#sent: seveninchesfrominsanity
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Hello hello a professional cymp has precipitated into your ask inbox and it's time to brain rot about CYNO
/hurt/comfort incoming, mention of reader getting injured but not too graphic/
*cracks knuckles*
(please forgive me if this sucks I feel a little sick rn and don't feel on top of my form)
You and Cyno are reluctant travel partners. You had first crossed paths in a camp of eremites, where Cyno had instantly drawn his spear at you and commanded you to state your business. You, a trained fighter, were no pushover, and you met his steely eyes gaze with an equally hard one of your own, and refused to yield. You raised your own weapon at him, and demanded he leave your quarry alone. Cyno's eyes narrowed, and he repeated himself in a flat tone of voice with a deadly edge to it, giving you one last chance to run before he rained hell down on you.
Of course, you were not to be put off so easily, and you sparred. To his surprise, you were able to keep up with his parries and thrusts, and an unsatisfying thirty minutes later, neither of you had managed to lay a scratch on the other, shallow breaths heaving both of your shoulders.
In the midst of vicious jabs and strikes, Cyno interrogates you, demanding a reason for your vigilantism. You icily respond that you don't answer to anyone, certainly not to him, pawn of the Akademiya that you said he was. He raises his spear to once again challenge you, when he's distracted by the sound of the returning Eremites.
They had taken the opportunity to run for cover and returned with reinforcements. Now surrounded on all sides, you and Cyno were stood back to back, weapons poised to attack.
"we'll continue our conversation later," he says, with a sidelong glance. "Try staying alive until this ends."
"right back at you" you return, and in a flash, both of you shoot off in opposite directions to make quick work of the menacing group.
The immediate threat eliminated, you both turn around to acknowledge the other's fighting strength before going your separate ways.
However, that wasn't the last you saw of him. After a couple such encounters always while exterminating Eremite camps, you finally decide to put your heads together and talk about your motives.
You tell him you were searching for the suppliers in the knowledge capsule smuggling case, as people in your own village had been taken away and subjected to divine knowledge extraction. Cyno narrows his eyes, and realises you have a lead on the exact same case he's working on. You both decide to share your intel and travel together, now united by a common cause.
Mind you, he's not very warm or friendly even now - he's aware that you're an independent actor and that your motives aligned only temporarily. You journey on through the shifting desert sands in stony silence most of the time, stopping only to share rations or pore over the map together.
Indeed, perhaps that's how everything would've gone if not for an unexpected turn of events.
You tore into the mercenary camp as usual, your sword striking swiftly and precisely. What you had not counted on, however, was that this camp was colluding with the Fatui. And that they had been supplied with advanced ranged offensive machinery, the speed of whose ammunition far outpaced even your trained reflexes.
You and Cyno fought to push them back, until one of the snipers gets a clean shot into your back. Cyno sees your eyes widen as your weapon clatters to the ground and you plant face first into the sand. His eyes flash dangerously. He's a composed man, but that was the closest he ever got to outwardly expressing that he was truly angry.
No words do justice to what he did to those soldiers. It might be safe to say that calamity befell the desert that day.
Cursing under his breath, he immediately hoists you up from the sand, thinking quickly. He carried but sparing first aid supplies on his person; and he couldn't say that he knew how to deal with the bullet, still emanating elemental energy, buried in your back. He was many things, but a medical professional he was not.
Tighnari. Tighnari would know what to do.
He gingerly hoists you up on his back, careful not to jostle you, and begins the three day trek back to Gandharva Ville.
You don't awaken, but your forehead grows hot and a cold sweat trickles down your forehead. In the firelight under the inky desert sky, Cyno looks at you with an expression he's never worn before.
His usually sharp eyes are soft, and indeed, save for the crease in his brow, his visage is almost... Tender?
He silently soaks a small towel in the cold water of the oasis, and lays it on your head in a fruitless attempt to calm the fever.
He lays his back against the tree trunk, his eyes trained on your motionless form, lost in thought.
Soon, he hears a soft murmuring. Ears pricked, he glances around; his hand tightly grasping the hilt of his spear, shoulders stiffened.
It comes again. And then, he feels his heart jump, when he distinctly makes out the syllables of his name.
He snaps up to look at you. Sure enough, you have a pained expression on your face, and your lips are murmuring his name as you lie in the clutches of a feverish, dreamless stupor.
He hesitates. Cyno has no delusions about his own bedside manner, that was best left to people like Tighnari who actually knew what they were doing.
That said.. he's somehow.. come to respect your intelligence. And your perseverance. And your single-minded focus on bringing wrongdoers to justice, even at great personal cost to yourself.
Not unlike himself.
He bites his lip nervously. You didn't deserve to writhe in pain in this unforgiving desert night.
He offers comfort the only way he knows how: he reaches out to take your hand, and gently clasps it. He's seen Tighnari do this to Collei when she had feverish dreams; surely this would help, right?
Your hand clasps his with a pressure he didn't think possible from a sleeping person, and for the first time, for the very first time ever, Cyno's eyes widen; and is that a touch of redness on his cheeks?
It's hard to tell. There is no light in the desert, and even the campfire burns low now.
//I just realised that I would probably like to write this out as a full fledged fic so I'll stop here for now, but I hope you like this idea!!
//apologies this is unedited and my writer brain is at 144p resolution rn
//if you like it then when I finish this as a formatted fic I could probably tag you in it? Let me know, and if not, no problem! 😅
Have a great day/night!
yOU’RE APOLOGISING FOR THIS??
i. need. MOREEEEEEEEEE
he… he’s so soft and… him taking your hand…
if you do continue it, please tag me! i’d love to see the rest of it!
#that was so good ahahahahhhs#i need to stop smiling so widely whenever anything has to do with cyno ffs#sent: seveninchesfrominsanity#cyno x reader#r answers#r contemplates…
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ok but i see all the 'what trope wld u associate' or 'character u wld ship them w' with moots all over my dash. so i thought of smthing different
what mutuals remind u of what characters (can be inside genshin or not, anyth honestly) it can be whether if u ship them w the character / they act like the character / their blog theme is of that character / they talk abt the character a lot etc etc anything when u look @ ur mutual like "oh they kinda talk/like/remind me of this character'
if u dont wanna do this its alr!! have a good day quinn :"")
one of ur moots (not the 'clogging up my dash' moot btw ! <3
omg hey! HI MOOT <33 how are you?? hope you’re doing well.
YES THIS SEEMS SO FUN, i’ll do the moots that pop up into my head so if i forget you ITS NOT PERSONAL I REPEAT ITS NOT PERSONAL MY MEMORY IS TRASH </3
@calyxcore def associate you with like,,, almost albedo and like,, mona? maybe it’s cause we both simp over him but the way you hold up intelligent convos with me while being passionate reminds me of albedo, but also the way your perosnality is so chaotic and distinct (in a good way) just sends MONA
@heademptynoideas EULA EULA EULA EULA, idk if it’s cause you main her or because of your blog theme but you’re so kind and sweet while also being super ‘girlbossy’ (is that the term im a granny) but yeah <3 also like you remind me of the colors blue and purple and eula just gives off those colors yeah?
@k4tsukissi BAKUGO??? like again, idk if it’s cause your blog is anlot about him but your vibes radiate major bakugo energy, the way you deal with life in such a powerful (to me it seems powerful) way and your vibes are immaculate and radiate just ‘don’t get in my way’ yk yk?
@seveninchesfrominsanity heizou. it’s not even that you simp over him from what i heard he’s a funny workaholic and that just reminds me of you in a way like,,,, and like yeah your blog is entirely heizou but sometimes in my head i say heizou instead of yuki because i associate him with you so much
@telemi we don’t interact that much butttt sucrose! you seem so sweet and shy but also a little chaotic (kind of like sucrose to me) so yeah ahdkhs
@dawndelion-winery diluc or scara, idk you all intimidate me but also you seem super chill and go with the flow-y and mainly you seem very just, in control? if that makes sense
@kazuesque probably like,,, amber maybe? you seem super energetic and so sweet and just a little bundle of joy to everyone around you
@kazu-sun KAZUHA idk if it’s cause your blog or irl but mainly cause of your writing and the way you give compliments that really touch my heart and just make me tear up but you’re so sweet like him
@yinyinggie probably like,,, hm. you’re a really sweet and kind person who seems like they can put their foot down when needed. so i’d probably say like,, maybe jean? yep yep jean!!
okay i’m tired moots if i forgot you TELL ME i won’t see you as desperate or anything i’m just tired, but i’ll add some more moots later. love y’all, and thank you moor who sent this!! (also if i forgot you im so sorry eternally 😭😭)
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Saw your post about Cyno's somewhat rigid morality and had some brainworms
I haven't played the archon quest just yet, so hope your answer to this won't have any spoilies
But... I'm thinking about how Alhaitham is moral grayness done right. He is truly a "rational" actor, in the 3.1 quest he straight up tells us that he doesn't act out of empathy.
Is perhaps Cyno being set up to be a different kind of moral grayness? Alhaitham believes himself to be acting out of pure rationality, whereas Cyno seems to operate out of a very rigid definition of "principles" - he believes himself to be upholding his own principles no matter what the cost.
How then would you get him to weigh the cost of a single human life? On which principle other than appeal to emotion would you convince him that the act of taking and giving life should not be taken lightly, beyond the fact that meddling with life and death is one of the Akademiya's six cardinal sins?
I imagine you could probably set up a scenario where you back him into a corner using his own principles - should he someday find himself on the wrong side, and his enemies were in the right all along (because surely he cannot lay claim to always being right about everything especially when it's possible for ANYONE to make the wrong call based on limited information, regardless of your skill or intelligence) - who then becomes the arbiter of the lives of his comrades lost, when he's no longer the one holding the scales? On those grounds, you could wager that if he is the one in the wrong, then his own death should be of no consequence either.
In fact, there's another card you can play against him (heh) - if he is operating on principles handed down to him by a larger organisation/entity (since it's unclear to me at least where his personal motivations come from) - what is his contingency plan if he finds his own loyalties to be in error? Is he blind enough to never suspect, never question any codex of rules handed down to him as sacrosanct, never to be questioned? Who benefits from him blindly executing their will? If he is unquestionably executing someone else's rules, is he then truly an impartial judge as he believes himself to be, or simply a vanguard to be sacrificed as part of a larger scheme he is not privy to?
... this was a whole ass essay, but I figured it would be interesting what would happen if you backed him into a corner. Would he fight his way out and become a villain, or would he admit defeat and redeem himself?
at first, i think he’d be in denial. he’d refuse to believe that he’s done something this wrong, not because he thinks that he’s still in the right by this point, but rather because he literally does not know what to do once he comes to turn with the fact that he has killed ‘good’ people.
but eventually, tell him this enough and point out the facts, and he will crumble. everything he’s fought for all his life— upholding justice and morals— will be flipped on its head, and he’ll just break. the harder your will is, the more it shatters when it eventually cracks, and his will was (up until this point), hard as rock.
he would take a step back and reflect on what he’s done from an outside view: going back through the memories of his actions and applying context to them— the awful, scary context of him being in the wrong— and become sick to his stomach with the knowledge of what he’s done.
afterwards, he’d sort of… drift around aimlessly for a long time, passionless and directionless, in a daze. discovering that he’s essentially betrayed the whole thing he’s been fighting for for years would sap him of not only his passion, but also his confidence and his drive. and for a long time, nobody would be able to help him with this. no matter who talks to him to comfort him, he’d just nod slowly at their words, but none of it would sink in.
it would take a long, long time for him to come to terms with his mistake and start leaving his shell, slowly listen to what everyone else is saying and gradually regaining his confidence. but one thing’s for certain: he would never be as self-assured as he was in the past. there’s a part of his drive that just… left that day, and he’ll never fully recover from it.
although, that could be a blessing in disguise: maybe it would finally make him more open to different perspectives and motivations. who knows?
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questions about modern AU cyno?
hi it is me your local menace and Cyno kisser please do not evict me from your ask inbox I promise I'm just curious
1. Do you think he would also have a big personal library? What kind of titles would he keep in there?
2. Do you think he'd have lots of "nests" around his house? (Basically cushions and things clearly intended for you to sit there and read undisturbed for hours.)
3. Coffee or tea person?
4. Where does he get the hoodies from? Does he customise them himself or does he buy them from somewhere?
5. Are you going to write any fics with Cyno in a modern setting 👀 and do any readers get to kiss him in it 😳😳😳😳
6. Other than the hoodies, what else do you think he would like to wear?
7. Does he own a pair of headphones or earbuds?
By way of apology for spamming your ask inbox, I bring you a pin I saved a while ago. Please accept 👀
why do i feel like i’ve traumatised half my followers with those impersonation asks…
i don’t think he’d have a particularly big one, but he definitely has a corner of a couple of bookshelves which are crammed full of books. they’re pretty organised, too: he has one designated bookshelf for study materials, non-fiction, academic textbooks and papers and such, and another only for fiction. i personally think he’s quite fond of detective novels, because he often empathises with the detective enjoys the unravelling of the plot as criminals get tracked down and brought to justice. he’s also a pretty smart guy, so he likes making predictions as to who he thinks the culprit is as the story unfolds.
he doesn’t have many nests, but he has one fairly big one. it’s full of black, gold and purple pillows (of course), some of them really big and fluffy, others velvety, some round, some square, some small (he also has a jackal plush), and he likes to crash there after a long day, put in some headphones, go through his playlist and read. he is capable of doing this for hours on end if he’s undisturbed.
as much as i hate to say this… he’s a coffee person. he doesn’t dislike tea, but he prefers the bitter taste of coffee, as well as the colour.
he makes most of his hoodies himself. i like to headcanon that cyno can sew and is good at embroidery, so whenever he has some free time you might catching him making a hoodie (with ears, of course), or gloves, or a scarf— he’s made a fair amount of his own clothes. maybe he even has an online shop? who knows.
i don’t have anything in particular planned at the moment, but rest assured: the answer is an almost definite yes. i just need to brainstorm up an idea for it (and it goes without saying that some readers get to kiss him in it.)
as i’ve mentioned before, he generally sticks to a smart-casual style: he’s quite fond of sleek stuff like trench coats and thin turtlenecks, ankle-high (and occasionally taller) boots, long trousers, etc. he accessorises quite a lot with jewellery, too.
without a doubt. he has black and gold wireless noise-cancelling headphones as well as earbuds, but usually uses the headphones without listening to music: he just wears them in public so people don’t bother him. anyone who knows cyno knows that he only actually listens to music when he has his earbuds in.
do not apologise for spamming my inbox because answering this was very enjoyable! the pin is also much appreciated.
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i know you said not to get you started on Cyno in that fic ,,,,,
but .......
👉👈
Your thoughts on Cyno in that fic?
(also my apologies if I tagged the wrong blog of yours let me know if you'd rather I updated the tags?)
no, you didn’t tag me wrong! either blog is fine whenever you want to tag me.
onto the fic, i just loved your characterisation of cyno. he wasn’t too soft, if that makes sense, and you did a really good job showing how inexperienced he is with these kinds of feelings: not knowing how to recognise them, not knowing how to at upon them, despite really wanting to. his awkwardness is amazing, and there’s something about the way he slowly starts letting down his mask of indifference around you as time passes that hits me in just the right place…
i love how slowly it happens, too: it’s not a case of him catching feelings and then the next second he’s all over you, but rather a well-paced slowburn of him coming to accept and deal with his feelings while bit by bit lowering his guard and allowing himself to start softening around you after not having done so for anyone for so long.
i commend you on your characterisation. it was very well done.
#sent: seveninchesfrominsanity#r answers#i also adore ifrah#i may have only had her for an hour and a half but if anything happened to her i would kill everyone in this room and then myself
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In case you had any remaining doubts.
all of this… but IRISH
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I literally... don't know what to say. Have a nice day, I guess?
I'm asking you all very nicely for Cyno brainrots
*runs away with random brainrots and writes some truly spectacular fics that are worth reading 600 times*
please don't throw slippers at me I was merely responding to the other ask game you reblogged
9.5/10 (although i’m only counting the first two paragraphs because i’m assuming that the third is not intended to be something i would say myself.)
the wording is spot on, and the only things i’d change are lowercase lettering and a ‘…’ after the part about the cyno brainrots. but otherwise, it’s perfect.
(oh— and the third paragraph is also very much appreciated.)
#do not fear. you have been saved from the wrath of my mental slippers.#sent: seveninchesfrominsanity#r answers
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HE IS SMILING????
in case you haven't thought about his smile today, now you should.
oh my fucking god.
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Did you see the new genius Invokation TCG card art?
Does this mean Cyno plays with cards of himself and people he knows????
Is his own card meta???? Would the game company that made the cards be in danger if they didn't make the General Mahamatra card very cracked?
Also would Cyno flip if he met people he sees printed on the cards???
"Diluc Ragnvindr??? In the flesh? Do you know how meta your card is especially when you play it after a ..." *cyno starts rambling*
Diluc: ..... Thanks, I guess?
yeah… it is very interesting… and following that train of thought, i’d like to know how the game designers know about and why they included timmy, timaeus and ellin in the card pack…
if timmy’s card isn’t cracked, i’m quitting the game. /j
and yes, i do like to think that, if we assume that these characters are aware of the card characters being real people, cyno would definitely start fanboying over them. i can kind of imagine it being similar to nico from pjo’s mythomagic obsession, and it would be very confusing if any onlookers saw the serious, scary general mahamatra rambling for four minutes straight without taking a single breath about how honoured he feels to finally meet the diluc ragnvinder himself.
(he probably asks whether diluc can do the same attacks/moves as his card counterpart in real life and all, while diluc is just going ‘???’ throughout the whole thing…)
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THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ABOUT THE ANTISOCIAL GREMLIN SCENE R OMG I CANNOT GET OVER HOW ENDEARING IT IS???
I am so so so soft for Cyno I just want to hug him and hold him close and tell him not to scare me like this again and convince him that he is very, very loved 🥺😭
Glad to have put a smile on your face!
I obviously have a lot more on my mind from the archon quest, both related and not related to Cyno, so expect to see me in your asks a lot in the coming days hahah
i also decided to make the fic I originally wrote for you a series/trilogy so let me know if that interests you 👀
I have officially joined Tighnari fan club i plan to triple crown him and Cyno I love them both so much.
I agree about their dynamic. I'm not much of a shipper but I will stand by how much they care about and deeply trust each other - i see them more as brothers but I can understand people shipping them.
I HOPE IT'S OKAY FOR ME TO SPAM YOUR ASK INBOX WITH ESSAYS I'M SORRY I HAVE TOO MUCH TO SAY
also Rahman talking about Kasala??? Wasn't that his indirect way of appreciating what Cyno was doing for the desert people without embarrassing him?
- Yukiii 💜
i look forward to the essay spams— and do feel free to talk about non-cyno related things, too, because there is a lot to unpack with this quest.
i want to hug him, too… aaah…
i would be very much interested in reading the continuations of that fic! feel free to tag me when you post them.
that last point has got my brain gears turning… if it’s true, then that’s so sweet…
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R!!!
Hihihi~
I just played the archon quest and can I say I'm in absolute shambles?
Their opponents were always scarily intelligent and rapidly figuring out the plan! and I was so so afraid for our little ragtag team.
Surprisingly there were a lot of soft Cyno moments in the quest like when Rahman calls him kind and I'm like BECAUSE HE IS NOBODY FUCKING REALISES IT BUT CYNO IS DEEPLY CARING AND COMPASSIONATE HE'S JUST NOT VERY VERBOSE
And then his scenes with Tighnari it was so soft you can just tell that these two are family to each other I wanted to cry from the relief of knowing that Cyno isn't actually alone he has close friends who care about him so so much
I think I'm still processing the moment when Tighnari was in grave danger (seriously, I'll make a separate post about Tighnari in the archon quest, colour me impressed, inspired and full of newfound respect for Tighnari), the IRONY of
HE THOUGHT CYNO WOULD BE IN DANGER BUT THEN MY HEART SHATTERED INTO A MILLION PIECES WHEN TIGHNARI GETS HURT
And when we tell Cyno about it you could tell that he was dangerously angry like we all had to convince him that Tighnari was safe and resting he was about to go feral right then and there
And I'm like Cyno must've felt terrible about not being able to keep Tighnari safe and putting his friend in so much danger
trust me I was terrified when Dottore sought out Tighnari my heart dropped I was so so scared for Tighnari
Then his confrontation with Azar?? Can I just say I gasped aloud and pressed my hand to my mouth when this happened
And finally towards the conclusion of the archon quest when people are appreciating him for his work, HE GETS SO BASHFUL my heart was in pain knowing that he's not used to being appreciated or cared for like this 🥺🥺😭😭😭
You tell him Rahman tell him how much we all love and appreciate him he is very well loved
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ORIGINAL POINT OF ME SENDING THIS ASK IS ANY MORE so forgive me R!
I'll sign off with my favourite picture from the archon quest that I hope helped put Cyno's mind at ease too.
i don’t know why, but i started grinning while reading this ask… i love when people share my interests, man…
(spoilers ahead for those who haven’t finished the archon quest.)
but yes! the archon quest was so, so good— better than any we’ve had before. it was so engaging, and the cutscenes were amazing, and all the characters were relevant to the plot as well as unique and interesting…
can i also mention how utterly hilarious i found cyno’s grumpy and reluctant agreement to go to the feast… like, he basically said, ‘fine. i’ll go >:((’
and then when he was standing at the back of the stage in the grand bazaar… he’s such a grumpy little antisocial gremlin and i love him. (also, shy cyno— shyno?— is >>>)
and his confrontation with azar was so badass… this man is so cool AND FOR WHAT.
it was also really nice to see tighnari and cyno’s dynamic in action… personally, i don’t ship them and think their dynamic works better platonically than romantically, but seeing how they interact is almost… familial, in a way? like, kind of brotherly, if that makes sense? and seeing cyno worried for him was really sweet, too…
cyno is such a softie… i can’t…
#don’t apologise for sending this in! i love discussing my interests with people#oh and also POP OFF TIGHNARI#he was amazing in this quest#sent: seveninchesfrominsanity#r answers
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found this fanart on my Pinterest, reminded me of your dark sorcerer AU and thought you might like it!
oooh, yeah, i see what you mean… he does remind me of the au…
(and thanks for the art, by the way. i very much enjoy it.)
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i love all of your fics especially the dark fairytale Cyno AU and honestly you're a blessing to the Cyno X reader tag!!!
I hope I can write a Cyno fic that you will like!!
ah, thanks! that’s very nice to hear.
(i’m also sure you’re more than capable of writing a fic i’ll like…)
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I've never been able to make up my mind on this but,,,
What does Cyno smell like? His hair, his skin? Does he have a scent or fragrance he's partial to?
hmm…
i would probably say book pages, sand (if that even has a smell), a tiiiiny bit of petrichor, and a very, very small hint of saffron.
it’s… a little specific, but those are the things that come to mind when i think about what he’d smell like. it’s quite a… cold smell, if that makes sense, but laced with an undertone of warmth provided by the saffron. it’s quite comforting.
#…don’t ask why i just scent-analysed him#forget psychoanalysing#this is the real stuff#sent: seveninchesfrominsanity#r answers
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5, 7, 8, 11, 18? (For the ask game)
i already answered five and seven here, so now for the rest…
8: do you change into specific clothes for the house when you get home?
not particularly, unless you count ‘anything comfortable’ as specific— although i guess that’s more of… not exactly a style of clothing, but more of a vague genre than actual clothes themselves. so… basically, no.
11: anything from your childhood you’ve held on to?
apart from that dog hand puppet mentioned in the previous ask, i have this teeny-tiny deer figurine made of bronze that sits beside my bed, and that’s pretty much it. i’m not the most sentimental person out there, so i usually don’t put that much effort into holding on to things from the past.
18: your boba/tea order?
regular sized oolong milk tea with pearls, less or half sugar and usually no ice.
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as you should soft Cyno is a rare treasure that needs to be cherished
And a soft Cyno in of your fics??? Do you have a subscription I can sign up for???
he is… i love him so much…
to be fair, soft cyno can be found in most of my fics, and the only subscription required is to read them.. heh.
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