[ 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 ] : receiver hears sender calling their name while asleep. / because she does dream of them every now and then—maybe more often than she wants to admit. sometimes she dreams when the guilt grows too heavy, sometimes she dreams when she misses the flowers too much. other times she dreams when she feels phantom restraints from old lessons—but most of all, she dreams, when her chest starts to ache.
so bernadetta curls into herself, choking up, struggling to breathe over things she can't say. she grips her own shaking sleeves, brows pinched and jaw set. the wet of her eyelashes beads at the corners. between the clumsy sobs of their name, a litany of apologies and more mumbles stirs the still air.
[ 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 ] : receiver hears sender calling their name while asleep. ╱ for you i would
Bernadetta is not in her room.
It is the first place they look for her when they return, especially when they’re away for long. Because Bernadetta frets and worries no matter their reassurances that they won’t die, and it’s never an inconvenience to stop by to say hello if it puts her mind at ease. The door might be shut, because it always is, but when their knuckles rap a steady familiar rhythm against the wood, it surprises them more that the expected greeting does not meet them.
“Bernadetta?” But they already know she is not there, spin on their heel to scan the courtyard. Surely not in the classrooms, and in the wake of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, the infirmary is still too busy for her to comfortably hide in. The dining hall is bustling with the lunch rush and all the paths and corners leading to it are too.
And lilacs settle at last on the greenhouse in the distance, then they set off without another word.
Of course she’s there, curled up in a corner and mumbling incoherently. Because even if Yuri had been able to leave the garden all those years ago, Bernadetta had been left behind within its walls. And though they might not remember much of how to garden at all anymore, they remember how she loved those flowers.
(It will never be fair. Yuri cannot offer their heart as easily as she can, didn’t relearn that when they had to relearn how to walk first, how to smile to get what they wanted. And then, they never had to learn it again.)
“Bernadetta,” they breathe her name in relief, kneel down to take her into their arms. A bed will be kinder to her back than the cold hard floors. Yuri knows that well. “Come on. Time to leave the greenhouse.”
Not forever; just for now. For how can a chained bird free another?
And sometimes, it’s strange. That Bernadetta is here— that they both are. Because for years, hers had been the ghost that shadowed every failure, the girl they failed to kill that still haunted like one. And now she’s solid and real before them once more. They can shush her when she stirs, hum an old lullaby to lull her back to sleep, tuck her properly under blankets and over pillows.
Yuri shouldn’t— can’t— stay for long. Not for Bernadetta, or anyone else on the surface, when someone could come looking for them at any moment. Not when some of the knights eye them with a mean gleam in their eye— and even if they don’t know their names or faces, they know their purpose. That Yuri killed some friend or lover or family that day that damned them to Abyss.
So even if they venture out to see the light, at the end of the day, they will always return to the shadows. They must.
Careful hands whittle away at the beginnings of the goddess statuette in their hands, gaze drifting once or twice to her prone figure. The carving knife flips in their hand, draws against where the goddess’ neck might be as they watch the steady rise and fall of her chest.
(That’s strange too. How much she trusts them when Yuri could draw a knife against her throat at any moment.)
But then her breathing turns erratic, her body shakes and shivers, and Yuri is lurching from their perch by the window before they even realize, a bird suddenly in flight. They flit here and there around her, tugging off the covers as though she has some injury they hadn’t seen, as though any scars she has were not instead mental, as though there is anything they can do but stand dumbly over her.
“Bernadetta? What’s wrong?” But she doesn’t hear them, still trapped in her dreams. Half the things she babbles are nonsense, slurred in the heavy drawl of sleep, but they recognize the I’m sorry’s— with how often she apologizes, how could they not?— amidst it all. And then the name.
Not Yuri. In fact, they hadn’t even realized what she was saying until they’d drawn close, a hand outstretched to rouse her. But she hadn’t known ‘Yuri’ first at all, had she? Because it’s not their name, just like Jules isn’t either. There are only two people in the world who know their true name: one will never speak it and the other can only write it. And when they are both gone, no one will be left to remember Regulus.
They’re always lying to her; she’s always letting them. But she shouldn’t, she shouldn’t— last time it might have ended with a dagger in her throat, last time it might have killed her, so why does she?
“I’m here.” Hands ghost over her, unsure where to touch— unsure if to touch at all. Do they have that right? Hadn’t they lost it the first time they tried to lay their hands on her? “I’m here. Hey. Wake up, Bernadetta. I need you to breathe.”
And, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry too, gently thrums to the beat of their heart, to the rhythm of her own stream of apologies.
But Yuri is not as brave to voice it.
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shogun steel main gang hcs bc I’m thinking about them atm and how much I love them
- I’ve said this a billion times before but I’ll keep saying it until I die, they are very affectionate with each other. Of course, it depends on the specific people and how their feeling at certain times, but they will take any opportunity to cuddle or hold hands or just generally have some kind of contact with each other for comfort. idc if this is ooc canon is what I make of it
- Ren and kite bonding over being petty third wheels to Zyro and Shinobu is an idea that is so important to me you have no idea. They will argue with each other and be dumb any other time but instantly bond over hating on those two being losers
- This is one of my hyper specific projection moments but ren specifically any time she sees them being remotely affectionate to each other at all will immediately turn to the nearest person and go “get a load of these guys”
- underrated duo dynamic is ren and takanosuke being wlw mlm rivals/besties/gossip buddies. you just know they share the most scalding of tea while training with each other
- actually I just really appreciate their dynamic as a whole. they’re both very ambitious and headstrong bladers who are constantly working their hardest to grow and improve and I think they’d really bring out the best in each other. They have some great friendly banter thrown in there too. neither of them are afraid to throw in some really funny disses
- maru is such a creechur I really cannot appreciate that enough. she has adopted everyone as a big sibling and there’s nothing they can do to stop it, she just perched on their shoulder one day and there was nothing they could do to stop it
- the only exception to this is with kite and eight, because eight and maru are like two cats who don’t like each other being mutually stanced up and staring each other down in anticipation for one of them to pounce
- eight once was showing off a bunch of skateboard tricks and Zyro was like “psh that’s easy I could do that” and immediately ate shit and died and eight laughed at him for hours and has never let him live it down since
- kite likes to pretend he doesn’t care about any of them but takes really careful notice of their likes and dislikes and makes sure to accommodate for everyone when he can and gives them really banger gifts on special occasions but frames it as him being like “I know I know I can make and find such amazing things that’s just how it is for mr perfect” and the others are like “kite holy shit this is so kind of you thank you so much????” and he tries really really hard to pretend like he doesn’t really enjoy hearing that
- sakyo does not know how to interact with any of the main gang on his own outside of beyblade but he and taka are a package deal so he tends to tag along whenever takanosuke hangs out with any of them and he’s like the awkward cousin at a family party who just sits in the corner silently bc he doesn’t know how to approach anyone
- I think it would be funny if eight randomly started hanging out with him in that way that little kids do when they just decide they like you all of a sudden and sakyo just has no idea how to deal with that but ig he’s got a snarky little dude hanging out with him now and asking if he’s got any games on his phone
- benkei does not hide the fact that ren is his favorite child. he loves all of his kids dearly but ren is his daughter and hes very attached because he sees a lot of himself in her and wants her to be less dumb than he was when he was younger (may or may not be drawing a comic with this exact premise atm)
- this one’s kind of off track but I’ve thought abt it a lot in the past and started thinking abt it again. Kenta takes a shining to sakyo and kinda takes a bit of a mentor role over him accidentally and at some point Sakyo’s like “you act like you’re so much older than me but our age gap isn’t even that big (bc I hc sakyo as like 15-16 and ss Kenta as 18-19)” and Kenta’s like “well yeah but im the adult here?? I kinda just figured???” idk it’s just a neat dynamic I like a lot
- Shinobu and Ren go clothes shopping together. Ren likes spending Shinobu’s money and they bond over what they like, stuff they could share if they wanted to, and also shit talking stuff they think is ugly
- all of them get in really stupid arguments over the dumbest things. they’ve had big group debates over which flavor of ice cream is the best or whether or not cilantro tastes like soap
that is all for now they r very important to me thank you and goodnight
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@grcccvy, continued from HERE
let me help. it stops her in her tracks, makes her turn back and look at him. confusion and surprise are plain on her features. " wh - ? " what ? why ? the dual questions are a little too heavy to get out. no one really offers to stay and help. so this means A LOT. very suddenly, everything goes soft in her chest. sinks in bone-deep with his worry of her own safety.
charlie wants to tell him she's going to be alright, she's fended for herself plenty of times in the past five years, she's actually quite used to being alone. these are weird times for martyrs and final girls. nothing really scares her anymore.
yet there's a moment of silence before she does the only thing she can think to do - she gives the improvised weapon a little toss, a minute flourish up to catch it blunt-side to her, handle-side to him.
" how's your swing ? " and when she asks it, she's expectant. hopeful. asking for his friendship. asking for ash to stay.
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he’s stretched across the cushions of this incredibly comfortable couch as though this is the first time he’s ever laid on something so soft. at the moment, it may just be. it’s mid-afternoon, and, as predictable from howl himself, he’s found himself lounging around daenerys’ home again. every time he finds himself in the wide expanse of the states and her own new york, he makes sure to pay her a visit. it’s been at least a handful of times by now. perhaps even more and he finds utter enjoyment every moment in her presence. in fact, he's found himself looking forward to these visits, much as they may not solely be for her. if he wasn't on business here, he would dedicate it all to her. but alas, he does spend quite a bit of time in her home nowadays.
if he didn't know himself any better, he might even think he was fonder of her than anyone else. he doesn't ever visit anyone else like this, no matter how many people might it so ( and no matter how many of their signifiant others might wish him dead for it ).
@draconisa. *straddles his lap, eyeliner in hand* sit still. ☺️
on instinct, he stretches out a bit more, mindful to pull his shirt up enough from under her that it won’t tear if she moves wrong or if he happens to want to twist his way out from under her. that’s all the movement he does before he lets himself relax, reaching an arm up to pillow his head on it and looking up at her. the way she's sitting now and looking down at him means her stark, neat, practically colourless hair hangs at the sides of her face and frames it captivatingly. the determined look on her face just has him looking at her even closer. her violet eyes are quite bright, aren't they ? and the way she has naught but concentration in her gaze has him smiling faintly in spite of himself. it's not often he gets to see her this close.
❝ i'm still, ❞ he says, even though she hasn't complained anything against it. and he is. he's much stiller than he normally is, lying beneath her, his eyelids only slightly flinching whenever she touches the pen to his waterline. nostrils twitch, but his gaze, save for the times when she asks him to look up so that she can properly touch up his lower lid, remains on her face the entire time. he'd like to do nothing but this for a while. and it would be such a shame were she to ever move now !
.. then .... ❝ ti’n ddel. ❞
.゜–– UNPROMPTED. / 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐.
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she bowed her head respectfully, almost entirely lost for words at the one she was present before. ‘ i-i thank you for having me here. ’ she cursed herself for stuttering but how couldn’t she? the raiden shogun, her mere presence…so this was how the presence of a goddess felt.
"Lady Furina."
Violet eyes rest their unwavering gaze upon her peer as the archon reciprocates her greeting in turn. Though it had been some time since she abolished the Sakoku Decree, thereby opening Inazuma's borders to others once more, Ei herself has yet to make contact with the others.
Given the close connections her nation has with Fontaine, it seemed only fair that meeting with Furina takes priority.
"It is I who should thank you for graciously accepting my invitation. I do apologise for having not received you sooner."
A hand is extended to her in invitation, with the purpose of leading the other in.
"I have heard from others that you too share a fondness of sweets. Hence, I took the liberty of preparing something for us on this joyous occasion. Please, come with me."
@myjustice
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