#me when I make up shit about my ocs

[memento-morri-writes]

Rook's Horrible, Very Bad, No-Good Day

(Aka, just one part of Rook's first Horrible, Very Bad, No-Good Weekend. (he's had two of those.))

I posted a small portion of this yesterday, but I'm just so obsessed with this scene, and I figured it's time I shared a slightly more complete version of it so you guys have a little bit more context. There's actually a lot more because a whole 'nother very intense conversation happened after this one, but that's for anther time. Enjoy getting stabbed in the heart several times in quick succession! pov: Rook wordcount: 1.7k character(s): The Liars [Rook (D&D), Sigmar (NPC)] canon status: canon session rewrite trigger warnings: mentions of death, suicidal behavior, and self-harm; implied self-sacrifice. (yk, usual Rook stuff.) summary: Rook wakes up after collapsing in the middle of a tavern. His mentor, Sigmar, interrogates him about the circumstances leading to his collapse. Note: I can only take credit for some of this, since the dialogue is as close to a direct transcript of the dnd session as I could manage. You can thank my amazing DM for all of Sigmar's gut punches here.

Rook comes to consciousness slowly, his mind fuzzy from sleep. He slowly opens his eyes, blinking them several times before he registers a wood-beamed ceiling. Where is he? He raises his head ever-so-slightly, looking around. The room comes into focus, semi-familiar. This is his room at the tavern. He has no memory of going to bed. The last thing he remembers is entering the tavern after the fight, and then…

Footsteps draw his attention away from that mystery. “Rook, you’re awake!” Sigmar rushes over to Rook’s bedside, relief clearly visible on his face. “You were out for twelve hours.” Seeing the question forming on Rook’s face he adds, “You fainted last night. It was… concerning to say the least.”

Rook slowly sits up as Sigmar continues talking. “What happened to you? I knew things were rough for you after we talked on the way here but the way you looked last night… you’re lucky to be alive.”

“I wasn’t.” The words are off his tongue and out of his mouth before Rook can process what he’s saying. “I wasn’t, yesterday.”

Sigmar peers closer at Rook, concern mounting on his face. “You weren’t what,  Rook.”

Again, he speaks without thinking. “Alive. I wasn’t alive yesterday.”

The color drains from Sigmar’s face. “What do you mean? What do you mean you weren’t alive yesterday?” 

Rook is taken aback by the forcefulness in Sigmar’s voice. Why does he sound so worried? Slowly, parsing out the words to keep from stumbling over them, he says, “Wolf sent an assassin after me. She succeeded.”

Sigmar’s brow furrows and his voice get louder. “Why didn’t you tell me?” When Rook doesn’t respond he adds, “Who saved you?”

“Aki. At least, I think it was him. I woke up and he was next to me.”

A flash of surprise crosses Sigmar’s face before vanishing, obscured by a new wave of concern. “What caused this? You looked terrible last night.” There’s a thread of something that sounds vaguely like fear in Sigmar’s voice as he says it, which catches Rook by surprise.

Rook takes a long moment to think. He can’t tell Sigmar the truth, at least not the whole truth. He’d tell the rest of the party immediately, and they’d all be in danger again. Rook settles on a partial truth. 

“I haven’t been sleeping.” He thinks hard, trying to remember the details. “I don’t think I’ve slept more than a couple of hours in the past two weeks.”

Sigmar’s jaw drops. “With that little sleep, you’re lucky to be alive.” He looks at Rook closely, inspecting his face. Rook shifts uncomfortably under his gaze. “What has been keeping you from sleeping?”

Again Rook pauses, taking a moment to consider his answer. “I don’t know. I can’t fall asleep and when I do I wake up again shortly after.”

Sigmar narrows his eyes. “I’ve told you: you and I are the same. We’re both liars. So don’t lie to me.”

An answer pops into Rook’s head and he puts conviction behind it, laying on false hesitation as if he’s revealing a big secret. “It’s Captain Wolf. Ever since I ran into her again, I haven’t been able to sleep. I keep having nightmares. About her.”

Sigmar stares at Rook for a long moment before seeming to accept the answer. A sense of relief floods Rook’s body. His secret is safe, for now. 

“Why are you doing this?” Sigmar asks, breaking the silence.

Rook blinks at him, uncomprehending. “Doing what? Coming to Torsek?”

Sigmar nods. “You’ve been pushing yourself to your limits, throwing your life on the line over and over again. Why? You’re endangering yourself, you’ve even died,”  Rook could have sworn he heard Sigmar’s voice waver on that word. “But you keep doing it. What could possibly be worth that?”

An answer leaps to Rook’s lips. “Because they need me.” It comes out quietly, but seems deafening in the empty room.

Sigmar leans back slightly, eyes widening in surprise. He looks Rook up and down, as if he’s reevaluating him. 

Without thinking, Rook adds, “You’re one of them.”

Sigmar, who has opened his mouth to speak, closes it again. He regards Rook for a long time. Eventually he says, “Your motivations may be more noble than mine, but at heart we act for the same reasons. I know you have not felt the care of a parent the same way I did…” He trails off momentarily, then continues, “But you are desperate for love all the same. I do everything in hopes of someday committing an act that will make the world love me. You, you act in hopes that the Vanguard will love you.” He looks Rook directly in the eyes, face serious. “You’re a fool.”

Rook says nothing, unable to summon up any kind of response to that statement. Sigmar continues, “The Vanguard does nothing but show you love, try to help you. They attempt to show you their love over, and over again. But you refuse to accept it.”

The words hit Rook like a slap, and he opens his mouth to retort, but Sigmar pushes ahead. “Instead of accepting their love, you throw yourself recklessly into danger, putting your life on the line again and again. You’re killing yourself, Rook.”

Rook’s eyes blaze with anger. He isn’t killing himself at all. He doesn’t want to die, far from it. He fights viciously for his life in every battle. He snaps back, “I’m not killing myself.”

Sigmar’s reply is swift and painful, like a bullet from his gun. “You might as well be.”

Rook finds himself speechless. What the hell is Sigmar talking about? He crosses his arms and turns away, refusing to meet the other man’s gaze.

A long silence stretches between them. Sigmar finally breaks it by saying, “I’ll help you. I just need to know that you’re telling me the truth.” His voice is surprisingly gentle, much softer than the whip-like tone from a moment earlier. 

Rook looks up at him. “I am telling the truth.” 

Sigmar frowns. “Rook, I told you, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not!”

“You are. I know your tells.”

Arms still firmly crossed, Rook keeps his gaze fixed on the floor. He won’t – can’t – tell Sigmar the truth. 

Sigmar seems to realize that Rook plans to stay silent, and sighs. “I can start listing off my theories. My ideas as to what’s keeping you from sleeping.”

Rook says nothing, still looking at the floor. His eyes follow the grain of the wood as it meanders through the planks.

“Did Maka do this to you?”

Before he can stop himself, Rook’s head whips upwards, mouth falling open in shock. “What? No!” 

Sigmar merely nods, and Rook is hit with a sudden feeling that he may have just played right into Sigmar’s trap. Rook turns away again, trying to find the same grain on the same plank he had been before Sigmar had spoken.

“I’ve felt the same symptoms as you are now, but lesser, once before. Do you still bear Furicifer’s curse?”

A chill runs down Rook’s spine. He forces his voice to stay steady and calm as he says “Furicifer was banished. He’s gone.”

Sigmar is silent for a long moment, and Rook’s heart begins to race. Surely Sigmar will believe that. It’s not far off from the truth.

When Sigmar speaks, it almost knocks the air from Rook’s lungs. “I told you not to lie to me.” His voice is deadly serious, simmering with anger. As he begins to speak again, it grows in intensity, though still quiet. “What in the gods’ names were you thinking? We need to get rid of him.”

Rook interrupts him, voice firm. “I can’t. If I lose this curse, Furicifer is free to return to the material plane.”

Sigmar shakes his head. “We’ll find a better demonologist. Someone stronger than this Dr. Zayeed.”

Without thinking, Rook blurts out, “You promised you’d help me!”

Sigmar immediately falls silent, looking at him. His face is a mixture of sadness, concern, and something else that Rook can’t quite read. He stares at Rook until Rook grows uncomfortable, looking away. “I have two options here. I can enable you, help you continue to hide this from the rest of the party. Or I can tell them. Let them try and talk some sense into you.”

“I can’t.”

“What are you talking about? Of course you can. Tell the party and-”

“I can’t.” Rook’s voice shakes, but his tone is determined. 

“Why not?” Sigmar snaps back.

“It was them or me.” The words are out too fast, and Rook regrets them the minute they’re out. But he looks up, meeting Sigmar’s gaze. He says again, softer, but more steady, “It was them or me.”

A long silence passes, and Rook eventually looks away. He stares at the ground for  a long, long time, before he sees something enter his field of vision. Sigmar’s hand, holding one of the pills he’d made. Rook looks up at him, surprised. “Take it.” Slowly, Rook reaches out and grabs the pill. 

He swallows it quickly, downing it before the taste can manifest on his tongue. Energy floods his body. Though he feels miles better than the day before, he hadn’t realized how much exhaustion still lingered in his body. 

Sigmar grabs a pouch, presumably holding the other pills in it, and holds it out to him. Rook reaches for it, but Sigmar pulls it back. “I’ll help you on one condition.” Rook stares at him, but says nothing. “If your condition worsens again, I’m telling the party. And if you’re in your right mind, you’ll be telling them too.”

Rook’s shoulder slump in defeat. He needs the medicine desperately. He looks down at the floor again as he says, barely louder than a whisper, “Fine.”

Sigmar places the pouch in his hand and turns towards the door. “The rest of the party will want to see you.” 

As he reaches the door, hand on the knob, Rook speaks. “Thank you.” The words are quiet, but genuine, tinged by the weight of Rook’s desperation. Sigmar’s hand hesitates on the doorknob, but he doesn’t reply or turn back before he opens the door. As he walks off down the hall, Rook can hear him calling out to the party, “Rook’s awake.”

[dsnzfb]

A Flair for the Dramatic

Axolotl/Lotus, cold/flu, M/M, ~2.9K

Axo gets the flu and a subsequent fever. He struggles to deal with it, and it's now Lotus's problem.

“Loooooo…”

This had been a frequent calling from Axo recently, and if it was anyone else, Lotus would have snapped at them to shut up and leave him alone.

But it wasn’t anyone else.

This was Axolotl.

Axo, with the strength of a bear and constitution of an ox, was usually the picture of health. Yet here he was, bundled up in bed with the flu, and here Lotus was, tending to his every need. 

Fevers hit Axo hard, and this was no exception. 

“You should be more careful,” Lotus had told him before he came down with it, “You meet a lot of people, yet you haven’t had your seasonal vaccine.”

Axo’d brushed him off and explained that he didn’t have time with the bakery’s opening hours. Not to mention he’d never gotten the flu before, so he’d be fine!

“I- I have t-to… ggh… haa… aahh… h-hhaaa… Hhhi-iih-iiih… HhiiIITSHHhhoOO!! Hhg-hhIITSSHHIEWW!! N-nn…” The Icelandic man pulled the covers around him tighter with a pathetic whimper, body trembling as he struggled to feel anything but freezing cold.

“…Bless you, Ax. I could say ‘I told you so’, you know.” Lotus offered up a tissue from the almost-empty box next to Axo, thumb tracing the back of his friend’s hand as they touched. He was too warm.

Luckily, he’d had his own flu shot the moment it became available to him.

“T-T-This-” the larger man blew his nose productively, ears feeling like they were going to pop from the pressure in his sinuses, “This sucks… I don’t like it, Lo… I don’t get sick like this… Ever. My body hurts… My muscles are screaming at me… A-and my skin aches, it’s… It’s so sensitive, and I’m sweating, but I’m so cold… My nose keeps running, but whenever I try to sniffle, or wipe it with a tissue, o-or blow, it makes me sneeze…”

Lotus sighed. This really was his own fault, but Axo wasn’t used to taking care of himself when he got sick like this. 

He wasn’t the mother hen sort himself - that was more Rose’s deal. But seeing his friend like this, drowning in misery, it made his chest twist up in uncomfortable knots - he couldn’t bring himself to leave Axo to deal with this alone. The accountant would hole himself up and away when sick himself, but when it came to Axolotl? He couldn’t deny it, he was weak for that man.

“That’ll be the fever, and… Well, everything else that comes with the flu. Mm…” He hummed, “I don’t recall ever seeing you get an injection. Even when we were at school together, though we got called in separately for them, I suppose. But still…”

While Lotus’ brows furrowed during his reminiscing, Axo avoided his gaze and stared down at the corner of the blanket he was fidgeting with. He was usually happy to talk about times past, so the silence was unusual.

Well, silence bar a sniffle, and then growing hitches.

“H-hhei-hh…iiih… H-hhah…”

“Ax, tissue.”

“H-hhaa…aahh… Hhaaiih-!” The sick man pulled a tissue out from the nearby box just in time, despite his ample warnings, “hhaAIIMPFFH!!! IITsshHHIEWh!! Iish-TSSHHHIIieww!! N-nngh… Haahnn….”

Lotus blessed him softly. “Poor thing. It’s hit you hard, mm?”

“Mmb…” Axo nodded, eyes teary from sneezing and cheeks radiating heat. Embarrassment? Maybe. Fever? Absolutely.

Stepping close, the pink-haired man traced a soothing hand down Axo’s arm, pausing at a wince, and then continuing.

“You don’t have to tell me the details. But did you? Have your flu vaccines back then?”

As if shamefully, Axo slowly shook his head, strawberry blond hair cascading around his face and catching the light, seemingly glowing in the sun’s final rays of the day through his window. The British man found it hard to be mad at him, even a little.

“Never went. Snf-! HHnngh-aaah- a-ah… hhuaa’ttSHHHhew!! -ktsSHHIEW! Nngguh… I, um… I got the… Necessary ones… But… Y-you’re going to think I’m pathetic, Lo…”

“Go on.”

“I cried, every time… I was so scared… It hurts, I don’t know how people can do it… I, um- t-they had to hold me still for the important ones… I think I would have run away if they didn’t.” 

“I don’t think that’s pathetic. So you have a phobia, is that right? I think it’s very brave that you got them. But you really should have your seasonal one. I’ll come with you next time. I’ll hold your hand. Hold your head, so you can’t see it. Then we can get, I don’t know, ice cream afterwards, or something. Or a hot meal, if the weather’s shite.”

Axo stared up at him, eyes wide.

Lotus fidgeted.

“…Say something, would you? I’m dreadful at this sort of thing.”

“A-Ah, sorry. I, uh… Thank you… You don’t have to do that. Nobody’s ever offered. It’s usually alone, just… Me and them… And they have the- the thing, and…”

Axo started to choke up just thinking about it, helped along by his fevered, highly emotional state. Goosebumps ran up his arms, a shudder running through his body despite the thick blankets currently cocooning him.

The pink-haired man’s expression instantly turned to worry, clearly unequipped to deal with a very upset, very sick Axo dealing with vivid memories of phobia-triggering events on top of a raging fever, “Shh. It’s okay. Don’t cry. Think of something else. Sorry for bringing it up, I didn’t know you were scared. You can go back to whining about how miserable you feel, or telling me a nonsensical fever-induced recipe idea for the bakery. H-How about that pesto-filled turtle bread you mentioned earlier today?”

A single laugh broke through Axo’s tears at Lotus’s attempt at helping, making him snort and send mess down his face. With a sympathetic smirk, the Brit cleaned him up easily, with the patience one might expect from a mother, or a nurse, or a long-term roommate-turned-boyfriend-turned-friends-with-benefits.

“You’re so silly, Ax. You always have been.”

“P-Pathetic…”

“Nonsense. You’re scared and unwell.” He threw the tissues away, then put the back of a hand on Axo’s cheek, then his forehead, then the nape of his neck.

“Still too warm. Can you take some medicine for me? Need to get that fever down, and I’m not strong enough to carry you into the bath.”

Axo didn’t understand what Lotus was saying, not figuring out what a bath had to do with him having a fever, or why he’d need to be carried to it. His confusion distracted him from the bulk of his upset, luckily enough.

“Ok…ay?? Are you, um- h-hold… Hold ohhhn… Are you s-s-suuh… Suuu…. Uuhh-iiIIhh…!! S-sure- that you’re n…naah…ah… No-ooht- s-sic-ck-kktSHHiiIIEW!! Hh-aaah-hTTSHHHIIEWw!!”

Lotus tore his gaze away from the tickly, hitchy, very sneezy man, cheeks warming alarmingly as he mumbled, “…Again with the nonsense… Barely able to tell what you’re saying… I’m certain, Ax. I’ve had my thing this year. I can’t catch it.”

Axo appreciated Lotus not mentioning the name of the object that brought him to tears, though he didn’t have much time to dwell on it before his sensitive nose twitched again.

“S-seeh-… Serious…ly…? It’s like… T-thuh-… The slightest breeze… Or… What’s i-iih-iiit… A hair trigger…? G-gonna- gonna s-sneeze agaaiih… Again, Lo…” The Icelandic man sounded slightly annoyed at just how easily his red, sore nose was set off at the moment, yet he still had to build up so much to his fits. He wished he could get them over with, like someone else he knew.

Cheeks now starting to feel like they were radiating heat, Lotus continued to look away from his friend as the dramatic buildups shot through him, pretending there was something particularly interesting on a nearby shelf that required his immediate attention. Well, Axo clearly hadn’t dusted in a bit. May as well busy himself with a little cleaning.

The breathy hitches continued for longer than he expected, and he ended up glancing at the larger man, only to find him just as he imagined – no, feared – from that sound.

The blond’s chapped nose was running freely down his face as he hitched, bridge scrunching up in irritation, lips curling at the itch the mess brought on. His eyes were shut tight, hot tear tracks shining down his equally fevered cheeks.

Shit, Lotus wouldn’t be able to control himself if this kept up.

“…L…Looooo… Lo… S-stuck… It’s… I cad’t-hheh-!! S-Sdeeehze-!! H-heh-eehiih!! Oh by god-!” Axo begged, attempting to open his eyes and look over at his friend, “He…elppp…“

Help?

Help how?

Was he kidding with this?

Lotus discreetly pinched himself - ow - and found that he wasn’t, indeed, dreaming. With a sigh, he took a seat beside Axo. More ‘traditional’ methods of inducing a sneeze felt like cartoonish fantasies, like pepper, a feather, or anything like that. Out of the question. He couldn’t dare use the rolled up tissue method - what if Axo asked how he knew about it? Allergies? As far as he was aware, he didn’t have any aside from certain perfumes, of which he had none here. Pollen gave him no trouble, he was fine around Cactus’s cat, dust did little more than make him cough when around too much, plus the fact that he just cleaned, Ax owned a dog… A clothes tag? Where the hell would he get one of those right now?

He couldn’t touch his nose. No way. That’s…. That’s far too intimate for this situation. Ignoring the fact that they’d already done unmentionable things to each other over the course of their ‘friendship’, of course. Axo’s kinks were normal, Lotus couldn’t admit or allude to a particularly uncommon one like this. Especially not right now. He didn’t want to be seen as taking advantage, or enjoying Axo’s suffering. He just wanted him to feel better - if anything, this kink was getting in the way.

Lotus let out another sigh, not having given an answer yet. The poor flu-ridden guy was completely stuck, despite his nose being so sensitive at the moment. What was it he said? A slight breeze would set him o-

Oh.

That could work.

“Look at me, Ax.” The accountant guided Axolotl’s face with a careful hand on his cheek. He took in his visage - so unabashedly tickly, so sick, it made his heart ache.

Axo sniffed hard, trying to be not such a mess in front of Lotus, though was now hitching in his general direction regardless. Lotus pursed his lips slightly and blew. 

“Ggh-?! L-Lo, what- h-hah- t-that- that tickles- I’m… I… I-iih-…!! I’m g-gonna-…!! Gonna… snhh-… Snee-eeeh-eeiIISSHHhIiew!!! Ee-eehii-hiitTSSHHUue!!! S…Sdeeze…! Hhi-iih-hhiTTSHHiieeew!! AahTSSHIEW! E-eh-eeh..!!” The Icelandic man held a tissue in front of his face, sneezing at it rather than into it, and Lotus was belatedly incredibly grateful that he didn’t have a problem with needles. He didn’t wanna catch this, and with Axo being this bad at covering in the midst of an overwhelming fit like this, he would have been doomed.

Axo’s breaths paused, teetering on the edge of another tickle, so Lotus blew again.

“Hh-hhhdt-!! HhdTSSHHIEW!! AASHhEEUUHh!! AasSSHHhh-aaht’SSHHEWW!! O-ohhh…. Ndgh… S-scuse be… I, ub… Did’t bead to sdeeze that buch… Thadk you, Lo…”

Lotus felt like he was on fire, heart leaping to his throat as he choked out a blessing.

“I, uh… N-no problem. Glad I could help. Bless you. A thousand times.”

Axo blew his nose into the now-damp tissue, ears popping from the pressure. And of course, because he hadn’t tortured Lotus quite enough yet, he kept talking.

“I didn’t know the flu could be so sneezy, Lo… I always thought of it as, um… Like a bad fever and a cough, and… Stuff like that, but… This is just– it’s like a bajillion feathers all up in my nose, all dancing and swirling around, all covered in- in p-pepper…”

Lotus turned around with the mumbled excuse of ‘I’m getting you medicine.’ and stiffly walked off as Axo muffled another harsh sneeze into the tissue. Apparently just talking about it was enough to set him off now.

Ax really had no idea what the hell he was doing to him, so he couldn’t exactly blame him for this, but Lotus was being driven absolutely insane right now. Okay, medicine. Medicine… Hopefully it would help the poor guy start to feel a bit better, and knock him out long enough for the Brit to regain his composure.

After a few minutes of rummaging, he found a packet of cold & flu medication, blissfully unopened, and brought it to Axo, who was still rambling to himself about who-knows-what. (He knew what.)

“Sneezing so much is making my chest hurt, not from, um- not from the lungs, but the muscles, it’s so much movement, and I already ache…” He whined, eyes blinking open when Lotus nudged his hand and placed the small cylindrical pills on his palm.

“Take these.”

“W-wh- did you teleport? You were just here, and now you have those-”

“Hush. Just take them. Here’s your water.”

“….Thank you, Lo.” Axo swallowed the pills with a wince, chased them with his drink, then smiled at him, “I’m so lucky to have you. Thanks for looking after me.”

Looking away pointedly so that Axo hopefully wouldn’t notice the blush on his cheeks, Lotus replied. “….D-Don’t be a sap. You’d do the same for me. You have done the same for me.”

“I know, but… I don't know how bad I'd be if you weren't here. I'd be drowning in my mountain of tissues, probably… I don't think I've sneezed this much in my entire life.”

With a sigh, the Brit took a seat on Axo's bed. He still refused to look at the other man, but spoke regardless, “That department store about a year ago. The perfume section, when it was the only way to get to the men's clothes.”

Axo blinked, then smiled in recognition, “Oh, yeah! I'd completely forgotten about that! Wow, your memory is amazing. Yeah, I sneezed loads… I had to buy a new shirt, ‘cause all the perfume made… made me… my chesthh! Hhah… hhapTShhyuuUUuh!! Mm, bless me. Just thinking about that stuff… sneezing that much in public broke my shirt buttons, somehow…”

‘Somehow’, as if his chest wasn't absurdly huge and struggled to fit in shirts on a good day.

“I could barely breathe… it's a good thing you used your shirt and chest like a filter for my poor nose, the perfume was so unrelenting…”

Lotus was starting to regret mentioning that event. 

“I'm sorry for sneezing on you then… and now, too. It's not on purpose, they just… they take over, so it's… it's hard to control… ohgod- I have to sneeze again, Lo… hhah… hha-aaAAHH…!! HhaPTSSHYIEWWwwwh! HhatSHOOoooh! Hhah-ahh-AH! AAHTSHIIEWWwwh!! Mmnh… goodness, bless me.”

“You ran out of blessings. I have a limited amount to give, and you’ve had them all.”

“Awww…” the Icelandic man pouted dramatically, his drippy nose only serving to accentuate how pathetic he currently sounded, “How can I get more?”

Lotus placed a hand on Axo’s, thumb tracing the back of his hand intimately, “There’ll be more by the time you wake up. So, can you guess what I’m going to suggest you do?”

“Take a nap?”

“Good job.”

“...I am pretty tired, but I feel like… like… hhah… hhaiIH…! HHIih… hhiPPTSHHYEEWwwh!! …Like I’ve done nothing but sleep. And sneeze.”

The Brit pushed him back slowly onto his pillow, “That’s because you have to recover. Your fever’s still not down. I’ll be here, okay? I’m not reading you a story, though.”

“Could you, um… Tell me about work? I’m not calling numbers boring, but they do always relax me…”

“Yes, because they were so riveting that you didn’t need my help with the bakery’s finances in the first place, hm? Well, if you insist. It’s coming up to tax season, so I’ve been busy with them. There’s a lot to say. But aren’t you lucky that I’ve been on top of everything for you? Truly, there’s an inane amount of forms to fill in. This week’s turnover will likely be lower than previous weeks, thanks to all this.” he motioned to his sick companion.

Axo gave a tired sigh, a smile growing on his face. He loved Lotus’s voice. He always had.

“But you’ve been doing well otherwise, profits are exceeding expectations despite the current climate. Going to those events with those booths, getting catering jobs, all of it helps.” Lotus couldn’t help but enjoy himself as he then started to rattle off stats, percentage returns, and costs. He didn’t often have someone willing to listen to him talk about work, and while it wasn’t ideal that it was being used as a bedtime story, he didn’t really mind.

“-and if we don’t want the IRS on our asses, I’ll be needing to fill in all those-”

A snore interrupted him. Lotus turned to look at the other man, relieved to see him sleeping peacefully. Finally.

“Mm, you weren’t kidding. But I think they do a little more than just relax you. No wonder you struggled. You probably fell asleep at your desk… Don’t think I’ll ever forget you were doing all your finances on paper, silly thing. You sleep well, and feel better in the morning, okay? That’s an order. A threat, perhaps.”

Lotus gave the feverish man’s hand a squeeze, three unspoken words hanging heavy in the air.

‘I love you, Axo. One day, I’ll be able to tell you properly.’

[bucket-puns]

Old limbus women but one of them is my OC LMAOOOO

[greyedian]

longing for the day when making fanart stops feeling like i'm massively disrespecting the source material lol

[infernal-lamb]

Howws that fic with your OC going? I’m very intrigued about that one :D

Oh!!! And if you have any new art/tidbits about her?

lmao, its going! I've made progress but now I am sulking like an 18th century poet in their giant, empty study.......Contemplating. Critiquing (just being nervous about posting fic since I havent written anything since I was like. 13. and I'm not exactly a writer, just someone who throws stuff together and goes Well, That's A Plot I Guess!) I'm glad people are intrigued about and Neves dfhjfghf. I DO have some lil doodles of her in the cult. One specific tidbit that makes me laugh: Neves is tall as hell in comparison to the cult members.

I'm not sure how to measure the inhabitants of the Lands of the Old Faith, but I imagine them at least smaller than the average human--mostly because I think its sort of funny to emphasize just *how* out of place Neves is among the Lamb and their flock. This is more like a rough estimate of how they compare LMAO. With her height, the cult members usually ask her to help with picking fruit on big trees or, for example, doing things like standing on her shoulders to clean the Temple windows that are too high up otherwise :') Here's a silly comic w/one of her experiences in the cult too!

[morrigan-sims]

Btw, if you ever see me post about a book/movie/game/ANYTHING, that is an open invitation to talk to me about it. Tell me your opinions, talk to me about your builds and characters for video games, scream at me about good or bad scenes in books, shows, or movies. (Or if there’s a book/movie/game/whatever that you think I’d like, TELL ME. Please give me recs.) There is nothing in the world I love more than talking about media of any kind (except for talking about my OCs but I know that’s a harder ask.)

Also, PLEASE tell me about your dnd characters. Make them in the sims and tag me in the post. Infodump and tag me. Infodump in my DMs. Ask for my Discord and message me there. I mean it. I am on my knees BEGGING for people to talk to me about not just things I love, but things YOU love.

Send me an ask (anon is ALWAYS on), a DM, ask for my Discord, anything. I swear on everything I hold dear that asks or DMs are never w bother. (/gen)

I’m always down to discuss plot, characters, mechanics, worldbuilding, any of it. TTRPGs/CRPGs and sci-fi/fantasy books + movies are the center of my wheelhouse, but honestly I just love having in-depth discussions about things. (Oh and I could (and have, much to my friends and family’s dismay) talk for HOURS about Black Sails.)

[moe-broey]

Alfonse King of Minding His Own Business. Kiran Monarch of I WANNA BE A FURRY I WANNA BE A FURRY I WANNA BE A FURRY SOOOOOOOOOO FUCKING BAAAAAADDDDDD

Kiran drop your fursona NOW‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

[arodykeism]

everyone should post their ocs more

[phobiaexists]

Seeing john doe art from you or headcanons lowkey makes my days better because its some random constant like oh my god u made art or a hc JOYS!!! random but 2017 was when I fully joined roblox (played as like guest for a good while in 2016) and john and jane doe was like on the mind for a whole month... feels like that but in a different context lol...

A

AWBWAH 💖💖💖💖💖

IM GLADD IM GLADD FKDNNESBWBBEBGH ABHWAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Hopping onto tumblr and it’s just “oh, there’s the daily ‘Phobia being insane over that feral grown middle-aged man that they decided to make 8’4” and be a whole guard dog for the survivors’” AKZJEJDJEJ 👉👈

[peteytheparrot]

Literally every single story I’ve been infatuated in some way was a mystery,,, I love mysteries,,,, why aren’t my stories MYSTERIES-

[skunkes]

unsure how to word this but there is something about having ocs with unsavory events happening in their past where it's like. talking about it, even when asked, seems almost gratuitous and inappropriate. and i'd much rather describe it through the oc themself and/or draw Them saying it. which is like. fitting for the subject matter? like of course its weird to talk about somebody else's business...!

and falls back into humanizing em/exploratory writing and development where u consider the impact of words said/words unsaid/HOW those words are said etc etc

[einsatzzz]

Hello ❤️ I have some meta asks for your ocs

Kana: What controversies/drama would your character incite in fandom?

And (yes she gets two because I am biased and looking for crumbs)

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

Kurumi: What would be the ‘incorrect but wildly popular’ interpretation of your character in fandom?

Yui: If your character had a breakout show/film/comic, what would the plot be? Who would be in their supporting cast?

- 🍎

Hello 🍎Anon 🫶✨👀 Thank you for sending this over and enabling me to yap more about my blorbos 🥰🥰🥰 I only know what to talk about when I draw them, but for pure text posts I often blank out on what to say, so I love asks! I will try my best to give you Kana crumbs too!

🍎Kana: What controversies/drama would your character incite in fandom?

If Kana were a canon character, Kana and controversies/drama are like blood brothers, like soulmates. They are a set package. It wasn't there at the start or perhaps there will be initial discourse about her gender. But fandom will find out eventually that they have bigger fish to fry. As more and more layers of her character gets revealed, the more fandom discourse there is. She is certainly not a character for people who view things in a black or white manner or those with low reading comprehension 😭🤣😭🤣 *looks at those gear grindingly loud mfs on twi//ter*

On the surface, she would prob be reduced to either a some kind of siscon (memes included) or straight-up a cruel/heartless character with ulterior motives ("maybe her love for Kurumi is just a facade? and she has ulterior motives?"). If you peel off the first few layers, you will see that she really does genuinely love Kurumi and her family, for better or for worse. If you peel off more layer, you will see an asshole. If you peel even more layers, you will see an even bigger asshole banned from hell.

Also do you know that one meme where they keep putting Oi\\kawa (from Hai\\kyuu, a VOLLEYBALL series) in a line up of actual villains/war criminals?

Kana would be there, except she kinda deserves to be there. People who don't get the joke would complain about why Oi//kawa keeps getting included in these fuckass lists that includes Kana and other messed up characters lmao (truthfully i didn't get it at first when i saw it and was lowkey pissed since im an oi//kawa oshi lmaooo now it's just funny every time i see it. still crazy to see him lined up with characters like d//io or aiz//en or gri//ffith like damn wwwwww)

Did you know? My favorite character from Monster is Joh//ann Lieb//ert hahahaha nothing important, just wanna say it haha,,,hahaha,,,,, pls ignore if you don't know Monster sdkjfsdhvfsd

🍎Kana: What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

The least spoilery thing I can come up with on the spot on is Hibari telling her "You're so stupid (affectionate & relieved)" after she does (and says) something objectively very stupid that could even give YuiRumi&family a heart attack & a stroke simultaneously.

Short, simple, effective. ME, personally, I will lose my mind and latch onto it even on my deathbed.

If you want something that could potentially come from a Kana POV, I do have a quote like this saved:

🎀Kurumi: What would be the ‘incorrect but wildly popular’ interpretation of your character in fandom?

For Kurumi, I think modern fandom would focus too much on her gender? There would be a divide in the fandom based on how they interpret the "Gender: ?" in her profile lmao We can see a lot of people insisting that she's non-binary. That's fine and all, everyone is free to interpret characters as they like (except if the creator has reiterated clear rules and boundaries for it). The problem is that we can also see people say that you can't refer to her as anything else but non-binary sjdgbhjsdfvhjsbfd

🤖Yui: If your character had a breakout show/film/comic, what would the plot be? Who would be in their supporting cast?

My understanding of this question is that it's asking for a Yui spin-off where he's the MC! It would be in a light novel format under the romantic comedy genre (with some sci-fi, perhaps? because he loves making robots hahaha inb4 it becomes a mecha story). The story's main couple would be him and Hiyori, because that's what Yui would've wanted. He is delusional and down bad.

In terms of shipping, we actually have three main ships we've committed to. It's just that I often end up posting about the two CanonxOC pairs more sjkdfjskdf but the third one is an OCxOC pair between Yui and Hiyori (YuiHiyo). Sowwwwyyy Yui! uwu Hiyorin is holding me at syringe-point and telling me to shut the fuck up about it.

[ruvviks]

HIIIIIIII BONES what faction(s) does tiberius join? and which companions is he closest with? :]

HIII EZRA THANK YOU SO MUCH :] this got insanely long because i have. so much to say about this game it's unreal i'm very sorry in advance. but hope you enjoy ^_^

so in my canon of fallout 4, there's a couple of things different from the game because i personally don't think of tiberius as a leader in any sort of way, mainly because he's like. 23 years old. that's a literal baby. he was only born yesterday fresh out of the freezer

so!! that means that the minutemen are already very much established in the commonwealth again when he emerges from the vault, and there's a lot of sprawling settlements to be found in places where you'd otherwise have to build them yourself in game; so sanctuary isn't abandoned at all, and tiberius returns to his sister's home with a special surprise waiting for him (every other house in the neighborhood is now home to a bunch of strangers centuries into the future! welcome home boy!)

that said, tiberius DOES end up sort of joining the minutemen?? but not officially. he meets preston in sanctuary who helps him get settled in in this new and strange world and in return to show his gratitude tiberius helps out wherever and whenever he can, but considering the path of revenge he's about to go on he doesn't really consider himself good enough of a person to like. fully be part of it if that makes sense?? especially since the minutemen aim for as much peaceful resolution of things as possible, and he is not like that :(

tiberius massively dislikes diamond city, and feels a lot more at home in goodneighbor. he does some mercenary work there for a while and that's also how he ends up with the railroad, which he Does officially join :] a bunch of my other fallout ocs are also railroad agents; max, who's also general of the minutemen (don't ask how she finds the time to juggle all these different jobs she doesn't know it herself either); magnus, who's a goodneighbor guard; and nikolai, an ex-raider who now does a bunch of stealth operations for the railroad. tiberius takes his job as agent very seriously and through his new connections becomes more involved with the minutemen as well, now that he knows the two work together to give escaped synths a new and safe home and such :]

he does NOT join the brotherhood of steel. he hates them so fucking much it's unreal. to him they're literally just invading the commonwealth with the way they're terrorizing settlements and forcibly establishing their own outposts and whatnot and it causes a lot of chaos everywhere which is NOT ideal at all. max is handling most of the situation but she's clearly under a lot of pressure and it makes tiberius want to blow some shit up. which he eventually does when everything has escalated so far that there's not really another way to deal with it anymore

he only joins the institute to infiltrate them for the railroad, and he is NOT having a good time during it. he dislikes shaun (his nephew, not his son!) so fucking much but there's nothing he can do about it. i'm trying to make the institute a bit more interesting but it's still a work in progress because well the game leaves a lot to be desired on that front to me personally but either way, the whole place makes him super paranoid and he quickly realizes that it's a LOT bigger than what it's making itself out to be. the area he's allowed to be in seems just a little bit too well-organized and streamlined as if it's all pre-programmed and he constantly feels like he's being watched. which he is! because he ends up finding proof of a lot more levels that go much deeper into the ground and while a lot of them seem to be abandoned, he does end up finding evidence that there's more people holed up Somewhere. and they're watching everything that's happening in the area of the institute he's allowed to be in. it's all part of something bigger and he does NOT like that shit

lastly, tiberius ends up with the children of atom :] kind of against his will?? but also he's not really being forced to stay so it's kind of a gray area really. basically what happened is that he went to the glowing sea, ended up passing out because he went by himself like the stubborn mf he is and the children of atom take them to their crater to nurse him back to health but also give him like. some sort of special radiation cocktail of some sort which ends up making him a bit of a freak. much more resilient, much more absent as well, a bit faster than he used to be. he's basically their chosen one because i feel like out of all factions it'd make most sense for the children of atom to be weirdly obsessed with him like he's a perfectly preserved human from before the war. that IS kinda fascinating

either way tiberius doesn't really mind being part of them all that much because it puts him in like a negotiator position if that makes sense?? the other factions all have their other touching points where he isn't all that needed to create connections and stuff but having this extra connection with the children of atom who are mostly feared by the rest of the commonwealth helps a LOT with keeping peace and all that, so it's beneficial for all parties involved because it also means that tiberius can just freely enter any of their outposts and he can rely on them if he needs them for anything :] the children of atom are a lot more willing to assist him with something that may be a bit shady than the minutemen or railroad would basically so it's a good backup to have LMAO

as for companions, tiberius is closest with preston 100% :] when he emerged from the vault, preston was the first person who talked to him and didn't treat him as a possible threat, and he helped him get settled in which tiberius will always be grateful for because he was so so scared. and preston made everything a little bit easier. he's very caring and patient and matches tiberius' funnyman energy surprisingly well when they're joking around, which would all remind tiberius a lot of his sister stella. preston Would in fact be like a brother to him :]

he enjoys hanging out with piper and nick, but only sparingly so since those two just love to investigate stuff and a lot of their time hanging out ends up turning into business of some sort and tiberius does NOT have the detective's spirit! he likes being clueless. he does not always need to know everything. he does like tagging along but sometimes he just wants to SIT and have a beer or something

which, naturally so, makes hancock better company for him. tiberius did a couple of gigs for him personally (and got to know him much more intimately during a wild night with both him and magnus but we don't talk about that) and he likes to stop by goodneighbor regularly for a drink and to talk about shit that's been going on lately. since magnus and hancock are together, magnus is there a lot as well but tiberius sees him a lot more regularly at the railroad too :]

that being said, the railroad is definitely tiberius' main hub for hanging out with people he loves the gang SO much. his best friends there would be nikolai, glory (she's alive yes obviously), deacon, and tinker tom :] and also max but tiberius sees her a LOT more at the castle since that's by the end of the in-game events also a place he can be found at a lot. he doesn't take a lot of minutemen jobs but he does help out on location with whatever they need, plus the castle is a huge and busy marketplace which would be super fun to visit (especially at night) so he just likes hanging out there in general! that's also where he hangs out with cait and roxy (max' wife) whenever he gets the opportunity

tiberius' relationship with x6-88 is. strained. on a surface level he likes the guy, but his loyalty to the institute definitely gets in the way of their friendship a lot at first. i haven't entirely figured out yet how to like, get x6-88 on tiberius' side in a satisfying way that doesn't feel out of character for him?? but that's basically what i'm aiming for, because the two DO spend a lot of time together away from the institute itself which would give tiberius a lot of opportunities to show x6 what the commonwealth is really like. and what the institute's reputation is and all that. and with x6 getting attached to tiberius during all of that he WILL be forced to pick a side at the end of it all. and i personally don't think he would side against tiberius after spending all that time building up an actual friendship for the first time in his life

surprisingly enough, tiberius and maccready did NOT!!! get along well at first AT ALL. when tiberius was taking gigs in goodneighbor he was unbeknownst to him stealing away a lot of mac's clientele so naturally mac has very one-sided beef with him. especially because both of them are like. babies. i can't remember maccready's exact age but that's a baby. and tiberius is one too. and they're both competitive and kinda stupid so when they first "officially" meet there's this insane tension between the two of them and every conversation they have is just a pissing contest. they've been kicked out of goodneighbor together on at least one occasion because of their near screaming competitions

(at some point after the battle of bunker hill and tiberius has temporarily broken ties with the institute because shaun's attitude pissed him the fuck off he goes to goodneighbor with his friends and after a drink or two too many he agrees to a bet maccready makes with him about killing elder maxson. tiberius succeeds by knocking out a brotherhood pilot and pretending to be the pilot instead, sort of successfully flying a vertibird up to the prydwen, somehow knocking out a guy in full power armor to then steal said guy's power armor, killing elder maxson (who by then has committed enough war crimes including but not limited to laughing max in the face when she tried to talk to him about a possible collaboration in hopes to keep the peace in the commonwealth) with a pipe pistol, and then jumping down(!!!!!!!!!) in the power armor to make his escape by walking over the bottom of the ocean on the shoreline in the power armor. he brought the guy's coat and dogtags with him as proof. maccready was turned on and angry about it)

but after traveling together for a while, tiberius and maccready learn they have a lot more in common than they initially thought and they grow closer over time :] i adjusted mac's story as well by making lucy his older sister rather than his wife (HE'S A BABY. HE DOESN'T NEED A WIFE AND A CHILD IN THIS ECONOMY) and duncan his nephew, so it's still a direct parallel to tiberius' story except lucy is still alive but missing, whereas stella is in fact very much dead. at first it makes tiberius feel frustrated and upset in a very selfish way, but it helps him with like, allowing himself to grieve for the first time since he exited the vault which by then is a LONG time ago, and then it also helps him with moving on from it rather than staying stuck in the past. helping mac with curing duncan and finding lucy helps the both of them and after all that they end up getting together :]

SO YEAH. very bumpy road for tiberius all in all and he makes connections in a bunch of different places, but he's always just a gear in the machine rather than the one operating the machine if that makes sense :] he feels a lot more at ease when he can actually make a difference at his own pace rather than having everyone look up to him constantly, the closest he got to that was when he was the one to infiltrate the institute and he has NEVER been that stressed before in his life. he makes it out alive and relatively unharmed but good lord. he's never doing that shit ever again

[memento-morri-writes]

whump wednesday - part iii

tw / tags: concussion, blood, bleeding out, loss of consciousness character: Rook (who else?) status: canon (took place several irl months ago as part of Rook’s first “Horrible, Very Bad, No-Good Weekend”.) wordcount: 525

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Another continuation from earlier. The party has now made it back to the Winters' manor. Having lost a lot of blood since being revived (on top of his concussion), Rook is in pretty bad shape. His mentor, Sigmar, is attempting to get him to the Winters' healers.

Rook’s eyes drifted closed, the oblivion of sleep calling to him. A sharp prod at his side dragged them reluctantly back open.  “Rook, you need to stay awake. Just a little bit longer, until a healer can have a look at you.” Sigmar’s voice was serious as he half-dragged, half-carried Rook down the hall of the Winters’ manor.  Rook groaned in response. He was exhausted, and every inch of his body ached. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and fall headlong into unconsciousness. Sigmar prodded him again. “Tell me what happened to you. How you ended up in this state.”

Rook thought hard for a moment. How had he ended up like this? He remembered Celestia, and healing the party, and then- Oh, right. He started to explain, his words running together as he spoke. “This werewolf guy showed up. Deadringer?” Sigmar’s body tensed but he said nothing. “And he wanted Warren. Warren and Cherry, I think.” He paused, trying to remember what had happened after that. “He… he wanted to hurt them. So I told him he’d have to go through me first. And he said ‘Deal.’ and threw me across the room. I… I think one of his werebeasts killed me.” He felt rather than saw Sigmar shake his head. “I should never have left you. If I’d known she’d bring Deadringer into this… I shouldn’t have let you go off to fight someone like him without me.” Once again, Rook was surprised at the weight of the emotion in his mentor’s voice. He wanted to say It’s not your fault. Or maybe, I would have done it anyway, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. So instead he just rested his head on Sigmar’s shoulder. The damp chill that had come over him on the way here was getting stronger and he leaned into Sigmar’s warmth. “‘S cold,” he mumbled. Sigmar picked up the pace a bit, a worried edge creeping into his voice. “Come on, come on. Just a little further.” Rook’s eyes were heavy, and his awareness of the world was fading. He heard a door open, was vaguely aware of a brightly lit, white-painted room, of being laid down on a bed. He could hear people talking urgently, unfamiliar voices joining Sigmar’s. His muddled mind only caught fragments of their words. “Concussion… Severe… Significant blood loss… Not enough… ”  Sigmar’s raised voice cut through the fog. “Help him, damn you!” It sounded very far away, as though coming from another room. Multiple sets of hands touched his skin, and the familiar warmth of healing magic (when had being healed become familiar again?, he wondered dimly) flooded his body. The cold, clammy feeling faded away. The constant pain he had stopped registering some time ago subsided, leaving blissful neutrality in its wake. His head cleared slightly too, blurred reality coming back into focus for a brief moment. Distant voices reached his ears, borne by that momentary clarity. “It’s safe for him to sleep now. He’ll be fine after some rest.” As if his body needed no further reassurance, Rook’s mind relaxed, and within seconds he sank into a deep sleep.

[seeking-penitence]

symbolic meaning? yes, i'm aware, though i did not know of those specific meanings, very interesting :]

suppose i should have been more specific however; other than an exterior appreciation, do you have internal connection to the forests? possibly similar to your friend, golden cheese cookie and the cheesebirds, as she harbors a connection to those creatures past just external factors.

-🪲

"Oh, I see! My apologies, I misunderstood your question."

"In terms of flora, I seem to only hold a connection to my namesake - white lilies. I can grow them easily but other plants...not so much. With fauna, I think I've gained a connection to the butterflies in the forest over time. They like to follow me around, at least. I don't mind, they're good company and they're rather sweet. It's probably silly to admit this but...sometimes when I'm alone I'll talk to them. About my frustrations, my fears, my guilt. Perhaps they just stick around me because of my scent but I like to think that they're listening to what I say."

[hiddenbeks]

im getting obsessed w isabeau again which is a good thing bc i miss my evil horse girl... one of my oldest video game o cees... but its also a bad thing bc im still very much in the middle of my heidrun pt and continuing it is starting to feel like a chore. the urge to just rush through the main questline and be done with it grows ever stronger