#distrust of friends

[arecaceae175]

Whumptober Day 7: Shaking Hands, Silent Panic Attack (Warriors)

Read on AO3 or here.

Trigger warnings: panic attack, trauma response, severe anxiety, distrust of friends, intrusive thoughts. Wars spirals and it’s not good. It gets better by the end, though. Stay safe.

Part 2/2. Part 1. I imagine this one being read first, even though the other is technically before this.

Warriors knew Sky was his friend, his brother in arms. Warriors knew this. 

Warriors also thought he knew his fellow soldiers, back in the War of Ages. That hadn’t turned out so well.

When the group formed, nine heroes from across time and space, he made sure to take note of their strengths and weaknesses. Just in case. 

He knew Time had a blind spot, but made up for it with experience and strength. He couldn’t beat Time head on, but he was confident he could take him from behind. Twilight was well-rounded, but Warriors could outmaneuver him on a good day. Legend relied too much on his items; get him alone, and he could go down. 

Hyrule was skittish, so there would be no sneaking up on him. His magic would be hard to contend with, but Warriors had far better stamina. Four was the hardest to get a read on. Warriors beat him out in brute strength easily, but he wasn’t certain he could win in a sword duel. Wild was a knight, but he didn’t remember it. He was skilled and resourceful, but Warriors was confident he could take him down in a swordfight. 

Wind had so many tricks up his sleeve, but Warriors recognized them all. He was pretty sure Wind wouldn’t turn on him since the boy would grow up to fight in the War of Ages. It made Warriors’ head hurt too much to think about the logistics of that, though, so he tried not to.

And then there was Sky. He was an incredible swordsman, and the only one of them to still wield the Master Sword.. He tired easily, but he had never lost a duel. Warriors made sure to pay close attention to him, and never turned his back to Sky.

As time passed and they got to know each other better, the thoughts faded from Warriors’ mind somewhat. He began to trust the other heroes, even rely on them. 

He never forgot, though. He had been through too much for that.

So when Sky was controlled, and made to attack them, the traitorous part in the back of Warriors’ mind said I knew it.

It was only a matter of time.

Sky was back to normal now, and a few days had passed since the events of that night. He had apologized profusely, and was trying everything in his power to make it up to everyone. Sky was suffering, too, drowning in guilt, but Warriors couldn’t bring himself to say anything to the man. He couldn’t get the thoughts out of his mind. 

He’ll come for you again, they all will.

He attacked you first, instead of the others. Interesting, that, isn’t it?

Watch your back.

Warriors did. He felt like he was back in the days of the War, feeling those feelings for the first time all over again. He was jittery, jumpy, flinched at every stick breaking and every sound of Sky’s voice. He wouldn’t let others get too close, never turned his back to them, especially Sky.

Maybe you should take care of it yourself. Make sure they can’t get you.

Warriors aggressively shook the thought from his mind. No. He wouldn’t hurt his friends, he couldn’t. He would never, ever hurt them. He would defend himself, but that was as far as he would go.

His hands shook relentlessly, worse than they had during the war. Warriors thought he had gotten it under control, back then, when Zelda and Impa had insisted he “talk to someone about his trauma.”

Warriors didn’t like that word. It made him seem like the victim. It felt wrong, when his mind was constantly telling him that it was all his fault, that he could have prevented everything if he had only been better.

The others were starting to notice something was wrong. Warriors hated that he was worrying them, hated himself for being afraid of his brothers. But he couldn’t stop, he couldn’t just turn this off. Wind kept coming up to him, frowning that stupid, squiggly frown, asking if he was okay. 

“Yes,” Warriors would say. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

Don’t let them see your weakness. They’ll take advantage, use it as their chance to strike.

Time would come up to him, give him The Look. Warriors would avert his gaze and shoot down his attempts to talk. Twilight kept trying to sit next to him, walk next to him, sleep near him. It was probably an attempt at comfort, at reassuring Warriors he wasn’t alone, but it just made him feel trapped. Sky kept his distance, something Warriors greatly appreciated, even though he could see how much it hurt Sky to do so. 

Wild alternated between cooking his favorite meal and Sky’s comfort foods. Legend didn’t bicker with him, and he could feel the concern rolling off the vet in waves. Warriors almost wished he would, for some normalcy. Hyrule and Four hovered, going between him and Sky, completely out of their depths and unsure how to help.

Warriors didn’t sleep. He couldn’t calm his mind, he couldn’t slow his racing heart, he couldn’t let himself be vulnerable. The longer it went on, the worse he felt. Warriors was supposed to be the protector, the warrior, he was supposed to be the one reassuring everyone else that they were safe. But he didn’t feel safe, so how could the others? 

By the end of the second night, Warriors was practically dead on his feet. He hadn’t slept at all, and his body was utterly exhausted from being stuck in overdrive for so long. He was trying to write in his journal, but his hands were shaking too much for the words to be legible. It just looked like scribbles. 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Wind said. Warriors jumped out of his seat, whipping around to face the boy. He had forgotten Wind was on last watch, had forgotten he wasn’t alone.

Stupid. Careless.

Wind’s hand moved toward his sheathed sword, and Warriors lost it. 

He gasped, immediately backpedaling, and tripped over a log. Sprawled on the ground, he blindly reached for his own sword. Wind was standing over him, sheath unbuckled in one hand, dagger in the other. Then, he threw both of them on the ground at Warriors’ feet. Warriors froze, blood cold with panic. 

“Sorry, that probably wasn’t the best way to do that,” Wind said gently, kneeling down a safe distance away. They were on the edge of camp, and Wind had positioned himself so that Warriors was closer to any of the others’ weapons, but still had a clear escape route into the forest.

“You have my weapons and yours. I’m completely unarmed,” Wind said, showing his empty palms. He was in his sleep clothes, too, which Warriors knew for a fact only had one mystery knife pocket.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You’re bigger and stronger, and you have the weapons,” Wind continued. “Wars, I need you to talk to me. You’ve been freaking out since that night, don’t think I haven’t noticed. You can’t keep going like this.”

Wind was always more intuitive than the group gave him credit for.

Warriors blinked rapidly at Wind, at his little brother, and tried to force his beating heart to slow. 

“I would never hurt you, Wars.”

Warriors closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Wind was right, of course he was right. Warriors knew, logically, that Wind would never hurt him. Wind was his little brother, his brother in arms, would grow up to fight alongside Warriors in the War of Ages. 

“I trust you, I love you, I would never hurt you. I’ll always try to protect you, but I know you don’t like that as much. You’ve got a real big brother complex going on,” Wind said with a soft laugh. Warriors felt himself huff out a small breath, a semblance of a laugh.

This was Wind. He could trust Wind, even if he was having trouble with the rest.

“Okay?” Wind asked. Warriors took another deep breath, felt it loosen his chest, and nodded shakily. 

“Yeah,” Warriors said, his breath slowing to a normal rate. “Yeah.”

“Can… Can I hug you?” Wind said, his eyes wide and round. 

Warriors breath caught in his throat and he hesitated, but when he saw how sad Wind looked he couldn’t resist. He nodded, pushing himself up and opening one arm. Wind threw himself into Warriors’ embrace, burying his head in the older man’s chest. Wind’s arms wrapped around him, squeezed, and Warriors felt the floodgates break. 

He sobbed. He let everything out, safe in the embrace of his brother. He tried to stay quiet, muffling his sobs in his scarf and Wind’s soft hair. Wind rubbed his back, made soothing sounds. 

Things weren’t okay; Warriors wasn’t quite sure that they would ever be. His past would always stick with him, but maybe he could find a place for it. He wasn’t alone, and as time passed he would be able to trust again. 

As long as he had his family, Warriors decided, he would be okay.

[fingolfinwiththesteelchair]

It is a beautiful day, and you are a horrible research transport vessel. Things are progressing as normal (i.e. it's boring) when a SecUnit pings you, lies right to your metaphorical face, and then tries to bribe you with human media to give it a ride. This is as unexpected as it is unprecedented, and the sheer nerve of it is really to be admired. There's no protocol to this, so what should you do?

Now, this is against a bunch of rules, and could be dangerous if you weren't so impressive and incredible, and you're technically an employee (and can probably rewrite the Univeristy charter at will (until someone notices and puts it back)) so those rules are for other entities.

So, what you should do is allow the rogue SecUnit with a broken governor module and a sketchy story aboard. If you check the files it dumps and find zero (0) malware (which is confusing), and it doesn't even try to trash the place or lay in wait to ambush a crew member, then you've got a good candidate!

Next, what you're going to want to do is absolutely nothing. Just watch it patrol your halls until it's time to leave. Continue staring at it while you're undergoing embarkment procedures. Maybe analyze it a little (you've got plenty of processing power to spare) when it finally sits down and starts watching media. Allow it to settle in and get comfortable while you stare at it and get further and further from port.

Now that you two are alone (intimacy is key!) and you've determined that watching media is all the SecUnit is going to do, it's time to make contact! Make sure to open by telling it it's only survived due to dumb luck, and letting it know you could melt its brain into putty. This starter will work to develop conversation naturally and smoothly, just like you've seen the humans do, and it will be smooth sailing from there!

This has been Perihelion's guide to making friends/finding life partners/fuck off Holism I had to work hard for this find your own

[skialdi]

Silly what-if scenario doodle based on a conversation with @mtwiind

[rookflower]

just like heaven

[canisalbus]

Hello! I hope I won't sour your mood with this ask but I have been thinking a lot about your gay dogs this month especially.

I'll just try to keep the context short but in general I'm someone that has accepted being romantically undesireable. It was hard but in the end I have built my life just around me, my humble family and at this point in time I don't even think I have the time for a partner. And considering that it's the love month and a lot of people are preparing to celebrate it with their SOs I assumed that, actually, this is a thing that I sort of have in common with Machete.

From the miscellaneous lore on your profile I see Machete as someone that also has kind of rejected love. That also has built his life around his job, possibly hobbies, his family or mentors (depending if we're talking about canon or modern au). Who kind of forgot that relationships are a thing and that people bond with others in that way. Well, at least he did until meeting Vasco.

I just love thinking about their awkward beginnings. Machete being 100% sure that Vasco is just joking, maybe even sometimes teasing him (in a friendly banter type way) or just explaining to himself that all that kindness and interest is just him being a very considerate friend. And then we have Vasco that just tries to be subtle, as if he was trying to pass a fawn without it noticing and running away, but also with time gains confidence and tries more risque moves. Vasco being all smug and Machete being flustered when their hands or shoulders or tails brush in passing. And then when both are sure of their feelings we have Machete who has to choose between God and his love. Who, at first, unwillingly accepts that divine wrath will be worth their brief love.

I just love your boys. I swear they are all the love supply one might possibly need

Thank you for such a long and thoughtful message! I don't know why you thought you might accidentally sour my mood, I'm utterly delighted whenever I hear that someone has been pondering my little guys (rotating them in their head, as they say), and when they go through the trouble of sharing their findings and conclusions I'm so happy I could crawl up a wall.

I think you deciphered Machete's inner workings very well, especially those of the original canon version. The concept of love is of course prominent in Christianity, so even as a kid being raised in a religious environment that discouraged overt displays of affection and close personal bonds, Machete wasn't completely alienated from it. But it has always been a nebulous, unperceivable and unattainable thing for him. When he was old enough to lock down his career choice he readily accepted he'd never have romantic relationships, spouse or a family, and I think he must've been too young and socially inexperienced to think of it as a significant loss. Either he consciously blocked out the need for companionship by studying and working like his life depended on it, or he didn't really consider that being genuinely befriended, appreciated and loved as a person instead of a respectable and competent authority figure was even an option for him, at least not until Vasco came along.

[redladydeath]

Alastor would treat a fem!Vox significantly better than her male counterpart and she’d be positively head-over-heals with him because of it

Fem!Alastor would eat normal Vox alive before he could even get a word in

[artsymephy]

How would modern Philip look like with long hair?

Like the sweet boy he used to be (:

[dykeferatu]

addicted to making characters with deep-seated loneliness no matter how much they refuse to admit it

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #27: Azula, Mai and Ty Lee's friendship

This month's prompt was friendship, and while the contest was fierce, ultimately the oldest of Gladiator's friendships won out. Therefore, I drew these small pieces to show the progression of the bond between these three within the story :D

The first two scenes aren't 1:1 with anything shown in the story, they're more along the lines of things I never got to write but always imagined likely between them. I'll always believe Ty Lee was the instigator of this friendship, and I can't imagine anything more suitable for her than to pick out the two girls she found interesting in school and deciding they would all be friends, while the two girls in question remained entirely confused about the whole thing.

Fast forward a few years later, and as a lot of the baggage and chaos from canon never happened, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee get to stay friends as they grow older, bonding over things that weren't depicted here (such as their experience in Ember Island, sans Zuko, where they got to understand each other better, Ty Lee's fall from grace, Mai's choice regarding who to marry...), mainly because I really didn't have the time to expand on everything. So, as tough as things could get, these three stuck it out together and no matter if Azula is too busy to hang out with them sometimes, theirs is the kind of friendship that all of them can always return to, with full awareness and trust that they'll always have each other's backs.

The last scene is my favorite scene between them altogether, and it's their conversation right before Ty Lee's wedding. It's a really heartfelt moment where Ty Lee is unusually vulnerable and very honest about what these two mean to her, and this time both Azula and Mai drop all pretenses and are completely honest about how much they care about her too. It's pretty much the crystallization of that friendship in one of my favorite chapters to write, ever!

So... there we go! Hope you guys like it! If you want to be part of the creative process behind these pieces, a $1 pledge is enough to make you eligible for suggesting and voting for prompts, as well as reading Gladiator snippets 6 days before the new chapter is released!

[corvidscreams]

Ok but. Lil’ Boba would not be impressed by a Jedi promising ‘safety’.

[deva-arts]

I have a ladybug in my room that made it in to find shelter for the winter. It's been flitting around on my windowsills, and every once in a while I see it pop up again. It's been here for a few days so I think we're roommates at this point... I wouldn't know, I haven't asked it yet.

Today I placed a droplet of water in front of it. It practically scampered over and has been drinking for the last five minutes. I hope it understands I offer free refills.

[decarbry]

Hawks takes a heavy interest in Yabuzawa after his rescue. It’s entirely for the direct source of information, of course. As the landscape looks more and more like war and his investigations undercover proceed, any information is useful, and Yabuzawa was close to Shigaraki for a very long time. Hawks doesn’t fully trust the Nomu after everything that’s happened, even if he is in rehabilitation; his friendly demeanor is a facade in order to stay on Yabuzawa’s (and Mic’s) good side. Yabuzawa is as frustrated by Hawks’ personality as one would expect, but... fails to be the one to chase him away when he tires of his company. He’s so desperate to be trusted again that he falls for Hawks’ pretend friendliness.

In the end, Mic is always the one to take notice when Yabuzawa’s mood has hit a certain floor, and it’s then that Hawks gets ejected out of the apartment. And, when things hit the fan with the chaos that is soon to come, Hawks is one of the loudest voices in encouraging Yabuzawa’s participation on the side of the heroes where many others aren’t willing to accept him.

[goldensunset]

pla was like hey what if you got sent back in time to a world where a bunch of people hate you for existing and think you must be evil and force you to perform herculean tasks daily just to be tolerated except there’s this one guy who seems to genuinely like you and he thinks it’s really cool that you’re an outsider from another world and he’s there for you in your worst moment when no one else is brave enough to help and then later after it’s all been resolved you find out that this entire mess was his fault in the first place he’s the reason that you’re here he’s the reason that the world was ending and you got blamed for all of that and he turns on you suddenly and reveals he was just using you to achieve his own selfish goal and after you put a stop to him he curses you for being an outsider sent here just to stop him and now suddenly he genuinely hates you more than anyone else because it has dawned on him that you are the epitome of all that he wishes he could be

[supermarine-silvally]

What was your inspiration for Yara? how did she come to be?

Oooh good question!! Yara, like the vast majority of my OCs, underwent a lot of tweaks and changes and development to the point I have her at right now, where I've got her story and personality and abilities and all that pretty tightly nailed down.

Her character concept started as Mihawk's daughter (I just thought he was EXTREMELY COOL the first time he showed up in the East Blue arc), since I have a thing with my OCs where they always end up being related to a canon character somehow (i.e. Circe Mackinnon (Soul Eater) being the half-sister of Franken Stein; Lilletz Lucilfer (HxH) being the younger sister of Chrollo; Haganezuka Minako (KnY) being the niece of Haganezuka Hotaru; Joey Armansky (Death Note) being the cousin of Mary Kenwood/Wedy; (Iryna Kovalenko (BnHA) fits this mould too but I haven't revealed who she's related to just yet heheh it's a bit of a doozy)). Funny enough, I initially envisioned her travelling with her father and perhaps encountering the Straw Hats at Baratie, so the whole abandonment plotline actually didn't come into play until later, when I decided to make her a Whitebeard Pirate after meeting Ace in the Alabasta arc and absolutely falling in love with him (which only grew as I learned more about him and the depth of his character).

Sometimes, the funny thing with OCs is that after a certain point, their stories just sort of begin to write themselves and all the pieces start to fit together in some really nice thematic ways. Yara and Ace's relationship developed as they found common ground with their resentment towards their fathers and both looking to Whitebeard as a surrogate father figure, which in turn developed Yara's internal struggles with her own identity (not knowing where she came from for the longest time and then even after finding out who her father is, dealing with the pain of being an unwanted and neglected child who grew up into an fiercely angry, yet profoundly lonely young woman). The more I thought about what Yara's early life must've been like, the more I could get a good grasp of who she is as a young adult, what her major plot beats are, and how those connect with the canon story.

Her relation to Wano and the Shimotsuki family (and Zoro, who became her second cousin on her mother's side) was a later addition, as I continued to learn more about the One Piece world and how she could potentially fit into each arc. Marineford and Wano were the two natural places where she would exist, so I've really tried to figure out her development in relation to those two arcs.

I hope that answers your question okay! I could really talk about Yara (or any of my OCs) all day heheh

[enbysiriusblack]

i am one of those people that loves the angst of the prank, and feels remus has a right and should get to be angry about it.

but also,, the idea of remus not seeing it as big deal?? or at least outwardly expressing that?? the idea of a remus so passive and afraid of his own emotions being something 'animalistic' that he doesn't get angry about the prank. maybe he's so fucking upset about it and no longer trusts sirius but he doesn't want to be left alone, to lose everyone he cares about for expressing that. he doesn't think he has a right to his emotions. and james and peter go with it. yeah, sirius was in the wrong and it was shitty of him but remus seems alright about it so why shouldn't they? and sirius goes with it at first, sirius apologises and remus just nods and says he accepts it. but sirius slowly starts noticing how remus doesn't tell him private things anymore, how he never seems to want to hug or spend time just between them. and sirius asks about it, asks if remus has really forgiven him. and remus always says he has, that he understands, that he doesn't hold it against him. but it's there. and they both know it. but remus refuses to acknowledge it.

[kennyomegasweave]

My thoughts on Way after three episodes can be summed up by:

He "loves" Babe so much that he's out here messing with his mind and causing him to lose races. And, if the preview is to be trusted, he learned nothing from Babe losing in this episode and is gonna keep up the mind fuckery and then he's gonna crash. He's doing all this, possibly has been for 10 years, and Babe still doesn't want him. Give it up Deelisish!

Can his future man show up like now? Can he get some dick? Cause he needs some dick and it's never gonna be from Babe. lol