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pearlywritings · 1 year

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Sometimes the name doesn't matter

synopsis: sometimes it matters that you are his wife. PART 2

pairings: Capitano, Kaveh, Tighnari, Zhongli x fem!reader (separately)

tw: fluff, established relationship, hurt/comfort; hybrids, unwelcomed courting, kind of female objectification (all in Tighnari's part)

word count: 6.9k+ words

a/n: part 1 can be read here!

Capitano

Fast elegant fingers of a pianist run across the keys of black and white and the violins in the hands of other musicians are there to serve together with the chorus of beautiful voices, selected by Lady Columbina personally. The music infiltrates the souls of the nobles present, filling them with the sense of grandeur and glory, touching even their harsh unfeeling hearts.

The atmosphere of the gathering is gratifying, would’ve even been endearing if not for the stately figures of the Harbingers standing on both sides of the throne, where the Tsaritsa would've been seated had she not decided to refrain from attending it altogether. She has more important matters to take care of, and nine of her most loyal servants can definitely fill in her place on that yearly event.

Sure, this year it is more important since the two Harbingers are missing and the seats stay vacant - it's been the talk of the nation. Who is going to be nominated? Can it be influenced? Will they claim the names today?

Is the mysterious Commander, whose arrival became the topic of multiple speculations, be the one? A fierce warrior many heard of, but almost none saw face to face. The man was believed to be as powerful as the 11th Harbinger or maybe even the 10th! Having an army and an establishment of his own on the farthest line of the Snezhnayan border, he still is under the command of Lord Capitano, which makes it even harder to fish any more information than what is already known to the public.

"I only heard about him. He and his troops are protecting our borders from the monster's invasion in the North."

"Ew, who would've wanted to live in the North! It's much harsher than all the Snezhnaya."

"Shush, the Commander is wealthy and respectful, you can bear some cold."

"What do you imply?"

"The Commander is unmarried, there is no way he isn't, not with a life like this. But it can always be changed, and the woman he takes as wife would be one of the luckiest ones!"

"You are right… Maybe he is actually handsome. Maybe he'd be even willing to buy a whole mansion for his promised one and not take her with him to that awful place. Maybe…"

Maybe, maybe, maybe. It travels through the crowds like a storm in its wake, eventually reaching the Harbingers, who, for the first time after appearing and greeting the already arrived, stop resembling the statues. Eyes shift among the people and each other; some gazes hold interest, some - annoyance. Only Pantalone has an ever present smile on his face, fingers clasped in front of him and sapphire rings sparkle in the ballroom light.

"Looks like Capitano's estimated soldier caught everyone's attention. My, my, how curious and nosy the people can be…"

"I understand the curiosity though," admits Childe, arms crossed to prevent laying even a finger on his blade, that is resting on his hip. "This person sounds like an interesting specimen… I've heard of his talents in both strategy and tactics, and it seems like his strength is a legend. I'd love to spar with him."

"Oh you, thinking only about fights, young man," Pulcinella disapprovingly shakes his head and raises his cane to point in the gingerhead's direction. "I highly doubt our guest will have time to spare, considering the period of time concerning the stay that was mentioned in the letter we received."

"And I believe the majority of that time would be spent with Il Capitano, isn't it right?" Columbina's soft voice must be drowning in the music, but everyone hears her loud and clear.

"..." The Harbinger stays silent and nothing can be read from his body language since he is the only one remaining still in his place, his huge looming figure resembling one of the full-set armor nobles like putting in their halls as a part of interior. Except this one isn't empty.

"So much potential to become my test subject, to be perfected... Yet lost to the lands of Northern regions," Dottore huffs in disappointment, his sharp teeth peaking when he clicks his tongue. "Say, Pierro, can't things be rearranged? I'd happily have our dear border protector as my underling."

The silence between the nine suddenly becomes thick. There is something indescribably tense in the air and only Childe can't understand why some of his colleagues seem to be more interested in how the Captain would react and not the 1st of the Harbingers..

"You know why this can't be rearranged, Dottore," the stare of an icy blue eye would pin everyone to the ground, destroying their will and order to obey, though doing little to scare the Doctor. "And it was favored by the Tsaritsa herself."

The finality of the short statement makes the scientist back down from the proposition he's been bringing up every time the topic touches the Commander, yet ending up the same way as always - with an ultimate rejection.

Three heavy thuds make everyone in the room fall silent. Many heads turn to look at the ceremonial staff hitting the floor the last time and staying still in the hand of a tall, thoroughly dressed man.

"The protector of the Northern border, the glorified and esteemed warrior of Her Majesty Tsaritsa, The Commander has arrived," the master's of ceremonies voice carries like a thunderclap, cutting off the quite leisurely music the orchestra was playing for the dances and entertainment.

The rustle of note sheets is fleeting and not a moment later the musicians straighten in their seats, taking a deep breath. Trumpets boom in a spacious room and make nobles shiver in surprise, some especially susceptible women even lean on their partners for support. The choir and the violins join the triumphant song the brass instruments sing, signaling that the time has come.

Everyone holds their breath as the tall heavy doors leading to the ballroom are being pulled open. Everyone has their gaze glued to a slowly growing gap. Everyone keeps their eyes wide open, afraid that even one blink can cost them missing the legendary sight.

Everyone gasps.

The tall figure enters, posture straight and shoulders squared, confidence evident in every step. Black satin clothes are adorned with golden chains and intricate patterns. The white military coat stayed resting on the shoulders - showing off the position, the closeness to the Harbingers. And then there is the face - a scar crossing the left brow, calm bored eyes, not sparing anyone a glance, which do not fit the other female features of your face.

Yes, the Commander happens to be a woman.

Stopping by the steps leading to the throne, you bow - not kneel, bow, - holding your open palm by the heart and respectfully closing your eyes. Music stops.

“Greetings, my lords. Let Tsaritsa bless you and your mission.”

“Let Tsaritsa bless you and your service to her,” Pierro says, raising his hand. “Lift your head,” which you do, looking him right in the eyes, yet still holding your hand by the chest. “There is time for duties and there is time for entertainment. And tonight, given your rare visits to the capital, I suggest you enjoy the latter.”

“Much obliged, Lord Pierro.”

And with a wave of the older man’s hand, the orchestra starts a new composition, waking up the ones who were in a daze, reminding others they are here for drama.

And the first one to take action is the 11th Harbinger.

“Commander, Sir- I mean, Lady?” The gingerhead is the closest to you out of all his colleagues, having only to descend a few steps to be on your level. “I’ve heard a lot about you, many admirable things. How do you look at sparring?”

“Right in the middle of a ballroom? Quite positively, young man,” your lips twist in a half-smirk, baring a sharp pearly canine. “But I believe the nobles have already had enough shock to take and rumors to create. Maybe another time. Haven’t seen you before though. Are you new?”

“Tartaglia, the Eleventh Harbinger, Lady Commander.”

“Ma’am would be enough,” you click your tongue, glancing behind and noticing how slowly, but surely some of the aristocrats are inching towards you, clearly interested in conversation, Well, you are not. “On second thought, starting a duel right now and here doesn’t sound like a bad idea…”

“I’ve always known you are quite insane,” Arlechino butts her way in the conversation, giving you only a small nod as a greeting. You simply glance at her.

“For years I’ve been hearing of my insanity, think of something new,”

“How about, ‘the one who knows no limits’?” Pantalone’s smile is as dazzling as it’s fake and sometimes your hands are itching to strangle the man. Maybe even go all the way out and bite his head off. Literally.

“The only ones who know no limits are the wind and the stupidity. I’m neither. Who I am though,” your gaze travels higher, to the steps closest to the Tsaritsa’s throne, to there Pierro and the first three Harbingers are standing, “is a wife. And I’d like to have a dance with my husband.”

Not many heard your words, but the ones who did, gasp loudly, staring at you with wide eyes. Which get even wider when Il Capitano, a seemingly motionless statue before, turns in his place and, without a pause, steadily descends to you. Now, as you are standing so closely it becomes evident how obviously your outfits match. The chains, the patterns, even the precious stones - everything. Perhaps it is terrifyingly cute. Perhaps it's cutely terrifying.

“Husband,” your smile again, offering him your hand, which he immediately envelopes in his big clawed one.

“Wife,” is the first word the big figure rumbles for the evening, the void of its helmet staring at you. And that’s all you speak to each other, hearing the beginning of another melody and turning to join the dancing pairs.

“...What was that?” Childe voices what’s been plaguing the minds of the attendees. “First the Commander appears to be a woman, and now she is married to the Lord Il Capitano?” He glances at Pulcinella, who joins his side and decides to watch the pair that caused a commotion have their fun. “Do they not use their names?”

“They find no sense in them,” the Rooster answers just the last question. “And,” he lowers his voice and the ginger has to bend down to hear the next words, “I didn’t tell you that, but the Captain really loves calling her his wife. So be quite cautious while seeking a fight with her. You might end up impaled. By either of them.”

Kaveh

With a soft smile you watch a group of children merrily leaving their classroom, interrupting each other in attempts to tell everyone how exciting the lesson was. They do not forget to grin and wave at you, passing by, and you return the sentiment, contently observing their happy faces and sparkly eyes.

Every time this happens, a strange sense of fulfillment overtakes you - supporting and sponsoring Kaveh was one of the best decisions you’ve ever made. The greatest architect of nowadays is offering his guidance to the young generation, teaching them everything about beauty and practicality, helping them to develop their own creative vision, and at the same time boosting the confidence of kids of all ages. And you couldn’t be prouder of him.

Him, who meticulously prepares for every single lesson. Him, who is oh-so-gentle with his words and precise in his speech. Him, who teaches both Sumeru citizens and people coming from abroad. Him, who is as passionate about it, as he is about his designing job, telling you every single detail of how the lessons went on your way home or over the dinner. Him, who is happy and who makes you happy too with that fact alone.

When the last kid leaves, marking the ending of the final class for today, you glance at the clock. Now Mister Meticulousness will need half an hour to tidy up the classroom and put all the tools away. Tomorrow is free from classes at his (he always corrects your as in the both of you) school, so you can collect your stuff as well - after all, being the manager of this establishment and Kaveh specifically requires your presence. You can be strict and unyielding whenever he can’t and this partnership proves to be successful every day.

Just as you are writing down some financial staff, there is a soft knock on the doorframe. Immediately lifting your eyes you hum, observing a very good-looking woman and a boy, shyly holding onto her hand.

“Hello, how can I help you?” With a quill laid on top of your accounting book, you stand and round the table, offering the two to step closer.

“Ah, hello, miss…” eyes with long, pretty lashes flit to the name tag attached to your clothes, “...Y/n. This is master Kaveh’s artistic school, am I correct?”

“Yes, you are. Are you here to sign your boy up for a class?” You offer her son a sweet smile and he answers you with a small lift of his lips.

“Mhm. You see, he is a big fan of master Kaveh and his works - can study the pictures of his designs taken by Kamera day and night.”

At that, the boy lowers his gaze and blushes a little, digging a hole in the ground with the tip of his shoe.

“Oh, really?” A gasp that escapes your chest is one of excitement. “That’s marvelous! I am sure your hopefully soon-to-be-teacher will be very interested in hearing your opinion of his works, young connoisseur,” he giggles, lifting his eyes at you again, and there you see undisguised delight. “Oh, but my bad, I didn’t ask your names…”

The woman’s lips bare two rows of perfectly white teeth as she smiles at you, introducing herself and her son.

“We are from Fontaine actually. But my parents wanted to spend some indefinite period of time in Sumeru for their health and we decided to join them. So while we are here, I thought I’d make my son’s dream come true.”

“That’s so nice of you,” you can’t help but admire her a little for that. “I can tell you first a little about our school, you’ll ask all the questions you need to, and then I’ll show you around. Kaveh should be done with cleaning by then, so there’s a big chance you’ll even talk to him personally.”

“Really!?” That’s the first time throughout your entire interaction when the boy opens his mouth and actually makes a sound. “Master Kaveh is here right now?”

“He is. But can’t promise a long conversation - there are still blueprints waiting for him back at home.

“Ah, right… He is the great architect after all,” the woman hums, staring to the side as if in thought. “Between the commissions he takes and this school he must be making good money. Not to mention so handsome…”

Oh… What a familiar tone, what a familiar look in those eyes. Suddenly that ounce of respect you felt for her disappears.

“Money is irrelevant to him as long as he reaches his goal,” is your restrained response.

“Ah, of course! Handsome, sweet, kind, good with kids and is not a snob. Sweety, you ought to charm him for me!” She pinches her son’s cheek. “Imagine Master Kaveh as your daddy!”

Oh Archons, again?

There is absolutely no doubt that the light of Kshahrewar is not only well-known and popular among kids, but is thirsted after by women. In a half of a year your school has been existing, there were numerous times when moms of little students made comments alike or some single females trying to schedule private sessions with the architect. What a sagacious decision it was to make group studying only, it saves you some drama, once the legal document is shown. Though there are exceptionally persistent examples…

But this time you pity the kid a little, because he genuinely seems to admire Kaveh. And his next words make you internally cheer for the little guy.

“Master Kaveh as my dad? But mom, I have a dad already,” the boy pouts, rubbing at the pinched cheek. You notice a red mark and two little crescent moons that her nails left on a tender skin. “I love him and don’t need another one.”

“Sweety, you just don’t understand how great it would be to have such a dad! Just trust my word-”

“Ahem, Madame, I kindly ask you to deal with your family affairs once you are out of here. As for the school - I am open for discussion.”

The displeased way she glances at you doesn’t go unnoticed, but you do not show it anyhow, calmly staring back at her, while your hand reaches up to your chest. As if finally remembering her initial reason for coming here with her son, the woman sighs and puts a palm on the boy’s shoulder.

“Of course, miss- I’m sorry I forgot your name…” And her eyes flit to the name tag again.

Momentarily the woman squints from the light reflecting on the metal, and when she blinks the bright spots away, there is a beautiful golden ring on your hand. The hand that is holding the flipped tiny plate with just two words engraved in it.

"Kaveh's wife"

With widened eyes she stares back at your sweetly polite smile. Not saying a word as if letting the notion sink in, you walk to the wall. Grabbing the backs of two chairs you drag them to your table so they could sit, and take your rightful place in front of them.

“If you are here for something aside from or instead of signing your son up for classes, I believe my name should be irrelevant to you. My status though,” you knock a nail twice on the badge, “must. So… what are you here for, Madame?”

The boy climbs onto his chair right away, while his mother tarries a little, still shocked by the revealed fact and your suddenly changed demeanor. She needs a couple more seconds to compose herself, but eventually she too sits down.

Despite what happened earlier, your conversation proves to be fruitful and fifteen minutes later you are showing around the school, sharing some additional information and answering every single of the kid’s questions.

When in the last room you find your husband, closing Mehrak and looking ready to leave, the boy lets out a gasp. The sound attracts the man’s attention, and he turns to the three of you with a soft smile.

“Oh, hello there, little guy!” The blond waves at him, breaking the blissful stupor of a child that immediately turns red and hides behind his mother. Surprised, Kaveh looks at you for explanation but, instead, takes notice of your name’s replacement. Oh wow, this again. What was the last time you did that? Two weeks ago?

“Ah, Master Kaveh!” The woman charmingly smiles, batting her lashes at him, which would’ve made you cringe had it never happened before. “You see, my son-”

“Pardon me, Madame, give me a moment,” the male softly interrupts her and reaches for a similar metal plate on his chest with his own name to flip it. It’s almost comical how sour the temptress’s face got in a second.

And there is what for. Now two words are proudly matching yours, engraved in an equally beautiful cursive to remind the world who the two of you become once stripped of your names.

Just his ”Y/n’s husband” to your “Kaveh’s wife”.

And like that one more kid takes part in your lovely school and one suitor less is after one of its founders.

Tighnari

With each passing day of your team’s research in the desert you found it harder and harder to control yourself. Some days you were even on the verge of clawing and biting, tail and ears twitching in annoyance and pupils turning into wild slits, making your hybrid nature more obvious.

Was it because of the research? No, it couldn’t be farther - your colleagues have been making so much progress, heeding your advice and following your lead. Was it the location perhaps? A little, but you learnt how to deal with heat and dryness. Was the process taking too much time? On the contrary, you are on your way home already, having finished the job 4 days earlier than you estimated in the beginning.

Then what on earth could possibly trigger you like this?

Well…

“Hey, forest foxy, want me to catch the Consecrated Flying Serpent for you?”

Ah yes, him.

Never again will you trust the higher ups at the Akademiya to sponsor your team with the bodyguards. Out of every possible candidate, your Herbad-titled colleague concluded that hiring five descendants of Valuka Shuna would be a marvelous idea.

“They are the desert kind - they’ll be good guides.” “Look how much stronger they are, they’ll definitely protect all of you.” “They are of the same kind as you, Y/n. Don’t you think it’ll be easier for you, as the leader, to have someone akin with you?”

No, it absolutely would not!

Desert fennec hybrids are different from the forest ones - and it’s not even the case of your green and their sandy brown fur or their more brutal physique against your more delicate one. It’s their character and world perception. You’ll never call them barbarians, but they really developed more of the animal nature than your kind did.

And from day one it was a pain in the butt.

One of your five new bodyguards was clearly the leader - he was bigger and broodier, with more scars littering his body, and his whole stance was screaming of a higher position. When you were introduced for the first time, something lit up in his grayish eyes, which were looking you over appreciatively. You ignored that, more focused on the discussion of the upcoming expedition and making sure the five were aware of what was required of them.

Luckily they were, and, admittedly, they did fulfill their task meticulously, proving to be great help. If only one of them wasn’t so diligent.

You lost count of how many times the leader tried to get into your personal space and you had to move away. Of the numerous invitations to hunt together. Of the endless displays of his strength and abilities. Of the many conversations you didn’t even try to eavesdrop on (they talked pretty loudly) around the topic of when will your shell be cracked and you’d accept the male’s courting attempts.

The answer was obvious, but he just never got it. Even when you called him for a serious conversation on the turning-into-an-issue matter.

“With all respect I must ask you to stop with whatever you’ve been doing to woo me. I have a husband.”

You still remember how he blinked at you dumbly, clear lack of understanding written on the sun-kissed face.

“...and?”

“The heck do you mean ‘and’?”

“Well, you don’t have a mate?”

It was your turn to stare at him speechless, ear twitching and tail curling closer to your legs. It was getting worse than just ridiculous.

“If we are speaking in such terms, then my husband is my mate. So, please-”

You nearly gasped when the male immediately leant closely, violating your personal space and practically stuffing his nose against your neck. Shocked by such lack of shame, you lost the ability to talk or move for a moment, gaping at him sniffing around and humming upon the discovery.

“You don’t wear anyone’s smell on you.”

You were not proud of yourself at that moment, but you absolutely lost it. Sharpened claws dug into his chest and with an angry snarl you pushed him back.

“Get away from me!”

You must’ve been a sight - canines bared and fingers twitching, ready to attack; fur standing on both your ears and tail, signaling your distress and eyes slitted in pure rage while directed at the man in front of you. The worst part? The idiot seemed to like it even more.

“What me and my partner do must be of no concern to you. I told you ‘no’ and I mean it.”

But bold of you was to assume he’d stop. Oh no, it’s gotten worse. Now he was actively calling you a ‘forest foxy’, absolutely abandoning your name and even trying to scent you. It was suffocating - the desert aridity was lighter in comparison to the male hybrid’s pheromones.

Never in all your academic practice have you wanted to return home so badly.

Fortunately, your colleagues quickly caught on to what was going on and always helped you to escape the unwanted interactions. Plus they were equally as mad as you were, because his individual scent irritated their human noses - and that was the main reason why you and Tighnari, both spending a lot of time around other people, did not practice it. Partly, you are sure, this whole situation was the reason for your earlier return - and you were grateful for their understanding.

However, your stubborn suitor did not dream of giving up. Killed desert animals were still offered to you, stories of his legendary battles with monsters were told for the hundredth time (even though no one was interested in listening at that point) and attempts to lure you with the musky smell once again made. Archons, and the green-furred fennec girls from your teens used to dream of that.

Maybe Lesser Lord Kusanali would be merciful and you’ll meet your husband somewhere on your way?

“Herbad Y/n!”

…wow, that was quick. Not Tighnari, but incredibly welcome too.

“Collei!” For the first time in days there is a reason for your soft smile. Which the young girl mirrors, waving at you from not so far away. You notice a couple more of the Forest Rangers at her side, and that sight alone makes you finally exhale in relief. You are so close to being home.

“Master is here too! Want me to get him?”

Oh, Dendro Archon, thank you.

“I’d really appreciate it, dear!” With a quick nod the green-haired apprentice disappears in the bushes, and you turn back to the scholars of your group. It’s time to abuse your power a little. “We are almost at the Devadaha Pool. Since all of you live in Sumeru City I hope you’ll excuse me for staying behind. As for you five,” your gaze moves to the bodyguards and it’s so hard not to rejoice - soon they’ll be just a memory, “I ask you to accompany the rest of my team to the Akademiya. Then you can consider your job done and be free. Keep the payment for the last three days that didn’t happen - think of it as a bonus for a good job.”

All but one eagerly nod and bid you farewell with wishes of getting home safely. And frankly speaking? You couldn’t care less for that one when you spot familiar and oh so dear big pointy ears with an intricate golden earring adorning one of them.

“Tighnari!” You didn’t want to sound so desperate, you really didn’t. But when those forest-like lovely eyes look in your direction, it becomes clear to you - the yearning has gotten unbearable.

“Y/n…” His smile is dazzling and the way his body immediately pushes to walk to you almost makes the memories of the last weeks’ events go away.

The key word - almost.

Someone grabs your elbow when you want to meet him halfway. Oh right, you already forgot about him.

“Let me go, you, imbecile!” And again you have to snarl and be rude, ripping your arm out of the strong hold and quickly darting into your husband’s embrace. The natural smell of the leaves, the flowers, the sweet and bitter concoctions he makes in his home laboratory, comfort you and your whole body goes nearly limp in his hold. It’s been weeks and you are tired of fighting with the brick wall - this time you want your lover to handle it for you.

“Y/n, my lotus, are you alright?” Gentle fingers comb through your hair and scratch at the base of your ears - a whole ass adult, that you are, wants to tear up. But you can only shake your head a no. “Has this man been bothering you?” This time it’s a yes. “I got you, dear.”

“So,” the browny green eyes sharpen upon staring at the cause of your current state, when it starts speaking, “you are that ‘husband’ the foxy has been talking about? I thought you’d be stronger. Or at least taller. Now I see that I was right and you really can’t be her mate.”

“Oh but I am. Not that we have to prove anything to a stranger. Y/n,” he carefully pries your face from his shoulder, caressing your cheek with a beanie pad, “let’s go home. You must be so-so tired.”

“I am, ‘nari. I am exhaus-”

“There’s no smell of you on her and vice versa,” the desert descendent of the Valuka Shuna seems to not be planning to stop. “Her neck is not marked. You let her wander by herself for weeks? And you keep calling her by the name. Her name should've stopped mattering once she became your mate!”

The hand around your waist tenses and you can feel the claws threatening to tear through the gloves he always wears. You don’t need to look at the face of your lover to know how pissed he is. And if Tighnari decides to attack him and tear his tongue out? You will not stop him.

“I am going to say it once and only once. She is not just a mate, she is my wife, by the Sumeru law and by the blessing of the Dendro Archon. And this fact must matter to you more than the case of her name. So fuck off and leave my wife alone. And if you don’t get it in a civil way - this woman is taken. And this territory is mine.”

With that, the Forest Watcher effortlessly lifts you in his arms and, holding you as if a precious bride, turns around to leave. You haven’t looked back once.

“You can’t imagine how much I missed being called your wife,” you quietly confess, wrapping your arms around his neck. “Especially after he didn’t listen when I said that I am.”

Tighnari hums sympathetically, leaning close to rub his nose against yours.

“Will it be okay then if today I address you as my wife only? When we join the other rangers, I mean.”

”...if you think I will be embarrassed - make it a whole week.”

With a soft chuckle your husband plants a kiss on your lips, sealing the deal and promising you tranquil days at last.

“As you wish, wife.”

Zhongli

"...and so Rex Lapis takes the form of a dragon, a majestic creature he was born as - the one of whom the fair maiden would never be scared of. Lady Guizhong's robes flutter in the tender wind traveling among the mountain peaks and caressing the earthly scales of the God's enormous body. His eyes, shiny as gold, gaze at her with an unfamiliar softness as she holds a gentle flower - a delicate gift from her lover, the one that proves that under all that armor is a stone heart capable of love. Heart that is beating for her."

To loud applause the Iron Tongue Tian bows his head, drawing the legend of the gods in love to its end. You cannot bring yourself to clap even politely, both hands on your lap, hidden under the table, twitching when a man beside you lets his gloved palms meet each other a couple of times.

It’s the second time you had to sit and endure the baloney from the very beginning to the very end, not to count all those times you overheard it in passing. From the moment you settled in the Liyue Harbor together with your husband, to live the rest of your incredibly long lives together among the humans, you've been painfully aware of their interpretation of Rex Lapis and his relationship with other immortal beings. Before that you rarely accompanied him during the walks, busy with helping Yakshas and other adepti protect the said humans to grant them a peaceful life - as immortal guardians grew fewer, every single one counted.

Never have you ever imagined that knowing so little of the citizens’ folklore would backfire so hard. It seems that people got somewhat bored listening to the stories of Liyue and Rex Lapis, no matter how many interpretations existed. Literature became more diverse in genres and romantic novels were on top of the list, so street narrators started losing their audience little by little. Before it could grow into something more drastic the new side of history was presented to the public - stories about love among immortals appeared and its freshness and uniqueness caught people’s attention immediately.

In their searches for new material, speakers dug through hundreds of volumes. The main interest was the Lord of Geo, of course. If you have a story of a presumably stone-hearted creature ever having fallen in love with someone - that’s pure gold! But who could you present as a love interest of the Archon? It must be someone very close to him and, obviously, no one is more well-known for that than the deceased Archon of Dust.

You sigh, reaching for your cup and declining Madam Ping’s offer to pour you some more tea - for an unclear reason the fellow adeptus joined you two tonight. You have thousands of years of life behind your existence, a soul hardened by constant battles, and mannerism as polished as a jade statue, yet for a moment you feel concerned that the woman would notice a pang of hurt in the smallest of your features.

Zhongli definitely noticed the first time. It was meant to be a date night - simple, but sweet, with the evening lights, delightful aroma of the finest tea and the tales pouring from skilled tongues reflecting the atmosphere of what your nation really is. However, the luck of the land of trades wasn’t on your side, as someone requested the “Guili legend” as they called it. At first you were confused. Then in disbelief, almost turning to look at your mate, with whom you were bonded long before he became allies with the ash-haired woman. In the end you felt something you thought was beyond you - bitterness.

When you left the restaurant, slowly walking back to your house, Zhongli’s fingers gently touched your elbow, asking for your attention.

“Does it bother you that much, my love?”

Bother you? Well… It does feel insulting when someone speaks of your husband having been in love with someone else, but mortals can’t possibly know the truth for many reasons.

“I can’t say it doesn’t,” you admitted calmly, stopping and turning fully to him. He did the same, gazing at you with a hint of worry in those golden eyes you loved so much. The ones, you knew, always looked only at you. “But it can’t be helped, right? There was a reason and mutual agreement why you, as Rex Lapis, made our union unknown to your people, and now, since you are “dead”? There is no one to tell our story. Don’t worry though,” you put a hand on top of his and smiled, when his other one was laid on top of yours in a gesture of comfort. “I can deal with it. I know you love going to the storyteller’s performances. I’ll just try to ignore what they say about you and Lady Guizhong.”

Sometimes Zhongli thinks he does not deserve you. Ever so patient and understanding, you always had your husband's best interest at heart. Marriage, however, in its basis is a form of a contract, and a good contract is all about both sides being equal in everything. And if you must know one thing about Rex Lapis - he never makes bad contracts.

When the audience calms down, the man decides to make his presence and intentions clear by raising a hand. From the corner of his eye he notices you slightly turning your head to glance at him, and he catches a glimpse of puzzlement in your gaze. He can't help but think how adorable you are, even if you deny it again and again, claiming that nothing can be adorable about a several millennia-old warrior. Maybe not, but his wife definitely is, and he thinks with a primordial pride igniting in his chest, that mating with you was the best decision his past self had ever made.

Reaching under the table he rests his free hand on top of yours, gently squeezing it in reassurance, offering you the warmth of himself, seeping through his glove. Just as your shoulders relax to his delight, the raised hand adorned with rings is finally noticed.

"Ah, Mr Zhongli! Such an honor to see a regular, especially someone as wise as yourself!" Iron Tongue Tian beams with a wide smile, closing his fan and focusing his full attention on the history connoisseur. "I doubt you have questions, given your vast knowledge, and I can't wait to hear what else you can add to this already heart-felt story."

You force your lips not to twitch, hiding behind the tea cup again. Suddenly it tastes bitter. But another squeeze your husband gives your hand doesn't let you dwell on it too much.

"You are correct, I do have some knowledge to offer. However, it might disappoint you, as it will completely destroy the story of the Geo Archon and the Archon of Dust."

The whispers ran through the crowd like a powerful wave, and you can see confusion written over every single face. But also, there is intrigue.

"I took it upon myself,” Zhongli however continues, “to invite Madame Ping to back up my story, as she was the witness to it," the elder woman - a well-known Adeptus that doesn't hide her existence among mortals - nods with a soft smile.

"I read this in legends a long time ago, but remembered only when the 'Guili legend' became popular. Rex Lapis indeed had a lover, however it was not Lady Guizhong," the gasps are almost deafening. Just as your quickened heartbeat.

And for the next hour the man by your side and the elderly-looking woman that joined you tonight proceed to tell the story of the adeptus, who was the first and only to ever bring the Geo Archon to his knees, to be worshiped like a goddess by his eyes, by his words, by his very heart. Of a warrior, whose fierce eyes and valiant nature made a dragon in Rex Lapis roar in delight. Of the woman, who entranced him with her beauty, caring soul and motherly attention directed to other adepti - Madame Ping adds with a laugh of how the two created a parent-like dynamic even before they became official (at that you find it so hard not to turn bashful).

They tell the legend of the silk flowers - the ones you might see everywhere in the vast lands of Liyue. How the Geo Archon personally asked the Dendro Archon for guidance to cultivate the tenderest of flowers, how he taught his people to make the delicate fabric out of it, but even then it couldn’t compare to the skin of his immortal mate.

They tell stories of how annoyed she was when the god turned into a dragon to fall asleep somewhere in the depths of the earth for years without telling her prior, and how he returned with the purest stones and metals and with his own hands forged the pair of matrimonial rings (yes, the ones wrapped around your fingers to this day).

Madame Ping fondly speaks of all those thousands of years of protection the said adeptus spent to make sure that her godly spouse’s people were safe and maybe just a tiny sliver of pride rushes through your heart at the public acknowledgement.

“But she wished not to be known,” the woman sighs and you know she glances at you reproachfully. Well-deserved, given the circumstances you are in right now. “Thus it’s not much of a surprise people made a mistake like that. Besides, you won’t find much information in written sources about her either way.”

“But she must have a name at least!” Someone from the fairly grown crowd exclaims.

“That she does,” Zhongli nods, lacing his fingers with yours under the table, lips tugging in a calm smile, when you squeeze his hand in return. “Though I am afraid it would be pointless to try and find out now - we wouldn’t want to disturb her mourning the departure of her husband, would we? After all, they must’ve loved each other so much.”

“But how can you be so sure?”

“Because,” golden eyes are on you, catching yours, pulling you in, whispering for your soul and heart to get lost in them, “I can understand how this love was born and got to bloom. My wife showed me that.”

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #il capitano x reader #capitano x reader #capitano x fem!reader #kaveh x reader #kaveh x fem!reader #tighnari x reader #tighnari x fem!reader #zhongli x reader #zhongli x fem!reader #il capitano #capitano #kaveh #tighnari #zhongli #genshin impact fluff

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genshingorlsrevengeance · 2 months

Note

Chiori, Navia, Furina and Bronya with an s/o who wears a full on tuxedo outside regardless of blazing hot weather or frigid cold, when asked the reason they simply reply “I look really cool while doing stuff” in it

(Genshin Impact/H:SR) Chiori, Navia, Furina, Clorinde, and Bronya's S/O always wearing a tuxedo

On some level, Chiori respects that S/O refuses to not be stylish.

But she could see the sweat dripping onto the white part of their tux, disgusting her.

(Chiori) "You realize that you're ruining your tux just by sweating, right?"

(S/O) "Oh come on, it's nothing that a washer can't take care of."

Her eyes shot up and down before her expression repulsed at whatever ran through her mind.

(Chiori) "Ew, no. It's so bad that I can see the shirt changing color. Go and change already."

(S/O) "But you never get out of that dress-"

(Chiori) "Because I can still breathe in it. You on the other hand are roasting alive in that. If you really must wear that thing everywhere, I can tailor it to where you won't be adding to Fontaine's water level."

Fashion was important to Chiori, and so was making sure your clothes weren't soaking wet on a dry day.

Navia absolutely understands S/O's struggle.

Looking fashionable on a hot summer day was hell on earth, the things she had to do to ensure there would be no sweat!

(Navia) "S/O, we need to make you an umbrella that complements your suit!"

(S/O) "You'd do that for me?"

Navia scoffs and smiles, hands going onto her waist.

(Navia) "Of course I would! We gotta make sure your fashion statement goes unimpeded, come on, I know what we're doing today!"

Navia and S/O walk side by side, with umbrellas in hand to protect them from the sun.

Sadly, S/O's doesn't turn into a shotgun, but Navia could have it special ordered for them if they wanted!

Furina never really feels that much of the heat, due to her usually staying indoors all the time.

But that being said, she appreciates that S/O always strived to look as good as her, no matter the weather or situation!

All that being said, she never really saw them wear anything else.

Either they had spares, or...

(Furina) "...S/O, I must ask, when was the last time you washed your suit?"

(S/O) "When was the last time you washed yours?"

Furina actually had an excuse! She could use her Vision to wash it out and let it air dry, then she could use lots of perfume and shower...That was good enough, right?

(Furina) "D-Do not dodge my question by asking me one! Don't tell me you just wear the same thing day in, day out!"

(S/O) "That's not fair, I never see you get out of that suit either!"

The two get into a mini argument about wearing the exact same thing every day, while proceeding to actually not change their outfits at all.

It ends with Furina snapping her fingers and changing into a slightly different variation of her usual, letting her get the upperhand.

Clorinde thinks S/O just looks way more gaudy than they actually are, always wearing a tux.

Granted, they were in Fontaine and gaudiness was what they were essentially known for besides their technology.

But she always felt like it attracted the wrong crowd, but its not like she had much room to talk.

(Clorinde) "...S/O."

(S/O) "Hm? What's up, Clorinde?"

(Clorinde) "I am aware it might be hypocritical to bring this up but...Must you wear that suit to this?"

(S/O) "Come on, Clorinde! It's not like this is any different to what I wear everyday."

(Clorinde) "While that is true, the fact you are in that first thing in the morning is concerning."

They were just brushing their teeth, and Clorinde had not even gotten into uniform yet, simply donning a nightgown with her hair neatly tucked behind her.

Wouldn't the water just get all over the suit anyway?

Bronya appreciated that S/O was always looking presentable, given that she was the Supreme Guardian of Belebog, and her S/O should not be caught lacking in the style department.

However, she swears that S/O has never worn anything else in their life.

Even before the Astral Express crew came along, before they had become a couple, S/O was in that suit.

Even more impressive considering that they were in the Eternal Freeze for their entire lives, but still chose to go out in that.

Seele had tried to drag her and S/O out multiple times to at least get something new to wear, which she admittedly didn't do a good job of wearing either.

But S/O's dedication to their one outfit bordered on psychotic.

(Bronya) "S/O, may I ask you something?"

(S/O) "Sure, what is it?"

(Bronya) "Do you have spares of that suit?"

(S/O) "One for every day of the week."

She just blinked at that revelation and sighed loudly.

(Bronya) "...We should change our wardrobe."

#genshin impact imagines #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact headcanons #chiori genshin impact x reader #navia x reader #furina x reader #clorinde x reader #bronya hsr x reader #bronya hsr #honkai star rail imagines #honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail headcanons

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danaewrites · 9 months

Text

you with the dark curls (you with the watercolor eyes)

part ii: i wanna hear you speak to me

james potter x reader // read it on AO3

word count: 3.6k

summary: “Falling in love with your best friend was never a good idea, but you’d managed to do the idiot thing anyway, carrying a torch for a boy who would never look past Lily’s emerald eyes to see the watercolor ones that had always been by his side.”

tags: best friends to lovers, angst with a happy ending, based on the song "dear arkansas daughter" by lady lamb, fem!reader

author's notes: new year, new chapter! i started writing this one back in SEPTEMBER and finally had enough time away from the terrors of calculus homework to finish it. thanks for reading my story so far and i hope you enjoy this incredibly self-indulgent chapter, because i had way too much fun writing it!! i promise that the angst in this chapter *will* be resolved, but it was too deliciously tempting to resist sprinkling a wee bit of hurt/comfort and dramatics in there as well. sorry not sorry!

read it all here: part i, part ii, part iii (coming soon!)

“I’ve got no bloody clue how Dumbledore can be so energetic all the time,” you groaned, head in your hands as you peeked out at the headmaster’s more-than-slightly manic grin from your seat at the Gryffindor breakfast table. You were far too sleep-deprived to process his latest choice of garish attire: a bright chartreuse robe covered in plaid polka dots, topped off with what appeared to be rhinestones and tinsel attached to his beard.

Perhaps if Kettleburn hadn’t assigned you three feet of parchment on the seventeen glorious properties of dragon dung yesterday and expected it done by this afternoon, you might have appreciated the headmaster’s creative fashion choices– oh, who were you kidding. There really was no understanding that wizard, even properly rested. James and Peter had made a bet during fifth year on how long it’d take Dumbledore to crack under a constant deluge of pranks in his office, but they’d quickly realized that the man was too far gone to do anything but take inspiration for school events– an idea that was quite frankly, comically frightening, and the sort of thing you weren’t keen on pondering on a normal Tuesday morning.

Sirius wrinkled his nose sympathetically and slid the pile of raspberry jam tarts closer to you. “Late night in the library again?”

You nodded sheepishly, gratefully taking a pastry from the pile. “I honestly don’t know why Pince allows me to stay past curfew. Marauder’s luck, I guess?” Your attention was diverted by the sound of hoots and flapping wings as the morning owl brigade arrived, apparently choosing a kamikaze dive-bomb approach to deliver this morning’s newspapers. Ah, the joys of living at the world’s most advanced magical school.

Sirius, ever the epitome of grace, slipped under the table as a rogue owl zipped past, popping himself back up just enough to throw you finger guns. “Exactly right, doll, exactly right,” he grinned. “Trust me, Marauder’s luck gets you everywhere. And I mean everywhere,” he winked, sending you a lecherous smirk.

“Ew, Sirius, I don’t even want to know,” you sniffed. “I’ve learned my lesson after the mental trauma your tales of Dorcas’ birthday adventures inflicted upon my psyche. Please, spare me the details.”

“What? All I meant was Slughorn’s Christmas Party, of course!” He batted his eyelashes angelically, still partially covered by the tablecloth.

Your mouth gaped open in shock. “Last year’s Christmas party? Sirius Orion Black, I refuse to hear another word! What on earth would your ancestors think, with you bragging about such exploits-”

He leaned over, eyes wide with laughter. “No, I meant the one Slughorn is throwing on the 21st, it’s exclusively for us lucky seventh years this time. Although, you bring up some very fond memories… okay, okay, I’ll stop, don’t kick me–”

“What are we kicking Sirius for?” James slid onto the bench across from you, eyeing a groveling Sirius with interest. Peter joined him, but wisely chose to stay away from the ruckus, piling his plate high with the bacon the owls had spared. Remus was noticeably absent, spending the morning resting in the infirmary after a rough night of shifting– which you assumed was much more peaceful than the current chaos at the Gryffindor breakfast table.

“Oh! Good morning, Jamie,” you beamed up at him, passing him the plate of desserts you’d been protecting from Sirius�� nefarious advances. “Morning, dove,” he greeted you, and then paused. “Ha, get it? Morning dove?” He puffed up his chest smugly and nudged Sirius with his elbow in a futile effort to make him laugh. You huffed fondly at his antics. Boys.

Sirius rolled his eyes and took advantage of your momentary distraction, retreating back onto his seat to nurse his wounds– to your ever-growing delight (and Sirius’ woe), you had recently discovered that the Hogwarts girls’ uniform shoes were quite sharp. “At this point we should call you Lames. ‘Cause your puns are lame,” he muttered.

You shooed him away with a brush of your hand, remembering what Sirius had mentioned earlier. “According to Sirius, Slughorn’s hosting a Christmas Party again this year. Let’s pray it won’t be like the last one.” You muttered. James and Peter both looked vaguely ill at the prospect, shuddering in unison. “My tie will never look the same again,” Peter griped, but suddenly sat up straight in his seat. “Hey, wait, we’re finally old enough to bring dates to this one! Without sneaking them in, I mean.”

Sirius snickered and lightly punched his shoulder. “Why, Petey, got some lucky girl in mind?” Peter reddened and glanced over at the Hufflepuff table, where a certain freckled blonde was chatting with her friends– a move that didn’t go unnoticed by James, who gave a delighted wolf-whistle. “You got a thing for Lucy Abbott, huh? Might want to make a move before Smith does,” he grinned, gesturing to the tall brunette boy who’d just arrived and sharing a knowing smirk with you. You giggled at Peter’s increasingly pouty expression; he’d figure out sooner or later that Smith was definitely not interested in Abbott– or witches in general– but it was entertaining to see him out of his comfort zone. Peter had always been the quietest of your little group, and you privately thought that a bit of momentary romantic angst might spur him to be more assertive. An ironic opinion, considering how your own love life revolved around the fact that your best friend had feelings for someone else… and you couldn’t do anything about it except mope.

Peter scowled. “Easy for you to say, Prongs, you’ve finally got precious Lily-flower wrapped around your finger. I bet you’ve already asked her!”

There it was: another reminder that James wasn’t yours, and never would be. You watched as the Gryffindor boys good-naturedly jostled his shoulder and tousled his curls. James grinned sheepishly, shrugging off their teasing. “Not yet,” he admitted, glancing hopefully at the end of the table, where Lily was chatting with her friends.

Peter rolled his eyes. “Aw, come on, we all know she’ll say yes this year.” Sirius winced, looking at you out of the corner of his eye. Peter glanced at Sirius, drawn by the movement. “What’ve you got to worry about? Half the population would kill Dumbledore to get one dance with you. The only person who’s got to worry about a date is me– well, and maybe Y/n, I guess.” His face suddenly turned contemplative, looking you up and down. “Are you going with someone?”

Sirius’ grimace became doubly pronounced at Peter’s tactlessness, and you felt your face heating up. Peter had a way of accidentally hitting on the issues others tried to hide. It wasn’t his fault he’d never heard about your trips to Hogsmeade with a paramour– in fact, none of the boys had. Because there hadn’t been any. You’d spent your entire time at Hogwarts pining after James, and as a result had missed the romantic milestones your classmates had already blissfully bragged about.

Peter looked at you expectantly, waiting for a response, and you opened your mouth to confess your lack of experience when you spotted a familiar redhead walking gracefully towards your side of the table– to James, you realized with a start. Something within you ignited as you watched her glow with confidence, carefree and lovely as ever. Lily would never pine after someone uselessly; she knew she could get anyone she wanted with the right amount of banter and flirty gestures. You... Well, you weren’t there quite yet, but maybe it was time to take inspiration from the Muggle saying and ‘fake it til you make it’. And before you could think about what you were about to do, you turned to Peter and smiled coyly. “I might.”

James’ and Sirius’ heads snapped up immediately from their perusal of the breakfast lineup as they let out an identical murmur of surprise. “What?” James furrowed his brow, looking you up and down– seemingly trying to discern whether you had taken a holiday from your senses, most likely via Bludger-induced concussion at the last Quidditch match. Sirius merely raised a questioning eyebrow at you. You groaned internally, knowing that you’d have to explain yourself later… although, if your half-baked idea worked, you’d be spending a lot more time with him anyway. For now, you beamed innocently at both of them and took a sip of your pumpkin juice. Apparently, the Sorting Hat had placed you in Gryffindor for a reason- you were either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish to commit to this plan, but with Evans quickly approaching, you saw no other choice.

Peter looked momentarily shocked, then glumly began to assemble an egg and bacon sandwich seasoned with the occasional mutterance of “unfair” and “perpetually single, my arse”.

James’ eyes were still trained on you. “Who is it?” he asked, searching your face again as if he was looking for some indication that you were joking. You shrugged, trying to look casual. “I guess you’ll just have to find out, won’t you?”

“Dove-” he began, but Lily finally reached his seat and placed one stupidly perfect hand on his shoulder, diverting his attention momentarily. “Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but Professor McGonagall asked me to bring you to her office for Quidditch scheduling.” James blinked, glancing up at her and then at the rest of the table. He stood up and focused on you again, expression clouded. “I’ll see you in Potions, yeah?”

Sirius stood up quickly, ushering him out of his seat with a speed you’d only seen him use to gulp down cheap Firewhiskey. He gave you a significant look. “Actually, Y/n and I were just about to take a walk, isn’t that right? So we'll both see you in Potions, what a sublime coincidence, now don’t be late for your meeting–” he chattered on as he shoved James toward the doors of the Great Hall, the latter eyeing him suspiciously but moving nonetheless. Sirius turned to you and pointed to the courtyard entryway. “You. Me. Talk, as in right now.”

Once you were sure that you’d made it out of earshot of Peter and the rest of the Gryffindor table, you wheeled around to face him. “Okay. First of all… I didn’t plan that.” Sirius raised an eyebrow again. “Second of all, I need a favour,” you pleaded, staring up at him with the most adorable doe eyes you could physically summon. They were usually most effective on James, for some reason, but you were sure that Sirius wasn’t immune to your manipulation either. He groaned, resting his face in his hands. “How do you even have a date? Last time I checked, also known as yesterday, you were still head over heels for Prongsie, doll. So do I need to check you for Amortentia or somethi–” He peered out from between his fingers with annoyed realization. “You don’t have a date, do you.”

You blinked innocently up at him. He let out a long-suffering sigh and ran his hands through his hair. “This is what you need the favour for? You want me to go with you to Slughorn’s party so you can pretend in front of the rest of Hogwarts that you’re not madly in love with Jamie?”

You grinned confidently up at him and slung an arm around his shoulders. “Aw, Siri, you know me so well. It’s almost as if you were maaaade to be my date for the party...” You fluttered your eyelashes up at him one more time for good measure, trying to hide a smirk. “Alright, alright, stop with the Bambi act, I’ll take you.” He scowled good-naturedly. “You know, this is going to ruin my dating pool for the next month.”

You scoffed. “As if! If anything, you’ll just have more people fawning over you– temptation of the forbidden apple and all, you know.”

Sirius brightened up considerably at this revelation. “Well, why didn’t you say so in the beginning, doll! I vote that we match in purple velvet, it does wonders for my complexion–”

You gave a very unladylike snort at the thought of you and Sirius swanning into the party in some sort of horrendous plum-coloured disco getup, and shooed him away towards the Potions classroom. That was an eyesore to imagine sometime when you weren’t about to get a headache from the dim dungeon lighting.

Slughorn greeted you and Sirius by directing you to the front of the classroom with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Oho, a pair of latecomers, I see!” He winked at you and Sirius in exaggerated motion. You winced as Snape jeered and nudged Malfoy, who was busy enjoying Flint’s crude gestures at you. Ugh, Slytherin boys. The worst of the lot. Their snickers were quickly stopped by James chucking a handful of powdered wormwood at their heads when Slughorn turned away, making Malfoy’s prized hair appear covered in soot. You shot him a grateful smile.

“Since you two missed my initial remarks, let’s see if you can make it up by identifying today’s potion, hmm?” Slughorn gestured dramatically to a shimmering green brew in a cauldron next to his desk, cherry-coloured smoke curling off of the top invitingly.

Sirius shot you a panicked look, clearly not expecting to be put in the academic spotlight, but you shook your head and stepped closer. You smelled something rich and incense-like, which meant that Bumburrel leaves were a key ingredient. And combined with the way the smoke was drifting lazily around your wrists, curling higher and higher… “Brew of Mandelian, sir. Used for sharpened acuity under times of pressure.”

Slughorn gave a delighted chuckle and clapped his hands. “Well then! Ten points to Gryffindor for paying attention in lectures!” He dismissed you and Sirius with a wave, moving on to explain the finer points of ingredient preparation to a very bemused George Goyle as you slipped into your usual seat beside James.

You worked in quiet harmony for a moment, methodically slicing and crushing the slippery beetles needed to give the brew its signature green colour while James handed you the insects. He broke the silence after six beetles (not that you had been counting or anything) with an awkward, “So… you have a, erm, date?”

You huffed, motioning for him to hand you the foul-smelling Moorish tubers next. “Honestly, James, is it that surprising?” He scratched the back of his neck, frowning. “Well, I– yeah, I guess.” he trailed off, seeing your expression.

“The tubers, Jamie, thank you. I mean, you looked at me like I was a ghost back in the Great Hall!” You were decidedly not making eye contact with him, trying your best to focus on the slimy plants in front of you and not the fact that your best friend-slash-unrequited crush doubted your romantic potential. What a way to be humbled– and while covered in tuber juice, no less!

He huffed, running a hand through his already messy curls. “Come on, Y/n, it’s not like that. What did Sirius want to talk about in the Great Hall, anyway? You two looked… chummy.”

You glared down at the copper slicing board. “Well, it’s none of your business how chummy we are, is it? I don’t interrogate you every time you converse with Peter. In fact, it’s rather expected that Sirius and I speak to one another on occasion, considering the amount of time we all spend together thanks to you.”

You moved to grab another tuber from the jar, but James reached out and grabbed your hand, forcing you to look at him. His hazel eyes were alight with frustration, a look you knew by heart thanks to the hours you’d spent tutoring him in History of Magic after he napped his way through the entire first semester. “Are you serious? You’re actually going with someone?”

“Please, Jamie, do enlighten me on whyever you think I couldn’t possibly get a date with my numerous and diverse charms,” you sniffed, hoping to Merlin that he would just leave the entire subject alone.

“No, it’s–” he groaned, leaning back in his seat. “The other boys, they don’t know how– you’re so, I mean, just look at you!” he exclaimed, gesturing at you. He stopped, frowning to himself, looking more confused than before. He glanced over at Lily, expression becoming even more muddled, brow furrowed and hard to read to anyone but you.

Your mouth parted in shock, and to your dismay you felt tears bubbling up again. You blinked fiercely, refusing to let him see you cry. James thought the issue was… your looks? You suddenly wanted to crawl under Slughorn’s desk and never come out again, except perhaps to find a shovel to dig your grave with. This was far, far worse than watching him transfigure chocolates for Lily every Valentine’s Day. Now you knew for a fact he didn’t find you attractive– thought other boys didn’t either, even! And the way he’d clearly mentally compared you to Lily after what he’d admitted… well. There was no recovering from that. Teenage boys could be dense, but Merlin, how you had wanted him to at least let you down gently.

You wished you’d never opened your mouth to lie about having a stupid date in the first place, but you forced yourself to laugh and mutter something trite about how that could all be fixed with a couple glamour charms anyway so it really wasn’t an issue for the party, thank you very much. He looked even more confused, opening his mouth to respond, but Snape chose that moment to interrupt.

“Hey, Potter!” James turned to scowl at the greasy Slytherin as you thanked your lucky stars for Snape’s interruption (a rather disturbing thought– potentially a harbinger of an imminent apocalypse. You’d never thanked Snape before in your life and hoped to never do it again). “Here’s payback for earlier,” he smirked, checking that Slughorn had dozed off and the other students weren’t paying attention before whipping a mottled yellow bottle at James.

James’ carefully honed Quidditch reflexes kicked in and he quickly dodged the object, but as the vial soared up, up, past your carefully diced tubers, over James’ messy notes, it hit your arms and shattered. You flinched in pain, crying out as the glass shards embedded themselves in your arm and the congealing, repulsive liquid dripped down your hands and onto your thighs. James lunged towards you, but it was too late– the potion had already seeped into your skin, causing an awful sparking sensation.

You gasped, grabbing onto the desk as the feeling bubbled upwards. “Jamie, I don’t– I don’t feel–” you stuttered, suddenly lightheaded, and you heard someone gasp as you began to taste something metallic. You absently touched your nose. Why was it so cold and wet? You had been so careful not to touch your face around those horrid tubers and oh, oh Merlin and Morgana what was that pain in your hands and legs, please no make it go away someone help me help me HELP

You vaguely registered someone whimpering in the background. It might have been you, but you weren’t entirely sure what was happening outside of the electric symphony of agony crescending in your nervous system. The pain built swirled flooded through until you weren’t sure where you ended and the potion began which was a funny thought because of course you were you, but you couldn’t remember who you were before this so you laughed but that really hurt, oh how that hurt no no no no no bad idea–

“Fuck– no–” James? Was he here too?

You blinked– when did your eyes open?– and saw him reach for you, frantically pushing his dark curls off his forehead. Why would he do that? You loved his hair, even when you were feeling funny awful things from the potion. You felt his arms scoop under you, lifting you off your seat as he caught your head from falling back. You heard a door slam open, footsteps, darkness clouding your vision–

His voice. “Sweetheart, no– don’t do that, I need you to keep your eyes open.”

You blinked again, trying to focus on James’ face. He looked pale, jaw set and tensed like it was before his Quidditch games. Were you moving? You couldn’t tell whether James was walking or the hallways were walking around you. He glanced down again, exhaling with relief once he saw whatever he was looking for. “Yeah, just like that. Keep those pretty eyes focused on me, okay?”

He thought your eyes were pretty?

James gave a tight laugh. “Yeah, I think your eyes are pretty, dove. Hold on a bit longer, we’re almost there,” he choked out.

Oh. Had you said that out loud?

But you thought– he had said something, before, you couldn’t remember now but it was important and it hurt–

Some part of you, deep where the potion hadn’t reached, had melted at his words. That part was tinged with pain, too, but in a different way, raw and honest and hopeful and all for him. Or maybe that was the potion, you were pretty sure witches weren’t supposed to melt unless they were green and lived somewhere much further west, but your thoughts on the whole process evaporated as you reached a white door and a woman and your words started to swirl until they melted too and everything went black.

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honeyoru · 1 year

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off the deep end (eddie munson x henderson! reader) chapter two

previous chapter

“You look different,” he said, wincing when you raised an eyebrow. You didn't understand why he was speaking to you.

Ignoring the way your heart fluttered at the sound of his voice, you slowly raked your eyes over his lithe form, feeling a little smug when you noticed his fingers twitching nervously.

His hair had grown since you last saw him, the long curls swaying slightly with the wind. He was dressed in the same fashion as he always had; ripped jeans, a Dio sweatshirt for the chilly weather, and a black leather jacket.

But his eyes.

Those were as dark as ever, but the emotion swirling in them now was a far cry from what you had seen last year. You swallowed hard and crossed your arms. “Different?”

“Hot!” Gareth supplied, leering at you. “He means hot. Well,” he paused with a smile, winking at you before nudging his best friend and giving a once-over to the tailored pants that accentuated your wide hips. “Hotter. Welcome back honey.”

That earned a snort from you, knowing the idiot was hamming up on purpose.

“I made her smile!” he cried. “We haven’t seen those pearly whites in a while, oh, my heart can’t take it.”

A gag came from your left side. “Ew man, that’s my sister!”

“Well she’s not mine–” He was cut off by a swift slap to the head from the taller boy next to him, whose eyes still hadn’t left you, a fact you only noticed because you, against your better judgment, were still staring at him too.

You’d been gone for too long, you surmised. The ice around your heart had melted a little too much, particularly towards him.

“The boots,” the Dungeon Master finally said. “It’s those, um, boots.”

“My… boots.” you repeated flatly.

“Yeah,” he gestured towards them. “They look like, super European. Totally different from what you used to wear.”

“Are you serious?” Mike repeated incredulously, in that snarky tone he loved to use. “You could have mentioned that her hair is also platinum blonde now, dude. It’s practically white!”

“And shorter!” Jeff added.

“But just as pretty as ever,” Gareth sang, dodging another hit.

“Time to go kids,” you rolled your eyes at the group of idiots, most of whom you hadn’t spoken to long before you left in May. Except for Gareth, who refused to leave you alone. “I’m not doing this on two hours of sleep. Let’s leave.” You flicked Dustin’s hat and turned around, beginning the short walk back toward your truck. “Now.”

The two kids took off, yelling their farewells to the club as you trailed behind them.

You spared a glance back at the sound of your name. Eddie stood alone, the rest of the club having quickly dispersed without you there to irritate. Looking pensive and much more solemn, he twisted one of the many rings on his finger, one you knew all too well, and offered a small smile. “You look good, welcome home.”

Your heart defrosted a little more as you walked away, unable to say anything back.

~~~~

“Alright,” you said after the kids were buckled up and Eddie was out of sight. “Spill.”

“Um,” Dustin stammered your name from the passenger seat. “I think we should wait until everyone’s together.”

“Everyone?” you repeated, suddenly realizing there should be more passengers in your car. You looked back towards the school. “Wait, where’s the rest of you?”

“What?”

You squinted your eyes at him. “The rest of you, Dustin! I know you two weren’t the only ones who joined Hellfire. Will? Lucas?” You chuckled, peeling out of the school parking lot. “Honestly, I half-expected Max to be in it too, thought you would’ve worn her down by now.”

The two shared a quick glance.

“Lucas is part of the club, but he was at the basketball game,” Mike said slowly.

“That’s right!” You broke into a grin. God you had missed them. Your time abroad (and the therapist you’d been assigned) helped you realize how much you had pushed everyone away last year. “I remember Steve mentioning that in one of his letters. Guess I’ll have to go to the games now.” You frowned at the thought. “Hey,” you said when they didn’t continue talking (a rarity, especially for Dustin). “Don’t worry,” you ruffled Dustin’s hair, assuming their silence was because of you. “I’m better now.”

They all but rushed to reassure you. “It’s not that at all,” your brother insisted. “I just really missed seeing you like this and…” his lip quivered.

“We don’t want to ruin your good mood,” Mike finished. Flickering his eyes to yours in the rearview mirror, he gave you a sad smile.

“Hmm.” You furrowed your eyebrows. “How’s Will?”

“Well,” Dustin began and your heart rate picked up at the thought of the boy.

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine! Great, I think,” he said hurriedly.

“You think?”

“It’s just that… the Byers’ sort of,” he winced. “Moved.”

“Moved?!” you shrieked, slamming on your brakes in the middle of the road, testing the boys’ seatbelts as they flew forward. “What the fuck do you mean they moved?”

“First of all, thank God the roads are empty,” your brother wheezed, holding his arms out like you were a wounded animal. “I refuse to die in a car accident after everything we’ve been through, that’d be so lame. Secondly,” he looked at you with his puppy dog eyes. “Let me call a party meeting. This needs to be something you hear from all of us. Steve wanted to give you the week to get situated before we told you but that’s all gone to shit now.”

“Steve?” You sputtered before a sense of dread filled you. “Oh fuck,” you put your head in your hands and groaned. “Something happened.”

“It’s not as bad as you think!”

Dustin twisted around, a look of pure outrage on his face. “Really Mike? Because I feel like maybe it's a little bad.”

“Will you just fucking tell me?” You hissed, blinking rapidly and trying to get a grip on your anxiety before it sent you into a panic attack.

Something bad happened. It had to be bad if it forced Joyce to leave the only place she’s ever lived. Something Upside Down-level bad.

No. You closed your eyes. Don’t go there.

The counting exercises you’d damn near perfected flickered through your head until Dustin interrupted you. “We’re gonna tell you everything,” your brother attempted to reassure you, resting a hand on your arm and abruptly yanking it back when your eyes flashed angrily at him. “But not until we can get everyone together.” He grabbed his walkie out of his bag, pulled the antenna up, and began ordering a party meeting in the Wheeler’s basement in that bossy tone he seemed to have perfected since you’d been gone. “Just give me time to round them all up.”

And round them up he did, barking orders through his device with all of the attitude of a commanding officer as you tore down the sleepy town of Hawkins, well above the speed limit.

~~~~~~

Mrs. Wheeler exclaimed your name when she answered the door, delighted to see you in her home again.“You’re back!”

“I’m back!” you weakly smiled and allowed her to pull you into a hug, trying to hold on to the semblance of control you thought you had over your emotional turmoil when you stepped on the plane to return home.

Mrs. Wheeler paused her fawning over your new hair to snap at her husband. “Ted, look who’s here!” She shot daggers at the man who had, up until then, refused to look away from the television.

“Oh, yay,” he replied dryly, barely sparing a glance at you.

You rolled your eyes. Fucking Ted. Glad to see he hadn’t changed, at least. You sent Mrs. Wheeler a fake smile and clapped Dustin on the shoulder harshly, pushing him towards the basement. “Let’s get this shit show started.”

Nancy strolled downstairs first, unsurprising, given you were in her house, after all. You hugged her tightly and answered the flurry of random questions about your trip in a constrained voice, partly because of your anxiety about whatever they were going to tell you and partly because you couldn’t remember the last time you had actually had a normal conversation with the girl. You vaguely recalled beaming a hairbrush at her during the last chat you had.

Your brother had (annoyingly) insisted that she remain quiet about what happened until everyone arrived, which meant you were stuck talking about the upcoming school semester (a topic you dreaded) until the arrival of someone else made you gasp.

Lucas, clad in his Hawkins basketball sweatsuit, bounded down the stairs next, quickly gripping you in a hug. “Damn Sinclair,” you whistled at the boy, making his cheeks burn. “You’re almost my height now. What are they feeding you?”

You looked towards the stairs when you parted, surprised that the last two kids of the party, sans Will, weren’t here yet. “Are El and Max running late? I know about the Byers’ moving, but where are my girls?” you smiled at the thought of them. “They made me promise to tell them all about the boys in Italy when I came back.”

“Uh, no, no they’re not.” Lucas’s face dropped, and he glanced at Mike and Dustin. “You guys didn’t tell her?”

“Honestly!” Your brother threw his hands up. “What do you think we’re here for?”

You were just about to pinch him when one of your favorite voices in the world caught your attention. “–Henderson!”

Your heart leaped, your feet scrambling up the stairs to meet your best friend halfway in a hug before you could even think. The familiar smell of Steve Harrington draped over you like a warm blanket as he practically knocked you over. “Glad to see you haven’t forgotten about me.”

“Yeah right,” he pulled you back at arm’s length with a laugh, practically vibrating with happiness at seeing you. “All I did was complain for eight months! I had to put up with Shitbird twice as much just so I could get my Henderson fill.”

Both of you ignored Dustin’s noise of complaint.

“Nice vest,” you commented, finally clocking the Family Video logo he was sporting. “Scoops get too boring for you? Was the hat finally too much?”

“You know that hat was awful.” He barely concealed his panic, tugging you back in for another hug. “We’ll get to that in a minute.”

“Great,” you mumbled, the dread resurfacing.

Steve pulled back again, keeping his hands on your shoulders in a closer position to you so he could talk quieter. “Look at your hair,” he cooed. “It’s beautiful,” he tugged at a lock and smiled softly, his eyes telling a much deeper story of how he was feeling than what he would say in front of the kids. Your heart ached when you saw him blinking away tears. “You look healthy Henderson. Seems like being abroad did you well.”

“Yeah well,” you coughed and gave a small smile. “I needed something different. Hair holds memories, you know.” Clearing your throat, you continued, the ghost of a nightmare floating through your mind. “Not too many good ones with my long hair recently. Wanted to start fresh and all.”

His smile faltered for a second, quickly returning with ease. “And the blonde?”

“That was a too-much-vodka decision.” Something creaked behind Steve, interrupting your laughter and you noticed someone was hovering on the stairs. You did a double-take upon recognizing the girl who looked like she wanted to fold in on herself. “Buckley? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Oh!” She jerked into a flurry of action, hurrying down the stairs and fussing with her vest, identical to Steve’s, you noticed. “Well, that little nightmare over there called the store and insisted we were having a party meeting, so uh,” she winced. “Present? Your hair, um, looks really pretty,” she added with a hint of pink creeping up her cheeks. “By the way.”

“Thanks.” You’ve known the girl for years, having been acquaintances throughout school and then growing into sort of friends by association when she and Steve worked at the ice cream shop. “So you got dragged into this mess, too, huh?”

“It’s my own fault for choosing a summer job at the mall,” she responded, laughing nervously. “But hey, now that we’re at Family Video, Dingus and I get free movies and there’s been significantly fewer Russians to torture us there, so I think it’s going pretty well.”

“I’m sorry,” the polite smile that you’d perfected abroad slipped off your face, all traces of your polite friendliness disappearing. “Did you just say Russians?”

“I guess it’s time to talk,” Dustin sighed, pulling you towards the couch. “Sit down sis, you probably shouldn’t be standing.”

~~~~~~~

Blindsided.

Staring down at your bloody palms, you only vaguely felt the pain from where your nails had dug in too harshly during the group’s spiel.

You felt completely and utterly blindsided.

Numbly, you allowed Nancy to wipe your hands with a paper towel, aware of the tension as they all stared uneasily at each other, no doubt expecting a meltdown of similar proportions to the one that had prompted you to leave for Europe in the first place.

It’s not completely out of the question, you mused, feeling like you were drowning in the waves of anger, betrayal, guilt, and grief that threatened to undo the work you’d done for the past eight months all for your mental health.

At least there’s not a hair brush near me.

“So,” you paused, squeezing your eyes shut and counting backward from ten twice, repeating the mantra your therapist abroad had encouraged you to focus on when you felt a spiral coming.

The kids are safe. You told yourself, opening your eyes and staring at the sorrow-filled eyes of your little brother and his friends.

My friends are safe. Your best friend bit his lip anxiously, shaking his head to cut Mike off when the kid opened his mouth to fill the silence. He understood you were still processing.

There’s no more danger.

You wanted to snort. As fucking if. That part of the mantra hadn’t been your idea, for obvious reasons, but the government therapist that had been assigned to you insisted. Not that he ever truly understood the scale of what danger you’d faced to begin with, of course.

Taking a deep breath, you tried to remain as calm as you could while you repeated it nonetheless.

The kids are safe. My friends are safe. There’s no more danger.

Swallowing hard, you started out simply. “So Russians… infiltrated Hawkins. And reopened the gate.”

The kids are safe. My friends are safe. There’s no more danger.

Lucas cleared his throat. “And the Mind Flayer, um, that also happened.”

“Right,” you repeated softly and let out a disbelieving laugh, staring at the floor shocked, but not surprised that yet another monster had made its way through to your dimension. Only after accumulating a mass of Hawkins flesh, which nearly caused you to hurl when Dustin described it in gory detail. “And the Mind Flayer.” Would we ever run out of D&D names to attribute to the monsters?

The kids are safe. My friends are safe. There’s no more danger.

“She’s taking this better than you said she would,” Robin whispered loudly to Steve. The nasty look you shot caused the girl to lean back with her mouth shut in seconds. Just exactly how close were they now?

Steve called your name hesitantly, carefully kneeling down in front of you. “You understand why we couldn’t tell you, right?”

You prided yourself on being logical, or as logical as one could be when they’ve fought monsters and know a girl with superpowers. You knew they were probably threatened by the government, just like you were last time. And you knew how hard it must have been to keep this secret from you.

And yet, you really didn’t care.

“You want me to say I understand,” you whispered incredulously, eyes blazing. “That you lied to me, you all lied to me!” you swept your glare around the room. “For months!”

Logic be damned, the sting of betrayal was too harsh to consider their feelings.

“It’s not so much that we lied to you as just… we didn't tell you,” Dustin tried to say, recoiling back when you looked at him.

“Lying by omission is still lying!” you yelled. “Mom literally says that all the time!”

He hung his head.

“I’m not dumb, I know our phones and tapped and any letters you sent could've been searched but you could’ve said something!” you screamed at your brother. “The handful of times you actually did write to me you only talked about the thousands of dates Steve went on,–”

“–thousand is a bit of an overstatement–”

“– but never anything about what happened in July or El and the Byers’ moving or you know,” you waved your hand hysterically, a stray tear falling out. “Hopper! How could none of you tell me that, at least?” your voice cracked as you directed the question to Steve. It hurt most that he hadn’t told you of the man passing away.

That explained why you didn’t receive any letters from Hopper after June, you realized with a sniff. He had died a couple months after you left.

Pushing that thought down for later, you closed your eyes to avoid bursting into tears at the mournful expression on Steve’s face.

“I could’ve come back!” you said, your tone conveying your despair. “Fuck, I would’ve come back! Sure, I wouldn’t have made it back in time to punch a Russian or throw a firework at a monster or whatever,” you scoffed. “But I could’ve been here to help after, I could’ve said goodbye to the Byers and El! I-” you broke off, a sob finally escaping your mouth, your hands covering your face as you started to cry, words slipping out in a whisper. “I could’ve gone to Hopper’s funeral.”

Everyone remained silent. None of them, except for Steve and Dustin on rare occasions, had seen you cry before.

“Shit hit the fan again, just like I said it would,” you sniffed and stood up, fury and despair leaking into your words as you began to pace across the floor. “And I was told that I was just paranoid, that I was being crazy,” you spat, wiping a few tears away angrily to direct the last part to Nancy, who looked at you guiltily. “I told Hopper and Joyce, I told them that monsters that evil don’t just disappear, they wait. Closing a portal doesn’t kill them. And what did they say?” you asked rhetorically, sweeping your eyes across the room. “Go to school! Be a normal teenager and forget all of this even happened!” you laughed bitterly. “So excuse me for being a little upset that I just found out my baby brother and all of my friends had to fight goddamn Russians and another inter-dimensional monster while I was in Europe dyeing my fucking hair!”

The group winced in unison at the pitch you reached.

“You needed to stay away,” Steve said gently. “You left for a reason,” he said when you opened your mouth to argue, sounding much older than nineteen. “No one blames you for not being here.”

I do.

“Babe, the shit we’ve dealt with,” Nancy said, letting out a dry laugh. “It's a lot. It affects us all differently. What happened last year…” she trailed off. “We were all so proud of you for doing what you needed to do, even if that meant leaving us for a while, especially when we weren’t the best at supporting you, that we didn’t want to try and explain it in a letter. But we're sorry,” she added tearfully. “We're- god, I’m so fucking sorry that I didn't tell you about Hopper or the Byers’. It’s just, your letters said you were doing so well.”

“We didn’t want to ruin your program,” Dustin sniffed.

You stared at the floor. I’m so selfish for leaving.You thought of Hopper, who had been the one to encourage you to go abroad in the first place. I left him here to die.

“I want to go home,” you said, shaking your head. “I-I can’t do this. I thought… fuck,” you scoffed. “I actually thought everything would be better now.”

“It is!” Dustin insisted earnestly. “El closed the gate, for good this time!”

“The Mind Flayer,” Lucas added. “And all of the Russians, they’re gone too! It’s finally over.”

You said nothing, staring at them sadly. Too young. We’re all too fucking young. And they said Erica had been there too?

“That gate might be closed,” you finally said, crossing your arms. “But that world is still there. There could be other gates we don’t know about.”

“What do you mean?” Steve frowned.

“How did the Russians find out about the Upside Down in the first place?” you asked seriously. “And aside from worrying about people in our own dimension, the gate in Hawkins being shut doesn’t kill the creatures lurking there,” a shiver ran down your spine. “Fighting monsters three times in three years isn’t a coincidence, it’s a routine.” With a tired wipe of your face, you chose to swallow the rest of your thoughts for later. The jet lag and emotional turmoil had finally caught up to you and you didn’t feel like bringing the mood down any more than you just had. “Let’s go, Dustin. I need to… process everything,” you muttered as you moved quickly up the stairs.

“Henderson,” Steve rushed behind you. “You’re not retreating into yourself again, you can’t.” he frowned as he looked up at you. “Not after all the progress you’ve made.”

The kids are safe. My friends are safe. There’s no more- well, you snorted internally, shooting Steve a look. You didn’t respond to him, trudging up the stairs a different person than who you were when you came down earlier.

The drive home felt like hours; Dustin was uncharacteristically silent, tossing you worried glances the whole way. Nausea tinged your senses, the gravity of what you’d been told seemed to finally hit you.

In a frenzy you locked the door behind Dustin, hugged him tightly without saying a word, and bounded up the stairs two at a time, bursting into your bedroom that you hadn’t seen in eight months. You ran straight for the bathroom to throw up violently, sobbing while you heaved into the toilet.

Hopper. You couldn’t imagine how El felt.

Your heart panged, you didn’t even get to say goodbye. You vowed to get the Byers’ phone number from Dustin later.

You ignored his knocks on your door, unable to look at your brother’s face.

I’ll never forgive myself for leaving.

Sitting on the shower floor for a while, you let the water beat over you until it ran cold, and cried.

#stranger things fanfiction #strangerthingsfanfiction #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie my beloved #eddie munson imagine t #eddie stranger things #eddie the freak munson #eddie munson x female oc #fnlyroe

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destroyabez · 2 years

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A son for a son right?

His voice hurt, everything hurt .

Spider grabbed a basket and started gathering things while his voice cracked after saying “Oe 'efu ngaytxoa" He didn't want this, who could. It was evil, he remembered each and every one of their faces when they went from village to village. This one was the only one he was allowed to help them, the people. They didn't know anything; they knew nothing of the harm that came their way. He wanted to be dead, after all he was the one that was translating everything, the one who was helping them. He wanted to die but knew he couldn't. If he died then who would beg and plead for the Metkayina people. None of them deserved this, Eywa he wants to rip out the teams throats especially that fisher dude but he gave up a long time ago. He had finished with gathering what he could from the ashes of the Metkayina peoples homes and had silently brought it back to them, he looked over at the ship before he kneeled down and said "Oe 'efu ngaytxoa...." one last time and set down the basket before he heard the familiar footsteps of Quaritch "Its time to go, come on" Quaritch gently but firmly grabbed his arm and pulled him up, putting a hand on Spider's shoulder while leading him towards the ship. When they got on the ship he spared a look back and saw the Metkayina people staring right back at him as the Tsahìk grabs the basket before the door closes. Quaritch moved to talk to someone and get his mask for inside, he then turned around and Spider thinks that he told him to take off his exomask so he does. When he does he is immediately pulled by Quaritch to his side "Come on lets get some food" Quaritch said quietly as he led Spider to a feeding area, Quaritch sat him down and went to get some food for Spider to eat. Spider didn't respond or look at Quaritch. When he was sat down he just stared at the sea, ignoring the people looking at him "Alright so we have 'beef ravioli' and 'chicken chunky white, cooked'??? Anyways which one do you want?" Quaritch asked gently, Spiders heart felt like it was in his throat. He really didn't know how to feel about Quaritch, he was kind to Spider sometimes but he had burned down so many villages and hurt so many people. Including Spider at some points. He eternally shook his head and looked back at Quaritch "Um... Chicken I guess?..." He didn't exactly know what he wanted and to be honest he wasn't even hungry, just tired "Good choice! Ravioli sucks!" Quaritch chuckled as he went to prepare the MRE, Spider almost chuckled at one of the team members shouted her protest at the 'Ravioli sucks!' statement. He sighed, he was so conflicted with everything, he didn't understand anything right now 'Feelings suck......' He thought as Quaritch walked back to him and gave him the food. He didn't really do anything with it, just kinda stared at the food "Cmon kid, eat" Quaritch urged Spider to eat "I'm not hungry" Spider responded. Quaritch sighed and put his hand on his shoulder "Miles I'm gonna be honest with you" Spider grimaced slightly at being called miles "If you don't eat this their gonna force you to eat" Spider finally looked up at Quaritch with a confused look "Aren't you forcing me to eat?...." Spider asked quietly "No, if they force you to eat they will shove a tube down your nose and throat. I'm simply ASKING you to eat" Quaritch's grip on Spiders shoulder tightened its hold as Quaritch's voice got darker "Now, Will you eat?" Spider felt fear again, he nodded and looked at the food before grabbing the chicken with his hands and biting into it, Sauce dripping from his hands and mouth "Ew but atleast your eating...." Quaritch grimaced and got up, he signaled someone to watch Spider while he went to go do something. Spider wasn't paying attention though, he was more focused on not throwing up. He didn't know what it was but he felt like the food was burning his throat and stabbing his stomach. He was about to spit out the food when someone grabbed his shoulder again "Don't throw it up, your gonna need the energy for what I need YOU for" It was that skxawng man with the weird voice. He had only seen him briefly but he had heard what they were talking about, killing some type of animal to lure someone out. And to get ooze? He didn't know and didn't want to know. They were going to kill a animal for no resources, only for those reasons. It was sick, his train of thought was interrupted as he finally remembered that the man had his hand on his shoulder "Mick is right Miles, you need to keep down your food but Mick we talked about this. He doesn't know where they are usually, he isn't of the water people he is with the forest people" Quaritch said as he walked back into the room. Spider looked between them as they continued to talk, suddenly eating the food didn't seem so bad anymore if he could go back to Quaritch's room. He scarfed down the food even though it hurt before asking "May I be excused Sir?...." He asked Quaritch. Quaritch knew what he meant and nodded "Throw away the trash before you go please" Spider nodded and silently threw away the trash while walking to the room. He felt himself grow sicker and sicker as he swayed through the corridors, people watching him left and right. As soon as he got to Quaritch's room he looked over at the trashcan and threw up. It burned his throat but It still felt a little better than it being in his stomach, he laid down on the floor as he suddenly felt tired. He gripped his stomach and for a second, just one, he remembered a memory......

He remembered a time in which he had gotten sick and lost in the forest, he hadn't meant to get lost but he was still young. He was only out with the Sully children or Jake so this was scary. He was going to go to them actually. He had seen Jake get out of the base and he eagerly followed him. He didn't know why but at the time it just felt right. Now there he was, laying down with his stomach hurting and he had multiple injuries. He was hidden behind a giant tree root, he had been crying for awhile but it seemed like no one was coming. His throat hurt and he was just laying there. He was tired and had given up on getting back. His younger self could see the flashing red light in his mask signaling that the oxygen tank was almost empty. Right as he had come to the fact he wouldn't make it he saw something white, floating towards him, he recognized it. Kiri often told him about them. It was a atokirina, or a woodspirte. He giggled from lack of oxygen. He was very loopy as he got up to try and grab the atokirina. It hurt but more like a numb hurt. He got up and walked slowly towards them trying to grab them. He didn't know where he was going but at the time all he could think of was catching one of the atokirina. He soon realized he could see metal but when he tried to look around he felt very dizzy. He didn't know what was happening before he fell unconscious

Spider slightly smiled before he heard the door open, He looked up and saw Quaritch "Kid? You ok?" He walked over to Spider "Mmh yeah skxawng I'm fine" Spider replied back to him with a hoarse voice. Quaritch just chuckled "Alright kid, come on I need you for something" He went over to Spider and picked up him with ease. Spider grimaced as he was picked up but he didn't say anything, Quaritch walked him towards the door and out "Here put the mask on" He handed the exomask, Spider nodded and grabbed it, wondering what he was needed for. As if Quaritch was reading his mind he responded with "I wanted you to come onto the hunting boat with me, Father-son bonding" He smiled down at Spider but saw that Spider didn't seem to appreciate that "Why do we have to do this? To kill a living being?" Spider asked with sorrow in his voice "To get something and to lure someone out" Quaritch scoffed out at him, he grabbed his arm and led him out onto a boat "Nice of you to join us! Now come on! I have things to do!" The skxawng with the weird voice said aggressively, Quaritch shook his head and shoved Spider onto the boat. Spider glared at Quaritch but went without struggle. Both he and Quaritch were surprised as the boat started up and moved towards a type of giant animal, it had a child. Spider didn't know what was happening but he heard something about waves separating the mother away from the group. He didn't want to watch this but it felt like he was being forced to watch. He looked over and saw these floaty thingys hit the mother. He watched as that foul, disgusting, terrible, horrid man hit the mother with a harpoon of sorts. He felt sick, he looked away as he heard the calls of the baby for its mother

Spider was in a haze for the rest of it, taking the ooze from the mother. Leaving the rest of the corpse there. Eywa he wanted to die all over again. He couldn't believe he had witnessed this, let alone let it happen. He was currently laying down back in that room, a fresh new slap mark on his face. He had tried to jump off the side of the boat when he saw them kill the mother Tulkan, He had been told what she was afterwards. .

He just wants to go home to his family but he doesn't know where home is. And he never had a family

Notes:

I did it!!!!!!!! imma make chapter two in a bit!!!

#avatar the way of water #spider avatar #hi'i'tsyil te fkew'weopx tonowari'itan

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last-flight-of-fancy · 7 months

Text

Four times Scions assume the nature of Hallima's relationships, and one time they are completely wrong.

Wol: Hallima, Au Ra he/they. Occasional vague references to other WoL's

Timeline: ARR to vaguely mid-EW. Explicit spoilers for ShB and Dark Knight HW quests.

rating: T (swearing, references to sex)

Pairings run the gamut from traditionally romantic to found family to queerplatonic to friends with benefits, inlcuding but not limited to:

WoL/Aymeric, Aymeric/Estinian, WoL/G'raha, WoL/Leofard (physical only), WoL/Estinian (estinian insists its companionably physical only but lbr he's Attached)

To say the entrance of what remained of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn into Ishgard had been a cold and miserable affair would be nothing short of an impressive understatement. Still reeling from the loss of their friends and on the run, even once they start to get their feet under them, ending the Dragonsong War and earning the respect of much of Ishgard’s historically xenophobic population, they generally had greater things on their minds than something as petty as romantic entanglements.

It was a missed opportunity of unfortunate timing, looking back. Haurchefaunt could not have been more obvious in his intent, but the recipient of them simply did not have the attention to spare for them. Something which Haurchefaunt seemed to understand at least, even if that does not quite soften the sting of grief and lost potential. All present were aware of them though, even if there wasn’t space to act on it, and it is generally quietly agreed upon to let such matters lie for a time.

Which is why Alphinaud is rendered entirely at a loss for words when Emmanellain takes him aside to inquire after exactly that.

“I beg your pardon?” He has to make sure he’s heard right.

“Our dear old boy has made quite a name for himself you know, it would be passing strange if no one at all has made any advances on him.” Emmanellain nods with confidence, as if this makes perfect sense. Perhaps to him it does. “And as House de Fortemps leading gossip monger t’would be remiss of me not get my news direct from the source. Or direct adjacent to it at least.”

“I rather think we have more important things to worry about, don’t you?” Alphinaud holds himself steady, despite desperately wishing there were a nearby window he could throw himself out of.

“Not at all!” Emmanellain says cheerfully. “The dalliances of the nobility have ever been the subject of much gossip and scrutiny, t’would not be an exaggeration to say it is an entire realm of politics within itself! And our dear mutual friend most certainly counts after all he has accomplished.”

Something niggles at the base of Alphinaud’s ear, and he’s learned to listen to his instincts in matters such as these.

“How much gil do you have riding on the answer?” He asks. Emmanellain ducks his head slightly at having been caught out, but barrels on despite the flush dusting his eartips.

“That’s of no matter, old boy, truly. Even if I did not I would be curious as a dear friend!” Emmanellain pauses then, lowering his voice. “There are rather more nasty rumours attached to those one’s too, of course.”

“Is that a threat?” Alphinaud glares, posture tensing sharply with the implication. He hadn’t expected such a thing from the youngest Fortemps son, but then he hadn’t expected it from the Crystal Braves either.

“What?” Emmanellain blinks, surprised. “No, not at all. I merely wished to hear the truth from the chocobo’s mouth. Second-hand. Mostly because our dear Warrior of Light is surprisingly difficult to get a hold of.”

This is not Alphinaud’s experience, who hardly has to utter a word before Hallima would be there ready to offer advice or support. He rather suspects this is on purpose.

“Fine.” Alphinaud heaves a heavy sigh. “What rumours?”

“Oh a great many, but most recent are some sightings of him in the Brume. It’s all a touch confused, but there’s something about other dragon men and a lovers quarrel.”

“Well there definitely wasn’t a lovers quarrel.” Alphinaud snorts. Such a thing would require a lover, first of all. “But he has been spending a lot of time in the Brume and Forgotten Knight, that much is true. I believe he has taken up a mentor in knighthood there.”

“Oh?” Emmanellain seems delighted by this. “Perhaps this does explain some of the rumours, and the rest are simply exaggerations for a salacious crowd. Is he truly taking up sword and shield like Haurchefaunt?”

Emmanellain seems so hopeful at the prospect of the Warrior following in his departed half-brother’s footsteps that Alphinaud hesitates to answer.

“I do not know for certain. I know only that he has taken up the sword and meets with his mentor whenever he has a spare moment.”

“I see, I see.” Emmanellain nods solemnly. “Perhaps that is where the tales of lover’s quarrels arise then. T’would not be the first nor the last coupling that sprung from the heightened passions of battle and the tight bond between mentor and disciple.”

“I sincerely doubt it.”

The truth was this.

Meeting Sidurgu is…. strange. Amongst other things.

Past the obvious fact that they share a heritage and beyond the fact that Hallima is resolutely ignoring that first fact for his own peace of mind, there is something about Sid that feels familiar in a way he can’t quite pinpoint.

Sid is rough and blunt and not always quick to catch on, but who cares deeply at heart beneath all the carefully crafted spikes and scales of his past. Rielle is small and quiet and still learning to unearth the firebrand wit and bullheaded stubbornness that her past tried so hard to bury. She reminds Hallima of Minfillia, were Minfillia an elezen girl of barely twelve summers and a parental unit who does not deserve a title so kind as ‘mother’.

But Sid reminds him of… someone. No one. He’s not sure.

It’s not Haurchefaunt. In fact Sidurgu couldn’t be more different from Haurchefaunt if he tried.

Maybe that’s it.

(It won't be for months yet that Hallima will meet another Auri adventurer, and weeks after that before they find their way to the Azim Steppe. Both of these things will bring answers and questions more in equal measure)

It’s obvious when they first meet that Sid and Rielle are both still grieving their lost friend, a friend that Hallima’s subconscious had stolen and appropriated in a way that thoroughly blurred the line between where Hallima began and Fray ended. Esteem slumbers now, curled deep within the Abyss unless needed, but to deny his existence is to deny simple reality. Many would have found that reality difficult to grapple with, but thankfully Sid is no stranger to the unorthodox ways the powers of a Dark Knight can manifest, and bears him no grudge for it.

Perhaps that’s why, despite Sidurgu by all rights being everything Hallima tends to gravitate to in a partner aesthetically- tall, elegantly beautiful, undeniably masculine- nothing ever quite arises between them. Perhaps he simply feels like he’s trodden upon Fray’s grave enough already.

Which in the end suits all of them just fine. Hallima doesn’t need that sort of attachment to swing by the Forgotten Knight just to share a drink and talk, or to be pulled outside by Rielle in order to engage in an impromptu snowball fight. They are brothers in arms, in the truest, purest sense of the phrase, united in the darkness of the Abyss.

Pain brought them together, and love makes them return.

(“Did you see the way he reacted?” Rielle asks, after Hallima has left and it is just her and Sid left in the Forgotten Knight.

“To what?” Sid glances at her, curious.

“Your story about the Orl.”

“What about it?”

“I’m not sure exactly… Almost like he was remembering it. Do you think something similar happened to him?”

Sid hums to himself, almost a growl in his throat, but not quite so menacing. It’s possible, no one seems to know much of the vaunted Warrior of Light’s past after all.

But there are certain things that… The warrior’s purely Gridanian accent, his obvious lack of knowledge for their shared history, the age wear on his scales that any Au Ra would have long since put a traditional balm on… Sid himself has lost much and more of his cultural identity since the family of his birth was torn so brutally from him, but he retains what scraps he can. Hallima on the other hand seems to know almost nothing. It wasn’t far fetched at all to think another tribe fleeing the Steppe may have met a fate similar to his own.

“Maybe…” Rielle bites her lip, unsure if she should continue. “Maybe you’re not the last Orl.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Sid snorts. “He’s not Xaela.”

But even to him the excuse is weak. He remembers there being at least two Raen amongst the Orl, either married or adopted into the family in the course of their escape from the Empire. There may have been more, but the memories are too fuzzy and distant now to be sure.

He does remember the day a new babe had been born into the family, though mostly for how he couldn’t ride in the cart that day and the next as a result, and his feet had hurt terribly by the end of it. His father had carried him when he could, but at ten summers Sid was quickly getting too big for such extended exertion, and could only do so for short periods.

He remembers sneaking into the cart in the dead of night to stick his tongue out at the sleeping babe and mother, childishly upset at being put out and wanting to vent his frustration. Both had slept on entirely unaware of him, and he’d left feeling foolish but calmed. He doesn’t remember what either of them looked like, shrouded by memory and darkness.

“I guess it must’ve just been that Echo that people talk about then.” Rielle says, and Sid doubts she’s completely bought his deflection but she lets him have it anyway.)

It was no secret amongst the Scions that Aymeric was courting the Warrior of Light, or at the very least attempting to. If the many letters and gifts did not give it away, then Alphinaud’s tales of the utterly besotted looks that Aymeric would give said Warrior certainly would.

The question was not whether Aymeric was attempting to court the Au Ra. It was whether his affections were reciprocated.

“Hallima is a bit… inscrutable in these matters.” Alphinaud admits as the group sits around a table in the Rising Stones.

“Mayhap he simply has no interest in them.” Y’shtola says, paying full attention to the conversation despite initial protestations at its silliness. “Some do not, after all.”

“Minfillia was like that, wasn’t she?” Alisaie asks, and Y’shtola nods.

“Aye, oft did she tell me that she could not imagine an individual love eclipsing her love for Eorzea as a whole.”

The pang of loss stings still, but there is comfort in discussing their lost leader in this casually fond way.

“Hallima’s not though.” Thancred shakes his head, arms crossed.

“How do you know?” Alphinaud tilts his head, genuinely confused. Thancred shrugs.

“I just do. I’ve got a sense for these things.”

“For all save thineself.” Urianger says just evenly enough to give lie to the dry humour beneath. Thancred flicks his fingers at him, but the action lacks any true annoyance.

“You better not have slept with him.” Alisaie warns, pointing a finger at him like a sword. Thancred puts his hands up defensively.

“Come now, what do you take me for? He’s not my type. You know, the feminine kind.”

Alphinaud fiddles with his cup intently, while Alisaie stares flatly at Thancred, and Urianger coughs under his breath. Y’shtola hides her expression in her tea.

“What?”

“None of this tells us if Hallima is aware of Aymeric’s advances.” Alphinaud taps his fingers to his cheek thoughtfully. “It’s possible he may have interest but simply does not know the intent behind the gestures.” This is a silly use of his intellect, but it’s nice to use it for something less serious once in a while. Like having a sweet after weeks of nothing but Archon Loaf.

He doesn’t actually mind Archon Loaf all that much, at least not compared to many, but he could still enjoy the sweet all the same.

“Well, if you ask me, and you should,” Tataru speaks up as she approaches the table, arms full of a large platter replete with snacks, “I don’t know if Hal knows the more noble courting gestures, but he definitely knows the language of longing looks and lingering touches.”

“And how do YOU know that?” Alisaie says, scandal in her tone. Alphinaud raises an eyebrow at her, surprised at her reactions. Usually he was the prudish one (in her words).

“I pay attention.” Tataru winks, passing the tray up to the table for all to reach.

“Well, we know he is not of any noble house.” Alphinaud says.

“Obviously.” Alisaie snorts. “If there was a noble house full of horned dragon people anywhere on this continent I think we would know about it.”

“Indeed.” Y’shtola idly rubs a finger along the rim of her cup. “It does make one wonder how he came to be in this part of the world. His kind are not a common sight beyond the far East.”

“Forsooth,” Urianger says quietly, unheard by all aside Y’shtola when the snack platter is nudged the wrong way and clatters loudly to the floor to the dismay of all. “I believe he dost not know.”

The truth was this.

Hallima has had less and few opportunities to explore things like relations and relationships in his largely brief time of being properly aware of them as a concept. Which is to say this is why he entirely missed Haurchefaunt’s intent until he lay dying in his arms, by which point it was, of course, much too late.

This event did prompt Hallima to pay more attention to these things however, and thus did in fact catch on to Aymeric’s gesture’s fairly quickly, with only a few stumbling blocks in the form of how Aymeric is also simply just… Like that. Particularly with Estinian. A fact which neither of them bring up until months later when Hallima stumbles into Ishgard looking more than a little haggard and exhausted besides.

“I feel as if it’s been an age and more since we had the chance to talk.” Aymeric says as he fills a pair of cups with a wine he has been saving for just such an occasion. “Even by letter, you are a difficult man to send mail to.”

An understatement if there ever was one. Hallima snorts and takes the offered cup, drinking long and deep before relaxing back into the too-plush chair with a sigh.

“Though by your countenance I surmise that your tales of late have not been entirely joyful.”

“You could say that.” Another understatement. Hallima doesn’t really want to talk about the way the Scions appear to be dropping like flies to some mysterious malady, or how much sleep they’ve been losing worrying about Alphinaud and his self-imposed mission to Garlemald. “Tell me about Ishgard. How the changes are coming.”

“As you wish.” Aymeric nods, and so he does. It’s nothing Hallima doesn’t already know really, having seen the fruits of his labours whilst travelling through the Brume and during his visits to Sid and Rielle. They let Aymeric’s voice wash over them, soft and smooth and a balm against so many other worries.

They don’t even realize they’ve dozed off until what must be much later, still sitting in the plush chair but now with a crick in their neck and a blanket draped carefully across them. Candlelight flickers beyond closed eyelids and the sound of a quill on parchment the only noise. They are still in Aymeric’s study, and apparently the man had no issue with a sleeping Au Ra occupying his spare furniture while he worked.

They rub the crust from their eyes with a wince, trying to gauge the time but all they can really gather is that it’s dark as pitch through the windows, which tells them only that it is somewhere between dinner and breakfast.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Aymeric looks up from his parchment with a smile. “Forgive my leaving you to your rest, but I thought you might need it.”

Hallima nods, but does not elaborate. They still don’t really want to talk about it.

“Sorry about that.” They say instead, attempting and failing to smother a jaw-cracking yawn.

“No need for that. If my friend needs to recoup his rest in my study then that is what he shall receive.”

“Is that what we are?”

Hallima blames their sleep addled state for the blunt slip of the tongue, but thankfully Aymeric seems neither surprised nor offended by it.

“First and foremost, yes, of course.” He says carefully, setting his quill down to give Hallima his full attention. “But if you mean in regard to the possibility of us being something else… Well, perhaps that is a conversation long overdue.”

Perhaps it is. It doesn’t still the nervous beat of Hallima’s heart. They nod.

“First before all else I must ask you; Hallima, is a relationship something you want?”

“… I don’t know if that’s something I can give.” They admit, wincing at the necessary honesty. “Even if I weren’t always pulled hither and yon I’ve never felt the call to stay in a single place for long.”

Aymeric’s smile is soft and he shakes his head.

“Nor would I expect you to, but that isn’t what I asked, my friend.”

“I…” There are so many things, so many reasons, they bottleneck in Hallima’s throat. “I’ve never…”

“Would it help, perhaps, if I made clear what it is I would beget from such a connection?”

Hallima nods. Aymeric stands then, moving around his desk and kneeling in front of them, his expression serious but not hard.

“I would have your company when you have time to give it. The chance to lavish you with affection and gifts and whatever you should wish for that you cannot attain yourself. I wish to give you a place you may always return to, whensoever you may want or need.”

Aymeric takes a breath, but he’s clearly not finished, and Hallima waits, heartbeat pounding in their ears.

“By that token I do not require what some may consider part and parcel of such a relationship, though I would welcome most all the same. I would not tie you down like a bird within a gilded cage, either physically or emotionally, nor do I require what most would consider the… consummation part of things.”

“You can just say sex.” Hallima says, feeling a touch light headed. Aymeric gives a small chuckle.

“Indelicately, yes. I would most certainly welcome it, but only at your own comfort. Which brings me to an important… Consideration, if we were to go through with such a partnership.”

Somehow this grounds Hallima, and they start to feel steady again. They are used to things being asked of them, but more than that they need this clarity.

“Which is?”

Aymeric takes a deep breath, for the first time looking a touch nervous himself, worrying a strip of fabric between two fingers in a subtle tell that Hallima only sees because they know to look for it.

“You are aware that Estinian and I are… close, yes?”

“Yes…?” Hallima tilts their head before realization hits them with the force of stampeding chocobo’s. “Oh.”

Aymeric’s smile becomes thin in the face of Hallima’s apparent shock, and it makes Hallima wonder how many of these conversations Aymeric has had where this was the point where things turned south.

“Indeed. To put it bluntly, Estinian and I have had our arrangement for a great many years now, and I will not abide jealousy or possessiveness where he is concerned. If this is not something you believe you can do I ask that you say so now, I will judge you not for it.”

Several things click into place in Hallima’s head and heart at once.

“You’ve been scorned for this before, haven’t you?” Is out of their mouth before they can think better of it, followed quickly by a wince and, “Wait, that’s- you don’t have to answer that. Sorry.”

“’Tis a natural curiosity.” Aymeric’s chuckle is sincere at least. “Aye, I have. Not all are suited to an arrangement like this, and many simply cannot fathom splitting romantic commitment twixt multiple partners. As stated, I judge them not for their natural inclinations, only regret in their poor reaction to anything different from their own.”

They’ve seen enough of Ishgard to know how rigidly the state adheres to the familiar, both for survival and comfort. Hallima can only imagine how carefully Aymeric had to tread with something that would have so easily invited scandal at best and accusations of heresy at worst.

Hallima may not have known such a thing was even possible a bell ago, but already it feels as natural as breathing to them.

“Doesn’t seem that strange to me.”

“Full glad am I for that, then.” Aymeric’s smile loses much of its tenseness. “I take it you are not opposed..?”

“Consider me fully in favour.”

Aymeric doesn’t get much more work done that night.

All things considered Tataru Taru manages to establish a solid network of gossip and information from her seat within the Forgotten Knight with astonishing speed. Such was the talent that she had recently discovered in herself, and one she was determined to put to full use. For the good of Eorzea of course.

Being as how the bulk of her experience lay in being tender to the Scion’s collective coinpurse, it thus made sense that she grew to know who was of like inclination in the area as well. So it was that when a hyur woman took her seat next to Tataru, Tataru was not at all surprised by it.

“Stacia.” She greets, barely looking up from her mug (watered down, but alcoholic enough to keep an appearance).

“Taru.” The Red Bill Pirate greets in turn, motioning to the bartender for a drink.

“I hear you’ve picked up an adventurer to help with your recent troubles.”

Tataru expects her to play coy, make her guess, but instead Stacia grins.

“That we did. And you’ll never guess who.”

Tataru feels like she can, actually.

“The bleeding’ saviour of Ishgard himself!”

Got it in one.

“Well well, lucky for you.” Tataru means that sincerely. “I’d say your problems are all but solved now.”

“Well, not quite yet, but it’s looking a damn sight better than it was before. Not to mention the Captain has taken such a shine to him, it’s right nice to see.”

Tataru squints up the pirate skeptically.

“We are talking about Leofard, right? The incorrigible flirt?”

“Oh he’ll flirt up one side and down the other, make no mistake.” Stacia nods. “But he don’t often mean it past a little fun. Wouldn’t surprise me none if he tried to talk Hallima into joining the crew full time.”

“He’s welcome to try.” Tataru snorts, taking a sip of her watered down beverage. Stacia chuckles.

“Aye, tis clear the Warrior’s heart is elsewhere, but even still. Even just making the offer means much from Leo.”

Tataru may not know the man herself, but she can imagine it well enough. Too bad for him, she rather doubted Hallima was the sort to be swayed by a pretty face.

The truth was this.

Hallima could definitely be swayed by a pretty face at least once.

(They part ways sated and on good terms with no strings attached. A night less about passion than about the feeling of safety without the burden of unresolved emotional baggage. Hallima has a standing invitation to come back anytime.)

It’s not that surprising when it’s Alisaie who confronts Estinian. Nor is it surprising that she does so alone, which tells Estinian that he is about to get an earful and a half from a child who stands less than half his height.

A bizarrely common occurrence since he had joined up with the scions, all told.

That said however, he has no intention of playing into whatever her hand is, so when she stands imperiously over him with arms crossed and glaring he responds by leaning back in his chair and staring right back.

She, predictably, hates this, and it’s not long before she cracks.

“What are your intentions with Hallima?”

Estinian blinks. Of all the things for her to take him to task for, he honestly hadn’t expected that one.

“What?”

“What. Are your intentions. With Hallima.” She repeats, as if he is a particularly slow and impetuous child.

“In what regard?” He waves a hand. “As a fellow scion? As Azure Dragoon? As brothers in arms against the end of all on this star?”

“As a-“ Alisaie flushes as red as her coat. “As a. Partner. Romantically.”

“None.” He answers frankly. Alisaie glares again.

“You had better not be lying to me. We’ve all seen you coming in and out of their room at all hours.”

“I am many things but I am not a liar.” Estinian huffs. “And what I, or the Warrior of Light for that matter, do on our own time is our own business I should think.”

“It is.” Alisaie admits, though it seems to cause her great pain to do so. “I just… Want to make sure they’re treated right. We all know how they tend to put all others above themself.”

Estinian feels himself smile a touch. This much is a fact, and he more than understands the protective instinct for a loved one; there are at least two bodies buried in the snows of Coerthas of some particularly unsavoury souls who had attempted to take advantage of Aymeric’s good nature and unorthodox relationship for blackmail purposes.

Aymeric doesn’t know of course, and Estinian is inclined to keep it that way.

He reaches out to put a hand atop Alisaie’s head gently.

“A noble cause.” He says. “And one I would likewise pledge myself to.”

Alisaie bats his hand away, trying and failing not to pout adorably at being treated like a child, but she seems mollified by his reaction at least.

“Well. Good then. Right.”

The truth was this.

Estinian and Hallima are assuredly not courting, though they do often commiserate on their mutual connection through Aymeric. This much was accurate.

They are also, and this Estinian entirely failed to mention to Alisaie, definitely fucking when time and energy permits.

Which isn’t that often all told, but such is the reality of being the hero’s of a star.

The truth is this.

Hallima has a type.

Tall, pretty, undeniably masculine.

G’raha Tia, by his own measure, fits none of these things particularly well. All things being a matter of perspective of course, he has long forced himself to be realistic where his personal hero was concerned.

Unfortunately he was not wrong to either. G’raha was masculine enough to be sure, but his is a boyish sort of charm, quite apart from the more measured and confident types he has seen Hallima drawn to time and again. The same could be said for his looks as well, G’raha considers himself to be rather middle of the road as far as aesthetic went, and while that did not bother him overmuch it did much to dampen his chances.

As for tall, well….

Every time he has to crane his head up to look the seven fulm Auri in their vibrant magenta eyes, G’raha knows he never really stood a chance.

Of course that would imply that he ever thought he had a chance before such preferences became clear, and that is nearly as laughable as said chances, but still. At a certain point it does feel a bit like the universe is laughing at his fool stubborn heart.

Not that any of this really matters of course. Even if G’raha had any plan for surviving past the hero’s return to the Source (he does not), all he truly wanted was to just.. Be there. By the Warrior’s side, adventuring and laughing and telling stories. What cruel irony of his own making it was that he cannot have even that, hidden beneath the Exarch’s mantle as he is.

But the Warrior will live. Hallima will live. And that is all that matters.

For both the star…

And for him.

(Hallima calls his name, and several hundred years of resigned determination crumbles like dust.)

The truth is actually this.

Hallima had a pretty good idea that he knew who the Exarch was from about…. week two. The only reason it took that long was because G’raha had glamoured himself quite thoroughly to hide his mi’quote traits, and obviously spent many years training himself to hide whatever other tells he could. Unfortunately for G’raha, Hallima had an uncanny ability to remember people, even amongst beast tribes that many had difficulty telling apart. It is probable that nothing short of a full fantasia transformation would have thrown them off for long, and the body dysphoria as a result of a transformation not fully wanted- as well as the rarity of the substance- just wasn’t worth it in the long run.

So yes, Hallima knew, and held their tongue about it. They didn’t know why G’raha was so intent on hiding his identity, whether to throw off some pursuer or perhaps had lost his memory or some other strange effect of Syrcus Tower, but Hallima had every intent of figuring it out before they went blabbing to all and sundry about it. Unfortunately whatever investigating they could do had to take place in between everything else, so it’s no surprise when they never really get anywhere with it.

In the end they run out of time, and as the Exarch steps forward in a blatantly fake attempt to play the villain, Hallima knows it’s now or never.

They call his name, his hood and glamours falling away, revealing his expression to them for the first time since the doors of the Crystal Tower had closed between them so very long ago.

He looks heartbroken.

Looking back, Hallima will realize this as a turning point, if a small one of many, but a significant one nonetheless. It starts to become clear just the kind of depth of emotion that G’raha harbours for them, and it’s… Intimidating. Something which almost rings absurd when it becomes clear that G’raha fully believes that he is far beneath the Warrior’s time or attention.

And yes, Hallima will be the first to admit that he has a Type. This much is most certainly true.

However, and this the perpetually self-doubting mi’quote had failed to take into account, it is not the only factor.

Did it mean that it took a bit longer for Hallima to notice said affections? Yes. Did it mean that Hallima had to spend a non-zero amount of time trying to figure out what they felt beyond pure physical inclination? Also yes. There was also the small matter of how G’raha had essentially been lying to them for months on end, and regardless of his understandable reasoning, that still stung a bit. Not enough to sour them, but it did add to the pile of complications Hallima needed to work through before their feelings could go anywhere.

All this was of course significantly stalled by the ever present threat of the Final Days and all that surrounded them, so it’s not until much, much later that Hallima finally gets to walk into Sharlyan and offer G’raha the one thing he wanted most of all.

“An adventure?” Red ears perk in surprise and excitement as Hallima talks various details with Krile. There is a long pause as he wrestles with his desire and his responsibilities, and then-

“Ohhh, go on, Raha.” Krile says with a laugh. “I can handle things here for a bit. Bring me back a good story, alright?”

Hallima finds himself grinning at the sheer, animated joy G’raha springs into with her permission, barely waiting long enough to put his books down before he’s out the door with a spring in his step and a shine in his eyes.

It’s this moment that Hallima wonders why they didn’t find him attractive before.

They wait a few days, taking the opportunity to finally spend some more low-stakes time together and get in some of that adventuring that G’raha has longed for. It’s the least he deserves after everything he’s given and sacrificed really. Hopping from place to place, solving mysteries and fighting monsters. It rings of a simpler time to both of them really.

It’s a beautiful night, the moon hanging full and bright in the sky, partial cloud cover and a lack of wind rendering the night temperate enough to make the campside fire almost unnecessary but for the kettle simmering just above the low flame.

G’raha pokes at the embers with a stick, sending a shiver of sparks into the air, a small smile on his face.

“A few more minutes, I should think.” He says.

“For your legendary hot chocolate recipe?”

“Did Lyna tell you that? Well, she may have over sold it a touch, and I am no culinarian, but I will admit that this one thing I can make to standard.”

“As long as it’s not sludge then it’s probably better than anything I could make.” Hallima says. “Seriously though, I’m sure it’ll be great, give yourself some credit.”

G’raha’s ear flicks, a pleased tell.

“I must thank you again, my friend. This trip has been nothing short of everything I had hoped for.”

“Good, I’m glad.” Hallima grins. “But we’re not done yet. We have at least another week or two before Krile will start expecting us back.”

“We had best make the most of it then.” G’raha meets Hallima’s gaze, relaxed and content in a way he rarely got to be, brilliant red hair lit to glowing in the dim firelight.

“That’s the plan.” Hallima leans back and closes his eyes, basking in the fire’s warmth and considering his next move.

And he would have to make the next move. Raha certainly wasn’t going to.

”Ah, I do believe it’s ready!” G’raha announces proudly as he lifts the kettle from its hook. Hallima waits patiently as G’raha sets about pouring the warmed milk into a pair of cups, adding a precise mix of chocolate and spices to them and stirring carefully.

“Thank you.” Hallima says when he’s offered his share, and the two sit quietly as they sip carefully on the drink.

“I was right. It’s delicious.” Hallima grins teasingly at G’raha, who tries to cover his flush with a cough, though the tilt of his ears betray him anyway.

“Very good. I wasn’t sure if it would be quite the same, as Aldgoat milk and what we used on the First is of a slightly different consistency and- ah. Anyway. I digress. I’m glad you like it.”

“Don’t stop yourself on my account.” Hallima chuckles. “I like listening to you ramble.”

“You say that now, but you’ll regret it by hour five.” G’raha warns, but his lips are turned upwards. “Even Krile tires of me after a long enough.”

“I suppose I will simply have to take a break by getting you some water. You must be parched after that long.”

“You tease, but truly there have been times where I could have kissed such a person for bringing such refreshments in the midst of a long lecture.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Hallima’s smirk does not lessen, and he rests his chin on the palm of his hand.

It takes G’raha a second to process that the intent of the tease is exactly what it sounds like, and from there he flusters adorably, ears flicking and eyes darting to and from Hallima several times in quick succession. His tail swishes wildly behind him.

“Ah, pray do not tease me so, I beg.”

“Hmm, I will try but the urge to make a dirty joke about begging is strong.”

G’raha groans and buries his face in his hands, embarrassed but not truly upset as far as Hallima can tell.

“Seriously though, G’raha.” Hallima leans forward. “I’m not blind, and even Y’shtola can see it. You’re one of the most stubbornly determined people I have ever met and that’s saying something, and yet…”

“What do you…?” G’raha lifts his head to look up at Hallima, confused. Hallima leans down until their noses are nearly touching.

“I know what you want.” He whispers. “Consider this your invitation to take it.”

G’raha stares wide-eyed up at Hallima, frozen.

“I- you-“

“Have I misread?” Hallima tilts his head just slightly, taking care not to accidentally catch G’raha with the tips of his horns with the movement. G’raha swallows audibly.

“No.” He finally finds his voice. “No, you have not. Forgive me, I did not expect…”

“Reciprocation?”

“Yes.”

“That’s my own fault, probably.” Hallima leans back again, sensing they will have to do some serious talking before getting anywhere. Fair enough. “In the First I wasn’t really… In the right mindset for that, and then the whole star was set to be wiped out and. Well. Needless to say I only just managed to spare Aymeric a visit last week, there just hasn’t been time.” And even in the brief moments there technically had been, such matters had been by necessity pushed far from the forefront of his mind.

“Speaking of Aymeric, are not you and he…?” G’raha fiddles with the bracers on his arms nervously. Hallima tilts his head again.

“You don’t know? I figured it would be common knowledge by now. To make a boring contract short and sweet, yes he knows and we are both free to bed and court who we will. Which is something you would have to be okay with.”

Hallima takes a sip of their rapidly cooling hot cocoa as he waits for G’raha to finish processing what he is being offered. It can be a lot to take in at once, he knows, but thankfully Hallima is nothing if not patient.

“You- Really?” G’raha seems to still be struggling.

“Am I really in an open relationship that you would have to be okay with being a part of if you and I were to court? Yes. Am I really open to the idea of courting you? Also Yes. Enthusiastically.”

G’raha laughs a little then, a surprised sort of sound.

“Forgive me, my friend, I have made a poor showing of myself and been nothing but tongue-tied. But if you truly do mean it-“

“And I do.”

“-Then I would accept.”

Hallima grins so hard his cheeks hurt.

“May I kiss you?”

“Please.”

Bonus:

“Ameliance have I mentioned lately that if you had even an shred of masculinity to you I would climb you like a tree?”

“T’would be a short climb for someone of your height, I’m afraid.” A laugh.

“Seriously though are you sure I can’t talk you into-“

“I am afraid not. Fourchenault may have his faults, but I do love him.”

“Okay but I have this mi’quote friend who would jump at the chance to court you properly. I’m just saying.”

“I shall take it under advisement.”

#HALLIMA FINALLY LOOKED AT G'RAHA #it is frankly absurd how long that took #anyway uhhhhhh i am not a romance writer despite how much ship fic i read #so hopefully this reads as only mildly awkward #this also ended up being way longer than i thought it would wtf #will i ever stop poking at Hallima's backstory? probably not #flight's making things again #fanfic #fanfiction #ff14 #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14

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blazehedgehog · 1 year

Note

One additional Sonic side-character gets trapped in Cyberspace and accompanies Sonic across the Starfall Islands via hologram. Who would you choose and what would they discuss with Sonic?

I mean, it's Tails. The answer, objectively, is Tails. He has filled that role before in other games. You have little brother chat.

I imagine it wouldn't be very hard to drum that up, either. Spin it like Sonic's always on the road, he's always busy enjoying the world on his own terms, so this is his chance to really catch up with Tails on a level they don't really get into very often.

Maybe that even eventually uncovers that Tails has some things about Sonic he doesn't necessarily like. Get Sonic to admit some of his flaws. Treat it sort of like "these two are now spending 24/7 together for the first time in a long time and learning about all sorts of good and bad habits they might have developed while apart."

Maybe Tails spends so long in his workshop that he doesn't keep a very healthy sleep schedule and being attached to Sonic makes it difficult for Sonic to sleep as a result. Maybe Sonic talks about some of the foreign delicacies he's eaten and Tails still has a kid's palette so he's like, "Ew, gross" because all he wants is basic, simple foods. Maybe we even reveal that Tails doesn't even really like chili dogs all that much and only tolerates them for Sonic's sake. Could spiral out a whole series of conversations about that one. Tails could just not like spicy food.

They could get in to deeper conversations about how Tails really feels about other characters like Knuckles, or Amy. He's generally been pretty reserved when it comes to acting judgmental about them, but surely he's got some feelings about the way they act, deep down within.

Tails could reveal that on some level he respects Doctor Eggman from a purely scientific perspective, for what he's able to accomplish with his machines. There's an easy series of conversation points you could extract from that one. Turn it in to a little debate where Sonic wonders if Tails has gone off the deep end and Tails has to explain himself. Could turn into a "you better not become like him" brotherly bonding moment.

Just lots of good, fun, small talk stuff.

But you said "additional." Someone not already in the game. I feel like Shadow and Sonic would have a lot to chat about regarding... like, clarifying what Shadow is, what his relationship is to Sonic, clearing up his background, really digging into the dude's emotional core... but I also feel like all of that is way too direct and that's why they'd never, ever do it.

Omega would be really fun, on the grounds of how Ian Flynn writes Omega. Maybe somebody from the outside (like Rouge or Shadow) would insert Omega into the situation at the Starfall Islands because his nature as a robot makes it easier for him to interface and understand cyberspace. Could play up some mystery with whether or not the process changed Omega like it did Sage.

But all throughout the game, Sonic would have to put up with Omega's playful hunger for violence and his cold, logical methods of extracting that. It would provide a nice contrast between Sage, too, who is clearly seeking to connect with human emotions.

Omega does not care. Omega just wants to burn things. And Sonic has to do his best to reason with Omega and explain why he won't do that. In the end, Omega does begrudgingly learn something from the process, but it can't change who he is.

Omega would also cut right to the core of Sonic's belief that everyone deserves a chance to set things right. Sonic could even hit Omega with the same speech he gave Shadow in IDW, where Omega wants Sonic to destroy Eggman, but Sonic has spared Omega, an Eggman creation. If Sonic destroys Eggman, does that mean Sonic should also destroy Omega, too?

And maybe through Omega, we can talk a little bit about what Omega thinks Shadow is. Muddy the waters a bit. Don't give direct answers.

Lots of interesting, funny conversations there.

#questions #cypher-ds #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #sonic frontiers #miles tails prower #writing

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ccss10987 · 2 years

Text

Heist Gone Wrong

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43881277

Characters: Logan, Patton, Remus, Roman, Virgil, and Janus.

Words: 3,060

TW: I think it's all good. Let me know if I'm wrong

Notes: This is written for @lostinmyfictionaluniverses as part of the @sanderssidesgiftxchange I hope you have a fun holiday season and you get yourself a little treat. I would like to thank the mods for putting this all together. I had such a fun time writing this. I hope everyone who reads this enjoys this funny little art heist sanders sides one-shot.

"Does everyone understand the plan?" Logan asked, setting down his wooden pointer.

The group in front of him nods.

"Remus and Patton, do either of you remember what step 4 is?" Logan asked the two with a smug look on his face

"OOH!" Remus raises his hand quickly, jumping up and down in his seat.

"Yes, Remus?" Logan sighed.

"Kill everyone in the room and use the blood to cover where the painting was!"

"Maybe… go through the plan one more time, Logan." Patton said gently.

"That's what I thought. Step 1, Roman will create a forgery of the painting. Step 2, Janus will sneak into the museum accompanied by Patton. Step 3, I will hack into the security system and put all the cameras in a loop to make sure no one sees anything. Step 4, Remus will cause a distraction while Roman sneaks the forgery inside. Step 5, Janus finds the painting while Patton keeps all the other guards from finding Janus stealing the painting. Step 7, we replace the painting with the fake one Roman created. Step 8, we get out of the museum, and Virgil will drive us away. Step 9, we return the stolen art to the original artist. Are we all clear now?"

Once again, everyone nods.

"What's the worse thing that can happen?" Janus asked with a smirk on their face.

"You said that on purpose. I have a list I can read out for you, if you want." Virgil said, glaring at them.

"Okay, okay. Let's not fight. This is going to go perfectly." Patton told Virgil while standing in between the two.

"You can't say that either!" Virgil yelled, pulling at his hair.

"I'm sorry. Knock on wood." Patton said quickly while knocking on their wooden coffee table.

"So how is the replica coming along, Roman?" Logan asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's nearly there. It just needs something." Roman told him.

"Blood! Mucus! Slime! Some other questionable substance?" Remus suggested.

Roman scrunched up his face. "Ew. You're not helping."

"I will take a look at it and help you figure it out." Logan told him. Logan and Roman left the room.

"I started working on my costume months ago and am now done." Janus said, looking at their manicured nails. "In other completely unrelated news. Patton, you have a spare security uniform, right?"

"Yeah, you can have my spare. I'll go get it." Patton told him.

"I don't need it, of course. I simply want to compare the two."

The two left, leaving Remus and Virgil alone.

"I can't imagine this going well. I'm not even sure why I decided to do this in the first place. I'm gonna cause a police chase. We're all going to go to jail and I'm going to fuck something up-"

"Nah don't worry about that. If anyone is going to fuck something up. It's gonna be me, emo, but it'll be on purpose."

"Please don't."

Remus chucked and crept out of the room. "What a prick…" Virgil mumbled under his breath.

"I am not quite sure what you think is missing. It looks fine-" Logan said, staring at the false art.

"I don't want it to look fine. It needs to be an exact replica!" Roman was pacing around his studio, mumbling about all the details he put into the painting, trying to figure out what the art was missing.

"Roman, it does not need to be perfect. It just needs to look enough like the painting so we have the time to get away before we are caught. We have recovered works of art before without anyone knowing it was gone, and I have no doubt in my mind that we can do it again." Logan told him.

"Well what if it's not good enough!? What if my forgery gets recognized too quickly? We won't be far enough away from the museum when the police start chasing us. Maybe we won't even get that far. The security guards-"

Logan cut him off once more. "If everyone follows my plan, we won't need to worry about the security guards at all. Patton and Janus will have them distracted, most likely with awful dad jokes."

Logan didn't want Roman to know that he was also worried about the heist. It was his plan, after all. If something went wrong, it was his fault. He didn't plan for it and couldn't deduce a solution. Logan could not let Roman know this because he needed all the answers. Having Roman worry more wasn't going to help in the long run.

"Well you know what's best. After all, you're the smart one." Roman stated.

"Obviously. I am going to retire to my room now. Please try and get some rest, Roman."

"Will do, Specs."

In Patton's room with Janus, Patton was hunched over in his closet, pulling things out and throwing them on the floor.

"Are you sure you have this?" Janus asked.

"Well I might have given it to a coworker of mine…" Patton trailed off.

Janus pinched the bridge of their nose. "I can make do. This might surprise you, but I don't have a disguise ready.

Patton laughed nervously, still rummaging through his closet. "Oh really? I had no idea." he said as playfully as he could.

"Why did you give away the uniform anyway?' Janus asked.

"Well he spilled some soda on himself and I always keep my spare in my bag in case someone needs it. I told him that he could borrow the shirt. He was so nice and even said he would wash it before he gave it back to me."

Janus just nodded. Patton stood up and stretched his back out. Janus sighed, hearing the crackling of Patton's back. "Take this advice from someone who has chronic pain, you need to stretch more often."

"Yeah I know. I keep saying I will, but I never do. Just like me saying I should clean my room more often, especially the closet." Patton told Janus. He said this as he shoved the pile of clothes back into his closet.

"I should get started on that uniform so I can finish it before Logan stars nagging me."

"Good luck!" Patton called out while Janus left the room. He sighed, looking at the pile of clothes in the closet before closing the door. It was too much work to do to clean that up now. It didn't seem like a problem before.

Everyone had trouble sleeping that night. They were all worried about something not going according to plan, except Remus. He was just too excited to sleep.

It was the morning of the heist. Everyone was tired. Patton was still the first one up to start making breakfast for everyone. Logan was the next one down. Patton put on a smile for him. "Did you sleep well, Logan?" he asked.

"To tell you the truth, I could have slept better."

"Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, bud."

Janus came down just as Patton finished breakfast, followed by the twins, who all looked sluggish. Virgil was the last person to come downstairs, looking just as tired as everyone else, but that was a common occurrence.

"Based on everyone's faces, I deduce I am not the only one who did not get a good quality sleep last night."

Everyone mumbled in agreement, even Patton, trying his best to hide his drowsiness.

"No matter. I want everyone to try and sleep today. We will continue as planned. The more rested we are, the more successful this mission will be."

Everyone nodded and promised they would get some sleep before the heist. They had done this several times before, so why were they all so nervous?

Janus, Logan, and Patton were the only three who had tried to sleep before the heist. All three were unsuccessful.

Patton and Janus left a few hours before the rest of them to secure Janus' cover as a security guard at the museum. Patton had been working there for a while now. That's how they found out about the stolen art in the first place.

At the front doors of the museum, Janus took a deep breath. "My name is Dee Jordan. I am 31 years old."

"Why three years younger than you are?"

"Shush. I'm babysitting my nephew Declan, and I need the extra cash, hence the night shift job." Janus finished their mumbling, and they took another deep breath. "Alright, I'm in character. Let's do this." they said with a fake voice.

"Wow. That is amazing!" Patton exclaimed. He unlocked the door using his ID, and they entered the building.

Patton led Janus into the security room, where one of his coworkers was, waiting for his shift to start.

"Hey, Patty! I bought some donuts before I came here, do you want one?" Patton's coworker, Carl, asked.

"Thank you, Carl." Patton said before taking a chocolate-covered donut with sprinkles. "This is our new coworker-"

"Dee Jordan. It's nice to meet you. I won't have this job for long. It's just supposed to be an easy payment." Janus lied.

"Well, it's pretty dull. There's like nothing to do, and the alarms are always faulty." said Carl. "Do you and Patton know each other?"

"Yes." "No." Patton and Janus said in sync, respectively. Patton was not okay with lying to his coworkers. He had known them for so long.

"What do you mean?" Carl asked.

"What he means is we met here before, but we don't actually know each other." Janus said before Patton could speak.

"We should get started with patroling the museum." said Patton quickly.

"Alright. I'll see you later, buddy." Carl said to Patton."

The two started walking away from the security room. Janus turned to Patton and told him, "Next time that someone asks us a question, please leave the talking to me. I know you don't like lying."

"But, keeping information from people is still a lie." Patton huffed.

"It's not a lie if they don't have the right to know." Janus fired back. Janus sent Logan a quick text to let Logan know they had gotten inside with no trouble.

In the van a few streets away, Logan started to tap into the museum security cameras.

"Has anything gone wrong yet?" Virgil asked.

"For the hundredth time, no." Roman told him, inspecting his painting.

"Not yet anyway." Remus said.

"Would you three please be quiet. I need my full concentration. As long as everything goes according to my plan, we will be able to get away with this." Logan snapped at them.

Everyone was quiet after that, even Remus. The only sounds in the van were Logan's fingers tapping on the keyboard and Virgil's leg bouncing.

After a few moments, Logan got into the security cameras and put all of them on a 5-second loop. He was certain no one was on the looped footage and sent Janus a text saying step 3 was complete.

"Hey Patton, friend, buddy, pal, a synonym for a friend." Janus started.

"What is it? Did something go wrong?" Patton asked, worry in his voice.

"No, but do you remember what step 3 was?"

"Oh." Patton sighed in relief. "It was the distraction. I'm at least 87% sure."

Janus laughed. "That's a specific number. Too specific to be wrong. I'll meet Roman at the meeting point."

Janus got to the meeting point, a fire escape near the gallery the stolen art was in. Remus said the distraction was loud enough to drown out the noise of the alarm, so they opened the door. The fire alarm blasted, and Janus covered their ears. Roman wasn't at the door. They peeked their head outside and looked around. Roman wasn't in sight.

"What happened over here?" someone from behind Janus asked. This wasn't supposed to happen. Everyone was supposed to be wherever Remus caused the distraction. Something went wrong.

Janus turned around. "I heard the alarm go off, so I ran toward the noise.

"Ah, you must be new. This door is always a bit fussy. It scared me on my first night shift too. I swear the slightest gust of wind can cause it to go off. I'm Maddison, by the way." she said.

"I'm Dee." Janus told her. The two shook hands and jumped when they heard a loud boom and several crashes.

"I've never heard that one before. Let's go check it out." Maddison said. She grabbed Janus by the wrist and started running towards the sound. They found a giant hole in the wall. Everyone came to check it out, including Patton, who saw Janus at the scene and became very nervous. They weren't supposed to be here. Something went wrong.

"I cannot believe someone blew up a wall. Who would go through the trouble of doing this?" Maddison mumbled to herself.

"I didn't see anything on the cameras. I should have though, right?" Carl asked himself.

"I didn't see anything either." Patton said. It felt wrong to keep information from his two closest coworkers, but he knew he had to. He couldn't believe Remus would do something this extreme. Well, yes, he would. This came as a surprise to no one.

"What do we do now?" Janus asked, dumbfounded.

"We shouldn't call the police. They only make matters worse." Carl said. He gave Maddison a slight nod, who nodded back at him. Something suspicious was happening, and it wasn't just the art heist.

"You blew up an entire wall, Remus." Roman whisper-yelled to his brother.

"No way. I did not blow up the entire wall, just most of it." Remus said as a matter of factly.

"They know someone is sneaking in now." Roman told him.

"Then you better hurry up and replace the painting then." Remus told him as he started walking back to the van.

Roman would have argued more, but he was right. They had to finish this job now. Roman ran to the meeting point to meet up with Janus. The door was open, thankfully, but Janus wasn't there. Something went wrong. He couldn't wait for them. He needed to find that stolen painting as soon as possible.

Roman raced through the gallery, trying to find the painting. He eventually found where the artwork was supposed to be. There was a sign with the thief's name and their fake title, but no artwork. He sent Logan a panicked text explaining the situation.

"That was completely irresponsible, Remus." Logan scolded him.

"Hey, it was loud enough to drown out the fire alarm and caused all the workers to check it out." Remus defended himself.

"Including Janus. Luckily they left the door open for Roman. Unfortunately, someone stole the painting before we could."

"WHAT!?" Virgil yelled. He started mumbling to himself and spiraling into a panic attack.

"I'll help Roman get out of there. You help Virgil." Remus said. He wasn't stupid. He knew when it was time to get serious. This could have serious consequences.

"Not to worry, Virgil. This is a minor set back. We have to tell our client that someone else stole their artwork, and there is nothing more that we can do."

"They'll be disappointed with us." Virgil told him through shakey breaths and tears.

"No, they won't. I'm confident we got further than they expected us to get. Now, let's work on your breathing."

"Okay." Virgil mumbled.

Remus snuck into the museum through the open fire escape. He found his brother in the gallery where the art was supposed to be. "Alright, we need to leave before we get caught. Take the painting with you. We can't let anyone know we were ever here." Remus told him.

"Right." Roman said as he got up and followed Remus through the entrance they came in through.

The two made it back to the van without being detected.

"Okay, we will be here for another moment while I reset the museum security cameras. Then, we will be on our way back home. No one will know we were there. Janus and Patton will make sure of that." Logan said while sending a text to Janus and Patton to let them know the updated plan. The text he got back was far more concerning.

"Let's go back where we were and try to find the intruder." Maddison told Janus. She grabbed them by the wrist and led them away from Patton and Carl.

Once they were out of sight, Carl let out a sigh of relief. "I'll let you in on a little secret on why I'm not too worried about this."

"What's happening?" Patton asked.

"Do you remember when I told you that someone was taking credit for someone else's artwork here?" Carl asked. Patton just nodded. "Maddison and I were going to do something about that. We took the painting down and hid it in her car. We were going to say that the art thieves held us at gunpoint and threatened to shoot us if we tried to stop them. I really hope you don't think less of us."

Patton nodded once more. "I have a confession too." Patton explained everything he and "Dee" were doing but left everyone else's name out of it to Carl.

Carl called Maddison back to the hole in the wall and told them to bring Janus with her.

"Well I guess the cat's-" Janus started. "Meow." Patton interrupted.

"Now that you two are in on the plan, we can call the police." Carl stated.

Maddison started the phone call while Carl got the story straight with Patton and Janus.

The police came a few hours later and questioned all the security guards all individually. They didn't suspect a thing.

Janus, Patton, Carl, and Maddison all went home. Patton brought the painting to the original owner, who thanked him for returning it.

On the drive back home, Patton and Janus could finally talk without the fear of being listened to. "How come you didn't have a problem lying to the police?" Janus asked.

"I am surprised at you, Janus. It's always morally correct to lie to police officers." Patton told him. Janus laughed. "Too true." he said. A moment of silence went by before Patton spoke up. "You might hate me for this, but that spare uniform was in my bag the whole time."

#my writing #sanders sides #fanfic #writers on tumblr #virgil sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #art heist au

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us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2 · 12 days

Note

"we should be shaming both parties" have you watched any of the footage from October 7th? I'm not talking about the death and mutilation, but the stories and interviews of soldiers and police officers (hell, one Rabbi shot in the face who was out on the streets trying to protect civilians) who were first on the ground trying to respond to the attack?and when they show the actual body camera footage from the attack? I'm in disbelief there wasn't MORE of friendly fire, the situation was utterly chaotic

oh sorry man, I actually haven't.

to be brutally honest, those stories do not make it over-here in Australia and I do not subscribe to any newspapers I read the news though I just don't subscribe to any, why would I? most of them are like so much money and I read them via archival sites anyway.

especially Israeli sites my god why are they all money, I do not have the spare change and the newspapers clog my emails up lol.

I really should start advertising that I am in fact Australian and usually don’t have much news about anything the ABC doesn’t think is interesting. Ugh not listening to sky news or 9 news Ew.

I unironically get my Israeli news from my Israeli moots, lol

(btw you need a tone tag for this I have zero idea what your tone is, if it’s lighthearted or serious or angry I have zero idea. You need to clarify, I usually am pretty good with figuring out tone but it’s a bit confusing. Thank you for your understanding)

We were a bit high strung to shit over the past 2 days, turns out we have triggers I did NOT know about.

And was ping ponging between incredibly suicidal and not, lol we are NOT okay. This happens sometimes!

anyway, I phrased it a bit wrong. I still have a lot of trouble putting my thoughts into text, I have problems lol 😂

genuinely though it’s a freaking miracle I regained so much of my thought and brain processing skills after having covid. I still have BAD episodes of brainfog and I start stuttering and blanking on the simplest of things.

at least it doesn’t feel impossible to think anymore lol, I genuinely completely Forget what I was talking about sometimes. My short term memory goes to shit sometimes genuinely.

I honest to god completely forgot my whole thought process for the first tag, it’s like genuinely unrelated to the rest of them but yeah what I said was actually shitty I realize now.

whoops I completely apologize and thanks for bringing it up, I can admit my faults. I’ve just had a fucking ROUGH 2 days, rough and honestly fully my fault I shall do better in the future.

also do please drop the news articles! I have zero idea which ones your talking about and would love to read more about it, sorry for my actions I’m genuinely head empty right now and have been going through some shit.

this always happens, we get like really emotional and have some of the brainfog and just say bullshit. Because I genuinely forget wtf I was talking about and then also I misread things a lot? So yeah my fault I’ll be better in the future, all the brain stuff usually isn’t THAT bad but when multiple different things are happening at once WOOF the brain stuff is bad.

At least this time it wasn’t a paranoia spiral or something.

long covid fucking sucks + dyslexia + ADHD + dissociation

I really have bad short term memory problems at times.

blanket statement, I genuinely have really fucking bad language processing problems that flare up at the strangest of times.

usually when we are sick or ill, but over the last 2 days we were pretty unwell + having some mental health problems.

I do need to keep explaining this because genuinely it is BAD at times, sometimes I cannot string together a coherent thought or sentence without just fully blanking and taking a minute to actually try and collect my Thoughts.

usually I completely and utterly forget what I was thinking.

it’s genuinely that bad.

I honest to god just forgot what I was going to say, anyway thanks for bringing this to my attention I will edit the reblog as soon as my brain starts working again.

I hope to hear more from you soon!

#-pop #asks

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spencermorgans · 4 months

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Incorrect Quote Generator III

The unsubs took this one over I'm sorry

Gideon: Hotch you can’t move in with Rossi. Hotch: Why not? Gideon: Well, um, how are you going to feel when they see you without any makeup? Hotch: I’m not wearing makeup right now. Gideon: Holy crap, you’re beautiful.

Spencer: The odds of this happening by coincidence are vanishingly small. Hotch: I would say infinitesimally. Rossi: And I'd say teenily-weenily. We all know words.

Rossi: What time is it? Gideon: I don’t know, pass me that saxaphone and we’ll find out Gideon: BLASTS the saxaphone Hotch: WHO THE FUCK IS PLAYING THE SAXAPHONE AT TWO IN THE FUCKING MORNING Gideon: It’s 2 am

JJ: We’ve been conducting an ongoing study to see what Spencer will and will not eat. Penelope: Grass? Yes! JJ: Moss? Yes!! Penelope: Leaves? Ohh, yes! JJ: Shoelaces? Strange but true! Penelope: Worms? Sometimes! JJ: Rocks? Usually nah. Penelope: Twigs? Usually! JJ: Emily's cooking? Inconclusive! Derek: How did you… test this? JJ: You just hand them stuff and say ‘eat this’ and if they eat it, they eat it. Derek: … I don’t know how to feel about this. Emily: IS THAT WHERE ALL MY SPARE SHOELACES WENT?

Derek: Look guys, I need help. JJ: Love help? Penelope: Financial help? Emily: Emotional help? Spencer: Help moving a body? Everybody looks at Spencer Spencer: What?

JJ: You kidnapped Spencer?! That’s illegal! Derek: But JJ, what’s more illegal? Briefly inconveniencing Spencer, or giving up on our hopes and dreams? JJ: Kidnapping Spencer, Derek! Penelope: JJ, listen. However I feel about this, these guys are counting on you to inspire them! JJ: What, to kidnap people? Penelope: To work together! JJ: To kidnap people?! Emily: JJ, we’ve all agreed that Spencer is not a people.

Spencer: Does everyone know their job for today? JJ: Water the flowers. Penelope: Vacuum the carpet. Derek: Wash the dishes. Emily: Pretend to be a wolverine. Spencer: Close enough.

Penelope: What’s something you guys are better than Spencer at? Derek: Mario Kart. Emily: Yeah, video games. JJ: Emotional vulnerability.

Emily: What do you do when someone offers you drugs? Derek: Take them! JJ: Punch them in the neck! Penelope: Say thank you! Spencer: Offer them more drugs to assert dominance! Emily: … Emily: No.

Derek: Okay! Let’s play Kiss Marry Kill! Derek: First who would you kill? Penelope points at Spencer Emily points at Spencer JJ points at Spencer Spencer: shrugs I would kill me too.

Emily: Hey guys, what do you think about making that beach trip an annual thing? Derek, Spencer, and Hotch: No! Rossi: Alright, that’s it, you guys. What happened out there? Derek: What? We took a walk. Nothing happened. I came back with nothing all over me. Rossi: What does that mean? Emily: Come on, what happened? Spencer? Spencer: Alright. Derek: No. Spencer, we swore we’d never tell! Hotch: They’ll never understand. Spencer: But we have to say something. We have to get it out. It’s eating me alive. Spencer: Derek got stung by a jellyfish! Derek: Alright! I got stung. Stung bad. I couldn’t stand. I- I couldn’t walk. Hotch: We were two miles from the house. We were scared and alone. We didn’t think we could make it. Derek: I was in too much pain. Spencer: And I was tired from digging a huge hole. Hotch: And then Spencer remembered something. Spencer: I’d seen this thing in the Discovery Channel. Emily: Wait a minute, I saw that. On the Discovery Channel. Yeah, about jellyfish and how if you— EW! You peed on yourself? Rossi and Derek: EW!! Derek: You can’t say that! You don’t know! I thought I was gonna pass out from the pain. Anyway, I tried, but I couldn’t… bend that way. So… looks at Spencer Emily, Rossi, and JJ: Ew! Spencer: That’s right. I stepped up. They’re my friend and they needed help. If I had to, I’d pee on any one of you. Spencer: Only, uh, I couldn’t. I got stage fright. I wanted to help but there was too much pressure. So, I, um, I turned to Hotch. Hotch: Spencer kept screaming at me, “Do it now. Do it. Do it now.” Sometimes, late at night I can still hear the screaming. Spencer: That’s because sometimes I just do it through my wall to freak you out.

Emily: If you had too, what would you give up food or sex? Hotch: Sex. Rossi: Seriously, answer faster. Hotch: I’m sorry honey, when they said sex I wasn’t thinking about sex with you. Rossi: It’s like a giant hug. Emily: Spencer, what about you? What would you give up sex or food? Spencer: Food. Emily: Okay, how about sex or dinosaurs? Spencer: Oh my God it’s like the movie Sophie’s Choice. Derek: What about you JJ? What would you give up sex or food? JJ: Oh… um… I don’t know, it’s too hard. Derek: No, you gotta pick one. JJ: Um, food… no, sex… no, food… sex… food. Ugh! I don’t know! I want both! I- I want hot people on bread!

(+Bonus ft. unsubs)

Hankel, Entering Foyet's room: Frank did it again. Foyet: Peace disturbance? Hankel: What no- Foyet: Arson..? Hankel: NO, JESUS CHRIST, HOW MANY- Foyet: uh….Attempted murder? Hankel: NO, THEY ATE ALL THE FOOD IN THE FRIDGE, BUT WHAT THE FU-

Foyet: You can track Frank? Hankel: Of course I can. If the NSA can do it, so can I.

Hankel: I’m a reverse necromancer! Frank: Isn’t that just- Foyet: No. Shut up. Shut the fuck up. You are literally so fucking unfunny that it hurts. It physically hurts my body knowing that people still think murder is funny. I cant believe im saying this but do you guys know how chronically online you all are, thinking that saying “oOh iM a rEVeRsE nECrOmANcER i LOvE tO kiLL pEOpLe” is genuinely funny and will get everyone in the room shitting themselves from laughter?? cause its not. It’s fucking not. In fact, its the unfunniest fucking joke ever. Not just any joke about killing people. This one specifically. Its so unfunny and stupid. Nobody is fucking laughing at that, Hankel. It makes you look like a greasy emo kid who has never been outside once in their life and uses tumblr religiously. Like not even the funny side of tumblr. the fucking unfunny side filled with overused jokes about murder and illegal acts. Honestly, youre so unfunny, Hankel. Fuck you.

Hankel: Why would you think any of this was a good idea?! Foyet: Probably because we're dangerous sociopaths with long histories of violence. Hankel: Oh… Frank, from across the room: I don’t understand how you keep forgetting that.

Foyet: My bad, It’s a knee jerk response. Frank, holding Hankel's unconscious body: WHOSE KNEE JERK RESPONSE IS TO START THROWING BRICKS AT SOMEONE???

Hankel: Frank has no idea I’m high. Frank: You’re high? Hankel: Oh, I’m sorry. Hankel, leaning over to Foyet: Frank has no idea I’m high.

Foyet: Frank! What did I tell you about lying? Frank, looking down: …That it only works on Hankel.

Hankel: Why is everyone so obsessed with top or bottom? Honestly, I’d just be excited to have a bunk bed. Frank: Frank: I'm gonna tell them. Foyet: Don't you dare.

Frank: Yesterday, I overheard Hankel saying “Are you sure this is a good idea?” and Foyet replying “Trust me,” and I have never moved from one room to another so quickly in my life.

Hankel: Any questions? Foyet: Uh, yeah, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? Hankel: Uh, a plan, duh… Frank: Foyet, chill, I know it’s weird, but Hankel has a point. Foyet: Foyet: THAT WAS LITERALLY A PONY DOODLE WITH A HAT!!

Frank: All in all, a 100% successful trip. Foyet: But we lost Hankel. Frank: All in all, a 100% successful trip!

Hankel: Onion rings are vegetable donuts. Frank, used to Hankel being dumb: Sure… Hankel: Your stomach thinks all potatoes are mashed. Frank: Okay? Hankel: Lasagna is spaghetti flavored cake. Frank: Hankel: Lobsters are mermaid scorpio- Frank: Jesus, that one is a little- Foyet, interested: No, no, Hankel, keep going.

Hankel: My father's name is just mine as well, so I'm technically Hankel Jr. Foyet: But who comes up when you look up Hankel on Google? Frank: That's what I thought! Foyet: One Hankel to rule them all!

Foyet: Do you think different paints have different tastes? Hankel: They do. Frank: …Why did you say that with such certainty?

Foyet: We've got to find a way to cut down our expenses. What can we live without? Frank: Hankel, probably.

Frank: How are we supposed to put a tracker the size of a penny on Hankel without them noticing? Foyet: Hey, Hankel, I bet you 5 bucks that you can't swallow this penny. Hankel: takes and swallows tracker Pay up, loser. Frank: …

Frank: Aww, what's your dog's name? Hankel: Spartacus. Frank, yelling to Foyet: TRY SPARTACUS! Foyet, on the computer: DIDN'T WORK! Hankel: Frank: What's your favorite number?

Frank: What makes you think it's okay to watch Hannibal given its subject matter? Hankel: Sometimes, I watch television shows for entertainment purposes. Foyet: Because I condone murder and cannibalism.

Foyet: Why does Hankel always do the laundry so loudly? Frank: So everyone knows that no one helps them out in the house. Hankel, in the distance: slams the washing machine shut

Hankel: Foyet told me that the paper strip that’s in the chocolate kisses were edible and I ate them with the chocolate for a year. Frank: They are! Hankel: FOR REAL? Frank: No! Why did you fall for it again?

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castle-dominion · 1 year

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c4x13 an embarrassment of bitches I have actually seen this one before! I didn't realize that! I also didn't really like it all that much & got it mixed up with another episode of another show but idk which.

boring ew lmao as if who cares lmao who cares

buttons is nonbinary Castle is right, be safe AC: We were going to take your Ferrari and hook up with some boys we met on Craigslist. buttons dutton lmao they are SO nonbinary RC: Please don’t call me that.

the girls are fightingggg

nice red coat on becks there autism or smth

Yeah keep the dog out of the room but dogs are the silent witness. ryan lookin pretty today as always. Purple shirt, top button undone but wearing a tie

this man is upset lol What was he into? On the take as in bribes? it's a dog... Ok this was funny: Just look at that mutt. XP Now back to my Max. UwU Now the mutt. XP That’s all the proof I need.

Oh gosh this lady is... something. Why'd she take a vid tho?

Next day? Different clothes it seems.

RC: Even more perplexing, why in almost every photo is she posed like this? *Castle strikes a ridiculous “sexy” pose in front of the paparazzi and they flock to snap his photo.* Paparazzo: Hey, that’s not Jason Bateman. Paparazzi: awwwwww

Love the music.

Reggie Starr: You two must be the, uh, soft drink people, right? KB: Actually, no. "We" are NYPD. We’re here to speak with Kay Cappuccio. RS: Oh, my bad. Uh…why don’t you just grab a squat right over there? KB: Excuse me? RS: Phoebe will bring you a goji berry juice. KB: You know what? I think I have a better idea. [Beckett steps forward into the photoshoot.] KB: Everybody, take five. RS: Whoa. Hold on a second. Kay Cappuccio doesn’t have five to spare. RC: How about 15 to 20? [That catches Reggie’s attention.] RC: And that goji berry juice sounds delightful.

Little dogs are just like that. RS looks sus there KC: Fine. We didn’t talk about anything, because he was already dead. KB: You found the body? KC: Yeah. KB: And you didn’t call 9-1-1? KC: No, I did as soon as I got into the limo. No harm, no foul, right? KB: You fled a crime scene. KC: All right. (chuckles) Have you heard the phrase, “There’s no such thing as bad press”? Having your picture taken with a dead guy is the exception. [idk if that is true, dead body doesn't seem so bad.] I have to be so careful with my image. My image is all I have. RC: Yeah. No, we were just talking about that.

Kate is pretty, turtleneck with a blazer. Rick is pretty, grey shirt with a blazer. Ryan is pretty, dress shirt+tie with a sweater. Espt is kinda grungy but I like it well enough. lol underdog? *hits espt* *espt looks at him bc "nobody touches me"* dr barker? Really? Lanie coming up with the doggo! They all look so happy to have the dog up here. RC: Or…we could keep him here at the precinct. I mean, we could use a mascot. JE: I thought that’s what you were. *dying laughing* RC: Thatwhat’s that? What’s that, buddy? Esposito’s sense of humor fell down a well and can’t get out? JE: ??

LP: Then you better find out what kind of food he eats, because he’s not touching the stuff I put out. KB: Well, there’s gotta be some food for him at Francisco’s place. Who wants to make a run for it? JE: To go get dog food? KB: [all three sort of at the same time] JE: Castle RC: Ryan KR: Esposito JE: *looks at ryan in betrayal bc they could have teamed up to send out castle* Ok the filipinos are right when they have that up hand down hand game that I don't understand. It's like evens & odds which is a game that I DO understand. Everyone puts in their hands & on three they put out a number of fingers, usually one or two. The odd one out is the winner. In this case they would be the loser though. Then once you eliminate that person you can do rock paper scissors. It works with three people or more but it might need a few rounds. You will always get rid of more than half of the people when playing odd one out. settle it like men lol. They don't count tho, rock paper scissors shoot. Espt: Snip

How did they not know who they were talking about? lmao She might still be a doctor! Yeah! Let the canine therapist talk to the dog! KB: Of your time, sure.

Becks has some crazy hair rn

RC: Tell me…did Francisco ever observe you during your sessions? PB: No. He waited outside. Why? Because either he was paying you too much or he had a pet play kink

Nice especkett is heading out here, love it. Espt has a nice scard rn btw. rly love it.

Oh no Growl right back at them bro.

Girl dogs are scary af running like obelix & asterix.

lmao dog breeding? srs? it was honest work <3 that guy passed away recently. the bug finder that ryan found

It could have been ANY time this morning ryan didn't specify.

Wow music. Wow people. Wow her walk. Ryan & espt's mouths lol. Royal sad. Booty. Ryan's device. Ooh & the way he picks it up nice nice.

ew dogs. RC: Tell me, does the phrase “corporate espionage” mean anything to you? KC: No RC: KC: No, seriously. I have no idea what it means. Why is ryan interrupting so awkwardly?

JE: Dude, look at that outfit. Where is she gonna put a wire? RC: Well, if I had to be creative, I’d guess— KB: RC: That’s rhetorical. KR: We went into the tech room [Ohhh so they have a tech room that's probably what that room with the tv is!] to isolate the frequency that the bug was transmitting on, and we found, uh, well… JE: Show ‘em. KR: All right. *turns on TV to get a good view of boobs, like real bazongas*

KC: Oh, well, I mean, it’s not just any celebrity video— I mean, TMZ’s offered, like, a million bucks for the first naked picture of me. JE, being horny: You ask me, that number’s on the low side. KB:

KB: And then there might be a trail that leads back to the guilty party. So we’re gonna have to find somebody to pull all those photos-- JE: I’ll do it. RC: Got a little case of, uh…puppy love there, Esposito? <3 they love making fun of him RC spotting royal in the conference room: Aw. Looks like Esposito isn’t the only frustrated dog in the precinct. Who closed him up in there?

*starts rubbing her hand intimately* GIRL This reminds me. When they had the murder suspect amnesiac they let him crash on the couch. The dog tho is going home with castle or beckett. Then later espt takes home that kid. & we finally get to see his apartment.

KC: I never thought I would say this, but I am so sick of looking at myself right now. I can’t even imagine how you must feel. JE, enjoying looking at pics of pretty women: Don’t worry about me. WHY are they going thru the pics so SLOW? Wow there's humanity here now. Weird. She's all depressed bc she feels talentless. You can be talentless tho bc skills are things you can build. ofc it takes more work bc talents just come naturally & skills take time & effort but shush.

Hyatt is such a name. I remember he sent a dead body to brackenreid once & john almost opened up the chest. Espt is being really protective of kay rn. Bro chill.

My dad's cat has a grease spot on the window from where her cat tree is & she puts her face on the window. it's so adorable. RC: Who’s a good boy, huh? Who’s a good boy? Is Marcus a good boy? No, he’s not a good boy. He’s a bad boy. Man has a bit of a lisp that makes it sound like he's shitting here not sitting here lol Could be dog trafficking, not necessarily drugs

Ah he's a US customs agent lol. Get ryan on the job he was a drug cop. Should have given him the hella fancy coffee

Beckett's on drugs lol Essence of poppyflower ohhhhh These are real narcotics, they are from poppyseed or smth. Not all street drugs are narcotics & ppl tend to forget that.

omg ryan is wearing a blue suit (kind of striped) with a pink shirt & no tie omg y'all I might be a lesbian. (Yes I'm only half woman, yes I'm also half man, yes he's also a man, but he's the kind of guy lesbians say are attractive even if they are not attracted themselves. Like I find him cute as a lesbian. Not as a straight girl not as a gay boy not as a straight boy but as a lesbian. it's complicated shut up.) Oh & while we're at it espt has a nice jacket too & it looks good on him, it has like the leather jacket looking bit (probs polyester or vinyl, tho in some lighting it looks almost denim) & then the fabric sleeves, I love it. Oh esposito is so sad that she's the one.

KB: So, we have reason to suspect that our killer was wearing your perfume. KC: Well, that’s impossible. It wasn’t even out yet. I’m the only person that had it. KR: Does she realize she just incriminated herself? JE: I said she was nice. I didn’t say anything about smart.

Looking thru the window like that? v sus. HOLY MOLY well as soon as my little bro is gone I am watching that fight scene again & posting the clip!

KB: Yeah, and, um, you know, I was wrong about something, too. Turns out having a mascot in the precinct can be pretty useful. Me: You mean rick or royal?

All the cops watching them fight over royal KC: Oh, yes, Lolita and I need a big strong man around the house, JE:

AC: You said, you’d be the one who’d wind up having to feed it, and it was hard enough remembering to feed me every day. RC: Yeah, I…I don’t remember that last part. AC: It was subtext. Barely. theyre so cute: So…this dog you want o get, you know, for me…this wouldn’t be an enticement to come home from college more often, would it?

Maybe I hadn't seen this one before. Regardless, it was fun enough.

#castle 4x13 #castle 4x13 spoilers #castle 4x13 quote #the dog show episode

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yumgrapejuice · 3 years

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this is really me fucking around more than anything cause girl’s gotta entertain herself somehow but. hear me out.

so we know that when c!ranboo enderwalks, he has all of his memories, right? right. and a majority of the time we see c!ranboo without those memories. but what if it’s just two extremes? what if the enderwalk is more of a spectrum, a process, is you will, rather than a state?

thinking about it, c!ranboo can be surprisingly inconsistent, and that’s more than just the whole ‘oh no i hate c!dream’ vs ‘oh i’m gonna help c!dream’ thing. when we think about c!ranboo vs ew!ranboo, that’s what comes to mind—in one state he’s highly anxious, not really much of a backbone, missing a lot of his memories. while in the other, he’s a cryptid, helping c!dream, speaking in ender, acting quite Sus even around other people, and, of course, he supposedly has all of his memories. we’ve never actually seen this rather state of him act on his own stream (if not counting that one time in the very beginning with the :) note).

but! here’s the thing. we’ve still seen him enderwalk, supposedly. remember that part with c!foolish and the war favor? yeah, you could tell something was definitely up, with how forceful and, i’d say, intimidating c!ranboo acted to get what he wanted. not really how we’re used to c!ranboo acting, i don’t think, and the fact that he didn’t remember the encounter later only makes it more suspicious because our attention was specifically drawn to that.

there were two other instances that also weren’t in line with c!ranboo’s usual behavior. that being about c!dream’s cookies, where he remarked how he wanted to bring them over to c!dream, and the sign with the :) in his base where, when chat freaked out about it, he said, rather forcefully, ‘the smile’s fine, chat’. now, i don’t know if either of these instances were retconned in the future, it’s been a year pls spare me if i forgot about it, but. yeah. kinda weird, if you’d ask me, that he’d act almost familiar with stuff involving c!dream, when, usually, he hates the guy.

there was also the time c!ranboo remembered the path leading to the vault and some of the conversation, when it was quite clear that, during the finale, mans was enderwalking. so, he had regained some of his memories, but not enough to actually understand what was happening or why.

these changes in behavior from what we’re more familiar with to what we’re not seem much more fluid than then the shifts from c!ranboo we mostly know to ew!ranboo (the ‘:)‘ and the water bottle, presumably fear-induced shifts). and they don’t seem to fall into either state that well? maybe c!ranboo losing his memories isn’t a instant sort of thing but can be more gradual, the same with regaining them. it could explain the sometimes odd behavior that didn’t fall in line with how he usually acted but also, in my opinion, not quite enough to be in full enderwalk.

this would mean that, while the enderwalk is still very much A Thing, it didn’t necessarily need to be as black and white. he either has his memories or he doesn’t. maybe it’s more of a mix. sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes all, sometimes none. i just think that this could put things into a different perspective and really make you question how much, at any given point, did he actually remember.

this theory depends a whole lot on quantity rather than quality in regards to lore tidbits found in ranboo’s streams but since it’s been a goddamn year already i’m definitely not gonna remember everything that could be relevant. anyway i just want to cover all of our bases LOL. there are. so many possibilities of what could really be happening that i don’t wanna leave any stone unturned lmao.

#dsmp analysis #my analysis #enderwalk #c!ranboo #c!ranboo theory #man idk but it does sound Quite Cool to me lol #maybe if i'm in the mood i'll also write my thoughts on ghostboo and how he can relate to the enderwalk woooooo

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cobrakaisb · 3 years

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modern day romeo and juliet part 2

read part one here!

a/n: here is the largely anticpated part two of the imagine! after getting numerous asks begging for a part two, i decided to finally publish it. sorry it took me so long besties but school and softball have been kicking my ass lately. love you all!!!

summary: you and hawk are going strong but your friendship with sam and demetri has fallen apart, or has it. (also warning: reader gets a bloddy nose in this imagine if that bothers you in anyway don’t read)

word count: 1,711

“so are you and hawk like together now?” moon asked as the two of you walked to the cafeteria. “yeah,” you answered, a light blush coating your cheeks. “oh my gosh yes! i’m so happy for you!” she shouted, wrapping her arms around your shoulders, squeezing tightly. “thanks moon,” you replied half-heartedly. moon immediately picked up on your sad demeanor, “what's wrong?” “nothing,” you answered, giving her a fake smile. moon was going to call your bluff, but she was interrupted by hawk. “hey guys,” he greeted, pulling you into a tight hug.

“hi hawk,” you replied, arms wrapped around his waist as he swayed you back and forth. “are you sitting with us at lunch?” he asked, looking at you. “yeah probably. your friends won’t mind right?” you asked. hawk immediately shook his head no, the two of you just staring at each other intensely. “you guys are so cute! i’ll see you later y/n,” moon announced, walking away from you and hawk. the two of you pulled apart, hands intertwined as he led you over to the cobra kai table.

“anything from sam?” hawk asked quietly. you gently shook your head, causing hawk to frown. he placed a gentle kiss on your forehead, “she’ll come around,” he assured. “i hope so,” you mumbled as the two of you sat down at the cobra kai table. your sad mood was immediately lifted however when doug and big red started throwing napkins at you.

“i can’t believe she’s actually sitting with him,” demetri said, appalled at the fact that you were sitting with hawk at lunch. “why wouldn’t she be sitting with hawk? they’re together now,” moon said, a happy smile on her face as she watched you laugh from your spot next to him at the cobra kai table. “i still can’t believe that. how could y/n even like someone like him?” sam asked, angrily stabbing at her lunch with a fork. moon’s eyes widened as she watched sam. “aren’t you happy for her?” moon asked, confusion clear in her voice.

sam scoffed at moon’s words. “why would i be happy that she’s fraternizing with the enemy?” sam asked. “the enemy? do you even hear yourself?” moon asked sam, and even demetri looked surprised by sam’s words. sam was silent, shooting a sad look your way. “you regret it don’t you?” demetri accused sam, but she just remained silent, looking down at her lunch. “regret what? what did you guys do?” moon asked.

“when we caught y/n and hawk kissing at your party a while back, we may have kicked her out of miyagi-do,” demetri mumbled, feeling ashamed by their actions. “are you kidding me!” moon yelled, causing some heads to turn, but she just shooed them off with a wave of her hand. “that’s why y/n has been so down lately? because you kicked her out of karate?” moon asked, while demetri and sam just nodded. “you guys are the worst,” she continued. “thanks for reminding us,” sam mumbled, sparing a glance at you.

you were laughing at something that doug had said. “that’s too funny,” you mumbled between laughs. the boys just laughed at how funny you found doug’s joke, when in reality it wasn’t meant to be that funny. “i can’t believe that you’re in miyagi-do y/n. you’re nothing like those dorks,” doug said. you tensed up at his words, and hawk took immediate notice. he glared at doug, ready to tell him off, but you beat him to it. “i’m actually not in miyagi-do any more. they kicked me out,” you said sadly. the boys all looked around in embarrassment. “but it’s whatever because i have a boyfriend and all the children we adopted now,” you joked, holding up peace signs.

“what kids did we adopt?” hawk asked, confusion clear in his voice. “literally everyone here. they are all out children,” you explained, gesturing to the table full of boys. the boys all burst into laughter while hawk just wrapped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his side. you rest your head on his shoulder, placing a small kiss on his neck. “ew! imagine having to watch your parents do that!” doug shouted jokingly, throwing a fruit snack your way. everyone laughed at him, and soon lunch was over.

“hawk! wait for me!” you shouted, walking out of the locker room dressed for gym class. hawk immediately stopped walking, waiting for you to catch up to him. “hi!” you said, giggling as he peppered small kisses all over your face. “hawk let’s go!” one of his friends yelled from up ahead. hawk grabbed your hand, intertwining your fingers, as he pulled you towards the front of his squad.

together the group of you walked onto the soccer field. of course the boys were being confident, walking with their heads held high. you just rolled your eyes at them and their cocky behavior. “alright let’s remember to keep the aggression to a minimum due to the school’s new policy,” the gym teacher shouted as she blew the whistle signaling the start of the soccer game.

almost immediately, sam and the other miyagi-do students were blatantly going for the cobra kai boys. you noticed that doug was about to retaliate but hawk held him back, mumbling something, which clearly calmed him down. the game continued, and hawk scored a goal. you cheered loudly for him, and he just winked at you, causing you to blush. the game went on, and each dojo was getting progressively more aggressive. you were running down the field when someone called you name, causing you to turn around. the next thing you knew, the soccer ball was flying towards your face. you didn’t have anytime to cover your face, and so you got hit in the face with the ball.

“what the fuck!” you shouted, hands flying up to your nose which was now gushing blood. “y/n!” hawk called from across the field, running over to you. “baby let me see it,” he demanded, pulling your hands away from your face. he removed your hands, and tilted your head back to help stop the flow of blood. “who did this?” hawk asked loudly, glaring at everyone around him. when nobody answered he shouted even louder, “who did it?” this time sam stepped forwards. “it was an accident, i swear,” she rushed, looking nervously between you and hawk.

hawk rolled his eyes at sam, his jaw and fists clenching. “yeah i’m sure it was,” he growled, taking a threatening step towards her. “hawk!” you shouted, but he ignored you. “i-” sam started but she was cut off by hawk. “what? kicking her out of karate wasn’t enough? i get it that you guys don’t like me, but just because we’re together doesn’t mean that you should punish her for it. especially since we’re happy. don’t come near her again!” he finished, and you couldn’t help but swoon. he’s defending my honor. that’s so hot, you thought.

after his conversation with sam, hawk took you to the nurse’s office. she just gave you an ice pack and some paper towels, before sending you back to class. you and hawk were walking to your next class when sam and demetri approached the two of you. “i thought i told you to stay away from her,” hawk said, stepping forward but you stopped him by placing your hand on his chest. hawk huffed, but stayed quiet. it was silent between the four of you, all of you just staring at each other. “was there something you guys needed?” you asked.

demetri cleared his throat. “yeah we were hoping to talk to you. preferably without your boyfriend,” he said and hawk tried to step forward but you stopped him once again. “yeah that’s fine. i’ll see you in class babe,” you answered, kissing hawk’s cheek before shooing him away. once he walked down the hall, and was far enough away from you, you looked towards demetri and sam. “what was it that you wanted to talk about?” you asked, crossing your arms.

“we wanted to invite you back to miyagi-do. it was wrong of us to kick you out,” sam said, not making eye contact with you. you scoffed at her words. “why should i even come back? you guys made it pretty clear that you didn’t want me there,” you said. “that’s because you’re dating hawk of all people!” sam shouted at you, and you glared at her. “sam! we came to make amends not cause more problems!” demetri interjected, glaring at the larusso girl.

“look y/n, i’m sorry, for everything. i know that you really like hawk, and that the two of you are happy together. and,” demetri started, taking a deep breath, “if you’re happy then i’m happy for you. i understand if you don’t want to come back to miyagi-do or even be our friend, but i just want you to know that i’m sorry for everything, nose included.” you smiled at demetri’s apology. “thanks demetri, that means a lot. i don’t think that i’ll come back to karate, but i’d love it if we could try and fix our friendship,” you said, looking at him. “yeah, i’d like that,” demetri answered, a big smile on his face.

the two of you turned to face sam, who remained silent the whole time. “i’m sorry too y/n. i never should’ve kicked you out of miyagi-do for being with hawk, especially since you guys are great together. and i’m sorry for your nose. i’ve been such a bitch to you, and i understand if you don’t accept my apology, but i would like to be friends again,” sam apologized, looking at you shyly. you smiled softly at the girl, “i’d like that.” sam smiled back at you. you all knew that things were going to be different now, and this isn’t something that you were just going to forgive and forget, but you were all willing to make amends and that’s all that matters.

you walked into your next class, taking your seat next to hawk, with a smile on your face. “everything okay?” he asked, looking you over. “everything’s perfect,” you answered, kissing him softly.

#hawk cobra kai #hawk cobra kai x reader #hawk cobra kai imagine #eli moskowitz #eli moskowitz x reader #eli moskowitz imagine #hawk imagine #hawk x reader #cobra kai x reader #cobra kai imagine #cobra kai #cobrakaisb writing

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quicksilverownsmysoul · 3 years

Text

Sparks pt.2

Summary: Peter Maximoff comes back after a weekend at home to find Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters crowded and booming with noise. He decides to investigate and finds out that it's orientation day for new students. He sees you and immediately is head over heels, but in his attempts to impress you he embarrasses himself beyond belief and runs off before you can even introduce yourself.

You can read Part 1 Here

You and Kurt made your way inside the school along with a handful of other students. You had been assigned to Kurt’s orientation group, each current student was assigned to be a guide to the new students and show them around and help ease them into life at the school. When you first met Kurt he was telling you that one of the current students was away for the weekend so he had more students to show around than usual. You now assumed he was talking about Peter.

Kurt led the group through the entrance, doing his best to explain the history of the school but he kept getting distracted by the snickers that echoed throughout the group. He glanced over at you, a worried look on his face and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Why are they laughing, am I doing something wrong?” He had only been able to introduce himself to you personally before the orientation started so he felt more comfortable around you than any of the other students for the time being.

You shook your head and replied in a whisper trying your best to spare him of any further embarrassment. “Try looking in the mirror.” He gave you a confused look before turning to glance in the hallway mirror. He turned back right after still not realizing what they were laughing at but then immediately swung his head back towards the mirror. He let out an agitated groan. “Peterrrrr.” He licked his finger and tired his best to wipe off the doodle but all he did was smear it. His tail stood at end behind him, a clear sign of his anger. You felt a little bad for and a part of you was starting to understand why all the other student’s had a grudge against this Peter guy.

For the rest of the tour Kurt was agitated, trying his best to be professional about the tour but the constant snickers and students praising Peter on his antics didn't make it easy. You guys wrapped up your tour, coming back to the main part of the school where all the other students and their mentors were standing. Xavier was at the front of the crowd giving a welcome speech. He was basically recapping all that Kurt had told you before coming to the conclusion. “And you all must graciously thank your orientation leaders for showing you around today.” You smiled and Kurt and mouthed thank you, he mirrored your smile with an eye roll. “Some of your mentors are the best we have at this school. The X-Men.” Xavier motioned for those who fell under that name to step forward.

Kurt made his way through the crowd and stood up on the stairs behind Xavier along with others whose names you didn’t know. Xavier spoke up again wheeling up to the first boy in the line. “This is Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops.” Xavier tossed up an apple and the boy lifted his sunglasses up, laser vision disintegrating the apple before your eyes. Everyone in the crowd began chattering excitedly at the display of his powers. Xavier continued down the line introducing them and you tried your best to remember all their names and what powers they possessed. Xavier made his way to the end of the line and let out an exasperated sigh. “We actually have one more X-Men member, Quicksilver, but it seems he was too busy pulling pranks to show up for introductions.” The crowd let out a laugh.

“I’m never too busy for you professor!” A voice rang out from the back of the crowd. You turned around to see Peter sitting, rather relaxed in an antique chair. “Pranks or not.” He got up making his way through the crowd shaking hands with new students and introducing himself. When he got to you he opened his mouth to give a sly greeting like he did to the others but no word came out.

Your previous anger for the man seemed to fade as you finally got to see him up close. You felt yourself gulp, he was cute. You guys held eye contact for a second more before he sped past you, your hair blowing back at the sudden gust of wind. Next thing you knew he was up on the stairs, waving to the crowd as they cheered him on. He removed his googles and held his arms out, giving a grand bow. All the other X-men just looked at him with narrowed eyes. Xavier shook his head and turned back to address the group. “Here you will learn to control your abilities and learn that they are what make you special. With the help of myself and the X-men I hope you can find your place here.” He smiled warmly at the crowd. “Welcome home.” You cheered with the crowd, clapping for his speech.

Xavier dismisses you all and has your mentors direct you to your dorms. Kurt passed out cards to the students and to you. It has the room number on it in case you ever got lost. It also had the name of your roommate on it. Her name was Jubilation Lee. You prayed that she was going to be nice.

Your prayers were answered when you opened the door to your room. She practically leapt off the bed to greet you. “Hi! It’s so nice to meet you! What’s your name.” She sweetly smiled at you

Just being around her made you feel happy. You replied. “My name is (y/n) (y/l/n). “

“I’m Jubilation Lee, but you can call me Jubilee.” She took your hands in her’s. “I can already tell we’re gonna to be great friends!” You felt your smile widen. You were so happy that you were going to be rooming with someone like her.

“Yeah totally!”

Kurt left you two alone as he continued on with the other new students to show them to their rooms. You began unpacking, Jubilee insisted on helping you. And by helping she meant going through your stuff, but you figured she didn't have any mal intentions so you let her. “You have the newest Madonna record? I’m jealousssss.” You giggled as she rifled through the rest of your record, giving compliments here and there on your music taste. When she got to the bottom of your bag she let out a little giggle. “I didn't take you as a snack junkie.”

You stopped what you were doing and turned to face her. She was holding a handful of twinkies and hostess cupcakes. “I’m not. I picked them up from the floor.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Ew.”

“Not like that!” You defended. “I just picked them up after that kid dropped them earlier. I was going to return them to him.”

Jubilee tilted her head to the side. “That kid? Oh you mean Peter!”

“Yeah him.” You admitted, you smiled softly at the thought of him. Jubilee watched you smile to yourself at the thought of him.

“Oh. My. God.” She rushed over to you and slid on the floor, landing next to you. “You have a crush on Peter!”

You could feel blush staining your cheeks. “I do not!” You quickly got up and putting the folded shirts away in the dresser. Jubilee followed you, pestering you.

“You are blushing so hard.”

“I am not!” You squeaked.

“Are too.”

“I do not have a crush on him I don’t even know him.” You huffed. “But..”

“But?” Jubilee questioned a wide smile on her face.

“I do think he’s cute.” You admitted face turning red. Jubilee squealed.

“You guys would be such a cute couple.”

“Getting a little ahead of yourself there.” You laughed.

“I know but-“ Jubilee paused as you both heard a soft tap on your door. Peter peeked his head into the room, hand covering his eyes.

“I hope you’re decent Jubilee.” He said with a smirk.

“Shut up you Perv,” Jubilee said, throwing one of her hair brushes at him. He dodged it laughing. He hadn't noticed you yet.

“Professor asked me to tell you and your roommate to come to the main garden.”

“For what?”

“How should I know? I’m just the messenger.” Out of the corner of his eye Peter saw the stack of hostess snacks that Jubilee had taken out of your backpack and put on the bed. He sped over to it and picked one up. “Have you been holding out on me Jubilee?” He ripped one open and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. “So good.” He opened another one tossing he wrapper onto the floor. He turned to Jubilee. “Gimme em’” He ordered with his mouth full.

“That’s so gross Peter, close your mouth when you’re eating.” She wrinkled her nose at him. “Besides, they're not mine.”

“Huh?”

“They belong to her.” Jubilee used her powers to create little firework arrows pointing to you, they exploded in a multitude of colors. You could have died of embarrassment, you playfully smacked her shoulder and she let out a little laugh. Peter looked over at you and suddenly the twinkie became hard to swallow. “Hey.”

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