#sorry if this isn't the best since I am a little rusty lmao!

[upperranktwo]

☆Oikawa Tōru☆

Requested by @princesstooru

[cheezeybread]

American McGee Alice anon, back at it again [if I keep this up, I might label myself something cheesy like "Anon McGee." How does that sound?]

I was going to gather more to send your way regarding the topic of the last request, but I couldn't actually put much together today. So, instead, I'm delivering some potentially mildly incoherent ramblings and a lot of creative freedom to take them wherever you'd like.

I'm thinking especially of something along the lines of- likely post Riddle Overblot- a gradual shift into the MadAlice Reader becoming more genuinely comfortable with everyone in Heartslaybyul as they begin to create a differentiation between them and that which hurt them in the previous mental wonderland they'd retreated to.

Obviously there's still plenty of Rocky moments to be had- just because they're comfortable doesn't mean all will always be well- but overall, I'm just thinking of a bit of a fluffy-ish scenario that encapsulates the reader growing closer to the students of Heartslaybyul. Maybe hurt/comfort at best, but still comfort nonetheless.

Again, take as many creative liberties as you want here, I'm doing my best to balance being vague enough to allow wiggle room but also trying not to keep too many details out to the point it's just entirely unclear, lmao.

YEAAHHHH ANON MCGEE BACK AT IT AGAIN! Totally start calling yourself that now, it has such a silly ring to it!

Don't worry, I totally got you (unless I don't oops), so have this little sucker of a one-shot! I haven't written very many comfort fics lately, so I might be a taddddd rusty, sorry!

𝐅𝐭: 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞, 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐲, 𝐀𝐜𝐞, 𝐃𝐞𝐮𝐜𝐞, 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

..••°°°°••..

You had woken up sooner, rather than later, to the relief of the entire Heartslabyul dorm. But no one was more relieved than Riddle.

As soon as you woke up, Riddle was there, leaning his head down to read out of a thick textbook. You almost didn't recognize him at first...he wasn't wearing the attire you normally saw him in. Instead of the crown and wonderland-esque uniform, he had on a shirt that looked to be a size too big, and a baggy pair of sweatpants.

You sat up slowly, the movement sending a dull throb through your back. Geez, how long were you out? The shuffling of the bed made Riddle's head jerk up, and the tension on his face faded as soon as he saw your eyes opening.

"You...you're awake," He said, his voice in a whisper.

You couldn't think of what to say to this guy who was practically a stranger to you, so you made a small "mhmm" back.

Riddle looked back down to his textbook before closing it softly, setting it down on the ground beneath his chair. He took his time before looking back up at you, his gaze focused on your shoulder rather than your eyes.

"I wanted to say that I'm...sorry," He started, a bit awkwardly. One of his hands reached down to his sweatpants, idly pulling at the fabric "For everything. I wasn't very kind to you, which went against one of the rules of the-" He stopped himself, furrowing his brows "I mean, it wasn't nice of me. And I knew that you had some...issues with our dorm. But yet, because of me, you kept having to be dragged back there. Even though I could tell how much it was hurting you."

Riddle sat up a bit straighter, taking a deep breath before continuing "I was....wrong. It was wrong of me to treat you like I did, and I was wrong about so much other stuff, too. The Quee- sorry, her rules aren't everything, and since my accident, I've come to understand that the person with the most power isn't necessarily the most right, much less the most righteous ruler there could be." He folded his hands in his lap "I know that you have issues, I can see the burns on what little parts of your skin show. I hear from Ace, from Cater, everyone who's seen you, that you have something happening. Some sort of paranoia. And I cannot express how deeply apologetic I am for playing into your fear."

You swallowed thickly, trying your best not to remember the events that transpired just before you blacked out. You tried not to see the malice and hatred in Riddle's eyes now that you had seen before. But it was hard. "M'kay," was all you could manage.

"I won't disrespect you by demanding you tell me what's going on, or what had happened to you in the past," Riddle continued "I only wish for you to help me act better, for you to tell me how I can help. I wish to improve myself, and my dorm, to become a place where you can rest easier than you have in the past. Or, if you'd rather be left alone by us entirely throughout your stay at this school, I can do my best to ensure my students won't get in your way in the slightest."

He...he actually wanted to help you? After all that happened, after all that he himself went through as well? The thought brought a small smile to your face, and you reached out a shaky hand, resting it on top of Riddle's head

"That sounds nice."

Riddle gave a small smile in return, his relief palpable. He had expected you to blow up in anger, based on how he acted. To see you holding no ill will towards him was more than he could hope for. He stood up quickly, nodding his head towards you in a professional manner, before he walked out of the room.

It wasn't until a week later that you realized he had not worn his uniform so that you wouldn't panic at the sight of him.

★・・・・・・★

Things were slowly getting better. For real this time.

It wasn't easy, but no recovery ever should be. But with some baby steps, you were on your way to a better place, mentally and emotionally. You could tell that Riddle was healing alongside you, which made the path to happiness a little more rewarding.

You never did tell the Heartslabyul dorm what had happened to you in detail. Only offhandedly mentioned your scars coming from a house-fire. And they never asked for any more information, despite their intense curiosity that you could feel oozing out of them with every glance towards you. You suspected this was mainly because of Riddle's influence over them. You were grateful for it.

Speaking of, Riddle kept his word, true and deep.

You gave a text everytime that you were about to come over to their dorm, and Riddle would instruct his student to change into their loungewear, even if they were in the midst of doing work. He told Ace and Deuce, knowing that the two of them were around you more often, to warn you when there was an Unbirthday party at their property, so they could, in turn, warn you.

He even asked if you'd like them to wear makeup over the card symbols on their skin. It was an enticing offer, since the symbols still made your heart sink every time you noticed them...but you denied it. You had to learn to deal with some things, or else you may not heal fully. Besides, Riddle and the others were bending over backwards for you as it was, it would be unfair for you to make an obscenely large amount of demands of them.

You cooked with Trey, who always made a habit of telling you when he needed a "hand in the kitchen", even though you knew he'd be better off without your held. The two of you would talk about anything under the sun, except for cards, parties, and painting roses red. And in the end, you would get a slice of whatever dessert you two whipped up.

You went on walks with Cater, who kept you up-to-date on the latest trends and scandals going on both in school and in the world around you. He always found some silly story to make the two of you cackle and howl, and eventually, the conversations would drift from real-life stories to fantastical tales involving dragons, knights, and magical geese who could blow up the world with a single honk! They weren't the best made-up tales, but you two had fun with them.

You played games with Ace and Deuce, who were both masters at trying to one-up the other. Sometimes they would get caught in a prank war between each other, and each one would recruit you to prank the other, which led in a lot of back-and-forth banters and ended with them laughing about how you "betrayed" them by joining the enemy's side. Sometimes they would teach you how to play video games, and sometimes you would play a lame version of basketball with the mediocre players.

And you would hang around Riddle while he studied in the library. In return for your company, he would tell you stories about his own life- keeping careful watch of what he said so that he wouldn't slip and begin talking about the Queen- about his mother, his unhappy childhood, and how he had struggled throughout his life with feelings of being inadequate unless he was at the top of the list in anything and everything. He found comfort in telling his secrets, and it almost made you want to tell him yours. But he never asked to hear yours, and in the end, you were content to keep your own secrets.

You were getting better, day by day.

°°••....••°°

[bungiri]

Oh, I will ask about Wren 🤭

Number 1! I got this thought since my farmer's first meeting with Lance wasn't the best experience for her, so what was Wren's first impression of Lance? 👀

Number two! What is her favourite skill? (farming, combating, foraging, etc)

Number 3! Has she met Jio and the Following? 👀👀👀 (I know we are all big on SVE more, but I'm curious if your universe has RSV in it too, hehe! ✨)

Number 4 is a lore one. How does she know her mother is/was a witch? Or she doesn't yet? (sorry if this is answered, I'm a little sleepy by the time I wrote these 😅💤 )

I hope you're doing well and your day is well, Bunny!! ❤️❤️

HELLOOOO NIMILLA i am doing good thank u for asking 🤭 and thank u for sending some questions abt wren AAAH i appreciate it 🫂

i hope ur doing good as well <3

also i'm curious as to why ur farmer's experience meeting lance didn't go well 👁️ idk if u have explained it before

questions answered under the cut bc it's kinda long LMAO

⊹ ˚. meeting lance

wren's first meeting with lance on top of the volcano was...disorienting.

she was dehydrated and overheated from the intensity of the volcano, had holes burned into her clothes, and her hair was probably on fire tbh,, then suddenly she's face to face with some mysterious man who literally just poofed into existence right in front of her ?!

also she's honest, she isn't ashamed to admit that the first thing she noticed was how cute he was. she really thought she had died in that volcano and this angelic man was here to escort her to the afterlife.

her first words to him were "...am i dead ? i'm dead aren't i ? ugh, i knew those stupid magma sprites would get me."

it took him bit of convincing before she realized that she was in fact not dead.

safe to say she liked him a lot from the get go. developed a puppy love crush on him pretty quickly.

⊹ ˚. favorite skills

her favorite skill changes depending on how long she's been living in pelican town and running the farm yk.

wren's a former city girl wannabe model so she has no experience with any kind of farming or outdoorsy activities whatsoever. she only knows how to plant seeds in the ground because of a project her and her dads would do when she was a kid LMAO.

so her favorite skills in year 1 would be foraging because you literally just pick shit up off the ground. then fishing once she gets more experience with her fishing rod and help from willy.

as she gets the farm up and running, farming eventually becomes her favorite. she loves her animals and has really tapped into the jam business by the time her 3rd year rolls around.

⊹ ˚. Jio and The Cult™️

honestly i've been debating how i should incorporate ridgeside in wren's lore 👁️ there's a lot to get into and i really need to think about it more

wren has met jio and kiwi like you would in the game. she's wary about The Following simply because of the negative connotations around the term "cult". it's hard for her not to jump to conclusions about this kinda thing, but she is curious about jio, kiwi, and the ridge forest.

she stays away from the ridge forest though until she's more experienced with combat because WHEW she rly got her ass handed to her running in there with nothing but a rusty sword and a backpack full of salmonberries.

wren eventually comes around once she's better friends with kiwi. she's still wary, but she wants to help her little friend out. she ends up really admiring raeriyala and belinda's relationship and becoming good friends with jio and daia as well

⊹ ˚. her mother, the witch

wren does know that her mother is a witch and she's known all her life. it's probably one of the only things she remembers about her.

the reason she remembers is because on the day she was abandoned, her mom spent the morning showing baby wren how she uses magic to take care of the white rose bush they had growing outside of their house.

plus i think her mom would have worn a witchy hat like camilla does so it's easy for wren to put 2 and 2 together.