#.......... then again.... so many human beings out there are trash.... i can live with that kind of male lead so far
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poisoned mercury | end up here
a/n: i'm going FERALLLLLLL over this chapter. enjoy poisoned mercury's debut album hehe.
iv. end up here by 5sos
series masterlist | previous | next
“your band name doesn’t even make any sense,” you argued, eyes narrowing at the boy in front of you.
luke crashed your secret spot, again, and refused to let you smoke in silence until you gave him a detailed explanation of how your day went. he knew you didn’t smoke every day, only on days that were particularly hard. he noticed that your bad days always had something to do with your dad, but it didn’t feel like the right moment to bring that up.
anyway, you got fed up with his badgering and that stupid smirk on his face because he knew you were about to crack, and decided that if he was going to act like a toddler, you would too. hence, why you were now bringing up his band name.
luke took offense to that because he thought the band name was cool. he was the one to suggest it. he crossed his arms over his chest, trying not to let his hurt show on his face, “what do you mean? poisoned mercury is a sick name.”
“mercury is already poisonous. your band name is like redundant or some shit.”
“then why did so many people in history ingest it?” luke asked, recalling the one thing he remembered from his high school history class before he dropped out. he took a drag from his cigarette, turning his body a bit so the wind didn’t blow the smoke directly in your face.
“they fucking died, castellan,” you replied, deadpan.
“oh,” he blinked, staring off, “i didn’t know that.”
you rolled your eyes, a habit that you’ve picked up whenever you were with him and sat back down on the bench. luke joined you, silent as he thought about what you just said. he really needed to stop zoning out during lessons, but since he was already out of high school, he guessed it didn’t matter anymore.
as much as you hate to admit it, luke castellan was growing on you. sure, he got on your nerves like nobody else– the boy just doesn’t quit– but, he wasn’t half as bad as you originally thought. not that you’d ever tell him that though.
when you got back to the cabin last week after helping with concert prep, the cabin was spotless. there were no empty red bull cans in sight, the table tops were free of crumbs, floor vacuumed and mopped, and there was even a candle burning on the counter. you approached your bedroom door to find a post-it on the handle. luke’s messy writing was smudged around the corners, but you could still make out what it said.
“five star,
i snitched on the boys and my mom will have a stern talk with them about their cleanliness. can’t promise that people will stop talking about me, but i can promise you won’t have to live in the dojo casa house mojo or whatever it was.
ps i’m using the spot tomorrow, just thought i should let you know. maybe we can set up a calendar for reservations.
luke :)”
the cabin hasn’t been as messy since. whatever may castellan told the boys worked like a charm. there was still the occasional trash, but nothing crazy. it smelled better in the cabin too, still like a boy, but it smelled like expensive cologne more than anything. cedarwood and pine.
and thankfully, the luke castellan hype train was starting to run out of steam, with many people finally realizing that he was also just a human being and the surprising revelation that luke castellan was not entertaining anyone during his time at camp helped with it as well. you still heard whispers about him here and there, but you were glad the topic of conversation was beginning to switch to something else.
you and luke walked to the gym and back home every morning together. he and the boys sat with you and clarisse during meals. they tagged along for music lessons and spoke to the kids, which they really appreciated. they helped the older campers with writing music, luke particularly. you’d been around a few musicians in your life and many of them only kissed ass when your dad was around, but poisoned mercury was different. they were passionate about their music. that was clear.
after a conversation with clarisse, where she managed to convince you that not all musicians are like your ex, you began to let loose a little bit. you hung out with the boys more, partly as an excuse so clarisse could hang out with chris without causing too much suspicion, and found that you actually enjoyed their company. and luke castellan? well, he wasn’t half bad. that doesn’t mean he got off easy though.
you took a hit of your vape, facing him, “are you done interrogating me?”
“for now, yeah,” he smiled as you shook your head. “are you coming to the concert tonight?”
“well, i did help organize it.”
“a simple yes would’ve sufficed, five star,” luke teased, relighting his cigarette. it was burning unevenly and luke was never one to waste his cigarettes. “you gonna watch us play?”
“don’t have a choice. dad wants me there the whole time.”
“you can act a little excited,” luke ran a hand through his curls, “we are pretty good, you know.”
“i know,” you hummed. the sun was beginning to set and there was a slight breeze in the air. goosebumps formed on your skin, the t-shirt and denim shorts you wore didn’t offer much comfort. you shivered, “i have listened to your music.”
“are you cold?”
your teeth chattered, but you shook your head, “i’m fine.”
luke took off his hoodie, tossing it in your direction, “take it.”
“no,” you tossed it back to him, “told you i’m good.”
always so stubborn, luke thought.
“if you catch a cold, that’s not on me,” he placed the hoodie on the bench between the two of you. “which songs have you listened to?”
“kilby girl, of course. it played on the radio so much when you guys first dropped it,” you said, remembering the days where you and your hometown friends would blast it in the car. it reminded you of high school, reckless decisions, life-long memories, and the thrill of knowing you were going to be playing the sport you’d worked so hard to excel in at a d1 level in the fall. you looked at him, sincerity in your eyes, “i really like family line. it might be my favorite.”
luke’s eyebrows shot up. not many people talked about family line. it was probably their least streamed song. they never performed the song on tour because it was difficult for luke to sing it. it was a personal song to him. it was inspired by his relationship with his father, or lack thereof.
when poisoned mercury first got signed to olympus records, luke sent a message to his dad on facebook. luke hadn’t tried to contact him since he was ten, not since his father returned his letter to him unopened, no response but a “return to sender” stamp plastered over the envelope. but after the small congratulatory party his mom set up for the band after they signed, luke felt like a little kid again, a kid who wanted to share the great news with his dad, so he found his dad on facebook, made an account, and sent him a message.
he didn’t get a reply, which was expected, but it felt good for a second to pretend that he had a father to tell his good news to. luke thought he didn’t care about whether or not his dad was proud of him, but when his message went from “sent” to “read” a few days later, he was brought back to those moments in his life when he cried and wondered why he wasn’t enough to make his dad stay. he wrote family line in one sitting, on his bed in his bedroom in connecticut, looking at the little league medals on his wall that seemed to mock him.
he originally didn’t want it on the album because he felt like it didn’t fit the vibe of the rest of the songs and that it was too real, too vulnerable for a debut album, but then he played it for his mom and she loved it. she cried when she first heard it and luke knew that even if people didn’t like the song, he was going to put it out for his mom.
“huh,” he cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure, “wasn’t expecting that one. thought you’d be more of a crash my car type of girl.”
“i like that too,” you shrugged, “but family line. that song. i don’t think i have the words to describe it.”
“thanks, five star,” luke looked down at his feet, taking a puff from his dying cigarette. “that’s my mom’s favorite, too.”
“did you write it?”
luke nodded, looking to face you. there was a new expression on your face, one that you’d never used with him before. it was a mix of disbelief and awe. he tried not to get offended that you didn’t think he could write something like family line, but he couldn’t blame you. he didn’t really portray the type of person who would be able to be that raw and vulnerable on a song. “me and trav write the lyrics for our songs, mostly. chris and connor help too, but the bulk of the lyrics are me.”
“you need to stop doing that.”
he cocked his head to the side, crushing the cigarette butt on the hardware of the bench, “doing what?”
“surprising me,” you shook your head, “i don’t like it.”
“i don’t know what to tell you,” he chuckled, leaning back on the bench. he looked out into the lake, watching the sun disappear behind the mountains, “i have layers. you just gotta give me a chance.”
“how do you do it?” you sat criss cross on the bench, leaning against the arm rest. “how do you write like that?”
you’d always been curious about music, even if you weren’t good at it. your dad was never one to answer your questions, especially because you were interested in lyrics more than anything, and that wasn’t his forte.
luke mimicked your actions, “i dunno. personal experience, i guess?”
you frowned, thinking about the lyrics of family line. luke never talked about his dad, but spoke highly of his mom. was family line based on his own life? if it was, his dad was an asshole.
you relented to the cold, grabbing the hoodie that he left in between the two of you. you ignored the triumphant smile on his face when you draped the sweater over your bare legs, shielding them from the wind chills.
he continued, “sometimes things happen to me that get me worked up and i have to write a song about it. sometimes, it’s based on my imagination. it depends.”
you wanted to ask him about his dad, but you didn’t know if he considered you guys friends yet. it’s not like you made it easy for him anyway. you could deal with the banters and annoyance, but you didn’t want to push him to talk about something he wasn’t ready to. you could be a dick, but you weren’t cruel.
you changed the subject, “okay, let’s play a game.”
“21 questions?” luke bit his bottom lip, trying not to laugh. he waggled his eyebrows, dodging your arm that reached out to smack him.
“you’re gross,” you gagged, knowing the implications of the game, “no, i’m gonna ask about the songs on your album and you tell me if it’s real life or from your imagination.”
“alright, go for it five star,” he beamed, propping his elbows on his crossed knees. he loved talking about music with anyone. he could go on and on for hours.
“18.”
“real,” luke snorted, remembering the first time travis pitched the idea for the song to the band, “but not my experience. it was trav. he met this girl at one of our gigs in new york, right after we got signed, and he was obsessed. she was a freshman at nyu and she kept telling him he was too young for her, even though she was just less than a year older. trav was hooked.”
you could picture it. it was definitely something travis would do. “okay, another one of my favorites. only angel?”
“not real,” luke shook his head, a slight blush creeping up on his face. “if you tell anyone, five star, i will vehemently deny it, but i had a crush on jade west from victorious and i wrote it about her.”
there was something about jade west that made luke like a love-sick puppy. ignoring the fact that she was hot, her attitude was something that luke was attracted to. she had a tough exterior and acted like she didn’t care about people, but she had her moments where she was soft and kind to the people she cared about the most. luke liked that. the idea that someone could be sensitive but only to the people they deemed worthy.
he’d spent so much of his life trying to be worthy, in whatever way the stage of his life defined it, and he craved it– a pat on the back, an approval, a confirmation that he was worthy of it.
you threw your head back laughing, surprised by his ridiculous confession. the sound of your laughter rang across the woods, making luke smile. your voice echoed throughout the trees and he his senses were surrounded by you. it hit luke like a truck.
he sucked in a breath, taking out his phone. he jolted from his seat for more than one reason. “shit, five star. we gotta go.”
you took out your phone too, checking the time. your eyes widened as you got up from your seat. you threw his hoodie over to him, “fuck, we’re late.”
the two of you raced out of the woods, arriving to the concert venue with flushed faces and rapid breaths. you could feel clarisse’s knowing eyes on you as you got ready for the concert. you tried your best to ignore it. you were going to deal with that later.
–
“and for the final event, i know you guys are looking forward to this one,” your dad laughed into the mic. the sun was long gone and there were disco lights illuminating the stage. a smoke machine was on either corner, making it difficult to see the bottom half of the stage. you and clarisse stood in the front row, listening to the deafening cheers of the campers. “ladies and gents, welcome poisoned mercury!”
the screams got louder which you didn’t even know was possible. travis entered the stage first, sticking his tongue out as he expertly twirled his drumsticks around his fingers. connor came in next, smiling and waving at the crowd as he plugged his guitar into the amp. chris walked in with his bass strapped around his neck, eyes immediately finding clarisse and sending her a shy smile. you nudged her teasingly, enjoying the way she blushed under the lights.
then luke castellan walked in. he ditched his hoodie and t-shirt and walked in with a white tank top on, messing with the curls on his head. he tugged on the silver necklace around his neck as his eyes scanned the crowd. he threw a wink to the group of the older girls in the back, turning to travis to let out a laugh at their reaction. the lights on the boys were blinding and a thin layer of sweat already began to form on their skin despite the bite to the air.
luke took center stage, picking up his guitar. he leaned over directly in front of you, fingers pretending to mess with the wires connecting his guitar to the speakers, “hey, five star.”
he straightened his back before you could reply. clarisse’s eyes darted between you and the boy, now nudging you like you did to her earlier. you rolled your eyes, smiling at the rest of the boys as luke began talking on the mic.
“what’s up, camp half blood?” luke screamed into the mic. the crowd roared. “we’re poisoned mercury and we are so happy to be with you guys here this summer. before we close out this awesome concert, i wanna introduce our lovely band.”
“on drums, we have the one and only, travis stoll!” luke turned around to applaud travis as he did a little drum solo, head banging as he hit the drums. he turned to connor, “on lead guitar, we have the amazing connor stoll!”
connor strummed his guitar, leaning over on the left side to soak in the applause of the crowd. the girls beside you swooned as he unleashed one of his award-winning smiles.
luke faced chris, “and on bass, we have my very best friend in the entire world, my 4lifer, chris rodriguez!” clarisse cheered loudly for chris as he played a tune on his bass, mouthing, “love you, brother,” to luke as he played. the crowd quited for a second as luke addressed them again, “and my name is luke castellan. we’re poisoned mercury!”
you turned around to look at the crowd. the size of the crowd tripled when the boys got on stage. everyone had a smile on their face, excited to hear them play.
“the song we’ll be singing for you guys today is from our debut album,” luke adjusted his mic on the stand. he got closer to it, lips touching the metal, “this is only angel.”
you couldn’t help but let out a laugh at their song choice. this was not the song they were supposed to sing. they’d been rehearsing kilby girl for the past week. luke saw your reaction, laughing along with you.
the instrumentals began and you nearly missed the beat drop because of the cheers from the crowd. as the song progressed, the boys were one with the music. you watched luke sing, working the crowd like a pro. his skin glistened under the spotlight, beads of sweat tricking down the side of his face. he approached chris when the chorus started, dragging his mic stand with him. he swung his guitar around so it rested on his back as he sang the lyrics. his curls were sticking to his forehead, eyebrows raised in glee as he performed.
you couldn’t take your eyes off the lead singer, not even when the rest of the band had their own solos in the song. your eyes were glued on luke; how his adam’s apple was on full display as he threw his head back, getting lost in the music, how his arms flexed as he wrapped the mic cord around his fist, how his thin tank top stuck to his body and how it raised when he lifted his arm up to bring the mic closer to his lips. you saw the outline of his abdomen and his v-line.
but what really got you was his face. he looked at peace on stage, a wide smile on his face, full lips pink and glossy as he licked them in between verses. he looked incredible up there, like that was where he belonged. he was born to be on stage like this.
“fuck,” you mumbled, applauding at the end of their song. luke’s eyes found yours as he sang the last bit of the song, smiling at you. you hoped clarisse couldn’t hear you talk to yourself. you looked down at your feet, tugging nervously on the collar of your shirt, “i get it now.”
#frances writes#poisoned mercury#luke castellan x reader#luke castellan imagine#luke castellan pjo#luke castellan fanfic#luke castellan#luke pjo#luke castellan x yn#luke castellan x y/n#luke castellan x you#percy jackson fanfic#percy jackson
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This is why Moku and I are dangerous to each other:
clockways — Today at 2:01 AM
OKAY Danny/Tim where Danny is either ghost king or working for Clockwork or playing Reaper or something showing up to talk to Tim like "MY DUDE, you have got to stop killing so many people, even if it's in the name of good, esp when they're surrounded by rancid ectoplasm"
And this is now the Bats learn about Tim's LOA kill count
Mokulule — Today at 2:12 AM
Heheheh oh yesss
Does Danny show up in the middle of like a supposedly secure location in the middle of a mission?
Like “dude please, I do not need the assassin influx, you have any idea of the trouble you caused killing so many at once?”
Mokulule — Today at 2:19 AM
I’m kinda imagining these new ghosts still following Ra’s Al Ghul fanatically unless Danny can somehow get them rehabilitated and imagine if they found their way to the living world?! Do you want that madman to have a ghost army?
clockways — Today at 2:19 AM
I think a mission or right in the middle of the cave, yeah
and totally, like the pit waters have a Not Good effect on the ghosts so they're even more off than normal I think
Mokulule — Today at 2:22 AM
Okay but I am liking the implication here that Tim has been having this ongoing crusade against Ra’s in the background of everything where he keeps blowing up LOA bases and somehow managing to keep it secret
Here B thought Ra’s was his nemesis, turns out attention had shifted to Tim years ago
clockways — Today at 2:25 AM
Yes, Tim is 100% the Detective now and Ra's keeps being a creepy obsessed mo-fo and Tim just keeps finding ways to blow shit up. if it started at 17 could say Tim is 20, 21 now so they've been at it three years or so
Mokulule — Today at 2:26 AM
And like Danny has had enough, there’s so many of them they have their own realm in the realms and are stirring up trouble trying to find ways back into the living world
clockways — Today at 2:27 AM
Yeeeees They're basically segregated into a specific area of the realms and are still causing shit
Mokulule — Today at 2:28 AM
Maybe they even have their own pseudo pit from gathering rancid ectoplasm and it’s messing up the ecosystem and they’re hurting the blobs that would otherwise be cleaning that shit up
And the pseudo pit is definitely not helping their mental stability
Just trash assassin baby ghosts
clockways — Today at 2:29 AM
LOL Blob ghost sucker fish! yes xD
Mokulule — Today at 2:29 AM
They need rehabilitation and a bath and like it’s really not helping that Tim keeps sending more
clockways — Today at 2:30 AM
Every time Danny starts to get a handle on it BAM more assassins and more bad juice
And then Danny has to ramp up the blob ghost breeding again
Mokulule — Today at 2:31 AM
Yeah and he can only handle a couple at a time and he also has to make sure they don’t go back once he’s gotten them out and it’s just a mess
clockways — Today at 2:31 AM
OKAY OKAY WAIT. Danny makes an appointment with Tim as Wayne CEO
Shows up in his human guise with Tim as just Tim which sets up all sorts of alarms
Mokulule — Today at 2:32 AM
Ahahahaha yesss this is like a corporate problem 😂
clockways — Today at 2:32 AM
How is this normal seeming dude associated with the LOA?? What does he know about Tim??? Who is he???
Dany is just :) Look at me, using the proper channels!
Mokulule — Today at 2:32 AM
Danny is trying to go about this the right way official like
🤝
clockways — Today at 2:32 AM
🤝
Mokulule — Today at 2:33 AM
😂 everyone is very suspicious of Danny Fenton
clockways — Today at 2:34 AM
It doesn't help that he has officially been missing in the living realm since he graduated high sch9ool
(someone ((lancer)) finally noticed and reported him)
Mokulule — Today at 2:34 AM
Oh yeah even more suspicious for potential LOA connection
The fact that it was an old teacher and not his parents reporting him missing despite having graduated high school is also concerning
clockways — Today at 2:37 AM
mmmmy hum just all these red flags and it's very frustrating for the whole batfam.
Mokulule — Today at 2:38 AM
And like the guy looks like Danny Fenton, but is he really? He’s somehow very careful about not leaving prints and DNA where he goes, they’ve not been able to get any surefire confirmation this is indeed Danny Fenton
clockways — Today at 2:38 AM
AND THEN there is a gala that Ra's also shows up to... as does Danny. Just... to keep an eye on things. (He's worried about ghost assassins.)
But Tim sees Danny out of the corner of his eye and !!!
(Danny just went intangible through the wall, he's totally not on the guest list)
Mokulule — Today at 2:40 AM
Oh yes, he’s dressed up well enough, he’s had to learn that as a king and fits in just fine
clockways — Today at 2:42 AM
Tim can't help but recognize that Danny is handsome.
Mokulule — Today at 2:43 AM
Tim thinking he’s got two enemies at the gala now - has Tim told the other bats about Danny or is he hiding that? Cause then Tim might think the others have Ra’s handled so he has to handle Danny- and yeah okay he is very handsome, now that he’s not busy internally freaking out over what he knows (which he was at the first meeting)
clockways — Today at 2:45 AM
Depends how much the Bats know about Ra's interest in Tim. If they're aware at all, he's told them I think since Danny know is a threat to them all. 🤔
But I do still see him handling Danny either way since Danny hasn't met the family- keep things separate until there is no doubt.
Mokulule — Today at 2:46 AM
Okay but Clock, has Danny in his attempt at going through proper channels and requesting a meeting completely forgotten to mention the word ghost since he thought that was implied when he said the dead assassins were a problem for him?
clockways — Today at 2:47 AM
100%
He is still a disaster at explaining things
And look Tim is damn cute, Danny was a little flustered.
Mokulule — Today at 2:48 AM
So when Tim asks him what he’s doing there at the gala and he tells him that he’s keeping an eye out for assassins - Tim maybe takes that as a threat - like Tim thinks they’re playing 5D mental chess here, but Danny is a disaster and is not even playing chess
clockways — Today at 2:49 AM
!! OH Added bonus, Danny's etiquette training is all be like Dorathea and Pandora and etc, so he has a rather unusual speach pattern in King Mode which makes him seem that maybe common english isn't his first language but if he is Danny Fenton that doesn't track....
Mokulule — Today at 2:50 AM
Oh yesss good
clockways — Today at 2:50 AM
They have to end up on the dance floor, of course.
Mokulule — Today at 2:50 AM
Of course
Obligatory
clockways — Today at 2:51 AM
Danny is just all :) I'm putting my training to use! This is going so well!
Tim >:| What is this man playing at...
Mokulule — Today at 2:51 AM
Yes XD
clockways — Today at 2:52 AM
Ra's takes an instant hatred to Danny because he is Taking Tim's Attention!
Mokulule — Today at 2:52 AM
Eventual reveal is going to be hilarious
clockways — Today at 2:52 AM
Which makes Tim think that Ra's and Danny are old enemies
Mokulule — Today at 2:52 AM
Oh yess hahaha Ra’s now trying to have Danny killed
Now Danny is having to deal with both living and dead assassins he is not amused, but if he gets them away from Ra’s in the living world that will help some problems down the line. Just every assassin Ra’s sends disappears and no bodies turn up
clockways — Today at 2:55 AM
It's driving both Tim and Ra's mad
Things maybe come to a head when some of the ghost assassins try to go after Tim and Phantom shows up?
Mokulule — Today at 2:57 AM
XD Does Tim realize this is Danny or does he now think there’s another player?
Are they aware of Phantom as a ghost hero?
clockways — Today at 2:59 AM
HUM so I kinda want to say Tim does put 2 + 2 together- at least at some point. Maybe just because Phantom's new outfit mirrors what his formal clothing had. Not like perfectly but there's a lot of parallels in color and things
Maybe not till he's safe and- if they know of Phantom- they're back somewhere secure
Tim just holding an ice pack to his head jolting up and pointing a finger at Phantom "You're Danny!!!"
Phantom: Uh, yeah??? Of course I am?
-
And then @mokulule got distracted by fic and I went to sleep cause it was 3am. But my can we go from 'random statement' to 60% of a fic outline in no time. (Not it.)
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Superhero au
I got inspired and made a little superhero x antihero au, hope you guys like it <3 Part 2 should be out soon
Ghost was good at what he did. Very good. He got up, he killed villains that the heroes were too pussy to deal with and he went home. Today had been easy. One freak that liked to hurt animals to try to make some weird chimera that he found great joy in murdering.
Ghost had been nice. He had left his face and teeth intact so he could easily be identified. The police were fucking useless and he didn’t want them trying to insist he killed an innocent again. The amount of civilian deaths pinned on him (all later redacted because they were never true) was ridiculous.
As he slowly went around his living room, considering what he’d do with his night, he heard a creak of his floorboard. Ghost threw one of his knives at that area, seeing…
“Soap.” He recognized the stupid superhero in his stupid get up. Too much spandex and gold for him personally.
“Ghost.” Soap smiled at him brightly. “I finally found out where you lived!” Already his smoky tendrils, ones that were so commonly associated with him You couldn’t have one without the other, had wrapped tight around his wrists. Soap tries to break free but they didn’t budge despite his super strength. His smile faltered as he was lifted until his toes were barely touching the ground but he quickly put it back up.
Ghost hated him so much. His smile was so bright. Literally, there was a light around him that kinda hurt Ghost’s eyes. He was happy he still had his mask on and that Soap did not see his face.
“How dare you.”
Soap wiggled one hand so Ghost freed it and he pulled out a flier. “So Ghost. I believe that we can find an advantageous alliance for all of us if you were to join th-”
“No. I’m not joining shit. Get lost.”
Soap smiled tighter, an almost grimace. “Well, ya see. We could pardon you of all crimes.”
“I’ve committed no crimes.”
“You’ve murdered many people.”
Ghost glared at him, the tendrils dancing around him. They felt like nothing against his skin but judging by how Soap was reacting, they must be unpleasant. He was a being of smoke and darkness rather than human. It was for the best that no one knew how human he was under everything. “I murdered monsters. It’s your fault they roam free. I’m just cleaning up the trash.”
Soap tsked. “Such messy morals.”
“Morals? Morals? Are you serious? You let these freaks get back out and hurt more people. Children. Animals. Innocent people. And you think it’s better to let them out? They prove time and time again they won’t change and you insist they will.”
Soap stared at him blankly and Ghost wondered if he had just tuned him out entirely. “So our lea-”
“I will not be joining any leagues or organizations. I’m already going to have to move thanks to you.”
Soap tapped his fingers against each other for a moment. “I’m not going to tell anyone. But can you just consider it? I think you’d be a good fit.”
“You just said my morals were messy.”
“I did. But a lot of these people can be rehabilitated.”
“How many people have to die while we wait for one of them to heal?” Ghost asked as he started to make himself tea.
Soap didn’t answer. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise. But… even if you won’t join the league, I see no reason we can’t be friends, ya know?”
Ghost glared at him hard. “Get fucked. I won’t help you. I don’t need your help. I work alone.”
Soap smiled. “Well…” He pulled out a business card and put it on the table. “Just in case.”
Ghost waited until Soap disappeared to look at the business card. He faltered when he actually looked at it.
All of the heroes had business cards. It included their names, a small rundown of their powers and what league they were a part of if they were a part of any.
This was not that.
“John MacTavish”
His actual name.
Along with his contact information and his address.
Ghost was a little stunned but he decided to keep the card. He doubted he’d ever need it, but if Soap ever revealed his little flat to anyone, he could spread his information just as fast.
———
Soap was making himself coffee a few weeks later. He had been keeping tabs on Ghost. It was his job. His team even encouraged it.
After the first week though, he didn’t bother to kid himself. He knew this wasn’t because of duty. Soap did not spend over an hour watching Ghost grocery shop for the greater good.
Soap didn’t call it stalking. Stalking implied he watched him constantly and he really didn’t. Just when he had a little spare time, he’d use a tiny tiny bit of his reality bending powers to watch what Ghost was doing. He’d usually use mirrors or his phone and it felt almost like a tv show.
Soap never saw his face. Not just because Ghost constantly wore a mask, but he blurred it. Don’t get him wrong, he’d look in an instant if it was almost anyone else. There’s a reason most super villians never kept their secret identities for long. But with Ghost… it felt wrong. It felt like cheating.
Ghost was funny. He’d rescue kittens from trees, buy little kids balloons, and seemed to have a thing for gardenias but he never bought them. Just looked at them.
Soap had been trying to stop. Besides the ethics, his team was starting to notice how much he watched Ghost and he knew if they saw the depth of it, they’d figure it out. Plus Ghost hadn’t done anything bad recently. As far as they could tell, he was laying low. Possibly moving.
As if he knew Soap was no longer watching, Ghost appeared in his dreams. Usually the dreams were… Soap didn’t know how to describe them. They weren’t nightmares. Certainly not wet dreams despite Gaz’s teasing. Too fragmented and they always left him empty and sometimes… sad.
Soap had never met a material he couldn’t rip through. Except Ghost. Whatever that living smoke was made of, it had to be indestructible.
He sighed and drank more coffee, trying to tell himself not to watch his favorite tv show. He had managed all week. Just a few more hours and he’d hit it.
Something hit his door. It sounded… weirdly wet. He sighed and opened it. He wasn’t dressed as a superhero luckily and no one besides his team should know where he lived.
And there he was. His object of obsession.
Ghost looked at him, blood dripping down from a wound on his stomach. Soap couldn’t really see it, the smoke was wrapped so tight around him and it hit him suddenly that he was holding the wound together.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know where else to go.”
Soap quickly ushered him inside and sat him down on his couch. “Why aren’t you healing?”
Ghost frowned. “I don’t have super healing. Sorry to disappoint.”
“So when Captain Price threw you off that building last week you were actually hurt?” Soap asked sarcastically. That made no sense. No one without super healing would fight them so regularly.
“Yes. That’s why i was taking it easy this week. He bruised my ribs. I nearly fractured some bones in my legs apparently. I thought i was good to go though…” Ghost adjusted himself. “Look, if you can’t help, maybe i should go. I can leave.”3
#call of duty#call of duty modern warfare#simon ghost riley#johnny soap mactavish#call of duty modern warfare ii#cod mw2#ghostsoap#cod#soapghost#ghoap
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I think Modern AUs of Beauty and the Beast need to lean harder on the "since the morning that we came to this poor provincial town" line
Belle came from something that is not a small, economically shaky rural town! There are a few possibilities, but I choose to understand it as Belle being a City Girl, because I think I can make it funny.
This is a City Girl who moved here, and looks Generically Pretty, because she's just Different from the others (that's why she's the most beautiful girl in town). It's not necessarily that she is prettier, but small towns tend to have limited options, and a new look is an interesting one.
She reads so many books because she never got agribusiness classes in high school, so she isn't set up for small town life in terms of actually getting a job locally, and she tends to avoid other people and hide in her books because it's easier than people. Everyone reads into this as her being kind of stuck-up and snotty because she looks down on the locals.
Her dad is some Weird City Man Who Lost His Tenure For Blowing Up The Science Wing, so he's now the eccentric who had to move to Nowhere, Middle Of for the sake of getting away from a whole lot of Crap regarding his reputation.
The local dudes who all peaked in high school are joshing for a chance at Belle, because she's the Hot City Girl. They do all think she's weird as hell because she's got Political Opinions And Uses The Wrong Slang, and are very much of the opinion that there is a certain level of crazy that can be excused by being hot enough.
Cue "Dad gets lost, gotta go find him, agree to stay in the cursed castle because, well, gotta save Dad! And curses are a pretty extenuating circumstance to 'weird guy wants me to stay with him indefinitely,' especially since isn't asking for sex or housework while living with him, so... whatever. I still have a phone and Dad knows to call the cops if I miss a check-in."
Also in regards to the various servants, there are cult rumors. These days, live-in staff are a lot less common. Nobody's seen anyone from The Big House in ages, but the building still accepts food deliveries and puts out trash for collection, so someone must be there, so the only reasonable take on why they're out of contact is cult.
From the perspective of the town... she falls for that weird rich dude who lives in the foothills and has what seems to be a cult, which for the peaked in high school crew is very "Okay. You weren't that hot anyway, bitch."
The 'magic mirror shows that Belle is trapped by a monster' is actually just people going "aw shit, new girl got sucked into the cult, should we go check on her?" Her dad keeps saying that she's fine and hasn't said anything is really wrong, but everyone insists that she's lying because it's all Cult Bullshit.
After that whole mess is over, with the Beast and crew once again human and Belle clearly annoyed and reading the riot act to both the townsfolk and Adam, showing she's not fallen for any brainwash-y bullshit, she was just a pissed-off girl who decided "I can bully him into being a better person," which is probably a bad decision, but she's a grown-ass woman, so...
The cops are no longer trying to kidnap her back from the local rich eccentric (as opposed to the local poor eccentric, of which there are several, including Belle's dad).
The townsfolk decide by and large that this was probably for the best because Belle's apparently broken the cult situation? Somehow? And people from the big house in the hills are finally visiting town and proving they're alive again, so that's good.
It was never a cult, they just couldn't show their faces when the faces were furniture.
This turned into a bit more 'massive misunderstanding' with a heavy dollop of accidental Hallmark movie, but hey, we got there in the end. We all know I love a good genre mashup, and a romcom on one side with a horror on the other is basically how Disney did it, right?
Also I've been bingeing a lot of SNL and the actress I've got in my mind for this is Ego Nwodim.
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Vmin and common goals
Someone just commented on a recent post how VMin may have chosen not to serve because they had different goals towards their MS.
now I don't dispute that at all, everyone in BTS have their own goals and objectives.
we've seen Vmin interact over the years and we are all very well aware that Vmin's friendship has never been predicated on commonality.
In deciding teams, they aren't always going over and beyond to be team mates because they have common grounds- commonality is a Tae Kook thing. It's established fact in the Fandom.
We have spent so many blogs spelling out the uniqueness of each ship in BTS and BTS themselves have by themselves explained what each person means to them over and over again.
For Jungkook, Tae is the one he has common grounds with. So no, I don't expect Vmin to have common goals towards their MS. They are Mars and Jupiter and rarely gravitate towards the same things.
While V wanted to flaunt his shaved head around Jimin was much reserved on that note and who does he turn to? Jk.
The foundation of Vmin's relationship while not built around common interests and goals is built on mutual respect, love and appreciation for who they each are. It's built on the mutual need for support and holding space- safe space emotionally and spiritually for each to replenish, heal and grow together.
On that, Vmin has always, to me being more superior to any other ship in BTS because to me that sort of intimacy between people is priceless.
Having someone you lean on, tell your secrets to, share your vulnerabilities with, be there for you at your lowest point fight for you and defend you is just divine and any one who has this level of intimacy from another human being is truly blessed.
Jikook are that too- is what we are saying. They are that and more.
If you pay close attention to the sort of conversations they say they have- coupled with their need to be both emotionally and physically close to eachother it doesn't take much to figure out that those two are intimate partners too.
You can't hide intimacy I keep saying.
So given as Jikook and Vmin are both intimately close to each other, you should understand why I think Jikook just ended Vmin if physical and emotional support and companionship is the reason they chose to go into MS together.
This is not about common goals. If it were, Tae Kook would have been the ones to serve together. They live for the thrill and adventure. There's a reason there's so many conspiracy and misunderstanding around Tae Kook's friendship with the constant, they said they both wanted this, they both wanted that but someone or big bad hybe is keeping them apart.
Except now it's not hybe, it's his tattoos getting in his way. They say.
It would make so much sense for Tae Kook to serve together too if the whole reason for choosing to be comps hinged on their goals.
Tae talked about his goals for MS in the live and he talked about wanting to build his body and becoming strong physically so he doesn't get shoved around and so he can do lots of concerts. He said he's taking risks with his unit but knows exactly what he is doing.
What are Jungkook's goals too? What is informing his decision to go with Jimin? Why not go with Namjoon then?
We've seen Jungkook hesitate to choose teams where Jimin was in a team which conflicted with his goals. We've seen him cheat to be on teams with Jimin even though he said he didn't want to be on that team. We've seen him say he want one group but end up in a group with Jimin- if a person keeps acting this way isn't his goal Jimin? To be wherever JM is?
Isn't that a sign of severe form of attachment too?
If Vmin's attachment is soulmates what the heck is Jikook's attachment is my question cos those two attachment is very nuanced between them.
If it's all about common goals he knows what he needed to do to achieve those goals and yet here he is. Picking trash at dawn and falling in line.
Jikook is a special kind of love.
And has it occurred to anyone they are each other's companions? Years ago I kept saying idols need companionship to function else they will mentally expire. I screamed at hybe to let Tae have a girlfriend or boyfriend because his need for intimacy wasn't being fully met and that was taking a toll on him.
I said Jikook don't look like they have intimacy issues to me. Out of all the boys, they were the ones most content.
But has it occurred to anyone that perhaps they were content and could be highly functional because they each propped the other up?
TRUE COMPANIONSHIP.
If JM wasn't in JK's life I doubt he could have BTS at all. Which is facts given as he nearly even left the group but for Jimin asking him to stay.
Jimin grounds him when he's up in his idealistic adventurism.
Jimin is there to remind him why he is there. To remind to be subservient and not so rebellious, to comfort him when he's under mental pressure from trying to conform to a life so out of his realm of possibility. He is non conformist at his core and MS is bound to be tough on him.
Listent to the members when they say even Angel Hobi seems tamed.
That place will tame Jungkook and its going to be hard on him.
Jimin is what the doctor ordered.
This is about companionship plain and simple. Let's call a spade a spade and not a big fat spoon.
Do you know Jimin's goals towards serving too????
He doesn't want to gain weight, he can't stand being away for 1.5 years, it's going to drive him mad.
THIS IS JIKOOK CHOOSING THEIR MENTAL HEALTH AND SANITY OVER THEIR NEED FOR ADVENTURISM OR WILD EXPERIENCES.
And the fact Jimin is all this for V and he didn't choose this over his desire to chase the thrill tells you just what he values and prioritizes.
He has psyched himself up. He can do this with or without Jimin but for Jikook they need eachother and that more important to them.
Nevermind that, even married couples breakup where their goals and priorities don't aline and they go another way. So no, don't tell me this make or break moment is because they have different goals as if that in itself don't matter.
And sure, since they are just friends we can forgive that. It's not really a big deal honestly. I will ditch yall for pussy too🥲
And yes we have seen Jimin Ditch V over and over for the D- remember when he called V crying and V asked him to come over but turns out he was in JK's room caressing phone screens with him?
If Vmin's goals don't align that's fine, Jikook's aligned perfectly well.
The universe must be pulling strings on their behalf.
They will come out even more closer than before and watch then explain how it's because of their shared experiences in the ditch
JIKOOK RULES. ITS GAME OVER FOR ALL SHIPS.
CLOSED CASKET!
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idk why this has been on my mind all morning but like
imagine you just exorcised a very fucking stubborn curse that almost put u six feet under. maybe it was intentional for u to be sent out on this mission on your own without satoru? you’re heaving, laying on your back on the verge of a panic attack because what the actual fuck just happened?
you succumb out of the veil, eyes wide as you watch the evaporating remainings of the monster a few feet away from you. you’re still on your back, crawling and crawling away, willing yourself to just get the fuck up and get far away from here.
you begin to cry, then, when the veil finally starts to disappear and you can see the night sky again. You try to get up to no avail, scared out of your mind, living and reliving the whole fight again in your brain like it was some kinda mantra just stuck in there.
you scream when something touches your shoulders, putting whatever is remaining of your strength to flinch away from whatever it is, but is just not enough. Against your weak struggle and raw sobs you are pulled in someones chest from behind, their arms wrapping around your middle firmly.
“I’m here now,” you hear him, and your eyes finally close. Your sobs get louder, fists now curling around the forearms around your stomach in fear. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay. You’ve done well. You’re safe now. You’re safe.”
gojo doesn’t raise his voice a pitch. He keeps it low and gentle and soft so your glass doesn’t crack further, but he knows it’s already shattered beyond repair. You shuffle closer hurriedly, getting on your knees to turn around and hide yourself away from the whole damn world in his chest, knuckles turning white from your firm grip on his uniform.
“‘toru…” you whimper, another sob rocking your whole body against his.
you’re thankful for his firm embrace around you. it’s grounding, squeezing all the pent up emotion right out of you as you cry and cry and cry because oh god you’re safe now. because that was fucking scary and you were on your own and you deserve to feel scared because as much of a sorcerer, you sure as hell still are a human being.
one of his hands is in your hair. “it was scary, huh?”
“s-suh…so fu-ucking scary,” you sob, and it does nothing but break his heart.
“You exorcised it, though,” gojo tells you. he begins to rock you both gently as you continue to empty your feelings tucked into his body like that. “you’ve done wonderfully, my little sorcerer. you’re so strong.”
his words do nothing but make you cry harder, and you don’t know where the tears keep coming from anymore. you’re no longer scared, you’re never scared when saturo is around, but it’s the fact that he’s finally here, and you feel safe again after god only know how many hours of a tireless fight for your life.
gojo looks at the trashed field where you almost met your doom only a few minutes ago with fire in his chest. he is still rocking you left and right, you begin to calm down gradually, and he thinks of all the things he is going to do in his little visit to the higher ups for sending you here on your own.
“always so strong. always making me the proudest i can be.”
#this is not proofread#i love him im gonna cry#jjk fluff#jjk angst#jjk comfort#gojo angst#gojo comfort#hurt/comfort#jjk drabbles#gojo satoru#gojo x reader#gojo x y/n#gojou satoru x reader#jujutsu kaisen#jjk fanfic#jjk headcanons#gojo saturo x y/n#gojo drabbles#jujutsu kaisen x reader
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What’s the main lore behind CMY2K? I’m a little lost on it so I thought I might ask! :)
no worries! it's probably not just you being a little lost and moreso my fault for never actually explaining anything on my public art blog, i really should start doing all my OCposting here OTL i've also had a habit of being intentionally vague about what actually Happens to avoid spoilers, but the main basic lore isn't really spoiling anything, so now i both have an excuse to infodump and procrastinate animating for a couple more hours^_^ please excuse me if this is mildly rambly and incoherent my brain is a confusing stress-induced psychosis-inflicted sludge
Cyber Mind : Year 2000 is a psychological horror set in an alternate 1999 in which lifelike consumer-grade humanoid androids are about as popular as the personal computer. the Halosoft Electronics Corporation basically has a monopoly on consumer robots, especially with their many lines of LiviComs [or, Living Computer androids]
Hibiki Himura is a mute robot kid who woke up alone in a dumpster on New Year's Day with his memory completely wiped, only knowing his own name and primary function [housekeeping], and being able to deduce A) he must've done something wrong if someone threw him in the trash, and B) halosoft doesn't mass-produce robots that look and act and think like children for Ethical Reasons, so he must be a custom model, meaning he must've done something REALLY wrong if someone was disappointed in him enough to throw out a perfectly functional personally-customized extremely expensive brand-new robot
with livicoms jailbreaking themselves to be able to violate the three laws of robotics and harm humans at a seemingly alarming rate, hibiki is less preoccupied with tracking down whoever threw him out and more concerned with protecting humanity from rogue robots, both out of obligation to the three laws [and his extremely, Extremely, ABSURDLY strict moral compass] and out of a determined Obsessive need to prove that he is useful and capable enough to NOT get thrown out again. for a ten year old, he is REALLY hard on himself and self-sacrificing to an alarming extent
hibiki is joined on his quest to protect humanity by his eccentrically affectionate mentor Voltaire, an electrician livicom who is pretty much singlehandedly responsible for Acid City, New Jersey's ENTIRE electrical grid and taught hibiki how to use, basically, robot psychic powers; Cain Cohen, a cyborg teenage runaway with a baseball bat and unquenchable thirst for "murderizing robots he feels have wronged him"; and Jack Jillard, a stern gruff construction livicom who feels obligated to keep cain and hibiki out of trouble when they wind up staying with him. none of these three appear in the student film i'm working on and i Will be reworking them over the summer BUT they are essential to the lore and main plot
in Regards to the main plot, beyond hibiki's POV, a lotta livicoms do seem kinda on the fritz since new year's, whether by lashing out violently for apparently minuscule reasons, or just simply refusing to work, or just committing suicide! all three of which are in direct violation with all Three laws of robotics, indicating these bots are all Jailbroken. jailbreaking refers to the act of modifying an electronic's software for any purpose beyond the manufacturer's intent. with livicoms, this can be done for a wide variety of minor reasons from installing a new non-standard voice to knowing Way more about safe BDSM practices than default, and it can be done both by humans to their livicoms or, rarely [and strangely as livicoms are supposed to be locked out of their own software settings], livicoms can do it to themselves.
the Really concerning instances of jailbreaking are when the three laws of robotics [as written by isaac asimov: don't harm humans, obey orders given by humans unless harmful, protect own existence unless harmful or disobedient] are either modified or removed entirely. changing the priority order of the three laws is especially common for some reason, IE doing such things as prioritizing self-preservation over obedience, but the worst cases are livicoms that are no longer forbidden from harming humans, and often have reason to feel justified in doing so--but even in such cases, plenty of them seem distressed or horrified at the thought that they hurt somebody, so it's strange....
CMY2K's themes include such topics as: free will, the horror of having one's autonomy violated, moral scrupulosity, self-actualization, worker's rights, ableism, psychosis&unreality, transhumanism&transgenderism, suicidal ideation, OCD&intrusive thoughts, dehumanization&objectification, and you should quit that stupid fucking job that you hate
#oc#not art#cmy2k#actually i might set this as my pinned so no one has to dig through my tags for it in the future
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Can I get how undertale toriel, alphys, undyne, asgore, flowey and asriel would react to Jerry being their friends boyfriend and being invited to dinner but being a complete slob. Like not washing his hands, eating with his hands while dirty, instead of using a napkin, he uses a gross used tissue etc. Just being gross in general. 😖
I did the all Undertale crew because why not!
Undertale Sans - He's cringing so so hard, but he doesn't want to be disrespectful. His humor turns very cynical as the diner goes on though. You can see in Sans' eye sockets that his patience is running thin, and that's something because Sans is literally the most patient monster ever. He breaks character though around 2 a.m. when after many many MANY hints he wants to go to sleep NOW, Jerry still doesn't get it and keeps talking about random things he doesn't care about. He asks Jerry if he's tired, then when Jerry says no, you can see the shadow of a blaster quickly flashing behind him as Sans is doing all he can to not explode. You decide to drag Jerry home after this. Sans needs rest. He's never inviting Jerry for dinner ever again.
Undertale Papyrus - Well, you couldn't know but Papyrus and Jerry have a history. So yeah, when you come all cheerful saying you brought home a friend for dinner and he sees Jerry, you can see his face slowly pale. Poor Papyrus is dying inside the entire evening, trying his best to be a cheerful host but slowly losing his mind at Jerry's manners. Jerry keeps being rude to him, criticizing his cooking, his clothes, his living room and Papyrus is slowly starting to lose his mind. Ok, it's not something a good host should do, but when Jerry asked, no, required a coffee, he poured the entire salt pot in it. It didn't make Jerry leave but how he choked on the coffee was the best moment of that dinner. Jerry then screamed he tried to poison him, and Papyrus, exhausted, screamed back that yes he did and that Jerry should run home quickly to take advantage of the rest of his life. Jerry calls him a terrible host and ragequits with you. As you're reaching the end of the front yard, you can hear Papyrus scream in victory lol, finally free.
Undertale Toriel - She is very friendly towards you. However, whenever Jerry talks to her, she turns colder than ice. If you didn't know how Toriel could have been a queen in the past, now you know. She's not happy with Jerry's manners and if she says nothing during the first hour, she starts to call him out after that, asking him to wash his hands or eat above the table. She starts to lecture him like a child, screaming that even Frisk who is a literal child knows manners better than him and that he should be ashamed to represent a monster kind like this in front of his human friend. She then asks him to leave, she has enough of this. She's mumbling all night long, pacing around her house. She's so mad.
Undertale Asgore - He's too nice to say something. He's literally begging you silently to do something, giving you his best puppy eyes as Jerry is trashing his house as he is showing up his wonderful trash magic. He weakly tried to ask Jerry to calm down but the poor guy got ignored so now he's just silent. Please, help...
Undertale Undyne - She tries to resist. She really tries. But after an hour, she bursts out screaming, grabs Jerry, throws him through the window, and then summons a rain of spears she starts to throw through the broken window. She stops a few seconds later, panting, then quickly sits down and smiles at you, asking where you were in your conversation. You're a bit too shocked to talk right now.
Undertale Alphys - She saw you with Jerry through the windows. In seconds, she switches off all the lights in the house and then runs to hide in her closet. She's obviously not home, maybe come back later. You're disappointed since she invited you, but maybe she just forgot the dinner. Alphys is so relieved when she sees you leave. What a roller coaster of feelings.
Undertale Frisk - They roll their eyes every ten seconds, so so bored. Jerry stole his entire stock of cookies and is eating them loudly in the couch, throwing pieces of it everywhere while saying they are disgusting. Frisk tells three times they don't have limited money but Jerry won't listen. So Frisk decides to cook emergency Undyne's spaghetti to force him to leave. They literally burn down their own kitchen then scream there's a fire to force Jerry out of their house. Once Jerry runs out in fear, Frisk locks the door lmao. He completely forgot you're still sitting at the table as they start dancing in victory.
Undertale Chara - They didn't invite Jerry so they let their friend enter and closes the door at Jerry's face, not giving a care in the world. They're not having Jerry for dinner. They can't do it without murdering him. Chara apologizes for being rude but assures you it's in your best interest.
Undertale Mettaton - Mettaton opens the door, looks at Jerry, says "NO." then shuts the door in your face. He's not doing that. His therapist told him to keep things that make him happy around him. Jerry is the total opposite of that. He didn't come here to suffer, ok?!
Undertale Gaster - After like ten minutes, Gaster can't take it anymore and vaporizes himself in the room. He goes back to his sweet sweet dark SILENT empty void and decides it's best if he doesn't come out from here again before the next day lol.
Undertale Grillby - He says nothing. He completely ignores Jerry and keeps telling himself that he's a bartender, he saw worse customers in his life, and that it's just a bad moment that will stop eventually. He keeps a brave face through the entire dinner, but yeah, his flames tends to burn his chair a few times during the evening as he lost control over them at some point. He's fine. He'll be even more once Jerry leaves his house.
Undertale Muffet - She holds on for a solid ten minutes before sticking Jerry to the ceiling with a spider web and prevents him from talking by sticking his lips together. After that, she's way more relaxed.
Undertale Burgerpants - Why are you doing this to him? He thought you were friends. Friends don't do that to other friends. Poor Burgerpants is desperate, begging you to find a way to get rid of Jerry. Why are you even dating Jerry? Did he kidnap you? Did he force you to follow him? See, at least Burgerpants is a great friend. He's concerned for your safety and wellbeing unlike Jerry who is literally eating MTT burgers who are full of glitter and somehow still enjoy them!
Undertale Flowey - Hell no! He's not doing that. Flowey disappears into the ground and leaves as far away as he can from that monster. He invited you, not him. He already had dinner with Jerry a few times during the resets, he's not inflicted this himself again.
Undertale Asriel - He calls his mom and begs her to come to his home for dinner. He needs moral support. He can't do this on his own. Toriel is not happy when she arrives and discovers she has been tricked, but with two Dreemur, they can survive the night. They both take turns taking care of Jerry, doing their best to not have a mental breakdown. Asriel could never thank her enough for her help.
Undertale Gerson - Gerson got so bored he literally fell asleep in the middle of the dinner and didn't wake up after that lol. He's an old man, if you don't give him exciting things to do, his minds shuts down. Honestly, he's glad he did because he wouldn't have been to nice to Jerry if the dinner lasted longer.
#undertale#sans#papyrus#toriel#asgore#undyne#alphys#frisk#chara#mettaton#gaster#grillby#muffet#burgerpants#flowey#asriel#gerson#undertale ask blog#undertale asks#undertale imagines#undertale headcanons
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Tragic Outcomes 5
Pairings: Xiao x fem!reader x Zhongli
Summary: After finding out about being an adepti, you wanted to know more about your background and the people that have abandoned you. After Childe gives you information about your background, he tells you that there is another person that is after your head, feeding false information about you to Lumine to fuel her hatred towards you. You, Zhongli, and Xiao take a trip to Mt. Aocang to speak to Cloud Retainer regarding your parents after Childe gives you information about your background.
Note: This is just a filler chapter on the reader's background and many more. There's not much conflict happening in this part aside from Childe and Xiao wanting to kick each other's butts. I'm not sure how much longer this story is going to go on for; maybe it'll go up to almost ten parts? But I'm not entirely sure on that part. Sorry if this part seems a bit wonky, I've been feeling under the weather for the past few days and have been trying my best to type out as much as I could ;v; I know I've said this many times already in all of my fanfics, but to my new readers or returning readers, please keep in mind that I post on AO3 as well, so if you have an AO3 and see a work similar to this, it’s me (Aaliah_exo on AO3). I don’t post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo).
Warnings: None that I know of 🤔 there is slight angst to it, but it's not as bad as the previous chapters!
Word Count: 8.7k
Tragic Outcomes Chapters: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]
Upon arriving back to your and Xiao’s (now your, Xiao and Zhongli) shared room at Wangshu Inn, you changed out of your bloodied and tattered clothing and tossed them into the trash bin before changing into clean clothes that didn’t make it seem like you were part of a murder scene. Well, then again, Lumine did attempt to murder you. You stared at yourself in the mirror before pulling your shirt up, looking at the spot where Lumine had plunged her sword. You ghost your fingers over the area before letting your shirt fall back down. This entire situation was all too weird to you. One minute you’re human, and now all of a sudden, you find out that you were an adepti all along? A knock at the door snaps you out of your thoughts.
You take a deep breath to calm your racing thoughts, “Who is it?” You called out, turning on the sink in the bathroom before grabbing the hand towel off the hanger and wetting the rag in your hands before washing the blood stains off your skin.
“It’s Xiao.” His voice was muffled behind the closed bathroom door. You walk towards the bathroom door and unlock it. Xiao slowly opens the bathroom door and peeks into the bathroom. “Are you alright? You’ve been in the bathroom for quite some time.” Xiao says, leaning up against the bathroom wall, looking at you worriedly.
“I’m fine, Xiao! I was just changing into new clothes and washing the remaining blood off my body.” You said, holding up the wet rag that is now sullied by your blood.
Xiao hums, staring at your face closely with his arms crossed over his chest. “There’s something on your mind,” Xiao stated, pushing himself away from the walk before standing in front of you. “Do you want to talk about it?” He asks, caressing your face in his hands.
Your gaze falls, “I don’t know how to feel about discovering that I’m an adepti. I was raised human, lived a normal human life, and now I just found out that I was never human.” You said, letting out a puff of air before running your hands through your hair. “This all so confusing, overwhelming, and I feel like my entire life has been nothing but lies.” You sighed.
“Calm down, and take a deep breath,” Xiao says, pulling you into his arms.
You shook your head, lightly pushing him away. “How can I calm down after knowing that my biological parents gave me up?” Tears blur your vision. “Did they give me up for adoption because I was a mistake? Did they not want me anymore? I…” You let out a defeated sigh before running your fingers through your hair, tears rolling down your cheeks.
Xiao pulls you into his arms and wraps both of his arms around your waist as you bury your face into his chest, tears staining and wetting his white shirt. You held onto his shirt tightly, body quaking with sobs. You hear footsteps approaching where you and Xiao stand; the bathroom door creaks open as someone opens the door wider.
“What’s going on?” You hear Zhongli ask, rushing up to where you and Xiao stand.
“Did something happen? [Y/N], are you okay?” Childe asks, placing a gentle hand on your shoulders. You continue to bury your face into Xiao’s chest, too humiliated to face both Childe and Zhongli. You didn’t want either of them to see you like this: weak and vulnerable. Also, because you’re an ugly crier and seeing you cry isn’t pleasant.
Zhongli turns to Xiao with his arms over his chest, “Xiao, what is going on? Why is [Y/N] crying?” He looks over at you worriedly.
Xiao sighs softly, “She’s wondering why her biological parents abandoned her. There are many negative thoughts about her parents surrounding her mind. She’s also feeling overwhelmed and confused.” Xiao says, continuing to keep his arms wrapped around you securely.
Childe jolts before pointing at you and Xiao with his eyes narrowing, “Wait a minute, since when are you and [Y/N] back together?! I didn’t approve of the two of you staying together.” Childe crosses his arms over his chest with a deep frown.
Zhongli sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Childe, now’s not the time to bring this up.” Zhongli stated, shooting a glare over at the ginger-haired Harbinger. Childe ignores Zhongli’s comment while glaring at Xiao, who scowls back at him in return.
“No, no, I must know why Xiao is still in the picture when Zhongli is right here,” Childe says, pointing over at the exasperated archon.
You dried your tears away and looked over at Childe, pulling away from Xiao’s arms. “Childe, can we please not talk about this right now?” You wipe your snot away with a tissue before tossing it into the trash bin. “Shouldn’t you be helping me find out about my birth parents instead of evaluating my relationships?” You grumbled, turning towards the sink to rinse your face with cool water.
Childe sighs in defeat, “You’re right, you’re right. I apologize, [Y/N].” Childe says, throwing his arms over your shoulders before pressing a kiss on your head, ignoring the glare Xiao threw at him. “When you’re ready, let me know, and I will tell you what I have found,” Childe says, patting the top of your head.
You pulled away from Childe, “You found something already?” Childe nodded his head. “But we just….” You trailed off, looking at him in confusion before glancing at Xiao and Zhongli. The two stare at you blankly as if telling you that they weren’t sure how the Harbinger had gathered information on your background so quickly.
“How did I find information on your background despite being asked to search for your background a few hours ago?” Childe asks, a prideful smile appearing on his face as he leans against the bathroom counter. You nod your head slowly, reaching over to turn off the faucet without breaking eye contact with the tall man in front of you. “Well, I am a Harbinger. It’s part of my job.” He flicks his hair sassily, making you raise your eyebrow at him.
“You have a point there.” You said, letting your hands fall to your side. “So, what did you find?” You ask, looking up at the man curiously.
Zhongli holds his hand up, “Let’s discuss this outside of the bathroom.” Everyone nods their heads before exiting the bathroom. You feel the anxiety gnaw at you each step you take to the living area; you stop in your tracks. Zhongli, Childe, and Xiao turned to you when they noticed that you had stopped following them.
Xiao looks at you worriedly before looking over at Zhongli and Childe, who has the same expression on their faces. It was clear that the mystery of your past was bothering you, especially the mystery of who your biological parents were. “[Y/N],” Xiao calls; you look up and blink at him.
You laugh humorlessly, “Sorry, I was…. Distracted.” You said, continuing to walk to the living room, walking past the three men who are now following you. Xiao, Zhongli, and Childe gave each other looks, not saying anything. You sat down on the couch, hugging the cushion to your chest. “Okay, I’m ready to hear about my tragic background.” You said, rubbing your eyes.
“Do you want us to talk about it now, or do you want to wait until we go to Mt. Aocang to talk with Cloud Retainer and the other adeptis?” Zhongli asks.
You hummed, “I would rather talk about it now then we can go to Mt. Aocang afterward because I’m not sure if the adeptis would be too pleased to see Childe.” You said, taking a quick glance at the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger from the corner of your eyes.
Childe held his hands up, “Ah, right, I forgot that the adeptis wouldn’t be too happy to see someone that tried to drown Liyue.” Childe laughs nervously while scratching the back of his neck.
“Or someone that had unsealed an ancient God to try to lure out the Geo Archon.” Xiao scowls, glaring at Childe.
Childe chuckles, “Oh, if we’re talking about each other’s wrongs, let’s talk about yours, shall we?!” Childe claps his hands. “Remember how you touched another woman that isn’t your girlfriend? Oh! Remember how your girlfriend cried out to you to help her, but you ignored her cries and left her to die?!” Childe gives Xiao a fake smile; his hands clenched at his side.
“You two are insufferable.” You sighed, rubbing your temples. “Childe! Please, tell us what information you have gathered regarding my past.” You gestured for Childe to speak.
Childe perks up, “Ah! Right!” He sits next to you before pulling out a file and placing it on the coffee table in front of you. “Yes, you were adopted, but the thing that I am having issues with is trying to find your birth parents. Because they’re adeptis and gave you up for adoption, it’s harder for me to find out who your birth parents are.” He began to spread each document on the table; Xiao and Zhongli stood next to you and Childe, analyzing each piece of paperwork.
You made a face, “This bothers me so much.” You lean back in your seat and run your fingers through your hair. “ Should we even search for my parents? I mean, they gave me up for a reason.” You said.
Zhongli sits beside you, “It depends on what sort of answers you’re looking for and what you want to hear.” He grabs your hands and gently squeezes them. “I understand that you’re upset, overwhelmed, and confused, but maybe receiving answers will ease those worries of yours,” Zhongli says, giving you a small smile.
“Do you know who could be my parents?” You ask, looking at Zhongli curiously.
Zhongli sighed and shook his head, “I believe that I don’t know any adeptis that were expecting a child. Because you’re raised to live a normal mortal life, we do not know how old you are exactly and whether your biological parents are still alive or are deceased.”
“Dang, so you can be as ancient as Zhongli, and we won’t know it because of how youthful you are!” Childe commented, staring at you with eyes the size of dinner plates. “And unless we know the identities of your real parents.” Childe quickly added, ignoring the glares from Xiao and Zhongli.
“Wow, thanks for calling me ancient, Tartaglia.” You grumbled, lightly hitting Childe with the cushion in your lap. Childe grabs the cushion midair before he yanks you forward; you stumble onto Childe’s lap. You winced at the impact before scowling up at Childe. He laughs and leans down to say something, only for Zhongli and Xiao to interrupt him.
“Childe!” Zhongli and Xiao scowled at the ginger-haired Harbinger. You grumbled and pushed Childe’s face away from yours before sitting back down next to Zhongli while muttering about how annoying Childe was while fixing your clothes.
Childe laughs softly, “I heard that Mister Zhongli and the short adepti over there is training you how to fight! It looks like you still need more training! For an adepti, you’re weaker than a Fatui Harbinger!” Childe says, reaching over to squeeze your cheeks with that insufferable smile on his face. “But then again, Fatui Harbingers are stronger than an average person and vision wielder.” Childe taps on his chin with a thoughtful look on his face. At this point, Xiao was itching to smack Childe with his polearm for calling you weak.
“You’re asking to get smacked right now.” You said, glaring at Childe.
Childe snorts, “And you think you can land a hit on me? Well, aren’t you adorable!” Childe exclaims, poking you in the ribs. You jolt at the feeling before smacking Childe’s hands from your side with a glare.
“I will be the one smacking you, Harbinger!” Xiao growls, his polearm materializing in his hands before pointing the blade of his polearm at Childe.
“Oh ho ho, are you challenging me, a Fatui Harbinger, to a fight, little Yaksha?” Childe asks, getting up from his seat and cracking his knuckles. “I doubt you can land a hit on me! Considering you can barely protect your woman, I find it laughable that you think you can win in a fight between you and me.” Childe mocks, giving Xiao a lazy grin, his bow materializing in his hands.
Zhongli stood abruptly before pushing Childe and Xiao away from each other, glaring at the two men. “That is enough, both of you!” Zhongli growls, his amber eyes glowing menacingly.
“I’m tired of you two fighting. Can we please move on and get back into the topic of what we were discussing?” You ask, resting your head on the back pillows. Childe and Xiao glare at one another before moving away from each other. Childe sits on your right side, and Zhongli sits on your left, while Xiao stands beside Zhongli with his arms crossed over his chest.
“So, you haven’t exactly given us an answer on whether you want to know who your biological parents are or not,” Childe says, fixing his hair before turning to look at you. “Again, it’s up to you. If you want to know who your parents are and your overall origins, I’m sure Mister Zhongli and the annoying little adepti over there will bring you to Mt. Aocang to discuss this matter with the other adeptis in Liyue.” Childe says, ignoring the heated glare Xiao shot was giving him.
You sighed, “I don’t know. I do want to meet my biological parents, but I’m not sure if they would want to meet me.” You said. “If they’re still alive, of course.” You quickly added.
“You’d never know unless you try it,” Childe suggested. “Plus, I’m sure there’s a good reason why they didn’t keep you. Perhaps they wanted you to live a normal life and not be put in harm's way. As an adepti, I’m assuming that there are a lot of risks and dangers that are in their day-to-day life.” He pats your head.
You slumped down in your seat, “Well, they could’ve lived a normal life with me too instead of putting me up for adoption.” You grumbled.
“You never mentioned anything regarding [Y/N]’s human parents,” Zhongli spoke up, reaching over to the paper scattered around the desk. “Are there any records on her human adoptive parents?”
Childe lets out a sharp sigh before shaking his head, “Not too many, other than them owning a small business in Liyue. They lived in a quaint village before moving to Liyue Harbor. To be really honest, I wish that [Y/N] met Zhongli first before meeting Xiao, but it’s unfortunate that we can’t change the past.” Childe sighs dramatically, letting the back of his head rest on the couch cushion.
You rolled your eyes and lightly slapped Childe’s arm, “Childe! Stop trying to stir up issues.” You scolded the ginger-haired male. “What is up with you always causing trouble with people around you?” You ask, glaring at the Harbinger in front of you. He held his hands out as if surrendering to your constant scolding. Speaking of scolding, how many times have you and Zhongli scolded Childe over starting a fight with Xiao? At this point, Childe starting problems with Xiao is going to be a common occurrence the longer you stay with Xiao.
“Come on now, [Y/N]. You’re like a little sister to me! I have to protect you from harm’s way!” He ruffles your hair with a smile on his face. “And from people that definitely do not deserve you at all!” Childe added, looking over at Xiao from the corner of his eyes. You, Zhongli, and Xiao gave him a look. Childe rolls his eyes before letting out a dramatic sigh.
“Alright, I won’t start anything! Now, is there anything else you want to know before I let the three of you go to meet up with other adeptis?” Childe asks, sitting up in his seat before sorting through the paperwork and putting them back into the file.
You blinked at Childe, “I know I’ve asked you this before, but how in the world did you find my background information so fast? Lumine stabbed me a few hours ago, and not even a day had gone by.” You said, leaning back in your seat.
“And as I’ve said earlier, I’m a Harbinger! It’s my job to be able to track down people and search up background information.” Childe says, getting up from his seat. “Also, Lumine has this friend that you need to keep an eye out for,” Childe added, turning to look at the three of you.
“A friend?” Xiao asks, quirking up an eyebrow.
Childe nods his head, “She’s a Mondstadt native but studied in Sumeru— well, she was kicked from Sumeru Akademiya because she was exposed for cheating on all of her tests and exams. Just to let you all know, she doesn’t have a vision, but I believe that she still poses a threat to your safety.” Childe says, turning to look at you.
You give Childe a weird look, “How does she pose a threat to my safety if we don’t know each other and if she doesn’t have a vision?” You ask, slowly looking over to Xiao and Zhongli.
Childe clicks his tongue, “It’s because that girl is feeding some kind of misinformation and is coming up with some kind of rumor about you to fuel Lumine’s hatred towards you.” Childe clenches his jaws. “I don’t know what is being said about you, but I know for sure that it has something to do with that adepti over there.” Childe gestures in Xiao’s direction.
“Oh, great! More people after my head, how lovely.” You said, rubbing your temples with an irritated sigh. “When will my suffering end?” You sigh.
“We won’t let anyone touch a single hair on your head, dearest,” Zhongli says, lightly rubbing your back. “We’ll make sure that no one will touch you or harm you in any way,” Zhongli stated, his eyes glowing ominously.
“Ooh, it looks like Morax might make an appearance if someone dares to put his beloved in danger or tries to harm her in any way!” Childe says with a giddy grin on his face. “I should get going now! I don’t want to delay your quest to find answers about your biological family any longer.” Childe says, turning to walk out the front door of your, Xiao, and Zhongli’s residence at Wangshu Inn.
“Wait!” You exclaimed as you quickly ran to Childe and grabbed his wrists to stop him from walking out the door. “Do you know Lumine’s friend’s name by chance? Or what she looks like?” You ask, looking up at Childe with desperation.
“And how do you know of her existence?” Xiao interjects, looking at Childe curiously.
Childe sighs, “Aether and Paimon expressed their concerns to me the other day while we were sparring. He mentioned how Lumine made a friend in Mondstadt, and this friend happens to know you somehow.” Childe explains; you stared at him blankly. Lumine’s friend knew you? How in the world does she know you when you don’t even know who she is? Could she be stalking you on Lumine’s behalf? You didn’t recall having any friends, acquaintances, or enemies that were from Mondstadt. You don’t even consider Lumine to be your enemy; she’s just some girl who’s obsessed with Xiao and desperately wants you out of the picture so she can have him for herself.
“This girl’s name is Charlotte; she has light chestnut brown hair, wears thick-rimmed glasses, is about your height, and likes to dress up like a student from the Sumeru Akademiya. Even though she’s been kicked out of that school for cheating.” Childe replies. “Does she sound familiar in any way?” He asks, looking at you curiously.
You shook your head, “I don’t know anyone with the name Charlotte or anyone from Mondstadt.”
Childe hums, “Huh. How peculiar.” Childe whispers, stroking his chin. “You don’t know Charlotte, but she somehow knows you.”
“We should get going now; we don’t have time to waste,” Zhongli says, placing his hand on your shoulder. You nod your head slowly before turning to look at Xiao, who walks over to where you and Zhongli stand.
“If you three need anything else, perhaps want me to gather some intel on this Charlotte person, let me know, and Aether will be my eyes and ears in regions I’m not able to visit in my free time. I’ll try to dig into her background.” Childe says, ruffling your hair before walking out the door.
You turn to Xiao and Zhongli, “So, should we go to Mt. Aocang now?” You ask, rocking back and forth on the balls of your feet. “I’m also getting a bit hungry.” You muttered, rubbing your grumbling stomach.
“We can eat something while speaking with Cloud Retainer at Mt. Aocang,” Zhongli says, guiding you and Xiao towards the door.
At first, everyone thought that taking a trip to Mt. Aocang would be fast and easy. But everyone was wrong because the minute the three of you step foot onto Mt. Aocang, your nose almost immediately starts bleeding from being at such high altitudes. While you’ve stepped foot into buildings that look like it touches the sky, being on top of a mountain was different. Not only that, but the air is thinner in high altitudes, causing not only your nosebleed, but you’re also starting to feel lightheaded.
“This is not my day at all.” You deadpanned, wiping the blood from your nose with a tissue that Zhongli had given you. “I got stabbed, I found out my adepti parents didn’t want me, some stranger is out to get me along with the person that had stabbed me, my nose is bleeding, and I am feeling faint.” You sighed, resting your head on Xiao’s back as he gave you a piggyback ride to Cloud Retainer’s abode.
“How are you holding up back there?” Zhongli asks. Zhongli was walking in front of you and Xiao, looking over his shoulders to look at the both of you.
“I feel like I’ve been put through the wringer. If I faint, forgive me, I am not used to being at such high altitudes.” You grumbled, continuing to press the tissue up your nose to soak up the blood that was gushing out of your nose.
Xiao snorts, “If being this high up on Mt. Aocang makes you feel faint, I don’t want to know how Mt. Hulao will affect you.” Xiao says, adjusting you on his back. “Are you okay? We can go back if you want, and Cloud Retainer can come to Wangshu Inn instead.” Xiao offers, looking down at you from over his shoulders.
You shake your head and wave away Xiao’s worries, “I’ll be fine! I’m sure I’ll adjust to it the more I stay here. Besides, an adepti like Cloud Retainer shouldn’t be going on a long journey just to visit an adepti-reject.” You said, clutching onto the tissue tightly against your chest, mentally sighing in relief when the bloody nose had stopped. “On the bright side, my nosebleed had stopped. The downside is that it’ll take a little bit of time for me to be able to adjust to the altitudes.” You said, patting Xiao’s back to motion for him to put you down.
You, Zhongli, and Xiao walk closer to where Cloud Retainer’s abode resides; the sound of the water rippling, the leaves rustling, the birds chirping, the light breeze blowing. Aside from the perilous height and dangerous drops, you wouldn’t mind having your own abode like this. Though, were you even worthy of having an abode of your own?
“I sense the presence of the Fenghuang.” A loud, feminine voice booms. You jumped at the volume of the voice and looked around Mt. Aocang with wide eyes. Where in the world is she, and how is her voice so loud?
“Where is Cloud Retainer?” You whisper to Xiao and Zhongli, searching high and low for the crane, only to not be able to find her at all. She sort of blends in with the environment. Before Xiao and Zhongli can answer your question, Cloud Retainer lands in front of the three of you, looking directly at you.
“Darling, you look just like your parents! Only human!” Cloud Retainer says, approaching you with her wings held out in front of her as if she was going in to hug you. You look at Cloud Retainer blankly, then at Xiao and Zhongli from the corner of your eyes. “My, it sure took you over two millennia to visit me!” She huffs, shaking her head in disapproval.
“Cloud Retainer, [Y/N] had recently found out that she’s an adepti,” Zhongli interjects, crossing his arms over his chest. “She has been living amongst the humans as a regular mortal with adoptive human parents,” Zhongli explains.
“Is that so?” Cloud Retainer asks, looking between you and Zhongli. You, Zhongli, and Xiao nodded your heads in response to her question. “Well, this is news to me! I had no idea that Mei and Zihao gave their daughter up for adoption!” Cloud Retainer says, looking at you and Zhongli in shock.
You took a step forward, “Are my parents still alive by any chance?” You ask, giving Cloud Retainer a hopeful gaze. “Please, I just want to know whether my biological parents are alive or deceased. I want to meet them.” You whisper.
Cloud Retainer lets out a soft sigh of defeat, “I’m sorry, little one, but your parents are deceased. They’ve been killed by Osial, the Overlord of the Vortex.” You felt your heart drop in your chest, your breath getting caught in your throat. “They died to protect you.” She places her left wing on your shoulder with a sympathetic look on her face.
“Protect me from Osial? Why protect me from an ancient God that I’ve never met in my entire life?” You look at her quizzically. “Also, isn’t Osial….” You trailed off, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Didn’t Rex Lapis defeat Osial two thousand years ago? I’m only in my twenties….” You trailed off.
Cloud Retainer slowly nods her head, “Yes, two thousand twenty-something….” She says slowly, giving you a look. “Sweetheart, you’re an adepti and was born over two thousand years ago.” Cloud Retainer explains.
“How can I be over two thousand years old when I was given to a human family for them to raise as their own child?” You ask. You felt like your brain was going to melt from all of the information that was given to you. Really though, how in the world are you over two thousand years old when your parents gave you up for adoption to humans whenever you’re an infant? Surely there has to be an explanation of some sort, right? “Did my parents seal me up in amber for two thousand years when I was an infant?” You ask, crossing your arms over your chest.
Cloud Retainer sighs, “Your parents are quite protective over you; I have no doubt in my mind that they would seal you up in amber for thousands of years just to protect you from Osial.” She says.
“I don’t understand this. How is [Y/N] an adepti?” Xiao mutters, looking over at you skeptically with one hand propped on his hip and the other stroking his chin. Since you’re supposedly an adepti, why did it take so long for it to show?
“Oh, Xiao. Do you want me to explain it to you?” Cloud Retainer asks, glancing over at Xiao. Xiao looks at Cloud Retainer with confusion. “Come here and sit down. I shall explain how [Y/N] is an adepti, now is the time to tell you the truth.” Cloud Retainer gestures for Xiao to sit down on the stone chair. Xiao lets out a slow sigh before hesitantly sitting down on the stone chair Cloud Retainer gestured for him to sit on.
“What is she going to explain to Xiao?” You whispered to Zhongli, not taking your eyes away from where Xiao sat.
Zhongli shrugs his shoulders, “I’m not entirely sure, but I’m quite curious what her explanation will be.” He says, crossing his arms behind his back while waiting for Cloud Retainer to speak. Cloud Retainer takes a seat next to Xiao before letting out a soft sigh and turning towards the yaksha.
“When two adeptis fall in love and love each other very much, the two of them would decide to do things with each other to show the symbol of their love and commitment to one another. By creating another life.” She says.
Your eyes widen, looking up at Zhongli, speechless. You covered your mouth and leaned towards Zhongli, “Is Cloud Retainer giving Xiao the birds and the bees talk!?” You squeaked, peeking over at Xiao, whose face was almost as red as the jueyun chili peppers.
Zhongli stifled his laughter by clearing his throat, “Indeed she is.” Zhongli sighs, nodding his head while trying to hide the fact that he was trying his hardest not to laugh. Xiao looks over at you and Zhongli with a glare, giving the two of you a look as if he was telling the both of you to shut the fuck up and get him out of this mess.
Zhongli clears his throat loudly, “I believe that Xiao was wondering why it took so long for [Y/N]’s adeptial powers to appear.” Zhongli says, covering his smile behind his clenched fist.
You perked up, “Yeah! Why did it take so long for my adeptial powers to make an appearance?” You ask, looking at Cloud Retainer in confusion while Xiao slowly gets up from the stone chair to stand next to you and Zhongli. The tips of his ears are bright red, along with the apples of his cheeks. Poor Xiao is so flustered.
“Oh! Well, considering [Y/N] has been sealed in amber for over two thousand years, it would take some time for it to catch up to her.” Cloud Retainer says, walking over to the three of you. “I believe the mortals call it being a late bloomer?” She asks, tilting her head to the side.
“The way you put it, it makes it sound like I hit puberty really late.” You said, tucking your hair behind your ears. “Although I guess in the adepti scenario, it makes a lot of sense.” You stroked your chin with a soft hum.
“I’m confused,” Xiao speaks up, gazing at Cloud Retainer with his eyes narrowing. “Why would Osial go after [Y/N]?” Xiao asks, looking at Cloud Retainer curiously.
You nod your head, “Yeah! Why would Osial be after me when I’ve never met him before, nor have I been in the same room as him!” You said.
Cloud Retainer sighs, “The only time the both of you have been in the same room was when he was visiting your parents after your mother had given birth to you.” She says. “The minute Osial laid his eyes on you; he claimed that you’re destined to be his wife, his lover, and the mother of his children.” Cloud Retainer says slowly, looking at Xiao and Zhongli closely. The two men tensed up beside you; their hands clenched into fists.
“This is news to me,” Zhongli says, raising his eyebrows before crossing his arms over his chest.
Zhongli recalled Osial talking about courting an adepti but never truly revealed who he planned on courting. The day that Osial lost his mind and went ballistic on the other adeptis and archons, could that day be the day when you were sealed in amber, hidden, and kept away from the Overlord of the Vortex? While Zhongli didn’t know your parents well, he knew that they were close acquaintances of Guizhong because of how much she had talked about your parents. She spoke very highly of them and gushed about their newborn daughter, insisting that Zhongli should meet Mei and Zihao’s daughter.
“Maybe she’ll soften your stone-cold heart,” Guizhong would poke fun at him, giving him a teasing smile, while Zhongli, who went by the name Morax at that time, would brush her teasing comment to the side while taking a sip of his osmanthus wine.
“Destined to be Osial’s lover? Well, that’s a load of boar shit.” You snorted to yourself. Cloud Retainer cleared her throat loudly, giving you a disapproving look while you covered your mouth when you realized that you said it out loud. Wait a minute, doesn’t Osial have a wife himself!? “Osial has a wife, doesn’t he? It’s inappropriate to go after someone that isn’t your wife.” You grumbled, clicking your tongue with disapproval. “Geez, you can’t even trust an ancient God to be faithful.” You complained, making a face.
“Indeed, Osial has a wife, but he married his wife after your parents hid you away and sealed you in amber for over two millennia.” Cloud Retainer says, sighing softly. “If you would like to know more about your parents, I believe that Ganyu would love to speak to you about your parents. After all, she is quite close with them. They’re like her relatives whom she held close and dear to her heart.” Cloud Retainer says.
You nod your head, “I would like that! I think it’s a good time to visit her at the Jade Chamber, and we can set up a time and day to meet up to chat about my parents!” You said.
Cloud Retainer shakes her head, “Oh, nonsense! I have already informed Ganyu about the meeting! She should be making an appearance here very soon!” Cloud Retainer says. “It’s a shame that you weren’t raised to be an adepti; I believe that you and Ganyu would get along wonderfully! That being said, I wonder if you and Ganyu were similar when you were children….” She trails off.
“Oh! We had no idea that we would be meeting Ganyu so soon! Quite frankly, we thought we’d be able to get some answers from you regarding my parents.” You said, scratching your arm awkwardly. “Don’t get me wrong! It’d be nice to meet Ganyu! I just assumed that speaking to you would be the last step in getting my questions answered about my biological parents.” You said, sighing softly.
Just when you thought that your parents would be alive somewhere in Liyue, only for you to find out about the death of your parents from Cloud Retainer. It was disheartening and disappointing. You wanted to meet your biological parents and hear their reason for sealing you away for over two thousand years, other than protecting you from the Overlord of the Vortex, Osial. They should have chosen to hide away from Osial with you instead of leaving you alone in the world without their presence and guidance.
“What’s on your mind?” Xiao asks, lightly brushing his hands against yours. You looked over at Xiao and gave him a weak smile.
“I don’t think the lifestyle of an adepti would suit me. After all, I’ve been sealed for, what, over two thousand years, and my adeptal powers finally decided to show up years later?” You raised your eyebrows. “Plus, adjusting to the life of being an adepti would be complicated. Not only that, but all of Liyue will know my existence… that will include Osial.” You said slowly.
“You’ll be fine! I believe that you can still live your life in Liyue as an adepti, like myself, for example!” A voice says, grabbing everyone’s attention. Ganyu smiled at you and bowed politely, “Forgive me for interrupting and jumping in on the conversation.” Ganyu says.
“Osial won’t know of your presence. After all, he has been sealed once again.” Cloud Retainer says. “I will leave you four to converse with one another.” She says, before Cloud Retainer was about to fly away, you quickly stopped her.
“I have one last question to ask you.” You said Cloud Retainer turns in your direction. “You said you sensed the presence of the Fenghuang. Who’s presence are you sensing exactly?” You ask, gazing at her curiously.
Cloud Retainer chuckles, “I was referring to you, little one. Your father is the Feng, and your mother is the Huang. Coming together, they produce the Fenghuang, and you, my dear, are the Fenghuang.” She brushes your face lightly with her wings; if she could smile at you, she would. “The Fenghuang is also paired with a dragon.” She says, giving you a look.
You blinked at Cloud Retainer for a mere second before asking, “What do you mean by that exactly?” You whisper, unsure of whether it is a good thing or a bad thing.
You look at her quizzically before Cloud Retainer leans in close to your ears before whispering, “Morax— or should I say Rex Lapis, is also a dragon, so take that as you will.” Cloud Retainer gives you a teasing wink before flying off without saying another word.
You watched Cloud Retainer fly off into the distance, mouth agape. “Oh, so that’s what she was implying.” You whispered, feeling yourself grow shy, cheeks heating up. You cleared your throat, “So, Ganyu! Cloud Retainer told us that you know my parents?” You said, looking over at the blue-haired adepti.
Ganyu nods her head, “Cloud Retainer is correct. You grew up really well; it’s nice to finally see you again after a long time.” She says, giving you a small smile. “You look exactly like Mei and Zihao.” Ganyu examines you, eyeing you from head to toe.
You feel your breath getting caught in your throat, “If you don’t mind me asking, what are my parents like?” You ask, clearing your throat when you hear your voice tremble.
“Your parents are wonderful people, and they’re also quite powerful! While they don’t work closely for Rex Lapis, they do work with Guizhong. They have lent their strengths during the archon war but unfortunately lost their life to Osial.” Ganyu says, leading you towards the stone chair, motioning for you to sit down beside her.
“Other than protecting me from Osial, did they have any other reasons as to why they’ve decided to seal me away and give me up for adoption to humans?” You ask, letting your hands fall into your lap. “The way my parents didn’t hesitate to put me up for adoption makes me assume that they never wanted me and that I was a mistake.” You said, pressing your lips together, playing with the loose thread on your shirt.
Ganyu shook her head, “Please don’t think that way, [Y/N]. Your parents love you more than you know! They care about you so much, and they want you to live a safe and peaceful life without having to bear the responsibilities of an adepti.” Ganyu says.
“Have they ever thought about what I wanted as well? I don’t mind living a peaceful life as a “mortal,” but have they ever considered that I want to live that life with them as well?” You ask, frowning at Ganyu. You understand that your parents wanted to protect you, but why leave you all alone in a world where there’s danger in every corner? Have they really thought this through before thrusting you into Liyue to live the life of an average human? “It’s fine. You don’t have to answer that question. What’s done is done, and the past can’t be changed.” You said
“O-Oh! Well, is there anything else you want me to answer for you before you leave?” Ganyu asks, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder.
You hummed and tapped your fingers on your lap, “Not that I know of.” You murmur, shaking your head. “If I do have any other questions regarding my deceased parents, I will let you know! But for now, I think I got the answers I wanted to hear.” You said, getting up from the stone chair and dusting your pants off.
“Are you sure?” Xiao asks, looking at you with uncertainty. You nodded your head and gave both Zhongli and Xiao a small smile. You can see a faint blush on Xiao’s cheeks from what had happened earlier with Cloud Retainer. You grabbed onto Xiao’s hands and gave his hand a light squeeze. “If that’s all, then we should head on back to Wangshu Inn. You need to relax from what has happened today.” Xiao says, squeezing your hands.
“That, I do. So many things have happened; I felt like I’ve been put through the wringer.” You said, rubbing your eyes tiredly. “Thank you for being here, Ganyu. Although it was short, I do hope I get to talk to you again in the future! Whether it’s about my parents, or if it’s just to hang out and get to know each other more!” You said, giving the qilin a small smile.
Ganyu smiles and nods her head, “Of course! I would love to hang out with you and get to know you more! After all, we do have over two thousand years to catch up on.” She jokes, making you snort at her joke.
“I wonder what I missed out on within the last two thousand years! You definitely need to catch me up to speed, Ganyu.” You said. You and Ganyu trade small giggles before bidding each other goodbyes.
“I’m ready to go back to the Inn now! I am in desperate need of sleep; all of the cryings really tired me out.” You said, stretching your arms in the air before yawning.
“Before you get some rest, you need to eat something. You haven’t eaten anything at all today.” Zhongli says, standing by your side. “You can rest for a bit before we call you to come to the dining room for lunch,” Zhongli says.
“Oh, archons. I completely forgot about food!” You gasped. A realization then hits you in the face before you turn to Zhongli and point an accusing finger at him. “You said we were going to eat something at Mt. Aocang while talking with Cloud Retainer about my background and biological parents!” You said, scrunching your face at him. How could the three of you forget about food so quickly? Wait a minute, do adeptis need to eat food to be able to survive? You know that adeptis technically don’t need sleep, but what about food? After all, you are an adepti, and it is going to take a bit of time for you to get used to being one. Since you’ve been raised by humans and lived a regular human life, would you and your body be able to adapt to drastic changes? Lack of sleep and lack of food is something you’re unsure if you’d be able to adjust to.
Zhongli chuckles, “My apologies, dearest.” Zhongli bows, lifting your hand to his lips and pressing a gentle kiss on your knuckles. “Let me make it up to you by cooking something for you to eat when we arrive at Wangshu Inn.” Zhongli offers, interlocking your fingers with his.
“You’re an Adeptus, [Y/N]. Surely you wouldn’t need food or sleep as much as humans do, as how you used to.” Xiao says, crossing his arms over his chest.
You made a face at Xiao, “Xiao, I’ve been raised as a human most of my life after I was unsealed from amber. It’ll be complicated for me to switch over to the habits of an adepti so suddenly! I’m sure I’ll need to take one step at a time.” You said, propping your hands on your hips.
Xiao opens his mouth to retort, but Zhongli cuts him off, “We should head on back to Wangshu Inn now. I believe that Cloud Retainer wouldn’t want us to linger around much longer.” Zhongli says, giving both you and Xiao a look. The two of you give each other the side eye before complying.
When the three of you arrived back at Wangshu Inn, you immediately went to bed to get a few minutes of sleep while Zhongli and Xiao were in the kitchen preparing lunch for the three of you to eat. As much as you wanted to help them out with cooking lunch, it was a long day for you, and you really needed to rest. You collapsed on the bed, and you were out like a light the minute your head touched the pillow.
“It’s a shame that her parents passed away before she could reunite with them,” Xiao mutters, placing the cutlery on the table, sorting and organizing the dining table. “She was really looking forward to meeting her parents but was riddled with anxiety.” Xiao looks at Zhongli from his peripheral vision, watching the ex-archon turn the stove off and pour broth into the bowls of noodles.
“The day is finally ending, and she has been put through so many obstacles. I can’t imagine what’s going on in [Y/N]’s mind when she found out about being an adepti after enduring a near-fatal injury.” Zhongli murmurs, walking over to the table and putting the bowls in front of each seat.
Xiao leans against the table, his arms over his chest. “Morax, do you think her suffering will ever cease? It feels endless.” Xiao commented, his gaze downcasted.
Zhongli sighs, “That, I do not know. As much as I want to say that it’ll stop, I have a bad feeling that it might worsen.” Zhongli says, his eyebrows furrowing with worry. Xiao gives Zhongli an exasperated look; Zhongli almost rolls his eyes at Xiao’s reaction. “I shan’t be giving anyone false hope. I love [Y/N] very much, and I hold her close and dear to my heart, but I cannot and shouldn’t lie about serious matters. Especially when her life and safety are on the line.” Zhongli says.
Xiao’s eyes widened at Zhongli’s sudden love confession. How could Zhongli be so bold to say that he loves you when you’re with Xiao? Technically, you’re also with Zhongli, but the two of you aren’t as official as both you and Xiao are. Xiao opens his mouth to comment on Zhongli’s sudden love confession when the sound of the bedroom door opens. The two men fall silent when they hear footsteps approaching where they stand. You walked into the dining room, rubbing your eyes tiredly while mumbling something under your breath. You covered your mouth and yawned.
“Something smells really good.” You said, rubbing your eyes with the heel of your hand.
“Did we wake you up?” Zhongli asks, almost immediately by your side, both of his hands on your shoulders to steady you. You shook your head and leaned against Zhongli, eyes threatening to shut from how tired you were.
“The smell of food woke me up, and my stomach was grumbling.” You said, resting your head on Zhongli’s chest while eyeing the food on the table tiredly. “Is lunch ready now? I haven’t eaten all day today.” You said, rubbing your grumbling tummy.
“Yes, dearest, lunch is ready.” Zhongli chuckles, kissing the top of your head. “I was going to wake you up to eat, but it seems like you beat me to it,” Zhongli says, giving you an endearing smile.
You and Zhongli walk over to the dining table; Zhongli pulls the seat out for you, you sit down on the chair, and Zhongli pushes your chair in for you. The small interaction between you and Zhongli and the little gestures from Zhongli made Xiao feel sick to his stomach. Xiao still doesn’t like the thought of sharing you with someone else, nor does he like the idea of you being with someone else that wasn’t him.
“Oooh, Bamboo shoot soup!” You gasped as you grabbed your chopsticks and spoon and took a sip of the broth, humming in delight. “Delicious as always, Zhongli!” You said, looking over at Zhongli, who was looking at you intently with a tiny smile on his face.
“I’m glad you like it,” Zhongli says, scooping up the broth before taking a sip from it. Zhongli looks up at Xiao and motions for him to take a seat, “Xiao, you should start eating your food before it gets cold.” Zhongli stated.
You look over at Xiao and notice that he is still standing there, “Yeah! You should start eating before it gets cold! I understand that adeptis don’t need food to survive, but it’s best to eat. I don’t want you to get hungry.” You said, giving Xiao a pleading look.
Xiao sighs before sitting down across from Zhongli, looking down at the soup, then back up at you and Zhongli. You were happily eating the soup while Zhongli was taking a sip of his tea. Even though you were sitting in between them, Xiao couldn’t help but feel like there was a big rift between you and him. Xiao grabs his chopsticks and begins eating the bamboo shoot soup that Zhongli had cooked for the three of you.
“Osial can’t break through the seal, can he?” You suddenly ask. Xiao and Zhongli traded looks with each other before looking over at you, shaking their heads.
“Osial shouldn’t be able to break through any seals. Unless someone unseals him, he wouldn’t be freed easily.” Zhongli says. “Did something happen?” Zhongli asks, raising an eyebrow at you.
You let out a small sigh, “Well, while I was sleeping, I ended up having a dream about Osial. It felt like he went into my dreams to be able to communicate with me if that makes sense.” You said, placing your chopsticks down. “Is it possible for him to communicate with me through my dreams even though he’s been sealed?” You muttered, wiping your lips with a cloth napkin.
“That, I do not know,” Zhongli grumbles, his eyes narrowing. “Do you know what he looks like?” Zhongli asks.
“Other than his…. Serpent form, Osial appeared in my dream in his human form. Osial has deep blue hair, dark blue eyes, and pale skin; his hair is longer than yours, but it’s in a high ponytail.” You pointed at Zhongli. “He’s tall; he was wearing a dark blue and aquamarine hanfu. He was also touchy, which I did not like. While he’s handsome, I cannot be attracted to someone that is as evil as the Overlord of the Vortex himself. Plus, he’s not nearly as handsome as the both of you.” You said.
“[Y/N], whatever you do, do not listen to anything Osial says in your dreams, alright? He will try to manipulate you and lure you into his trap.” Xiao stated, squeezing the chopsticks in his hands tightly.
“Xiao is correct. Do not listen to Osial’s words; they’re nothing but lies and deception.” Zhongli stated.
You give Zhongli and Xiao a small smile, squeezing both of their hands to reassure them. “Don’t worry! I won’t fall for his tricks easily. Besides, why would I want to listen to a man I’m not dating or married to? Speaking of marriage! He’s a married man and has the audacity to go into another woman’s dream to communicate with her?!” You scoffed in disbelief and disgust. “I would never go after a married man or a man that’s in a relationship of some sort; I’m not a desperate homewrecker who is constantly craving for a married man’s attention.” You said, continuing to eat your bamboo shoot soup.
“That’s my girl.” Zhongli and Xiao think to themselves, giving you a small smile before squeezing your hands with theirs. The three of you ended up continuing dinner while conversing with one another about your next training, which you’re not looking forward to, and about how you’ll adjust to your new life as an adepti. You’re not looking forward to all of the training, but you know it’ll be necessary when you’re put in a perilous situation. You’re just hoping the dream you had of Osial was just a dream and nothing more.
Note: Ah, took me a while to post part 5 for Tragic Outcomes ;v; this is a filler chapter, after all! It's intended to be a filler chapter since not much conflict is in this chapter when the reader is finding out about her past and such. I've been feeling a bit under the weather recently, so apologies if this part didn't turn out good ;v; Hopefully, the next part is better! I start school this coming week, and I'm not excited about it! I'll try my best to get something typed down and posted while in school! As I have said in my past posts, I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3!
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#Genshin impact#Genshin impact fanfiction#Genshin impact imagine#Genshin impact fanfics#Xiao x reader#Xiao x fem!reader#Zhongli x reader#Zhongli x fem!reader#Xiao x fem!reader x Zhongli#Xiao imagine#Zhongli imagine#Xiao fanfic#Zhongli fanfic#genshinluvr
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Ruby's treatment of Penny in v8 was pretty disgusting and their reunion in v7 was nothing short of lackluster, but the fact that she actually grieved for her the whole volume 9, didn't immediately get over her death like the rest of them (with the exception of Weiss to an extent), and tried to preserve the last thing that remained of her, says that Ruby was only one who gave a shit about her. Penny's death hit so hard it finally forced Ruby to snap out of her I-will-save-everyone holier-than-thou hero complex.
Like recall Yang and Blake. Who the fuck would behave this way like an hour after learning of their friend's death? Can you imagine Yang acting the same way if it was Blake who'd died in her place? No cuz Yang cares about Blake. But it's not that uncommon for our paragons of virtue and glory to have little to no reaction when something horrible happens to their friends/allies, is it? Either Penny meant nothing to WBY or rt legit sucks at portraying relationships and human emotions.
Long Post Ahead
It's both.
RWBY does not give a fuck about Penny and RT being trash at portraying human anything are both accurate statements that has been coexisting for as long as the show has been running.
And honestly, I'm not even surprised that _WBY doesn't give a shit about Penny. Ever since she was introduced in V1, Penny was Ruby's friend and only her firend. She didn't interact with anyone else in Beacon, and we only got to see her teammate Ciel ONCE in the entire show, so I would be more surprised if the rest of RWBY even know something about Penny before she died. Yang did in V7, and I was a bit shocked because they have NEVER interacted once after their first meeting.
But back to the matter at hand, it's very clear that the writers brought back Penny because the fans expected them to (which is fair) but just stopped at that. Penny is back because it make sense and the fans like her, but why? Narratively, why is she back? Especially when Ruby was less than adequate in treating Penny's return or seeing her as a friend. Not only that, Penny was still stuck in the same predicament that troubled her in Beacon, that she doesn't have a choice or a say in how she want to live her life as her own person, but instead must put duty and her role in the grand scheme of things first, leaving her with no agency for herself.
Many people criticized Ironwood for this, but RUBY also took that choice from Penny in V8. She constantly wave off Penny's concern for the people now that they have created a civil discourse between them and Ironwood, and shut down any of Penny's attempt to properly deal with her regrets and choices.
And then Penny dies, and the Winter Maiden power went to who it was always meant to go to. Why was she brought back? Why put her through so much only to fucking kill her off again, and for her death to be for someone else's motivation, whether it be Ruby or Jaune?
Because Penny wasn't a character to RT. She's a plot device, and that's all she was. I don't doubt that Yang would care more if Blake dies or vice versa, or Weiss would care more if it was Winter. They don't have a reason to care about a plot device that doesn't directly affect them or their story. Only Ruby could because Penny was her friend, but even then I still could not look past how she treated the poor girl.
It's just a frustrating ordeal to look at, because you could've went literally any other route, and it would have meant something. Penny would have meant something. But it's too late now. They wrote themselves into this corner, and now they have watch their story crumble under the pressure.
#answered#anonymous#rwde#rwby critical#anti rooster teeth#ruby rose critical#yang xiao long critical#team rwby critical#penny polendina#penny deserved better
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Food, Peter Maximoff
If you ask anyone, they'd say I'm a clean freak. If you ask Peter, he'd say I'm a "crazy-clean-a-holic." I love him, but he can be kind of messy when it comes to everyday activities. For example, most people would not think eating twenty twinkies within a single day is a normal thing, but for Peter, there's nothing bad about it. He burns off every calorie he eats with his constant running, so it's not entirely a bad thing. However, you would think that he would at least throw away the wrapper to all those twinkies, right?
Wrong.
Without fail, Peter is always leaving his trash all over the place. I have found candy wrappers in the bedroom, the pantry floor, between the couch cushions - I repeat: everywhere. To put it simply, Peter is messy! Plus, he doesn't always watch what he's doing, so when I see him walk into our shared bedroom with a full bag of chips, I pause what I'm doing to stop him in his actions.
"Uh-uh. Go back to the kitchen," I tell him as soon as he steps in the room. Immediately, he stops in his actions with cautious eyes and an impeccable balance. Not even a flying rock could make him budge. "You cannot come into this bed."
Looking at me with pouting eyes, Peter let's out a sigh and slumps his shoulders. "I won't make a mess - I promise!" He tells me, making me purse my lips at him. There is no way he could ever not be messy when he's eating - no way.
"Peter, you always make a mess when you eat anywhere but a table," I remind him, sitting up in bed with my arms crossed against my chest. "Even at the table, you manage to get your food all over the place," I add, watching him closely as he sits down on the bed, his feet planted firmly on the ground with his bag of chips now in his lap.
"Yeah, but I pick up after myself afterward, don't I?" He asks, turning his head back to me.
At his words, I laugh. "Yes, you brush everything into your hand and then toss it back into your mouth," I point out to him, internally cringing at the reminder of my boyfriend's gross habit. "And by the way, it's so gross when you do that! Do you know how many germs you might be putting in your mouth?" Not to mention the lack of table manners, but that's a discussion for another time.
Peter's mouth pops open in response, appalled I would even criticize him for something that is so normal for him. "Well, I don't want to waste it!" He argues back, pulling more of his body onto the bed so he can face me better.
"Peter, we live in school with over a hundred kids constantly running around and making messes - messes which you sometimes help them create!" I exclaim, leaning back into my pillow with a groan. "Just think of all the times they've played outside, covered in sweat and mud, only to run back inside and rub their grubby hands all over the dining hall table," Staring at the ceiling, I sigh. "And then imagine you eating at that table and then eating the crumbs that come into contact- Damn it, Peter!"
Just as I turn my head up from the pillow, my eyes quickly catch onto Peter with his food now on the bed as he eagerly munches on one of the many barbecue chips. On the comforter beneath him is all of the fallen crumbs from the several chips he's undoubtedly stuffed in his mouth with his super-speed. I told him - I told him - not to get in bed for this exact reason.
At the tone of my voice alone, Peter realizes he's messed up and quickly halts in his chewing, and instead, slowly turns his eyes toward me with almost a scared haze filling them. "I didn't mean to?" He lies with a small smile, holding his hands up in an almost shrugging manner. However, despite this being his attempt to appear as innocent, this only causes more crumbs to cover the sheets and blankets.
"Peter, you're getting crumbs all over the bed!" I exclaim once again, laughing as I move to try and playfully push him out of bed. However, with the super-human speed he has, I'm not very successful as I end up landing on my stomach with Peter now standing up beside the bed, his chip bag back in his hand as he resumes munching on his snack.
"Crumbs are easily cleaned, baby," He assures me, a quick flash of grey falling before my eyes as the color of the blanket flashes a few times in front of me a few times. Before I know it, Peter is sitting beside me with his legs underneath the covers and his lips planted firmly on my cheek. Looking down at my blankets, I see them now completely flattened and smoothed out, meaning he tossed the blanket into the air before letting me see and putting it back down on top of me, now free of crumbs. "See?"
At his question, I smile before turning my head and kissing him. Although it isn't long before I pull away and lean my head onto his shoulder, his freshly cut silver hair brushing against my forehead as I do so. "If only you could be this quick in cleaning anything else," I murmur, giggling as Peter quickly pushes me onto my back with his body now on top of mine.
"I tried my best!" He exclaims, smiling as I try to push him off of me. However, he doesn't give, and instead of rolling back over onto his side, Peter lies completely on top of me with his arms wrapped around me tightly. "And because you just had to complain about me showing my love for you, you can't leave this bed for the rest of the night."
"'Showing my love for you'," I repeat his words, snickering. "All you did was clean up your own mess from the bed, Peter," I point out, raising my hands to rest on his sides. He's always so sarcastic, and yet, he's sweet at the same time.
"I love you," He tells me with a small sigh. "But for five seconds, can you not be unsatisfied?" Peter asks me, his voice dangerously close to my ear as he keeps his head beside mine on my pillow.
Turning my head toward him, I find his nose lining up with mine as his dark brown eyes meet mine, a gentleness filling them like always. Just at the sight of the man I love, I sigh with a smile and lean in close to press another small kiss to his lips. "Thank you," I tell him, moving one of my hands from his sides and up to his soft cheek. "And even though you're sometimes messy, I love you too."
At that, Peter smiles back before returning the kiss with a small one of his own. "I love you so much," He tells me, slowly sliding onto his side of the bed with me still resting in his arms. I guess I really won't be leaving the bed for the rest of the night. "And thank you for cleaning up after me - even though you shouldn't have to."
Peter doesn't usually say such raw things, but when he does, I know he means them with all his heart. So, instead of continuing on with my teasing, I let my amusement pass through and let the moment turn into one of seriousness. "I wouldn't have it any other way," I confess, my voice soft as I watch Peter smile once again. No other words have to be exchanged for me to know that Peter feels the same way, and with that, I know that our relationship is a special one that will last - messes and all.
#peter maximof x reader#peter maximof#peter maximoff x reader#peter maximoff imagine#peter maximoff imagines#peter maximof imagin#peter maximof imagine#xmen#xmen x reader#xmen imagine#xmen imagines
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My Tybalt Exposition
I read somewhere (likely on Twitter, but no guarantees) about people getting really upset with the depiction of Tybalt in the two most recent October Daye novels (Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep) which cover the same events, one from October's POV, the other from Tybalt's. This is the first time there's been another narrator in the October Daye series outside of short stories/novellas.
That original poster said that while they saw Tybalt's behaviour as problematic in Sleep No More, they had hoped that The Innocent Sleep, since told from his point of view, would clarify matters and perhaps 'redeem' his character. They went on to say that The Innocent Sleep made it much worse, and (I am completely paraphrasing here, I read this weeks ago and no longer have those posts available for reference) that Tybalt was basically abusive trash. If I recall correctly, they toed the line with calling the author a DV sympathizer/apologizer, but it was a near thing.
Even if I remembered where that original post was, I wouldn’t link to it, because I don’t want to bring attention to what they said, nor do I want to risk people piling onto them as is common when people feel like an IP they love is being attacked in any way. I’d rather just make an entirely too long post explaining my own views, and possibly rambling too much and make no sense – because that’s what I do. 😊
As I’ve now finished The Innocent Sleep, I felt the need to get some thoughts down to address some of the things brought forward in that post/thread/whatever I read just after The Innocent Sleep was released.
The author: people need to realise that these books are FICTION. The bonus of writing fiction is that you can safely explore troublesome parts of humanity and society without actually agreeing with those troublesome things.
A significant portion of the books I read have murder happening either on page or off screen in the first few pages because the mystery of a dead body gives the protagonist something to do. Do I think these authors all believe that people should be able to go around killing each other just for fun? No. So why on earth would people think an author including any other kind of violence in their work approves of that violence? This could be it’s own post, and many others have made this point much better than I ever will.
Tybalt’s behavior in Sleep No More: We are seeing Tybalt through October’s eyes. Sure, we as readers are privy to the previous 16 books worth of information (even more if we’ve read all the shorts and novellas), but at this point in time, October doesn’t know Tybalt. She’s never seen a Cait Sidhe. She doesn’t know anything about them aside from what Titania’s illusion tells her. From this framing, Tybalt comes across as brash, angry, controlling, and violent. He has a tendency to storm off if things aren’t going his way. To October, Tybalt’s behaviour is completely out of line, and she’d be correct – from everything she knows at this point.
Tybalt’s behaviour in The Innocent Sleep: One thing people need to remember before they start applying present-day human morality to Tybalt is that he is not human. At all. He’s fae. Cait Sidhe. He is both a cat and a humanoid, but he is not, and has never been, human.
One of the things the author has reiterated time and time again is that both the fae as a whole, and Cait Sidhe specifically, live by an entirely different set of rules than humanity does. Titania hates the Cait Sidhe because she believes they are beasts and below the perfection of her other descendant lines like the Daione Sidhe. As much as Titania is the villain, she’s not entirely wrong. First and foremost, the Cait Sidhe are cats. When backed into a corner, they’re going to lash out. If they’re stressed, or hurt, etc., they’re going to lash out. It’s what they do. I have the scars from my own cats to prove it.
Tybalt knows he is barely in control of his emotions. He freely admits that, and the fact that he at times needs to walk away before he lashes out and does something he’ll regret, which I feel is smart and responsible of him.
Tybalt’s attack on Ginevra in the throne room in Golden Shore is excessive. And it’s meant to be. It’s completely unexpected and jarring in Sleep No More when seen from October’s point of view. In The Innocent Sleep, being in Tybalt’s head, while still a severe overreaction to a situation he wasn’t paying attention to and therefore didn’t have full context of, it is completely in line for how a) a cat would react, and b) how a Cait Sidhe king would react when they believe someone has attacked/injured/wronged someone that ‘belongs’ to them.
Does that make it right? No. And Tybalt himself shows as much shame as his position allows when he sees Ginevra at dinner.
Do I think Tybalt is an abusive asshole that needs to be shunned, killed off, or whatever other over the top reaction people have had? No. And no, that doesn’t mean I approve of his behaviour or think he should face no repercussions. But context means a lot.
I can see when his behaviour is completely in character for his species and title, while also admitting when he’s crossed a line.
The benefit of an ongoing series is that it is quite possible that Tybalt will face the fallout of his behaviour in Book 19, or even further. I don’t expect everything to be wrapped up in a perfect bow at the end of each book. None of the characters in these books is perfect (with the exception of Spike, Cagney, and Lacey), and if the author can foreshadow some of the things we’ve seen in Book 16 way back in Book 1, then we can believe she’s got plans for them for Book 19 and beyond.
This is the same author that took one of the most loathsome characters and made me want to wrap him in wool and protect him at all costs (ok, I still want to shake him now and again), to the point that I named my new kitten after him. Please, admire Simon “The Tiny Terror”.
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repost from my old blog<3
idk why this has been on my mind all morning but like
imagine you just exorcised a very fucking stubborn curse that almost put u six feet under. maybe it was intentional for u to be sent out on this mission on your own without satoru? you’re heaving, laying on your back on the verge of a panic attack because what the actual fuck just happened?
you succumb out of the veil, eyes wide as you watch the evaporating remainings of the monster a few feet away from you. you’re still on your back, crawling and crawling away, willing yourself to just get the fuck up and get far away from here.
you begin to cry, then, when the veil finally starts to disappear and you can see the night sky again. You try to get up to no avail, scared out of your mind, living and reliving the whole fight again in your brain like it was some kinda mantra just stuck in there.
you scream when something touches your shoulders, putting whatever is remaining of your strength to flinch away from whatever it is, but is just not enough. Against your weak struggle and raw sobs you are pulled in someones chest from behind, their arms wrapping around your middle firmly.
“I’m here now,” you hear him, and your eyes finally close. Your sobs get louder, fists now curling around the forearms around your stomach in fear. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay. You’ve done well. You’re safe now. You’re safe.”
gojo doesn’t raise his voice a pitch. He keeps it low and gentle and soft so your glass doesn’t crack further, but he knows it’s already shattered beyond repair. You shuffle closer hurriedly, getting on your knees to turn around and hide yourself away from the whole damn world in his chest, knuckles turning white from your firm grip on his uniform.
“‘toru…” you whimper, another sob rocking your whole body against his.
you’re thankful for his firm embrace around you. it’s grounding, squeezing all the pent up emotion right out of you as you cry and cry and cry because oh god you’re safe now. because that was fucking scary and you were on your own and you deserve to feel scared because as much of a sorcerer, you sure as hell still are a human being.
one of his hands is in your hair. “it was scary, huh?”
“s-suh…so fu-ucking scary,” you sob, and it does nothing but break his heart.
“You exorcised it, though,” gojo tells you. he begins to rock you both gently as you continue to empty your feelings tucked into his body like that. “you’ve done wonderfully, my little sorcerer. you’re so strong.”
his words do nothing but make you cry harder, and you don’t know where the tears keep coming from anymore. you’re no longer scared, you’re never scared when saturo is around, but it’s the fact that he’s finally here, and you feel safe again after god only know how many hours of a tireless fight for your life.
gojo looks at the trashed field where you almost met your doom only a few minutes ago with fire in his chest. he is still rocking you left and right, you begin to calm down gradually, and he thinks of all the things he is going to do in his little visit to the higher ups for sending you here on your own.
“always so strong. always making me the proudest i can be.”
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
pls reblog so i can find my old followers again!:(
#ackermonie writes#sniff i love him so much#jjk comfort#gojo satoru x reader#gojo satoru#gojo fluff#gojo comfort#gojo angst#gojo satoru x gender neutral reader#gojo drabbles#gojo x reader#gojo x you#jjk drabbles#jjk fanfic#jjk fluff#jujutsu kaisen x reader#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu gojo
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Fandom Essay - Body Positivity and Validation
Good timezone darlings~ Lia is back at it again with some examination of BG3 Fandom and some more of the wonderful things we can find within it. This time we are talking about representation of different physical features. If you feel this might be a little much for you, either in regards to your relationship to your body or any potential dysphoria, please feel free to skip it.
Second disclaimer that I will be mentioning trans and nonbinary people here from the perspective of a Cis person - this is absolutely not my right to speak for or over anyone so I thoroughly welcome the voices of those with lived experiences to join in the comments with their input, but I also did not want to leave the topic out of the discussion and you may just see why as we get into it~
So on with today's long title:
How FanWorks Can Be Important To Self Acceptance And Body Positivity - The Next "Callout Essay" from TavyliaSin (Who is calling herself out with these too) ((there are reasons it feels targeted I know where to aim)) (((but honestly it's fine it's all positive I promise)))
Today we will be discussing: body types, disability representation (only a little though, this one may need a full post of its own), body size, gender (and gender euphoria), scars and "imperfections", visible ageing. This will be through the lens of both the canon inclusion and everything we see in mods, edits, and fan creations of all kinds. As usual I will use sub headers and encourage anyone to skip what makes them uncomfortable, as well as to join the discussion~ so let's begin, shall we?
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What Does Body Positivity Mean?
Let's start off with the simple one. Body positivity doesn't mean promoting any one body type as the ideal or as better than any others, it is about being positive about the mortal flesh vessels we inhabit and all of their features. A lot of people can find this difficult, to love oneself or even just accept oneself, especially in a highly critical society. But that is where representation and even fan creations can step in - by being vocal and loud about appreciating features that people may feel negative about in themselves, we can help build up confidence and self worth, as well as reminding all of us that we do not have to look a certain way to be desirable and desired~
How Does This Relate To Baldur's Gate 3?
On the surface, we do have a lot of characters with more conventionally accepted body types in the main cast and romance characters, though it is worth noting that the base models were updated to be less "Hollywood muscles" on a couple of characters, which made more sense to the character stats and backstories (unless Gale was working out every day in his tower, he's not that much like a bodybuilder physique).
But aside from this, when you look closer, there's also an awful lot to appreciate in the standard character designs. A lot of these are things which fans pick up on and adore, despite how they may be features that people are actively bullied for or that are seen as undesirable by beauty standards. Those "beauty standards" can get in the trash too, but I'll use it here to point out the things we are shining a positive light on in the face of those societal values~
Karlach - Our tall queen, strong and muscular and not particularly feminine with her tattoos, piercings, and hairstyle. But she is adored for all of those things, even her broken horn is an important feature, alongside the glowing heart and fire that have some in the game view her as monstrous until they look closer and know her.
Astarion - His laugh lines. Gods don't we love those? The wrinkles in his face are experience, and of course he has those signs of exhaustion in his eyes that make him so much more relatable to many of us.
Lae'zel - This might feel like cheating as she's not human, and is less human-like than most of the other characters, but in a way that is also an important one. She's still desirable and treated as such in the romances, as well as very much adored by the fans.
Gale - The little signs of ageing and stress mark Gale's face, and even the hints of greying in his hair are picked up on and chewed on by those who love him most.
Wyll - More on him later but honestly is he not the poster boy for physical acceptance? Not only do we have his initial appearance with the stone eye but with one choice his entire body is completely changed and part of his story is arguably learning to live with this and how his new look is likely going to be seen as everything he ever feared.
Halsin - Are we cheating with BIG TALL MUSCLE MOUNTAIN because many people find this attractive to start with? Maybe, but again he has clear signs of ageing, as well as very obvious facial scarring. His look might easily be described as fearsome, and yet his personality couldn't be further from it.
Raphael - Hello there lovers of older men, who look at each one of those wrinkles and his brow lines and start sweating a bit more. I'm with you, he's gorgeous because of those signs of aging, not despite them.
Abdirak - Our real poster boy for scars and visible wounds. Features which have long been given only to villainous characters in fiction (particularly that aimed at younger audiences) and yes he is one of the most violent characters, but he is also immediately deeply sympathetic to the player. So we are no longer equating scars/visual difference with pure evil.
In general we have a lot of features that are not overly smoothed out or homogenised to fit certain standards. We have different nose shapes, visible pores, scars, acne marks, wrinkles, greying hair, moles, freckles, body hair, and a lot of variety across face shapes and features. It makes the characters feel more real, more relatable, and seeing features closer to our own can be comforting and validating in a lot of ways.
Of course there are more examples, and far more we could say about each one of these and all the things that make them unique that we love about them, but we would be here all day and there are other topics to cover!
What About The Player Characters?
So we do have a range of fantasy races, many of which arguably don't represent real humans at all, and we do also lack variation in body types in the standard game. But we also have player characters with shorter statures with the dwarves, halflings and gnomes. Beyond just being part of the lore and story, there is some representation here for similar body types in real life. I can't say a lot on this as I neither have personal experience nor do I personally know anyone who could speak on how they feel about these races in comparison to lived experiences, but it would be equally unfair to leave the point out of the conversation - please do add something in the comments if you have the knowledge and emotional bandwidth to spare, I would love to hear about your experiences and opinions!
Aside from this we have a wide range of skin tones (though my own is too close to plain paper to be able to tell you if this is anywhere near adequate so please feel free to weigh in with lived experience here) as well as scars and other features in the character creation. There's also vitiligo pigmentation, which is not only representing the condition but also normalising it to those who aren't familiar and making some rather beautiful options for our characters in my opinion. Even in the hair styles there are a couple of options featuring thinner hair or baldness patterns. There are less options for textured hairstyles and the facial features are equally limited, but there are some truly gorgeous mods out there which I'll mention later.
Player Characters And Gender
Another caveat to please weigh in with your lived experiences, but this one is one that I've seen friends enjoy and it was really wonderful to see that delight. Being able to select pronouns, genitals, body type, and voice all independently of each other is something which is so vastly meaningful to a lot of players.
To some it might just be "oh cool I get to choose what my character looks like naked", but to a nonbinary friend of mine... Well, they were sending me happy, joyful, and what can only be described as "delightfully shouty" messages when they were in character creation. To paraphrase, and to tone it down just a little, it went something like this:
"Wait you mean I can have a character look and exist the way I want to be? I can actually have myself represented on screen, and nobody will misgender me, and nobody will decline a romance based on any of this?!"
Maybe it seems silly but I got tearful to see them just absolutely losing it over having these options. They've been stuck with binary options in most fantasy RPGs for so long... Of course there's still things that could be improved, there always will be, but that joy? Priceless. It meant something in that moment and I hope it will continue to mean something to a lot more people in many moments to come.
Of course there are still flaws - the faces and bodies are still gender matched, and it isn't possible for people to refine the size and shape of player character chests. In some ways really what we have is the bare minimum, a start that needs to go further, but seeing as there have been precious few games in the genre to even reach this low bar it is good to recognise it, to say "this brought people joy and is worth the effort to make it happen", and to say "please go further because there is genuine interest."
What About Mods?
This is where we can see a lot more of that positivity flourishing. There are countless options, from having more hairstyles and hair types, to face shapes and features, all the way to body types and adding in top surgery scars.
Giving the game the ability to be modded, and potentially even encouraging and supporting it, means we can see so much more of that body positivity and representation. Having a hero who shares your features, seeing romances play out where the characters are valued in every way just as they are. Being able to mod softer and wider body types to the Origin characters too, taking the form away from the bodybuilder/model physique and far closer to more average - and undeniably still devastatingly attractive - body types. Seeing the trans-Origin character headcanons portrayed too, that's just so utterly divine~ (There is a lot to be said about parallels to LGBTQIA+ experiences in the Origin storylines, too, so feel free to comment on those at the end if you would like to)
To all of you out there making mods, and sharing the characters you've created using other peoples' mods - thank you! I adore seeing all of these, as well as people's happiness in sharing and using them too~
I don't even use mods, honestly darlings I'm not the best with tech at times and as I'm spending vastly more hours writing than playing it's likely not as worth it for me - especially when people share the modded content for us all to enjoy in videos and screenshots. But I love how many there are, that they exist, and all the ways they give people joy and euphoria to see their own body types and/or body types they find to be desirable~
But Wasn't This Post About Fandom and Fan Creations?
It was - and is! Because after all of the content you can get in the base game and in the modded version, what comes after is where the fans go with it from there.
That's truly where we get the most body positivity and joy. Headcanons leave the head and pour onto the page. We see characters reimagined a hundred times, each with their own twist, their own enthusiasm both from the creator and from fans just eating up every piece that comes out.
There's so much variety there seems to be almost anything you could wish for with almost any character, and I can guarantee you that if there's something you'd like to see and aren't seeing out there, there will be an artist willing to work on the idea (most likely on commission basis, we do prefer to ensure our artists can eat after all, but there may be some willing to just adopt ideas to draw as their own too).
This even extends to cosplay, with gender-swapped characters, as well as the one thing I will always be vocal about in cosplay - everyone should be allowed to wear the character costumes they love regardless of body types or how well their body/face matches the original character. Though this does come with the caveat that skin should never be darkened to match a character's look (if that character has a natural type skin tone, obviously green etc is not an issue) - just be your own version of the character if you adore them enough to put the costume together.
And your work?...
Thank you for asking Lia, let me answer that one for you.
Of course, take it away, Lia!
Ahem silliness aside, there is something you might or might not have noticed in my writing. I don't do a lot of body-type description. You can imagine whatever you like as you read - Gale with a soft tummy to snuggle? Yes please! Or you can imagine him with sculped abs, or a more slender frame - whatever brings you the most joy to read. This is especially true for anything I do with gender neutral character fics (usually "character x Reader"/2nd person pieces) - I try to stay away from any specific gendered features and focus on actions and sensations which can be common to any body.
How Does This All Add Up To Body Positivity?
Simple, love - by sharing and making all of these works we are saying "these features are beautiful, we love them, we want to see more of them as we fall head over heels time and time again". It might not seem like a lot, but the mind is both powerful and very easily open to suggestion. If a person keeps seeing negative things about a feature they have (eg, as a mild example body hair on women/feminine people) they will internalise that and wish to change themselves (eg, waxing/shaving/etc).
In the case of a bit of body hair that might not seem drastic, but it still changes how someone feels about themselves. At the end of the day, the more we love ourselves the easier it is to look after ourselves and be happy in the mortal flesh vessels we pilot around this terribly strange universe~
For my part, I have seen my body shape which I had struggled with shown time and time again as "wow look at this character who looks this way, they are amazing! I love this feature, and that feature, and the way the artist made sure to include this particular thing-"
Every time I see that, every time I see parts of myself I struggle with being applauded and appreciated, I feel a little brighter. A little more comfortable. A little more like I am allowed to dress it up nicely and spend time and care to feel good about it. I also feel less shame for old scars, for every part of myself that has made me look at the mirror with unkind eyes.
Confidence is not a single brick, it's many that need to be built carefully with the right cement. If it is chipped away at too many times, even by little self-deprecating "jokes", it will erode. It will crack. It will wear away piece by piece instead of building up.
And before anyone decides to try equating weight and health, darling this is not the place. If you truly care about someone's wellbeing, leave their health to the private discussions they have with their doctors, and remember that looking after oneself is far easier from a place of loving oneself. If you care about a thing, you want to look after it. If you see a thing as already broken, you're less likely to be cautious in how you handle it.
Where does this essay end?
Well, I believe that would be here. With the endless gratitude for every creator out there bringing us mods, images, fiction, art, cosplay, content of all of these wonderful characters in every incredible variation that we can think of.
I encourage those of you who are feeling lower in confidence about yourselves to really look at the fan responses to these creations - the excitement and desire for every body type, every feature, everything that we might see of ourselves and dislike there are so many people out there seeing those exact same features we have and feeling nothing but attraction, desire, love, adoration, and praise~
We are often our own worst critics, but not one of those characters would ever reject us, neither are we rejecting any of our favourites when we see them on the screen. I certainly hope to see more games bringing us this variety, and going further too. There is power in fiction and fan-works, and it is helpful to recognise it too.
Apologies if this one felt too long, rambling, or like I lost my point - it was done over 3 days and I'm rather tired~ I have other essays coming in the next few weeks too, and I really would love to hear your opinions on any of them~
As a final note - please do add your own views and experiences on the topic! I can only offer my own as a disabled white cisgender asexual/bisexual/panromantic woman with too much time on her hands~ I neither wish to ignore experiences outside of my own nor speak over them.
All I can offer is what I see, what I hear, and of course my endless love to all of you~ That, my very dear darlings, is never in doubt. I love you just the way you are, because of who you are, and will see the beauty in everything that makes up the sum of your wonderful selves~
#baldurs gate 3#fandom essay#body positvity#body positive#bg3#opinions welcome#please add in the comments
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Faerûnian Writing Challenge
Day 6 | SFW
Teaching each other how to do something
Tav strums the strings. Everyone immediately groans.
“When will you just give up? You do realise you and that are never going to work out?” Astarion motions at the instrument and Tav.
“I like how Alfira made it work.” Tav strums again. Another audible groan from the whole camp. “I will make it work, somehow!” They had the same mentality about themself and Astarion at one point. It didn’t work out.
Shadowheart groans on her side of the camp. “Where is Halsin when you need him? They always listen to him!”
Halsin was a few metres away from camp gathering berries and selecting wood for his new whittling project.
The gang are on their own with this one.
“Tav, I don’t think instruments are something you can just… ‘make work’.” Wyll, finally revived, spoke as soft as he could, potentially to not offend Tav - potentially again.
His soul was trapped somewhere within death and living for about a week. On the verge of coming down to Hell but also not yet their time to be allowed to leave. Only to become, on technicality, a citizen of Hell right after being revived.
Life is cruel. Or perhaps he’s just stuck with lunatics.
Tav strums again. Even the little owlbear covers its small ears, hiding behind Scratch to escape the noise. “I made this operation work, I can make this instrument, or any instrument, work!” They can’t and they won’t. They just don’t know it yet and have the audacity to try.
Wyll pinches his forehead. Is it the horns, the tadpole or the horrid music that is making his head hurt so badly??
“Ok, Gale, you’re a good teacher. Maybe assist our friend here before the spider lyre is reduced to ashes.” Wyll quickly shoots Gale a pointed look who shoots back an equally pointed one.
A beat of silence.
“You don’t know how to play an instrument, Gale?” Karlach asked offhandedly.
Gale turns to her, then to Tav. Another beat of silence.
Astarion immediately bolts up. “You don’t know. You seriously don’t know. Oh finally, we found something the wizard can’t tell stories about.”
“Hold on, hold on. I never said I know nothing!” Gale quickly jutted over, yanking the lyre of Tav’s hands. “I watched many plays in my years, it’s nothing out of the ordinary…” His hands hovers above the strings, sweat is beginning to form.
Tav’s eyes trail up slightly. His fingers are shaking. His arm is trembling. He has his tongue out and he’s seconds away from biting it clean off out of stress. His hair is sticking to his forehead.
He strums.
It’s chicken scratch against a board.
A collective groan, hands covering ears.
Tav yanks it back, finally understanding the reason why everyone has been throwing rocks at them all morning.
“That was… certainly an attempt!” Karlach smiles, a lot more lopsided than how it usually is.
“No need to sugarcoat it. That was trash. Absolutely horrible.” Astarion rubs his ears as if that would help him forget the collective horrible sounds Tav and Gale had forced him to endure.
“He does magic, he’s smart and he can cook. At least with this, we can confirm Gale is still human.” Shadowheart teases, playing with the fire with her stick.
Gale perks up a little.
“He is as human as they come. Frail, egotistical and knows not of his limits.” Lae’zel hisses. “You are lucky you are still of use. Do not indulge this buffoon further,” She’s clearly talking about Tav with the way her hands move, “You have nothing but knowledge while they have none. You’ll only make them worse.”
Gale deflates again. “It’s not often our friend here seeks out means of hobby other than stealing, lying and looting. It’s healthy to have a lighthearted skill, for once.” Gale tried to defend. Tav strums. His defense is crumbling.
“Well, maybe this is not the right hobby. Perhaps a different one would be healthier for all of us.”
Tav strums again. It’s proving Lae’zel’s point.
Wyll charges forward, “Maybe if you’re looking for a hobby, I could… teach you a dance or two? I did take a few classes back in my youth.”
“No. I don’t like dancing.” Tav strums again. Another collective groan.
“How about some magic? I can show you the basics! Show you the power and the embrace of Mystra once you enter the Weave—”
“I’m not interested. You know I’m not good enough to figure that stuff out.” Another strum. Groans.
“Gods, someone make it stop or there will be blood on this night!” Astarion stands. His voice softens as he leans onto the lyre, putting on his seductive charms. “How about you drop this lyre and I’ll show you something much more interesting later tonight?”
“Too late on that. And I know too much about you to wanna fuck.” Tav strums again.
Astarion physically recoils. “Are you doing this out of spite??”
“Okay, how about we put down the lyre and I’ll show you, um… some of the teachings of my Goddess I serve? Maybe show you a cantrip or two?” Shadowheart has never sounded so defeated.
She knows she has no chance even before she started but she just needed to at least try. Tav strums again, as if to rub it in her face. “I have speak with animals. That’s all the cantrip I need.”
Lae’zel pulls out her sword, large and long. The type of sword only her and one other camper can use. “Cease your strummings or I will cut it into pieces!”
Unfortunately for her, the other person happened to be Tav. “You won’t dare! I will fight you to the death for it!”
“This will not be like the fight between Shadowheart and I! We will settle this with no mercy!!”
Karlach jumps in between them. “Woah woah, hey! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, alright?” She places her hand on Tav’s shoulder. It burns. “Say, I don’t really have anything to teach you but maybe you’re… going too quickly. All skills need time and careful practice, right? Can’t expect things to just go your way immediately! Reminds me of the time when I was still serving under Zariel. Was still young at the time. I had been trailing the tail of this particular demon,”
Tav slowly lowers their sword along with the lyre. They latch onto Karlach’s words and stories of her misadventures.
Everyone shared a look.
“At first I thought I had it but it slipped right under my finger! So I had to re-adjust. Learn about the species, the weaknesses, the strengths and once I cornered it… BAM. Easy as pie!”
Gale jumps in. “Oh yes, reminds me of the time back when I first started studying magic. It must sound crazy now but I wasn’t good at it the first time I started. My first spell was fire bolt. Simple and easy. Yet at one point I couldn’t figure, for the life of me, how the fire element worked. I poured over it days and nights trying to get that in my head otherwise the spell just won’t manifest! And finally, I figured it out! But, shamefully, I didn’t put enough hours on aiming!”
Just as one finishes, another jumps in. Wyll tells tales of his youth, days spent as the son of the duke, standing in his shadows, struggling to find a place to stand on his own. Lae’zel speaks of her time spent at camp, slowly figuring out the life and habits of Faerûnians, how different it is to her people, how lively and seemingly strange yet… interesting they can be. Shadowheart expresses her slow and steady learning curve of taking on more than just a cleric, learning spells from both Wyll and Gale, wanting to pull her weight. It then circles back once more to Karlach. Then continues as the campfire crackles nearby.
Tav didn’t learn how to play an instrument that day, or any day soon. But the time spent with their new found friends, family?, taught them more valuable lessons than stubbornly working at an instrument they can’t play ever could.
#BG3FicFeb#nonbinary tav#tav lowkey the baby they are all looking after while also being the leader of the group#bg3 tav#my tav#bg3#bg3 writing#bg3 oc#baldurs gate tav#bg3 fic#baldur's gate 3#gale dekarios#astarion#karlach#lae'zel
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high school reincarnation ficlet // part 1
honestly i wrote this through a mental illness flare up and the need for mikasa to be cared for so i apologize if this sucks. i'll do a part 2 if you guys really want it. anyway this is that scene where lara finds mikasa drunk at a party. enjoy.
It was your average high school party. Teenagers were getting drunk, others were disappearing into any available room with a door. There was nothing special or unusual about it.
Well there was one thing.
Lara wasn’t much of a party girl, she only went if she was invited out by some cutie but her date was nowhere to be found and any thought of him disappeared when she saw Mikasa Ackerman slumped in a corner after clearly too many drinks.
Lara didn’t know her well but she knew two things: first, she was a girl with a lot of problems and she only knew that through the words of casual acquaintances. Second, Eren Jaeger was in love with her.
The third reason was that she was a completely normal human being with a shred of decency. The girl was babbling something incoherent. She probably couldn’t tell her ass from her elbow at this point.
The girl's hair and face already had traces of vomit. She had to keep her conscience. She breathed through her nose as the girl pukes her guts into the bowl.
Lara didn’t know her story much. If they were talking about their previous lives, she knew even less. Mikasa wasn’t her friend. She wasn’t really an acquaintance. They hardly looked at each other and that was mostly because of Mikasa’s discomfort and Lara’s respect for her boundaries.
“Come on,” she whispered. “We have to get you cleaned up.”
“Wanna sleep,” she mumbles.
“We can’t. We have to get you cleaned up and get you some water, okay?”
Mikasa didn’t answer. She wasn’t able to stand.
This was insanity. From the few words she’d heard from Porco Galliard, she had a bit of a drinking problem which Eren was trying to fight all on his own. He’d apparently been successful. Until tonight.
She didn’t want to call him. Hell, she didn’t even know he’d pick up.
Worth a shot, right?
To her surprise, he actually picks up?
“Lara?” there was a mix of surprise and irritation in his voice. She could only imagine why. She’d heard Mikasa’s phone buzzing in her pocket a million times.
“She’s here,” she answered, cutting right to the chase.
Pause on the other line, “Where?”
She could hear the cautious relief in his voice and she really did not want to do this to him.
“Party,” she mumbled. “She’s completely trashed.”
There was silence on the other line for a few seconds. She heard a sharp inhale and she knew that he was pissed. She didn’t want to be here when he arrived but she couldn’t leave a drunk girl by herself at a party like this.
“Send me your location. I’m coming.”
The line went dead and Lara sighed. Mikasa was practically lying down on the floor and it was difficult not to find the whole thing sad. Last life, she was one of the strongest soldiers from Paradis Island. Sure Lara didn’t live long enough to see how it ended but Eren had told her enough. She experienced just enough.
It was hard to believe what a hot mess she was in this life.
“Come on,” she sighed. “You’re Mikasa Ackerman. You’re so much more than this…”
It sounded stupid coming from her mouth. She was the one that knew her the least.
Mikasa snorted but refused to talk. Fair, very fair. All things considered.
Lara sat next to her, hugging her knees to her chest. She smiled down at her, “I know what you might think of me and I know all of this is worthless coming from me. I don’t even know if you’ll remember any of this, but you are. Everyone says it and I believe it. But girl, you need to pick yourself up again. Eren won’t give up on you, but he can only do so much. You can’t tell me you’re happy being half conscious at a party where you hardly know anyone?”
It was official, Lara sucked at pep talks.
Mikasa looked up, her eyes glazed over.
“It just helps me forget…”
Lara didn’t have an answer for that. It was just understandable. She continued to sit next to her and made sure she stayed conscious.
-
Eren was angrier than a bull when he pulled up to the house. He’d been trying to get a hold of Mikasa all night. They had a small argument earlier and Eren wanted to make it up to her by bringing pizza and her favorite movies.
Only to find that she wasn’t home.
She ignored his calls. By the time Lara called, he was halfway to an anxiety attack.
He was relieved that she was alive but he was pissed. So very, very pissed. She promised him that she would stop. She promised him that she would at least try. More than her though, he was pissed at himself.
He pushed his way through the crowd of wasted idiots.
“Hey Jaeger!” someone called out but he didn’t bother looking. He was here to take Mikasa home. That was all.
He knocked on the bathroom door and he heard some shifting and whispering. He impatiently jiggled the doorknob, only for Lara to open the door. She looked tired and a little sad, if he was being honest.
But when he saw Mikasa lying on the ground, barely conscious and drunk out of her mind, he wanted to cry. The beautiful center of his entire universe, his love, his home just lay there. He was still pissed but the anger washed away into overwhelming sadness and concern.
“Is she…?”
Lara shook her head, “I kept her awake. She needs water and some food though.”
He crouched down. Her eyes were glassy and when she looked up at him, there was no light whatsoever. It killed him just a little more.
“Mikasa?” he asked, softly. “Can you hear me?”
He almost didn’t hear her ‘yeah.’
It was too much so he gathered her into his arms. She was frighteningly light.
He was about to walk out but before he did, he peeked over his shoulder.
“Thank you.”
Lara nodded, giving him one of those small smiles, “Take care of her, Jaeger. But take care of yourself too.”
Whatever that meant.
He was entirely unconcerned by the looks he was given as he exited the party, Mikasa safely in his arms.
He pulled out and it was any wonder that he was able to drive because his tears clouded his vision the entire way through.
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