#that part was kILLING ME

[strxnged]

CHILUMI: # a chasmic mistake.

CHAPTER II: establishment.

chapter summary. in which neither childe nor lumine are willing to admit that they care. in which they may break some bones.

wc. 5.1k. genre. enemies to lovers, action/adventure.

table of contents / next chapter

“It’s not like I usually care how others see me. In fact, unless it affects my plans in any way, I simply do not think about it.” Childe’s voice was cheery, matter-of-fact.

“That explains a lot.” Lumine rolled her eyes.

They sat next to each other on the ridge of a cliff, legs dangling into the vague darkness. She didn’t much like making small talk with him, but it was better than uncomfortable silence as they rested.

“But like I said, there are exceptions,” he continued.

She asked herself for the hundredth time why she chose to get stuck down here with him. The Chasm was far too dangerous for her to wander alone. There was nowhere for her to step away to, and she had no choice but to hear him out.

“Of course there are,” she muttered, masking no venom.

“Ah... Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get you to change your mind about me.” 

She could hear what would be some semblance of remorse in Childe’s voice, if he was the kind of person whose tone you could trust. Which, as far as she was concerned, he wasn’t.

“That’s all, girlie.” He stretched his arms behind his head with a sad little smile. 

“Oh, yeah, you gonna cry?”

He sighed. “What then?”

“I’ll laugh at you.”

“And? You’re already laughing at me.”

Lumine felt her betraying heart sink, a bit of guilt defying her attitude. “Well, thanks for sharing. Now I know how to piss you off.”

“You’re also already doing that.”

“Mission accomplished.” She paused, wanting to ask something but being unsure whether he would give it a straight answer. “What’s your mission, Harbinger?”

“Hm! Why should I tell you?” he said with a smile in his voice.

Lumine shrugged. “You sure as hell don’t have to.”

“Well, since you’re so desperate to know,” he simpered, “my goal is world domination. Simple as.”

Lumine eyed him. “Fine, don’t tell me.”

“No, I’m serious. That’s my goal.”

His look seemed to be sincere, but of course she still didn’t know how sincere that actually was. 

“Someday I’m gonna rule the world. All will know my name and despair.”

He still looked sincere and she couldn’t believe it. Lumine snorted, and then guffawed, and then roared with laughter. “There’s no way. That’s so childish!”

Childe’s mouth fell agape, offended. “What’s the matter with it?” he whined.

Lumine wiped her eyes and shook her head. “Nothing at all, Childe. Nothing at all.” A yawn overtook her as she caught her breath. It felt good to laugh that hard. Maybe he was good for something, even if he oughtn’t be so proud of it.

She pushed herself to her feet, marching herself to the concave in the wall in which they’d set up a tiny camp. It consisted of a briefly functional fire pit, a stash between two boulders for their packs, and one leather blanket. She yawned again and sent a cross frown at the rock-hard floor. This would be less than enjoyable.

“Hm? Callin’ it a night? I can keep watch if you like.”

“I’m a light sleeper. It’s unnecessary,” Lumine replied, adamant. She hated the idea of Childe trying to protect her in any way.

He acquiesced. “If you say so.”

Initially, Lumine tried to take a position on the other side of the smouldering fire pit. It was uncomfortable, but she’d rather that than share a blanket with a Fatuus. This sentiment lasted until she began to feel suspicious that he was up to something across from her.

“Scoot over, Harbinger.”

“Getting cold, are we?”

“Shut your mouth. You better not snore.”

Childe simply laughed, stretching his arms behind his head and then moving himself over to allow her room. She lied down at his side, making an unprovokedly nasty face at his back. Then, she turned her shoulders away.

The whole time, she kept one eye open and one hand on the hilt of her sword. She was not aware that Childe was doing the same. By the time their fire had burned out, she’d dragged the blanket a bit further over her shoulders in response to the chilly air of the cave threatening shivers down her spine. Her mind was running through all the ways this could go, all the regrets she may have if she wasn’t careful. 

It was, perhaps, true that sticking next to a warrior who claimed to want to protect her would be safer than facing the cursed caverns by herself. And it was also true that she liked to keep her enemies close when possible, and that this appeared to be the perfect opportunity. But Lumine couldn’t shake the dread in the pit of her stomach every time her eyes had met his during their travels, and the unrelenting chill that seemed to radiate from him. There was something terrible about him, something that was exaggerated in its concealment. Something that was deeper than his association with the Fatui and his hailing from Snezhnaya. There was something that, at his core, denied him hesitation in his bloodthirsty pursuit.

There was no true tenderness in him, unlike all the rest she had met in Teyvat. It was as if he, also, was of another world.

What calamity could have borne such a monster?

She did sleep, eventually—dreaming of dark worlds and cold, soulless oceans—but awoke within the reaches of an hour to a slight rustle of the blanket and a clamour of beastly cries echoing against stone. She took to her feet after only a moment, sword drawn.

A flash of blue light reflected on the grey cavern walls revealed the Eleventh Harbinger’s usage of his vision upon what Lumine understood to be now defeated hilichurls. She dashed out from the small camp to greet Childe’s side once again, just in time for the two of them to be surrounded by reinforcement of several mitachurls and samachurls.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she spat, rushing towards a larger enemy. 

“Oh, I figured you wouldn’t mind my dealing with it.” He slashed Hydro at two mitachurls, dispelling them immediately.

“You figured wrong.” Lumine gave the mitachurl a frustrated kick.

“My bad, girlie.”

“And don’t call me that.” She dodged a swing of the monster’s weapon with a duck of her head.

“You really are a light sleeper, huh?” An arrow came from his direction and struck it in the head. It fell to the ground with a grunt and dissipated. “And not much of a morning person, it seems!” he added.

Something seemed to be different about the energy these Hilichurls seemed to have. They had a dissonant glow to them—a black agony holding their attacks steadier and harsher than usual.

Lumine shook off the unsettling feeling, shouting instead, “That one was mine!”

He ran past her, raising his Hydro-infused daggers at the remaining hilichurls. “You know,” he said, voice quite casual for someone in the middle of slaughtering beasts, “you really seem to talk a lot more without that imp Paimon speaking for you.”

“She makes things easier.” Lumine cleared her throat. “Usually.”

“She makes it a whole lot harder to get to know you.”

“What do you think this is, a candle-lit dinner?”

“If you like.”

Lumine gritted her teeth and cut down the last monster, twirling her sword and sheathing it with force. She promptly walked back to their little camp, grabbed her bag, and continued in the direction from which the hilichurls had come. She ignored the peevish smirk on Childe’s face as he followed her actions. 

“You hungry? Shall we hunt ourselves some breakfast? Perhaps light ourselves a few candles to go with it?”

She scowled and shook her head. “No. I can go days without eating.” With brutal timing, her stomach growled.

“Is that so?” he replied with a smug tone. “Well, I’d rather not eat alone, anyways. Don’t worry, I won’t have you lift a finger; I’m built to provide for women.”

“Oh, what, you can sniff out your food?”

Childe seemed a bit surprised. “Well, yes, I can.”

Lumine let a laugh slip and raised her brow at him incredulously. “You can’t be serious.”

“You must be an awful hunter yourself.”

“I’m a woman, not a bear.”

“You’re calling me a teddy bear? I’m flattered. Perhaps my sweetness has finally reached you.”

“Shut up.”

Childe mimicked zipping his lips and throwing away the key, and seconds after, his eyes latched onto something. He met Lumine’s gaze, gave a sarcastically long sniff, and proceeded to aim his bow.

Zwip.

“See? Breakfast.” He jogged forward to finish off his prey.

He’d shot a Hydro fungus right through its center; the poor thing was still writhing in the stream he’d spotted it in. “And we’ve got water to boil it in! Marvelous. We shall eat like kings and queens.”

“Yeah, kings and queens of fungi pisswater.”

“You’re just upset that I told you so.” He lifted the fungus by the tentacles around its head, dangling it before his own face with a wide, toothless smile. It was downright creepy, the way his eyes darkened and his smile shone.

“And what convenient cooking utensils are you gonna use to boil the brute?” Lumine asked.

Childe’s gaze latched on her, some remnant thirst for blood sending shivers down her spine. “Fire.”

She resigned not to ask any more questions. His useless response and acute expression dissuaded her from acknowledging him at all, for the moment. His gaze was so intense, like a hawk’s while catching a rodent in its beak. It didn’t suit his soft features, with the exception of those eyes of his. Those cold, empty, blue eyes.

Sometimes she needed a reminder that she was tagging along the side of a sadistic Snezhnayan killer.

—

Apparently, Childe’s idea of procuring proper cooking utensils was to simply locate a Fatui camp further into the Chasm willing to allow use of their resources—which, honestly, Lumine wished he had done much sooner, even last night. She hated Fatui but she hated going hungry more. 

He had led the two of them into another, wider area, in which there were structures along the walls that seemed to be out-of-commission mining constructs. On and around them, enemies of Lumine patrolled—but many of them were comrades of Childe and of the Cryo Nation. The camp they came across had two Legionnaires sitting around a fire, apparently gossiping up a storm. The distorted conversation became easier to hear as Lumine and Childe drew nearer.

“I heard that The Fair Lady went over to Inazuma. I’m thinkin’ she’s trying to rizz up the Electro Archon.”

“You’re kidding! Lucky Archon. She could rizz me up any day.”

“Bold of you to assume she’d even want to look at your ugly ass face.”

“Hey! Just a hypothetical, man.”

“Hello, boys,” Childe interjected, marching into camp. Lumine held back, letting him flaunt himself until they offered their resources and paychecks and livelihoods to him.

They both started as they noticed him. “Oh, it’s the Eleventh!” The Hydrogunner said, relatively less shocked than Lumine expected. “What brings you all the way down ‘ere?”

“Harbinger business,” he said with a smile in his tone. “You boys got rations?”

The Cryogunner nodded. “Yup.”

“Mind if me and my companion use your cookware?”

“Sure…” The Fatui Skirmisher eyed him.  “Why don’t you got your own?”

“Slipped my mind on the way,” he said casually. “C’mon, girlie, let’s feast.”

Lumine took a step into sight, and paused. All three Fatui were watching her without trying to kill her, and she hated it.

“What’s the hol’ up, stranger?” The Hydrogunner Legionnaire asked her, putting his large hand on the handle of his gun.

“Mm, nothing.” Lumine sighed, walking into the camp.

As they cooked up the Fungi—which yielded a terrible smell, and a confounding taste—Lumine couldn’t help but notice that neither Legionnaire was taking his eyes off of her for long. Childe was jolly and friendly with them, asking about their work and how they spent their time. From what she gathered from their conversation, a huge aspect of their job was dedicated to waiting for things to happen.

After a “nice rest,” as Childe put it, the two cavern travellers set off from the camp further into the maze of mining infrastructure and stalagmites and cold, open cave air. She could make out some parts of the cavern’s ceiling thanks to the murky indigo glow splayed across sections of it. She recognized the substance to be similar to the mud she’d been trapped in earlier, only this was much thicker and more potent. Such substance also littered the cave floor and even the wooden pathways they took along the mining structures.

Lumine wondered where in Liyue they were beneath now. Perhaps they were under the harbour, or the mountains, or the islands. If they somehow made a tunnel straight up, would they end up in the sea? How did these pillars of stone hold up such a great land? 

After another hour or so of walking they came across another camp with two scruffy Fatui Geochanter Bracers pacing its outskirts. Childe greeted them respectfully. And greet Childe they did, but the mutual respect was nowhere to be seen.

“Who does this guy think he is?” one asked. They both scowled at him, holding their weapons at the ready. 

“I’m No. 11 of the Harbingers.”

“Sure you are, pal,” the same replied, sending his colleague a sickly smirk.

Childe, in turn, frowned. “You don’t recognize me?”

“Why should we?” the other asked in a drawl, cocking his head. “We haven’t caught word of any Harbingers for ages. Even if you are whichever Harbinger you say, it’s frankly meaningless.”

Childe and Lumine met eyes, and Lumine quirked an eyebrow. He shrugged, facing them again. “Alright, boys. We’ll leave you be.”

As they walked away from the camp, they heard the skirmishers laughing to each other. “That kid expected us to believe he was really a Harbinger. A Harbinger!” The roaring laughter echoed down the chamber as they walked further away. “Chasm must have gotten to them.”

Lumine noticed Childe clenching and unclenching one of his fists, brows furrowed. She was about to tell him to shake it off, when she heard a bit more.

“What a damn riot. Who was the bitch with him? Didn’t know Harbingers had girlfriends…”

Before she could think it through, her sword was suddenly in her hand and she was turning on her heel to teach them a lesson. It would be oh so satisfying to crush their voice boxes under her heel. But she felt a hand on her shoulder, and at Childe’s imploring expression, she sighed.

“I don’t think they’re in their right minds. No need for unnecessary bloodshed.”

Lumine nearly spat as she replied. “Drunk or not, I don’t let Fatui talk about me like that.”

One corner of Childe’s lips lifted, threatening a smile, but he instead pressed his mouth into a line. “I know, girlie. But I don’t think it’s just alcohol.” His eyes wandered into the darkness around them, settling on a patch of black mud on one edge of the cave.

She followed his gaze. “What the hell is that stuff, anyways?”

“It’s sort of…” He clicked his tongue. “I don’t really know.”

“What were you going to say?”

Childe ran his right hand through his hair, apparently thinking very hard. “It’s nothing your type wants to be around, that’s all.” He shrugged, and at last started to walk again. “Or those skirmishers, believe it or not.”

They continued to walk for what felt like hours. Lumine was becoming more shamefully comfortable with him leading the way. She found that she couldn’t stop thinking about him stopping her from attacking those men—those men whom she normally would wipe the floor with, and who had equally pissed him off. He didn’t want “unnecessary bloodshed.” What did that mean, by his terms?

—

There was something about the image of Childe that she had in her mind that suited this kind of environment. Running in the shadows, searching for what she did not understand. His perpetual energy and smiles, but his pale, insipid gaze.

“How… How do you see so well in the dark?” she asked him, barely aware it had been out loud until he turned to her with a raised brow.

“What do you mean?” he responded. He tossed the Hydro glow between his hands like it was an insignificant playground ball. “Are you referring to my vision lantern?”

She squinted at him. “No. You’re only using that for me, aren’t you?”

He gave her a smile that seemed a little too genuine for her comfort. “How’d you know?”

Lumine crossed her arms. “I asked you a question first.”

He grimaced. “Well, alright. You’re no fun.”

“Mhm. You gonna answer it?”

Childe paused, peering at her for a second with a smile still faded onto the corners of his lips. “Alright. You really want to know? Fine.” He took a deep breath. “Although, I will warn you, it’s not a… per se… charming story. Nor have I… told it many times.”

Lumine didn’t say anything, waiting for him to continue.

“Well… there was a time,” he said, “when I was young, about 14 years old. I ran away from home one day. Schneznayan winter forests are not forgiving to young folk out and about, and soon enough I was being chased by the beasts of the land. I escaped, but only by the fluke of,” he extinguished the Hydro lantern, throwing both of them into the haunting pitch black of the Chasm, “...darkness.

“It was then, in that darkness, that something… took me in. I was not my fathers, nor my own, nor the Tsaritsa’s. Something gave me a new home. Something taught me the ways of that darkness. Something… or someone… changed me.”

Lumine then realized that Childe was gripping her arm, a fierce look in his eyes. She could not see anything but the pale blue of his irises. Fear crept up her throat, though she knew not quite what it was of.

“She taught me all I know. Anyways, I got out alright and went back home after that.” He released her arm and relit the lantern. “All’s well that ends well, and now I can see decently in the dark! My eyes just adjusted over the time I spent there.“

Lumine noticed her heart speeding and she took a shaky breath, hoping it would calm her. “I see.”

He appeared to notice. “Are you alright, there, girlie?”

“I’m fine…” she mumbled. Yet another reminder, it was, that this was no ordinary  man, that evil dwelt just behind those clear blue eyes. Yes, it suited his behaviour, but in a way it still shocked her. There seemed to be moments when he was just a rival to her—a rival, but someone she would not like to live without. “And don’t call me that, Harbinger.”

Childe simply laughed. “I’d like you to meet my master someday. She’d get a kick out of you. You’re feisty enough. I think you might even be able to hold your own in a duel against her, for at least a few seconds.”

Lumine tried to shake off her chills. “You say that like we’re ever going to get out of this hell-hole.”

“You still don’t trust me, huh?” Childe directed his gaze into her eyes, appearing a bit bothered by her sharpened glare right back. “I see,” he resigned, talking as if to himself. He began to walk again, heading towards a suspended bridge across a dark gorge. “What more shall I do, hm?”

Lumine recovered herself and dashed a few paces to catch up with him. Until he had slivers in his palms from repairing the boards of the houses that were destroyed by Osial’s wrath; until he mourned the lives of the innocent nearly lost by his reckless choices…

“Traveller, will you ever stop blaming me for what happened in the harbour?” he asked, as if hearing her thoughts. “I was only following orders from the Tsaritsa; and the people of Liyue triumphed, didn’t they? Someday, maybe, you’ll stop villainizing the Fatui just because you got roped into the Adventurer’s Guild before meeting me.”

“But you are villains.”

“How many treasure hoarder families have you forced into hunger by intercepting their plans? How many innocent soldiers have you bruised and broken simply because they opposed you? Traveller, don’t you wonder what drives you to follow someone like me?” An unwelcome shiver went up Lumine’s spine. “Is it not because you, as well, desire the thrill of battle, the flourish of power, the breeze of narrow escapes?”

She could not respond, for she neither had the words nor the time.

Childe and Lumine, during this discussion, had been walking under a rock overhanging the mining passage right before the bridge. A low growl—initially ignored, but succeedingly telling—has come from above it, and a scamper preluded a deep scraping sound of a giant rock against a massive wall. Whatever creature had been disturbed by their conversation had somehow caused an overhang the size of a ship to crumble from the wall and freefall straight towards them.

With only a moment to think, Lumine sprinted to the ravine bridge ahead, crossing it faster than she had known her legs to be capable of carrying her. She could only hope that Childe was close behind. The boards beneath her feet seemed to falter—and then there were no boards beneath her feet. She was falling—reaching—grasping and pulling herself up the bridge whose ropes from the direction she had come from had no posts left to be tied to. The planks became makeshift ladder rungs for her to hang onto, but some great elemental force behind her made any effort to do so futile. Securing her position as best she could with an uncomfortable placement of her legs on the hanging boards, she looked over her shoulder only to be utterly baffled by the sight.

Beneath the enormous rock which appeared to be frozen in time, the scrawny young man was gone, and the cycloptic beast of an unleashed Electro delusion posed instead. This was Tartaglia, the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers, and he was shrouded in black and purple as he channeled Abyssal energy upwards. Lumine could only watch as the swirling darkness of Foul Legacy grew at his command.

It was then that his head turned to face her for a moment, perhaps meeting her gaze. As his face was entirely masked, she could not fathom why he looked at her, but she was now convinced she’d imagined it. He was flying around the overhang fast enough that she could not see the motion itself, only a black blur between positions. At the increments where he stopped, he was slashing violet energy upon the rock. Then, he stopped in the air over the ravine with a final stroke, and the immense rock exploded and fell to the ground as amassments of dust and pebbles.

In the aftermath of the detonation she could just barely see, through the dust, his limp figure falling fast into the ravine. She scrambled down the rest of the bridge with her pack weighing heavily on her back and her heart weighing heavily in her chest. Reaching the bottom of the hanging bridge after what felt like an eternity, she breathed in what faith she had that the ravine floor would be close, and lept from the last “rung.”

Her feet hit the ground a bit later than expected and she lost her balance, teetering onto her hands, which were raw from climbing. She could immediately feel the unsavory mud-stuff between her fingers as she tried to push herself to her feet—and failed, finding her energy to be rapidly decreasing. It was as if her very life force was being claimed from her body as she crawled through the mud to reach Childe’s fallen form.

Before she made it to him, he slowly sat up. Lumine watched as he gazed at his own hand, heaving and trying to catch his breath.

“Ch-Childe—”

He seemed to surge from his daze, facing her in the darkness with his pale eyes. They seemed to still glow with a little purple from his prior Foul Legacy transformation. “Traveller…”

She sighed with relief and exhaustion at the sound of his voice. “What… what the hell was that?”

He tried to catch his breath. “That was me preventing the rock’s impact from bringing down the whole cavern on top of us. Not with much proper preparation though… yeah, that’s gonna have me pretty drained for awhile.”

“I think this mud stuff’s not helping.”

He gazed around them to where she was gesturing. “You’re right.”

Childe made to rise and Lumine marvelled at his strength. She hadn’t been using all her strength to destroy a colossal overhang, and she had found the mud had already sucked away most of her physical energy. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to follow suit. But she wouldn’t have to; without another word, the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers scooped her up into his arms and carried her until they were out of the mud. Lumine couldn’t muster the energy to complain or resist. She was shocked by the warmth of his body and tenderness of his grip, even amidst his heaves of exhaustion. She could hear his racing heartbeat in his chest, where her head involuntarily rested. To her relief, he promptly set her down against the ravine wall and crumbled to the ground next to her.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes.

Childe was first to break the silence. “Well, we survived.” He stretched his arms back behind his head with a huff. “Wasn’t that fun?”

Lumine, feeling a bit more energized, dropped her jaw at him. “I thought you were going to die.”

“Isn’t that all you’ve ever wanted?” he chuckled, looking a bit wistful.

“No,” she snapped, and immediately regretted it. “I mean, I’d rather I never saw you or any of the Fatui again, I don’t care whether it means you have to die or not.” At his smug expression, she tried to change the subject before he could tease her again. “Anyways, I wouldn’t like to be down here by myself. I feel like I’d go a little insane.” She did mean that.

Childe laughed and then started to cough, leaning forward. “Yeah, not possible,” he managed to get out. “Girls like you are as insane as they come, comrade.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” She watched him clutch his chest, more worried than she thought she ought to be. And yet her pride was no longer as pressing as her concern. How had he known what to do, up there? How had he known destroying the rock before it touched the ground would save them? “Hey, why the hell did you call me ‘comrade’? I’m the furthest from it.”

“It’s that or I get to call you ‘girlie.’ Besides, we’re stuck down here together whether either of us like it or not, so I think that makes us comrades in some way. And, well… you haven’t tried to kill me yet, comrade.”

His empty smile shut Lumine up as she wondered to herself what would be next.

As it turned out, darkness was next. Childe had exhausted himself to save the both of them—excessively, Lumine thought, and necessarily, Childe assured her—and he could not muster a hydro lantern for the time being. She bothered him to teach her how but he could not offer significant instructions. It seemed that yet again, vision bearers did not quite know how to relate to her visionless abilities however similar they appeared.

She wanted to go on still, and Childe said the only way they were doing so would be together. Lumine agreed, until he clarified.

“I mean we have to physically stick together. You don’t know what lurks at the depths of the Abyss—what can snatch you and drag you further into the darkness.”

“You mean the Chasm,” Lumine corrected him.

“Yes, that’s what I said, isn’t it?”

Lumine responded with silence, unable to make out his expression through the lack of light.

“Besides,” he continued, “I need your help if I’m going to walk very far.”

“And you think you can lean on me.”

“Yes.” He was rather confident.

Lumine thought for a moment, huffed, and linked her arm around his. “If it’s the only way, then fine.” 

Childe seemed to hesitate, his body stiffening at her touch, as if he hadn’t been the one to suggest it in the first place. After a second, however, he relaxed, and she could almost feel the warmth of the smile glaring from his face. It was a victorious smile, no doubt.

The two started to walk through the ravine.

Their fates were suddenly very much in each other’s hands, Lumine realized.

The truth was, as she had seen Childe’s figure fall out of the air, that Lumine had imagined many scenarios. The first, of course, had been a fearful vision of her attempts at exploration all by herself. Before Childe, before Paimon, she had always been travelling with Aether. Rarely had she been truly alone, especially while in such damning circumstances. She thought about the fact that, had Childe not lived through the fall, she would have been stumbling in the darkness without someone to blame it on. Without someone to lean on her. Without another’s life to protect.

The second vision was of a world without Childe—perhaps a safer one, but in some dreadful way, an emptier one. Yes, empty of a life that ought to carry on. As much as she would claim to hate him, she was unable to even conceptualize his death being a good thing. She’d had opportunities to kill him herself. Really, she’d rather she had taken those opportunities herself before she had grown attached to him, rather than being unable to protect him from death.

The third vision was seemingly not her own. For as she watched him fall, she had felt herself falling. She had felt the wind racing past her face, her body growing limp, and her end approaching. 

She had known dread.

author’s note. wowie! chapter two! this was one of my favourites to write for sure; finishing this chapter determined me to finish the whole fic.

please consider leaving some thoughts so far. it would be greatly appreciated.

— table of contents / next chapter

➳ GENSHIN MASTERLIST

[samble-moved]

post itself

false flags

trans/adjacent tags

accessibility features

tumblr live post (thanks for the link, @problemnyatic)

flashing / strobing / lights

unblockable flashing ad

buying ad free

staff @/macmanx guilt trip

list of staff + more issues

[theoldkyokodied]

The Allegiance of the Ascended Vampire and the New God of Magic

[mythicalcoolkid]

You don't wish your disability was worse or more visible, you wish your disability was taken seriously. Please stop confusing the two, I guarantee you would not get the support you need JUST by being more severe or more visible. Please listen to visibly disabled people when we tell you it isn't better on our side

[demaparbat-hp]

She will (and he'll let her)

[technically-human]

"I had a favorite mug. It said "I love you, bitch" and had a picture of a drunk dog on it."

The girls are NOT fighting!

[stil-lindigo]

the fox god.

a comic about a trickster.

--

creative notes:

–

all my other comics

store

[botanicalbasil]

I hate being a person who loves bugs, I can't say anything without the person I'm talking to reacting with disgust. Today I had to literally beg a coworker for the life of a spider, and then after I put it in a nook outside she thought it'd be funny to show me a video she took of her killing one. Like idk man. Birds scare the shit out of me but I still get why people love them. They come in pretty colors and they sound nice and they're interesting to observe. I don't understand why people don't feel the same about bugs. The rich amber color of a cockroach, the iridescent glow of a fly, the intricate hydraulics that power their little legs, the chirp of a beetle, the art of the spider's web... It's all so beautiful. Why is it the habit of so many to destroy?

[withdenim]

Local man desperately trying to stop the cycle before it gets to his kids (it’s already there)

[duraante]

so thrice dante has killed him. first, above temen-ni-gru. then, at mallet island.

and now a third time. it is the ultimate homicide: he has slaughtered vergil’s character, his very spirit.

[permit-it]

"Kill them with kindness" WRONG. To the barricades! 🪑🪑🪜⚰️🪑💥🚪⚰️🪑🪜⚰️🚪🪑⚰️💥⚰️🪑⚰️🪑🪜🪑💥⚰️🪜🪑⚰️🪑🚪🪑⚰️🪑💥⚰️🚪🪑⚰️🪑🪑⚰️💥🪑⚰️⚰️🪑🪜⚰️🪑💥🚪🪑⚰️🪑⚰️🪜💥🚪🪑⚰️⚰️🪑💥🪜⚰️🪑🪑⚰️🪜

[nientedal]

What progress at home has biden enacted? What policies of his show that he is making progress that prove he is actually different than trump?

I like to pretend I have faith in humanity, so I'll answer as if you're asking this in good faith.

Biden's DEA has lifted restrictions on telehealth prescriptions to make appointments and assistance more accessible.

He put a funding package into place to help unhoused people get access to mental and physical healthcare, as well as short-term and long-term housing.

He has attempted and is still attempting to get student debt relief through - this was blocked by Republican judges appointed by Trump, but he's still working on it.

Infrastructure repair - his administration has budgeted funds to actually fix some severely-damaged and frequently-traveled bridges.

Trying to expand access to healthcare to include undocumented immigrants who came to the USA as children (Dreamers) under the Affordable Care Act. Support for Navigator programs and outreach has also been increased.

He has vetoed Republican-led bills that were attempting to overturn environmental protections - one that would have forbidden investment fund managers to consider climate change in their portfolios (I have two degrees in accounting and this is actually huge), and another that would have overturned restrictions on agricultural runoff into our waterways.

He and his administration worked for ages to get rail workers paid sick days.

This is just some of what he's been doing. Meanwhile, Trump and other Republicans want to criminalize the lives of LGBT people like you and me. They want to eliminate no-fault divorce and force births that will kill parents or devastate them financially. They have stated flat out that they want to install a military dictatorship in the USA. They attempted to put that in motion on January 6th, 2021. They failed once. They will do better next time.

One party wants to house the homeless and expand social safety nets, while the other one wants to criminalize homelessness. One of them wants a future in which I might be able to vote to change how much of a war machine my country is, while the other one wants to eliminate my ability to vote entirely. Those are not the same. Those literally are opposites.

At the end of the day, all you and I can do is choose to do the least amount of harm possible. You and I cannot choose to do no harm. This is the USA, we sell war, you and I cannot choose to do no harm. I wish we could, my god do I wish we could, but that is not an option. So we grieve for the harm we couldn't eliminate and work to minimize the harm that is done. Despite all the crap they support, Democrats are the minimum amount of harm right now. Acting like they aren't is exactly what brought us to an election where our options are a future where we are either wading in blood or drowning in it.

Not voting for Biden will not help Palestine. Not voting for Biden will guarantee a Republican president who will make the situation in Palestine WORSE. AND it'll hurt a lot of other places as well, both at home and abroad, because Republicans are about business and the USA is in the business of war! And I would very much like that to change someday! I would very much like to someday be able to choose to do no harm! And I know what I have to do to try for that future, so what are YOU going to do? There is no standing off to the side in this. If you aren't helping pull, you're the dead weight we're pulling. Are you going to dig your feet into the mud and blood and drown us there? Or are you going to get the fuck off your ass, grit your teeth, and help us pull free?

[thevoidstaredback]

It's always graveyards. Why is it always graveyards? They're creepy as hell and, well... that's it. On the bright side, the Protection Spirits watching the gates recognize him and realize the danger he's in. Well, maybe he wasn't in real danger because the Bats and Birds don't really do the whole purposefully harming civilians things, but they are scary as hell! Chasing him down like a bat straight outta hell- obviously he was gonna run! They cornered him! Maybe he'll invest in getting them lessons in how to interact with people in and out of costume?

Honestly, Nightwing, Danny expected better of you. At least Red Hood and Signal know how to treat innocents.

Here's the thing about Protection and Guardian Spirits, though. They don't like intruders. If you're running from something and you don't have time to ask permission to enter, you best say "thank you" and bring them shiny things on your next visit. If you do have time to ask permission, you ask permission. If they think you're a threat or rude, they won't let you enter whatever they're guarding.

"Thank you," Danny said as he slowed to a walk further into the graveyard, the sound of the gates slamming closed behind him confirmation that the Bat and his gaggle wouldn't be following him in.

Wasting no time, Danny pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket. It was a handy little thing he'd picked up during his stay in the House of Mysteries. Draw and door, tell it where you wanna go, open it, and go through! Beetlejuice style. Though, unlike what the Handbook for the Recently Deceased says, these doors won't actually open a door to the afterlife. He fixed that tiny glitch a while ago.

Anyway, a quick few chalk lines on the side of a mausoleum later, and Danny was opening a door to Fawcett, Philadelphia. Probably not the best choice, considering that he was trying to stay away from the Justice League, but it's better than Metropolis.

"Whoa." Damn it! He should've stayed home. "What was that, mister?"

Danny made sure the door closed behind him, praying for strength. Why did he feel like several deities were laughing at him? "Hey, kid. Can you, um, maybe not say anything about that?"

The kid, short brown hair and a red jacket stood out the most to Danny for some reason, seemed very amused. "You're gonna have to buy my silence."

Again, Danny let out a quiet, long suffering sigh. "Coffee is so not worth it." Looking at the kid, he said, "Alright, fine. I was getting coffee anyway, I'll buy ya lunch. Know any good places?"

Grinning, the kid cheered, "Hell yeah! Follow me!"

Resigned, Danny followed after the kid, easily keeping pace. About a block later, he figured he should probably get the kid's name. "I'm Danny."

"Billy."

"No last name?"

"Fae rules, dude. What's your excuse?"

He had to give it to him. "Touché."

Another three blocks of walking, Billy finally stopped at a cafe. It was a quaint place with stained white brick and a dark grey roof. There were metal chairs and tables outside the building surrounded by a wrought iron fence. The table umbrellas and the awning over the black door were light blue, matching the curtains in the inside.

The inside walls were painted baby blue with a white ceiling and a pinewood floor. The tables and chairs were all stained black with light pink cushions and table cloths. The curtains, as observed before, were all baby blue, tied back with baby pink ribbons. The lights were barely yellow, giving the room a warm feel. The counters were white with black paneling on the outside and white granite as the tops.

"Welcome in," the young man at the register greeted with a smile, "What can I get you two started with today?"

Danny envied the man. He'd obviously not been doing this long enough to gain the veteran's shine to his eye. He turned to look at the menu after telling Billy to get whatever he wanted. A mistake he'll probably pay for. "I'd like a large Red Eye, equal parts coffee and espresso, with cinnamon, honey, chocolate syrup, mint, and vodka, please."

The 'newbie' light in the man's eyes dimmed a little bit. "Um, we don't carry vodka." Glad that's the only thing he's worried about. Priorities.

Danny clicked his tongue. "Oh, well, it was worth a shot. I'd like everything else, though, please. Mix it at your own discretion."

"Alright," he was very valiant to go back to grinning, "Anything else?"

Danny motioned for Billy and the kid stepped up. "Can I get a large mocha, three chocolate chip cookies, and two sandwiches?"

The blond entered the order. "Of course! That'll be $25.37." A quick card swipe from Danny. "Thank you very much, we'll have your order out to you soon!"

The two didn't say a word as they chose a table in the corner. Danny let Billy take the seat that was open to the rest of the cafe so he wouldn't feel cornered. He had a good view of the door, though, so he wasn't complaining.

"So, how'd you do that?" Billy asked after they'd gotten their orders.

"How'd I do what?" Danny sipped his drink.

"How'd you walk outta that wall? It's solid!"

"Magic."

"I guessed that much."

"Then why'd you ask?"

"Will you teach me?"

"No."

"You didn't even think about it!"

"Okay," He paused. "No."

"Not fair." he pouted.

Putting his drink on the table, Danny summed as much fake-it-till-you-make-it energy as he could. "Magic isn't a toy and takes years of practice to get a handle on, not to mention you have to actually have an aptitude for it before you can even try. Besides, I don't know you nearly well enough to trust you with anything else."

Billy finished the cookie he was eating. "I can do it! You just gotta teach me!"

Another sigh that Danny had stopped counting. "Look, you seem like a good kid, but I'm not gonna teach you magic."

"Why not!"

"However," he continued, ignoring the demand, "I'm not gonna leave ya fully defenselessness."

"What do you mean?" Billy backed away slightly, his eyes narrowing as he moved to be able to run quickly.

Another sip. "Based off of the dirt you're covered in, the grease in your hair, and the overall poor condition of your clothes, I'm gonna bet that you're a street kid. So," he pulled a small card from his pocket, very aware that Billy was watching his hand aptly, "I'm going to leave you with this."

Slowly, the brunet took it and turned it over. "What it is?"

The white card had the initials DP in the middle, circled by an Ouroboros. The initials were completely solid, but the snake of the Ouroboros was made up of tiny runes of protection and health and healing and good fortune.

"My calling card. If you're ever in danger, hold that to your chest and ask for help. I'll be there."

Still obviously suspicious, Billy took a moment to scrutinize the card. It was cute to watch the kid act like he knew what he was looking at or for. When he seemed satisfied, he shoved the card into the inner pocket sewn into his jacket. "Thanks."

"No problem, kid," Pulling out his phone, Danny saw the time and stood, "I've gotta go now. I assume I've sufficiently bought your silence on the whole magic thing?"

Billy grinned, "I guess, but you gotta come visit me, okay?"

He chuckled, "Sure thing. See ya."

Part 2 Part 4

(I don't drink coffee, so Idk how that shit works)

Tag list: @zaiothe4th

[inkskinned]

it is totally okay to be hurt and tired and fed up with the american schooling system but i need you to understand that we need to be better about loudly and routinely defending public education.

yes, many teachers suck, many schools utterly suck. i also got bullied and was absolutely not given the right support for my needs. i am not defending public education because it was kind to me. i am defending it because it needs to exist.

right-wing republicans do not want an educated population. they want kids to be homeschooled or in private school. there is a huge religious undertone to this.

the most common argument is that despite high costs, the "result" is not "good" enough. they point to failing schools as proof that public education is just never going to work out. there will be arguments made here that you actually agree with: that teachers can be bullies, that we taught online for 2 years and still charged the same amount of tuition, that we have no recourse for students to actually have agency or a voice, and that schools are now unsafe for kids due to risk of illness and gun violence.

these are all placing the blame in a fraudulent way, one intended to get your parents to homeschool you. the less kids in a school, the less federally-awarded funding for that school, the less any school succeeds. they will not mention the fact it is their legislation that takes away important funding opportunities, that teachers are living at or below the poverty line, that buildings are not kept up to code, that administration is overpaid and forces specific curriculums, that corporations like (my personal enemy) Pearson Education control certain classroom goals because teachers can't afford other options. they pretend to be ignorant of the gun violence and say "oh just get a gun" - but these are the same people who will be sending their child to a private school with a bulletproof backpack. they don't care if your kid dies, though. they "don't believe" in covid, but they did get their kid vaccinated, because of course they did.

it is a closed loop. conservative parents hear the fearmongering and remove children from the system. frequently these parents are also deeply religious. the kids are raised without access to other media & learn to parrot their parents. you have now created a new generation of conservatives. additionally, one of the parents/caregivers must stay home and homeschool the children, usually for free. i will give you 1 guess which parent tends to stay home to homeschool the children. these parents are encouraged to have many, many children. those children are most likely not getting access to safe sex ed.

we might laugh at fox news suggesting teachers are forcing children to use kitty litter but: first of all, there is kitty litter in the classroom. it's part of an emergency kit in case children are locked in due to a shooter. so that's fucking dystopian, and the fact they've completely reimagined the scenario to somehow make the teachers look bad when it's instead a fucking huge symbol of our failure as a country to protect our children.... it feels a little intentional.

secondly: don't just dismiss the situation. because, yeah, obviously, no teacher is encouraging kids to be a catboy. but the actual undertone that fox news is trying to sew is an outright distrust of teachers and of public education. they rely on the dehumanization of trans people as a common touchstone to hide the fact they're pushing two agendas at once. (which is ironic. because the thing they accuse teachers of. is pushing. an agenda.)

whenever someone tells you they want you to read less, you should be suspicious of that. when someone tries to separate you and your education, you should be suspicious of that. i don't even like incel rhetoric nor would i want my kids exposed to it - but i would not take away my child's (age-appropriate) access to the internet. i would just provide more educational materials, not less. the difference here is that i believe we can resolve ignorance with knowledge; whereas conservatives believe that ignorance is bliss.

they misappropriate funding and demonize teachers. they pull the same trick each time - the same thing we are seeing with anti-trans rhetoric. they do not want you to have access to safe sex ed, so they act horrified, claim sex ed teaches you how to thrust deep, claim that we have no idea what "age-appropriate" means. since the mid-nineties, the united states has spent at least 2 billion dollars on abstinence-only education, even though to quote the above link: "a preponderance of studies has found no effect of abstinence education at reducing adolescent pregnancy". conservatives want you to think less of any person struggling with addiction so they can continue their racist "war on drugs", so they spend up to $750 million dollars a year on the DARE program which has absolutely no effect. acting like teachers "must" be "grooming" children is just the same thing - so they can demand that funding either goes to their causes or the funding doesn't "exist" ("i'm not paying for our kids to learn that thing!")

and they want you to feel uncaring about this. they are aware that you will hate some parts of your school experience. pretty much everyone does. they want to lean into the parts that you hate so that you don't put up a fight about it when they take it away for not being "good enough."

i know i maybe sound like a conspiracy theorist. but truly. truly. it is beneficial for conservatives to reduce your faith in the american public schooling system.

one of the explicitly stated campaign promises of the conservative party: to axe the Department of Education in 2024.

i know we are all tired and burnt out and there is so much else wrong with their entire platform. but maybe just - pay attention to this one.

[egophiliac]

:) hello! :D hope you have a nice day and absolutely do not think of the possibility of one of the last story cards being of silver! and that his groovy will very probably be crying!!! THERE'S SO MANY CRYING PEOPLE IN STORY CARDS LATELY!!! SPECIALLY LIGHT USERS!! I AM!!! SCARED!!!! bc so far we got Lilia and Sebek in the beginning book 7.... so at the end.... so we're missing story Silver... and Malleus is the one with less cards, so they might add one for him... but... the tears... ego.... THE TEARS!!!! EGOOOO!! (LOVE YOUR ART BTW EVERYTIME I GET A NOTIF FROM YOUR BLOG I RUN HERE TO SEE!)

(thank you! 💚💜💚)

YES I am ALSO like...90-95% convinced that we're going to be getting a story card for Silver once we wrap around back to diasomnia. 👀 especially because the way things are going, Silver will be the only character whose dream we haven't seen -- yet???? -- and that just. y'know. makes me wonder!

although I do think it would be VERY funny if he got a story card and the groovy was just "regular Silver except with one beautiful single crystal tear". this is actually a lot coming from him.

(he used up all his emotion yelling at a baby that one time, there's none left for a proper groovy-level cry.)

[phoenixspencer]

"What about you, Connor? You look human. You sound human. But what are you, really?"