#do you think lumine says to herself 'if the abyss is good enough for my brother then I have no problem with it'?

[blood-orange-juice]

Do you think the Abyss has a scent? (I always imagined it's not unpleasant, just inhuman. Ink, ozone, hot metal, good agarwood oil. Real agarwood oil, the one that smells of dark wood and mint and fur of celestial foxes)

Do you think Childe smells of it sometimes? (Even his basic elemental skill is abyssal in nature, after all. Something must cling)

Do you think whoever you ship with the guy eventually starts to think of it as "home"?

Do you think they go into the Chasm or Enkanomiya and recognize it?

#things occupying my brain #childe #tartaglia #chilumi #do you think lumine says to herself 'if the abyss is good enough for my brother then I have no problem with it'? #I have something for people and characters who embody a place #who let it manifest through them #this boy kind of does #if abyss be thy name I pledge to you my loyalty #chaeya #I think this fits chaeya even better than chilumi

[ariicandy]

“..One string broken by a close family, replaced by another friendly figure..”

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SPOILERS ON We Will Be Reunited Quest AND A BIT OF SUMERU’S STORY QUEST

This is Lumine as the traveler btw

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Swords hitting one another fighting, defending oneself, fighting an Abyss Herald as of self defense. As it tried to escape by making a “portal” Dainsleif used his elemental power catching them before it enter, but a mysterious sword suddenly came out of nowhere and was ready to attack Dainsleif but lucky he was able to dodge it in time. The traveler’s eyes widened on who drew the blade…

It was her brother..

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“C-could it be..!?” Paimon spoke stunned. “Aether!” Lumine yelled out loud that the walls echoed from her brother’s name, “I’ve finally found you!” “Wait your brother and the abyss..” paimon looked at you a bit sad. “Lumine, why are you with Dain?” Aether spoke looking at you irritated. You and paimon looked at each other in shocked from that question your brother asked, Lumine asked herself why does it matter if we’ve been separated for so long and he chose to asked you this.

“Aether..We meet again.” Dainsleif spoke. “WHAT!!” Paimon shouted “You and the traveler’s sibling have been!?!?” Lumine looked at Dainsleif and back to her brother, her own brother with the abyss? “Lumine..until my plans to engulfed the thrones, my war with destiny will see no end.”

…

Confused…Lumine was so confused on what their brother was saying..a war? She was scared and trembling with thoughts on what he was doing. “Once you have reach the ends of your journey just as I did, you too will see the true nature of this world.” The abyss herald was now making a portal for them to back to the abyss, “Though we need not rush, brother. I have more than enough time to wait for you. If you do try to process to stop the abyss,” Aether turn and stopped to finish. “then I will no longer see you as my dear sisters as before all those years ago.”

Lumine heart ached from that sudden thought her own brother thought? Him seeing their own sibling, his own sister as a family member? Lumine started walking towards Aether trying to check up to him to stop making him saying those stuff. “We had always… had enough time.” Dainsleif caught up with him while you didn’t make it…

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That’s where it all went downhill, all Lumine could think about for the rest of their days thinking about what he said,”then I will no longer see you as my dear sisters as before all those years ago.” Kept rewinding everyday and every night, every dream turning into a nightmare, every thought now just repeating the same over and over again. Could someone save them from their misery and sadness from their very own sibling? Yes..Lumine found someone to reattach the string what was once broken and so torn apart now being band new, being reattached as a new string replaces that sad old tragic string, memory, of that incident into a new sibling figure. That person was you..

You are the person Lumine finds as a sibling, the one who saves her from all their trouble, the endless thoughts, nightmares, and memories she keeps thinking about..was just by meeting you made that loneliness go away.

SUMERU QUEST SPOILERS

“Hahaha! Well, well. We meet again, traveler!” Paimon screamed,” Ah! The Abyss Herald! What are you plotting to do in this strange place?” Lumine getting in position for an attack. “Strange place? Hehehe… You needn’t worry about such things, they don’t concern you!” As the abyss herald responded to paimon it got ready to attack. As Lumine hit its shield, she didn’t make any damage to it. Huh? Wh—Why can’t we beat this guy…? Paimon doesn’t get it. We’ve faced others like him before, what’s wrong this time?” Paimon said in confusion. “Traveler, through you may have managed to avert countless crises before, your good fortune was bound to end sooner or later. It’s time you realize how weak and powerless you really are!” Lumine called out, “My journey will not end here! I still must find my brother!!” “Your brother? Meahahaha! Oh, how pityful traveler, are you really so ignorant? Or are you just living in complete denial?” “His highness has long since forsaken you. Your meager existence in his highness eye’s is that of an annoying bug only to be stepped upon! The bonds of love and family which drive you to find your sibling are utterly gone! Your journey is meaningless!” Those words from what the Abyss Herald said dropped Lumines heart, did he really find her not a family no more? “If my brother seeks not to see me as their sibling, then I will also not want to see him as my brother. As I have found someone else as a sibling who cares about me, who treats me good, helps me with my problems, and comforts me than leaving me behid not trying to go look for me!” Paimon said as shocked from those who came from the traveler, Lumine, paimon couldn’t put her finger who Lumine was saying who they found as a sibling. “Oh? Looks like you finally realized how he doesn’t love you no more, but don’t you fret now. Today will be your last. Now die!” As the traveler was preparing to get their sword they were greeted to be back in the cave where they found Haypasia. “What just happened? I was in a near attack by the abyss herald, how did I end up back here?” Lumine questioned in her mind.

But that doesn’t matter no more, she was already looking forward to their new sibling

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And that was you.

They were looking forward to replace the string that was broken from her dear brother to you being their new sibling figure they look up to now, who they trust for you to comfort her, to care for her, and to look out for her. They want you, reader, as their new sibling as her own rejected them

#genshin impact #aether #lumine #paimon #angst #plan #platonic #fighting #siblings #yn #genshin impact x reader #figure #dainsleif #abyss aether #traveler #genshin spoilers

[restlessfandoming]

campfire in the snow (chilumi)

hey friends back again with that fanfic writing :^)

this is my headcannon that childe absolutely suffers during the colder winter months as a hydro user (based on this post here) so SOMEONE’s gotta take care of him

in other words, a chilumi...chilumine? lumichilde? CHILDE X LUMINE sick fic !!!

thanks for reading as always <3

[Fic Masterlist]

“campfire in the snow”

“Ahchoo!” 

Lumine glanced at Childe, watching him sniffle miserably as they walked through the woods towards Mondstadt. 

The sky was overcast, giving the land the hazy gray glow of winter, and the chilly temperature felt stiff against shivering bodies—their coats only warming them slightly. Their shoes crunched in the snow from last night’s snowstorm; the promise of another snowfall hung in the air. 

“Are you sick?” Lumine asked. 

Childe gave a weak smile. “Of course not. In top shape as always.” Then, AHCHOO! Another sneeze. 

Paimon popped up in front of the Harbinger’s face, staring directly at his red nose. “You don’t sound so good to me. Paimon thinks you’re sick!”

“Hate to say it, but I definitely agree with Paimon,” Lumine said, ignoring the guide’s flailing arms of anger. “I think we need to get you somewhere warm.” 

The orange haired man playfully scoffed. “All I need to do is speak with the Grand Master of the Knights. Easiest mission of my—sniff—life.”

The traveler stopped in her tracks, and took off her own scarf, holding it out for Childe. “Then at least take this. I think you need this more than me.”

He looked at the scarf, eyes almost glazing over from yearning. He shook his head. “I’d never take something from a lady in need.” 

Lumine almost threw the scarf at him. “I’m not in need.”

“And she’s not a lady; have you seen her eat?”

“Paimon.”

“Paimon only tells the truth!”

“Thank you, really, but it’s just a little reaction to the colder weather. No big deal,” Childe assured, walking past Lumine’s offering. 

“What’s his problem?” she muttered, as he walked ahead. She heard him coughing in the distance. Why won’t he just take it? 

“He doesn’t seem so threatening now, does he?” Paimon said. “Paimon’s never seen him so weak…”

“Weak…,” Lumine echoed. 

Of course. 

Childe was a member of the Fatui. A Harbinger. A deadly fighter. Someone who used a bow despite it being his weakest weapon. 

He would never accept help like this, not when it made him feel weak. 

Lumine groaned in frustration. Stupid, stupid man. She continued on the path, picking up her pace to try and catch up to him. 

Except he was nowhere to be seen. The cold set into her body a little more. 

“Childe?” she called out. She ran down the path, eyes scanning every inch of the snowy road and fields. Then—

“Lumine, look!” Paimon shouted, speeding over to Childe’s body laying in the snow. 

The blonde traveler quickly scrambled to his side, flipping him over so his face wasn’t buried in the snow. He was drained of color, and his body felt ice cold. There was barely air leaving his nose. 

“Childe!” she called, shaking him. Wake up; please, wake up! 

He didn’t move. Lumine cursed. 

“What should we do?” Paimon asked frantically. 

Lumine took a deep breath in, then took off her own coat and scarf, placing it on Childe’s shoulders. She shuddered as the winter air nipped at her skin. 

“Now you’re gonna freeze to death!”

“It’s okay, Paimon,” she said, beginning to pick up the unconscious man. “We need to find somewhere to stop and start a fire.”

Paimon nodded worriedly, trying to (unsuccessfully) help Lumine shoulder Childe. The traveler eventually had his arm slung across her shoulders, and her arm gripped his waist. 

The three shuffled down the path, searching for any sort of shelter or firewood. As time went on, Lumine felt colder and colder, her whole body beginning to ache under the weight of Childe. Every so often, she would call out his name, hoping to hear a response, but there was nothing. 

As she crested the top of the hill, she spotted a tiny cabin at the base. Her ragged breath became concentrated as she mustered up the last of her energy to drag Childe there. 

“Almost...there…,” she strained out. No response. 

“Come on! You can do it!” Paimon cheered, though her scared expression betrayed her positivity. 

Lumine was mere feet away from the door when she heard a familiar high pitched and distorted laughter ring out behind her. 

An Abyss Mage! 

She turned to see it prancing around in its bubble, icicles swirling around it. 

Great, a Cryo Mage at that.

She set Childe down gently, then drew her sword. The blade shook in her hand, her teeth chattering. And she still felt winded. But I have to protect us. 

“Try to wake him up,” she told Paimon. The tiny fairy nodded and started tapping his shoulder.

Lumine charged the mage. Her blade scraped against the frozen barrier. She slashed frantically, making miniscule scratches. Around her, icicles fell as the mage chanted spell after spell. It took all of her will to continuously dodge the attacks. Charging enough energy, she unleashed a Palm Vortex. The shield cracked considerably. 

I can do this. She leapt at the mage, striking a few times, then casted a Gust Surge. The bubble crackled. A few more hits and the shield will be down. Then, it’ll be a piece of cake. 

She started concentrating, trying to summon another Palm Vortex, when an icicle came unexpectedly from the side, slamming into her. She crumpled to the ground. 

Nononono. She tried to get up, arms shaking, fighting the exhaustion in her body. 

The sinister laughter drew closer as the mage floated towards her. It raised its staff, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

“Hey!” 

Lumine looked past the mage. 

There stood Childe, hunched over, gripping his side, but standing. She almost cried out in relief. 

The mage made noises of anger, blinking away, then reappearing closer to Childe. 

The Harbinger raised his hand, droplets forming from his palm. 

No, Childe wait—! His Hydro elements didn’t stand a chance in this battle. 

The beginnings of his spear formed. But then, the water quickly crystallized, turning into shards of ice, and dropping to the ground. Childe winced painfully. 

Lumine jumped up on her feet, her energy renewed, and raced towards the mage. 

The mage raised its staff again, forming a huge icicle above Childe. He wouldn’t have enough time to move, especially in his condition. The shard started falling. 

“Childe!” Lumine screamed. 

He closed his eyes. The mask sitting atop his head began to glow. It crackled with purple electricity, and spiraled out, creating a barrier. The large icicle shattered on impact. The mage shrieked in confusion. 

Lumine took the distraction, and destroyed the Abyss Mage’s shield, then stabbed its critical point: right through its head. It vanished into the air. 

“Good job...traveler…,” Childe said between heavy breaths. His voice sounded distorted, his eyes and expression darker than before. The electro-shield came down, and Lumine watched as he fell to his knees, before rushing over, and catching him before he fell down completely.

She felt his forehead on her bare shoulder. “You’re burning up,” she whispered. 

He laughed weakly, before descending into coughs. “I hate to say it, but I think you were right,” he murmured. 

She saw Paimon opening the door to the cabin. “Okay, c’mon, we only have a little bit to go, then we can rest.” She felt him nod. 

When the three finally got into the cabin, Lumine laid Childe down, folding their scarves to make a pillow, and covering him with their coats. Paimon helped carry some pieces of wood to her, and soon a small fire was started. The guide disappeared back into her world to let Lumine rest. 

Lumine finally let out a sigh of relief. She looked over Childe, making sure he didn’t have any injuries she didn’t notice before. Her eyes fell on his mask, the mask that created the electro-shield earlier. 

Two elements? That shouldn’t be possible. Was he different, like her? Not of this world? There was certainly something dark about the mask, lurking beneath the surface. 

She reached for the mask. Childe’s hand weakly sprung up, catching her before she could touch it. His eyes were still closed.

“Now, now, we don’t touch things that aren’t ours—isn’t that right, girlie?” he teased quietly. His voice was hoarse, strained. 

“Even on the verge of death, you love teasing me,” Lumine responded. He still hadn’t let go of her wrist. “And anyways, I dragged you all the way here. You could at least tell me what that thing is.” 

He opened his eyes, narrowly. “Sorry, sweetheart, Fatui secret.” Lumine tried pulling her wrist away, but he held onto it, then shifted it so he was holding her hand. “Thank you, Lumine.” 

She blushed. “I couldn’t just leave you out there to die.” She looked at their intertwined hands. “Why did you take this mission anyways? You know it’s dangerous during the Cryo months for a Hydro user like you.” 

There was a long pause of silence. She almost thought he had fallen asleep. 

“It was for Mondstadt,” he finally replied. “I knew you would be here.”

She was feeling warm. Too warm. Is it the fire? Am I getting sick too?

“You should get some sleep. You’ll feel better when you wake up,” she said, completely avoiding what he said. He nodded and closed his eyes, a faint smile on his lips. 

Lumine observed his sleeping face, how harmless he seemed right now. None of his antics. None of the mystery surrounding him. None of that lurking darkness. Just a sick, lonely boy. A sick, lonely boy completely vulnerable to the world. 

She started to get up, maybe to go cook some stew for him, but to her surprise, Childe held tightly to her hand. 

“Stay,” he said, hazily. His eyelids were fluttering, like he was struggling to open them. 

“...Okay.” Tired herself, she laid down next to him, tucking herself under the coats as well, glad for the warmth. 

He pulled her closer, letting go of her hand, and instead wrapped his arms around her waist, tucking his head under her chin, like he was listening to her heartbeat—a heartbeat that was surely beating way too fast right now. This sickness is making him delusional…

She was about to start protesting when he started speaking. 

“No one ever stays,” Childe whispered. It had been no louder than a small leaf rustling in the nighttime wind; Lumine might not have heard it if she wasn’t listening. Her heart broke a little. 

She wrapped her arms tightly around him. You’re not alone.

“I’m here,” she whispered back. “I’m right here.”

#genshin impact #genshin childe #genshin lumine #genshin tartaglia #childe x lumine #chilumi #childe #lumine #tartaglia #lumine x childe #fanfic #sickfic #me

[clouds-rambles]

Amnesia Anon! I openly admit I don't know what to do with the Genshin Ladies bc I'm a pretty gay guy. On the other hand, you said platonic is also fine, so: Reader comforting Lumine after what happened with her brother and everything in general?

The fact you requested for one of the girlies anyways means a lot! Ty amnesia anon!! Lumine is fun to write bc like I get to decide what she's like and I love that for me <33

Hope you enjoy <33

Pairings; (platonic) Lumine x reader

Warning(s); Spoilers for the 'we will be reunited' quest

Keep reading under the cut!

“Lumine what’s wrong?” you ask seeing her on the brink of tears

“My- my brother…” she starts with a clench of her hands, she shakes her head wanting to be done with the thoughts of her brother “Can we- can we just get some dinner or something?” she asks looking to you, you nod with a soft smile.

“Of course we can” you tell her in a soft tone, you extend your hand for her to take and she happily takes it. You lead her through town towards Wamin Restaurant “We can sit in a quiet space in the back, how does that sound?” you ask, Lumine nods

“Sounds good” she replies, you lead her to the back of the restaurant, you both sit in the quietest booth and order some food

“Do you want to talk about it?” you ask her, she shakes her head

“Not yet-“ she goes to say something else but stops herself, you nod in understanding

“That’s okay” you reassure her

Dinner is quiet, but that’s okay. You keep bringing up different conversations, but Lumine isn’t much in the mood for talking. She mentions having a craving for some Wolfhook juice so you end up going to the kitchen with a handful of Woolfhooks begging someone to turn them into juice. After you mention it’s for the traveller that saved Liyue they’re more than happy to make the drink.

After dinner you offer just going on a walk, surely that could take her mind of things a little more. And you think it does, just a little bit. Lumine seems a little happier to talk about the hilichurl camps and the treasures she found clearing them out, she mentions that she’s started helping one of the adepti with the demonic kinds of hilichurls to keep Liyue safer. You smile at her and thank her for keeping your home safe.

By the time you get back to Liyue it’s dark, close to the time to sleep but Lumine doesn’t quite look ready for sleep. So you bring up the idea of listening to a story teller, you mention that you heard that the story this week is one of the Rex Lapis ones. So, the both of you find yourselves at the teahouse, herbal teas in both your hands and the sweet melodies of a story is almost enough to send the two of you to sleep. So home is where you’re bound next.

“The spare bed is all set up if you want to sleep at mine” you offer looking to Lumine, she nods

“I would like that please” she replies, you smile and bump your hip with hers

“I’ll be right next door if you need me for anything, okay?” you ask opening the spare bedroom door before gesturing to your own. She nods again.

“Sleep well Lumine” you tell her before going to your own bed.

Not two hours later you hear soft knocking on your bedroom door, you go to investigate to see a half asleep Lumine stood before you.

“Is everything alright?” you ask, she shakes her head. “Do you want to come in and maybe talk about it?” you ask stepping to the side, she nods and comes into your room and sits at the end of your bed

“My brother” she speaks up “I think- I think that he’s the leader of the abyss order” she tells you her eyes welling up with tears. You sit beside her with a concerned frown.

“I remember when I saw you last you were looking for abyss heralds, did you find out around then?” you ask, she nods and sighs

“I was helping this guy called Dainslief find the abyss herald he’s been tracking for some time,” she pauses to make sure you are caught up “And just as we were winning against the abyss herald out comes Aether” she adds clenching her fists a little to stop herself from crying “The way he was talking… it was Aether but never in a way I’ve seen him” she continues looking to you “I know that that was my brother… but also he felt so different” you hum at her

“I’m sorry you have to go through this” you apologise placing your hand atop hers “Maybe you’ll find some more answers in Inazuma” you add with a smile. Lumine nods.

“I think Beidou will be a good lead” she tells you with a smile, you nod

“Aye, she’s probably one of the only captains with enough skill to navigate the storms encasing Inazuma” you speculate and look to Lumine “Though if you ever need a friend and a place to crash at just know my door is always open for you”

“Of course” Lumine smiles softly

“Now come here and give me a hug”

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #lumine x reader #platonic x reader #traveller lumine #genshin impact lumine #genshin lumine #lumine

[nemycchi]

Delusion

A Childe X Lumine Fanfiction

Rating : Not Rated

Tags : Psychological, Mild Angst, Character Death

----

During moments of utter silence, Childe recalls that which Lumine once told him about a book she had read from a far away land. 

"It is of utmost importance that those who seek to fight monsters must not become one in the process." 

He likes to think that perhaps, by mentioning it, she had once hoped that he would be reminded of his main aspiration—to conquer the world that is, and not to simply bathe in the blood of his enemies. 

It has its merits, he admits—for he finds himself fighting alongside her during the turning point of the war, the darkness in him dampened by the white light she emits—cleansing the corruption that has resided in him for the longest time. 

This too though, reminds him of another of her words. 

"The deep dark abyss—stare for too long and it would stare back to those who dare." 

It is true, for he knows that ever since he dropped down that hole in the world, he emerged as a monster that is only tamed by bloodshed. 

And from the moment he knew Lumine, perhaps by her as well. 

He has always carried a portion of that so-called abyss, feeling its vines wrapping inside his very being. He is a monster, that much is true, but tamed as one can be, he became a tool under her commands. 

He does not care, for it is times with her when the whispers of the dark become muted—turned into nothing but echoes of the past. 

"Childe? Breakfast?" 

The man spies her slender form by the doorframe of his bedroom, sees her domestically ushering his sleepy person into the kitchen and he feels as though he had achieved that which he desires, with her by his side. 

To conquer the world. 

They did. They won. And it was all that he could ask for. 

Celestia is no more. The abyss is no more. It is just him, Lumine and the rest of the world. 

He smiles as he sits down at the table, reaching for her hand as she places the bowl of steaming Calla Lily Seafood Soup before him. 

"Oh, my favorite. What's the occasion, girlie?"

"Mhm, nothing in particular. Just wanted to cook something special for you." she smiles back and he thinks he saw the glimmer of stars beyond her eyes. 

Or perhaps it was nothing but an illusion, masking the deeper end of the void he is familiar with—if such end even existed. 

Childe shakes his head for he believes that that is not the case. Lumine is here with him. And the abyss is no more. It is no more. 

And if the calling of that dark bud inside him grows too strong anyhow, he knows she is here to defeat it for him. 

For she is also perhaps a monster in her own rights. 

 

--☆☆☆--

 

The bags under his eyes, and the haunted looks in his face tell everyone that he is far from recovered but everytime someone comes to ask him how he is faring, he will do nothing but face them with a smile before answering. 

"I'm very much fine! Lumine takes good care of me." 

If there were curious glances sent his way, he does not care. They must be seething inside—jealous that it was him who conquered her heart by the end of it all. 

The savior and the reformed harbinger.

What a perfect love story—great as a tale to pass down from generations to generations. He sighs at the thought. 

"Childe, pardon my query but I must ask—how have you truly been?" 

He already lost count of how many times the same question had been asked of him. 

He stops walking—to face the former Geo Archon a few steps behind. 

"I do not understand why everyone keeps on asking the same question. I already told you i'm fine, didn't I?" 

Oh how he hates it when they ask—as if they were doubting his princess' ability to care for him, for it was her who has been on his bed, in his kitchen, in his very house ever since the world achieved true peace. 

They do not understand just how capable Lumine is. 

And they will never know, if he has anything to say. 

"Though we are but friends, I must express my deep concern. The dips on your cheeks beg to differ from that which you uttered." 

The blue in his eyes shift into something malicious, to that belonging to the beast he keeps inside. 

"With all due respect, Mr. Zhongli. I do not appreciate the implications of what you just said. You asked and I answered." He pauses. 

The abyss is no more for Lumine is with him. 

"I shall be going now. My wife is waiting for me at home." 

As he walks away, he ignores the burning gaze on his back. It's fine. That former god does not matter. 

What matters is him and Lumine while the rest of the world could go crash and burn, he thinks. 

 

--☆☆☆--

 

"Tough day at work?" 

Childe sidles up to her side, wrapping an arm around the apron-covered waist of his beloved. He kisses her temple with reverence—for it is what she deserves. 

"Not really. It was just Mr. Zhongli. And others. Being annoyingly repetitive as always." He grumbles, tucking her head under his chin. 

The small hand resting atop his chest tightens against his clothes. 

"Do they... not approve of me?" She asks almost inaudibly. 

He was quick to deny the preposterous thought. 

"Don't listen to them. They do not matter, girlie." 

Childe feels her shift and he looks down at her. 

Golden pools decorated by the glittering of stars—of tears, he realizes, meet his abyssal depths. 

"Are you... are you going to leave me?" 

He brushes the hair out of her forehead and tucks the strays behind her ears before promptly brushing away the tears that cascaded from her eyes. 

"Never. You are mine, Lumine. As much as I am yours." 

Even the sweetest wine cannot compare to the smile that adorns her face after his declaration. She buries her head on his chest once more, arms crossing behind him, bestowing him with nothing else but warmth. 

Childe thinks for a second, that this moment is perhaps the best there is in the world. And he knows he is ruined for anything else.

It is impossible to feel anything akin to this feeling and he strongly believes that the desire to even experience it from others aside his princess does not exist anymore. 

 

--☆☆☆--

 

The sound of deliberate knocking at the door rouses the harbinger from his sleep. Childe growls in annoyance at whoever is behind that piece of wood as he untangles his limbs from the goddess laying beside him. 

He kisses the top of her head before deciding to rise and check who their visitor is. 

He stills when the one in front of his humble abode makes himself known. 

Zhongli, of course. 

"Mr. Zhongli, why the early visit?" 

The man only hums before crossing his arms, pinning him with a serious gaze. 

"May I come in, Childe?"

"Ah, of course." 

He lets him in and ushers the former archon to the couch. Upon sitting, the latter immediately scans his surroundings with vague concern in his eyes. 

"I must say, your house is surprisingly empty and devoid of life, Childe."

"What do you mean? I think it's pretty homey. Lumine designed it by herself when she first got here." 

A frown makes its way to the other man's lips. 

"Childe, can we talk?" 

He stiffens, tone changing into a defensive one. 

"We are talking, are we not?" He spats.

"Why don't you ask Lumine to come down here with us?" 

He summons one of his water blades. 

"Why exactly are you here, Zhongli?"

"Call Lumine, Childe." 

In a flash, the water blade comes in contact with the polearm that materialized in front of the visitor. 

"Why. Are. You. Here?" He asks, hostile in every way as he accents each word with a swing of his blade—all thankfully parried. 

"I need you to understand, Childe." Zhongli calls forth a jade shield that rattled even the sturdy walls of the other man's home. 

A water spear slams against the shield. 

"That Lumine..." 

Yet another side step, perfectly timed to avoid the beast cloaked in water suddenly crackling with electricity. 

"Stop it!" It yells. 

But Zhongli is not known for being gentle. The wrath of the rock and the harsh truth—both must be laid out for him to save the monster disguised as a man. 

"Is no longer with us." 

A beat passes.

"She's gone, Childe. And you must accept that fact."

"No!" 

And like that, the man surges forward with the fury enough to fuel wars. 

The walls crumble and the terrified shrieks of townsfolk in the immediate vicinity sound off but Childe could no longer care. 

Him and Lumine. The rest of the world does not matter. 

His mind goes blank with nothing but white hot anger, and he brandishes his weapon with renewed vigor. 

"Take it back." He quietly demands, voice distorted. 

Instead of complying, multiple stone steles rise up from the pavement, obscuring the two men from prying eyes. 

"Everyone grieves for her departure, I assure you. We are hurt as much as you are." A water blade makes contact with the archon's cheek and he winces as response, "but she chose to sacrifice herself for this world's peace and she will not be happy if she sees you rotting away to your demise, Childe."

"You—you don't know anything! Do not lie! Lumine..." A crack in his composition and Zhongli is quick to take advantage of it. 

All at once, like a puppet with strings cut off, Childe falls forward when Zhongli's polearm strikes down his chest. The accumulated hunger and fatigue from weeks of barely holding on to her memory suddenly come crashing down upon his person. 

Empty plates and sweet nothings. 

Cold bed and pristine kitchen. 

Unused scarf with the color of the skies and the clouds—like the view he's witnessing right now. 

Stare into the abyss, and it stares back at you—its remnants staying within, slowly consuming that which it latches on to. 

The abyss is no more—or so he believes. 

"Lumine... she promised me." he whispers into the wind. 

The rustling of cloth distracts him from his thoughts. 

"Do not lean too close to that edge, Childe. I beg you, not as your friend, but as Lumine's—please, do stay with us." 

Before his eyes closed, he heard the call from the deep dark abyss of the waters. 

The sea is calm. And he couldn't care less about the rest of the world. 

Him and Lumine, he thinks. Him and Lumine.

#genshin impact #childe x lumine #genshin impact fanfiction #chilumi

[mrpenguinpants]

Hey so that Dainsleif quest huh 👀

[Spoilers for those who haven't played it yet ofc]

.

.

.

These are just some disorganized initial thoughts for your consideration:

So I'm pretty sure his "travel companion" that he keeps mentioning is our twin

Does that mean our twin has gone to the exact same places as we've been going?? Dainsleif seemed to be familiar with all the locations we visited in Mondstadt but I suppose that could've been from an even earlier journey

And the possibility that the Abyss is trying to mislead us bc we hadn't encountered any abyss mages since Dvalin 🤔🤔🤔 what do they want??? We know (kinda) that our twin is watching our progress and that they're the prince/princess of the Abyss so like are they trying to keep us from getting in the way of their plans so as not to accidentally hurt us? Though something tells me we're gonna get tangled up in it one way or the other lmao

Dainsleif said that his goal is to oppose the Abyss so perhaps he's got his own secret plans to try to stop our twin (as is also supported by what he said at the end of the mortal travails video about proving ourselves worthy of stopping "her"/Lumine probably)

Also turns out I'd been pronouncing his name wrong the whole time lmao I had been saying dains-leaf instead of dains-lif

No Vision as confirmed by his full character model

Also his eyepatch is more of a phantom of the opera mask lmao

Important observation he looks like post timeskip Dimitri from a distance when I had to meet him in Dvalin's Lair I legit thought he was Dimitri for a sec XD

Anyway those were my thoughts about the new quest lmao my internet was cutting out the whole time while I was trying to play like dsfkdksjf pls I just wanted to talk to blond eyepatch man

Important part of this post: 

I took a lot of pictures of Dainsleif if you want to use them as references (or appreciation).  The pictures are under the read more tag so if you don’t want spoilers, don’t read anything and skip to the read more. 

Also, he calls you and your sibling “idiots” through money.

He asks for 500 mora and (this is probably just a coincidence but considering Zhongli tips Xiangling 888 mora I’m sus). The number 250  [二百五] or ( èr bǎi wǔ) means “idiot”. 

If someone calls you 250, they can say (nǐ shì wǔ bǎi) or “You are [250]”. But if you give someone 500, this can be taken as saying two people are stupid (250 + 250 = 500). I mean, that’s probably not how it works but I think it’s funny to imagine Dainsleif being too polite to call us stupid. 

---

I know right? When I saw the leak for it and seeing it confirmed in patch notes, I was so confused. Wha-Why are you here so early? I wasn’t expecting you for another 5 years at least. I’m happy to see you and your beautiful model in game but at the same time I was so worried that we were going to get crumbs of interactions. Same thing with Guizhong in Zhongli’s story quest. Genshin please...finish your stories (that’s fucking hilarious coming from me considering I still have a part 2 to Childe that I need to write), but I’m honestly just happy that he’s in the game. But yes 👀👀 more lore food. 

You know, I was talking about the archons a bit with @maagdalen and, I may have been misunderstanding or reading the wrong message, but they brought up the idea that what if the archons’ personality is based on their regions country's? So for example, Venti’s personality adopts the German mentality because Mondstadt was modelled after Germany? Obviously, I have no idea if that’s true because I’m not from or am German but in the context of Liyue and Zhongli. I can definitely see some sort of connection. 

But some food for thought:

“But cyro archon is very viable since she's suppose to be a kind hearted person that needed to be cold for the sake of freedom. or peace. something like that.”

 “Sorry, but this is stupidly Russian style. No matter what you say, people will always be dissatisfied. Of course it's not that bad...but it's something to think about.“ 

But yess, @svnflowery​ said the same thing. That Dainsleif was Lumine’s “guide” the same way Paimon is our guide. I actually think that’s an interesting idea. That Lumine has gone to the exact same places as we’ve been through. It actually makes me wonder (since we can play as both her and Aether), that Lumine went through the same story line as Aether. She met Venti, Zhongli, everything that’s happening right now. She’s already been through, then when she reached the Khaenri’ah chapter she failed. So she decided to spin the clock back and change destiny. I mean, this is me spit balling and I don’t think this happened but it’s something to think about. 

You know funny enough, hasn’t Venti been asleep for a while? Either way, he doesn’t really strike me as the type that truly wants to be an Archon. He says in his voicelines as well that “that’s a problem for Mondstadt to deal with”. So it would be easier for the Abyss Order to mess some things up. While Zhongli has been alive for 6000 years and I highly doubt Abyss Order can do anything to him haha. If we’re going on that “Lumine has already been through this journey” she could be trying to re-make or lead us on the same path. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Dainsleif was our guide, then when Lumine spun the clock back and aligned herself with the abyss, that’s when they split. That could be a reason why he’s trying to oppose the abyss order but really I think it’s because the Abyss Order’s goal is to basically set the world on fire (or something like that). I always pronounce character names wrong and I don’t understand why people make such a big deal out of it. You know who I’m talking about, my pronunciation isn’t completely shit to the point you don’t know. So why do you keep yelling at me??

Also. The most important part of his quest was it was “Aether’s version” of the “We will be reunited” trailer. 

It even showed the crushed dandelion flower and the ruin guard footprints. IT’S OUR SISTER. 

I knoww, I was searching for his vision and got weird pics but that’s alright, I LOWKEY HATE THE OPERA MASK SO MUCH. GIVE ME ACTUAL MASK. THERE GOES THE “SEPERATE COLOURED EYE” ART OF KHAENRIAH PEOPLE. Yo, knock off Dimitri let’s go. 

I love Dainslief’s english voice but I hate Xiao’s en voice. What a dilemma. I usually play in chinese but wow does Dainslief sound old. Jp is slightly better but I hear grandpa vibes. Korean isn’t bad and I actually don’t mind korean xiao so korean we shall go. It’s weird. I like Dainsleif english voices, Xiao chinese voice, paimon korean voice haha. Jp is usually just good all around but I have preferences. But tyty for telling me your thoughts! I’d love to hear about the Xiao quest that just dropped. Beautiful boy 

sweats 

yeah about that...xiao scammed me. I wonder if his speech changes based on what you say. i kind of doubt it though. 

I’m looking at his outfit from every angle while Xiao stays pretty in the back. 

I like that you can see his magic arm there. 

While on this side you can’t. 

I swear this is for research. IM TRYING TO SEE IF HE HAS A VISION. IM INNOCENT!!

he also has some sort of weird...blue thingy on his foot?

Im using Xiao as a personfication of me BUT TELL ME YOUR SECRETS 

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin lore #genshin impact lore #genshin spoilers #genshin impact spoilers #genshin khaenri'ah #genshin impact khaenri'ah #genshin lumine #genshin impact lumine #genshin aether #genshin impact aether #genshin dainsleif #genshin impact dainsleif #lumine #aether #dainsleif #genshin 1.3 #genshin impact 1.3

[yukihime242]

Distant Voyage was a web event where we had to help Kazuha build a boat.

The only thing fun was looking at chibi Kazuha. He looks just like Aether!

Okay guys, as a Lumine main, I have found my alternative brother.

Anyway, I started on a new quest. Over at the Liyue Adventurer’s Guild, Lan was seen talking to Ganyu.

Who goes after the Abyss Order? I want to meet them.

Oh, so the Treasure Hoarders are going after the Abyss Order’s treasure... Not sure if that’s bravery or plain stupid.

I guess they are too greedy. Not even the name of Abyss Order was enough to prevent the Treasure Hoarders from seeking out their treasure.

Ah, Raptor... now why does that name sound so familiar? *flashbacks to the time we chased Raptor on glider*

Oh Lan, thousands of times.

Well... if they don’t, they wouldn’t be called Treasure Hoarders...

We accepted the commission to investigate and stop the Treasure Hoarders from plunging themselves further into danger. We head to the area and began exploring the ruins. 

Gosh, an inverted Statue of the Seven. What on earth is happening here?

What on earth happened to him?

Agreed!

Unfortunately, the floors from where we entered started cracking and oozing out an ominous purple liquid. We had no choice but to venture deeper into the ruins (I died a few times...).

WHO ARE YOU?

Would you believe me if I said I got lost and accidentally stumbled upon this ruin?

The answer is no...

And so we fought against him. Thank god I have Zhongli.

What...

Huh?

Wait what?

So many questions... Best we better get out of that place.

Dainsleif! Let me guess, you followed the scent of the Abyss Herald here?

Yep. And we told him whatever we found in the ruin.

We decided to follow Dainsleif as it would also benefit us in searching for answers to our questions.

The first place we head to was part of a ruin where a group of Abyss Mages were digging around the fallen Ruin Guard.

Well... the Abyss Mages have every right to fear that Abyss Herald. I would definitely have died if it weren’t for Zhongli’s shield.

We moved on to the next spot and we stopped to talk about the Ruin Guards.

And Paimon felt that it was necessary to explain to me what Khaenri’ah is. But I stopped her.

In other words, our beloved twin duo were at Khaenri’ah before the start of the event. 

Dainsleif decided not to pry into our secrets since we did not pry into his, but he was willing to listen if we decided to share.

Obviously, we shared what we remembered.

In other words, when Aether and Lumine first woke up in Teyvat, Khaenri’ah’s destruction was causing the world to go into chaos, hence the twins needed to leave for another world quickly. But before they could escape, they were stopped by an unknown god and were sent back to Teyvat while being separated from each other. The result was the story we are playing now.

Dainsleif then told us about Khaenri’ah.

Obviously there were survivors of Khaenri’ah since Kaeya was from that place.

So... they were farming tools? What the heck do you need missiles for in farming?

Oh 😮

Except Inazuma, right?

We proceeded to defeat the Abyss Mages and found that one of them had the details of the operation they were on.

Wait... So the Fatui were also manipulated into doing their bidding without their knowledge? I wonder what would Childe think about this...

How do we even know that Osial is a squid?

How do we know which is the first Field Tiller? There must be thousands of Field Tillers in Teyvat.

Ah well, we decided to question about the statue and since the statue was from Mondstadt, we decided to go to Mondstadt City to enquire about any missing statues.

Point taken.

Before we left for the Cathedral, Dainsleif gave us one word of advice: do not disclose about the missing statue.

Yep. I think the only person who could hold herself against the Abyss Order would be Rosaria.

We entered the Cathedral and met Barbara.

Wow, Venti’s illusionary powers must be going strong on that lyre.

How long was that “long time ago”? I cannot imagine the Abyss Order holding onto the statue for keepsakes.

We asked Barbara if she knew of any other peculiar stories which would stand out.

Imagine the Hilichurls living in that area during that time...

Oh Barbara, you have no idea. That story is totally related to the lost statue. Well, for us, at least.

And Rosaria approached us saying that she was getting ready for a battle against the Abyss Order.

And Barbara wanted to tag along so she could provide healing to anybody who was injured at the battlefield.

Yeah, it’s best if you stay out of this one, Barbara. Things are not as pleasant as any other battlefields.

Rosaria made a head start for Wolvendom and we had to rendezvous with Dainsleif first.

Eventually, we made our way to Wolvendom and began our battle. Dainsleif did not want to join in the ferocious battle happening at the arena where Lupus’s soul rest. So, we had to go by ourselves.

It does sound contradictory, but he does make sense. You can never trust a god, but you also don’t go angering the god.

As we head further in, we met Jean. Jean was surprised to see us and was also very grateful for our assistance.

Jean then state she would provide support in the rear while we quickly make our way to Lupus. 

Somebody give that boy a medal. He is strong to stand against the Abyss Herald.

We joined them and had to battle the Abyss Herald. Thankfully, I had Kaeya to freeze him and Zhongli to provide shield. Unlike the previous battle, this was a one-side whacking.

Dude, you are up against an ancient god. What do you expect?

We can all see that...

I wonder what danger smells like?

Yep, definitely a Ruin Guard.

How are we sure that is even the first Field Tiller?

Ah yes, Razor, you did a wonderful job. Good boy.

We quickly met up with Dainsleif and told him the news. We also asked him if he happened to meet Jean.

Ah yes, typical Jean. It’s a good thing Dainsleif avoided her.

Am I missing something? How did we come to the conclusion that that Ruin Guard was the first Field Tiller?

Imagine Paimon doing all of Genshin’s narration videos...

We quickly made our way to the old Mondstadt and found the first Field Tiller. Dainsleif quickly took out its eye and decided to keep it with him for safekeeping.

Dainsleif then explained that we need to do something about the defiled statue as well.

I also don’t see any way around it so, let’s hope Venti doesn’t feel any pain when we destroy the statue...

Back to the ruins and a great battle ensued between the Abyss Herald and us. Just as the Abyss Herald was about to escape, Dainsleif caught it by choking it and was about to end its life when a sword slash was suddenly direct at Dainsleif. Out come the person responsible and it was DUN DUN DUN!

Okay, wait, I have a bone to pick here.

HOW DID THAT ABYSS HERALD NOT RECOGNISE LUMINE? I MEAN, WE LITERALLY HAVE THE SAME FACE!

Okay, they may look a little bit different but in the story, it has been mentioned numerous times that they looked like each other. How does the Abyss Herald not recognise Lumine? I almost died fighting you!

Ahem, anyway, back to the story.

So out appeared Aether who revealed to be the “prince” whom the Abyss Order always spoke of. 

First, is that all you can say after we have been reunited after a long time?

And second, after spying on me from the shadows, you still don’t know why? 

What kind of a brother are you?

Enlighten me, o brother of mine.

Eh. Not good enough.

Dude, you are going to destroy the world. How can I say no?

But what do you expect him to do? He was up against the entire of Celestia! 

Now I can understand why Dainsleif is so bitter about this whole thing...

Wait, no Dain! THE EYE!

No :( Aether...

So, here’s my take on the last scene.

Lumine was willing to go after Aether just so she could be with him, even if it means if she has to stay with the Abyss Order to do so. While being in the Abyss Order, she would try and convince Aether to forget about this whole madness and leave with her, but also learning about why he was so desperate to fight the seven archons.

The reason why Lumine could not follow Aether through that portal was most likely because Aether did not want Lumine to follow him, which was why Lumine passed right through the portal. Aether wanted Lumine to find out the whole truth first before being reunited with him.

Now, since Lumine could not follow Aether, she has to do as what he said, “travel to the end of this world”. 

#mihoyo #Genshin #genshin impact #genshin lumine #genshin impact lumine #lumine genshin #lumine genshin impact #genshin aether #genshin impact aether #aether genshin #aether genshin impact #genshin ganyu #genshin impact ganyu #ganyu genshin #ganyu genshin impact #genshin kazuha #genshin impact kazuha #kazuha genshin #kazuha genshin impact #genshin zhongli #genshin impact zhongli #zhongli genshin #zhongli genshin impact #genshin rex lapis #genshin impact rex lapis #rex lapis genshin #rex lapis genshin impact #genshin morax #genshin impact morax #morax genshin

[xsparklingravenx]

breathtaking

Title: breathtaking

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Characters: Albedo, Klee

Rating: G

Word Count: 2,275

Summary: The times that Klee and Albedo tell each other to breathe.

AO3

The paintbrush dashed across the canvas, and in turn, something true came to life.

On the grassy plains of Mondstadt’s surrounding areas, a boy stood silent, a palette of colour in one hand, the brush in the other. Gently, he curved those colours across the blank sheet, splashes of blue and green and brown, the boars that roamed the plains recreated in paint and chalk outlines.

These boars were unremarkable, but that in itself was what made them noteworthy. Such a contradiction shouldn’t have made sense, but to the boy, it was perfect enough to immortalise. Hilichurls and Abyss Mages took to these lands like they were their own, but still the boars persisted, living free and unafraid. At any moment, they could be hunted, for sport or for food, and yet the few before him had survived their entire lives out in an unforgiving world.

Now they lived immortal in his image. Caught up in his work, he paid no attention to the passing of time around him, how the sun crossed the sky, how the wind danced across his skin, the Anemo Archon’s quiet blessing. Another brushstroke here and there brought his vision closer to completion. The boars continued to graze. The grass was emerald green, and if he mixed his colours just right, then maybe—

A distant explosion had him pausing. The boy turned his head, a single strand of pale hair falling into his eyes as he searched for the source. Somewhere over the hills, it seemed, far enough from him that he needn’t pay it any mind. Were the Knights of Favonius out exterminating vermin today? He wondered, idly, if Sucrose was with them, though he didn’t identify any sort of Anemo traces in the air from this far away. Another boom in the air, and he cast the thought aside, returning his attention to his art.

Life stilled around him once more. That was it. The boars carried on quietly. The colours melded together. Three boars, quiet, content, living beings, born from the soil and destined to return to it. They breathed, interacted with the elements, survived—

An explosion shook the air, so close that it rattled his canvas. The boy stopped still, a frown on his face, because he was certain he knew that sound. And he knew that intensity.

And he knew that brand of giggling.

He opened his mouth to shout, to cry, wait—but he was a fraction too late. The sight before him erupted into fire and chaos as an explosion roared and took out every single sign of life in front of him. The grass flamed, the boars that had survived their entire lives out on the plain now little more than charred carcasses before him. He stared at the carnage in front of him, the canvas still depicting his quiet moment from moments before, wordless at the sight.

And then, from the smoke and disaster, a tiny figure came sprinting out, arms at her side, eyes wide. She skidded to a stop before the boy, planting her hands on her hips, looking immensely pleased with herself. “Albedo! Did you see Jumpty Dumpty! It went boom!”

Albedo looked beyond her, to where the grass was still burning, smoke rising up into the sky. “Klee…? Why did it have to be here?”

He knew better than to question her intentions, because her intentions were always cause the biggest explosion possible. She beamed at him, and then, spotting his canvas, she bolted up to it. “Oh! Oh! Were you drawing again? It looks really good!”

“I was…up until you decided to blow my subjects up, yes.” Albedo looked between the smoking grass, the charred meat that was cooking in the fire, and his art, which was miraculously unscathed. “How did you…why were you…where’s Jean?”

Klee giggled. “Master Jean is busy today, so she let me go exploring! I wanted to try out some of my treasures, but Kaeya says that ‘explosion inside city wall, grounded be thy woe’, so here I am!”

She admired his painting as he looked down at his colours and wondered if he should add the fires to his painting. It was hardly an interesting specimen to recreate.

“They look really cool, Albedo is so good at making pictures!” Klee sat on the ground in front of it and watched the flames rise. “I didn’t know you’d be here, I just got lucky! I haven’t seen you in a while…you’re always so busy, but now we can hang out, right? Maybe we can play with my treasures?”

Playing with her treasures was a shortcut to a fiery doom, but he couldn’t deny that her words instilled a sense of guilt in him. So caught up in his alchemic studies as of late, all his time had been spent with Timaeus and Sucrose. He’d been hanging up his do not disturb sign constantly, and Klee had been all but left to her own (chaotic) devices. “Sorry, Klee. I didn’t realise you wanted my attention. Seeing as the boars are all…well, halfway to becoming a sticky honey roast, I suppose I can spare some time to play with you. Not that it was exactly how I saw my day going.”

“Oh! Oh! Can we find a cooking pot? Can you make Woodland Dream? I love when you cook, Albedo! It’s just like when you do your alchemy stuff, like, you go poof and then…bam! You make something new!”

Her enthusiasm might have been infectious to someone else, but fortunately, Albedo had been blessed with the ability to remain calm and casual-minded in her presence. “Considering we have plenty of fresh meat right here, Woodland Dream seems like a waste.”

“But if you make that, then I can go and get all the fishes with Jumpty Dumpty! We can play, and then we can eat! And then you can draw. Maybe you can draw me?”

She hopped up as Albedo considered her request. He hardly ever used his skills to paint that which did not pique his interest in the realm of alchemy, but she’d asked so earnestly. Would it be so wasteful to dedicate a couple of hours to produce happiness?

“Albedo?”

He looked down. The fire was beginning to die away now behind Klee, the grass singed and blackened. She adjusted her backpack, and he said, “Yes?”

“You should breathe,” she said, smiling impossibly wide. “Come on, let’s go! We’ve got fishes to get!”

And then she was gone, dashing off across the plains, and he realised that she was right. In his pursuit of life, in his creation of art, he had not taken a single breath in. He closed his eyes and did as she asked, allowing himself the mimicry of human necessity. Nobody noticed, except her, and she didn’t question it.

In the distance, she turned and shouted, “Albedo! I’m gonna leave you behind if you don’t hurry!”

Packing up his art supplies, he chased after her, thoughts of eruptions in the back of his mind. It was going to be a long day, keeping her from wanton destruction, but at least she’d be happy—and he couldn’t deny that a day spent with her wouldn’t brighten his spirits regardless.

***

The outskirts of Dragonspine mountain were bitterly cold, the water close to freezing entirely, and yet the moment Klee went beneath the surface, Albedo didn’t hesitate to dive beneath.

It wasn’t supposed to be serious. He’d asked the traveller and her floating companion for assistance in collecting Starsilver for an alchemical recipe, and yet Lumine had shown up on the mountain side with Klee in tow, claiming that she’d been with her when he’d sent word to Mondstadt that he wished for her help, and that she refused to stay behind.

“It’ll be fine!” Paimon had declared in Lumine’s lieu. “Paimon thinks that even if things go bang, at least it’ll be nice and warm!”

“And we can always cook you over one of her open flames if things start looking dire,” Lumine added, looking a little smug.

Klee had been giggling then, but that had been before they’d run into the Lawachurl, before the lumbering beast had picked her up in its great hands and thrown her through the air. Her scream still rang out in his ears. Life born from soil was so fragile, and that was what he’d thought when he’d watched, helpless, as she hit the water and sank beneath it.

He had not thought through his plan, he’d just acted, tossing aside his sword and abandoning the traveller to the battle. The cold had not been a factor in his mind. The fight was forgotten. Miss Alice’s words echoed in his skull, treat her like a real younger sister!

Elder brothers protected their siblings. The traveller had told him stories of her own brother, how she would do anything to find him. She’d also mentioned the Fatui Harbinger who would do anything for the sake of his baby brother, and he knew of Diluc’s loyalty to his own non-blood sibling, how the rift between him and Kaeya had not prevented him from coming to his aid before. Albedo was not related to Klee, but she was his sister nonetheless, and that meant he had to save her.

The water was akin to ice, but his body withstood it, powered by something more than adrenaline. His eyes stung, but there she was, floating lifelessly, a small body so still, and something surged in his chest, emotion that he did not often feel, emotion that overtook his thoughts, his logic.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest, and oh, she was still a child, still so tiny, with so much power but as fragile as every other being. He thought of the boars she’d taken the lives of that day before his canvas, how she’d ended their existence with the childish joy of an exploded bomb, and he thought of the Lawachurl and its base desire to attack. They were not the same, yet they were; life was inexplicably difficult to understand.

He broke the surface, not choking or hacking, but that was normal for him. Klee did not move. There were no coughs, no groans, no cracking open of her eyes. She was limp in his arms, drenched through and frozen in his arms.

“Klee!” Albedo shouted, the roar of the Lawachurl’s fierce battle with Lumine nearly sweeping away his voice. He kicked his legs to keep them afloat, but he was losing his strength fast, the cold sweeping it away. “Wake up!”

Still, she didn’t move. She hung there in his grasp, and it was then that he realised that she wasn’t breathing. Fear gripped his heart as he dragged her through the water to the snowy bank. He had to hope that Lumine could hold it off without him. He had to hope that there was still enough of Klee left in her body for him to save.

Pushing back his shivers, he laid her on the snow and tipped her head back. Acting on instinct more than thought, he pressed the heel of his hand to her chest, one hand instead of two, not wanting to hurt her with his actions, but wanting to keep her with him through any means necessary.

Usually, he brought things to life through the act of creation, through alchemy, through his paintbrush and his clever mind. This was different. Klee was already living, he just had to keep her that way, and in his experience, keeping something alive was almost always more difficult than giving it a pulse. Practicality and alchemic practices went hand-in-hand, and yet here he was, doubting himself.

He pressed down. One compression. Two. Three. Keeping track of the time between them as Lumine shouted behind him, as the Anemo Archon’s winds whipped across his skin, as the unforgiving bitterness of Dragonspine bit deep into his bones of chalk. Albedo thought of blooming flowers, of exploding bombs, and he thought of Miss Alice and his own chest splintered beneath the pressure.

“Breathe, Klee!” he cried. “Breathe!”

And she did. She choked. Water expelled itself from her lungs as Albedo sat back to give her space. He heard the thump of the Lawachurl hitting the ground behind him, and, trusting Lumine to finish it off, he gave Klee all his attention.

As her breathing calmed, he asked, “Are you okay? Klee, speak to me.”

“Too much water…” she whispered, reaching out her arms to him. “I was scared…”

He knelt in front of her and answered her request silently, pulling her close to his chest as she buried her head into his. Alive. She was still frozen but she was alive.

“Your catalyst,” he said. “Your Vision. Use it.”

Between them, Pyro erupted, warmth in a different sense than her usual explosions. It swept through him and her both, and into his chest, she said, “You rescued me, Albedo…”

“Of course I did.”

And as she wrapped her tiny arms back around him, she said, “Breathe too, please?”

He closed his eyes and did. In and out in time with her, soil and chalk. The oxygen did nothing for him, but it did everything for her, so he followed her lead, this girl full of energy and life, his family until the end.

“Woodland Dream when we get back,” he said. “I promise.”

She held onto him tight, and he listened to her breaths, the cold forgotten, the fear draining away.

He could breathe for her as much as she needed him to.

#Genshin Impact #Klee #Albedo #My Writing

[jkl-fff]

Blood & Aether

Who wants to see an excerpt from the novel I’m working on?    (illustrated magnificently by my good friend     and probable man-selkie @tysonoffire​) With luck, I’ll finish it before summer’s end.

Here’s part 1 of 3:

Here’s the text itself: Despite the warmth, Bastion wore his cloak as he strolled towards the lakeside grove. And he leaned heavily on his cane, too, not wanting to give any appearance of flight nor fright. He was just a doddering, old man taking a serenely oblivious promenade into a secluded area—nothing and nobody worthy of being feared, nothing and nobody difficult to subdue. If he could trick her into believing that …

Soon, trees screened the town wall completely from sight behind him, while bosky islets and undulating waterrises screened the far-off boaters from sight, too. Sounds became muffled that weren’t immediately close. Not ten feet to the side, Loch Scahan lapped against the rocky, rooted bank. It was as ideal—as isolated—a location to confront her as Bastion could wish for. Even if she came with lackeys, it would still be ideal, though he hoped he was right she would want to interrogate him herself once she caught up to him.

“Whenever that shall be,” he murmured to himself. He slowed his cane-hobbling pace, like a tired, doddering, old man taking care where he stepped. “Come now … Come n—”

“Dinnae ye think that’s far enough, Master Ecrivur?” she suddenly called out.

Bastion glanced back. There she was, some fifty feet back, with an unsheathed dirk in her hand and an affable smile on her face. She was alone, too, as far as he could tell. He half turned and said, “Why, Dame Runda! What brings Your Ladyship all the way out here?”

“Ye missed our appointment. Which filled me with—heh!—disappointment, I must sa—”

“What? My apologies, but I must confess I be a little deaf!”

Surprised, she took a few steps closer. Forty feet. “I said ye missed our appointment.”

Bastion leaned nearer on one hand, using his cane as a support. His other hand was hidden now within a fold of his cloak. “You say you brought me some ointment? Very kind, but you didn’t have to come all this way to do that. Your Ladyship could have sent it by the post.”

Exasperated, she took a few more steps. Thirty feet. “Nae, our appointment!”

Beneath the cover of his cloak, he drew a small pencilknife from a sheath on his belt, then carefully turned it so that he held it by the blade. The edge was against his palm now, cold and razor thin. He made himself squeeze down. “What? Could Your Ladyship speak up, please?”

Annoyed, she took a few more steps. Twenty feet. Finally close enough. “Mater Ecrivur, I dinnae ken what game ye think ye’re playing, but—”

Warm blood was trickling through his fingers. He let the pencilknife fall to the ground and passed his cane over to that hand in one quick movement, pressing his wound directly onto the gaudy-looking stone at the crux of its T-handle. His eyes were already shut in concentration.

“—my patience is fast nearing … What are ye doin—Gah!”

The stone blazed as brightly as a torch and as whitely as alabaster at purposeful contact with Bastion’s blood. Before him in the air, glowing the luminous blue shades of Water-Aether, a glyph took form at the speed of deliberate thought. Although comprised of symbols few apart from him could understand, the glyph’s total meaning was clear in his mind: much-water surge to-where my four-fingers-pressed-together point, ice form instantly at-where my full-fist points. It took little more than a second to compose the spell, less than another second for him to seal it by thrusting his bloody palm into the glyph. Aether, catalyzed and channeled through the mana in his blood, now shimmered like sunlight on choppy water.

“What fresh Abyss is this?!”

He opened his eyes and allowed himself one smile. Then, before Dame Runda could attempt to charge or to retreat, he pressed his fingers together in a flat hand position and swung it from the lake to a nearby tree. A great surge of water spouted out along the path he indicated, roiling white like river rapids! It struck her hard midway, swept her off her feet! A second time with his other hand, and then a third that ended in a hard point! She was slammed against the tree and pressed against it, unable to escape the force of the standing surge he commanded! Then, with his other hand, he made a fist at her, and the surge rapidly froze around her—a binding made of solid ice; only her head was left uncovered.

Bastion parted his fingers, but didn’t dismiss the spell; the luminescent glyph remained before him, and all unfrozen water fell to the ground. His hand continued to bleed slowly, too, but every drop was floating into the glyph … Not a problem he needed to worry about now. Instead, he replaced his pencilknife in its sheath, took his cane in his uninjured hand, and then resolutely approached the trapped retainer. There was no trace of the doddering, old man from before in his demeanor, no faltering in his feet nor his eyes.

And yet, Dame Runda chuckled to herself. “Ohohohooo … my stars … Oh, my stars …”

“Your Ladyship does not have long before hypothermia sets in and you freeze to death,” he briskly informed her.

#blood & aether #Blood #Magic #fantasy #writing #writer #Author #artist #art #concept art

[black-strike-otp]

part 92

I forgot how to english so I’ll just post I guess??? What are words.

Novastrike regarded the duo with fascination. She’d never seen a femme who, in every way, appeared like a queen of raw, powerful beauty. Blackout’s friend too was interesting; something about him made her intuition feel on edge but he seemed intense. She had to appreciate his dedication to an old friendship. After overhearing bits and pieces of their conversation, Nova could tell that the pair had history.

She looked up to meet Blackout’s gaze. He smiled at her adoringly, turned his faceplate to the couple standing a few yards away talking to each other quietly, and looked back down to her.

“I’m sorry if Barricade agitated you at all,” he stated quietly. “He means well.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” she noted with a slight smile. “He cares about you. Looking out for you. Making sure I’m not a witch trying to hypnotize you and draw you under my spell.”

“Hmm. You’re not a witch, darling, but I can attest you do offer a lethal dose of cute and sweet,” Blackout surmised with a thoughtful grin.

Giggling softly, the small femme reached out to his leg. Her digits strayed fondly over the solid frame of his armor with intimate gentleness. As the tips brushed over him, she could feel a responsive shiver move through his frame.

“Bewitching me with your charm once more?” Blackout joked softly.

“Heh, I’m sorry you’re so susceptible,” Nova teased, tilting her helm towards the other ‘Cons. “So, how did you come to know Venus?”

A curious hum escaped Blackout as he looked to her. His helm cocked to the side slightly as he folded his arms in front of his chassis with a massive grin planted on his faceplate.

“Not jealous, are you dear?”

“Not in the slightest, but if you don’t with to divulge my curiosities, that’s fine.”

“I never had any interest in the femme, if you were wondering,” he chuckled. “Venus is charming, and she’s good at her particular line of work, but she’s not my taste of highgrade if you understand where I’m coming from.”

“Okay, not what I meant,” she insisted with a false smile. “But you could enlighten me on what you taste of highgrade is then- small, feeble, femmes with armor in polar opposite of your own?”

“I would say more along the lines of a package of whoopaft who could bring me to my knees in under three-hundred nanokliks if she so desired, with a generous spark, an essence of pure good, lots of compassion, the most ethereal appearance I’ve ever seen and a smile that could make even the most foul of sinners see a ray of sunshine in the darkest of shadows.”

“I’d say I could bring you to your knees in less than one nanokliks if given the opportunity,” Nova disagreed with a seductive purr as her luminous optics glanced over him.

“We’re in the presence of company, Nova,” Blackout reminded her swiftly.

“They can’t hear us,” she stated, jutting a thumb digit over to the twosome. “But Scorp can. Sorry, buddy.”

To Blackout’s left, the minicon scorpion gave a sickened warble. He grumpily shoved his helm between his arms and offlined his optics. One could assume the ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’ images of bots had been conjured by a similar situation or pose.

“As for your inquiry, I met Venus through Barricade naturally,” Blackout proclaimed with a nod of his helm in their direction. “He’d met her in some academy they attended together, the details are a bit vague in my processor, I probably wasn’t listening to him fully when he explained it all to me. When I was paired with Barricade I didn’t care for him at first, and his insufferable need to fill the voids and gapes of quiet time with talking drove me insane.”

“But he told me all about this femme he so fondly idolized. Talked about how her armor was glossy and silken, from the highest quality ores Primus could craft he said. Went on and on about how beautiful and illustrious she was. They had their ups and downs, but he never stopped talking about how she was the only femme for him.”

“When times got tough and their missions had them separated for years, he tried to move on,” he explained. “No femme stuck to him though. Kept bringing her up. When she was reassigned to our units, I hadn’t seen him so elated in such a long time.”

Shifting his optics, the light of red in Blackout’s gaze grew more vivid. His small smile only grew as his lips pulled up like he couldn’t resist himself. Novastrike felt her spark beat give an erratic pulse. It felt like it was flipping around inside of her chassis just looking at him.

“I was always so pestered by his nonsense, I don’t even think I honestly realized how resentful I had secretly became of him,” the giant mech scoffed softly. “He had the one thing I didn’t at the time. Venus was close; easily accessible, in the same faction as himself. And there I was, thinking I was frustrated by his antics and lack of professionalism when really I was just hungry for that same chance with a femme far too breath-taking and alluring to be caught with a monster like me.”

Heat crept through Novastrike’s veins as she turned her optics briefly away from Blackout’s. The glow from her audio stacks was radiating off so powerfully that she could see the reflection of light bouncing off nearby metal around them. It gave off bands of bluish-silver that crisscrossed this way and that way at random, pooling around her and against Blackout’s armor.

Releasing a powerful breath, she offered a sentimental smile up to the towering figure of dismal abyss. His optics drew her in; twin fires of beckoning light that brought her home. She looked at the curve of his mouth and the joy written in his face that echoed her own.

“You told Barricade you didn’t even realize you had feelings for me until I pulled you from your untimely ‘death’ floating in space,” she quietly reminded him.

“Were you listening in on our private conversation?”

“Of course I was. Well, some of it. Most of it accidentally. Ears the size of a satellite, hello?”

“They’re not that large,” Blackout laughed quietly. “That was neither a lie nor the truth. It’s difficult to explain where the feelings began and when I simply discovered what they were. But I was always intrigued, and always left longing to see you again, and know that you were still out there.”

“I had you crushing on me hard,” she sniffed proudly, raising her helm up a bit higher.

“I guess you did,” he agreed quietly, grinning.

Letting out a curious ‘hmm’ in the back of her throat, Novastrike raised and dropped her shoulders with a sigh. She felt herself smiling like an idiotic fool, but couldn’t seem to stop herself.

“If you’re interested in knowing, I was intrigued about you for a long time as well,” Novastrike reminisced fondly. “I had to keep telling myself that my interests weren’t any different to you than anyone else because I simply cared for just about any bot I came across. But I knew you were different. The way I couldn’t shake you from my thoughts, the feelings you elicited in me...”

Raising an optic ridge, Blackout growled playfully as he shifted an arm enough to wave his servo to her.

“No no, please do go on. I want to know all about those feelings.”

“You giant dork,” Nova hissed, lightly whacking his leg. “You already know now. I guess I should have been the one to open up to you first; maybe it wouldn’t have taken so long otherwise.”

“I don’t know. I was a pretty stubborn aft,” he mused.

“Was?”

Blackout gave a slight shrug in response, and she snorted trying to hold back her laughter.

“Maybe Scorponok was right about one thing. Maybe I should have went through with... the intimacy we were sharing on Giohizmut,” Blackout muttered. “But it wouldn’t have been right in the end. It wouldn’t have been what you deserved-”

“What, you mean the almost-frag we nearly shared?” Nova bluntly stated, raising an optic ridge. “It’s history now, love. Don’t hold it over yourself that you didn’t bang my processor out that night. You’ve gotten to make up for that already. Multiple, wonderful times I might add.”

Scorponok gave a low groan by Blackout’s pede.

“I was referring to the idea that maybe it would have kickstarted the relationship off a lot sooner... I wasn’t specifically incling towards the fragging. Though the fragging is good!” he hurriedly expressed, watching as she raised her optic ridge a bit higher.

“You didn’t know what you wanted then,” Nova stated with a shrug. “I can’t fault you for that.”

“No, but I know that it hurt you for me to simply run out like that. And I am truly sorry it occurred that way,” he rumbled shamefully, bowing his helm. “I was honestly under the impression that I was only invested in a fling with you, because as Barricade pointed out and as I have informed you before, I never held a great interest in relationships. Friends, lovers, you name it, it never mattered much to me. I wanted to achieve my goals, and then even that no longer mattered at some point as Megatron’s goals became my own goals and all I wanted was to fuel the fires and bring chaos raining down.”

Smiling gently, the small femme patted his leg lightly as she whispered, “Well, you can stop beating yourself up over the past now, because no one’s holding it against you. You found your way back to me- or, fell half offline in my lap and I had to fix you up one way or another. You’ve even gotten lucky enough to rediscover a bot that you can call your best friend. That’s huge.”

“One of my best friends,” he corrected her.

“Okay, right, one of your best friends,” she agreed with a smile.

Shuttering his optic in a wink, Blackout chuckled that profoundly deep laugh that was both frightening as it was sensual.

Nova hitched her breath a moment, before playing it off with a slight cough, waving at the air as if dust had caught in her ventilation system. She looked embarrassingly off to the side, and then back up to her mech’s coy expression.

Hesitating a moment, Nova offhandedly dove into her curiosity as she murmured, “That reminds me... is your friend okay?”

“Why do you ask?” Blackout asked, obviously avoiding the question.

She shrugged slightly in response. “I don’t know, he seems off to me. If he doesn’t know, you might want to ask him to see if he’s sick. He smells... odd.”

“Odd like...?”

“Just, I don’t know, like he’s dead or something. It’s really weird. I’ve never picked up on such an odd scent from someone, especially a bot that’s alive. It’s a mix between that rusty, metallic, tangy, sharp, bitter scent left behind by a bot when they’ve been gone for a while and a pungently sweet odor masking it.”

Nodding slowly, Blackout produced a slight grimace. “I don’t think talking to him about it will help.”

“Why not?” she inquired, bringing one of her audios down slightly with interest.

“Because he probably can’t solve that problem,” he vented. “Barricade’s has a condition. He had it prior to me getting to know him. He’s never told me how it happened, and I never tried to ask him because it makes him so uncomfortable, but he’s not exactly fully alive.”

“Um... explain?”

“He’s got a Terrorcon-like infection. Previously, it didn’t cause him many problems. If he wasn’t refueling regularly, he would grow pretty weak and would have to fight off the urge to get energon from any source to keep himself from fully offlining. Even from comrades.”

“But apparently Shockwave had persuaded him to stay on Cybertron during the exodus, or Megatron demanded it of him,” he went on with a snarl. “Shockwave must have done some nasty experiments in the time he had ‘Cade with him prior to Venus rescuing him. Now he’s... a bit more akin to the more feral Insecticons. Only with a bit more bite.”

“That’s... worrisome. Yeah, worrisome is the word I’ll go with. And a bit queasy on the tanks,” Novastrike whispered quietly.

“You’ve nothing to be afraid of,” the ebony mech spoke gently and with a small smile. “He won’t hurt any of us. I trust him. And I’m asking you to extend the same gesture.”

Looking at the warm smile on Blackout’s face, the pleading light in his gaze, it was enough to just about melt Nova’s spark. He looked so genuinely worried about her reaction. From the shift in his pedes, the tightening of his arms against his chassis, she could tell he was tense and unsure.

Giving a faint impression of a smile, she offered a nod of her helm. “I’ll do my best. I don’t know him yet, but I hope to. Because if he’s important to you, he’s important to me too, and I’d like to meet one of the only bots you’ve ever actually befriended.”

“He didn’t give me much of a choice,” Blackout recalled with a snicker.

Beaming up to the handsome devil, Novastrike’s audios swiveled over to the pair of bots as she heard their pedes shuffle. As she turned her helm to the couple Blackout followed her gesture and did the same, with Scorponok finally begrudgingly raising his helm up and onlining his optics once more as vibrations captured his attention to their approach.

“We’ve been talking about your offer, and your inquiry about this intergalactic transmitter you’re searching for,” Barricade stated as he stepped closer, placing a servo against Venus’ lower back. “We’d be happy to help you in any way we can Blackout, you know that.”

“And we think we might know where to get a lot of the parts you’d be requiring to build a transmitter of the magnitude you’d be looking for,” Venus spoke up in a soothing tone.

“The only problem is-” ‘Cade began.

“-the materials would be in Shockwave’s lair,” Venus finished in a sharp voice, more cutting than a sharp scalpel.

“That would present a problem,” Blackout agreed slowly, nodding his helm.

“Venus, the excellent beauty and discreet collector of things useful, still has what remains of Shockwave’s lab collected in a partially filled out map she created herself and with information received in bargaining tips to save me,” ‘Cade explained.

“The real problem is that it’s only partly filled in though,” the black and magenta toned femme musically added on. “I can continue gathering intel, but that would take time and there’s no guarantee how much more I can pick up. Bots might be desperate, but most aren’t stupid enough to backstab a bot as powerful as Shockwave.”

“We have time,” Blackout muttered unhappily. “Just not the patience.”

“Other than guess work, is there any defining qualities that make you think Shockwave has all the stuff we need?” Nova inquired.

Venus gave a small alluring laugh. “Shockwave’s a hoarder worse than any bot I’ve ever seen. He thinks anything can be salvaged and manufactured into one of his creations later. Trust me, he’ll have what we’re looking for. If memory serves, I do believe I noticed he had the most important part of a transmitter in his call room; a rather large capacitor.”

“Call room?” Nova piped in once more.

“Shockwave has a direct video feed room specifically used for making calls,” Barricade explained. “He used it during the war, but it’s ineffective now. Bots stick solely to private comm channels. It’s too risky and frankly, useless to have call stations now when there’s so few bots on Cybertron now, even less with access to call stations, less still who would even want to bother ringing each other up when they’re just trying to live off the land.”

“Thank Primus it’s that type of call room,” Nova muttered.

“We’ll appreciate any help you can give us,” Blackout loudly spoke up, ignoring the snickering from Barricade.

“Always happy to assist a friend,” Venus chimed sweetly, nudging her counterpart lightly in the side.

Barricade could only nod in agreement, snorting and huffing as he tried to contain himself from busting a seam laughing.

Looking to Blackout, Novastrike offered him a slight nod as he caught her optic. He returned the gesture with a slight gesture of his helm. She turned her helm back to the twosome and cleared her vocalizer.

“We actually have a current residence with some rogue bots. We know we don’t know your current boarding situation-”

“Wherever it doesn’t leak anything on us,” ‘Cade interrupted.

“Where there’s preferably no rust,” Venus tacked on.

“Alright,” Nova exhaled softly. “Although the uh- bots are supposedly supposed to vote you in through some system they have, we’ve sorta won them over with energon gradually over time. So, Blackout and I were wondering if you’d do us the honor in coming with us and we’ll see if we can’t bring you into the fold so there’s less hassle in seeking each other out to exchange information, items, materials... allow Blackout and you two to catch up.”

“I’d certainly be down with that,” Venus eagerly stated, smiling gently down to Nova. “It’d be lovely to get you know you better as well, Nova.”

Sheepishly, the small femme rubbed the back of her helm as she grinned with embarrassment.

Shrugging, ‘Cade gave a slight nod of his helm. “Works for me too. Don’t really want to let your big aft out of my sights again anyway Blackout. Seems you need someone close to make sure you don’t get disassembled again.”

“Gee, thanks,” Blackout drawled sarcastically.

The quadruplets of other bots laughed merrily at the poor largest bot’s irked faceplate. He passed them each a slightly displeased look, grumbling.

“Do you need any help gathering your stock?” Blackout muttered after the others began to quiet themselves.

“No, we can pick up what little we have,” ‘Cade stated with a wide grin. “Where do you want us to meet you?”

“Near Maccadam’s Oil House,” Blackout stated, much to the surprise on the couple’s faceplate. “We’ll show you the way in to the rogue hiding area not far off from there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Venus chimed in with a nod of her helm.

~

Helping to unload Blackout’s alt-mod of what meager rations of energon they’d picked up after leaving Barricade and Venus, Novastrike slid the shards into the cargo compartment they’d hidden for the time being not far from the rogue base. It had been Blackout’s idea to keep their pile away from the group of bots, just in case anyone got too greedy and went after their loot uninvited or they decided to make a getaway without notice.

Lifting up the energon cubes, Blackout shoved them into their hiding spot as well before closing up all the containers. After securing all the items down, he began camouflaging the area once more with the debris they had been using once again.

“Dear, you left a few energon cubes out,” Nova piped up.

“I know. They were left out for a reason,” he responded.

Shrugging, the little femme went to stand guard beside the valuable product while Blackout busily rearranged the array of metal to make it appear ‘naturally’ messy and not set up. Her optics scanned the horizon, spotting the forms of a sleek black and pink grounder that had all the looks of a racer and the dark-armored police vehicle.

Placing the last of the macabre twisted sculpture together, Blackout walked over to join her just as the pair transformed and walked the last steps over to meet them.

“I haven’t been over here in ages,” Barricade stated with longing as he looked up to the old Oil House. “Man, I wish this place was still up and running.”

“Maybe some day it will again,” Blackout stated. “The great Maccadam, honorary member of the Thirteen Primes, may still live.”

“You never believed in any of those stories,” ‘Cade accused with a flash of derma.

“Neither did you,” Blackout reminded him.

The purple-toned dark charcoal small mech gave a shrug of his shoulders. There was no disagreeing with that one.

“Novastrike will lead the way,” Blackout stated with a nod down to her. “I’ll come up from behind.”

“Must be awfully secretive,” Venus noted quietly.

“They’re a bit finicky about new bots,” Novastrike offered. “But even more finicky about large groups entering at the same time.”

“Five’s a large group?” ‘Cade questioned with a shake of his helm.

“Physically four, with Scorponok docked,” Blackout reminded him. “And yes.”

The bad cop shrugged. “Lead the way, shortie.”

“Shortie,” Novastrike hissed quietly, lashing her tail slightly as she turned away. “You haven’t looked in a mirror recently.”

Quietly, the white-armored femme led the group through the weaving deconstructed city. Most of it had been left in ruins from the warring. She climbed through and under structures that the rest had to step or climb over as they tracked her through the area.

Coming up upon the entrance, in a grotto overhang Clawfist spotted them coming and flung his arms out wildly.

“Halt! No trespassers! What are ye? More Decepticons? We ain’t buyin anything ye be selling! Be gone!”

“They’re not solicitors, Clawfist,” Novastrike sighed heavily. “They’re our guests.”

“Ye not even part of the club! Ye can’t just go makin calls, bringing ye dirty crooked friends here,” fumed the rogue mech.

Coming up from the rear, Blackout was balancing energon cubes carefully in his grasp. He pulled one carefully off of the top, and shoved it over to Clawfist.

The mech ripped it from the titan’s grip in a matter of nanokliks and put it to his maw desperately.

Walking past the cranky bot, Novastrike’s ears flicked back to him as he cried out after them, “Ye ain’t going to get by so easily with the others!”

“Just drink your energon, Clawfist,” she cried back.

“Stay out of our business, and we’ll remain out of yours,” Blackout offered back as well. “Enjoy the energon we so thoughtfully brought back for you.”

Sneering, the older mech stared after the bots with squinted optics. He looked down at his energon then, and decided at the moment he couldn’t be troubled to care. So he went back to chugging down his energon. Ignorance was bliss.

#quid pro quo au #OTP AU #OTP Lit #OTP Friends #Cute OTP

[midnightliar]

the beautiful, luminous, inimitable @violaeade​ tagged me for 50 book questions!

1. What is your favourite book and/or book series of all time?

oh maybe everything leads to you by nina lacour! it just really gets to me

2. What is the longest book you have ever read? How many pages?

uhh idk what’s the longest harry potter book bc probably that? i dont... read books that long usually

3. What is the oldest book you have ever read? (Based on its written date)

ummm i think and then there were none by agatha christie? i dont keep track by time tbh but i dont read that many old books bc i tend to have trouble reading them

4. What is a book series that everyone else loves but you do not?

the raven cycle lol

5. What book or book series would you like to see turned into a film/ TV series?

oh god most of them? 99% of the lesbian ones for sure. percy jackson would make an excellent animated movie series imo. i’m clearly biased but tasu/teota would be great on screen. 

6. What is your favourite stand-alone book?

most of the gay ones i read are standalones and theres so many good ones... i already said everything leads to you but we are okay and you know me well are also extremely good! of fire and stars killed me as well. 

7. What is a book that you feel glad for not reading?

god. straight ones? ones that i heard are racist or homo/lesbo/bi/transphobic, but in general i’m picky abt what i read bc i don’t read that many books.

8. What is a book that you feel guilty for not reading?

i was gonna say i don’t feel guilty about not reading books i don’t like/don’t want to but that’s a lie- babe if ur reading this i am SO sorry i never finished the last chaos walking book

9. What is a book you have read that is set in your country of birth?

most of them lol that’s what i get for living in america. i read we are okay pretty recently which takes place in new york, the state i was born in, so that’s a bit more specific.

10. What is a book that you own more than one copy of?

i have 2 copies of redwall for no reason other than my high school library was selling one for a dollar so i bought it even tho i had it already. i have a couple copies of some of the a wrinkle in time books bc i got some of them as gifts a bunch. 

11. What horror book made you really scared?

omg i don’t read horror but that one skulduggery pleasant short story about bubba moon or whatever freaked me the fuck out tbh

12. What book do you passionately hate?

um i haven’t read enough terrible books to say i hate them that passionately? but i rly kinda hated trc. oh yeah i read the first c*aptive pr*nce book in hs on the recommendation of a friend and it just made me so uncomfortable the entire time i really. did not have a good time with that one and i wish i hadn’t read it

13. What is the biggest book series you have read? How many books are in it?

skulduggery pleasant! theres 9 books plus short stories i still can’t believe i read all those

14. What book gives you happy memories?

aw sabrina answered this with the flywheel by erin gough and i have to say the same bc she sent it to me for my birthday, full of annotations of thoughts and jokes she made herself AND got it signed by the author, and i’ve uhhhh never felt so loved in my life

15. What book made you cry?

oh the book thief for sure. everything leads to you made me cry a bunch while rereading it even tho its not sad? thos were love tears. that happens a lot actually.

16. What book made you laugh?

skulduggery pleasant! there’s so many good lines in that one. my dad used to always hand me a book he’d just read and tell me to read a certain chapter he found hilarious but i never read the whole book but he always found hilarious memoirs too.

17. What is your favourite book that contains an LGBTQ+ character?

lmaoo like all the books i read are gay? the abyss surrounds us/the edge of the abyss have really unique lesbian characters because they’re so angry and vindictive and dumb and interesting and DRAMATIC so that one gets a shout out

18. Have you read a book with a male protagonist? What is it?

what the fuck is that (ok i legit just finished reading when the moon was ours by anna marie mclemore tho bc my gf rec’d it and it was p good)

19. Have you read a book set on another planet? What is it?

does fantasy count? bc then of fire and stars. uhh chaos walking is on a new planet. a wrinkle in time involves other planets too! wow i’m crushing this one

20. Have you ever been glad to not finish a series? Which?

the raven cycle lol i thought it was a finished trilogy when i started the first book so i just never read the last one and i am so relieved

21. Have you ever read a book series because you were pressured?

not really? i don’t really feel pressure, i value recommendations from my girlfriend friends way more than things that are trending or popular. i’ve read a couple that i blindly picked from internet lists that i didn’t care for tho but that was really a while ago

22. What famous author have you not read any books by?

pretty much any author we were supposed to read in high school. any classic or even modern famous author i probably haven’t read. i’ve read like a dozen books ever

23. Who is your favourite author of all time?

tbh nina lacour is really up there. when i was really young it was definitely gail carson levine. i rly loved anne ursu’s books as well.

24. How many bookshelves do you own?

only one! and a bunch of boxes that i never unpacked after we moved like 3 years ago. my mom wants to put a big wall bookshelf in our house somewhere bc this one didn’t come with any like our last house did but who knows if that’ll happen.

25. How many books do you own?

are u trying to make me count?

26. What is your favourite non-fiction book?

ohhh i don’t read much of this genre. i always avoided it as a kid and i’ve been meaning to get into it more but i haven’t yet. i’m really looking forward to reading a sally ride biography tho

27. What is your favourite children’s/middle-grade book?

the chronus chronicles by anne ursu were my JAM in elementary/middle school omg. i also really loved the may bird series which i didn’t read until high school.

28. What is your next book on your TBR?

i’m about to start georgia peaches and other forbidden fruit finally! my gf bought me 10 things i can see from here and i love her so whenever that arrive i’m probably gonna devour that. i want to reread a wrinkle in time soon since the trailer comes out this weekend! plus a million others

29. What book are you currently reading?

i literally just finished when the moon was ours which felt like it took me ten years to read and i haven’t started another yet but it’ll be georgia peaches bc thats the other one i got from the library and i already had to renew them haha

30. What book are you planning on buying next?

um this old west lesbian novel called backwards to oregon! i’ve been craving westerns lately but as always i’m also craving gay content

31. What was the cheapest book you bought?

i used to buy a ton of old paperbacks, usually goofy looking sf or fantasy novels from library sales for dollars or quarters so definitely those.

32. What was the most expensive book you bought?

i can tell u the most expensive book i got for free was a beautiful bound collection of hg wells stories that i just got from some book at bea before it was bookcon lol

ones i actually paid for... do art books count??

33. What is a book you read after seeing the movie/ TV series?

nah i usually have no intention of reading the book if i watched the show/movie first

34. What is the newest book you have bought?

akdjghksjgh a lesbian western novella called from the boots up for a few bucks on kindle

35. What three books are you most looking forward to reading this year?

the rest of the gay books i’ve bought but haven’t read yet! not your sidekick and labyrinth lost, i’m VERY excited to reread a wrinkle in time and i also really want to read stone butch blues

36. What is a book you love that has a terrible trope? (Love triangle, etc)

crush by sr silcox has the cutest lesbian teen summer romance AND one them is secretly a rock star avoiding her fame bc her controlling dad was turning into HIS dream instead of HERS akdjghksdjgh its fantastic i adored it

37. Have you read a book in a different language? What was it?

oh no i’m dumb as hell

38. What is a book you’ve read that is set in a time period before you were born?

for some reason dave at night by gail carson levine popped into my head first? that was my favorite as a kid and i reread it all the time and i think it took place in the 20s or 30s with all that good good jazz shit

39. What book offended you?

hm not sure how to answer this one

40. What is the weirdest book you have read?

idk the may bird series was pretty weird. gone by michael grant? i read the first for a high school book club and i just could not get into it or understand it even a little

41. What is your favourite duology?

ditty the abyss surrounds us & the edge of the abyss !!

42. What is your favourite trilogy?

wow i really haven’t read that many trilogies esp ones i loved. i guess may bird or the chronus chronicles then!

43. What book did you buy because of its cover?

the maze runner! also bc i heard it was good but i hated that book so

44. What is a book that you love, but has a terrible cover?

honestly i can’t think of one rn

45. Do you own a poetry anthology? What is your favourite poem from it?

nope! i also hated poetry as a kid and have only tried to get into it recently. i have a book of sappho’s fragments and i want to get tracy k smith from the library but thats about it

46. Do you own any colouring books based off other books?

nope

47. Do you own any historical fiction?

thats possible

48. What book made you angry?

the maze runner really did?? for some reason and i don’t get mad that much but it just really had me steamin. sabrina also said grasshopper jungle and i’m inclined to say same lmao. i haven’t read it but seeing all the lesbophobia in not otherwise specified recently made me really mad and also upset

49. What book has inspired you?

aw inspired is a serious word to throw around. the miseducation of cameron post, idk if it “inspired” me but it was my first lesbian novel and that really did a lot for me.

50. What book got you into reading?

i think it was a wrinkle in time! or maybe roald dahl books before that, but a wrinkle in time was definitely up there, and maybe the shadow thieves by anne ursu

i’m tagging @reading-takes-you-places and @mywomensworld and anyone who wants to! i don’t talk to many people here but if you follow me and want to, go for it!

#boy this was so many questions and i really don't......read.............. #but ily babe ty for tagging me <3 #long post