hyuran said –clearly the leader of this band of slavers.

“Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt Key!”

Scalding metal pressed into the flesh of Killian’s left wrist. Searing pain. Screaming skin. He tried to fight against it, tried to keep his jaw clamped shut, his teeth grinding, nearly biting his own tongue. But he could repress it no longer. The cry of pain fled him like a starved ghost. Aurelie’s frantic scream, her sobbing – these were sounds that he could barely even hear over the intensity of the marking.

Breath sawed in and out of Killian’s teeth. They threw him to the ground next to his sister, but all he could think about was the sweltering pain in his wrist. He gripped his arm, ribs heaving, and stared at the furious red image now cast into his flesh.

“Don’t….” he gasped out, looking into the cold eyes of the Leader, his own eyes desperate. “Do not do this to her.”

A smile spread across the man’s face, frost trellising glass. “We always mark our property. But don’t worry, boy. A pretty thing like her? We won’t risk damaging. She’s going to fetch us a fine stack of gil.” The men chorused with laughter.

“You will not touch her!” Killian growled, starting up from the floor.

A boot collided with his chest, knocking him down. The Leader stepped forward, pressed his heel over the screaming flesh of Killian’s wrist. Leader leaned forward. “You best learn to abide by my wishes, or I will find other ways to make you and your sister suffer. Understood?”

Killian glared as hard as he could, but his eyes were wild, his face bloodless.

 That night, they moved them to the boat. Killian was too drained to resist, too haunted by Aurelie’s piercing screams. Too devastated by the brand now marring them both.

How had everything changed so quickly? Killian replayed the moment of their capture in his mind. Could he have done anything differently? With nothing to distract him from their situation, his mind wandered, venturing down choking paths. Wishing to be free, wishing things had been different accomplished nothing, he knew that. But it was impossible to do otherwise as they sat in the hull of the ship. The smell of salt and piss. Floor constantly shifting ever so slightly. No sounds save for the murmur of the sea, and the woman softly sobbing in the corner. Aurelie stopped crying a while ago, as if her body had run out of fluids to transmute into tears. She was painfully quiet. It terrified Killian.

“Hey,” he began, his voice quiet, barely breaking the silence. “Aurelie? Aurelie. Look at me. Come on, little bird.” He swallowed and tried again. “Moineau?”

She stirred, lifting her head from her knees, dark amethyst eyes settling on his face, filled with sadness and fear.

“I am going to get us out of here. Just hold on a bit longer. I will find a way.”

Footsteps on the stairs. Killian braced himself as Leader appeared, those glacial eyes locking onto him before swinging towards the woman in the corner, gaze lingering upon her in a way that sickened Killian deeply.

Killian shifted. If he burned through his bonds just a bit more, could he attack the Leader? Could he free both the woman and Aurelie and get off the ship? There would be other men to deal with, but it would be worth the risk. He wasn’t going to be sold into slavery, and neither was Aurelie.

Sensing his movements, Leader turned towards him. Killian tried to wrench away as the man bent down, inspecting the ropes chafing his pained wrists. Nearly singed through. Leader let out an exhausted sigh. “Still have to learn your place, I see. Very well. I will teach you.”

He hoisted him to his feet.

“Let go of me.”

Leader threw him against the wall. Pinned him there by his throat. “Damaged merchandise never sells well, but neither does impudence. You see boy, I can hurt you anywhere but your face and no one would care. Hells, if you had more muscle, I could sell you regardless of your face. Do you know what you’ll be used for?”

Killian wheezed, tried to break free.

Leader leaned in closer; his breath scraped against Killian’s ear. “Labour. Service. Whatever the hells your buyers want. Maybe even your body, if they’re of that persuasion. Won’t matter then if you’re scarred, only that you’re obedient.”

“Don’t-”

His grip tightened, choking. “Don’t what? Don’t break you? But I must. Your defiance makes you unsellable. Bet your parents are glad to be rid of such a bratty child, aren’t they? Not like your sweet sister over there.”

“If you even lay a finger o-”

“Fear not, boy. It’s you I have to break. She’s going to be one hell of a beauty, and that means she’ll be completely unharmed. That one will bring in so much gil we could sail on it.”

“Stop talking about her that way!”

The Leader punched Killian hard in the ribs. He spluttered.

“Even scars are better than defiance. So, let’s see about taming that spirit of yours, before it makes you completely worthless.”

Not long after that, the slavers set sail. Killian’s drive to escape began to wither, the desire to be spared pain beginning to take its place. As long as they do not harm Aurelie. But the way she cried and drew further and further away from him each time he was beaten was far more painful than what the crew did. The kicks and punches to his body and legs when he showed any sign of spirit or rebellion. The micro cuts they gave him, thin little knives, cutting enough to sting more than the wasps near their home, but not enough to cause substantial bloodloss. Just small seepages that began to drain the fight from him. Hearing Aurelie’s cries, he knew he couldn’t give up, that he had to keep resisting them, had to keep trying to think of ways to escape and free her and the other woman. But the bruises on his neck and arms seemed to mottle his brain as well, his thoughts becoming scattered and darker each passing moment. However long it had been. There was no way to tell time below deck, no view of the sky. Killian could only mark the time with the visits of the slave traders.

               Just as Killian found himself falling into a deep silence, the steps creaked. Leader descended into their prison; the cloying reek of strong spirits came with him. He walked past Killian, not even noticing his withered glare, traipsing straight towards the woman. For a moment, Killian simply stared, bruised thoughts splintering. And then he realized what the man was about to do.

               “Leave her alone,” Killian rasped, his voice a brittle whisper in his dry throat.

               “Key?” Aurelie whimpered low, shifting closer to him.

               “Leave her alone!” Killian finally managed to shout, but Leader only laughed. Killian strained against his ropes uselessly, desperate to intervene. That woman was kind and beautiful. He had spoken with her in whispered fragments a few times since they had found themselves trapped together. She didn’t deserve this. No one did. He had to make it stop, he had to.

               But he couldn’t. He knew he was too late. Leader had forced her legs apart, had placed himself between them. And it was too late for Killian to stop him. The woman’s pleading yells and useless flailing had ceased, replaced by haunting sobs. No matter how hard he tried, Killian couldn’t look away. The taste of hatred and defeat and horror filled his mouth like bile.

               “Stop,” he whispered.

               Aurelie was hiding her face in his shirt. He finally averted his gaze, closing his eyes, praying it would end soon. That the woman would be spared any more of this desecration. He tucked his chin against the top of his little sister’s head. And the spirit reawakened.

               This was not going to happen again. This was never going to happen to Aurelie. If she became a slave…he knew one day, she would be in danger of a similar horror. That could not happen.

               Killian needed to free them all.

               Time coalesced, an ember eating rotting wood. It was quiet for a while. The slavers did not come below deck. Killian began to wonder if they had docked. The motion of the boat convinced him otherwise, as did the shouts from above. It seemed they were simply too busy wrangling with a violent round of breakers. Killian began to fantasize about the men being washed overboard, hurled into the jaws of the sea. Such images gave him some comfort, and he soon fell asleep.

Footsteps woke him. Leader. The very sight of the man sent an overwhelming wave of hatred through Killian. It was the first time he had seen him since he had assaulted the woman, and the memory of it blinded the boy. It seemed Leader was moving towards her again. The woman flinched.

Killian sprang to his feet. “Stay away from her! You will not touch her again.”

Leader turned towards him slowly, cold eyes flashing. “Slaves don’t make demands. They do what they are told. They give their owners whatever their owners want.” He began to lumber towards Killian, grabbing him by his shirt front. “Have you not learned your lesson yet? You are property. Property does not speak.”

Killian spat in his face.

Anger twisted Leader’s features. “Beg for forgiveness.”

“All I want from you is your death.”

The slap came, hard and fast. Killian staggered. Glared up into Leader’s glacial eyes.

“Face the wall, boy.”

“Burn in hell.”

Leader grabbed Killian roughly, whirling him around, and slammed him hard against the nearest wall, his face colliding with the wooden planks. He shuffled, trying to shake Leader off and get away, but the man had his hand firmly against the back of Killian’s head, pushing his face hard against the wall. The man was far too strong, and with his arms bound behind his back, Killian was helpless.

He heard the faint clink of the man’s belt buckle loosening, the rustling of cloth, just as he had before…before the woman… Fear and desperation ignited with Killian. He fought against the grip pinning him.

“If the small pains you’ve been given weren’t enough, then you’ve left me no other choice.”

“Please, he’s just a boy. If you must take someone, take me instead.  I will not fight you!” the woman called out, her voice as desperate as Killian felt. Hearing her plea for him filled his veins with ice, his lungs with panic. His breaths were short, his body tense, internally begging the man to relent, although he remained silent.

Leader laughed. The bastard was actually laughing. “That’s the point, you stupid bitch. This is not about pleasure.”

“Don’t let Aurelie see!” Killian managed to utter, voice thin.

“What are you doing to him? Key?” Aurelie wailed, as if just surfacing to the present.

“Don’t look, sweetie. Don’t look,” the woman urged.

His surroundings disappearing from Killian’s senses as his pants were yanked down. He closed his eyes, teeth grinding, as the man asserted himself. It was incredibly painful in a way nothing else had been. A pain he felt not just inside his body, but in his soul. Shame. Hatred. Defeat. Violation.  The emotions were drowning him. He could barely breathe. Helpless, immobile, all he could do was wait for it to be over.

“Beg me to stop.”

Tears began to stream down Killian’s face. He couldn’t bring himself to speak. It hurt too much. Each aggressive thrust shattered his spirit more.

“I won’t stop until you beg.”

“Stop,” Killian sobbed out.

“Beg!”

“Please. Stop! Please. Please.”

It continued for a short moment, less violently. And then it was over.

Killian stayed perfectly still, crying soundlessly. Leader threw him to the ground. He landed hard on his shoulder, but couldn’t feel the impact for how hard his body was shaking, how much he hurt, how broken he felt.

“Key?” How long had Aurelie been calling for him?

Killian couldn’t answer. His tongue was frozen. He just lay there shivering, hating. Himself. The ship. The sea. The slavers. And their disgusting Leader most of all.

If being a slave meant begging, if being a slave meant being violated… He could not bear going through that again. He would rather die.

No. He would rather kill.

The thoughts of escape he had been nursing before twisted, morphing into something sharper, darker. And the thought of Leader’s ice-cold eyes being torn from his head was the only thing that kept Killian from drowning in his pain.

The boat docked. Swaying of the sea had become an ever-present stimulus, to the point where it was blending with the normal rhythm of blood through vein. So when it grew quieter, rocking in an absent way that promised stillness, Killian noticed. He waited. It was quiet. Aurelie was terrifyingly quiet. Pain throbbed deeply inside of him, and he grasped at it, pulling it to the forefront of his senses. It fed him like the deepest well of aether.

“Hey,” Killian called out, voice shaped by the strength of his recovered will. It was the first time he had spoken since Leader had dominated him.

The woman looked at him, weariness dimming her eyes.

Fire hummed through his bonds. He held his arms out in front of himself, rolled his wrists. The woman’s eyes grew wide. A smile flinched across Killian’s lips. Pulling himself to his feet, he ignored the hollowness in his legs, the way everything seemed to tremble. He moved towards the woman, asking her softly if he could remove her bonds. She nodded, fear and determination warring upon her brow.

“How do we get out?” she whispered.

Killian freed her but continued to kneel before her, frowning heavily. He could see that she was in pain, a similar pain to the one that begged him not to crouch, not to stand, not to breathe. “I’m getting my sister out of here,” he said, the rage seeping into his lowered voice. “Even if I have to drain all of my aether to do it. I will tear them apart if they dare to fall into my sight.”

“Do not toss yourself to your death.”

Killian shook his head and turned towards Aurelie. “Moineau, we are going home,” he said, gingerly removing her ropes. He pretended not to notice the way she flinched.

“We’re docked,” the woman began, as if scared to lift her voice. “But…they may be on deck.”

“I’ll take a look,” Killian offered, stroking Aurelie’s matted hair back from her face. She wasn’t even looking at him. He wanted to hug her, to lift her up and carry her out of there as fast as possible. But he couldn’t risk her getting hurt. “You and Aurelie should wait right behind me.”

The woman came to Aurelie’s side, gently took her hand. “May the twelve guide us to freedom,” she said, looking Killian straight in the eye. He nodded soberly and mounted the wooden steps as quietly as possible.

Killian carefully opened the hatch, peered out across the deck. His view was limited, but he didn’t see anyone. The gangplank was lowered to a narrow dock. A sizeable building slumbered nearby, filling the air with amiable smoke and the glow of lamplight. A port settlement of some kind. Killian hoped they were still in La Noscea. Getting home would be hard; he was prepared to fight his way through the town, through any town. Maybe the woman would be able to help them navigate after that.

Killian clambered out and turned towards the open hatch, beckoning for Aurelie and the woman to come. Aurelie wouldn’t move. The woman drew her forward gently and Killian scooped her up into his arms. She clung to him, trembling. Giving her a reassuring squeeze, he pivoted, breathing in the salt-chipped air deeply. Freedom stretched out before them.  “We’re going home, ’Lie,” he said quietly, his voice breaking over the words.

“Ay!”

Killian flinched, something cold and dead rolling inside his stomach, touching the pain and reigniting it. The woman drew back, nearly stumbling onto the steps.

“We got runners!”

Killian looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice. A man was perched up in the crow’s nest. A sharp whistle cut the air.

“We have to go, now!” Killian urged.

Already shadows were hurrying along the dock towards them. He realized now that the men had been closer to the boat than he had thought. He should have looked around more carefully, he should have - A cabin door opened and Leader strode out. Killian clenched his jaw, swearing frantically. He burst into a run, holding Aurelie tight.

Something whistled past his head, a fang grazing his ear. He stumbled in his stride, shielding Aurelie with his arms as he turned on his heel. The woman was frozen, backing towards the steps to their prison as Leader cornered her. The man in the crow’s nest armed himself with another knife. It glinted dangerously in his upraised hand, the threat clear. Killian slowly set Aurelie down, backing away from her as he began to tug at the aether in the air. He would not draw from her, but from deep within himself, from the very breath of life that rustled around them. It filled him, arcing bold and electric from his fingers, a quick flashing bolt streaming straight upwards. The man hollered, the knife soaring through the air wildly, missing its mark. Other men were stomping onto the boat. Killian twisted towards them, shooting up a wall of ice as quickly as he could. They slammed through the weak barrier too easily, rushing towards him.

And then Leader had him by the throat. Killian tried to gasp, but could merely choke. His throat screamed with the fear of collapsing. His feet hovered above the ground, kicking uselessly.

“Lift anchor!” Leader ordered, his stranglehold relentless.

Killian drew on his aether sharply, grasping at Leader’s in the process. In a heavy burst, he shot out a propulsion of magic. Leader stumbled back, his hand leaving Killian’s throat. The boy sank to the ground, pulling at air desperately. He drew himself to his feet shakily, coughing.

“Did you not learn enough the first time?” Leader’s voice was a viper. He advanced towards Killian, hatred plain in his eyes.  He drew the sword from his side. “It seems you need to be taught again. Harder.”

Killian backed up slowly, his world narrowing. I have to get to Aurelie. I have to get her home. I have to protect her I have to –

The flat of the sword crashed against his ribs. Leader made a lunge for him. Killian threw his hands up, a whisker of flame roaring between them, growing wide as he backed up. Leader swung the sword through the fire as if it were nothing but an illusion, and threw himself towards Killian.

Killian threw out all the aether he could muster. A small, concussive blast of flame. It shot Killian backwards through the air, lifting his heels off the ground as it repulsed Leader.  Killian sailed over the railing of the ship, falling jaggedly into the waters below. Cold depths rushed to greet him, heavy fingers gnarling in his clothes, tugging him down. He fought against the heavy body that shoved salt down his punished throat. Killian broke the surface, gasping deeply, his entire body a throbbing bruise. Blinking the stinging water out of his eyes, he watched helplessly as the boat began to move away from him. He could hear Leader’s voice rising towards the sky. The flames had not killed him. And Aurelie...

Aurelie!

Killian shot forward, trying to catch the boat. But it was no use. He could not climb it, he could not command water. He could do nothing. He treaded water, trying to breathe past the rawness of his throat, still so shriveled from Leader’s iron grasp. The effort of trying to swim was wearing him out. He turned a frantic gaze towards the shore. A Maelstrom officer stood at the end of the dock, torch lifted. The flame shivered against the darkness as the man moved his arm. Light caught at Killian’s eyes, hurting them, the glint alerting the officer to his presence.

Killian let the fight go out of him. He submitted to the pain just as the officer reached him. He went limp, allowed himself to be hauled to land.

Aurelie…

Snapping to his senses, Killian twisted away from the officer, shooting to his feet. “You have to help her!” he said, his voice a raw blister, coming out in coarse strands. “The men in that ship.” He pointed towards where it was scuttling off into the darkness. “They have my sister!”

The officer looked towards where he was pointing then back at Killian, who continued to tremble, his breath an audible wheeze. The officer frowned deeply. “Come with me.”

Sitting around talking was a waste of time. Killian’s muscles twitched. He gripped the blanket around his shoulders so tightly his fingers whitened. The fire lapped at him, drying the black hair that stuck to his eyelashes. A small collection of Maelstrom personnel were with him, murmuring to each other as the officer that had found him handed him a ship registry. He flipped through it with numb fingers, scanning for the name of the vessel he had been in. Nothing struck him as familiar. “I don’t know,” he admitted at last, his voice leaving him in a panicked whine.

The officer removed the papers from his hands and sat across from him. “Can you describe what the ship looked like? Give us any names?”

Killian thought for a moment, but it was all a blank. He shook his head. “I can only describe Leader.”

“Who?” another Maelstrom officer asked, squinting at Killian skeptically.

“The one who...the captain.”

The Maelstrom officer who had been squinting at him snorted. “How do we even know his story is true? More likely he was trying to steal from them. Filthy duskwight.”

Rage sharpened Killian, turning him hot. “They took my sister, you stupid bastard! You need to find them!”

“He’s crazed. Send him back to the gutter where he came from. We don’t have time for this,” the squinting Maelstrom officer said, spitting.

Killian growled. He lifted his arm, drawing back his loose sleeve. The brand Leader had given him shone pink and cruel in the firelight. The officer who had found him stared at his wrist in shock, horror quietly crossing his features. “Slavers. A particularly notorious bunch, at that.”

“Eh?” the squinting Maelstrom officer exclaimed in surprise. He came over, looked down at the brand glaring on Killian’s wrist. “Ah, my mistake.”

“Twelve-cursed bastard,” Killian muttered acidly, lowering his arm. “Now what can you do to get her back?”

The kindly officer who had found Killian rubbed the back of his neck, averted his eyes. “Little, unless they dock somewhere. We’ve seen the brand before, heard horrible tales…but I fear we have no knowledge of what their ship looks like.”

“You said you could describe their leader?” a female Maelstrom officer asked, stepping forward.  

Killian spoke tremulously, flinching from his own description as he offered it to them. They wrote down what he said word for word, had him read it over afterwards to make sure it was accurate. He nodded hollowly. “So what do we do?”

“You go home, son,” the kindly officer said gently.

               “But…I can’t.” He started from his chair. “I can’t go home without Aurelie. She’s only six summers. She’s only….” The female officer touched his shoulder lightly, coaxing him back to the chair. Killian clutched at the blanket circling his shoulders, shivering as his gaze grew vacant, staring downward without focus, without sight.

               “Take this linkpearl,” the kindly officer said, sliding the small object towards him.

               “Sir, should we-” the Maelstrom who had previously doubted Killian began.

               The kindly officer silenced him with a sharp look. “I cannot make any promises that we will find them, but if we do, we will contact you. So keep that pearl with you.”

               Killian stirred slowly, like a long-slumbering fish ponderously rising towards daylight. He stared at the pearl then finally reached for it, handling it as if it were sacred.

               Killian draws the pearl from his inner chest pocket now. For twelve years it has rested cold and silent against his breast. He cradles it carefully in his palm, rolls it forward between his fingers. How many times has he held it, whispered to it uselessly, waited for it to make any kind of noise? Surely the officer has forgotten about him by now, if he even still serves the Maelstrom. He could be dead for all Killian knows. The search has gone cold, painfully so. Yet he remains at sea, he has redefined what the swaying of a boat means to his nerves. It is what will allow him to find her, even after all of this time. Or so he has told himself. He stares at the pearl. The thought that he should release it and watch it suck down into the black ocean depths crosses his mind.

               Behind him, he hears a burst of laughter, twined around a shanty. Voices tilting with drunkenness. For a moment, the pain fills him once again, achingly strong. Everything he has done to prepare, the steps he has taken, the connections he has forged…is it all meaningless? As meaningless as this pearl and a promise long dead?

               He holds the pearl out over the water, prepares to release it.

               Footsteps pad across the deck. He glances towards the sound, but is shielded from being seen in his current position on the head. A glimpse of red hair. He watches the woman walk towards the railing, casting her gaze out to sea, searching for something only rumoured to exist, yet ceaselessly driven, to the point where she’d risk her very skin to stand with a crew of faithless pirates.

               Killian looks at the pearl in his fingers, perched towards a fall into the silent sea. A faint smile touches his lips, edged with pain. He curls his fingers around the pearl, rolls it back towards his palm. And holds on tight.