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turtleblogatlast · 4 months

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[ cw: risk taking behavior / circumstantial self harm kinda / ignoring of injuries / self-depreciation / slight ooc-ness but for a reason! / ]

Post invasion, Leo is fine.

More than fine! He’s better than before, even. That is, if you don’t count the slightly cracked shell and still healing bones, but those are only a problem when the weather wants them to be!

Leo really is better in the ways that matter.

He’s not as cocky, not as self-centered, and overall just more heroic in general if he does say so himself.

Raph even said he was proud of Leo!

So obviously things are going well.

But.

It’s not enough.

Leo’s better, sure, but he’s still got work to do.

So - and here’s something that will probably make his brothers faint on the spot - he needs to train.

_____

His brothers do not faint, but it’s a near thing for Raph. Mikey has to fan the snapper’s face and Donnie almost brings out the smelling salts before Raph shoots back to his feet with an excited grin.

Leo’s big brother gets teary eyed soon after and envelops him in a bear hug, saying once again how proud he is that Leo is growing up.

Leo lets himself be hugged, even hugs back as fiercely as he can, because unbeknownst to Raph, this marks the end of Leo’s childhood.

He lets himself be hugged like a kid one last time, looking through the hole in Raph’s shell all the while.

_____

Leo only trains the regular way with his brothers and occasionally April and the Caseys, but most especially Raph.

But of course that’s not enough, it was never going to be.

So he goes through the motions of the stretches, the spars, the meditation, and then he leaves.

He makes sure to have his excuses ready, usually defaulting to Hueso as his go to since his brothers are easily bought off with the promise of pizza. Leo hasn’t yet found the tracker Donnie installed in him, but when he does that’ll be dealt with too! But for now, this should be good.

See, the invasion made him realize something.

It’s not about him, but it was his shortcomings that led to everything going to hell.

So he just…needs to get rid of those shortcomings.

He’s working on it, gaining fighting skill in training, but there’s more he needs to do, more skills he needs to train.

Leo watches intently as Repo Mantis swindles someone, he memorizes the sleight of hand that Hypno performs, he sneaks back into the Mystic Library and is so quiet the hush bats forget he’s there, he talks Big Mama into honing his manipulation, and he even sneaks into human hospitals and reptile veterinary clinics to get a clue on more serious injuries.

And after any of these, he heads to Run of the Mill to compete in the Maze of Death.

_____

This is his twelfth time going through the (newly remodeled and even more deadly) Maze of Death, and would be his fifth time winning. The first three times had him waking up in Hueso’s office, and each time he wakes his old persona shines through.

He always waves off Hueso’s annoyance and questions and insists on trying again next time before he steals some pizza and bails.

The skeleton actively tries to stop him from entering the Maze after the first time, but hey- mystics are allowed before you enter.

It’s easy enough to teleport on by.

Harder to meet Hueso’s - and later his brothers’ - eyes when he fails again.

When he first actually won, Hueso congratulates him in that typical deadpan tone of his.

“Ah, felicidades, Pepino. Now you can move on, sí?”

“Hm? Nah, boneman! That run was sloppy!”

And then Leo runs off before Hueso can stop him.

He doesn’t even look at his picture on the champion wall when he next comes around. It’s not much to look at anyway.

_____

His second win is much like the first, and only his third win is actually acceptable.

But he knows the field too much now. He needs a challenge.

When he attempts to go through it blindfolded, he’s quickly shown how much he doesn’t know the Maze. So, obviously, he loses again.

He got a bit more banged up that time around.

“Pepino, basta ya, you’ve already won. Where are your brothers?”

“I can’t stop yet, señor! This is for my brothers - no les digas, please.”

Even if Hueso wanted to tell Leo’s brothers, they haven’t been in enough for him to get to, and it’s not like Hueso has their number since Leo’s the one Hueso usually contacts. For now, Leo’s safe to continue as is.

Though his injuries are getting harder to hide, and there’s only so much his shell in particular can take.

So to speed things up, he incorporates the blindfold into his regular training.

His brothers question it, of course, but hey, he initially got the idea from seeing Lou Jitsu do it in the third best Lou Jitsu movie, so it comes as a great excuse now.

He’s only a little put off by how fast Mikey adapts to it when the others try.

“I dunno-“ Mikey shrugs when asked, “You guys shine so brightly anyway, a mask doesn’t do much.”

Seeing their mystic energies is pretty cool, Leo can admit.

He just wishes he could grasp that himself - and that it was useful for a death maze.

_____

Leo’s training pulls off eventually, and soon, after a few more losses, he wins a forth time. But it’s a near loss, and a near loss is the difference between someone living and dying.

He’s gotta go again.

Hueso’s more insistent than ever, though.

“You must stop, Pepino.”

“But I can do better-“

“You don’t have to! Your shell is bleeding - ¡por tu propio bien, poner fin a esto!”

“I told you, this is for their own good! For everyone’s own good!”

He forgets the pizzas when he leaves. He claims sickness when he hides under his covers.

He ignores how childish the act makes him feel.

_____

Leo’s getting better, and his reflexes and tact in training shows this. His other training of his subterfuge and medical skills also prove to be useful.

He’s pretty good at hiding injuries, now! Though not so good at hiding a pained shell. Even Donnie looks at him with blatant concern (and understanding) when Leo can’t help but take a sharp breath whenever he lands on his back.

It’s hard not to go right back into waving everything off with jokes like he used to. Deflections are easier when they’re annoying!

But- this is just another reason that he needs to get better, right? So his brothers won’t worry. He doesn’t need the spotlight anymore - he’s over that, thanks.

He squashes down the part of him that perks up when Splinter says he’s growing up. He actively kills the part of himself that cries at the same phrase.

_____

So. Yeah. This’ll be his twelfth time running the Maze. And, hopefully, his fifth win. Maybe he really will move on after this.

The Hidden City is pretty big! There’s probably a bigger challenge somewhere.

Maybe Big Mama has a more secret Nexus hidden away, out of the public eye.

Well, whatever. That’s a future problem for him to figure out, yeah? For now, he carries on like usual, teleporting to the entrance of the Maze and diving right in.

Even blindfolded, he works his way through, dodging and weaving and feeling as he goes. He even tries to evoke his inner Mikey and calls on his mystic energy. Not enough to cheat, but enough to feel.

Usually, when Leo teleports, he swears he feels every part of himself disperse into particles. Now, with energy thrumming under his scales, he can feel particles everywhere.

It’s not refined enough to tell him everything, and he gets a fun new burn and a nice whack to the back by getting distracted. Still, it gives him more than he had before. It makes him more aware of everything, like he licked a finger and held it in the air to feel the direction of wind, but every direction blew wind, all in different ways.

He makes it to the end with minimal injuries after that, and sure, his shell is screaming at him now, but he thinks he did a shell of a good job.

…Ah, he needs to cut that out, huh? Man. Maybe Donnie’s collar idea was a good call after all.

Leo needs to be a hero. Not a face man. Not a failure.

Not a kid.

_____

Leo doesn’t smile when the Minotaur takes his picture again for the champion wall, and he doesn’t listen when she tells him to “go home and never come back.”

He doesn’t plan to, anyway, yeesh.

He’s tired as he trudges out of the exit, and Hueso catches him when he stumbles.

Hueso doesn’t say anything. Leo doesn’t either.

Or, he doesn’t, until he feels a familiar large hand helping him up as well.

Leo’s face whips up as he flinches back, eyes wide as they meet with a worried (so, so worried) Raph’s.

��You told them?” Leo asks Hueso in betrayal, heart thudding wildly in his chest.

“Pepino…”

“Told us what?” Mikey pipes up from behind Raph, coming closer to get a better look at Leo, “Leo, what’s going on?”

“Your shell has been having pretty big setbacks on its healing, is this why?” Donnie demands, glaring fiercely as he motions toward the Maze.

Leo feels unmoored. “I-“

“Leo.” Raph interrupts, and no Leo doesn’t want to hear it- “Are you okay?”

And Leo wants to say “it’s not about me”. He wants to say anything that proved he learned his lesson, that he’s not a liability or worse, an active danger to his own family.

He wants Raph to continue being proud of him. He wants his brothers to trust him.

Instead, he passes out.

_____

The next time his eyes open, Leo’s on his side, staring at his blue lava lamp.

He knows without looking that his shell is re-bandaged. He knows his other injuries have been dealt with too.

And unless Leo learned how to do some pretty impressive medical sleepwalking, he knows he’s not getting away this time.

All three of his brothers being in his room prove that.

“What’s been going on, Leo?” Mikey asks, and his voice cracks partway through.

He’s looking at Leo like he’s searching for something, but Leo doesn’t have anything to show. Nothing’s hidden, he just did some light spring cleaning is all, throwing out all the parts he didn’t need.

All the parts they didn’t need.

And yet despite everything, he can feel himself falling back into old ways, a grin tugging at his beak and lackadaisical deflection on the tip of his tongue.

Maybe he should let that part of him show, just for once. It wouldn’t seem like too much of a setback would it? And he could really use a fun pun right about now-

No.

No it’s not about him. He needs to remember why he did all this in the first place.

“Okay- sorry, guys.” He smiles, softly, quietly, “I guess I got too caught up in training. I’ll work at it some more, don’t worry.”

“Oh, I see. Training. That’s all it was, huh? Training.” Donnie hisses more than says, nearly vibrating in anger.

“…yeah?” Leo nods slowly, because, uh, that’s literally the most honest thing he said. It was training.

“If it’s just “training” then why the secrecy, hm? Why in Curie’s good name did you prefer to sneak around rather than, oh, I don’t know, tell your family?”

Leo feels his shoulders rise at Donnie’s aggression, defensiveness welling up in him, “It was my training! Nothing went wrong, I’m getting better!”

“Better?” Raph asks incredulously, “Leo, you’re wasting away. A tap to the shell stuns you for minutes, you lost weight, and your dark circles are worse than Raph’s ever seen them! You aren’t getting better-!”

“YES I AM!”

The words rip out of Leo before he can stop them.

The room is silent as his brother look at him, all wearing expressions of hurt that Leo put there again.

“Yes I am.” Leo reiterates, shaking, “Because- if I’m not-“ He squeezes his eyes shut. “If I’m not-“

Then what was all this for?

Arms slowly wrap around him, and he knows now from the feel of the mystic that it’s Mikey.

“You’ve gotten faster, and sneakier.” Mikey says quietly. “When I accidentally cut my hand, you knew exactly how to take care of it.” His voice grows firm, and he backs out of the hug, “But those are your skills. You, though, you’ve been…you’ve been…”

“You’ve been dilapidating before our very eyes, and trying to hide it.” Donnie finishes, jaw tight. “You think we wouldn’t notice? After everything?” To Leo’s horror, Donnie’s voice is hoarse with tears, “You absolute dumb dumb.”

“I- but I need to train. The Maze is-“

“Leo, we don’t care that you ran through the Maze. We care you did it alone.” Raph says quietly. “We could have joined you, any time.”

“But- but I’m doing this for you-“

“Listen to your brothers, Blue.” They jump as a new voice joins the fray, heads turning to see Splinter make his way into the - frankly crowded - room.

“Dad, I-“ Leo begins, but trails off, suddenly more unsure than ever in the face of his father.

“It’s good you’re finally picking up training! Especially for your brothers’ sakes! But there’s such a thing as going overboard, you know.” Splinter pokes a sharp claw into Leo’s plastron, “Just because you’re dragging it out this time, doesn’t make this any less of a sacrifice. My son, you’ve taken after Karai an awful lot, haven’t you?”

Leo just looks at his father. At his brothers. Then, he looks down at his calloused hands, bandaged and scarred from overuse.

He swallows dryly. “Is that a bad thing?”

He feels his family crowd in around him, feels his father’s hand on his shoulder.

“It’s not wrong to want to be better, Leonardo.” Splinter says, softly and with so much grief and guilt that Leo can never begin to understand, “But you were never bad to begin with.”

Leo’s breath hitches.

“And-” Splinter’s hands rise up to frame Leo’s face. “You are much too young to ever consider sacrifice the best answer.”

“You got me to relax, Leo. So I’ll do the same for you.” Raph grins, eyes wet, “We’re still kids, right?”

And-

Leo smiles, watery but genuine. “Yeah, Raph. We are.”

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt leo #rottmnt headcanons #rise leo #rise fanfic #WHOOPS #did not mean to write all this #my only regret is not including April #anyway I was like wow Leo sure is acting different at the end of the movie huh #then I thought hey he’s actually acting a lot like previous iterations of Leo rn #then I ran with it and tripped down the stairs in the process #thus this was born!#I am tired so more tags later #but dang oops a bit too angsty gotta do smth lighthearted soon huh #also yes he DOES go back and apologize for putting Hueso through so much #he gets a smack on the head and a head pat immediately after #‘don’t do it again Pepino - not until I finally get the Maze shut down’ ‘okay wait what-‘

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5t4r5and5uch01 · 4 months

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What i did for that one trend on twt. My fave Blue sillies. 💙💙💙

#yes i know its flipped and not completely the same as the meme but who cares #i havent finished a digital project since FOREVER #it feels so good #i kinda rushed the coloring at the end but it turned out good ig #dang i just realized this is the first compeleted digital art that i post on here #i was debating which Leo to draw bc you know…i LOVE all of them (mostly at least)#but i chose Rise Leo cuz ive been thinking about him…A LOT lately #and Gus will always be superior #and Bluey is my lil twin sister so if u mess with her imma shoot u #or she’ll shoot u first before i can #tmnt #rottmnt #save rise of the turtles #save rottmnt #unpause rise of the tmnt #rise leo #toh #the owl house #gus porter #toh gus #toh season 3 #bluey #bluey heeler #bluey fanart #why do i always yap sm on the tags??#my art #I think we’re gonna have to kill this guy

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141trash · 4 months

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Okay okay hear me out. Established relationship with Price. He's getting ready to leave for a while and he makes a comment about getting you a dog or something for protection.

Cut to months later. he returns in the middle of the night and is just ready to crawl into bed next to you when in the darkness he hears a growl. He turns on the lamp at the bedside to see a tiny fluffball curled up on his side of the bed glaring at him.

"John?" you mumble lifting your head to gaze sleepily at him.

"Its me. What the hell is that thing?" he points at the dog.

"That's Monster. y'told me to get a dog." you say, curling your arm over the sweet little puppy you adopted while he was gone.

He snorts in disbelief as the dog soaks up your sleepy affection, "That is a rat. I meant a big dog. one that could protect you."

"She protects me just fine. Don't you Monster? Don't be mean."

#john price x reader #captain price x reader #john price x you #cod x reader #you know he grows to love the dang rat #yes i named the dog monster #my malshi's nickname is monster #141trash #my posts #sah rambles

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greenskellyblob · 1 year

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Moss really hates lilypucks and getting him to eat them is a struggle.

#still haven't named the white one they're new #rain world #slugcat #slugpups #been a while since I did a full piece!!#pretty dang happy with this one!#and yes I have dress my slugcat mod installed #so my survivor is a really cool scavenger slug #jelly art

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obstinaterixatrix · 2 months

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here are all the f/f recs I posted for femslash february 2023...! each individual post can be found in my femslash feb recs tag. this was done on a whim, and I wanted to showcase works with official releases so folks could support the writers/artists/translators/devs/etc in a pretty straightforward way. I'm pretty pleased with this set!

#femslash feb recs #ff recs #recs #long post #JUST realized I could do this..! so I did. rec retrospective lol.#made my stupid little canva header so it could look nice. I hate making headers... but I wanted the post to look nice...!#can't wait to post the one for 2024 at the end of the month #it's so funny. it's all manga. and then. out of the corner of your eye. french japanese workplace movie.#also yes that's my own dang book. lol #femslash february

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canisalbus · 9 months

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this image came to me a while back and wouldn't leave me alone until i brought it into the world, and after seeing your Barbenheimer art i thought i might send it to you. love all your work, and it's been great seeing the development of these two! <3

#aw dang partners in crime!#very in character yes #Vasco's gleeful look is just something else I love it #thank you for drawing my boys #;_;#I'm glad to hear you've been enjoying seeing them around!#Machete #Vasco #own characters #Pandaboar #gift art #a little context tidbit since this reminds me of it #for the majority of their co-existence Vasco is the one who has a little bit of a criminal record and autrority issues #and since he's never gotten into serious trouble for it he's quite nonchalant about the whole thing #he has solid morals for sure but they don't always align with the law #Machete is an obedient well behaved goody two shoes until he slowly boils over irreparably and becomes the worst version of himself #I actually had a similar thing sketched last month but never got around to finishing it #should I still do it or is it too late at this point

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shitboxcar · 10 months

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TRC girls shitposting part 2

part 1 | part 3

#hi #please help I can’t stop making adam a reply menace #adam parrish #trc #blue sargent #ronan lynch #gansey #richard gansey #noah czerny #joseph kavinsky #incorrect trc #trc tweets #the raven cycle #how many dang tags #pynch #for the fujos #oh yes henry debut #henry cheng #mine

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sweetest-honeybee · 1 year

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Wip for a bit of bone mage brain rot 😌 Only it’s Evil X this time!

#yes this was inspired by death from puss in boots before you start mentioning it #read the dang tags first you didn’t come up with the joke/comment #ANYWAYS #my art #hermitcraft #evil hermits #evil xisuma #wip #art wip

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fiery-emblems · 11 months

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Like a lot of people I sometimes ponder what my favorite characters might look like if they were allowed to grow older. I've been seeing a lot of good designs for older Soren specifically so of course I got to thinkin' about my own take!

Some notes on design process under the cut cause I think we should all share our thought process once in a while:

So, for this I didn't want to just want to go with "Soren, exactly the same but older". My thought was "if I was actually in charge of designing for a fire emblem game, one that takes place in a future Tellius perhaps and featuring this character as a guest (a la Tiki or the Awakening trio, which they should keep doing BTW) how would I go about doing that".

You have to think of course, about what the character is actually doing and what their role is. It seems pretty likely that after RD Soren is either traveling the world with Ike or wandering around (probably the former) so "traveler" was the theme. As far as the overall shape and the outer layer especially it seemed obvious to reference the dragons, who are also travelers:

I don't want to just straight up copy the look of the robes though for a couple of reasons. 1) that's boring and the idea here is for an updated visual style 2) I wanted to combine different elements to evoke a feeling of mixing cultures. I figure if this scenario takes place say, 80 years in the future or something, fashions will have moved forward and perhaps you would see elements of beorc and laguz fashions mixed together. Especially for Soren given what he is. So I went with an inner layer that looks more Victorian puffy sleeves (which you don't actually see a lot of in PoR or RD since the characters favor more stiff looking tunics, but they are there and I figured its the future and maybe Crimea has entered its puffy shirt era) with the outer layer looking more like what the dragons wear. 3) Staying with robes seems kind of stagnant. I imagine that a much older Soren who's lived a good life along side his love has probably chilled out a little bit. A little bit. 4) I think having more leg visible gives a more adult silhouette.

The other consideration is the hairstyle. As much as I love Soren being a carbon copy of Rajaion, it wouldn't be the most interesting design choice if I was the character designer of a game to just copy a past design 1 for 1. So I decided to just lengthen his hair a little bit and give it a look like its been blown around in the wind. Soren is the windy guy and I'm assuming he would be more chill here so why not let it be loose and free? This also helps avoid him just looking like Sephiran cause I see that a lot too lol.

Yes I also changed the shape of his brand. I've always been fascinated by the fact that it changed shape between games. I know it was likely just a design oversight but what if it changed because he isn't an adult yet and it changes more as he ages?

Lastly there's the why. Why would your fav show up as a guest character? What would he even do?? Well I think Soren could be really fun actually if we assume he went with Ike and that Ike kept Ragnell with him. I'm picturing a situation where Ike has lived out his natural life and died, leaving Soren to return to Tellius alone in order to tell Mist's family what happened (cause Ike just left without telling anyone anything lol), and to return Ragnell to them. Instead some conflict breaks out, you know how it is, and the more chilled out Soren is convinced to bestow the sword onto the new starry-eyed lord who reminds him of his beloved.

Oh yeah. I can see it now.

#did I waste time thinking about this? Yes #no regrets cause I can alter this design and use it for my own stuff later #fire emblem #tellius #soren #au #ideas and theories #character design #saying I want to see my favs age but then this one has just barely aged at all #dang dragons #let soren be an adult #future tellius au

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full---ofstarlight · 1 year

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I fancy many things. I fancy things that are beautiful and things that are strong. I fancy things that are dangerous and exciting. Would you be offended if I said I fancied you?

Zevran is one of the few people who can crack through Celeste’s ice queen resting bitch face and get a smile -- maybe she acts annoyed, but she secretly loves it

lovely commission from @chaaistheanswer of Celeste and Zevran!!

#zevran arainai #zevran x warden #zevran x cousland #dragon age #dragon age origins #char celeste cousland #celeste x zevran #did i make a cousland intending to romance alistair #did zevran sneak in and steal my entire dang heart instead #yes to both those things #tama commissions

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that-foul-legacy-lover · 6 months

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the Fontaine archon quest is still making me feel too many things so here (spoilers for the 4.2 archon quest if you haven't played it yet):

what if you were from Fontaine, the first sin on your shoulders and Primordial Seawater running through your veins like the rest of them. the prophecy hung heavily over your head, a source of constant worry during late nights when you're alone and can't sleep- Childe begged you to leave the nation of Justice multiple times, to come with him to Snezhnaya, but you refused to leave behind your friends to be swallowed by the waters. your worries only worsen when Childe is arrested in the Opera House and taken away to the Fortress, then spontaneously goes missing in the dead of night.

your heart squeezes with dread and sharp concern when Foul Legacy suddenly reemerges from the maw of a colossal stellar narwhal, the edges of his mask and armor smoldering from days of battle. the final glance he gives you is full of pain and desperation before he falls back through the rift in the world, and you want to start screaming but can't, the words stuck in your throat as you swallow and simply stare at the starry crack where the whale and Foul Legacy vanished.

you can't lose Childe. you can't lose Foul Legacy. you can't lose Ajax. so despite every instinct screaming not to, you follow Iudex Neuvillette and the Traveler through the portal.

Foul Legacy is there, curled up on the ground, but he still lets out a raspy trill when you rush over to him, weakly leaning into your arms as you pull him far away from the ensuing fight. you bury your face in his coppery hair, shaking from the weight of stress and worry, and you feel Legacy's claws curl gently around your wrist.

everything from that point seems to pass in a blur- the narwhal's defeat, the flooding of Fontaine, the waters slowly receding... and finally, finally- everything seems to calm, smoothing out like silk and soothing your frazzled nerves. you plan on leaving for Snezhnaya, wanting to keep Childe company as he heals from his ordeal- the very first thing that he did when he transformed back to his human state was give you a silly grin, bringing out your first smile in a few months.

and yet your peace did not last, for Celestia judges all at their own discretion. although the sins of Fontaine have been washed away, they still deem you a sinner for colluding with the Abyss, your love for Childe and Foul Legacy and his love for you considered a horrible crime in the eyes of the divine.

your sentence? execution.

#genshin impact #childe #tartaglia #gi ajax #foul legacy #foul legacy childe #genshin tartagalia #genshin childe #genshin tartaglia #genshin x reader #childe x reader #genshin spoilers #yes i'm still thinking about furina and focalors #that quest was so dang good #that moment when you update your oc lore because the newest quests have been released #not sure if this makes any sense but shhh i had fun #short scenario #wifi's brainrot #good evening :)

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