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nowis-scales · 2 years

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Ryoma Birthday Headcanons

It’s May 1st. You all know what that means. I’m back to be annoying about Ryoma again with a set of birthday headcanons! Hopefully you enjoy them. I kinda wonder if I’m going to run out of headcanons one day for how often I make these types of posts... guess we’ll see!

‣ Total daddy’s boy growing up. He and Sumeragi, for whatever reason, just had this mutual adoration of one another ever since Ryoma was born. Baby Ryoma could be perfectly happy with Ikona, but the moment Sumeragi came in, he would start to squeal in delight and wriggle and reach for his dad. When he could walk on his own, he wanted to follow Sumeragi everywhere he went. He’s always been the person that Ryoma looked up to most, and though he would never want to be him exactly, he aspires to emulate all of the things that made him wonderful. I’m a big believer that that some of that overwhelming attention Ryoma channels into Corrin is actually just love for Sumeragi that had nowhere else to go.

‣ Talks to himself. Like all the time. He can have all kinds of conversations with just by himself. It’s usually when he’s running through paperwork or the tasks he has to do for a day, but sometimes it’s just during alone time. When he was young, he actually used to whisper to himself during meditation until he realized passerby were listening to him. These days, he has better control, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t have fun with it. If Hinoka catches him, she’ll keep responding to his thoughts until he gets annoyed and tells her to cut it out.

‣ His armour is practically the red equivalent of his father’s not because red becomes him, but because it was crafted to send a message to Nohr. His father’s armour was white, a colour associated with purity and a sense of innocence. However, because he was murdered so brutally in front of Ryoma no less, and at the time no one could understand why Garon would kill Sumeragi, take Corrin, but leave Ryoma... he opted for scarlet armour. Scarlet like blood, to send the message of peace and purity being taken away from him and the rest of Hoshido, drenched in the blood of his father and every other who would suffer at Garon’s hands. It’s a morbid sort of thing he doesn’t share with most people.

‣ One of the only people who can like... legitimately worry himself sick. The guy does not take care of himself, so if he gets worried and there’s a virus going around, he’s going to get it. Thankfully, it’s pretty rare that this happens. He tries not to let himself worry to that point because he’s supposed to be the calm one, and that kind of worry is just not conducive to everyday life. If there’s a way around it, he’s going to find it and everything’ll be okay. But if it’s something like, say, Azura’s kidnapping in Conquest — he’s not going to be feeling so great, emotionally or physically.

‣ As we learn in the Ghostly Gold DLC, Ryoma’s a bit of a coffee addict. Interestingly, most people think that he’s the kind of guy who takes his coffee black. This is not true. Ryoma loves sweet coffee. He’s definitely an all creams and sugars kind of guy. Unfortunately, Hoshidans generally tend to believe that sweets are for women and children, so he does feel a bit inclined to pretend that he likes his coffee more bitter than he actually does. If he and Mikoto were ever up late working together, she would pretend to be the one drinking the sweet coffee just to make him feel less weird about it. It seems silly, but Hoshido is a patriarchy, after all.

‣ Speaking of the patriarchy, Ryoma’s relationship with it is probably kind of complicated. It’s one of those things he definitely had to learn to grow around as he got older, because while he doesn’t really seem to have many qualms with women not adhering to gender roles, he internalized a lot of the beliefs about masculinity. As a result, he can be a bit heavy on himself about being the strong one and the rock and the one who never falters. He very rarely cries, wants everyone to rely on him, sees himself as the protector... When Sumeragi died, he was met with an influx of comments about how it was his responsibility to “take care of things now”, and those were internalized hard. Even though he trusted Mikoto and recognized her as being in the lead, a lot of his drive to be a warrior did come from seeing himself as the typical position of a man at the head of the family.

‣ A big sappy weenie in pretty much all of his romantic relationships. He doesn’t have the best ability to express himself on the regular, but being in a romantic relationship with someone feels like the ultimate sense of vulnerability for him, so... all of that love he’s stored up because he didn’t know how to express it? Yeah, all of that sap and cheese is going to be given to his partner. I mean, c’mon. Any partner of his gets love letters, and the fact that he had a whole speech prepared to give to Camilla in their S support? He may act all big and tough, but he’s got all kinds of love and softness for the right person.

‣ Shapes his cultural behaviours to whatever culture he’s around. Being crown prince gave him lots of education on the nearby nations, so he’s very willing and open to changing his behaviour to suit whoever he’s around once he has established they’re an ally. For example, Nohrians value eye contact and Hoshidans try to avoid it. If talking to Xander, he would be sure to maintain eye contact. However, if he were next approached by Saizo, he would avoid it. The same can sometimes be said for languages, but not always. Partially because some of his languages aren’t well-practiced due to prejudices, and partially because he tends to have a very heavy accent when he speaks Nohrian and he’s a little embarrassed about it.

‣ Learned how to fight with a naginata from Hinoka. He’s always been a katana guy due to his natural talent, but when Hinoka took up arms as a pegasus knight and started using the naginata, she wasn’t so sure that he believed in her. After all, he was practically Mikoto’s proxy, always dragging her back whenever she thought about going to save Corrin by herself. So, after awhile, he decided to prove his belief in her by asking her to teach him the basics of naginata. She was surprised, to say the least, but ultimately delighted to teach him. He would still use some of her naginata techniques now, if you handed him one!

‣ Likes food much more than he is actually willing to admit. It’s a trait he shares with Azura. As I’ve said, he doesn’t tend to eat at the proper times because he doesn’t take very good care of himself, so good food is a blessing. He has enough decorum not to pig out, but he definitely evaluates a good food stall or feast when he comes across them. Additionally, this makes him quite prone to midnight snacks while doing paperwork. In Revelation, he and Xander often run into each other in the Mess Hall late at night, and exchange a single nod before returning back to their respective quests for midnight eats.

#fire emblem fates #fe14 #fire emblem ryoma #fe ryoma #hoshido

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fatesdeepdive · 3 years

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Entry 9: NO

Before doing anything else, I built a lottery house in the castle. The logistics of there being stores and gambling houses within my personal castle, that my soldiers work at, that don’t just give me whatever I want is kinda weird. The lottery gave me a radish I fed to Lilith.

Support: Hana/Subaki

C: Hana confronts Subaki about his tendency to refer to himself as perfect. He brushes it off, because he thinks that he genuinely is completely without fault. This angers Hana, who brings up a time Subaki fell off his horse and challenges him to a duel.

B: The duo begin their competition. Subaki, despite not actually having any sword skills, manages to defeat Hana by studying her fighting style over several months and messing with her head.

A: Hana takes the second round, beating Subaki in a horse race. Hana reveals that she doesn’t actually care about beating Subaki, just about serving Sakura, and the two decide to suspend their competition.

S: Subaki states that he hates when Hana brings up the time he fell off his horse because he embarrassed himself in front of Hana. Also the duo apparently love each other now.

Review: Decent set up, lackluster execution. I do like Hana’s feelings of inferiority in comparison to Subaki, and Subaki is wonderfully arrogant during this line, but the resolution comes from a revelation Hana had off screen and feels anti-climactic. I felt nothing during the marriage conversation.

Support: Hana/Sakura

C: Hana and Sakura discuss their childhood friendship and the fact that Hana has been protecting Sakura since even before she was a retainer. Sakura states that Hana’s stubbornness pairs nicely with her own introversion.

B: Hana reveals that Sakura’s kindness gave her a reason to dedicate herself to becoming a master samurai. Sakura reveals that she chose Hana as her retainer, in spite of her age and objections from others, because of...a reason explained in the next conversation. Gotta love cliffhangers.

A: Sakura chose Hana as her retainer because of all the times she protected her as a kid, so many times that Hana is covered in scars. Sakura feels guilty over Hana’s scars, but Hana brushes it off, stating that her scars are a badge of honor because they were earned protecting Sakura. Small character design note: Hana does not have any visible scars in this game. She does consistently have a scar in her arm in Heroes, and inconsistently has a scar on her left thigh, but neither of those scars are visible in game. Maybe the scars are hidden below her headband?

Review: First off, these two deserve an S-Rank conversation. They have more chemistry than most of the couples in this game. Setting that aside, I enjoy Hana and Sakura inspiring each other to be better. I love the idea of Hana protecting Sakura from feral dogs and Sakura repaying her by making her a retainer, going against royal officials to do so.

Support: Sakura/Subaki

C: Subaki yawns in front of Sakura then pretends it didn’t happen, because he is too perfect to get fatigued.

B: Subaki makes a tiny slip-up when filling out a form and has a complete meltdown, launching into a self-depreciating rant. Hana brings up that she’s seen him make mistakes before, which only makes things worse.

A: Sakura comforts Subaki and he reveals that his obsession with perfection stems from his childhood; his parents hammered in the idea that he must be perfect at all times as to not embarrass himself in front of royalty. He brings up the time he fell off his horse in front of Sakura right before she chose him as a retainer and reveals that he’s thought for years she chose him out of pity. Sakura comforts him, saying that he’s amazing and his slip-ups only make him more charming.

S: Subaki renews his vows as a retainer, promising to always fight for Sakura even if he cannot achieve total perfection. Sakura accepts, on the condition that Subaki marries her.

Review: I actually really enjoyed this one. The main gag with Subaki is that he’s arrogant and thinks of himself as perfect. This line deconstructs that, showing him fall apart at the idea that he isn’t good enough. It didn’t go fully into it, but this line suggests that Subaki may have some real mental health issues, possibly stemming from an abusive childhood. The romance isn’t perfect, but I do like the idea of Subaki ending up with Sakura because she helps him learn to accept himself. Also for all of Sakura’s supports I’m going to pretend that she isn’t like fourteen, because otherwise they’re all super creepy.

Support: Corrin/Sakura

C: Corrin asks if Sakura dislikes her and Sakura, who has never once visited any Fire Emblem or Smash Brothers forum, states that no one could ever dislike Corrin. Apparently, Sakura is awkward and shy around Corrin because she sucks at talking to people. Corrin offers to help her practice talking.

B: Corrin asks Sakura some basic questions and Sakura freezes up from anxiety and can’t answer anyone. Corrin theorizes that Sakura is easily intimidated by other people.

A: Sakura reveals that she’s always so anxious because she heard a rumor that Nohr actually wanted to kidnap her, not Nohr. This rumor was evidently false, because it makes absolutely no sense from a lore perspective. Also, I question the idea that this is the source of all of Sakura’s anxiety. Her anxiety around Corrin, maybe, but it’s odd that guilt over her sister’s kidnapping that she’s known for years wasn’t her fault would make her anxious around other people. I mean, it’s more pronounced around Corrin, but only in this support line. Whatever. Corrin swears to protect Sakura and I guess that means her anxiety is cured.

Review: This conversation is mediocre. Sakura getting anxiety because of something a maid said once is stupid, but Corrin trying to help her get over it is okay.

You’ll notice that I stopped this at the A rank. Well, you see, Corrin and Sakura only have three, conversations instead of four because, despite Corrin having a variable gender, Corrin and Sakura are siblings and Intelligent Systems would never include incest in a Fire Emblem game. They’d never do that because that would be terrible.

Wait. What’s that? Why does it say on the wiki that they have an S-Conversation? Surely this isn’t real.

Oh god it’s real.

No.

No no no.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

What the fuck, Intelligent Systems? Why did you include incestuous pedophilic marriage in your role-playing game? Seriously, what the actual fuck?

And, looking at Corrin’s support list, it’s not just Sakura. Every single Nohr and Hoshidan royal can date Corrin. I don’t know what’s worse, Corrin having sex with her stranger blood siblings or having sex with the people she thought were her blood siblings for years. Fine. Let’s just do the stupid conversation.

S: Sakura reveals that she’s been dreaming about the sibling she never knew for years, imagining what Corrin would grow up to be like. It’s actually a decent idea, albeit one hidden in the evil cursed S-Support that I hate. Corrin asks if they live up to expectations and Sakura states that they exceed them. Then Sakura says that she loves Corrin. Romantically. Corrin, being the sane person, objects, pointing out that they’re half-siblings. I don’t know where this half-sibling thing came from, as far as Corrin knows both of them are the children of Mikoto and Sumeragi. I mean, it is stated in Revelations that Mikoto isn’t actually the mother of anyone but Corrin, but Corrin doesn’t know that yet. Whatever. Sakura pulls out a letter from Mikoto that she only read a few minutes ago that says, psych! Corrin and Sakura aren’t actually related. At all. So it’s cool to bang. Corrin instantly gets over the whole “Don’t fuck your little sister” thing immediately and proposes to Sakura. What the actual fuck.

Review Continued: If ninety percent of the S-Rank conversation is convincing the audience that, no, this isn’t incest, you know it’s bad. And sure, it isn’t technically incest anymore, but who cares? Corrin and Sakura didn’t know that until ten seconds before they screwed each other. This is an incestuous marriage and it’s fucking gross. The writers clearly know it was gross, but they included it anyway.

And here’s the big problem with the Hoshidan sibling marriages: Birthright is built on the premise that this is Corrin’s real family, that Hoshido is her real home. It’s literally called Birthright. But if Corrin isn’t actually related to the Hoshidan Royals, all of that falls apart. They’re just strangers. The whole concept of the game doesn’t apply anymore. Because Intelligent Systems couldn’t release a game where the player insert doesn’t fuck literally every character. And, until we get to the point in Revelations where that is properly revealed, I’m going to pretend I don’t know it.

We got some new characters at the end of the last chapter, so let’s talk about them.

Silas

Silas is a cavalier who went turncloak for Corrin at the end of the last chapter because of a childhood friendship Corrin doesn’t remember. His personal skill makes him fight better when Corrin is injured. I’m starting to notice just how many of these skills specifically relate to Corrin, which makes sense but is still kinda weird. His design is fine, nothing objectionable there. I do think Silas’s forgotten childhood friend backstory is a bit odd, though. And I’m getting sick of characters who are obsessed with Corrin.

Saizo

Saizo is Kaze’s twin brother who looks like twenty years older than him. He’s the slower but tougher of the duo, judging from their stats. His personal skill Pyrotechnics is basically just him blowing shit up, which as far as I’m concerned is his solution to all problems. His mask is really weird looking, but at least he’s visually interesting. Personality wise, he seems like a dick, but in a good way. Our army needs some common sense and he brings it.

Orochi

Real talk: I forgot this character existed until she joined us. Orochi is a mage...er, diviner who has the personal skill Capture, which I’ll talk about later. Her design is decent; I like the sultry hair pulling in her portrait, it gives off a lot of personality. I don’t have much to say, I forgot she existed before the end of last chapter and have no clue what her personality will be.

Birthright Chapter 8: Fierce Winds

Team Corrin travels up the Eternal Staircase, a massive subterranean tunnel that leads to the Wind Tribe Village. Kaze notices that the group is being followed and a group of faceless pop out. Kaze and Corrin slaughter them with ease. Unfortunately, after the battle, the faceless turn into Wind Tribe civilians. Iago appears and explains that he disguised civilians as monsters using magic. He learned it from his favorite movie villain, the Joker from the Dark Knight, who Iago thinks is actually the good guy.

The gang reaches the Wind Tribe village. Corrin decides to just waltz in because sneaking past would be suspicious. Wind Tribe members attack. Not sure how they know about the whole slaughter thing. Maybe one of the fake faceless got away? Whatever.

Our three princesses apologize to the tribe members and they lead us to their chief, Fuga. Then the battle immediately begins. Guess negotiations didn’t go well.

Also here for some reason is Hinoka and her two retainers, Setsuna and Azama, both of whom are absolute morons. But, like, in a good way. Setsuna falls in quicksand, doesn’t care, and Azama immediately declares her dead. The fact that Hinoka has to basically babysit her two idiot bodyguards is amusing.

Setsuna

An Archer that works as Hinoka’s bodyguard. Her personal skill, Optimistic, makes her recover more when healed by a staff. A thing they do a lot in recent Fire Emblem games is to have characters that are based around specific gags or tropes. These are hit or miss, but Setsuna’s gag of constantly endangering herself and just not giving a shit sounds funny. The faced half-covered by hair initially makes her seem cool, but when paired with the dopey face and her personality it makes her look completely distracted. I like Setsuna, from what I’ve seen.

Azama

A monk who seems to be ridiculously optimistic and laid back. His personal skill, Divine Retribution, hurts opponents who attack him when he’s unarmed, which is a really cool idea. Azama doesn’t seem to be quite as funny as Setsuna, but still seems entertaining. I have mixed feelings on his design. I can’t tell if I like the closed eyes or not. The puffballs and wild hair are dumb though.

It’s worth noting that, because we move first, Corrin’s army attacks without provocation. Remember, they can’t see the red labels on enemies.

This map takes place in a desert. We can use the Dragon Veins to make it not a desert, which is good, because Fire Emblem deserts suck. Halfway through the battle, we finally talk to Fuga. He explains that we must earn the right to explain by killing all of his men. Bit of a dick move, chief.

We beat Fuga fairly easily. This chapter was fine, but just fine. Not bad, just unremarkable. Fuga explains that he was friends with Sumeragi and knows a lot about Yato. Apparently, us killing all of his men was a test to make us stronger so we can unlock Yato’s true power. Apparently, Yato can link something called the Sealed Flames and destroy the world. Neat.

Fuga accepts our explanation of the civilian murders. Which makes sense, it was kinda dumb. Actually, wait. Why did that have to be a plot point? Couldn’t this chapter just have been Fuga testing us?

Before we leave, Corrin and Azura discuss that there may be more blades like Yato out there. They don’t ask Fuga, because reasons. Also Fuga gives us his son. Neat.

#fire emblem fates #fe fates #fe 14 #corrin fe #sakura fe #corrin x sakura #setsuna fe #azama fe #subaki fe #sakura x subaki #subaki x hana #hana fe #silas f #saizo fe #orochi fe #fuga fe

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currywaifu · 4 years

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𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: barbie movies as troupe plays part 1 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: sfw

𝐚𝐧: if you think i won’t do all 36 barbie movies, you’re wrong. regardless of whether people want this or not. i have barbie brainrot 24/7. i’m just separating it into parts so it’s not too long *this isn’t meant to be that serious y’all my reasons vary from legit to just jokes

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥: i won’t go in-depth with any plot differences from movie to play, or how the characters would work out... for now *chuckles in future ppt*

𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏: nutcracker, rapunzel, swan lake, princess and the pauper, fairytopia series, magic of pegasus, barbie diaries, island princess, three musketeers 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐: coming soon 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟑: coming soon

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: mixed troupe! spring x autumn. one of the seasonal events/scouts for A3! has a nutcracker theme, and to avoid spoilers that’s all i will say :3

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: since this is based on barbie’s take on the nutcracker, changing up the cast from what tsuzuru had in plan:

clara/sugarplum fairy: sakuya. i want to see him go through a costume & hair transformation sequence, not gonna lie.

nutcracker/prince eric: juza. obviously he has to be the ruler of the land of sweets.

mouse king: sakyo or chikage. i want one of them to wave around a sceptre and say quotes like “i’ll reduce the Nutcracker to a pile of splinters"

pimm: taichi... pimm is a spy :O who has to do dirty work :O but the real reason is i just want taichi to follow around sakyo again or maybe even chikage this time lol

major mint & captain candy: tsuzuru and citron respectively. mint is pretty serious and awkward, candy is a lot friendlier- i just think it’ll be a good way to insert some humor in the play

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: mixed troupe! summer x autumn.

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: rapunzel in this one actually is the “servant” of gothel. also, rapunzel has a magical paint brush and also there’s dragons. who are purple.

rapunzel: kazunari. obviously. actually, kazu has a lot of similarities with her: a good artist, patient, adventurous, quick thinking, hardly ever complains- also he’d look good with long hair i think ><

gothel: omi. there is an action fighto scene + also just the theme of omi playing villains lol... also THERE’S A SCENE WHERE GOTHEL PRETENDS TO BE RAPUNZEL BY WEARING A LONG WIG AND BOI- KAZU AND OMI’S BODY BUILDS ARE SO DIFFERENT BUT IT’D BE FUNNY IF THE PRINCE FALLS FOR THE TRAP ANYWAY

penelope: kumon. a PURPLE funny and clumsy dragon- fight me, the only answer is kumon especially once you see who’s next.

hugo: juza. a PURPLE dragon who’s penelope’s dad but he’s gonna be the older bro in this one (i wonder why...)

hobie: a passive and worrisome rabbit... Tenma.

prince stefan: he also has a couple fight scenes... ngl bc stefan has blue eyes, light brown hair + described by the wiki as “fierce”, he’s banri.

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: winter troupe. i will stand by this forever.

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: this is like one of the ones i’ve had figured out for a while already...

odette & odile: tsumugi. i’m just saying, tsumugi’s duality- he can do both the white and black swan because he has power. impact.

prince daniel: not tasuku bc spare him the prince roles he’s sick of it. guy. why guy? because he obviously has a good idea of how to act like a prince :3

rothbart: HOMARE! I WANT! THIS MAN! TO PLAY THE ANTOGONIST! GO OFF ABOUT DARK ARTS! TRANSFORM EVERYONE TO ANIMALS LIKE THE EXTRA BEING YOU ARE.

fairy queen: azuma. ugh just- imagining how ethereal he’d look.

erasmus: tasuku. he’s a troll that can act mean, but is genuinely kind and helpful... also, the VA of erasumus is also the VA for “unnamed burly villager” and i’m just saying-

kelly the cygnet: hisoka. there’s too many animal children, so hisoka is gonna be the baby swan. uwu. also, kelly has a quote, “I can't sleep.” and wOW THE IRONY

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: WE’RE GOING FOR THE COMEDIC ROUTE WHAT’S UP SUMMER. reason: i went “wait... no actor really looks super alike though.”

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: tafahfuoahoaf it’s my favourite barbie movie... OKAY SO THE RUNNING GAG OF THIS IS THAT THE PRINCESS & PAUPER DON’T LOOK ALIKE, BUT EVERYONE KEEPS GOING “Wow! you two look so identical!” no they don’t

anneliese: muku. first of all please look at the sprite i used in the header. anneliese = pink = muku. she’s the sweet princess archetype... but in this version she also goes on tangents about rocks and mineraLS AND HOW THE MINING INDUSTRY SUX AND THE ABSOLUTE AUDACITY OF-

erika: kumon. first of all, the sprite in the header again. erika = blue like ugh this is perfect. ALSO erika has a cat who BARKS and i just imagine kumon talking to her cat like: WOOF WOOF WOOF GRRR GRRR and the dog responding and everyone in the palace going wtf

king dominick: i had such a crush on him anyway he’s tenma. rich, young, talented king who disguises himself as a page so he can find love for realsies. im just saying. he won’t be tenma’s only role tho ><

julian: kazunari. the wiki went “he’s the only bestfriend a barbie MC ever married” really shook me like ugh friendship dynamic between muku and kazu roles??? also kazu’s genuinely smart so him as the tutor was just gucci in my eyes

preminger: misumi. FIRST OF ALL PREMINGER IS ICONIC? WHEN HE SANG HOW CAN I REFUSE I WAS LIKE UGH KING. i just wanna hear misumi play an antagonist that’s also funny and do things with his voice.

madame carp: yuki. a bossy and rich woman who owns a dress emporium. pretty much it.

nick & nack: YUKI AND TENMA. THEY WILL DOUBLE ROLE FOR THE SAKE OF BEING MISUMI’S DUMB UNDERLING DUO

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: spring troupe. i wanna see them have wings uwu.

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: just gonna combine the whole fairytopia series into one

elina: itaru. first of all, pink motif. also i just like the idea of itaru being this recurring protagonist.

bibble the puffball played by kamekichi

laverna: recurring villain citron. for no reason other than i think it’s cool when he plays power hungry villains

enchantress: i just want sakuya to play a role that’s more of a “powerful character” but still really kind uwu. another recurring good guy.

azura & glee: tsuzuru. elina is azura’s apprentice, and glee is a friend who’s generally really happy... ngl, i wanna see tsuzuru play someone more energetic for funsies

nori: masumi. nori is kind of a stubborn and jealous person at first, him and elina won’t get along right away BUT DAMMIT THE ENEMIES? TO FRIENDS IS GUCCI!!!

merman prince nalu & linden: chikage... yeah i just gave chikage the guy roles ngl... but i wanna see chikage as a handsome merman AND handsome fairy so *shrugs*

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: cross troupe. spring x winter.

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: partially based on the ice-skating cards (i have yet to read the event story, unfortunately).

annika: tsuzuru. i thought it’d be fun to cast tsuzuru as a more sheltered character due to annika’s parents’ protectiveness. the contrast y’all.

shiver: sakuya. shiver is a polar bear cub sidekick who’s friendly and likes shiny things and that’s just... really cute... put bear ears on sakuya...

brietta: guy. brietta is annika’s older sister... who got transformed into a pegasus by the villain... i wonder how they’d change the pegasus thing lol

wenlock: tasuku. NOT GONNA LIE- i want tasuku to play the villain for all these wonderful one-liners: "Oh, smile! You didn't lose a daughter; you've gained a pet!", and "I thank my lucky stars I didn't marry you!"

prince aidan: masumi bc i want more roomie interaction on stage i mean their friendship keeps getting cuter and cuter.

cloud queen: azuma... that’s all. i just remembered her bc her hair has a braided crown, and i went “azuma braided hair brainrot”

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: mixed troupe! summer x autumn.

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: i was gonna make it full autumn, but then the age casting felt awkward since they’re in high school...

barbie: taichi. barbie here is shy but wants to stop blending in the background! i just went “damn that do be resonating”. also i wanna hear taichi sing more y’all and barbie is a singer/guitarist here

courtney: azami. i like the idea of azami playing a spunky character who’s more of a tomboy, but still does like fashion and accessorising and... lip gloss?

tia: misumi? tenma? idk the intelligent and passionate archetype is very broad... especially in a high school setting

kevin: kazunari. just the whole best friend thing + kevin being a goofy person who loves to make ppl laugh ugh

racquelle: yuki. i know racquelle’s a bully here and say not to bullying... but sharp tongue.

todd: honestly? todd was so boring in the moving. we need someone like banri to give him CHARACTER!... yes that’s my reasoning ugh

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: sUMMER SUMMER SUMMER-

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: AHAHAHA WHAT IS THIS CASTING? MY REASONINGS FOR THIS ONE IN PARTICULAR ARE SO SHALLOW LMAO

ro/rosella: “a 16 year old girl who can talk to animals! adventurous and brave” me: *gasps* mISUMI-

prince antonio: “prince antonio loves travelling and exploring-” okay yeah it’s kazu...

queen ariana: i just want yuki to sing to me “love is for peasants which we’re obviously not” and i’d go :O also ngl... i wanna see yuki in like darker palettes and plotting to poison all the royals

princess luciana: queen ariana’s daughter... played by muku. because i wanna hear muku counter yuki with “all the shoujo mangas books i’ve read, all the poems always said, that the heart is made to share...”

sagi the red panda & azul the peacock: honestly, just basing it off of colour matching but tenma is sagi and kumon is azul lol

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞: AUTUMN x SPRING

𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭: AHAHAHA WHAT IS THIS CASTING? pt 2

corrine: i keep wanting to put sakuya in these roles oops. i just... let him sword fight on stage again :>

viveca: purple musketeer, artistic, designs clothes... fights with ribbons... you know, for the sake of banri being a fAshIoNisTa... it has to be banri y’all "Don't mess with the animal print dress!"

aramina: green musketeer, fights with fans, romantic and loves ballet... pfft, for the sake of “wouldn’t it be funny-” it has to be azami. poor bby, having to swoon over romance on stage- he can’t relate

renee: chikage. purely because of that scene where she threw a feather duster (?) at a flying shard of glass and perfectly hit it. yeah.

helene: the old and strict instructor that teaches them how to be musketeers... sakyo.. duh.

philippe: the main antagonist... it has to be omi again. and since philippe has a goatee, we’re bringing back facial hair omi~

prince louis: itaru, lol. he’s like the one significant non-action oriented character in the film. he has just enough moments where itaru still looks princely, but mostly? he just wants humans to fly y’all.

want to order again?

#a3!#a3! act! addict! actors!#a3! act addict actors #a3! headcanons #cafe: dessert menu #serving: barbeQUEUE #nathya stans barbie ✌️💖#a3! game

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danceinpurgat0ry · 4 years

Text

At the End of Everything, Hold Onto Anything

Ahoy hoy, readers!

So... This is another one of my personal favorites, even though I was relatively new back when I wrote it. Like “Snowed In,” this takes place in a modern AU. This was also slightly inspired by Night in the Woods. It’s a really good game, and I think you should check it out.

And like “Hold You, Never Let Go,” I was only able to post the first half since the second part contains smut, which I’m afraid of getting in trouble for if I were to post it here, since I’m not too familiar with this site’s content guidelines. There is a brief mention of it, though, but it’s very brief and will most likely be fine (I hope).

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on for long enough. I hope you enjoy!

. ˚◞♡ 🎐 *ೃ༄

The breeze was cold, delivering the autumn winds as it traveled. Leaves fell from the looming trees, assuming a crisp orange hue. Autumn is said to represent adulthood and maturity. And, to be frank, whoever said that wasn't necessarily wrong.

You had just finished unpacking your things. You had just moved back to your hometown. Why? Well, you wanted to resume your aimless former life and catch up on those you left behind. So you dropped out of college, moved back, and... yeah.

In fact, there was one person in particular you yearned to see again. You just weren't sure if that person still lived here.

It's better to just not get your hopes up, though...

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

A few days have passed, and already you're starting to feel a little glum.

Things have changed here. Your friends, the town, the venues... everything. It's almost as though everything's moved on without you.

Your friends have grown and changed. They have jobs now. They almost seemed alien to you now. Or was it the other way around?

Nah, it had to be them.

Anyways, there was still this one place in town you liked that was still around. It was a local bar you used to sneak into from time to time, namely because they had a cocktail-type arcade machine called "Galaga," and you would always sneak in to play it.

Looking back, you're actually rather thankful that the bartender pretended not to see you when you did.

And admittedly, you actually did have a drink or two a few years before you were of legal age to drink. Thankfully, you dodged a huge bullet when your mother took you here for your "first drink" since the bartender covered for you.

Good times...

But even the bar itself had changed. The bar had been renovated to fit in with more modern times (it was actually more like a club than a bar now). Nevertheless, you were relieved that it was at least still there.

You could hear the music from across the street. Sighing, you decided to enter. Whether it was for nostalgic reasons or simply because of an obscure sense of curiosity, you'd never know.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

You took a sip of your drink as you stared at the others abhorrently, jealous that those freaks were able to find their "special someone" before you (even if it was just some weird hookup). It disgusted you. But perhaps it was all just in your head. Nonetheless, you were still pretty pissed.

Of course, this burning flame of jealousy died down a bit when notice a familiar face sitting next to you—Hinoka. Hinoka was a good friend of yours. She was a serious girl who didn't take shit from anyone. And admittedly, you still thought it was the funniest thing ever when she knocked the shit out of this one jackass who attempted to flirt with her, only to offend her in the process.

Anyway, you were a bit surprised to find that Hinoka of all people decided to come to a place like this. "H-Hinoka?!" you practically yelped. "Dude, I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Hm? Oh, hey (Y/N)," she responded, sipping out of her flask. "What're you doing here? Weren't you going to college out-of-state?"

"Uh, yeah, funny story," you began. "I kinda, sorta dropped out."

"Oh, really? How come?"

"Do you promise not to laugh?"

"Of course. We've been friends for gods-know-how-long. You can tell me anything."

"Okay..." You inhaled deeply, then turned back to her. "I wanted to go back to being an aimless nobody and return to my friends and family."

It went silent for a moment before Hinoka let out a soft sigh. "Is that it?"

"Pretty much..." Technically, it wasn't. Of course, you weren't willing to admit that.

"I'm not going to judge you or think less of you for it," Hinoka began. "But I believe you could've done better. Honestly."

"Yeah, I know..."

Those were words you didn't want to hear at all, but you knew that Hinoka was just being a good friend. You couldn't be mad at her for that.

You took a sip, still feeling a bit glum. You're odds of actually getting to see a certain somebody were already low, but you feared that you might not even get to see them. Possibly ever again.

This certain somebody wasn't just "anybody." This somebody—a girl, to be exact—was someone you had your eyes on. In fact, you could've even said that you were infatuated with them. But being the dick you were back then, you left without even so much as a goodbye. Or at least, you thought you were a dick for it.

But that wasn't until you heard a soft, smooth voice that your mood suddenly skyrocketed. When you turned around, you saw her—a purple-haired woman sitting right next to you. You nearly spit out your drink (like a fucking idiot). It was her!

"C-C-Camilla?!" you squeaked.

She turned to you, a large smile spreading across her face. "(Y/N)? Oh, what a wonderful surprise~!" she said as she wrapped her arms around you, practically squeezing the life out of you. When she did so, her large breasts squished into your face. It was pleasant, but a bit cliché. You've seen something like this in a few anime and manga, and honestly, you now realize that it really isn't like they make it seem.

"I missed you so much," she cooed. You shifted your head so that you could speak. "Ah... I missed you, too."

Camilla eventually let go, then reached out to hold your hands. "Why don't we go somewhere else? We have quite a bit to catch up on, you know." As she spoke, you could tell that she was a bit disgusted by the mere presence of Hinoka. But that was to be expected. The two didn't neccessarily get along well. Hinoka seemed to be glaring at the purple-haired woman with the same amount of disgust.

"Y-Yeah, okay," was all you could utter. Camilla flashed you a warm smile, gently pulling you along and leading you outside.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

"Where have you been all this time? I missed you so much."

The two of you were now at your house. It was your idea, but it was a bit lackluster (in your opinion), and you hoped that Camilla wasn't secretly judging you for it. Well, it wasn't like you could've just waltzed into town and bought a fucking mansion or some shit.

"Ah... I went off to college. You know that."

"Oh, that's right. And how did that turn out for you?"

Again with that question...

"I...dropped out." You practically bit your tongue as you confessed that to her.

"Oh? How come?"

"Because..." You breathed in a sharp inhale. "I wanted to come back. Get all that pressure off of my shoulders. And..."

Gods, at a time like this, you wished you were dead.

"The truth is, I...wanted to be with you. I've always had my eyes on you, Camilla. I've dreamt of you for countless nights, wishing that I could just be in your arms and cuddle the shit out of you. That by some stupid luck I'd one day be yours. College was hard, Camilla, not because of the pressure, but because I missed you so fucking much."

At this point, the words just flowed out of you. Camilla seemed to be hooked on every word you managed to spew out.

"You're the only woman for me. I was a mess back there because you're just so perfect. I could never focus in my courses because I could never get you out of my head. Because I love you, Camilla, so very fucking much."

After confessing your feelings for her, you didn't think you could even bring yourself to look at her directly due to sheer embarrasment. You winced, expecting her to laugh at your feelings. To your surprise though, Camilla just stood up and approached you, bringing her fingers to your chin to guide your gaze to her face, before planting her lips onto yours. It felt...great.

To be honest, this was the best kiss you've ever had. You can't really say it was your first, though, since you've had a few partners back when you were going to college up state. Ever since you left, you had a huge hole inside that you desperately tried to fill, although things didn't really work out for you. You fought with one of them, the second cheated on you with some douchebag, and the rest were just hookups or one night stands. There was no woman out there that was like Camilla. Yeah, it was pretty hella depressing, but you knew that after this, that hole would finally be filled.

After what seemed like an eternity, your lips parted. The sensation still lingered within you, though, whether it was because of happiness, your libido, or maybe both. One thing's for certain, though: Camilla tasted really fucking good.

"Damn," you spoke. "That...was awesome."

"You liked it?" Camilla giggled. "I'm glad. I've been waiting so very long to do that."

"Have you, now? Well, I'm happy that I got my feelings through to you. Uh...assuming that you reciprocate, that is."

Camilla gave you a kiss on the forehead. "Of course. And you know...the others missed you just as much. Especially sweet little Corrin, the poor thing was so sad to see you go."

Corrin was a good friend of yours as well. The two of you would hang out all the time, to the point to where you remember pretty much everything about them. Not that you thought they were repulsive, of course. You simply enjoyed their company. The two of you would mostly play video games, but you did other things as well, such as eat lunch together or watch movies.

You missed those times... maybe you should go visit them.

"I'm glad to hear that," you responded. "Now then, there was actually something I've been wanting to do with you."

"Oh?" Camilla let out a confused yet intrigued sound. "Whatever might that be, sweetie?"

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

"Bon appétit!"

You brought a few dishes to the table, decked out in red tablecloth and lit candles. Seeing as it was Valentine's Day, you thought that it would be nice to have a fancy(ish?) dinner with the woman who was now your girlfriend. This town didn't offer much in the way of good eats, so you took it upon yourself to cook them up in the comfort of your own home. You had gotten pretty good at cooking after you moved off to go to college, so you didn't have much to worry about in that department.

You brought a bottle of red wine and poured it into your glasses. It wasn't the most "high-class" wine in the world, but it certainly wasn't cheap, either. Some smooth jazz was playing in the background, too. You took a seat and said, "You know, you look really gorgeous. I mean...you always have, but..."

Camilla chuckled, taking a sip of her wine. "Awh, you've always been so cute when you trip over your words. I can't help but fawn over it."

"Damn... And here I thought I was looking like a complete fucking buffoon."

"Oh, I could never think that way of you. You went through all this trouble just to make me feel special, after all."

Ah... She always knew the right things to say. What a goddess.

"So," you began, sipping your wine and attempting to be seductive about it (although you hoped that you didn't look like an idiot doing so). "What have you been up to all this time? Now's a great time to catch up on everything."

"Ah, well, I just recently got a job downtown. I get paid a pretty good amount, so I've been able to take good care of by beautiful siblings easier. Well... Corrin and Elise, anyway."

"They still live with you?" you asked, stifling a bit of laughter. You didn't mean to be disrespectful; it was just a bit laughable to you.

"Oh, of course! Corrin is still pursuing their academic career, and Elise is still a bit too young to move out on her own. So, naturally, it's my job as their big sister to take care of them. We're still keeping in touch with Xander and Leo, though they're off pursuing their own affairs elsewhere."

"That...makes sense."

Camilla was almost like a mother to her siblings... It made you feel a bit jealous. Yeah, you had parents, but they hardly ever paid attention to you since they were always busy working. Because of this, any kind of relationship with them was pretty much nonexistent. It didn't really help that you didn't have any siblings, either.

"Oh? What's wrong, sweetheart?"

Camilla seemed to have sensed the uneasiness within you, much to your surprise. "O-Oh, uh, nothing. I was just thinking, that's all."

"About your parents?"

Fuck.

Camilla had known about your relationship (or, lack of, per se) for a while now, ever since you vented to her about it one day. To be honest, you never expected her to remember that.

You nodded, slowly, letting her know that she was right on the mark, as painful as it was.

"(Y/N), sweetie, you shouldn't worry so much about them. Even if they weren't close to you nor cared for you, you still have me! I care about you so, so much, and I always have. Even when you left, I continued to care deeply for you and your wellbeing."

"But aren't you upset that I just...left? Without even saying goodbye? Aren't you upset by how selfish I was back then?"

"Of course not, (Y/N). I could never be upset with you. You had your reasons. And besides, I knew you'd come home. That's why I waited. I've waited years for you to finally return. And now...here we are. Sitting at your table in your home."

...

You didn't know what to say. Camilla seemed to stand by you no matter what, even though you practically abandoned her for something better, and she was fully aware of that fact. Her little speech brought tears to your eyes. Gods, you loved her so much.

"Thank you..." you said with a sniffle.

"Aww, don't cry, darling. It'll be okay now. You're home." Camilla got up and came over to where you were sitting, turning you around and embracing you.

"T-That's right," you sniffled. "And I'm not leaving again. By your side is where I want to be, even if it's in a hellhole of a town like this. I'm not leaving you ever again."

Camilla smiled against your forehead, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "That's so sweet, (Y/N). I'll always...always be by your side, too, no matter what."

"I'm...happy," was all you could utter.

"Hey," Camilla said, releasing you. "How about we have a little "fun?" You know, since it's Valentine's Day? And a reunion? It'll be much more romantic that way."

To be frank, you've had wet dreams about Camilla even while you were away, so the thought of actually having sex wasn't a bad idea.

"Okay," you replied. "Let's do it." You weren't sure if it was because you were practically half-wine now, but you were feeling pretty adventurous.

Smiling, Camilla reached for your hand and led you to your bedroom.

#fire emblem #fire emblem fates #modern au #swearing #suggestive themes #college dropout #reunions #reunited #camilla #gender neutral reader #camilla x reader #cross posted on ao3

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beerecordings · 4 years

Text

Poison - Chapter Seven

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l Part Six

Hi guys! Though this is the last plot-heavy section of the story, there will be an epilogue to tie up loose ends :) Hope you enjoy this final section! It has been a long ride with maximum whump haha. Thank you for reading.

Trigger warnings for hospitalization, needles, death threats, traumatic flashbacks, and mild eye trauma.

I’ll post a last-chapter summary later because I just posted chapter six but be sure to read that before you read this one :)

It was easy, honestly, once the doctor was shaken up.

He didn't have to be Anti or Chase. Anyone could have seen that Henrik was a mess, all trembling hands and reddened eyes and grieving, guilty, heart-broken mouth. Poor little doctor, aww. And he'd been waiting for an opportunity for days.

He considered riling him up more, but Henrik only gets stiff and scared and frozen when too much is going on, so he soothed him instead, pretending to wake up warm and sleepy and whimpering for his big brother, begging to be unrestrained just for a few minutes, please. Desperate for good news and aching for one of his best friends, Henrik quickly abandoned caution in the hopes of comforting Chase.

And he let himself be held for a moment, and Henrik was warm and soft and comforting, and he cannot deny that he liked it for the time he let it last – the smell of coffee and soap, the hot pressure of another body, the familiarity of human skin.

But he had more important things to do than this.

He held Henrik's throat until he passed out and sedated him in an act of vengeance, exchanging clothes and leaving Henrik tied up and unconscious on the bed where he had been trapped for days.

He could have hurt him further. He should have hurt him further. He should have killed him.

But he did not.

Where are we going? He asks himself, trying to keep his wavering legs steady enough to walk without drawing suspicion. What will we do?

I'm not sure. Should we just go?

We could.

But I don't want to.

Why not?

There's – things to stay for?

Don't go getting fucking attached.

He loved me.

We should cut them out.

What do you mean? The magician?

Yes, cut him out, because we keep thinking about it, thinking – oh, he loved me.

If we're cutting him out we should cut all of them out.

We should have killed the doctor.

Yes.

Let's kill the magician at least.

He called me amata.

Shut the fuck up!

But there's a sensation now, one he's hated as long as he can remember, and he must stop to put his hand against the wall and cover his eyes, biting down on a groan. It feels like his blood is trying to separate from his bones.

He loved me...

Be quiet. My brain is turning against me. Where's his room, do you think?

Ask the receptionist.

But we look like his doctor. We ought to know.

Tell her we heard he'd been moved without our permission and we need to check which room he's in.

Good, yes. The accent...

We can do it, but the magician – my brother –

Stop! Just – if we can do the accent, fine, just come on. I need to make this confusion stop, now.

“Clara!” Thank God for her nametag. “Did they move my brother out of his room? Where is he now?”

Haha, you're so bad at it!

He's so bad at it too so it doesn't matter!

Hahaha.

They come back together under the amusement of it and his bones settle.

“Oh, no, Dr. S, looks like he's still in Room 413. Did you change your hair?”

The fake Henrik rushes away before he can be forced to answer, heading toward the elevator. He's up and about, yes, but he's still much too weak from the drugs and the week of rest to take any stairs.

He gets a few weird looks from nurses on the stairs, but that could also just be because he's Schneep.

I don't – I don't think I want to do this.

Be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet.

I don't think we want to do this!

There's only one of us! Just be quiet!

“Hey, are you alright?” someone asks him.

“Just leave me alone,” he snarls, leaning against the wall of the elevator as his skin threatens to tears away from his muscles and his skull splits down the center. “Just leave me alone.”

They back off and the elevator falls silent.

I'm doing this. I'm doing what I have to do. There's only me and I'm doing what I have to to ease the pull between us. Now hush and get ready. We won't have much time before Jackie comes.

Jackie... he loved me...

Anti grips his head, furious and despairing, and bites on his tongue until blood wells. It’s time to cut these feelings out of their shared chest before they are both destroyed.

---------------------

“So, as you can see here,” explains Dr. Corrin warmly, holding up some pictures of his brain. “It's in the language-producing center of your brain over here, called Broca's area, which is why you're having difficulty with both spoken language and sign. As a bit of good news, aphasia is something patients often recover from even without speech therapy, though there may be some lasting difficulty in finding the right word, and it's possible the aphasia could give you problems for up to a year. You're already speaking again, though, which is excellent news. And you're having no comprehension difficulties?”

Marvin shakes his head slowly, stroking Jameson's hair.

“That's good.” She keeps her voice soft to let his little brother sleep. “I know this must be hard right now, but I have high hopes you'll make a near-full recovery. There is some other minor brain damage around the same area, but as long as you don't notice any significant impacts on your day-to-day life, I think our best option is letting the brain do what it does best and find new pathways to keep you going. Are they any questions you're able to communicate with me just now?”

He hums sleepily. “Ssssshhh,” he manages, his mouth sliding on the word like it's waiting for more to be there. “My? My?”

“Schneeplestein?” She notices him looking at her coat and badge. Marvin smiles, pleased he's managed to get his point across.

“I'll ask him to come see you soon, okay?” she says, smiling back at him, and he nods his head and lets her get up to go.

The room falls quiet again without her, but he doesn't mind. His pain medication is up nice and high again and after the scary part of the night everything became warm and pleasant again.

He's drifting when the door opens.

“Shhh,” he calls again, happy with the sight of his white coat and glasses. “Pi.”

He reaches out for the book, setting it on his lap over his card pack and waiting for his little brother to come over and read to him.

But one step, two – it is not Henrik standing closer to him.

For a moment, Marvin thinks it's Jack.

Then the syringe comes out of his pocket.

Marvin does not quake or shrink in on himself. His eyes fix on the needle. He looks back up at his little brother.

Anti – Chase – his eyes are unreadable, full of something Marvin does not recognize in blue eyes.

But it doesn't scare him.

“Amata,” he whispers, smiling. “Here.”

“Shut up,” he snarls, rounding the bed, and it is only when he approaches Jameson that Marvin begins to feel afraid. “I'm going to kill you.”

Marvin shakes his head and Jamie's shoulder. JJ comes awake with a snuffle, rubbing at his face as he looks up, and then, before his eyes can even widen in alarm, Anti has grabbed him by the throat.

It is, perhaps, a sad fact of Jameson's life that this is not the first time in his life he has woken up with Anti about his throat, but it is the first time he's woken up with Anti about his throat and a brother high on morphine in the hospital bed beside him, and the terror Marvin sees in his eyes is as clear and as deep as the burn of light in the bulb of an angler fish. But if Henrik freezes up and Marvin becomes careful and reasoning, Jameson's reaction to a sudden attack is exactly what Jackie always hoped it would be – fucking fight.

Marvin would like to tell you he helped – that he screamed, that he thought to press the call button, that he threw something, anything. Marvin would like to tell you he even watched. But the truth is that the moment he saw Jameson rear back with a knife drawn from his coat pocket and Anti recoiling to meet him in battle, he was back in chains and convulsions, watching Anti kill Cottonmouth in his little brother's body.

“Darling,” he wails, once, twice, because he cannot even cry his name. “Darling!”

He hides his face and curls in on himself on the hospital bed, holding his shoulders, trying to breathe. Cottonmouth crumples into her own blood in front of him and he pushes his palms hard into his eyes and groans, gritting his teeth.

“Anti,” he whispers. “Chase. Don't.”

But when he hears the thud of a body slamming into the ground, he knows it isn't Anti.

For a moment, there's only Anti's breathing and the shaking of his own heart in his chest. He peers out of his fingers, needing to know if JJ is alive, but all he can see is his little brother's face turned away from him on the tiles of the floor, still.

Anti stalks forward and grabs him.

To his credit, Marvin does not scream or sob even as his flashback near consumes him. He clings furtively to Chase's hands and closes his eyes. The rapid thudding of his heart suddenly stops registering on the heart monitor as Anti manipulates the tech. The nurses won't notice anything wrong.

“What did you wake up in me?” hisses his brother, pushing him down hard against the hospital bed. Needles shift in Marvin's body and he whimpers. “Why are you all making me feel a thousand different things? This is worse than I first melded into this fucking flesh.”

Marvin breathes in, out. Trying to stay steady. Trying to stay steady.

“Look at me,” snarls Anti.

Marvin does not. Marvin does not open his eyes.

“Look at me,” screams Chase.

“Hear you,” warns Marvin in a croak, sliding open his eyes and glaring up at him even as tears run down his cheeks.

“Stop crying,” he answers, his face darkening with frustration. “Stop!”

The needle of a syringe leaps up in his hand and presses into Marvin's throat. He closes his eyes again and lets it sink against the first layer of his flesh, threatening to go deeper.

“Too high to be afraid of me? Huh? Is that it? I'll make you fucking beg.”

Marvin almost laughs. If this isn't terror – if the memory of being hung up in those chains as the poison coursed through him isn't real terror – he doesn't know what is. But Anti's hands reach out to adjust his drug dose and Marvin's heart drops with his morphine levels. Almost immediately, he feels the effects. It's like his skin, his body, his heart has become real again, real in a world much colder than he remembers. He's being recreated. This is what it feels like, isn't it?

Cosmic and mortal at the same time, his atoms are flung into arrangement after long years of drifting, and he is a tree raised from the earth, suddenly standing, suddenly bodied, suddenly aware and alive and staring at the world.

Drifting, confused, scared. Yeah, he remembers. This is what it feels like to be created.

He just doesn't remember it hurting this much.

He doesn't remember anything ever hurting this much, because he's been trying not to think about what happened to him that day on those chains, and oh, oh, oh, it's here with him again now.

The needle presses deeper into his throat. He can hear Anti – no, Chase, his Chase, his Chase in pain – breathing harshly above him, trying to make himself do it.

“Don't feel guilty,” he hears himself sob.

“What?”

He clings to his wrists. He clings, clings, clings to his little brother's wrists. Amata, amata, Chase, the only word left on his mouth, the only thing left that matters, his heart, his heart.

“I love you.”

Aphasia, or the inability to produce language, is not an uncommon result of brain damage. An interesting fact about this condition, however, is that, at times, while it may be impossible for a person to form the sentences or words they'd like to say, it may well be possible for them to recite memorized or familiar phrases. For example, someone might not be able to express their congratulations to a family member on their birthday, but when everyone begins singing “happy birthday,” they are able to join in just as loud and as clearly as anyone else.

There are phrases Marvin knows. There are recitations imprinted on his heart. And if you had told him that a week ago, he would have laughed and made fun of you, because, as he would assure you, that is much too soft for him, but this is not a week ago.

This is now. His kidneys have failed twice. He was tortured for three hours straight. His little brother has been missing for six months and now, here he is.

It is Anti also, or somewhat, or sort of, or something, but Marvin has never known Anti beyond legends and a battle or two, and what he sees – what he feels, what he hears, what he smells – this is Chase, Chase with his sad, lovely eyes, Chase with hair that goes gold in the right light, Chase with this bizarre and ever-present vanilla smell on his tired palms, Chase, Chase, Chase.

Marvin is laughing before he knows why, laughing as Anti tries to put the needle in his neck.

“I love you better than stars and suns,” he recites, his own spells, his own poetry. “I would like to make a constellation of you, stella amata, beloved, my heart. Blue eyes, brother. Amata, I'm here. Amata, I'm here. Come lie down with me. I love you. Chase, do you want to come with me? Just breathe deep. What can I do to help? Are you with me? I know how hard you're trying, I know you're doing your best.”

A litany of remembered things, left over from every time Marvin has comforted him or been comforted by him. A litany of their brotherhood.

“Stop,” he cries.

Marvin begins to quote in earnest. Brothers and songwriters and authors.

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Stay with me, my brother. Here I am. I can't lose you. The weather would be just right, requiring a light sweater mornings and evenings, and something short-sleeved midday.”

“You're just babbling,” he howls, pressing him down bodily into that hospital bed, until they are chest-to-chest but for the book on Marvin's chest and the cards beneath it. Marvin's head is clearing again the longer he looks at it. He knows he needs to try and speak on his own again. He knows he needs to try and save him. His brother. His Chase.

“Scared,” he whispers, touching his cheek, and he groans and ducks his head, holding that needle against his throat in a trembling hand. “I know. Scared.”

“No... No, I'm not s-scared...”

Marvin could sing for Chase's stammer. He caresses his beard, dark and unkempt. His free hand traces down his own chest, careful.

“Don't feel guilty,” he murmurs, reaching back to touch his hair, to stroke his head like he had Jamie's only minutes before. “If pain. Me, darling.”

“You should be worrying about yourself, not us!” he shrieks. “We're not going to feel guilty for killing you! I'm not! And I'll, I'll... I'll take the black and white one with me again! Yes! Our baby brother! And he'll quiet all this noise! I won't feel alone anymore!”

“Not feel alone anymore,” whispers Marvin, tears hot and red on his cheeks, from the pain, from the fear, from the love of him. “Not alone.”

“I'll make it stop, I'll make it stop.” He is shaking his head back and forth above him and they both know he does not believe himself. “We have to make it stop, we just want – I just want – ”

“Chase,” whispers Marvin. “Cast him out.”

“I c-can't!”

“Yes, Chase. Yes.”

“No, I can't, I've tried, I've tried! For months, Marvin, for months, I tried so hard, I did. I wanted so badly to come home to all of you.”

Marvin sobs and clings to his face, his free hand finally reaching his card pack.

“I was so scared, I just want this to stop, we both do!”

“Cast him out. Cast him out. You – you are my sunshine, I'm here, stella amata, the weather would be just right... Chase, here, here.”

“Marvin!” cries Chase. “Please, please help me.”

“No, stop,” shouts something else beneath his skin.

“It hurts!” they both shriek, falling slightly away from the bed.

Marvin grabs their hand.

For a moment, Chase and Anti both stare at him, and there is a silence and an ocean between them, and the world is a rocking, moving thing, and they are anchored together in white palms and white fingers and twin tattoos along their right arms, and they see each other.

“Get the fuck out, Anti,” says Marvin, and he pulls out his King of Hearts and finishes the spell he meant to finish in that basement a week ago.

Light burns between the two of them and they scream as they fall back, their flesh singed by the force of the spell, a black heart scalding into their neck. He – they – whoever and whatever this creature is – trips back over Jameson and falls to the ground beside him.

“Marvin!” Screaming down the hall. “Marvin!”

The door opens and slams into the wall. Jackie does not hesitate even to look around, just pounces towards Anti.

“Stay back!” he screams, scrabbling to his feet and bringing Jameson's body with him, the syringe pressed against his throat. “You stay the fuck away from me!”

“No, you get the fuck away from him,” cries Jackie, teeth snarling. “Let him go. Anti, you're bleeding already. Give up.”

He's right. He realizes with a start that blood is tracing its way down his cheek, bleeding from his eye. Or – is it blood? It's dark as ink.

“Big brother,” croaks Marvin. “Careful, careful.”

“I'm here, Marvelous, I'm here. Anti, stop!”

He's maneuvering toward the door. With JJ in his arms, unconscious and pressed against that needle, Jackie doesn't know what to do to stop him. His first instinct is tackling, as it always is, but that might not end well.

“I've got a tracker on JJ,” says Jackie. Well, he's got his location on on his phone, anyway. “If you try to take him or any of my brothers away again, I'll find you.”

Anti bites his teeth at him, standing in the doorway with JJ slumped across his chest. He can hear more people coming. He's sure Jackie brought security.

But those are the least of his problems right now.

The sensation of his bones and his blood separating, of his skin peeling off from his flesh, of his heart pulsing to get out of his chest, of something being wrong inside him, of something needing to escape every cuticle of his flesh –

This is worse than it's ever been.

He turns his head, and, when he is sick, something black is leaking out of his mouth.

What is this? What's happening? He did something to me!

That's... you? Isn't it? The real you. Without me.

He slams Marvin's door shut behind him and drops Jameson in front of it, shoving him against the crack beneath the wood to slow Jackie, turning to sprint down the hall.

No, please, we can't run. I'm so tired...

Stop fucking whining!

His gait stumbles and he falls, crashing hard to the ground and drawing startled gasps all around him before he can get up again, throwing himself into a closing elevator. He shares a tense elevator ride with a terrified-looking twelve-year-old who won't take her gaze off his own bleeding eyes, trying to get his breath back before sprinting back out of the elevator and into the world.

Please, I want to go back to my brothers! I want my brothers to look after me! I think we can get separate again, please!

But he isn't listening to the voice inside his head right now.

His bones are splitting. His nerves are unraveling. Inside his head, neurons don't know which way to go.

He's coming apart. And when it's over, he doesn't think he'll have a body anymore.

He's afraid.

He runs.

---------------------

Jackie knows where to go.

Jameson is bleeding heavy from the shoulder and his neck is blue with bruising. Jackie heaves him up in his arms and deposits his little brother gently in the bed beside Marvin's, checking for the pulse of his heart beneath his injured throat before turning to race after Anti. He hollers something about nurses, security, cops. Doesn't know what. They're safe here. Jameson and Marvin and Henrik will be looked after. They have to be. What matters now is Chase.

And he knows where to go. Jamie showed him.

He sprints down the street, down the pavement, panting hard, his body working like a machine, his feet pounding sturdy and swift against the concrete. People pass to let him go. Perhaps they can see the ferocity in his face.

He lost Chase once. Last week, he lost Marvin. All his life, his family has come and gone, through kidnappings and comas, imprisonment and loss. But today?

Today he brings his brothers home.

He picks up his pace and the wind makes way for him too. Today, he will not be late.

------------------------

His gait slows.

His gaits slows to a snail crawl.

He staggers

He staggers away from the building.

Lights burn around him in horrible gold and white, stinging against his aching eyes.

He can hear a low, desperate keening –

“Marvin... Marvin... Marvin...”

Over and over again.

That's not his voice, is it?

He's pretty sure he's the one groaning. He's pretty sure he's the one everyone's staring at, pausing on the pavement to call out in concern and whisper.

He's pretty sure he's covered in somebody else's blood.

His brain has turned to mush as everything inside him tears about and he no longer knows where he's running. Hot tears course down his cheeks. He clutches at his shirt and realizes he's aching for something soft to hold. A hand, a warm body, or maybe just a plush seal toy squished into a stuffie pancake.

“My baby,” he hears that distant, familiar voice whisper. “Hunter... my son...”

He has no child. He has no family. He is what remains and what remains is all that there is.

A sting cuts through his neck again and he screams, staggering against the cold wall of an alleyway. Something is in his blood! He can feel it! Poison, poison!

“What is happening to me?” he screams. “Something's inside of me! Marvin! Marvin! Marvin!”

He wants his big brother. He wants his big brother right now.

There is no big brother, there is no one left that he loves, if Marvin were to show his face to him he'd drive a knife into his heart and put a bullet through his skull just for good measure!

The sting pierces through him. The hot burn of something purer than his tainted blood. He is sobbing, heaving, sinking down beside a garbage can in a dirty alleyway beside a road to towards the hospital, wrapping his arms around himself. When did he get so skinny? When did he forget so much of himself? He can't even remember his name – a C? An H? An A?

Marvin spoke it. Marvin spoke it like it was the only word left that mattered. Marvin loved him.

I won't be thrown out of this flesh now! This body belongs to me! This body is me! I don't... what happens if I'm torn apart?

“A – Anti,” stammers his aching mouth. “Anti.”

“That name no longer means anything.” He is alone. He speaks to himself. They speak to each other. “Do we really have to go back to struggling?”

“I feel like I'm always struggling... I can't remember...”

“We don't need to remember. I have you and you have me. There is nothing left of the man you once were. If we could just settle down again!”

“P-poison... you are a poison... Marvin is sending you out...”

The pain lances through his ribs, spreading out across his body. He wails as the hurt only grows and grows, hyperventilating against the cool metal of the dumpster.

“You stole me from them!” he screams, trying to think. “I was going – I was going to see my child! My children! You stole me away from my children! From my brothers! Marvin! Marvin!”

Quiet. Something hateful and commanding arises in his head for the first time in weeks and he chokes, grabbing at his hair. I spliced you into myself once already. I will do it again. Marvin is gone and his magic was weak. You are alone with me. And if someone is leaving this body, then I will be the one to drive you out, Chase. This could kill me. I need to be separated but what if it kills me? What if I die here?

“You're... scared...”

“Chase!” someone shouts. “Chase!”

And then Jackie is there, Jackie is there, Jackie is holding him.

“Please,” he begs, he sobs, he wails; he writhes against Jackie's arms, struggles with him on the cold cement of the alleyway. “Please, it burns me!”

“Let Anti burn away,” he pants, only holding him tighter, only holding him tighter the harder he struggles. “Let Anti burn away. Come back to me. Come back home. I never meant to let you go. I'm sorry. It's me, it's Jackie. You have to remember who you are.”

Jackie smells like home. Pressed into his sweatshirt, Chase can hear again every word that Marvin spoke to him, can feel the touch of Jameson's forgiving body wrapped around his own, can see Henrik looking after him even though it terrified him.

“You know who you are,” whispers Jackie, sinking down to the pavement with him, holding him, careful with the heart-shaped burn singed into his neck. “Come back to me.”

We discover who we are in many ways. Perhaps most of all, we see ourselves in the love we have for others. In the way we love, in the fierceness with which we do. Chase knows himself, yes, after long months. He can see himself in the way Jackie is holding him and in the way he hugs him back, clinging to his brother's sweatshirt, burying his face against his chest.

Trusting his family to save him.

He is terribly ill for long minutes, sick and convulsing as the poison leaves him. Jackie's shirt soaks with the most horrible black ink. It won't come out in the wash. He doesn't care. Chase is here.

“I've got you,” he says, holding one-fourth of the world in his arms. “I've got you. I won't let him take you away again.”

The black ink runs down the brick of the alleyway where Jameson was standing a few days past with his little tray of hospital food. He knew this place would be important. He knew they would have to come here again.

Chase shudders, cries, stills against his chest.

Jackie looks down and sees the blackness creeping together as though magnetic on the brick, and then it is rising, it is forming, it is standing; it is Anti.

His face is drizzling so much black ink he can hardly keep his simulated body together, slumped and staggering, hollow and dazed. His eyes are dead. Jackie has never seen him stand still for so long.

His head rises, exhausted, and he does not breathe or move or speak a word. He only looks at Jackie. The blackness drips off of him – plink. Plink. Plink.

Jackie holds Chase. Jackie stares at him.

Anti closes his eyes and his mouth, and he lifts his hand to his chin, and then draws it away again in one of the first words of sign language Jackie ever learned.

Thank you.

Jackie should get up and hurt him. Jackie should find a way to hurt him. Jackie should kill him.

He doesn't.

The blackness collapses back into liquid. A rat scatters by. Anti's essence fills the squeaking animal up and, a moment later, they are both slipping away down the drain together, leaving nothing but drips of inky blood on the red brick behind them.

Jackie pulls Chase slightly away from himself to look at his little brother. Dazed and still bleeding sluggishly from the eyes, Chase can only snuffle and blink thick and slow, his eyes half-way closed, clinging to Jackie's shirt.

“I got you, Chaser,” whispers Jackie, slipping his arms beneath him. Chase sighs sleepily and wraps his arms around Jackie's chest as he is lifted into his arms, pressing his face against his brother's warm chest. “I got you. And I won't let you go again.”

------------------

A white

room.

White lights. White bedsheets. White brothers, haha. Marvin grins. He's on morphine again, but he's still crying by the time he comes to, hot wet tears tracing softly down his face.

“Marvin,” someone whispers.

“Jackie,” his mouth manages, and they share a smile there over the whiteness of the bedsheets, holding each other's hands.

Marvin's eyes drift to the rest of the room. His heart warms like grass in the sun. The bed across from his own is, at last, full.

“Okay?” he asks.

“He will be,” answers Jackie softly. “We'll make sure.”

Just like they always do. Just like they promised each other when they were young. We'll look after them. No matter what it takes.

Marvin looks down at himself.

This, he thinks. This is what it took.

“Hey,” he mumbles, pointing at the clock beside his table. It's 9:03. “Survived... night.”

“Survived the night? Oh. Yeah. That last kidney scare was yesterday. You survived the rest of the night and then the day and then this night too.” Jackie smiles at him. “Sleeping beauty.”

Marvin throws his hair in mock pride for his Aurora-levels of beauty and sends Jackie into a mini giggling fit, bent over his hand and squeezing tight.

“So... okay?” he murmurs, pointing at himself.

“There will be some complications,” says Jackie gently. “With your diet and your speech and your... your mental health, too. But everything's going to turn out alright, Marv. You made it. You're a survivor, Marv. And you helped Chase too.”

Marvin smiles up at him. Jackie praises and reassures, massaging at his palm, his eyes full of warmth. He has to keep quiet, though, because it appears they've gotten into a habit of sleeping in this room – Henrik is at Chase's side, crashed beside his brother's legs, snoring into his knees. Jameson is sitting up in the middle of the two beds, quiet and still, his throat bandaged.

“Darling?” asks Marvin. “Okay?”

JJ turns slowly about. His eyes are bright silver.

“Uh-oh,” says Jackie, reaching out his free hand for him. “Got a trance, looks like. Doing okay, buddy? You with us?”

JJ's mouth quirks dazedly and he nods.

“Good,” says Jackie, reassured. “You're getting a better handle on it already.”

Marvin reaches out his hand for him too and Jamie turns to take it, smiling warmly at him.

“See?” signs Marvin, not quite able to find the words for 'what happens now, Jameson?'

The tilt of his mouth blooms into a full smile.

“I see you, and me, and Jackie, and Chase, and Henrik,” he says.

“Is that all?” asks Jackie.

“No,” says JJ. “But that's all that matters.”

Chase shifts in his sleep and his hand finds Henrik's. All five of them are warm in the hospital room. Outside, the snow falls white and glowing in the morning sun.

#poison #bee writes #writers of jack

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elizabeethan · 4 years

Note

16 with or without 4

Not really sure what’s going on here but okay... 🤷‍♀️

Also takes place in some secret ambiguous universe

Send me a Holiday Prompt!

The flush of your cheeks when you step into a warm house after being out in the cold & The crunch of fresh snow under foot

Corrine loves snow. It’s so crunchy and cold and fluffy, and she loves picking up a bunch of it and tossing it at her mummy and daddy. He always laughs and chases her while mummy shouts at him and tells her to run as fast as she can until she falls into the snow. She likes to roll around in it and make angels until mummy calls her an angel and takes her inside.

Daddy carries her through the door and she likes to lie on his shoulder and pretend to fall asleep; mummy always tells him she thinks it’s cute. She likes the way her cheeks feel when she gets inside and rests them on daddy because they get nice and warm after rolling in the snow. Usually, he sits down on the couch and lets her lie down on top of him while he looks at a book, but sometimes he kisses mummy and it’s gross.

“She’s so cute,” her mummy says after a long time, and she touches her cheek. Corrine tries not to smile, but it sort of tickles as she gets feeling back in her face while she warms up.

“Aye, I’d say we did quite well, Swan.” She’s not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but she keeps listening. “Perhaps she’d like someone else to play with.”

Yes, she’d love that.

“You’re serious? She’s been the baby for four years.”

“Aye, but you’re the one always telling her she’s a big girl. Maybe she’d enjoy being a big sister as well.”

No, she’d hate that.

~~~~

#yeah I don’t know #writing prompts #holiday prompts #ask #anon #my writing #prompts

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ashintheairlikesnow · 5 years

Text

Ash/Athena AU: Unwrapping

In the Honor Bound / Daniel Michaelson’s AU with @whump-tr0pes , Danny sees Isaac for the first time since Corrine took him... and realizes what his mother did

CW: Threats of torture/noncon, nonconsensual touching (not sexual), referenced past torture and noncon. Dehumanization and pet whump.

“If you hurt him, I swear to God, Mom-”

“He’s fine.” Corrine waved one hand dismissively as she met a furious Danny in the driveway. She was already dressed for the party in a short black cocktail dress and a triple-strand of pearls resting lightly against her dark skin, black heels that she walked in with perfect grace. She looked every inch the pure power of the Michaelson group she was. “Oh, you look lovely, Daniel. You and your plaything will complement each other so well.”

Danny shifted, uncomfortable in his Syndicate suit. This one was new, and tailored to adapt to the weight he'd never regained after he came back, but part of him always felt the collar when he had to wear his suits now. Abraham and Ashley had made him wear the one he was abducted in to the parties, so that he’d look more like what he was, until someone paid extra to cut it off him while he was tied to the floor in front of all the guests cheering and screaming and he was bleeding and-

Stop. Focus on Isaac. You have to see Isaac, have to make sure he’s okay. He has to be okay.

“Mom hasn’t done anything more than get your new friend ready for the party,” Patrick said, standing beside Corrine in his own tux, salt-and-pepper hair cut close to his scalp. He leaned in to kiss Danny’s cheeks, one by one, and Danny met the kisses absently, his eyes still on his mother. “I promise.”

Patrick’s voice was low and melodic, with the same charming singsong quality that Ryan had. He and Ryan were the spitting image of each other, from the strong jaw to the sparkling amber eyes to the black curls - although Patrick’s had plenty of gray in this particular iteration of his appearance, and more than a few distinguished wrinkles besides.

“He’s got to be terrified,” Danny said, his stomach twisted in awful knots. He hadn’t been able to eat since he’d thrown up all over the floor, feeling the collar around his neck all over again after watching his mother order Isaac dragged away.

Nate had fed him broth; it was the only thing he could keep down.

His nerves were strung so tightly, singing with constant panic that he damped down through sheer willpower. “You could have let him stay with Nate and I last night, he-... he was probably so scared you’d, you’d kill him or something, Mom-”

“Why ever would he think I would do that?” Corrine raised an eyebrow, and when Danny just stared at her, she laughed - a soft, warm sound. “Oh, because I put a gun to his head. Honestly, Daniel. He’s fine. Mrs. Verona fed him a lovely charcuterie with cheese and fruit for dinner, plus plenty of wine. He was reluctant at first, but…” Corrine shrugged carelessly. “He came around, eventually.”

"... Did you get Isaac drunk, Mom?" Danny asked, blinking rapidly, trying to keep himself from getting angry and upset, fighting back the bite in his words.

Abraham got him drunk all the time. He was so fucking miserable and in so much pain, it was easy to just open his mouth and let it burn down his throat, lap bourbon from bowls they put on the floor while they laughed and said you like that, puppy? and then said he had to earn it-

Stop. This isn't about you. This is about Isaac. Nate has a plan. You can do this, Nate has a plan. Just pretend you want this, like you said. Just pretend you want him as a plaything.

Act like Abraham used to. You can do this. You can be like them to get him out. You can do this.

"Oh, hardly. He needed to loosen up, anyway." Corrine held her hand out to Nate as he walked up, wearing his own deep green suit, and he kissed the Michaelson family crest on the heavy ring she wore. "Any news, Nate?"

Nate nodded, straightening up and smoothing his suit jacket with his good hand. "Yes, ma'am. I m-m-may need to skip out early if m-my lead pans out. We have some r-reports - nothing c-c-conc-... Conc-... nothing that's a sure th-thing, but…"

"Of course. Go as you need to. I want them back." Corrine smiled, licking at her thumb and reaching up to wipe at Danny's cheek.

"I'm twenty-seven, Mom, quit it," Danny said, batting her hand away, stepping back uncomfortably.

"You're twenty-eight, as of today, sweet boy. Happy birthday, Daniel." She smiled warmly, affectionately, and Danny managed a small smile in response despite the nerves still tap-dancing all over his skin. "Would you like to see your new boy? Ryan has been overseeing his final prep for tonight."

The sun was starting to set, lighting everything the peculiarly beautiful golden tinge that made the house seem faintly laced with magic. Danny used to feel comfortable here, at home.

He wondered if Isaac had thought the house was beautiful… or just hellish. Maybe they'd be alone long enough for him to tell Isaac about Nate's plan, to ask…

"Yes, Mom. I want to see him. I've…" Danny hesitated, trying to think of how Abraham would say it if he were here. He forced his voice to sound stronger, more certain, even as he felt ghostly cold fingers card through his hair, and had to hide his shiver. "I had him for five days. I didn't like having to go without. The whole point of having one to keep is that you don't, right?"

Corrine smiled at him - it was such a loving, proud smile, and it hurt Danny to see it. He had fought his whole life for their approval and pride, and had only received it after he had been held in captivity for four years. He had only seen this kind of pride now, now that his mother assumed he was done hiding from what he was and had begun to embrace it.

The thought of what she expected him to be - the very thing that he had been beaten for being, the reason people paid Abraham and Ashley money for time alone with him, for chances to hurt him - made him sick.

But it was what he was, what he’d been born - or adopted - into. Power, and control over their territory. People who did what he said, when he said it. The assumption that he would dehumanize and break down anyone he wanted if he wanted to keep them.

They wanted him to be Syndicate - but Danny’s mind had been broken and shredded alongside his body for the crime of his Syndicate name. He didn’t want to be what they accused him of being.

He didn’t want to be what he was.

He would have given anything, in the moment he looked into his mother’s loving eyes, to have been in the car with Isaac’s team driving far away from here.

He could live with getting Isaac into the car with Isaac’s team. He had to play his part, and keep it up for a while… Nate had a plan but he had to buy Nate some time.

“Then I won’t keep him waiting on you,” Corrine said gently, reaching up to pat the side of his face. Danny stilled under the unwanted touch, but Corrine had never understood or accepted that he did not like to be touched, since he came back.

Not by anyone but Nate, or… or Isaac.

Danny swallowed.

That didn’t matter. That was ruined, too, now - like the rest of his life had been ruined and wrecked. There was no version of what he was that could not be used to break some new hope he’d had to fight so hard to feel.

Nate fell in beside him as they walked towards the house, his right hand sliding warm against Danny’s back through his suit. “It’s going to b-be okay,” Nate whispered into his ear, pressing a soft, reassuring kiss to his hair. Danny closed his eyes and nodded, fighting the heat that built there, the hint of tears.

He fought the urge to whine, to collapse, to whimper it won’t be okay, nothing will ever be okay again. He was a grown man, and he wouldn’t be weak, not today. Not when Nate needed him to play his part.

Not when Isaac needed to get out of here.

Corrine had Isaac waiting for him in a side room off from the main living area, where the party would be. There were already servants everywhere Danny looked setting up the hors d'oeuvres table, laying out the first platters of food just so, setting up the wine fountain in the corner along with the other loose bottles the guests could choose from. Danny felt trapped in a kind of terrible deja vu - this was his childhood, parties like this.

It had once felt natural.

Now, he kept searching for hooks in the floor that he would be tied down to.

Mrs. Verona popped her head out of the kitchen to wave hello to him and he bent himself nearly in half to reach her tiny height for the kiss to each cheek. His smile was more natural, for her, and the tiny ageless woman’s face was a starburst of cheerful wrinkles as she pinched his cheek, just lightly. “Your young man,” She said softly, “Could use a bit of reassurance, I think.”

“Couldn’t we all,” Danny whispered back, and she winked at him.

“Reassurance and fresh air. But he’ll have plenty of air later on, won’t he?”

Danny straightened, turning to look at Nate, who gave him a perfectly innocent, beatific smile in return. Mrs. Verona is part of the plan? Nate only shrugged and kept him moving through the room, Corrine ahead of them and none the wiser. Patrick veered off to speak with some of the guards, giving them their positions along the walls.

“So many guards,” Danny whispered.

“They’re w-w-worried Isaac will r-r-run, or his t-team will try to come b-back for him,” Nate murmured, keeping a hand on his back. Danny forced a false smile, pretending he was just enjoying the gentle affection, that they were just murmuring the sorts of things to each other they might normally say, on a night like this.

“Will they? Do they… do they know the plan?”

“Some. I t-t-told them where to w-wait, and when I’ll g-get him back to th-them. We have to hope they t-t-trust me. If they c-come on their own…” Nate frowned, picking up a little shrimp puff off the food table as they passed, ignoring the glare from one of the servants in return as he popped it into his mouth. “They’ll be slaughtered, and w-we can’t stop that.”

“They can’t be killed, or hurt,” Danny said, insistently. “We have to get them out. They trusted us, they were so nice to us, Isaac-” His voice broke, his whisper cracking apart, and he swallowed back the guilt that might eat him alive. “Isaac trusted me.”

“I know. I’m s-s-sorry it happened this w-way. But maybe w-we can make it up to him,” Nate said gently, reaching up to push back a bit of wavy red hair. It made Danny think of Isaac, tucking a little bit of hair behind his ear before the first time they kissed-

His knees buckled, just a little, and Nate effortlessly caught him around the waist.

Corrine glanced back over her shoulder, and saw only Nate nuzzling into Danny’s neck, whispering into his ear - a soft, shy smile on Danny’s face. She smiled to see them together, with a warm maternal affection.

Her eyes flashed a brilliant purple before she turned back to walk into the other room. “He’s in here with Ryan, darling,” Corrine called, and Danny took a deep breath, lifted his chin, and walked into the formal dining room to see Isaac.

Danny came to a stop in the doorway, staring at his first view of Isaac since yesterday, as his heart… snapped. It was the only word for the sensation he felt, pulled tense until he broke at the sight of a man who had trusted him with himself and his scars and who had been betrayed in return.

Isaac looked gorgeous.

And terrified.

He was standing with a guard on either side of him, his hair neatly combed and shining clean, hands folded in front of himself, eyes on the floor, his chin bent nearly to his collarbone. He wore a perfectly tailored suit that was so close to Danny’s, and Danny had sort of wondered what Isaac might look like all dressed up (or more accurately, how it would feel to see him dressed up and peel that clothing off him piece by piece), and now he knew.

Ryan was standing against the wall, arms folded, with a face like a stormcloud. “Say hello,” Ryan said, his voice oddly harsh and grating, and Danny’s head jerked to the side only to see Ryan’s eyes glowing a light yellow in the dim dining room light. Ryan wasn’t enjoying this - he was angry about it. “Danny, fair warning, you’re not going to like-”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Nate standing next to him, and Danny turned to look at Isaac again. He’d looked up, to meet Danny’s eyes with him, and his mouth - God, that mouth - was stretched in a tremulous, frightened smile.

There was a thick band of black around his neck, and when Danny’s mind allowed him to understand what he saw, he felt the collar wrap around his own neck, too, the constriction that dug into his skin and rubbed it raw and bloody over and over until the scars made the skin too rough to break so easily again.

Then he saw the reddened fresh brand - the M with its intertwining vines - on the side of Isaac’s neck.

“Oh,” Danny said softly. Fury came instantly, a fire he couldn’t even vocalize around, burning him too deeply to speak the words. He barely managed a whisper. “Mom… y-you, you put… you said you, you wouldn’t-”

“I know, darling, and I’m sorry,” Corrine said, with a tone that suggested she absolutely wasn’t. “And it won’t be for long. But we had to ensure he would be on his best behavior for your birthday party, and I knew you wouldn’t want to lead him. Isaac has promised to be very good for us tonight, hasn’t he?”

She shot a look at Isaac, and Danny watched him look at her with open fear before looking back to Danny and quickly nodding. “Y-Yes, I, I can… I won’t, won’t try anything.” Isaac’s voice shook so hard his words were barely speech at all, and Danny wanted nothing more than to walk across the room and rip the fucking collar off his neck.

He settled for being able to do one of those things.

He stepped forward, feeling like he was floating on numb legs, and moved up to Isaac - who cringed away and then caught himself when Corrine’s eyes cut at him again. Danny reached up to put a hand to either side of his face, and looked into Isaac’s frightened eyes. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, just for him.

“Y-you didn’t have to do this to me,” Isaac all but whimpered, and Danny’s heart ached, a nearly physical pain he could feel slowly radiating out, right to the palms and the fingertips that touched a man he would never, ever have wanted to hurt. “You didn’t have to-”

“Stop mewling,” Corrine snapped, and Isaac’s mouth shut all at once with a click.

“Wh-why did you brand him?” Danny asked, and bit back the wail to turn his words into something closer to anger than the grief he felt welling up inside. With a brand, Isaac wouldn’t be safe. Everywhere he went, even if they got him out of here, everyone would know he was a Michaelson plaything.

Everywhere he went, they’d think he could be tortured for Michaelson intel or sold back to them for a reward. Even with Nate's plan, it was a matter of time before Isaac was sold back to them, back into Danny's bed at best or Corrine's tortures at worst. He couldn't hide it, or forget it.

Corrine had trapped him in the lie Danny had told to save his life.

He glanced sidelong at Nate, who was looking at it, too, with that empty stillness he was so skilled at. He met Danny's gaze and gave him a small smile. "Just as l-l-lovely as y, yesterday,"

The plan is still going. Don't falter. Stay strong. Danny knows how to read the words Nate doesn't say.

Danny shook his head, trying to say with his eyes what he couldn’t say in front of his mother, not and have any hope to keep up the charade, to get Nate the time he needed to get his plan in motion. He couldn’t say it if he wanted any chance of getting Isaac out of here. “You’re beautiful,” He said instead, and his voice stayed even, and strong.

Oh, puppy, you look beautiful tonight. Let’s take a ‘Before’ photo, the guys coming over really don’t like your fucking family. Bet you give me one hell of an ‘After’ later on, huh? Smile for the camera, Red.

“You’re beautiful,” Danny repeated, and Isaac closed his eyes, lowering his chin again, shivering under Danny’s touch.

“Thank you,” Isaac whispered.

He hates me, Danny thought, and felt guilt crash into him like a wave. He’ll hate me now, forever. I just wanted… “Take the collar off,” Danny said in a low voice, without looking away from Isaac’s face. “Take it off. He’s already branded, you don’t need to collar him, too!”

“Not an option,” Corrine said lightly. “He will stay in line better with it on.”

“Mom, I said take it off, he doesn’t need a collar to control him!” Danny let go of Isaac and turned to face down his mother, but even glaring down at her and towering over her much smaller frame, he knew he wouldn’t win this one just from the way her jaw set, ever so slightly, and her eyes lit up.

“I am the matriarch of this family, Daniel Michaelson,” Corrine said firmly, a warning edging her voice. "You are my son and you will show me the respect I am due.”

“Mom.” Danny fought to calm himself. “I… I like the suit, you, you did a good job, but I can’t… I can’t, not with him wearing that! Not with our mark on him!”

“I told you not to do it, Mom,” Ryan growled from the wall. He was glaring at the guards on either side of Isaac, and they shifted uncomfortably under his glowing yellow gaze. “You know he hates this shit. You know it. Branding people is all your generation, we don’t fucking brand people anymore!”

“Don’t act like you’re any better.” Danny glared at his younger brother, usually wide blue eyes narrowed to furious slits. “You wanted to do the same fucking thing to him!”

“No, I didn’t!” Ryan snapped back. “I wanted to make you happy and having him stay is one thing, but I wouldn’t have stuck my fucking ring on his neck! I’m a Michaelson just like you, but I’m not a Michaelson like that and this fucking dog-and-pony-show pisses me off just as much!”

“Don’t say ‘dog’,” Danny whispered, feeling blood drain from his face.

Some of the anger left Ryan, and his eyes went back to their usual honeyed yellow. “I’m sorry,” Ryan said, sincerely, putting both hands up in the air. “I’m sorry, Dan. I didn’t-... I didn’t think.” He swallowed, hard. “You, you know that I wouldn’t…”

“No, I know, I just-... shit, fucking hell, Mom, you can’t do this to him!” Danny spun back to his mother, who watched him evenly, with one eyebrow raised.

“Do you want him like you said to me yesterday, or not?” Corrine asked, her voice very low. “Darling, did you lie to me, yesterday? I would be very disappointed with you and upset if you lied to me.”

“I… I didn’t. I didn’t, Mom, I definitely want him,” Danny said, swallowing hard, trying consciously to calm himself even as his hands began to shake. Be Abraham, be Abraham, be Abraham. “He’s fucking gorgeous, and nobody else should get to enjoy the, um, the-the sounds he makes but me.”

“Oh, fuck,” Isaac said, his face somewhere between ash-pale and greenish around the edges. “Oh, fuck no-”

“What did I tell you about language, Isaac?” Corrine said coldly, and Isaac flinched, jerking his eyes back to the floor.

“S-sorry,” Isaac whispered. “I’ll be good.”

Danny’s eyes widened. “What… what did you tell him about language? Is he… did you-... punish him?!”

“Not really. He has agreed to abide by the rules for tonight’s engagement. If he behaves for you, darling, he won’t have to wear it again. The decision is made and my decisions are final.” Corrine clapped her hands together. “If he is not acceptable exactly as he is, perhaps we will simply declare this whole thing a loss and move him to my basement-”

“No!” Danny and Isaac shouted at the same time - one with rage and one with terror.

“God damn it, Mom!” Ryan joined in. The impassive expressions on the faces of Isaac’s guards never changed, and the soft bustle of servants never ceased. This wasn’t the first Michaelson fight any of them had witnessed, and it would almost certainly not be the last. “Don’t fucking threaten to torture Danny’s new man right in front of him!”

“Right in front of Daniel, or the plaything?” Corrine asked, with a hint of a smile that suggested she thought the question very funny.

Ryan rolled his eyes and pushed himself away from the wall. “I’ve read Danny, Mom. He wants Isaac. That’s the honest truth. Come on, give them a minute before the guests arrive.” There was a pause, and then Ryan said, “Nate, you’re with me for now.”

Nate frowned, eyes narrowing. “M-Michaelson, I’ve said it b-b-before, I don’t w-work for you-”

“For right now, you do. I need to talk to you about this tip you’ve got on the runaways.” Ryan and Nate met eyes for a second, and Danny could feel the tension in the room rising, the way the two men always sparked against each other unpleasantly whenever they interacted directly. “I want to know what information you have on them, Vandrum.”

“Not your b-b-business, Michaelson.”

More silence, and Ryan said in a tone of deadly certainty, “I am making it my business, Nathaniel. So get your ass with me or nothing goes the way you want it to go tonight.”

“Wh-what the fuck does that mean?”

Ryan smirked. “I think you know what it means.” They stared at each other for a few more long, drawn-out, tense moments.

“Go on, Nate,” Corrine waved one hand dismissively, already moving back towards the doorway. “Go with Ryan. Daniel will speak with his plaything privately. Guests will be arriving soon and they really should get a bit of time together.” She smiled over her shoulder at Danny. “I know you’re angry at me for this, darling, but please… it’s your birthday. Be good to the guests. This gorgeous boy is your gift.”

“I could never ask for an… anything better,” Danny replied, mostly honestly, watching Nate's back longingly as he left walking behind Ryan with his annoyance and anger all but radiating off of him. Danny's voice was thin but he covered it, he thought, as well as he could. Fury still boiled under the surface, the temper he’d once had that Abraham and Ashley had broken and beaten and bashed out of him day by day. “Thank you… thank you, Mom. He’s a wonderful birthday present.”

“You’re very welcome, dear.” Corrine smiled. “Oh, and plaything…” Isaac slowly raised his eyes, not quite meeting hers, cringing slightly back against the dining room table. “That’s good. Learning to keep your eyes down when speaking to your betters. I want you to look right at this.” She held up a small rectangular disk with a few buttons and a dial on it, waggling it back and forth in her hands. “You will behave.”

“I will,” Isaac whispered, staring at the thing in Corrine’s hands with pure fear written across his face. “I will. I’ll behave.”

“Good. Bring your new toy out in about… oh, ten minutes or so, Daniel. The first guests should arrive right about then, and I’ll want you and the plaything in the receiving line to greet them. Everyone should get a good long look at my baby boy coming back to himself, finally, after all that’s happened. We’re a strong family, Daniel. I need you to be my strong son tonight.”

“Of course, Mom,” Danny said, nodding quickly, shifting himself minutely so he was blocking Isaac from Corrine’s direct gaze.

“Family first, Daniel,” Corrine said firmly. “Never forget that. We are Michaelsons first.”

“Michaelsons, first,” Danny agreed, readily enough. He met his mother’s cool, appraising eyes, and kept his face calm even as the muzzle scars ached, phantom pains and fire that wrapped around his face and made it hard for him to force his jaw open enough to speak.

There is no life before-

“Perfect. I’m sorry about the collar, darling, but it really is necessary. Just for tonight. You can take it off him before you take him home.” Corrine gave him her warmest, most loving smile, and he managed one, although thin and small, in return.

He held it until she was gone.

With the two guards still standing at Isaac’s elbows, Danny didn’t dare drop the act, or tell Isaac about the plan. That there was one, that he wouldn’t have to live this way, that Danny and Nate were going to get him out of here tonight.

He couldn’t tell him anything.

All he could do was step up, and take Isaac’s hands in his - the other man’s fingers felt freezing cold. Danny’s fingers were rough and numbed from his years with the mercenaries, but he held Isaac’s hands slowly up, rubbing gently at them, trying to warm them. “I’m so sorry,” He whispered, lips grazing Isaac’s knuckles.

Isaac jerked, like he would try and pull away, but stopped himself, staring at Danny with wide, frightened eyes. The thick black ring around his neck made Danny feel dizzily sick, and he tried not to see it, not to look. “Please don’t do this,” Isaac said back, weakly.

“I know, I know. It’s… it’s not all night,” Danny said, pulling Isaac to him. He couldn’t tell him. He couldn’t say a fucking thing to actually make him feel better. Not even a real hint. All he could do was put his arms around the other man, feel Isaac stiff and tense and frightened but apparently threatened too well by Danny’s mother to pull away. “It’s not, um, not for the whole night, Isaac. I promise. It’s… just a little while.”

Just a little while before I can save you.

Just a little while before we get you out of here.

Nate has a plan.

I wish I could tell you.

Isaac’s head dropped slowly onto Danny’s shoulder, half-collapsed against him. He’d dropped his head like this after the third time, Danny thought, swallowing against a rush of guilt and worry. Dropped his head on Danny's shoulder but from behind him, laughing, whispering nonsense in Danny's ear until it tickled and he laughed and tried to wriggle away-

Stop thinking about it, she ruined it, you'll never have anyone like him ever again. No one but Nate, not ever, no one she'll see or know about. Don't even look at anyone else ever again.

He couldn’t come back from what his mother had done, what Isaac had heard him say, just to save him.

“Please let me go,” Isaac said into the skin of Danny’s neck, and there was a sense of dampness - tears against his Syndicate suit. “Please, please just let me go-”

I’m going to.

“I can’t,” Danny murmured into Isaac’s hair, pressing a kiss there. Isaac was shaking, and Danny rubbed at his back with one hand, staring at the wall on the other side of the room, trying to think. There was nothing he could do to warn Isaac that the guards wouldn’t pick up on. There was nothing to do but let Isaac think this was real right up until Nate gave him the signal. “By tomorrow, it’ll be better,” Danny said softly, kissing into his hair again. The guards were staring - Danny could feel their eyes, and he slid his hand up to tip Isaac’s jaw, tilting his head back up, to look right into his eyes and press a soft kiss to trembling lips. “By tomorrow, you won’t have to wear that collar again.”

“I don’t want this, Danny. I don’t… I don’t want this. I don’t want to be this.”

“Ssssshhhh, I know, I know.” Danny kissed at the damp tear tracks on his cheeks, at his forehead. He tilted his head to look at the brand on Isaac’s neck, watched the other man clench his eyes shut under the scrutiny. “I’m sorry she… hurt your neck, and put that on you. I would, would never have wanted-”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you just… ask?” Isaac asked, pulling back just to look into Danny’s eyes. “How can you do this to me, after… after what happened to you? Why didn’t you just ask me to stay?”

It was Danny’s turn to drop his eyes and look away. If he looked into Isaac’s eyes a single second longer, he wouldn’t be able to keep up the act, he’d just tell him and the guards would hear and it would… all be over. Corrine would drag Isaac into the basement, torture him for information, Danny couldn’t keep him safe from that…

“Didn’t know it was, um, an option,” He muttered, and pulled back. “Come on, Isaac. Let’s go get in the line for guests.” He pulled Isaac with him, the two guards right behind them, and he kept his hand resting lightly against Isaac’s back the way that Nate would have done for him.

Isaac didn’t lean in or pull away - he walked with slow, purposeful footsteps, and kept his eyes miserably on the floor in front of him.

I’m going to save you, Danny tried to think as loudly as he could. Nate and I are going to get you out of here, and we’ll save you, and you’ll be free and safe and far away from me.

Out loud, all he could do was lean in and say, gently, “You won’t have to stay at the party for very long.”

The way Isaac turned red and closed his eyes against tears told Danny that the words weren’t reassuring at all.

#whump #captivity #caretaker forced to be whumper #Daniel Michaelson's au #honor bound au #whump-tr0pes #shock collar #tw: shock collar #pet whump #dehumanization #broken whumpee #rescue plan #nonhuman whumper

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misskikuwrites · 4 years

Text

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Takumi/Corrin (fire emblem fates)

All it took was a single letter for everything to change. For Takumi's world to be upended.

The moment he read those words, the moment he found out that he and Corrin weren't related, everything changed.

The feelings he'd been desperately holding back for so long, feelings that he'd cursed himself - despised himself - over, erupted in a fountain of relief. The love he had for her swelled and swelled until he was all but drowning.

He was torn.

Torn between telling her, between letting these feelings for her run free and wild and giving in to everything he wanted, and the fear of her response.

How was he to tell her?

How could he tell her that his- no, her mother, had written him a prophetic letter before she'd died, telling him that it was okay for him to fall in love with Corrin because they weren't siblings. Oh, and that he was in love with her. Utterly, maddeningly, completely in love with her.

Gods.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could pretend nothing had changed. How much longer he could stifle the pain that lanced through his heart every time she called him her brother. A sliver of ice that dug deep into his flesh at her words.

Soon. He would tell her soon.

For now, he would pretend as though his pulse didn't skitter beneath his skin when she joined him in the archery range. His heart leapt and swelled at the excited smile on her face.

"Look, Takumi," she said, holding up her hand. "The cut's all healed! I'm ready for my next lesson!"

An amorous smile danced on his lips, a bubble of joy blooming in his chest as he swallowed his own excitement, his own fluttery nerves.

"Good," he managed to say without his voice cracking. Sounding normal, calm and level headed. He could do this. "Now, let's see what you remember."

Corrin skipped as she gathered what she needed, quiver swung over her shoulder filled with arrows, a familiar wooden bow in her hands. She eyed the targets, drew an arrow from her quiver and lined up a shot.

Takumi frowned. "Pull your elbow in closer. No, closer!" He huffed, stalking over to her so he could shift her elbow into position. "How did you manage to forget so much?" he chided, reaching around her waist to lift her other arm with his hand. "You need to raise the bow higher too, otherwise your aim will… be…"

Close. He was too close. A striking scent of something sweet and flowery filled his lungs. The warmth of her arm against his hand was like an open flame against his bare skin. All that lay between their bodies was a ghost of air, buzzing and thrumming and alive.

Takumi swallowed, focused on her aim, on correcting her posture rather than the rush of heat pouring through his veins.

How did he do this before? How did he manage to touch her so casually, to stand so close to her with ease, to somehow ignore the tug of desire in his heart and teach her?

Now that he knew that there was nothing wrong about his feelings, there was nothing holding them back. It had become impossible to force them into the back of his mind. Not when the chains he'd tied them down with had crumbled into dust.

Takumi stepped back from Corrin as casually as he could, letting his hands drop away from her. "There. That's how you're meant to aim a bow."

Corrin grumbled, an embarrassed blush warming her cheeks. "It's been a while, that's all!"

She let the arrow fly. It sank into the centre of the target and she whirled to him with an ecstatic gasp.

"Did you see that?"

His heart skipped. "Try that without my help this time."

She bounced on her toes, determination blazing in her crimson eyes, and turned back to the target. Takumi tried to fall into his regular practice routine beside her, but soon found his concentration fracturing.

He heard every sound she made, every gasp and grunt, every puff of frustration and the deep breaths she took to calm herself. Her silver hair flashed in the corner of his eyes, his gaze constantly sliding over to watch her.

Occasionally, he found something worth critiquing in her posture, her aim. Even her breathing. Anything that worked as an excuse for why he was watching her whenever he had the chance. Whenever he reached for another arrow, in between shots.

If it wasn't for his desire to train himself, the ache in his chest that told him he needed to get better, to get stronger, he would have abandoned his bow long ago and watched her in earnest.

Because, Gods, she was distracting. On more than one occasion, Takumi had let his arrow loose too early due to her, her sudden gasps and huffs that made his heart skip.

If it wasn't for her, and the pounding of his heart, the archery range would have been mostly silent. Her mutterings, her groans as she rolled her stiff and aching shoulders, were as loud as thunder.

"Ugh, I'm going to need a good massage after this," Corrin groaned.

Takumi glanced at her, keeping his expression neutral as warmth crawled up his cheeks when he looked at her.

"That's what happens when you don't practice for a while," Takumi said. He twirled an arrow between his fingers absently, watching her in the corner of his eyes.

Corrin grumbled in her chest. "I know… Oh, perhaps Jakob could give me a massage tonight! I'll ask him-"

"I'll do it." The words were out of his mouth before he'd realised what he was saying.

Corrin looked at him, their eyes meeting with a jolt shooting down Takumi's spine.

Uh oh.

She blinked at him. Heat burst across Takumi's cheeks and he stole his gaze away for a moment. "I can do it. Massage you. Since… I'm the one training you and all, and I know where you'll be sore…" He shrugged as though he didn't care either way. As though his heart wasn't racing in his chest and making it difficult to breathe.

"Sure!" Corrin agreed with a bright smile. "That sounds great, actually! If you don't mind, then I'll take you up on that offer!"

The air in Takumi's lungs fled in an instant beneath her smile and he nodded stiffly. "Sure. I don't mind."

Oh, Gods.

What had he gotten himself into?

She turned back to the targets, nocking another arrow, and Takumi wanted to slam his head against a wall. All it had taken was the idea of her even asking her butler for a massage and the words had spilled from his lips.

And now… he'd agreed to massage her. To massage Corrin, the woman he was so desperately in love with, who still thought they were siblings.

He bit back a sigh and raised his bow. Was that why she'd agreed to it?

He hit the centre of the target with ease, watched Corrin's arrow land off-centre by a few inches.

If only dealing with his feelings, with love, came as simply as archery did to him.

Takumi stood outside the door to Corrin's treehouse, her quarters, later that evening as she'd requested. He hadn't even knocked and his heart was already pounding harder and faster than usual. He rapped his knuckles on the wood and tried to force down the rising heat on his cheeks, tried to act as though nothing had changed since the last time she had invited him into her room.

The sight of her when she opened the door, dressed in a simple robe, her cheeks flushed from her bath, almost knocked him off his feet.

"Come in!" she said cheerfully, stepping back from the door, and it felt like Takumi fell into her room rather than walked.

His mind clouded instantly. Dizzy and flustered and Gods, this was so different, too different, and he's forgotten how to breathe.

Had her room always smelled like this? It was like the scent permeated his whole body, his mouth, his nose, his lungs. His eyes drew right to her bed, to the plush blankets and soft cushions piled up by her pillow.

Her bed.

Takumi jolted as Corrin strode past him and plopped herself down on her bed as usual. She patted the spot next to her with a smile.

As usual.

Nothing had changed for her and yet this was a world and a half different for Takumi.

This was her room. Her bedroom. And she was asking him to sit beside her on her bed, fresh and still slightly flushed from her bath and… he'd agreed to massage her.

Takumi forced himself over to her and sat on the edge of her bed, pushing down any thoughts, any tugs on his heart, and steeled himself.

Act. Normal.

He risked a glance at her, to find Corrin looking at him eagerly.

"F-Face that way!" he snapped, motioning for her to turn her back to him. "How am I supposed to massage your shoulders if you're staring at me?"

"Sorry!" She gave a quiet laugh, shifting as he'd directed. She gathered her long hair off her back, draping it over her shoulder and exposing her back to him.

His heart stammered. He swallowed, taking a deep breath, and focused on the task at hand. He drew his hands to her shoulders, fixing his gaze on a single spot. Blurring everything else. Letting the room around him, the figure before him, fall away and become meaningless, become nothing.

Takumi's attempts to distance himself from the room he was in, from the woman in front of him, shattered with Corrin's gentle sigh of delight.

"Mm… that's nice…" she sighed, her shoulders sinking beneath the ministrations of his hands.

A spear of heat sliced down his spine, breath hitching in his throat. His hands almost froze, faltering on her shoulders, before he caught himself and continued.

"Of course it is," Takumi said, clearing his throat to cover the crack in his voice. "I know what I'm doing."

She sighed again as he drew the tight muscles of her shoulders upwards with gentle pressure, working slowly and methodically with his hands. He felt her relax further as he worked. Her shoulders loosened, her posture sagging slightly.

Her sweet sighs were music to his ears. Dangerous, intoxicating music that drew him deeper, deeper into her. Heat blazed across his face, burning to the tips of his ears at the otherwise salacious sounds dripping from her lips. All she would have to do is glance over her shoulder and his love for her would be exposed immediately. He dropped his head, exhaling a shaky breath, and squeezed his eyes shut.

Gods. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take before he burned into cinders. The magic of her sighs had set something alight in his veins. Liquid fire seared through his body. His fingers trembled as he worked downward over her shoulder blades.

Corrin stole a breath, arching into his touch with a heavenly sigh. "Mm… you sure know what you're doing."

Takumi's heart was jammed in his throat. He stared at the blankets between them, coils of burning, burning, heat ablaze on his cheeks.

"Y-Yeah, well, I don't do this for just anyone, so consider yourself lucky," he said as his brain scrambled for something else, anything else, to say.

Corrin giggled lightly. "Well then, thank you for the privilege!"

"It's only because you worked so hard today, that's all," Takumi said quickly.

"Aw, really?"

Takumi eased his thumbs over her shoulder blades, working inwards towards her spine. He tried not to focus on how firm her back felt beneath her robe, how solid her muscles were under his touch…

"Maybe… if you manage to hit the centre of the target three times in a row, I might consider giving you another massage as a reward," he found himself saying in response to her disappointment.

"Really?!"

Her excited gasp made his heart skip.

"I… I said I'd consider it."

"Three times in a row. Got it."

Takumi pressed his lips together firmly, knowing he was going to give in to her the second she met his criteria.

With a sigh, Takumi finally finished the massage, and he shifted away from her on the bed and stole a deep breath, feeling as though he'd been holding his breath the whole time, despite how impossible that was.

"Ah, I feel so much better now," Corrin sighed, giving her shoulders an experimental roll. She turned to face him, gracing him with a smile.

"It was nothing," he muttered, looking away.

Soft fingers dusted across his forehead, stealing his breath as they swept across his fringe. Takumi held his breath, freezing under her touch as Corrin's fingers slowly brushed his hair. Her tender touch drifted down the side of his cheek, following the hair that framed his face before gliding up again.

Takumi's eyes flittered to hers. "You… you always…" the grumble caught in his throat.

It wasn't the first time she'd done this. Touched him like this, gentle and tender. She'd often pat the top of his head when she got the chance, he being taller than her, and had fussed over him in a similar manner the first time she'd invited him over.

And he'd snapped at her that he being jostled by her was the worst feeling.

Now… instead of being used to her touch, he was smouldering. Succumbing to the way her fingers wove through his hair, the way she dusted her thumb across his cheek with a soft smile.

Rather than being treated like a kid, like she was taking advantage of being older than him, it felt… more intimate than that.

His gaze snapped away as warmth curled on his cheeks again.

Corrin giggled.

"Wh-What?" Takumi barked, though it came out strangled and faint.

"You're so cute, going so red so easily," she giggled sweetly. She swept her thumb back and forth across his cheek.

His heart squeezed tight. Before he knew what he was doing, Takumi caught her wrist. "You… what are you trying to do, touching me like this…?"

She tilted her head, a smile playing on her lips. "Nothing, really. I'm just enjoying how adorable my little brother is."

A blade of ice stabbed deep into his heart. He dropped her hand. Of course.

"See, you go so red! It's so cute!" She squished both of his cheeks with her hands.

Heat returned to his cheeks at her touch. He sighed, trying to mask the shaky exhale with a grumble, and almost gasped when she cupped his cheeks tenderly, resting her thumbs beneath his eyes. A hint of pink remained on her cheeks as she smiled at him.

"Corrin…"

"Hm?"

He met her eyes. "There's… something I need to tell you…"

A beat, a moment of breathless silence.

"Corrin, I…"

A knock at the door shattered the moment and Takumi jolted away from her.

"Oh, that'll be Jakob!" Corrin said, rising from the bed to answer the door. She greeted her butler as Takumi smouldered on her bed, dropping his head into his hands.

"Takumi?"

He looked up at her, saw her holding a tea tray with a steaming pot and two empty cups on it.

"Are you alright?" She placed the tray on the table, looking at him with concern.

He managed a smile. Managed to stand and step over to her, drawn by the thrum of his heart.

"Corrin, I need to tell you something."

Everything changed again. Takumi's world had shifted again. He no longer had to hide his feelings, not when they were reciprocated, not when she loved him as well, but that didn't make things any easier.

Takumi stood in her room, alone, and felt out of place. He didn't know whether to sit or stand, to take a seat by the table or on her bed as usual…

They'd been courting for a few weeks now and he still flustered at the thought of just being in her room, even when she wasn't there.

He should've waited outside.

Corrin told him she wouldn't be long, told him to wait in her treehouse, her room, and he hadn't thought twice about it.

Now, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Her room, her bedroom, his eyes again and again sliding over to her bed. He sat down on it with a sigh, a deep puff of air.

His heart patted away in his chest.

This was where he'd confessed. Where they'd had their first kiss. They'd spent hours and hours in here together, sometimes long into the evening until Takumi reluctantly, and gratefully, returned to his own quarters. They hadn't gone that far yet.

Yet.

No, he wasn't- he wouldn't think about that. Even if there were whispers and rumors spreading through the group.

Takumi fell onto his back with a huff and curled onto his side, facing the door.

It wasn't long before his eyes fluttered closed against his will and he fell asleep.

A gentle touch roused Takumi from the depths of sleep, a light gracing of fingers across his cheek enough for him to stirr. He opened his eyes and snapped awake in an instant when he saw Corrin lying in front of him, mere inches from his face.

"Good evening, sleepy head," she said softly, giving him an amused smile. She traced her fingers down his cheek, dusting gently across the growing heat building on his face.

Takumi's mouth opened and shut wordlessly as he flustered. "What… what are you doing?" he tried to hiss, but it came out like a gasp.

"I saw you sleeping here and decided to join you," she said innocently.

"Wh… why…?" He turned his face away, pressing deeper into the blanket as he smouldered beneath her gaze.

Her fingers continued their journey, slowly finding their way into his hair and smoothing his fringe across his brow.

"Because I wanted to," she said.

Takumi swallowed the strangled grumble building in his chest and grabbed her hand. "That's… not the issue."

"Then what is?"

He held her hand between them, drawing his eyes to hers again. "You can't just… do this sort of thing, touch me like this… and expect me not to… to…"

She watched him. "To what?"

He moved before he could think and kissed her. Pressed into her, melding his lips over hers and tasting her silent gasp as he burned and burned, letting his kiss tell her what he couldn't voice. He let his lips linger, let them slowly drag over hers in a flustered dance before he pulled away, hovering just above her. The urge to sink against her, to claim her lips again, was hard to fight.

She blinked at him, lips parted, cheeks pink. Stunned speechless.

"If you… do that sort of thing," Takumi began, fumbling over his words as he was more breathless than he'd realised, "then I might… get the wrong idea…"

"How do you know it's the wrong idea?" Corrin asked quietly, reaching up to cup his cheek. Her face blazed as darkly as his.

Takumi couldn't breathe. "Wh-What?!"

"I did want to kiss you," she admitted. "So, I don't think you had the wrong idea."

Takumi drew off her, flopping onto his back with a sigh and draping his arm over his face. "That's… not what I meant…"

"Then, what did you mean?" Corrin sat up and looked at him, confused.

He made an incoherent grumble in his throat. "When you do things like that you… you're really tempting me, you know…?!"

"Tempting you…? Oh!" Corrin gasped. "Oh. I… um… sorry…?"

Takumi sat up, staring at the wall beside him. "Just… just forget it. I… shouldn't have said anything."

"Takumi…" She took his hand, gave it a squeeze. "You know I… think about that stuff too…"

Takumi felt his blush darken, felt his cheeks burn as she spoke. A silent gasp escaped his lips.

"I know it's… a bit soon for… for any of that, but… but for now…" She squeezed his hand again, drawing his eyes back to hers. A question lingered in her eyes. "Will you stay here tonight?"

His mouth dropped open. "S-Stay? Here?"

She nodded quickly, pressed her lips together firmly as she waited for his reply. "I… I don't want you to go. Not tonight. I just… want you here, even if we… we don't do anything, I just…"

"Okay," he said quietly. Held her gaze for a long, burning moment as his reply sank in. "I'll stay."

He didn't want to leave her.

That much hadn't changed, at least.

#takumi #corrin #takukamu #takurrin #fire emblem fates

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ditzydesu · 6 years

Text

Hypothesis

A Commission for an anon on ko-fi! I hope they somehow see this uwu idk how to contact them. Commissions are currently CLOSED.

He makes eye contact with her from across the camp, when she just happens to glance up from her book. It’s not a tactics book, that much he can surmise, and he supposes it is okay that she takes a break from her learning every now and again. Corrin has worked so hard recently, what with the war and her desire to solve every single member of her rag tag army’s problems.

“Why do you look so sad, dearest Leo?” Camilla asks, settling beside him at dinner one night. She too has a book, one with a cover so strikingly similar to the one he’s spotted Corrin with.

“No reason. I suspect I’m not getting enough sleep. What are you reading?”

“It’s a little book Corrin found in Cheve, and we managed to track down the rest of the series. I’m rather enjoying it so far.”

“What’s it about?”

“It’s from a Hoshidan author, apparently, about a girl from ancient Rigel that falls in love with a boy from Valentia. Like Romeo and Juliet, but different.”

“Perhaps I could borrow it when you’re finished.”

“Oh, this is the second one. I can lend you the first one once dinner is over. Though... are romance novels really your thing?”

“I-I should expand my horizons.”

“I’ll leave it in your room,” Camilla says, ruffling Leo’s hair. With a huff, he leaves her and her condescending laughter behind.

As she promised, Camilla’s book is sitting on his bedside table when he returns to his quarters. Once Leo is rid of his armour, Brynhildr replaces the romance novel, and he quickly becomes absorbed in the story. It’s surprisingly interesting, and he finds himself staying up a lot later than originally intended. He’s reading still at breakfast, when Corrin finds him, the book is dropped quickly and set under his bowl of porridge.

“Were you reading what I thought you were reading?” She asks excitedly, and when she’s this close to him he has to swallow hard to avoid getting lost in those ruby eyes.

“No,” he answers. He’s blunt, and her excitement fades a little before she lifts the bowl of porridge and snatched the book underneath.

“You were! Did Camilla give this to you? What do you think of it?”

“It’s enjoyable. I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done.” The ‘sister’ that would usually end this sentence is missing- another reminded that his thoughts of Corrin are... ever changing.

“I look forward to it,” she smiles, and within a second she’s gone, probably to a meeting with Xander and Ryoma where she can put all he’s taught her into practice.

Corrin’s astral realm is based on Cyrkensia- that much he’s aware of. It’s calming for him, especially when he wants to read. He can take himself out to the furthest corner, to the furthest boat, and watch the water flow while he loses himself in whatever fictional world has taken his fancy this week. Leo is certain Corrin never went to Cyrkensia, and it’s a little bittersweet that this is how she imagines the now destroyed city.

The main protagonist in this novel, the hopelessly in love girl from Rigel, reminds Leo so much of Corrin- her general exuberance for life and hope to help everyone she meets. She’s endlessly trusting, and Leo hates himself for drawing such conclusions. He hates himself even more for seeing parts of himself in her Valentian love interest- a man who is sure of himself, yet also horribly naive.

When Corrin herself appears before him, he’s quick to jump. The book, which he’s been hovering on the last page of, is quickly shut as she falls into the boat beside him.

“This is an unusual spot to read.”

“It’s quiet,” is Leo’s only response. “What did you think of it?” She asks, taking the book from his lap. “I didn’t think romance was your thing.”

“It’s not particularly. But I enjoyed it. The author is very good. I reckon this could become a classic in years to come.”

“Oh Leo, I’m so glad you think so. It’s one of my absolute favourites.” When he glances at her, she looks like she wants to say something more, but instead she averts her eyes from her gaze.

“I can’t say for sure about the romance aspect though, considering I know nothing of how to woo a woman.”

“W-well,” Corrin stutters- is her face red? “I have no experience in that field either. I’ve often thought about it, though. I know for certain that Camilla has kissed people before, and Xander is married now... I’ve never felt comfortable to ask my... siblings about that sort of thing, though.”

The ‘other’ is unsaid, though the mere fact that Corrin didn’t say it gives him a modicum of hope, that perhaps she doesn’t see him as a brother anymore.

“What about you, Leo?” She asks, the words falling out of her mouth at breakneck speed. “H-have you ever... kissed anyone?”

“No,” he says bluntly. She’s not looking at him, her eyes closed and her face titled away from his.

“I always had to wonder what it was like. Books always make it seem so special.” She opens her eyes, and finally looks at him. “Leo.”

“Are you going to suggest what I think you’re going to suggest?”

“Oh, come on! Surely you’re curious?” “Perhaps I am, but-“

“Just pretend you’re Sir Alm, and I’m Lady Celica, and we’ve met after years of being apart...”

“Corrin, that would hardly be appropriate for either of us.”

“If you really don’t want to do this, Leo, I’m hardly going to force you. I’m just wondering what all the fuss is about.”

“Fine.”

He sighs, though internally, he’s stopping his heart from racing. How can she be so casual about this? There must be more to it, his brain screams, but instead of listening to this mind of his- which has barely been wrong before- he takes Corrin’s hand in his and places a kiss to the back of it. She gasps, almost inaudibly, and he meets her eyes briefly before he tilts his head a little and presses a kiss to her lips.

Her eyes are closed, so he lets his eyelids fall as she presses into him, taking control of the kiss. Leo is clueless, and lets her work, her lips moving over his insistently. Loathe as he is to admit it, he is enjoying himself immensely, though it may just be being in Corrin’s company and not the kissing itself. When she pulls back from him, her face is flushed, and she has a lopsided grin on her face.

“Well,” she says. “Now I know. And now you know too.”

“Very interesting research,” he manages to get out.

“Y-yes, quite. I’ll see you later, Leo. And I’ll lend you that next book!”

“Of course. Good evening, Corrin.”

He can’t resist watching her walk away, arms folded, shoulders hunched, hurrying more than usual. Gods, she’s wormed her way into a heart, in a way that Leo never expected.

In a way that Leo really doesn’t mind at all.

#leokamu #kamuleo #leorrin #corrin fire emblem #leo fire emblem #commissions #I think I know who the anon was but I'm not certain but either way. I love you!

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fire-emblem-drabbles · 6 years

Note

Hey! I'm really liking your blog so far! Could I request a reader x Takumi where reader comforts him when he has an especially bad nightmare? :3

Pairing: Takumi x reader

Prompt: Comforting Takumi after a nightmare

Description: Takumi often had nightmares, you knew but he liked to pretend he didn’t need any help after facing them. You just hoped he would let you help him.

Rating: sfw

Word Count:

Notes: (Old)I’m glad you like it! I wasn’t expecting to get so many requests so quick but I’m having so much fun with all this writing. I hope you’re prepared to comfort our number one sad boy!!! (New) Man ANOTHER piece I forgot to put on ao3?? yall im real bad at this lkfjsdfklj

You weren’t sure why, but you here you were, awake in the middle of the night. Fully ready to fall back asleep, in the silence surrounding you, you could hear soft sniffles. Takumi was lying with you but a quick check made you realize he had sat up in bed.

“Takumi… is everything okay love?” You sat up as well, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes to get a better look at him.

“Wha- ah, _____” A quick swipe at his eyes to hide unwanted tears. A moment to pause and compose himself, hiding his real feelings. “You don’t need to worry, I’m sorry that I woke you.”

“No no…” You scooted to where you were sitting next to him. “Tears mean something is wrong, and you know I only want to help Takumi.” He nodded, perhaps a bit too numbly. Tears were falling down his face more slowly, as he thought of the right words to say.

“It’s just, I had another one of those nightmares.” Gently, you pulled him into your embrace, and he didn’t try to fight. Here, with you sitting against the headboard, and him leaning on your chest, he continued. “It was… a lot different than usual, actually. I felt like I was living it.” He shook his head, and you held his waist. His head fell back to rest on your right shoulder, his gaze going up to meet yours.

“I just… what if I end up like… like that other Takumi… What if I end up hurting the people I love, in an effort to protect them?” He closed his eyes, and you ran your fingers through hair. “I was seeing through his eyes, feeling all the pain he felt by the hands of another Corrin and I…”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me any more if you don’t want to.” You shush him gently, pressing a soft kiss to his temple. “You’re safe here with me, and I know that’s not who you are. That Takumi… he’s not you, he’s not even really himself. But you’re stronger than that, you have more assurance in yourself and more pride in who you are. You love your siblings, your nation, and your people, and you’re strong enough to protect them all.” Your voice was soft, but you knew Takumi could hear you well.

“But… what about Corrin?”

“What about him? He’s safe too, and he’s going to make the right choice Takumi.”

“But if he doesn’t…”

“Then you have me, and the rest of your family to help you through it. No matter what happens, I won’t see you hurt.” You moved one of your hands to brush his tears away. Takumi sat up and turned to face you.

“How can you protect me, though? You…” He stopped himself from continuing.

“I don’t need a weapon to help you, Takumi. The enemy isn’t who you need to fear. I know your own insecurities are much worse and I… want to be the one to help you overcome them. I want to see you grow stronger, and be happier with who you are.” His eyes were wide as he sat a moment, soaking in your words.

“I… needed that.” His hug was sudden and tight, but you didn’t want to let go as you hugged back. “Sometimes I just need to hear that someone will be there with me, that I can and will get better.” His voice was tinged with a hint of a sob, and you ran your fingers through his hair once again.

“Hey, it’s okay. You know you don’t even have to be strong all the time. It’s okay to cry when you need to, and it’s okay to depend on others.” You cooed, just holding him close. “It’s okay to be weak sometimes, Takumi.”

“I feel weak all the time, _____” His voice was small, muffed only until he pulled to looking into your eyes with his own brown ones.

“Someday, it won’t be that way. We’ll reach that day together. Until then, I can be strong for you.” He nodded a little.

“But… what about the days you can’t be strong?” He asked, looking away. “You said no one can be strong all the time…”

“That’s what I have you for!” You pulled him back into your arms, and back into a laying position. “That’s why we have each other.” You whispered, still holding him. “So we can support each other when the other is weak, and build each other up stronger to become better people.” You smiled at him, and he let out a little giggle.

“Yeah, that… I like that.” He nodded a little, closing his eyes. “Thank you for helping me, again. Your words, your touch… you always know just what to do to help me.” He cuddled closer to you. “What would I do without you…”

“I feel the same…” but a yawn followed your words. “And as much as I love you, I love sleeping as well.”

“Right, right.” Takumi laughed and turned to face the other way. You pulled him closer to your chest and sighed in content.

“Good night, love.” You hummed, eyes already closed.

“Good night, dear.” Takumi still sounded rather awake to you, but you fell asleep with the knowledge that he felt better now.

#ask #emblemierviole #takumi x reader #feh #fe #takumi

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themysterioust · 6 years

Text

So while browsing the FEH reddit today, someone posted a +40 Oboro Team. I promptly misread a comment and thought that was DC Douglas’ team.

And then I started thinking way, way too hard about Wesker playing Fire Emblem.

One, guys? I have like 4 major blogs and several roleplays I can barely keep up with. Don’t let me do that.

Two, Wesker playing BIRTHRIGHT of all things. You’d think he’d go with Conquest based on name alone, but then I thought about it some more. In Conquest, you basically have to act while pretending someone else is in command. Old hat for him, subterfuge has ALWAYS been a Wesker thing. But Wesker also chafes under not having control, so I think he’d be more interested in trying to straight up kill Garon because he is nothing if not a problem solver. I think he’d start with Birthright solely because it seems like the more direct route and I don’t think he’d really form an emotional attachment to any of the characters. (Well okay. He’d form an emotional attachment with Hinata but the emotion in question is anger.) He’d also get annoyed with characters and then arrange for them to have “accidents” on the battlefield to get them out of the way. (I’M JUST SAYING HE TRIED TO KILL RYOMA.)

In short, his Corrin would basically be a sociopath manipulating everything behind the scenes to try and get control of both Hoshido and Nohr.

Y’know, just like the real thing!

Other factors of his Birthright playthrough include:

Boon is Deft (”Strength means nothing without the ability to actually hit the damn target.”)

Bane is Sickly (and taken with great reluctance, but the rest of the stats seemed too valuable to decrease. plus it reminded him of alex)

Asset is Dragon because he assumed that meant he would have another Manakete unit later. (he was v. mad when silas couldn’t become a dragon) (”WHAT ARE YOU EVEN GOOD FOR?!”)

Wesker didn’t even bother with supports until he unlocked Hana’s S-Support by complete accident. Once he found out the child units were a thing, he promptly began making plans to minmax his army of children in a very specific way. If he’d gone into the game knowing about S-supporting, he would have went with Scarlet and made his talent Mage.

Despite Wesker’s UTTER hatred of Hinata, he continuously had the best level-ups of the army. He paired up Hinata with Setsuna in an attempt to kneecap him but instead ended up with an optimal Hisame. (”EVEN IN FANTASY JAPAN I AM PLAGUED BY REDFIELDS AND THEIR SPAWN!”)

Refused to let Ryoma, Takumi, Hinoka or Sakura support anyone so he could guarantee a clear path of succession pointed right at Kana should he be unable to get control of Hoshido in his lifetime. This did cause him to make a few less optimal choices, but one must make sacrifices when playing the long game. (He did, however, allow Azura to support Kaden solely to get an extra kitsune with full intent to let him be killed in the final battle. “Tragic accident” and all.)

Shockingly, once he knew about supports he made a point of grinding them to get as many A-Supports as he could. To ensure their loyalty once he began his coup, of course. (Likewise, he grinded some of Kana’s supports to ensure she had a stable party of minions soldiers for her own personal army.)

Overall his goal was to a) annex Nohr and b) make it easy to get onto the throne later via selectively killing units off, and c) set up a backup plan in the form of Kana.

Speaking of Kana, he doesn’t actually feel much attachment to her at first- she’s pretty much just a tool/backup to ensure his plan goes through. Though he does consider her a high priority asset given how much he invested in her.

TBH IF HE HAD THE OPTION TO SIDE WITH ANANKOS AND BETRAY HIM LATER HE PROBABLY WOULD

Upon discovering not picking a side gets him his own kingdom, Wesker immediately commits to a playthrough of Revelation under the same plan but with the following modifications:

A-supported as many people as possible. Again, to make them loyal and not question his habit of letting tragic accidents happen. He also did this for Kana.

This time he S-supported Azura to solidify his claim to the Valite throne, as he pretty quickly put together her being Valla’s princess. The fact they were cousins didn’t really matter to him. Plus, that made it easier to name Kana his heir and ensure her future total dominion in the event things went awry later.

Xander lowkey TERRIFIES him and he threw Charlotte at him in an attempt to overall weaken Nohr with a weaker queen. This was, he later discovered, a Mistake. (Kana was promptly betrothed to Siegbert out of sheer panic. While swearing very loudly that he made the Setsuna Mistake yet again.)

Ryoma was also a problem for him, but since he’d managed to pair him with Orochi and had several bad levels Wesker considered him less of a threat overall. Ryoma then proceeded to get a shitton of really good levels thus becoming the new Hinata and Wesker had to arrange for a “tragic accident” in the final chapter. (He also managed this for Xander a little bit earlier.)

Hinata did not marry Setsuna this time. Hinata was very quickly dealt with in a way that Takumi probably would have found highly suspect were he not so busy.

Bonus: Here’s Alex’s Corrin!

#the melon lord speaketh #wesker playing games

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childofsolace-write-ups · 3 years

Text

Arc 01: REUNION

::CODY::

I place an arrow to my bowstring and send it flying. I got the animal right on its head. I beam in pride. With Meeko hunting everything in sight, I was happy to take one down on my own. Even if I was just on a blind waiting for game to pass by. I climbed down the tree I was perched on and picked up the dead, fallen raccoon. I went over to the red head sitting on a tree stump.

"Lori, Lori! I got a raccoon!"

Lori smiles at me in a way that seems like I got something better. He's always encouraging like that. "Good job, Code." he ruffles my hair. "and you got it at the head, that's a good shot." He takes it from me and put it and places it inside a burlap sack along with a few of Meeko's other kills.

Lori scrunches up his nose though when he did that. The smile earlier was just for me. He eats meat like the rest of us but he never really liked killing the creatures himself, and mentioned something about how he used to be something called a 'Vegan' or something. I didn't understand it before, but he told me it was something like empathy... I don't really know what that means either, Lori only told me it was like knowing how the animals feel. He said it was the same way we didn't like it when we were attack by Rabids and how these animals must have not wanted to be attacked by us. It was confusing because while we all know Rabids are bad, Lori tells me that it didn't mean we were bad for needing to eat them to survive and something about survival of the fittest, uh, that meant the instinct that drives us to eat any animals we could. It's confusing. But I get it a little bit and also try to kill them instantly so they wouldn't fill pain before they died. Lori understood that it couldn't be helped, we needed meat for food. While we never ran out of food because Kytes did have gardens, it wouldn't be filling. And I don't like veggies much either. So if I only had to eat that forever, I'd go rabid.

I watch Lori take his knife and pull out an apple. He starts to cut it in half so we can share. I stare at his face and start playing this mind game I think to myself, pretending Lorri was his brother and giving him stuff he might say instead. Right now, Lori might say Here, let's share it. While Meeko might say Hehe, wanna see who eats his share the fastest? And he'd give me the slightly bigger share. He would pretend its so he can win, but he would really want me to accept the bigger half without me feeling guilty. I pretend I don't know that because I really like apples. I stop feeling guilty when Corrin explain to me that it's a way of showing how you care.

Whenever I play this game, it makes me realize how identical Lori and Meeko actually are. It was hard to remember that, since whenever you hear them and see how they act, the differences were more obvious that people easily forget the similarities, like the same red hair and the same yellow eyes. Though their hair styles were giveaways too, since Meeko's was usually tousled and sticking out while Lori was much more clean looking, the ends near his neck curving slightly, though their attitudes were more of stand outs so them looking alike wasn't really obvious.

"Here, let's share it Code." Lori gives me my half. "this one's yours."

Nailed it, I smile proudly to myself. "Thanks, Lori!"

"Anytime," Lori chuckles, ruffling my hair.

I liked that feeling a lot, it really helps me relax. Still, no matter how relax we might feel at the moment, our instincts were always sharp, Lori's more so than mine since he's older. He was the one who carried me and got us out of the way just in time as Meeko bursts through some bushes, riding on top of a Rabid Sheep.

An actual sheep is actually not so scary, they're real fluffy and cute, sometimes a little stupid. I was watching over our flocks, the ones we take care of for clothes, with Jonah when a rabid wolf tried to eat one lamb. While Jonah fought back as I watched the flock, I can say I was more rattled than they were. They kept eating grass the entire time!

As for any animal's brain internally affected by radiation, they go Rabid. Unlike people, they don't die instantly though. Well, most don't anyway. Any Rabid creature is potentially bad, even a Rabid Squirrel or Mouse since they usually attack in numbers. On the safe side, we don't eat them. It's easy to tell the difference of a Normal and a Rabid. The Normal types are... Well, normal. While the Rabids are colossal, scary, sometimes deformed and really smart.

But leave it to Meeko to make it look fun to take them on.

"Woo-hoo! I got you now you giant cream puff!" Meeko laugh. "Loreal, Coco Bean, clear the way!"

Meeko duplicates himself. The clone went in front of the sheep. It's kinda funny that was his power when he already has an official look alike, except his actual clone acts way different than he does. The sheep got confused long enough for Meeko to jump down, landing on his feet safely. Then, he took out his double-edged saber, pulling it back like one would with a baseball bat and—

Well, Lori closes my eyes before I can see more. Meeko is pretty brutal when he hunts, and he's got a lot of bravery. I hope I can be as courageous someday like these two, and that's one of their common traits. I really look up to them a lot and I really like them, but I guess that doesn't really say a lot since I like everyone. Trey used to tell me that I would only hate an enemy. So far, I never had a chance to see if that were true.

"Okay, you can look now." Lori pulls his hand back.

I run towards Meeko, "That was awesome! Well... I didn't see all of it, but I bet it was awesome!"

"You know it, Coco Bean!" He ruffles my hair. Lori approaches us and I tell Meeko about my own raccoon. He congratulates me, saying if I keep that up, I could hunt just as hardcore as him.

"Woah, now let me stop you right there." The other Meeko interrupted—and I mean Lori, not a clone. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves or even hope that. I think one hardcore hunter is enough, and sometimes one too many... And I mean that almost literally." He smirks. He crossed his arms and look down at the dead sheep with a grimace. "now that you had your fun, please tell me you at least remembered to hunt actual game we can take home and eat. I'll admit, that sheep is larger than three of us put together even if it were a Normal."

I kick it a bit. "If there were Normals that size. I don't think we can even get a thing that big through the hotel doors."

I guess I should explain the hotel bit.

That's our home base right now. It's not a permanent settlement, though. We have a whole bunch of base because we can't stay in them for more than four months and a half. Actually, the a half part is the longest we can last in any base. Things change around an awful lot where we live. I don't know if it's the same with the rest of the world because we can't travel all over it, and Rhys only has guess that it might not be as bad as ours. And he knows most things. Rhys called our part of the surface, our division, Surface R. In other words, SURFACE RADIOACTIVE. He told me about the radiation triggered something in the atmosphere, something called Mana, in a time before I was even born. He said when something from outer space came crashing down and changed everything, it landed in our division, back then called a country, so the Mutated Mana altered people like us; have spread most around here to the point that it gave us unique abilities. I don't know why it's called unique when everyone up here pretty much has it, but Rhys said it wasn't normal to have these abilities in the time before I was born.

I don't get much with the rest of his explanation, but I do understand that the past must be really different from now. I also know that we are in a location where things always change. It can be perfectly safe one minute then suddenly everything's chaotic a second later. Also, the other things that got loose Mana energy doesn't like us much. So when one area gets too dangerous, we move to another. They never stay dangerous forever, so we can come back later. That's what scouts are for, they visit the bases ahead of time and check which is the safest to move into. Right now, the hotel is perfectly safe. But since things always change... Well, you'll never know when danger will strike. I don't remember if there was a time that we were without risk of being in danger. Because even at night, while we're sleeping, if the sentries sound the alarm, we have to prepare for action. That's why we've gotten used to trusting and relying on each other.

It keeps us all alive.

Meeko waves off Lori's words. "Yeah, did that first." he gives me another burlap sack, and I tip over because of the weight. "Easy kills."

"What do you have in here?" Lori picks up my arrows and places them back inside the quiver before helping me with the sack.

Meeko shrugs. "The usual. Three foxes, five rabbits, some squirrels. A turkey and half a boar for bacon." We stare at him for a full second. "I had to give up the other half so it could fit the bag since this big guy suddenly attacked."

"Wow," Lori whistles, impressed but not all that surprise. This was his brother after all. "that's a new record. Good hunting."

Meeko scowls. "Good? That's excellent hunting!"

"Except you only got a half animal for bacon. Plus, your ego needs deflating." Lori laughs. "Well, it's a Rabid, but since it's a sheep, we can't let the wool go to waste. It's sturdier than a Normal's wool, after all." He takes his knife and approaches the lifeless sheep, getting to work.

We help him out so we can finish faster and head back. Halfway through, though, I hear leaves rustling, feeling a chill down my spine, and then the thumping vibration from the ground.

Lori must've felt it too. "Cody, Meeko, take a flank!"

I take up Lori's left side, notching an arrow and Meeko takes his right, raising his sword. Then other three rabid sheep come bursting into the glade. I send the arrow flying but it didn't get the eye. Not that it'd be an instant kill, but I could've at least partially blind it. Rabids aren't easily taken down like regulars. What Meeko did earlier might've been an extreme. They weren't as big and colossal as the one he took down but still, about seven feet tall and who-knows-wide doesn't fall under small either.

"Uh oh. I think the one I killed was a mommy..."

I look at him. "Oh. But Meeko, I don't think she could tell her kids not to eat us. She'd probably help them."

Meeko gives me a weird look. "Er, that really wasn't my point..." he says.

A sheep charges towards us. We spread out. But I stumble on my feet.

"Cody! Look out!"

I look up, barely able to shoot my arrow right on the sheep's eye. Thankfully, my arrow had already been placed and it was close enough for me to get a good, clear shot. But I'm unable to get a next arrow ready when the sheep jumps over head.

"Cody!" Meeko swoops by and carries me out of the way.

I hug him around the neck. "Thank you, Meeko! That was scary!"

"Meeko," Lori comes over. "three on three isn't a fair fight if it's against Rabids. That's your cue!"

Meeko looks a little embarrassed. "Ehe, about that..." he holds up his watch. "I might've overdone it a bit earlier during the hunt and my POWER GAUGE is on full bars..." suddenly, his watch sparks and the green-lit screen turned black. "...aaand now the battery's dead..."

"Are you serious now?!" Lori looks amazed... but not the good kind.

"Don't be mad!"

"Well, I can't be happy!"

I didn't have time to pay attention to this argument because I realize I was missing something. The lace that kept my pacifier around my neck was gone! I know I'm ten years old and a little sucker is not something I need, but it was the last and only thing I ever got from my parents. I was a baby when I was still with them. I don't know who they were and what parents even were until Corrin explained it to me. I may not have known them, but I do know that if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be alive and that they must've loved me because that's what they do. So even if a baby item is all I have left as proof that they existed, then I can't lose it!

I scan the area and found it a few meters far and raced to retrieve it.

"You know, you can be so... Wait, what is... CODY?! No, wait!"

"Huh?!"

I pick it up. "Got it!" In the next instant, I'm shoved away and I see Lori being body slammed by one of the sheep. I gasp. "NOO!"

"LORI! No, no, no!" Meeko screams after me, rushing over. But then he is held back to fight off the other two. "GET LOST, DAMN IT!"

I look at the sheep on top of Lori and wait. He doesn't use his powers. He doesn't go through it even as the sheep is tired and doesn't move. It only means he's hurt.

"Lori!"

Then it happened. I felt goosebumps and the sheep floated to the air. But it's hard to keep it there. Meeko got to escape the other two sheep, carrying Lori who looked injured with some scratch marks. But he was still conscious. They were out of the way and I mentally dropped the sheep. My knees buckles up and I collapse. The two sheep went for me. I didn't have the strength to move.

"CODY!"

Then there's fire and I felt the heat. When my vision clears, the animals were burnt and I see our leader stepping into the glade.

"TREY!" I bound up towards him, limping a bit. I wrap my arms around his lower torso. "Lori's hurt!"

Trey pat my head. "I know, I see his wounds. But let's not panic, kiddo." We walk towards the twins. Trey helps Meeko support Lori. Then, he instructs me. "Take the sacks you can carry and get them back to the base. Alert Rhys, Code 4 for A1."

"What's Code 4 and A1 again?" I've just taken up lessons and still get terms mixed up.

"Rabid Animals. A1 is Area 1."

"Got it!"

I take a burlap sack, Meeko's, and run as fast as I can despite the extra weight. The last words I hear behind me are from Lori. I didn't know what it mean so it probably didn't matter.

"Don't tell him anything."

#ChildOfSolace Original

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fatesdeepdive · 3 years

Text

Entry 20: Oops! All Supports #2

You know, now that Ryoma and Felicia have joined us, we actually have all of our main units. Let’s learn a bit more about them via mediocre Support Conversations.

Support: Corrin/Ryoma

C: Corrin asks Ryoma to tell her about what their siblings were like as children. Ryoma doesn’t, because he’s busy.

B: Ryoma talks about what the siblings were like as kids. Hinoka was a crybaby and the other three were exactly the same as they are as adults. Ryoma also talks about how he wishes Takumi had more mental fortitude, Azura opened up more, and Sakura took better care of herself. It’s nice that he cares so much about his siblings, but also Ryoma is roasting them.

A: Corrin is sad about having missed her life with the Hoshidans and Ryoma promises to make new memories with her. He also gives Corrin a ring the Hoshidans made as children and promised they would give to Corrin as soon as she returned. I guess they all forgot until now.

S: Ryoma reveals that Corrin isn’t a blood relative, something that he’s known for years and never told Corrin. This makes everything he does in Conquest really weird. Also, it’s kinda messed up that he lied to Corrin constantly up until now. Corrin states that Sumeragi, who died saving her, is still her father. Then Ryoma proposes and they get married. Ugh. I wonder how the other siblings would react to Ryoma marrying their sister, because the letter doesn’t exist in this timeline.

Review: Ignoring the inceSt Rank conversation, this isn’t great. Corrin wanting to learn about her past is good, but it only happens in the B-Rank. Ryoma vowing to make new memories is good, admittedly, but I wanted more from this one.

Support: Kaze/Setsuna

C: Setsuna sneaks up on Kaze by accident, because apparently she’s uncomparably stealthy when spaced out. Kaze offers to train her to become a ninja.

B: Setsuna falls in a pit and Kaze helps her escape.

A: Setsuna, thanks to Kaze’s help, learns to escape from the traps she constantly gets caught in. Kaze decides that Setsuna should stick to being an archer.

S: Kaze explains that he’s been spending so much time with Setsuna because he’s constantly worried she’ll accidentally kill herself. He proposes so he can always be around to protect her.

Review: Okay, but just okay. Setsuna accidentally being sneaky is fun and Kaze worrying about her is cute, but that’s about it.

Support: Hana/Jakob

C: Hana asks Jakob to train with her. He is very rude to her.

B: Jakob makes fun of Hana for training. Hana explains that she trains so hard so she can protect Sakura, something Jakob somehow didn’t figure out.

A: Jakob agrees to spar with Hana so he can become stronger for Corrin.

S: Jakob proposes.

Review: This one has some good dialogue, with Hana and Jakob bouncing off one another in a fun way, but the plot is lacking and Jakob is a bit too mean.

Support: Azura/Hinoka

C: Hinoka apologizes for ignoring Azura recently, which is a thing that she’s been doing I guess.

B: Azura and Hinoka go shopping together.

A: Hinoka gives Azura a necklace she made.

Review: None of these are very good. Worse, they don’t even flow together. It’s a shame Hinoka and Azura’s line is mediocre; Hinoka’s characterization is centered around her losing Corrin, and Azura was essentially a replacement for Corrin. There could be some great drama derived from their interactions, but this Support Line is incredibly mediocre.

Support: Felicia/Subaki

C: Subaki is terrified of Felicia because of her klutziness. This makes Felicia cry and throw wet laundry at him.

B: Felicia, upset over the C-Rank, almost ruins dinner. Subaki, hiding in the pantry, stops her.

A: Felicia, thanks to Subaki’s help, makes a good meal.

S: Subaki says he loves Felicia because of the chaos she brings.

Review: This one was cute. Subaki freaking out over Felicia being cursed is fun, as is him injuring himself to protect her.

Support: Sakura/Silas

C: Sakura tries to ask Silas something, but can’t spit it out because of anxiety.

B: Sakura, still unable to spit it out, tries to examine Silas. She mutters something about a curse.

A: Sakura finally explains what’s going on. She thinks Silas is cursed and has fake memories, which is actually a really interesting idea. He says he doesn’t.

S: Silas is sick...lovesick! He proposes to Sakura by pretending to be unable to breathe. Normally it’d be cute, but Sakura’s a medic and I feel like messing with her head like that is uncalled for.

Review: I like how the game acknowledges that Silas is a dumb character who they should have given a better backstory. Setting that aside, this one isn’t great. Sakura spends three Supports mumbling before she explains what’s going on. Remember, these supports are usually read days apart by players.

Support: Mozu/Saizo

C: Saizo finds Mozu farming, the most important thing to do while you’re invading an evil empire. Saizo offers to help her out, because he grew crops as a child in the mountains.

B: Mozu cooks for Saizo and he likes it because it reminds him of the country.

A: The same thing as the B-Rank.

S: Saizo offers to take Mozu back to his village and proposes.

Review: This one is surprisingly cozy and nice for a Saizo support. Not bad.

Support: Hayato/Hinoka

C: Hayato fins Hinoka folding origami cranes. She explains the classic paper crane wish trope and Hayato offers to help.

B: Hayato supplies Hinoka with papers enchanted with magic charms.

A: Hinoka completes the charms with Hayato’s help.

S: As Hinoka teaches Hayato more origami, he proposes because of her compassion.

Review: Not bad. Calm, but nice. I especially like the detail of young Hinoka folding cranes and wishing for Sumeragi’s safety. I guess she didn’t fold enough.

Support: Azama/Rinkah

C: Rinkah goes to Azama for healing and refers to him as a heretic. Azama refuses to heal her. She then dies in a battle with a swordmaster who proceeds to eviscerate Azama, because that is what happens when you don’t heal your allies.

B: Rinkah points out that calling Azama a heretic is justified, because he is an atheist. Azama does not deny this and explains that he’s a monk not because of faith, but because his parents were. Rinkah goes full Jehovah’s Witness on Azama and demands he worship her fire god, who is also apparently a dragon because every Fire Emblem diety is a dragon.

A: Rinkah suggests Azama stop being a monk and he explains that he’s a monk because he’s good at healing people and put in a lot of work to become one. Rinkah begrudgingly accepts this.

S: Rinkah and Azama agree to go on a pilgrimage to a mountain associated with the god of flame together. Also Azama proposes because he likes arguing with Rinkah.

Review: I have very mixed feelings on this one. Azama’s atheism is such an interesting idea that hasn’t shown up in any other supports yet. I don’t really think this support uses the concept as well as it could, and Rinkah is unbearable during this one, but it is a line that gives Azama depth.

Support: Kaden/Oboro

C: Kaden finds Oboro making braided bracelets. She offers to teach him how to braid.

B: Kaden tries and fails at braiding.

A: Oboro finishes Kaden’s braid for him and gives it to him as a gift. Kaden praises Oboro’s passion and Oboro thanks him for giving her company. Then he tries to quit and she drags him back.

S: Kaden finally makes a braid, which he proposes with. It’s cute.

#fire emblem #fates #hoshido

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dancerladyaqua · 7 years

Text

Sunshine

Written for Azurrin Week Day Two

Read on AO3

“Mama,” Kana murmurs, trying to hide her yawn. “Will you sing me a song?”

Azura pats her daughter’s hair, hoping to soothe her. Shigure, still just shy of having his own room, lays on his bed, pretending to be asleep; she can feel his eyes on her. “A lullaby?”

“…Lullabies are for babies,” Kana pouts.

Azura puts her finger to her lips and speaks in a whisper. “Your father likes lullabies.”

Kana’s mouth falls open. It opens and closes a couple times, and then finally, she lays back down on her pillow with a loud flop. “Okay.”

It’s hard for Azura to hide her laugh. “All right… Just a little. I found a new one in the library. I’ll sing it for you.”

She took a breath, and sang out in a clear voice:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You never know, dear, how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunshine away.

She trails off, and Kana blinks open her sleepy eyes and hazily murmurs, “Tha’s short.”

Azura just smiles. “I’m afraid I still need to learn the rest of the song,” she says. She leans over and kisses Kana’s forehead. “Goodnight, my little princess.”

“G’night,” Kana whispers, closing her eyes.

Azura gets up and kisses Shigure’s forehead��he doesn’t stir at all, which is even more evidence to his being awake, since he’s such a light sleeper—and leaves for her room. Corrin hasn’t even changed from his kingly robes, sitting at his desk and going over reports from his siblings. Azura walks up to him and runs her hand playfully through his hair.

“Oh, hello,” he says, turning toward her. She leans down to peck his lips with a kiss. “Are they asleep?”

“Shigure was pretending to. I still can’t figure out why he does that.”

“I liked to try to escape my room and go spy on Felicia and Jakob. Gunter always caught me, though.” Corrin laughs for a moment before calming. “But he’s been trying to come into our bed for the past week—he could be just waiting for us to fall asleep so he can sneak in. Maybe it’s bad dreams.”

“I hope not,” Azura says quietly. She’s had more than her fair share of them, and she would hate for her son to suffer the same. “Maybe he just wants to listen to me sing to Kana without seeming too eager.”

“All embarrassed, then?” Corrin smiles. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to listen to your mother sing. And he likes to sing. But, I suppose he’ll come around.”

Azura hums in thought. “I hope so.”

()()()

She’s going over letters from Elise—personal and professional ones, for once—when someone tugs on her dress. Azura looks to see little Shigure standing beside her, his head barely up to her chest while she sits. His cheeks are red, and he can’t meet her eyes.

She puts down the letter on her desk. “What is it, Shigure?”

He peers up at her with his big, golden eyes, and then quickly looks down again. “I… want to hear more of that song.”

“Oh?” She pats his head. “The one I sang the other night?”

He nods.

“I thought you were asleep,” she can’t help but say, and she also can’t help the smile that twists on her lips.

“I wasn’t,” he says in a small voice, and guilt pricks at Azura’s heart. She picks him up and puts him on her lap, and he snuggles against her.

“Hmm, well, it’s a really sad song,” Azura says. “Do you really want to learn it?”

He nods again. “It sounded pretty.”

“All right…” She sings the first stanza. It’s an easy tune, slow and drawn out, and Shigure easily falls into the sound. It takes a few tries for him to memorize the words, and she smiles and kisses his forehead, congratulating him before she continues on with the next stanza, holding him close:

The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping,

I dreamt I held you in my arms.

When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken,

So I hung my head, and I cried.

()()()

“Mother?”

Azura is writing a letter. “What is it?” she asks, finishing the sentence before putting her quill in the inkwell. She looks toward the doorway of the study, and Shigure is standing there. He’s sweating a bit, still in his pegasus riding gear. He pushes his hair out of his face—she can’t fathom why he would wear his bangs in front of his eye like that—and he seems excited, but agitated.

“What was that song you taught me as a child?”

She frowns. “I taught you a lot.”

“I mean…” He shakes his head, and then hums a tune. “I can’t remember the lyrics. Kana was humming it as she was practicing her dancing. It was stuck in my head on my whole flight.”

“Oh…” Azura hums the tune herself, and then snaps her fingers. “You are My Sunshine. I found it in the library. It’s an old song.”

She sings the first line, and Shigure quickly joins in, his deeper voice strengthening the sound of hers. They go through the first stanza, and then the second, and then the refrain—but then, they both hesitate, and the song stops.

“It’s been so long,” Shigure murmurs.

Azura nods. “I can’t remember the rest. How about I look it up, and then later we can go over it?”

He nods. “Kana promised to model for a painting for me. I would join you, otherwise.”

“It’s fine. Go spend time with your sister.”

Shigure thanks her and heads off. Azura turns back to her letters, humming the tune.

()()()

I'll always love you and make you happy,

If you will only say the same.

But if you leave me to love another,

You'll regret it all one day.

Corrin raises an eyebrow as he lays beside Azura in their bed. “Is there something you want to talk to me about, dear?”

She laughs. “It’s a song I used to sing for Shigure and Kana when they were little. Shigure came in today singing part of it, so I went and found it in the library. Do you remember it?”

“I think I would have remembered hearing such a dark verse sung to our children.”

“I think that’s an optional verse? I don’t remember singing this one very often, if at all.” The moonlight streams through the window and highlights her pale hand as she rubs Corrin’s arm. “The song always struck me as a mother speaking to her children, for some reason. This verse sounds much more like a possessive lover.”

Corrin chuckles. “Should I be worried?”

Azura pulls him closer, a small laugh bubbling from her lips. “Well, dear, you’re getting a little old, so I don’t worry as much about ‘another woman.’”

“I really don’t know how to take that comment.”

“I only tease.”

“Well you, my sweet,” he says, kissing her lips, “look as beautiful as the day I met you. So forgive me if I’m a little more worried than you are about ‘leaving me to love another.’”

“Such little faith in me, I see.”

“Hey!”

“I’m teasing.”

()()()

Shigure presses his lips together as he looks at the paper. His mother’s neat handwriting is beside the middle stanza, reading, Perhaps it’s best to leave this out, if the singer is going for a more familial tone, rather than that of a lover. But I can’t say that mothers either are happy about their children spending more and more time away from them.

“It’s such a sad song,” Kana says, leaning over his shoulder. She’s practically laying on top of his back as he sits in his chair. “I remember her singing it a little.”

“It’s a soothing melody. Beautiful for a lullaby,” Shigure says. He reaches back and rather carelessly pats Kana’s head; her signature bun has been abandoned for the day, and her long, light blue hair spills all over her shoulders.

“If you start singing it to the baby now, maybe they’ll end up a good singer by the time they come out,” Kana teases.

“So long as you don’t sing with your tone-deaf voice, dear sister.”

“Hey!”

“I inherited Mother’s voice, and you, her grace. It would be unfair for one of us to have both, don’t you think?”

Kana stands up straight, hands on her hips, and huffs. It still makes her look like a child, even though she’s nearing adulthood. “You’re so clumsy off your pegasus; you’d better be careful with your baby when they come.”

“I won’t drop them. And please don’t make them deaf with your singing.”

“Shigure!”

He laughs and stands, picking up the paper. “Mother will love that I’ve found this song. Will you let her know I’ve found it when you practice dancing together?”

“Only if you apologize.”

Shigure raises an eyebrow at her. “I apologize…for telling you the truth.”

“Hey!”

()()()

Shigure’s wife smiles at him when he comes into their quarters. He pecks her lips and puts a hand on her rounded stomach. “I found a lullaby my mother used to sing for me and Kana.”

“Oh? Do share. I’m sure the baby will love it.”

He can’t resist it.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You never know, dear, how much I love you,

Please don't take my sunshine away.

#azurrinweek2017 #azurrin

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