@the-ghost-trader - ooooh, i love this! it has the potential to be so incredibly sad, too, like poor Damian just trying to carve out something normal for himself only for it blow up in his face
BUT, shockingly, i'm not about the angst today! not yet anyway 😇
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“So, how was your day?”
Despite his answering groan, Damian likes this. This. This whole… thing he has with Danielle. With Ellie.
And, yeah, he’s not exactly told any of the others yet, but can you blame him? For wanting to keep something, anything, to himself. Wanting to keep this small little slice of goodness he’s managed to carve out, untouched and unmarred by his family, by their other lives, by the rogues, the vigilantes, the assassins, everyone.
“That bad, huh?”
Being with Ellie is freeing. That’s the best way to describe it.
She knows. Damian surprised even himself when he told her—not about the others, mind, but he supposes it’s not hard to put two and two together and Dani has always been smarter than most—but it’s the best decision he’s ever made, and no matter what the niggling little voice in the back of his head says (the one that sounds suspiciously like Father), he can’t bring himself to regret it.
He won’t. Because having Ellie know gives him freedom.
She’s a safe place, a hand to hold, a warm, welcoming presence when things inevitably turn ugly. It’s the freedom to just be normal when everything else in his life spirals into stranger and more stressful missions.
“Richard is being insufferable again. I do not understand his incessant need to know everything about my life.”
“Oh? What’s he done now?”
“I was subjected to an hour long interrogation about my love life, like it’s any of his business. It’s infuriating!”
“Ugh, tell me about it. I get the same thing from Jazz, constantly. It can be suffocating.” Ellie says as she curls herself tighter into his side. “But it’s just how they show they care.”
“Yes, well, sometimes I wish he wouldn’t—”
“Hey!” Ellie pushes herself up to glare at him, punctuating her shout with a soft whack to his arm for good measure. “What have I said about using that word?”
“Yes, yes,” he placates with a roll of his eyes, “‘Be careful what you wish for.’ I apologise, it won't happen again.”
“Damn straight it won't.”
She maintains eye contact with him for a second longer before tucking herself back into his side, squirming around with a long, contented hum that Damian can feel rumble through him. He smiles and doesn’t complain even when he has to shift to give her more room after a particularly strong elbow jabs him in the ribs. It means leaving the warm patch on the couch, but he’s rewarded with another long, happy moan as she settles and Damian can’t bring himself to mind.
Ellie constantly makes noises. Little mews and hums and laughs and songs known only to her. It reminds him of a cat, sometimes. He likes it. It calms him down; it means she’s happy, so he's happy.
They settle back into the cushions and Damian lets the subject drop, not wanting to spoil the moment. Outside, the wind changes direction and from where he’s laying he can watch as the snow starts to come down thick and heavy. Hopefully it’ll mean a quiet night's patrol.
“Is that why you haven’t introduced me yet?”
“What?” He can't help it, he stiffens at the thought of losing his secret, of the scrutiny he'll be inviting if he lets anyone know.
“Are you worried I’ll embarrass you?”
Damian’s eyes snap down quick to reassure her, only to see her light, teasing grin. He lets out a breath of relief. It figures she wouldn't worry about that.
“Of course not, don’t be absurd. You could never embarrass me.”
“I don’t know,” she muses, her voice taking on a dangerous lilt, “that sounds like a challenge.”
“Believe me, having been subjected to Father’s Brucie persona at every gala I’ve been to, it would take a lot to embarrass me.”
“Alright, bet. I’ll get you, just you wait.”
“You’ve already got me.”
She flicks him on the nose. “You’re such a sap.”
He hums his agreement, enjoying the tinkling sound of her laughter. And then, before he can think otherwise, he asks, “Is that why you haven’t introduced me?”
“That’s different,” she scowls. “You know how hard it is to get there, there’s no signal, and Danny only gets a break like—oh, Ancients!”
Damian gets another elbow to the ribs as she bolts upright, a manic grin on her face that has him laughing.
“What is it?”
“It’s the holidays! It’s nearly Truce Day! You know I said I had a family thing around Christmas?”
“Yes?”
“Well, do you want to come to it? I can introduce you then! I mean, it’s going to be a bit formal and you’ll have to meet everyone, not just family. There’s going to be some banquets, you’ll have to sit through some long speeches and you have to be on your best behaviour at all times, okay? Absolutely no fighting, it’s called Truce Day for a reason!”
“What?”
“Yeah, it’ll be perfect! I think Jazz is going in a couple days earlier to help with the preparations, so I’ll get her to let Danny know—and fair warning, he will try to give you the shovel talk, but this is great! It’s Truce Day, so he can’t actually do anything about it!”
“I’m sorry, but you're going to have to explain a bit.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s a bit much—but that’s family, right? Danny can get pretty protective over me, which is why going on Truce Day is the best time to do it! He can’t even command the Fright Knight to stab you! It’s genius!”
“Ellie, what?”
“Like, yeah, sure, he’s the king, but even he has to obey the rules of Truce Day—and then once you’ve spent all day with him, he’ll see that you’re a fantastic, wonderful, kind, brilliant, smart, strong, capable person and he’ll get over himself and everything will be good!"
Damian collapses down onto the couch, the wind knocked out of him. This is… He had not expected anything like this at all. For all that Ellie talked about her family, she had never mentioned this.
“Did you… did you say your brother is a king?”
“Yeah! High King Phantom, have I…” The manic grin slips off her face as she turns round and notices Damian. “Have I not mentioned that before?”
“No. No, you have not.”
“Ah. Sorry. Probably should clarify that I’m also a princess.”
“Right. Yes, that follows.”
“And I’m not really his sister, I’m his clone.”
“What?”
Damian blinks and tries to say more, but he has no idea what he’s meant to do with… any of this information.
Normal. He thought she was meant to be his normal. Nothing could have prepared him for this.
Not that it changed anything, of course, of that he was certain. It’s just… a lot to take in. Overwhelming. But it's okay! He takes a deep breath, and another, and a sense of calm washes over him. Ellie makes one of her little hums as she cocks her head to the side to consider him and he can't help but relax at the normalcy of the sound. It'll be okay, he's dealt with stranger and he can deal with this.
“I’ve, uh… I’ve told you that we’re half ghosts, though, right?”
“What?”
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curious injuries - maid!xiao x reader
Summary: maid xiao! concerned reader notices he’s hurt (dw it’s not serious)
Wordcount: 700+
Adopt a Wanderer: Digital Store
“I don’t see how this helps.” Xiao says, cringing when you tighten the bandages around his arm. Earlier today you’d noticed how he was shifting uncomfortably during his chores, and caught him hiding an injury under his maid uniform.
“Well, I’m trying to make sure you don’t get an infection.” You rebut sarcastically. “How did you even get scratched?”
“You’ll laugh.” Xiao’s words are clipped, but certainly not as guarded as he was a year ago when you’d first met. “And it’s highly inappropriate for my master to be touching me like this, so please leave the rest of the bandages to me. I know how to—”
“There’s more?” Realising his mistake, Xiao’s immediately shuts his mouth. If it wasn’t for his remaining code of conduct, he’d be turning his head away rather than just averting his gaze. “Xiao, show me.”
“You’re asking me to strip?”
Flabbergasted by his choice of words, you fumble while Xiao meets your gaze with a challenge. He’s trying to test how long your embarrassment will hold. You can’t take that!
“And if I say yes?” Your ears must be burning crimson. “Out of concern for my most valued employee, whose stubbornness I know is like my own—I respectfully order you to show me any other injuries you have.”
A beat passes, then another. Before Xiao finally sighs and slides off his shirt. Previously he’d left his white, long-sleeved button-on hanging halfway off his body, as his right arm was riddled with mysterious scratches. But now with his torso exposed to the air, you see remaining red marks—not purple yet, but certainly light bruising.
“Great Morax, what happened yesterday?” You exclaim, more out of surprise than in an attempt to force an answer out of Xiao. “You look like you fell into something.”
“Not going to ask if I’ve fallen for you?” Xiao returns dryly. You give him a disapproving look while he shrugs. “Can’t let you forget that you had the gall to say it to me before. Remember during my first month, you tripped from the stairs and—”
“You fell over trying to catch me, because my momentum was too strong.” You finish, now blushing for a different reason. “But I’m more careful these days, and you are being haunted by some mysterious cat... ghost?”
He snorts. “Did Hu Tao tell you that?”
“She said you feed the cats that sneak into our gardens.” You hum, walking to the shelves to find a cooling ointment. You’re in the infirmary during the early afternoon, so your footsteps sound comfortably against the quiet. “It’s weird, though. If it were a cat, I’d always imagine they quite liked… you…”
Xiao helps you retrieve the bottle, reaching over from behind. Your brain shuts off when his chest makes contact with your back for a second, feeling his warmth—before it disappears. When you swivel around, you have to force your body to melt into the counter in an attempt to not bump heads with him (would that be so bad?), only to realise that Xiao, like any capable maid who knows how to respect boundaries, has already taken a step back to create a comfortable distance. The sensation of his hair tickling your neck lingers like a ghost.
Curse his professionalism.
“...A cat didn’t attack me. I was just trying to get it off a tree, only for us both to fall off the branches.” Xiao offers the cooling salve to you. “So don’t worry. It wasn’t anything serious.”
Your mind lingers on the word worry. Sure, you were worried, but something in your heart twinges when you realise Xiao was more concerned for your peace of mind.
Pursing your lips, you apply the medicinal ointment to his bruise, watching for signs that it hurt. He doesn’t shift. And as much as you’re exasperated that he fell out of a tree for a cat, the last thing you want to do is reprimand him when he didn’t do anything wrong. “Does the cat have a name?”
Xiao’s quiet again.
“...Almond.” He mutters.
A smile creeps onto your lips, but you suppress it and try to sound nonchalant so he doesn’t feel self-conscious. “We’ll have to visit it then. I’d like to have a word with Almond about climbing into trees they can’t get out of.”
A light scoff. “You’re one to talk.”
“Excuse me?!”
Xiao has a warm smile. You realise you like being the reason he makes an expression like that.
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one of my favorite details about liam is the fact that he is very nice!!!! but he does NOT seem to get manners
his whole motive thruout season 2 is that he wants to save the others. from the looks of it, he doesnt CARE about the revenge part that much. like yeah itd be nice to stop the guy that physically harmed and killed you bc he did that, but thats an afterthought really - and i didnt interpret liam trying to kill airy even as an attempt at revenge so much as an extremely irrational and extremely stress-induced method of trying to make sure his friend + the others DIDNT get sent to the plane. his main priority is repeatedly that he wants to stop this from happening to anyone else. the only time he mentions himself is when saying that he 'cant live the rest of his life not knowing WHY this happened' (thats paraphrased) but that is immediately followed up w concern for this happening to other people
ofc, he also thinks he literally Has Nothing so the lengths he goes to to save the others CAN be interpretted as not things he would do if he thought he could go back to normal but at that point, thats just extremely specific speculation and i dont think thats supposed to be whats conveyed. some situations wouldnt even be necessarily related to him not having anything, so much as related to helping the others. he still throws himself into everything after "remembering what its like to have a life again." even when he realizes that he doesnt HAVE to have lost everything, he still cared and wanted to help the others more
i think he wanted closure, yeah, but he really did want to save the others. the scene of him helping julien is there for a narrative reason, after all (though i dont wanna get into that bc id go on a tangent about narrative choices in ONE). hell, hes the only one to try to get charlie out of the way of the stakes! (not that the others didnt try, but i feel like the intended take-away of liams general nature is fairly clear)
anyway, liam is nice!! he cares a lot abt others and doesnt want bad things to happen to them, and hes ok with bad things happening to him if it can help them.
but he does NOT understand a lot of social etiquette, or the concept of being polite.
my favorite example of this is the whole discussion abt going to go see bradley. when the restaurant gets shut down, liams first thought is to go 'sooooo. you dont have work, right?' when liam realizes he cant pay for the laptop, he just kinda. 'i dont have any money.' and stares at bryce like a cat looking at your plate of sandwich meat, waiting for you to inevitably give them some
this isnt even ONLY after the 7 months, theres hints of this trait before then! when amelia is talking abt stone making her team when the challenge, he just goes 'yeah sorry.' then talks abt how texty won their teams challenge, pointedly when texty is RIGHT there. liam doesnt even say goodnight back to owen! (this ones less impolite than the others but i think its silly to include)
it should be noted tho, that while this ISNT present before and after the plane, it DOES show up more prominently afterwards, and this could very much be the stress! but looking at WHY its more prominent afterwards also feels like it points more towards this just being How He Is.
all of the things hes kinda impolite abt? are things where he is TRYING to be nice, or arent unkind inherently. hes going to talk to bradley? well, doesnt bryce want to come? driving him there is more efficient anyway. oh you have work? well now you dont! so now things are easier! staying here isnt gonna make the restaurant reopen anyway! (liam also probably does NOT have the same weight associated w jobs that bryce does, since liam hasnt had a job in a capitalist society in 7 months. its probably still subconsciously there, but not at the forefront when the plane is still out there). i crashed your car? well, i think the lives of others matters a little more. you can get a new car, but if something happens to airys contestants WHO KNOWS whatll happen to them
a lot of it, i think, is made more extreme by stress and trauma, yeah, but these are patterns in logic that seem to already discard manners as being that relevant. and i, autistic, chose to view that as something hes just Like. hes not a dick and he doesnt ever mean to be! but also if someone can do something fairly minor to do something more important, why does he NEED to be polite abt it?? whats the POINT you get the same message across! and thats assuming he even REALIZES these things are "impolite," based on a lot of his interactions w vryce, i legitimately dont think he realizes how he acts could sometimes be considered 'impolite'
where bryce is knowingly kind of rude sometimes and doesnt care (though is STILL kind, he is just more blunt and uninterested in sounding nice, which i could do an entirely different essay on the autism of), liam seems to not really notice manners, nor does he think theyre very important to consider, and i just. really love that about his character :)
this is the kind of guy that, if you stubbed ur toe, hed probably not say 'oohh, sorry :(' and hed just be 'dang, that sucks' and move on
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Good points, but I can't help but be curious theres a lot of he's pathetic yapping going on but at the same time this means you actually done some considerations regarding him and his behaviours, in your opinion as someone who actually fights his battles, what would russet need to do to not be a waste of space and be deserving of respect, including yours? I mean he somehow manages to be part of Drayton's, on that note ugh Drayton, trail team. where would YOU as someone who knows him we'll see him if he were to start taking himself and things seriously? And how would you advise going about it? And before you turn mean on this I wanna ask you to stay neutral, there's others reading this thing too so maybe you can give some actual advice? Maybe I can learn something too? And yes I'm aware you see yourself as a villain but those can teach valuable lessons too lets see what the champion has to share, show us just how much better then us you are I'm curious.
// is it smart to egg him on like this?
Well, to start with, he would have to try. Ugh, that Drayton is awful - never does more than the bare minimum, doesn't even bother really trying most days, just absolutely wastes all of his potential...
I can at least respect someone who tries. Not everyone can be as strong as I am, but so many people are just content to stay weak and useless forever like i was never again can't go back can't let anyone hurt me ever again-. He needs to grow a backbone and stop trying so hard to be liked rather than be himself - and he needs to stop lying to everyone, on that note, he's always pretending to be something he's not. It's infuriating because I know he could be a strong trainer if he just bothered to push himself - he didn't even bother fighting for his spot on the Elite Four, he just laughed it off like it was no big deal. I hate him for that, something people will try so hard for and he just treats it like nothing. Then he doesn't even bother to try to be good at anything else - just doesn't try on anything, ever, except apparently when he lies. He's never fought for himself in his life - just rolls over and gives up, like he's scared of fighting for himself. Can't protect anyone if you don't protect yourself, first. don't i know that personally i couldn't ever help him i was weak i was useless never again i won't let them close again but no one will ever hurt me again he'll just have to stand on his own like i did if i hurt him first no one else will and he hurt me so it's fair
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