#so it's really the rangers fault

[gay-hoodie-boy]

Jackie: Jail is no fun. I’ll tell you that much.

Enzo: Oh, you’ve been?

Jackie: Once. In Monopoly.

#daring ranger #s/i: rocket runaway #this is fun because Enzo has been to actual jail before #for team rocket crimes obviously. so it wasn't really his fault #he spent a week before they bailed him out just to immediately assign him to another job

[zeyris-escapism]

I tried to get a tighnari ai to behave the way I wanted it to but it did not work. Instead I wrote a tighnari fic myself

// sexist tighnari, implied sexist Cyno, non-con, tighnari and reader without a vision, kidnapping, breeding

「—————————·♡·—————————」

Tighnari was nothing but kind and patient to you. Sure, you had to be dragged back to Sumeru by your feet given how idiotic you were, but it was your own fault.

It all started when you went to Sumeru after hearing your traveler friend say what kinds of things Sumeru has while they were in the process of traveling there. Back and forth, their life sure must've been interesting. Not only trying to find the missing sibling, but seeing so many nations and knowing so many people.

As much as it wasn't the life you wanted for yourself, that itself was inspiring enough to get out of the unchanging surroundings to visit Sumeru. It sure meant to be a one time visit, just seeing the mushrooms, trees. Exploring the culture, people, their way of being. You were fortunate to stay in Sumeru while the conflict with dendro archon was finally resolved, and the Lord of dendro freed herself from the oppressive hands of akademiya. To think they'd hide away their once beloved God just because she was no longer the size she used to be.

That itself was a story full of inspiration, and just like that you stayed in Sumeru longer, as far as allowing your friend to introduce you to the people they met. Paimon sure kept talking the whole way, but alas you were there. After meeting Cyno you met the forest ranger called Tighnari; it wasn't the first time you met a person with animal body parts, as much as his huge ears always shocked you. After exchanging pleasantries traveler explained what Tignnari does, and he agreed to let you learn from him about the forest. As much as you weren't a person to like the outside world, the beauty of sumeru had you captivated for a while. To the point you didn't even realise that something from the forest made you sick. Weakening you, you hardly had the energy to leave the village, it sure wasn't related to Tighnari.

Yeah, right.

You knowing other people was irrelevant, as you spent more and more time with Tighnari, completely oblivious to the fact that you had an effect on him. It was confusing the other, Collei had a vision. He could teach her, given that Celestia was kind enough to even accept her input. Collei was just a girl after all, but you? An ordinary person with no vision, expecting to get some knowledge? Tighnari didn't know whether to find it hilarious or astonishing, and yet he fed you with the thought that you were in fact learning valuable things.

Sure, the mushrooms he taught you about aren't really that common, so there's no need to learn about them, but he had to have a reason to tell you about the plants that definitely will not heal wounds? When you asked about essential information, he only said you had more to learn before you'd be able to gain that top knowledge.

It frustrated you to no end, after all you didn't plan to live there. Tighnari refusing to share essential knowledge was sickening, and yet you clung to the idea that maybe he will tell you something important.

From not caring, you became a person who's sole idea was to get Tighnari's approval. Your weird weakness didn't go away and only grew worse, and for some reason the only relief you could get was to not be exposed to Sumeru for the most part.

"Let's see if staying inside does you any better."

He said. And you didn't expect that to work, in fact you didn't expect him to say it again a week after.

Your skin felt less itchy, but as soon as it started to get better, the sensation of your clothes against your skin was the key to your irritation. As much as staying inside helped, now the clothes kept bothering you. And whenever you as much as stayed in something looser or shorter, Tighnari would look at you for a moment, before he'd continue doing what he did before.

It remained unclear wether that was the intended effect, and one could only assume it wasn't what the ranger intended. Still, that being a side effect made it all more convincing.

And yet to him you were nothing but trying to tempt him. Make him snap, which is what you'd get if you weren't careful enough. And after a few weeks he regarded to you with some sort of coldness, some sharpness to his speech.

And still, you remained as kind as ever, as much as sometimes it annoyed you. You were offered a drink or two by Tighnari at some point, and he drank some as well. After all he only taught you how to get rid of witherings by a long distance, if he ever needed your help. And you stupidly believed he finally began to treat you like a friend, only to end in his bed, crying out, spread open. All because you gave him the permission, and maybe it was your own fault for being too relaxed around the fennec.

After that Tighnari began acting weird around you, closer. More touchy. There he'd pull your hair from your face, other time he'd tickle your chin. You thought it was going better, your weakness finally fading ever so slightly.

One time when he was telling you about the completely irrelevant topic of sumeru roses, you mentioned briefly if his dendro could dry them up or preserve them so you could take them to your homeland. Show these beautiful flowers to people you knew. If he could help you take more.

That was met with an expression filled with blankness, before he jokingly said something along the lines of. "we will see"

He didn't take you seriously though, and after you mentioned it again, he seemed irritated as ever, long ears pushing themselves back on his head as Tighnari fought the troublesome feeling in his gut. But he agreed to let you see if his dendro can work to preserve later. And you, like an idiotic human you were, agreed.

Only a day later did you see that your weakness returned, and that it only came in the morning. Tighnari blamed it on allergies and pollens, that "these flowers aren't ones that you grew around. That's what makes you weak, possibly."

Confused, you never understood why. It was only when you were looking for Colleis medicine did you knock over a bottle that spilled down your shirt, and within a moment you felt your body burn. The effect truly was invisible, the substance clear as water. The first thing you did was to wipe it off, the sensation so terrible it took you a moment to connect the dots. It felt the same as when you'd step out of the house, the same as when you'd put on more layers. Was it someone's- was it Tighnari's doing?

The idea made your stomach curl, and you were quick to try and confront him. But all you've been met with was Tighnari telling Collei you seem to be getting worse, making up stories about him.

"I didn't expect local flora to affect you that way, we will be more careful next time"

And when your whining was finally over, now that Collei walked somewhere else, you had to deal with what you've caused.

To think someone like you could try to make Tighnari, the beloved caretaker of the forest, look bad. You couldn't forget the look of disappointment on Collei's face when she walked out, remembering the gloomy look on the foxes face. The memory had your hands shaking.

"To accuse me of such things. I really do wish to know what I might've done that you try to make me look bad" and yet you already knew what face hid behind that mask. Any protest you brought up was muffled by his hand, fingers easily making you drink a vial. Being pressed against the wall with his fingers blocking your nose was sure one way to get you to swallow it whole.

It made you dizzy rather fast, and he managed to just about lay you on the bed before you fell unconscious. Tighnari panicked, he had to find a backup plan. He couldn't let you leave him with that issue, leave him stranded till he'd die.

Sure, you were just a human girl. A pathetic little idiot who thought she'd get away with getting on his nerves, teasing his nature. And then planning to leave, he couldn't let you be away without a consequence.

And not once did he mention the weakness of his kind, to him, his manipulation was just means of ensuring your stay. And now that you had clear plans to move, Tighnari made it sound like he was used by you.

Maybe him not telling you why you couldn't leave was also means to keep his own shame to himself. He'd whine about this to someone, and not bring the issue up with you. and since you pretended to deserve knowledge, to be so knowledgeable, maybe you should've known what you've done when you let Tighnari have his way with you.

You hated everytime he turned it that way, and Collei didn't look too keen to touch the topic anymore. Because as longest as you didn't try to leave, the forest ranger didn't mention the topic to anyone. You'd be good, let him do as he pleased, and you'd be fine.

That's until your friend was back from Fontaine to meet with you up again. Tighnari dreaded that visit, traveler always could tell when something was wrong. And you were meant to be gone from Sumeru by that time, so after a while of planning he made you behave. By some miracle you had your hands on herbs that would help you with not conceiving the first and last time you let Tighnari act up, and you thanked Archons for that opportunity.

But this time, Tighnari was straight about it. And if you dared to as much as make a wrong look, he'd make sure you'd be swollen with kits before you'd be able to say another accusation. Before you'd able to leave and not depend on him anymore.

And so, when Traveler and Paimon finally arrived, you did your best to behave. Using their visit as means to distract the forest ranger, you had a plan. After all he couldn't chase after you when they were there, so you waited carefully for the time they'd arrive, and dressed up. Earlier you didn't do that, because of the odd feeling on your skin, usually wearing loose clothing. That was preffered by Tighnari's standards. You were a silly woman, easy access was what was preferable.

And the moment you were alone for as much as a moment, you ran. You ran on your feet fast, you ran for a while. And even if the pain was like needless, you pushed through, just to make sure you weren't there anymore. And even if you were faintly aware that someone was after you, you landed in the famous sumerian port. Only then did you realise how long you haven't seen this place, and before that someone could catch up to you, you sneaked on the container ship. It rather fast sailed away, leaving the person who followed you rather angry.

Traveler did ask Tighnari where you went, and as much as the ranger tried to hide both his anxiety and anger, he assured it must've been to get Collei's medicine. Shortly after the traveler was gone though, Cyno met face to face with the other.

"She sailed to Inazuma, now that the decree in Inazuma is lifted, a lot of merchants move their things there." He started. Ah he was annoyed, Cyno didn't want to disappoint his friend like that. But he almost had you, almost.

"It will take three days for the boat to arrive to the port in inazuma, but there's no other boat available for at least a week" and yet Tighnari couldn't bring himself to be angry at the general. It was his own issue. "Thanks for letting me know that."

Cyno scoffed. Although not earlier mentioned, Cyno met with you quite a bit. Everytime he visited Tighnari, you exchanged glances. And these weren't pleasant. You knew Cyno was aware of everything, and Cyno didn't care either. As longest as his friend was happy, he couldn't care less for an opinion of a woman. Even more so, one who thought she could handle taking care of plants and forests without any real talent.

Or a vision, to show her ambition was worthy of attention.

You tried to gain knowledge to be able to develop more solutions for the problems of your nation, and now you were not only chased by a crazy fennec, you also had a general from Sumeru on your tail.

First days in Inazuma were nothing but an issue, and you eventually managed to ask the sweet girl you met to find you a job. Ayaka already knew where you'd be useful, and so you ended up as the main caretaker of her garden. Her estates garden that is. Even though you hardly met her brother, Thoma was good enough of a friend. Although nothing was between you two, it took you some convincing to make Ayaka hide your traces in Sumeru.

You cried to the Celestia itself that day, just how blessed you were that someone as kind as her was willing to help you out on your second day in Inazuma, keeping in mind your impromptu arrival. After all you didn't get ready for this at all, maybe it was better. Maybe that cursed Ranger would've known something was up otherwise. Regardless, you were happy that Cyno couldn't show up. General in Inazuma could cause some diplomatic issues, and even if he sent men here in disguise, they'd never find you.

That is what you thought, because when the traveler came there to meet with people again before their new journey, you were sure you'd collapse.

"Paimon meant to ask, after the last visit in Sumeru we didn't see you for a while. Paimon is curious, do you not like the sumerus climate?"

She could be sweet, and yet that question itself seemed to fill you with anger. By then the fear of the ranger turned into anger faster than it could be seen that you were scared.

You said something unpleasant, after which paimon didn't ask about that at all. In fact, paimon didn't ask you anything again, and the guilt you felt in that moment was enough. You told the traveler that there was nothing to worry about, keeping Tighnari's little threat in mind.

He wasn't there, and it filled you with fear nonetheless. "Try anything, a word. Any weird movement, and I'll fill you with kits enough times for you to understand who you belong to." So that you wouldn't be able to leave.

It was sickening.

To bear the children of your captor was the last thing you'd want, and even if he wasn't there, that fear didn't go away.

Alas Traveler ended up hanging out with Ayaka for the most part, and it was peaceful for another week. That time spent in Inazuma felt great, refreshing aside from the constant paranoia. That whenever Ayato wanted something, you assumed he'd send you back to Tighnari. Or whenever Ayaka would take you out in her limited time, you'd look around, back and forth to try and see if someone is waiting to snatch you.

It took you another week to calm down and grow accustomed to the people, but it didn't last much longer.

One day that you finally felt fine enough to walk out on your own, you bought Ayato another rather weird combination of ingredients. And you weren't even there to carry it in, only remembering the blunt pain to the back of your head the moment you turned to walk back to the estate.

From the sound of it, it wasn't Tighnari to be the one to drag you back. He was quieter, but these steps were rougher, heavier.

Whoever that was, you woke up on the boat again, tied to the wood that kept the floors of the boat separated. The column of that wood was thick, and with how you were tied, you couldn't even shift to the side.

There he was, you saw the light colour of his purple vision in the darkness. It seemed he stayed on boat, because in the end he really came for you. "You're lucky Tighnari can't leave Sumeru for more than a few days." Cyno spoke. "otherwise he'd smash your skull in the moment he saw you"

You knew it didn't mean to make you feel better. In fact it only brought more fear to your gut, tears swelling in your eyes as you bit your lip. You wouldn't give him any satisfaction, silent whenever he spoke.

Coming to Sumeru was a bad choice. How could you not notice the way you were treated just because of your lack of vision? Just because you weren't from Sumeru, because you weren't a man. "he was worried sick for this past month, and here you are, parading with some other men like a whore"

Cyno murmured, looking down to you again. By then he was stood near you, and you couldn't help but hiss. Only hearing him made you fill with anger.

It ended as soon as it started, and soon you were led out of the boat by force of course. After making sure you were unconscious again, you were driven back to Ghandarva vile.

Ah Cyno kept complaining just how worried Tighnari was the whole time you were on the ship, and now even if you were unconscious, you could hear his annoying voice repeat that.

And you didn't care, to you, they both could die. They could just go at eachother if that's how Cyno cared for Tighnari, you didn't care.

More than seeing Tighnari, you dreaded waking up. Dreaded the consequence of your own action, facing him after knowing what you did. And how angry he'd be.

As soon as you opened your eyes you saw you were stuck in the similiar office again, with the soft bed, and the unfortunately similiar figure at the desk.

At least he seemed to be composed for now, eyeing you in silence before you were lectured. He'd leave the physical punishment for later, firstly telling you just how idiotic you are.

"You sure are pathetic, such a weakling like you going away. I sure hope you had fun, that was the wrong way to beg for my attention" he started, putting down the mixture of herbs he was mixing.

Tighnari stood up, his fluffy tail twitching. And it was clear he did his best to keep his ears straight, so they wouldn't betray any emotion. And yet they kept twitching backwards in annoyance. "I never wanted your attention, asshole-"

At least you managed to have some of your sass, his fingers squeezing your chin to tip your head up. You almost forgot you had your arms tied behind your back. "quiet, let the adult speak."

"To think you can toy with me and my feelings is truly disgusting" he started, scoffing. "you really are pathetic, getting me to bond with you to then try and leave me forever. How cruel can you be, y/n?"

Your face twisted in confusion, repulsion. You felt dreadful with how he turned the blame on you again. "I never wanted any of this, Ti-"

"You didn't! Ah, yes tell me all about it then!" Forcefully you moved your head away from his grip, and that did not seem to please him. "You know fully well we mate for life, and you just got up and left. What is actually wrong with you!"

"First you start showing yourself around me, carelessly showing off to tempt me. And when I finally had enough, I am to blame?" At that point you knew that speaking would rile him up more.

It wasn't the Tighnari you used to grow fond of. He was nice, he cared for you ; and now he's just awful. He didn't deserve any more words to describe his behaviour. And whenever you brought it up earlier, you were met with 'if you behaved, I could be nice around you again'.

Now wasn't the time to think about that, because he hissed. "I'm a man for Archons sake! You lured me in and then dared to-" he spoke with utter disgust. "Leave like nothing, are you really that dumb to think we wouldn't find you?"

It seemed the anger pent up and he didn't know how to express it anymore. Especially with his recent heat, where he couldn't cope with it anymore, crying from pain at the thought of not being able to get it out on you. It wasn't as bad before you two had sex that time, but now, now that he craved you, the pain was bad enough to make him throw up. That thankfully was a few days ago, now he was way better. It still brought a lot of anger and frustration, but you not seeing him in that sorry state was the most convenient.

"Or was it just some competition?" He started. "make yourself my mate and then fool around to make me prove myself like a pathetic little cub, all for your own amusement? That must've been what you wanted. To make me show how well prepared I am to care for you and our little kits-" oh no. No. "Ah, to test me like that, you sure are not trustworthy"

"But now, that..that will change. You won't leave me again to entertain other men" he started, leaning to look at you. By how he looked at you though- The threat from before finally sank in. He wouldn't let you leave. You wouldn't be able to leave.

You'd be stuck there with his kits, unable to go anywhere anymore. You'd be a good girl and stay in Sumeru, and you wouldn't make yourself visibly available to any other men as he assumed you wanted.

"Tighnari I'm- ssorry please ddon-t do this-" before you knew it you were already crying, his finger wiping off the tear as he sighed. "Don't cry, I'm only doing what's best for you, please, understand it" it wasn't time to focus on how angry he was. Because oh how happy he was to finally have you back.

For a brief moment that caring voice returned, even if it was nothing but condescending. By that time Tighnari was already sat on the bed, pushing you back to lie down. And with your arms tied, you couldn't as much as sit back up, shaking your head when he tugged you by your legs.

Like that he was sat between your thighs, looking at you.

Oh he'd rather do it when he'd be in heat, but he knew if he waited more, his little darling would find a way to leave.

Again.

And Tighnari could not have that in any way, he could not have you as much as think about it. "calm down now.."

Despite saying that he took your top by it's edgee, ripping the buttons off to open it up. "tighnari nno-" another whimper.

Squirming away was of no use, he held you down, and within moments your bottoms were off as well, face buried in your neck as his fingers dragged across your clothed heat. At least your underwear was still on.

You dared to try and hiss again, this time his hand dug into your waist, making you wince. After he made sure to bite your neck he spoke, maybe he enjoyed seeing your face twist in that pain.

Either way his other hand didn't have the glove on it anymore, fingers moving beneath your underwear to move up your folds, index one rubbing your clit in circles.

You really were just crying, whimpering for him not to do that, and each time he'd say something along the lines of. "Let me take care of it.." or "behave now, you brought this upon yourself" and even if he didn't speak it harshly, it was clear he was belittling you, focused on how easy it was to slick you up, his fingers easily entering you.

Tighnari shivered, oh it felt nice. You were so hot, squeezing his fingers in a way where he couldn't just wait to sink into you. And yet he was careful, dragging them over your walls, scissoring them lightly with each move until you were whimpering.

Each move made your body tremble, shivering. Your thighs squeezed him in a pathetic attempt to try and slow him down, or discourage him, but Tighnari only took it as a challenge, gripping your thigh to move it open.

"H-nhho- I'm ssor-Ssorry let's- nh- ttalk it o-ooUt.." your pathetic crying mixed in with the whimpers, breath hitching each time his fingers dragged out of you.

"It's far too late for discussions, mate" mate. Only then did it click he couldn't have been lying. Was it really your own fault for letting him use you that one, single time? No. You couldn't let yourself be tricked, he did it himself. He should've thought about what he did.

Tighnari's fingers felt undeniably nice, and despite the weak kick you tried to give him, your thighs only shook, funny feeling in your gut tightening, curling. Your little struggle only made him tip his head a little, did you really think you could do anything? Weakened?

He knew how to pick you apart, so when you felt close, he made you come on his fingers against your will.

The forest ranger knew how to make sure you weren't distracted, and once he slipped the remaining fabric off your legs he undid his pants, taking our his mostly hard length out.

Mostly hard- he must've gotten off to the sounds of you whimpering and asking him to stop. Fucking degenerate, you didn't understand how someone could get off to that idea. You couldn't even tell him how disgusting he was, Tighnari's tip already moving over your heat to slick himself.

Moving into you easily he groaned, the sound melodic as your heat tried to push out the unwanted intrusion. But it only made him let out a whimper, Tighnari bottoming out inside you soon after, pressing into you, almost grinding as he nibbled on your neck again. "ggonna stuff you sso good-" ah it's been so long-

He really really missed it, that's how it was supposed to be. You were his mate for archons sake! And as a good mate you were supposed to fulfill his desires! Not run away and make him hurt and ache!

After all it was your fault for allowing him to have sex with you that one time. It was your fault he couldn't stop himself from wanting you so much, you should've known. You should've asked. And you were selfish instead, now paying the price as he slowly moved his hips away from you, just to bottom out again with a shaky groan. That was right, you were his.

"N-nnari please don't-" you knew the nickname usually worked, pace smoothly picked up as he shook his head. "N-nhh.. shhut up-" another grunt followed. "Bbe good and take it- Nhh fuck- you're sso tight.." it's been some time since someone did that to you, and Tighnari felt somewhat grateful that, by how you reacted, he was the last one you laid with in this way.

All you could do was whimper through tears, your body feeling funny. For some reason your body reacted in a way that betrayed your mind, it wasn't what you wanted. And yet it only grew warmer, hiccups leaving as you stared at the ceiling.

"nGh.. you'll bb-be a good girl- take it-" the ranger started again, the softness of his tail tickling the underside of your thigh. "Look at you already- hheating up like that.." he was aware this was a punishment, but to Tighnari, - before he'd let his anger take over and destroy you - the punishment would be better if it was taken slow. Your body betraying you, violatiing you in a way where you couldn't control yourself.

You enjoying it would only make it more humiliating, and he really did want to make you ashamed enough not to get any more funny ideas.

With each move the pace picked up, hand tight on your waist as you let out a shaky hiss, other hand sliding down your thigh so his thumb could press to your already aching clit, giving it slow rubs.

It all made you feel tight again, abdomen growing tense as you tried to use your legs to shift away, digging your feet into the bed to move up. But his grip was too tight, Tighnari's hands forcing your hips back onto his cock.

"Don't- hhn.. don't ffucking try that--" the thrusts grew sharper, and you had no choice but to look away. That gave you some sort of control, distracting yourself from what Tighnari was doing. You wouldn't give him the satisfaction of coming on his length like a cheap whore.

He seemed to catch on with your plan, his thumb pushing into you even more to make you wince. "Don't annoy me even mm-more, y/n- you know what's.. hha.. gonna happen otherw-wwise-"

You thought back to the traveler. To Ayaka and Thoma. You used their kindness up and were snatched without a warning, you didn't even get to say goodbye.

You imagined yourself taking care of the garden there, remembering the way you had to use the knowledge provided by Tighnari to do that. That itself made your brain focus back on reality. "Look at me, nnow-"

Once he was ignored he decided to let your hip go, hand gripping your chin tight to make you look at him. His eyes were narrowed, ears pulling themselves back in annoyance. It took you a moment to realise how rough he had become, uncontrolled cry following. Were you really moaning pathetically while thinking about Inazuma?

"You'll look at me-" Tighnari hissed, thrusts nice and hard. Oh god. You'd break.

"And see everything-"

Another harsh thrust. You'd spill.

"I'm doing to you-"

With that your core went tense again, the orgasm you so badly avoided making your toes curl, shaking your head. But his grip was too firm.

It was understandable, he was rather good with his how.

"Y-you understand?"

Unfortunately for you, you weren't able to hiss again, shaky and quiet cry leaving as you arched into the other unwillingly. That itself had him shudder, feeling you come against him like that mare his hips stutter into yours.

"H-mhh.. ggonna fill you-" oh no. "You wwant to be a mommy?"

You cried out that no, despite it being muffled. You whined and tried to kick at him after realising what he really meant, but it was useless. He was too strong, he was too fast.

The pace was all funny, ah he was close it seemed, face lowering back again so his sharp teeth could graze your neck. "g-ngh.. you're ggOnna- nhh llook soo good swollen with my kkits-"

That outcome was to be expected. You did that to yourself.

And now you had to pay.

You recalled that before all of this, when that mistak between you happened, he pulled out right after he came, but now, now that he finished inside you, he only stayed in, the discomfort only now settling in.

He felt odd inside you, did you tighten or did he thicken? Even if you tried to shift your hips it only made you wince, Tighnari's ear giving a small twitch of satisfaction.

"We will be stuck like that for some time. This gives you time to reconsider what you've done"

You really were crying up to that point, salty and hot tears streaming down your warm cheeks as you hiccuped, shaking your head.

He was nothing but manipulating. Always talking like he cared about what you had to say, always behaving like he could resolve the issue when in reality, you were never listened to.

"It's fine if you don't feel talkative this time. We have much more opportunities to talk it out tonight"

#yandere tighnari smut #tighnari #yandere tighnari #genshin impact #genshin smut #tighnari smut #tighnari x reader smut #cyno #tighnari non con

[m1d-45]

hey! not sure if ur taking requests but would love it if u cld.....my mind has been stuck on this for a while

I almost didn't get wanderer on his banner and it broke my heart. From the second I first saw to the little emo boy in the archon quest I've wanted him on my team and was so excited when they announced his banner.... I even prefarmed for him ;-;

But I lost the 50/50 (got tighnari ;-;) and calculated that I'd have only 50 pulls before his banners gone.....I've never gotten a character before 70 pulls so I got really sad and decided on a whim to build heizou since I had the teams and artifacts ready and I even started having fun with him when randomly at 23 pity guess who I get!!!

So I've kinda been living in my own little daydream(delusion xD) that wanderer got jealous of me having fun with heizou and came home.... could I request a sagau drabble or hc or something similar to my insanity totally fine if you can't 🥰🥰🥰

near miss

word count: ~500

-> warnings: spoilers for wanderer lore, minor spoilers for heizou lore, author once again dances around wanderer’s name

-> gn reader (you/yours)

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie || @boba-is-a-soup || @yuus3n || @esthelily || @turningfrogsgay || @cupandtea24 || @genshin-impacts-me || @chaoticfivesworld || @raaawwwr

< masterlist >

for being the creator, all knowing and all present, you were missed quite often.

your wanderer sat in his banner, looking down at your party as you travelled teyvat. he’d missed your first star shower on account of giving a lecture, and by the time he’d seen the star streaking toward the forest through the window, it had been too late. news of the forest ranger stealing what was his spread quickly, something akin to resentment burning in his chest.

but not this time. he was determined not to miss you again. your attention had been on him for so long; surely you didn’t think he’d just roll over now that you’d invested in someone else? no, he’d wait.. even if it hurt watching you.

shikanoin heizou. the sharpest detective in inazuma—or even teyvat, if you were particularly inclined to praise him. you’d given heizou what you had planned to give him, and he hated it. he was right here, he was listening, he didn’t have any more lectures for the week, so why did you have to insist on keeping your stars to yourself?

(it was his fault. if only he’d paid more attention, as you had so graciously given him…)

“maybe… i’ll get lucky?”

he snapped out of his mind, aware of your presence all at once. he could feel his heart in his fingers where he pressed at the boundaries, and he searched the sky around him despite knowing he’d never see you.

(luck. ‘lucky.’ he’d make his way to you if he had to crawl. what part of that was chance?)

his hat was already discarded in his inventory, so nothing would hinder him from following your star. all he had to do was wait for you… and hope you’d send them out at all.

you wouldn’t settle for heizou, would you? he knows you were enjoying yourself, but that didn’t mean you’d forget about him… right?

a beam of light split the silence, and he pushed at the edges of his banner to reach for them. but even reaching as far as he could, he barely brushed the edge of the star.

it was warm. even that glimpse of heaven set his heart beating a little quicker, purple mist lingering around his fingers.

again. he won’t miss it this time, he swears. don’t settle for a detective when you could have…

…him. would he be enough for you?

the skies split in two, another bright purple star beginning to fall. he reached, grabbing onto the handle of a polearm. with a sharp pull, he was set free from his banner, the silver spear flung elsewhere. hopefully you wouldn’t miss that.

if he’d thought the star from before was warm, then the fall back to the earth was burning hot. your light enveloped his entire being, stealing the air in his lungs. his surroundings were whipped away, replaced with a bright feeling only describable as divine.

still, he landed on his feet. with shaky hands he placed his hat back on his head, allowing himself a proud smile.

“welcome home, wanderer.”

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin sagau #sagau #self aware genshin #genshin self aware #genshin sagau x reader #genshin x reader #wanderer genshin #sagau x you #wanderer x you #sagau x reader #wanderer x reader #genshin x you #sagau wanderer #x reader #hey Fellas how are y’all doing #venti has me fucked up again 👍 #i’m finally writing the idea i had for him like two days ago #but at what cost… (i’m SAD) #he’s such a guy i’m gonna commit a crime #get you a man that makes you feel shrimp emotions #ok so i was gonna include a tag here thanking the asker for saying it could be a drabble cause i’m using my words on venti #but if i had a nickel for everytime a ‘18+ only pls’ blog sent me an ask id have like. 25¢ #‘mdni’ babygirl YOU sent ME the ask

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box Series— Shoulder Check Showcase Edition

photo credits via instagram by _msfilms, henchcliffe_media, and greghorowitzphoto! all accounts are public dw! look at the tagged photos of the shoulder check on insta for more pics and the videos i took screenshots of!

22-23 Season & Summer Masterlist

p.s. kreider is in this bc it makes sense… sue me. tw to non rangers fans on him ig??

this is a long one to make up for all my short ones recently <3 (lie i just couldn’t shut up)

yourusername

liked by trevorzegras, shattdeuces, and 11,469 others

yourusername “the shoulder signifies something very important. it’s a commitment to reaching out, checking in, making sure everybody is okay. it’s a small gesture with a very big impact— the impact being that kindness is cool.”

on august 3rd, trevor participated in the shoulder check showcase for the HT40 foundation post being drafted first overall for said showcase!

he was captain of team moulson (the black jerseys!), scored the eighth goal for the team with a pass from my good friend nesty! the fifth slide is his celly where the damn fool kissed his stick. (this was post him failing at the michigan about nine million times) (it’s your signature move, babe. get it together.)

🚨he also committed the only crime of the night!🚨(the refs didn’t penalize him and i’m guessing that was just to keep the fast pace going) (the crowd had other opinions) (so did i) what was the crime? HE TRIPPED CHRIS KREIDER! aka his summer training partner! don’t worry though! he was belittled at dinner with chris and i AND i made him sit in the bathroom for two minutes to account for his crimes<3

sorry you lost in a shootout, my love! but you missed two shootout goals so this is all your fault, captain!

thank you, father zegras, for being a founding board members for the HT40 foundation and being a huge part in this cause. as someone who has struggled in the past, the work that this foundation does really means a lot to me.

p.s. i loved seeing shatty/mom, nesty, sonny, and spencer! i’ve missed you guys! mwah!

remember besties: reach out, check in, and make contact. because kindness is a contact sport🩵

tagged trevorzegras and theshouldercheck

view all 433 comments

trevorzegras i’m so proud of you for all that you’ve overcome❤️ i love you, forever

yourusername i love you, always, z-baby❤️ (except when you make me cry like rn ihy)

trevorzegras i’m not taking it back! p.s. tackling me for a hug is not what was meant!

yourusername kindness is a contact sport and i chose football <3

trevorzegras can’t you choose any other sport?

yourusername i could choose water polo and drown you out of love

trevorzegras football it is!

yourusername kisses can be my field goals!

trevorzegras what about your two point conversions?

yourusername foreplay!

jamie.drysdale @/yourusername @/trevorzegras don’t play football in front of me

_quinnhughes @/yourusername @/trevorzegras i don’t think you two gave water polo enough thought

user42 he really tripped that old man… so trevor zegras of him

_quinnhughes you forgot to mention that when he called me to have you let him out you turned his penalty into a five minute major

yourusername two minutes for snitching->📦

_quinnhughes you’re in stamford?

yourusername update: i facetimed quinn and screamed until he sat in the bathroom

trevorzegras update: i’m giving her a penalty for screaming

yourusername update: trevor has a penalty for attempting to give me a penalty

trevorzegras update: kisses got me out early

_quinnhughes update: i hate you both

yourusername update: quinn has a double minor

yourusername update: jacky boy has two minutes just because

jackhughes update: i’m looking for a new soulmate

user6 the fact that if the refs were calling penalties z wouldn’t been starting the season with -1 games since his last penalty 😭

jackhughes strongest girl i know alert!

yourusername pls don’t make me emotional online i have a reputation to uphold mr. “heart not boobs”

lhughes_06 @/yourusername accept that you’re basically wonder woman

yourusername @/lhughes_06 accept that miley cyrus’s song wonder woman makes that comment 1000x more emo for me

jackhughes @/yourusername accept that you’re loved (despite the speech comment)

lhughes_06 @/yourusername very loved

_quinnhughes @/yourusername extremely loved

yourusername @/jackhughes @/lhughes_06 @_quinnhughes i love you all too! now stop before i sob!

user17 tell trevor thank you for signing my brother’s forehead! he was so happy!

chriskreider19 thanks for having z pay for his crimes against me!

yourusername ur so welcome thank you for feeding us occasionally!

trevorzegras please don’t thank her this has now become a common thing

yourusername @/trevorzegras mwah!

shattdeuces i’ve missed you, daughter! i’ll miss your post roadies gift bags next season!

yourusername you’ll get one when you play the ducks next season! i’ll start fires to give it to you if i have to!

shattdeuces just don’t get caught!

yourusername i never do! i’m a stealthy ninja

trevorzegras @/yourusername i’ve been catching you from falling since we were sixteen i’m not sure that qualifies as “stealthy”

yourusername @/trevorzegras that’s all part of my elaborate plan to never be caught when it’s important. no one will see it coming. my clumsiness is an act.

jackhughes @/yourusername an act that started at five years old?

yourusername @/jackhughes yes!

user4 announcers before the game started: we might see trevor do the michigan in person tonight! trevor: *attempts and fails 3 times*

_alexturcotte yeah babe! it’s your signature move! get it together! @/trevorzegras

trevorzegras don’t tell me what to do

yourusername @/trevorzegras get it together!

trevorzegras @/yourusername …yes dear

_alexturcotte @/trevorzegras I’VE KNOWN YOU LONGER DO I MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!

yourusername @_alexturcotte jealousy isn’t a good color on you

trevorzegras @_alexturcotte ily babe

_alexturcotte @/trevorzegras ilym babe

yourusername @/trevorzegras ten minute major for infidelity!

trevorzegras @/yourusername worth it

user66 I CAN HEAR THE FIRST PICTURE 😭

jamie.drysdale i fully expect to be tackled next time i see you ms. “i choose football”

yourusername trevor will want to ask us to get a room because I MISS YOU SO BAD JAMIE BABY

trevorzegras @/yourusername what do you plan to do?!?!

jamie.drysdale I MISS YOU TOO

yourusername I LOVE YOU WITH MY WHOLE BUTT

jamie.drysdale I LOVE YOU TOO YOU WEIRDO

trevorzegras @/yourusername WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO?!?!?!

yourusername @/trevorzegras commit infidelity

trevorzegras @/yourusername ten minute misconduct

yourusername @/trevorzegras worth it

jamie.drysdale @/trevorzegras technically she was my wife first

trevorzegras @/jamie.drysdale ejected from the game

yourusername @/trevorzegras hold up you can commit infidelity and i can’t?!

trevorzegras @/yourusername correct

yourusername @/trevorzegras misogyny at its finest. you’re kicked out of our mojo dojo casa house.

jamie.drysdale @/trevorzegras ejected? nah. evicted.

trevorzegras update: i’m now homeless

_quinnhughes @/trevorzegras you’re not living with me this time

user97 this game just made me miss hockey more

slknight35 you wouldn’t ever give me a penalty right?

yourusername never. you and coley can do no wrong ever. and if you do, i’ll cover it up or take the fall. i’ll kill for you. i’ll sell trevor. i love you.

slknight35 i forgot that you’re so violently endearing😂 i love you too

jackhughes @/slknight35 she’s gotten worse since high school

colecaufield @/yourusername i love you best friend number two!

slknight35 @/jackhughes that’s terrifying

yourusername @/slkight35 yes i am <3

yourusername @/colecaufield I AIN’T GONNA EVER STOP LOVING YOU B(est) (fr)I(end) (number) T(wo) CH

colecaufield @/yourusername you ain’t slick

jackhughes @/yourusername but you are cringe

yourusername @/jackhughes bitch <3

yourusername in hopes that this comes up as a top comment for someone: you are all so loved. every single one of you. thank you for all the support that you give me, the boys, and to all the other teams, players, and their families that you share your love to. check in on your friends. even the ones that always seem to be the happiest person around. spread love, spread hope, and spread kindness🩵 mwah!

#penalty box series #penalty box series: bonus editions #trevor zegras #trevor zegras au #trevor zegras x reader #trevor zegras imagine #trevor zegras insta edit #trevor zegras x hughes reader #jack hughes #quinn hughes #luke hughes #jamie drysdale #cole caufield #spencer knight #hockey imagine #nhl imagine

[mikaila-orchard]

Anduin still gets more respect and dignity than Sylvanas ever did and I'm still mad about it.

Aight, the new WoW trailer stirred up some old animosity that I have to get out lest it fester.

The problem I've had with Anduin for the past few years is something that isn't even strictly his fault, and is just symptomatic of how shitty the writing staff is. In theory, Anduin is an interesting bit of flavor for the Alliance. Someone who was raised in a very turbulent time in the Alliance's history, gone through some shit when he was too early to handle it and is plagued with self doubt because of it. All of this complimented by Velen's vision of Anduin's future going down two very different roads.

Alas, the problem is in execution. Because what we are left with in practice is a character who goes through comparatively less than other legacy characters (Thrall being raised as a slave, Jaina losing her home and loved ones regularly and Sylvanas with fucking everything) but who, by the time Shadowlands rolls around, insists that he is the one suffering the most and everyone else needs to get over themselves. And that wouldn't be so bad (hell, in Shadows Rising, it's kinda treated as a genuine character flaw) but that's not the case because WoW treats Anduin like the moral barometer of the franchise for many years now.

There are multiple examples of this throughout, but the biggest culprit is all across BFA and Shadowlands, where Anduin is made to understand the hardships that Sylvanas and the Forsaken have suffered, most of it by the Alliance's hands, and just shuts it down with "Everyone suffers, stop hiding behind your trauma and rise above it," and because BFA is framing him as the hero and Sylvanas as the villain he gets away with it. In the fucking Sylvanas book, he has the gall to say Sylvanas had a better life than him because she knew her mother and calls her selfish for committing suicide. And of course the book frames Anduin as being in the right about all of this because they decided Sylvanas holding him captive was the time they would even allow to let her reach out to someone and hope they understand her. The deck was always stacked against Sylvanas and in Anduin's favor in terms of audience sympathy.

But then, what happens in Shadowlands? He gets dominated by Zovaal, stabs the Archon (doesn't even kill her), maybe kills a bunch of unnamed npcs off screen, and fights his friends. Not a single tally to add to his body count while he was a puppet. And when he is freed from Zovaal's control, he doesn't lose his support system, he doesn't lose the respect of his loved ones or his people, and he's not put under pressure to just be okay again.

AND YET!

He still goes on this self imposed exile of his, and has been on it for over half a decade at this point, because he is just too haunted by everything he's 'seen and done'. Things that we as the audience don't really see. So in practice, the justification for all this on screen angst is so painfully weak. And yes, there's no wrong way to respond to trauma and there never will be, and Anduin's trauma responses are far from unrealistic.

But compared to Sylvanas, Anduin is giving a great deal more respect and dignity by the narrative for, comparatively, much less. Sylvanas was enslaved and forced to murder her countrymen (onscreen too, we MADE HER DO THAT in warcraft 3) and when she was finally freed, she had no support system besides her rangers and Nathanos, she was feared by her former homeland who only accepted her help out of desperation and was hated and distrusted by enemies and allies alike way before she might have done anything to deserve it. The game even leans into the idea that the Sylvanas who suffered all this trauma isn't the real Sylvanas and we just needed to restore her soul to have the pure pious ranger general back (barf). And she still has to toil away in superhell because the writers were too chickenshit to fully backpedal on the deliberate character assassination the sexual predator on staff forced upon her.

"Oh, but M'Kay! That's the writers fault, not Anduin's! You can't blame him for all that."

Maybe not but a lot of the issue here comes from the fact that so long as the people who enabled this inequity of care remains on staff (IE fucking GOLDEN) this won't stop. So what choice do I have but to loathe the byproduct of this fuckery when it's being shoved in my face like this? What other way could I possibly interpret this disparity other than as misogyny?

#wow #world of warcraft #sylvanas windrunner #anduin wrynn critical #though honestly its mostly christie golden critical #and yes I will probably remain salty about this until the day I die

[wheelerboi]

Okay, so…I’m all for Byler, ya’ll know that.

But, uh…I don’t think this “THE CRAWL” is in reference to Mike ‘crawling back’… I think it’s way bigger than these two little boyfriends.

It makes a little more sense that “Episode 1: The Crawl” is in reference to the current state of Hawkins, right?

Like, it’d be covered in growth from the Upside Down, vines all over the ground and buildings. Maybe so much so that the roads are inaccessible, and anyone still left, like the Party, are forced to navigate by foot. Maybe it’s easy to get lost now bc Hawkins is damn near unrecognizable. And don’t even get me started on the giant fault lines…that shit is not gonna make traversing easy.

I don’t have to explain why looting is gonna be an issue. All it took was one white boy screaming “Devil! Witchcraft! They do the Devil’s work!” at the Hellfire club, and everyone started loading their guns and grabbing pitchforks —— With the roads blocked and buildings damaged, I bet a lot of townsfolk are breaking in to whatever they can and looting. (Perhaps the Party has to do so too, in order to survive,)

“Battling various monsters,” Didn’t Nancy literally say that Vecna showed her a vision of monsters invading Hawkins? What if there are Demo-bats and Demo-dogs and even Demogorgons lurking throughout the town now?

In case I’m not being obvious enough about this, the small town of Hawkins Indiana has been turned to Hell on Earth. A real life Dungeon Crawl.

And it’s up to our party of heroes— The Paladin, The Cleric, The Mage, The Ranger, and the Bard, to save it and reawaken their fallen Zoomer.

Stranger Things 5 is going to be one giant IRL Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The first episodes of each season usually start off lighthearted to establish the new dynamic with everyone, but Season Five’s first episode is “The Crawl”, in which they establish how bad things really are this time. This time, they lost. They lost Max. They lost Eddie. This isn’t just the final fight. This is war.

And Hawkins is Ground Zero.

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #max mayfield #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #eleven hopper #stranger things 5 #stranger things theory #lumax

[wri0thesley]

TIGHNARI AND APHRODISIAC SHROOMS UR BRAIN IS SO HUGE do NOT apologise for it I could kiss you right now !! Tighnari is so sweet and thoughtful surely he would never :(( right :((

(thinking about him slipping something into ur food when you’re not looking, praying to whichever god that you’ll come to him begging for his help later)

cw: drugging, yandere, dub-con, not sfw

you're not entirely sure what's wrong with you; cannot properly put a description to the prickling heat and the ache inside of you that has come on since this evening's dinner. you do try and sneak a look at some of the other rangers, to see if they're experiencing something similar - whilst you're all, by now, experts on which mushrooms and fungi and plants are poisonous, there's always the chance that something that's been used in a dish has been contaminated - but nobody but you appears to have had such an adverse reaction.

there's only one thing for it.

you try your best not to bother tighnari with trivial matters; in fact, you lie in your little hut for what seems like hours, pushing off all of the blankets and trying to ignore the fact that your entire body seems like it’s on fire, but nothing seems to do anything to quell the heat. you sweat and sigh and whimper, tossing your head, desperately hoping that it goes off - and at three in the morning, you give up, and you try and put on the least amount of clothes that’s still decent and use the cover of darkness to find your way to the general watchleader’s hut--

tighnari’s ears are sensitive from miles away, and they’re particularly attuned by now to the sounds that you make. he hears the whimpers and the sighs, hears you pad along the wooden constructions, hears your heavy breathing and the soft moan that falls from your lips when - he imagines - your thighs press together and the friction provides a modicum of relief. inside, he is giddy; he has been waiting for this. but when you come to his door and sniffle out something about how you hurt, you think you’re running a fever, is there anything he can do . . . he is as kind and comforting as ever, gently chastising you for not coming sooner.

closes the door behind him. takes your temperature and clicks his tongue and says that he’ll prepare some herbal medicine, lay down on the bed and wait for him - purposely lets his bare fingertips (you woke him from his ‘sleep’, after all - of course he’s only in a pair of cotton pyjamas with a hole cut for his tail. he needs to sleep in things that are easy to shrug off so he can get dressed quickly in an emergency). brush over your own bare skin. 

. . . the feel of tighnari’s fingers on you is heavenly. your lashes flutter, your throat bobs, and you stifle a moan. tighnari’s tail swishes, ears twitching, a deep intake of breath - and then he touches you again, gently asking if that’s soothing you any. 

it is. he continues; pretending to be entirely professionally concerned and hoping that the light in his eyes isn’t too strong. pushes up the hem of your shirt, touching your bare stomach - your mind hazy, arching your back for him until his hands are cupping your breasts and his thumbs are trailing circles over your nipples and your breath is heaving. 

it’s important to tighnari that you ask him; that you think that this is all your own fault and not his. he sighs and asks you if you’ve been near a particular kind of flora recently, says something about the gases and continues to tell you off even as he’s pinching at the hardening buds, slipping a hand down the front of your thin pyjama shorts to brush over your heated sex. you’re too far gone to question him, just mumbling tearful apologies and canting your hips up and begging him to touch you more, you’re sorry you’re sorry you’re sorry--

well. tighnari acts a little put upon, as if his cock isn’t boring a hole through what he’s wearing; sighs at you, all weary, and says that he can ease the symptoms if that’s what you really want. just say the word; tighnari’s a nice young man, he’s not going to touch you without your explicit consent--

(after your explicit consent is given, though . . . he’s insatiable. rough tongue dragging over bare skin, fingers tipped with almost claws digging into your hips, nose buried between your thighs as he rasps out how good you smell in between hungry laps of your slick . . . rutting into you like an animal in heat. knotting you, pressing his teeth into your bare shoulders, fucking you and fucking you and fucking you and loving the smell of you needy and wanting and the sound of your high-pitched whimpers and whines. normally, he would hate those . . . but if they’re from you--).

in the morning, you find that your itinerary for patrols has changed; that tighnari is having your hut re-assigned so it’s closer to his. he tuts at you and shakes his head and tells you that you clearly need a little re-education in safety within the avidya forest. from now on, the two of you will spend more time together. he’s even finagled some private time for meals--

(he has a supply of the powdered mushrooms he slipped into your curry last night, and he knows exactly where to pick more). 

#not sfw text #yandere tighnari #yandere genshin impact #drugging for ts #genshin impact posting #concept postin #dub con for ts #yandere for ts

[tokkishouse]

heyyy, okay so I read the cute lil Tighnari post and I died a lil (a lot actually, it was so cute pls my heart can't take it) If you have the time could you pls post more abt him 👁👁

I physically need more of that man, it doesn't really matter if it's sfw or nsfw or both. I just need more posts on this man or I will fall over and die 🛐

You 🤝 Me --> Needing more Tighnari content Say no more babes.

(Sfw) Tighnari as a Boyfriend

Characters: Tighnari x GN!Reader

Warnings: Slightly suggestive, subtle yandere themes

WC: 0.8k words

Fennec foxes mate for life. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Tighnari is loyal to a fault. Some of the villagers and even fellow rangers may try to woo him, but his eyes are focused on you and you alone

This also applies in the opposite direction-- if anyone flirts with you, he's by your side and growling at the offender, canines bared and ready to bite. Poor Al-Haitham got a bit of a shock when an off-handed, semi-flirtatious statement earned him a bone-chilling glare from Tighnari and the feeling of claws around his neck. Please give this man all of your attention

Gets very excited if you groom his ears and tails-- he likes to keep them nice and presentable for you and what better way to do that than to have you preen as you see fit?

Speaking of grooming-- if you do a particularly favorable job at it, he'll purr. Idc if foxes cant purr, Tighnari can. It's barely audible, trading sound for power as it's strong enough to be felt all over your body. Once he's purring you've won-- you could ask him anything and he'll probably say yes to it

Always brings you something from his expeditions-- from flowers to unique plants and strange creatures-- as long as he's vetted it to be safe, Tighnari will bring it home for you to keep. His tail curls up in anxiety as he watches you carefully inspect the gifts he brings home, but it always relaxes when he sees your delighted smile and you look at him with such adoration keep your eyes only on him

Speaking of his tail, it's the biggest indicator of his mood. If it's still, he's either in a neutral state or very focused. If it's swaying back and forth, he's calm and perhaps happy-- the faster it sways the happier he is. If it drags behind him on the floor like it has no life, he's upset. And if it curls up very tightly he may be a tad excited.

It also naturally seeks you out. If you stand next to him, it automatically wraps itself around your leg, waist, or just all over your body. You're familiar and safe, and it's a way of staying as close and connected to you as possible. It does make for some unfortunate moments when one of you decides to move abruptly, tugging the poor thing hard and lightly spraining it.

He will lecture you if you get in trouble or hurt yourself, but not out of anger-- only frustration and worry. He loves you very dearly and he doesn't want to think of a world without you. Tighnari's lectures are just another way of him expressing his concern for you and your safety. This also means that before you go anywhere, even if it's down the road to a local merchant, he'll make sure you have an emergency pack fully stocked. He can't have you tripping over a root and injuring yourself, and without anything to self-treat, now can he?

The cooler seasons are the best time to cuddle with him-- the fur on his ears and tail get slightly thicker to adjust to the falling temperatures, which makes sleeping curled up against the tail all the more comforting. Its extra warmth makes cool breezes and nightly chills a thing of the past.

While he does have a nickname or two for you, he doesn't call you by it often. Saying your name is loving as it is-- it's your name. It carries the weight of your history and how far you've come-- who you are. To him, that is the most precious thing and every time he says your name, all that information floods his brain as he conjures up the image of you, his lovely partner. During more sappy and romantic moments though, he will throw in a nickname for you here and there.

He may tease and be sarcastic with you, but if you express your discomfort, he'll stop immediately. However, if you can match his snarkiness and shoot back your own witty retorts, you'll have him completely ensnared. An off-handed comment turns into a full-blown snark fest with neither of you willing to give up until you leave the other completely stumped. It makes those around you either annoyed or amused. After all, anyone that can keep up with Tighnari's wit is sure to make a worthy opponent.

All in all, Tighnari is a very caring boyfriend with his own quirks. If you're lucky enough to be chosen by him, you'll have quite the satisfactory relationship-- one that only inspires joy and free love. Just be mindful not to set off one of his more fox-like instincts. It often can get...messy.

Requests (both sfw and nsfw) are open~! If you want a nsfw version of this lmk

#genshin impact x reader #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact tighnari x reader #genshin impact tighnari #genshin headcanons #tighnari fluff #tighnari x reader fluff #tighnari headcanons #tighnari x reader #tokki writes

[ultimateanthropoll]

ROUND 2 SIDE A: you're asking me to shoot one of my children (<- did not know of either before this tournament but grew attatched)

Krteček (mole; Krteček the Mole) vs. Kabbu (beetle; Bug Fables)

PROPAGANDA UNDER THE CUT!

Krteček:

"I neeeed him to make it you don't understand"

"Krteček is really good! some epizodes are on youtube and in them they dont speak, so there is no language barrier"

a post that proves to me that he is a legend

Kabbu:

"This bug is sooo blorbo, y'all have no idea. This man canonically has done tax evasion. He has pep talks that can quite literally revive you from the dead. He is obsessed with an in-universe power rangers knockoff and has a whole side quest involving him and a plushie of the character who's just like him (frfr). Somewhat related, he is just. Trying so hard. To be a hero. Altruistic, almost to a fault, he rushes to try and help however he can. While he might not be the MOST in depth character ever, his character and the arc he goes through, just gives me so many emotions/feelings and it hits different. My precious babygirl sunshine who can do nothing wrong ever, and if he ever commits murder, it will be justified."

#round 2 #poll tournament #krtek #mole interest #jskfkj srry #krteček #kabbu #bug fables kabbu #bug fables

[mlmxreader]

My Favourite Shadow | Aragorn x gn!reader

『••✎••』

↳ ❝ Hi!

How you doing?

Was wondering if I could request "It's you and me, always" with Aragorn please?

Thank you have a nice night ! :) ❞

: ̗̀➛ Aragorn has a favourite Ranger, and that Ranger has a favourite shadow

: ̗̀➛ VERY mild violence references

•───────────────★•♛•★──────────────•

Aragorn gently nudged you as he came to sit down at your left, just letting you know that he was there and he was alright. He had come back in one piece. From the corner of his eye, be could see the candles flicker gently as the evening breeze softly caressed the windows outside.

The fur blankets on the bed looked all too tempting, soft and warm, and cosy beyond compare, and with it being so late at night, it was the only thing that he could think of - sleeping in a warm, soft, dry bed.

It was a huge change from what he had been used to the past few months; cold hard ground with damp mud that would squish loudly and sink with the slightest of movements.

For months he had been sleeping like that, and the temptation of an actual bed was more than hard and difficult to ignore. Temptation of such a thing was always so hard to ignore.

As a shiver ran down from his shoulders all the way to the soles on his feet, Aragorn could only let his body tremble slightly; you seemed to be utterly unphased by the cold, leaning against him as a quiet hum slipped from the back of your throat.

Your hand came to rest on top of his, gently resting on his thigh; he turned his hand over so his palm faced upwards, fingers lacing with yours as he gave you a little squeeze.

Reassurance mixed with remorse. Aragorn looked at you with an awful fondness, his lips turned into a slight smile as if he was musing and thinking of something of great importance.

Slowly, his wonderful grey eyes dropped to your lips, and he leaned in a little closer, letting you close the distance as he always did. It was a gentle and slow kiss, you let go of his hand, lacing your fingers into the long dark hairs at the back of his head.

You grinned into the kiss just as he did, giddy to know that you were both with each other again and that you were not going to be apart for a good long while. Inseparable once again.

More than anything you both could feel an overwhelmingly harsh amount of relief, so much so that there were tears prickling in the corner of your eyes and threatening to spill.

Two Rangers were a rare sight and then some. Two Rangers often meant a lot of trouble - orcs or goblins or large packs of giant spiders or trolls. But not you and Aragorn.

The locals came to know and understand that you and Aragorn together meant almost next to nothing; the pair of you were often seen together and no one really ever took more than a single glance either way. They did not care what happened behind closed doors in the slightest, thankfully.

But now Aragorn was far more concerned with getting to bed, and smiled as he pulled away.

His cold and rough hands settled on your cheeks, his thumbs gently moving up and down slowly and softly as you smiled and leaned into his tender grip. A soft sigh came from you as you closed your eyes for a moment.

"I am glad to see you again," he whispered so softly. "I missed you so terribly... I must apologise for being gone for so long, I am truly sorry."

You shook your head, telling him that although you did appreciate his concern and candour, it was not his fault that he had been gone for so long. "That's nonsense. I missed you, too, I truly did... but the good news is that I took care of the spiders in the valleys... big brutes they were - white with red crosses on them. Never seen anything like that... they didn't want to go down in the slightest."

"I am proud," Aragorn replied with sincerity and a grin, "to take such a task by yourself - I am very proud of you, my beloved. I never would have been able to do it on my own."

"I tell you, it was not easy," you laughed softly as you pulled away slightly, enough to be able to look into those pretty grey eyes of his.

"No?" Aragorn mused, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"No," you shook your head as you laughed so softly again. "It would have been far easier with you at my side, and with me at yours."

"Well, what do you expect?" He mused so kindly as he gazed at you so sweetly. "Did we not make the vow that it's you and me, always? It's me and you until there are no more stars. No more moon. No more mountains. It is always you and me, is it not?"

You nodded slowly, on the very brink of grinning ad you cleared your throat and licked your lips. "Just as the sky is blue and mice are brown. As long as there are valleys and mountains, I am yours, and you are mine... and I will always find my way back to you, back to my home."

"And I will always follow," Aragorn agreed with a soft whisper. "My Ranger, I will always follow your shadow. Until my last breath."

"Follow me now," you murmured, gripping his hands tightly and leading him towards the bed. "Follow me where it's warm and soft and dry."

"Happily," he agreed, hoping that you would sleep to his right. "Let me follow your shadow."

You got into the bed, lifting up the fur blankets so Aragorn could get beneath them; instinct kicked in, and you snuggled into his side almost immediately as you yawned and stretched.

He grinned, kissing your forehead before letting his body lose its tension; he listened to your breathing for a moment, closing his eyes.

"You will always be my favourite shadow," you murmured under your breath. "Always there when I want you around. Always by my side... I love you..."

#mlem writes #aragorn x reader #aragorn x you #aragorn imagine #aragorn fanfiction #lotr aragorn #aragorn lotr #aragorn #lotr x reader #lotr x you #lotr x y/n #lotr imagine #lotr fic #lotr fanfiction #lotr fanfic #lord of the rings x reader #lord of the rings x you #lord of the rings x y/n #lord of the rings imagine #lord of the rings fanfiction #lord of the rings fic #lord of the rings fluff #lord of the rings #lotr fluff #aragorn fluff

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I told my mom what my dad did.

I (16 f) went through a very traumatic event last year that I won't go into much detail. I was camping at goblin Valley for a school field trip, and all my family came, except my dad. On the last day, I was almost kidnapped, and was missing for about 1 1/2. I told my mom and teacher what happened. And the next day I told the Rangers.

My mom made sure that I knew it wasn't my fault. And made it a point that I felt safe.

I didn't go to therapy that year though, because I didn't like the idea of being locked alone in a room with a man. And he didn't help to much. I'm autistic, and he didn't work with many autistic people.

I also told my mom I did not want to talk to our Bishop about it. I have her permission to tell my dad, and eventually my siblings. I didn't stay in the room though.

A few weeks after the traumatic event, I went to help my dad and brother move something for a friend. The bishop and a few other guys came. My dad casually brought up in conversation my traumatic event. And I had to retell the entire story to these guys.

Afterwards, my bishop told me, “Atleast now you know better.” it honestly made my heart break hearing an adult I trusted to tell me that. And after that I started blaming myself for what had happened

I went to the car, and pretended I was checking up on our dog in there.( the window was rolled down, and the car was left on).

It's been over a year since that, and I know I could have told my mom, but I didn't want to be the cause of a fight. And I know my dad will never apologize.

The only reason I'm even considering it is because Im back in therapy with a new therapist. She's great, and got me my diagnoses of ptsd. I am currently on my trauma narrative, which means we are going over the traumatic event, and making it to be just a part of my story in life, and not the story of my life.

But what my dad did has really affected me. And when I talked to my brother about what my dad did, he also agreed it was messed up. It broke any trust I had with my dad, and he has done nothing to gain it back. The closest thing he even tries to get involved with my therapy was to sit in the background, playing games on his phone.

So WIBTA

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[bigtreefest]

Chapter 2: Heartbreak on the Map

From: Bigger Houses Series

Pairing: (Future) Mountain Ranger! Ari x Reader, Ari x his ex mentioned

Summary: It’s okay to grieve and sulk after a breakup, but at some point, you need to gather yourself together and find the things that make you the happiest, best version of yourself. This is Ari trying to do that, but not perfectly.

Word Count: 1,643

Content/Warnings: Mentions of excessive alcohol consumption, heartbreak and descriptions of how it’s dealt with, Ari being reckless but lucky, lovesick/hopeful thoughts despite a previously broken heart, angst high key stress me out, but did I just write some???, lmk if I missed any

Author’s Note: I honestly like this chapter way better than the first one. I’m not sure why it just flowed better and was way easier to write, despite being shorter. As always, likes, comments, reblogs, and asks are very appreciated. Please send me an ask, I’m begging.

Dividers by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

Below is the song this is based off. I strongly suggest you listen, not only because it helps give vibes, but it’s also a really good song with creative lyricism.

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Ari’s breakup

This barstool knew his name by now, as he sat there sometime around midnight nursing another longneck beer, alongside a couple abandoned whiskey glasses. He’d asked around town if anyone had seen her. That girl. The one that did him wrong, left him here sitting like an old, sad country song. That kind that bars play all night long on the jukebox. He’d know that’s what they play, he was there every night. He didn’t know where to look anymore.

Ari had no idea where she could possibly be at this point. Could have been west of Texas, east of Tennessee, but he didn’t care. Because all that mattered was that she wasn’t here with him anymore. It all went south, and maybe she did, too, as he watched her taillights fade in a dust cloud. No goodbye kiss. Ari was left to wonder, with only whiskey on his lips.

He had hardly slept in weeks. The beer and whiskey sometimes had the opposite intended effect, not aiding his sleep, but keeping him up to overthink. The truth was, he knew why the relationship ended. It wasn’t his fault, and he could tell it wasn’t meant to be from the start. But he was mostly happy, and he thought that’s what he deserved: to be mostly happy and to settle down because it seemed that was all she wanted. But that’s all he was doing: settling. She never pushed him, unless it was to find a way to make more money and support her, but Ari didn’t truly want that life. He didn’t want to come home to a perfect little housewife. But she wanted that. And she kept pushing, and he kept molding himself to her demands, because love is compromise, right?

No. Not if it’s only on one side.

Despite knowing better in the back of his head, Ari convinced himself there was something he could do. Making use of another restless night, he threw the covers off and shuffled out of the bedroom and into the rest of his small shack of a cabin provided by his ranger job. He found himself sprawled at the dining room table with papers scattered all over, a magnifying glass in hand. He had looked through his old maps, trying to find all routes she could’ve possibly taken, but instead, all that he saw was heartbreak. She put it there. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, letting out a deep sigh in frustration. Frustration of wasted years, frustration at himself for trying to talk himself into something he knew was wrong. That’s why he never got a ring, even when she pushed. He knew it wasn’t meant to be. So she left, for someone who had her ring waiting.

Losing her was heart wrenching, but also, a relief. Slipping out of your uncomfortable shoes and unbuttoning your pants after a six-mile hike kind of relief. Ari knew the one for him was still out there, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still hurting. He needed to recover the places she’d been with new memories: starting with the living room. No need for the bedroom, at least. (Another product of the voice at the back of his mind that knew she wasn’t right.) So he flopped down on the couch, tv low in the background, staring up at the ceiling, humming one of the heartbreak songs from the bar until sleep embraced him.

Ari woke up with cramps in his back and a sore neck from curling up on the couch that was just barely too small for his tall, broad frame. It was still dark out. His phone was plugged in at the night stand by the bed, so he walked over to the kitchen. The clock on the stove read 5:48 am. Might as well start getting ready for the day. He put on a pot of coffee and opened the fridge to look for leftovers to heat up. While that was going, he shuffled back to his closet and slipped on his uniform, ready to start another day in the only place that gave him true peace: the mountains. (Luckily, the only other place she hadn’t tainted. She hated the out doors.)

Ari’s days carried on like this for weeks. Wake up too early. Make coffee. Go to work. Come home. Try and sleep. Look through old paper maps. He loved routine, it often kept him sane, but he was spiraling. He needed to figure out a new one. He was sick of moping around and he was sick of putting himself down like he had done something wrong. How was she still able to hold him back after being gone? He was going to start living his life for himself again. He needed to find the schedule and the things that truly made him happy. But first, dinner.

A few months later

One of the routine things that kept Ari sane now: cleaning the house. He needed a true, clean slate, so we went and cleared off the dining room table, nicely refolding the maps which had laid there for months. Despite him having been single for so long now, he kept them there. They used to give him peace and comfort. Ari liked his old, paper maps. It was easier to see it all laid out instead of crammed onto his tiny phone. His place was a lot like that: full of things he could do with his hands, like mini projects, instead of being glued to a screen all day. But she had tainted it: she tainted his favorite things. It wasn’t as bad now, but his nervous evergy kept building up and he needed to get out of there so he didn’t scream.

Another aspect of Ari’s healing: working out. Any time he got like this and couldn’t stand being in the small space anymore, he ran. He ran until he drove all those what-ifs and doubts out of his mind, along the mountain trails and out to the cliffs where it was just him and the sky, overlooking the small town below, dwarfed even more by the mountainous elevation. He slipped on his tennis shoes and bolted out the door as quickly as he could. The mid-week afternoon air was refreshing. All he could focus on was go farther. Go faster. He kept running and running, through the trails, and didn’t even have a second thought to look when crossing the road, the music blaring in his headphones making him unable to hear any cars approaching as they went along the mountain path. As he stepped out onto the road, Ari saw movement out of the corner of his eye and his head snapped. Before he knew it, anhorn sounded and a car swerved around him, skidding to a stop as it pulled over on the narrow mountain pass. Ari jumped back into the greenery lining the road, surprised at his own recklessness that he usually preaches against. Another SUV pulled over right behind the first as he heard a driver’s side door slam shut. He could faintly hear a conversation between two women, followed by one of them emerging from between the cars.

“Oh my gosh! I thought you were a bear! I almost hit you!”

Ari was in shock from how careless he was and how he watched his life flash before his eyes.

“I-it’s really my fault. I’m not sure what I was thinking.”

He stood there with wide eyes, hands on his hips, shoulders rising and falling quickly with heavy breaths, truly in bewilderment at what had just gone down, as well as bewilderment at the woman standing before him. Something about her was so captivating that he had to force himself to look away after taking her in, hoping she didn’t think he was a creep from his reaction.

“Um, it’s ok, I just think you need to be more careful. Listen, I don’t wanna be pulled over on this stretch of road for too long, God forbid a real bear, or someone without good reflexes comes around, but, I’m glad you’re not hurt. Take care.”

And with that she rushed away, leaving Ari standing there in shock before he could even squeak another word out. He watched her and the trailing SUV until they rounded the bend and went further up the mountain.

Huh, there was only one house Ari knew of up there. It’s where an older couple used to stay during the summers, and he had only been inside once to help fix something after they sought out the ranger in his cabin, but he remembers it having the best view he could imagine, despite the cabin’s modest size. It was pretty much the perfect home. What a was she doing going up there?

Realizing he had stayed standing eerily close to the road for too long, Ari decided it was probably time to head back since the sun had started to set. He trudged through the tall trees and deeply inhaled the sharp pine scent that opened his airways and comforted him as it wrapped around him like a blanket. This was his domain, and he truly enjoyed the sanctity of his environment, but he still wished he had someone to share his favorite things with. An equal partner who appreciated this environment as much as him, but still had their own wants and didn’t force him to be what he wasn’t.

As he made his was back to his front steps, Ari looked up at the unobstructed stars that danced into the sky during his long walk home, shining brightly like every night. He couldn’t help but wonder if the one for him was looking up, sharing the same sky as him. The one who could one day share his heart.

Next >

#Spotify #Ari Levinson #mountain ranger! ari x reader #mountain ranger ari x reader #mountain ranger! ari #mountain ranger Ari #park ranger ari #park ranger! ari #heartbreak on the map #bigger houses #bigger houses series #dan + shay #bigger houses chapter 2 #bigger houses chapter 2 heartbreak on the map #ari levinson fanfiction #red sea diving resort #chris Evans

[qingxin-dream]

Burning for You

a/n | BASED ON GENSHIN 3.0 LEAKS!⚠️ …okay, so i have a confession. two things… one, i believe in love at first sight. and two, i am hopelessly in love with tighnari. <3 wrote this in a few hours high off of my new fav dendro main so i hope it’s okay! (art credits: u/murasakisumire on reddit)

warnings | character leaks, slight profanity, probably ooc tighnari but i’m having fun with it anyway :)

genre | fluff, smug tighnari likes to tease you

word count | 1.1k

pairing | tighnari x reader

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

In the humid wilderness of Sumeru’s lush rainforests, there was no room for error as a forest ranger. It was a matter of life or death—eat or be eaten.

The vast majority of the rainforest was relatively untouched by civilization and teeming with vibrant creatures of all shapes, sizes, and abilities. As a ranger, you were expected to be an expert in animal and vegetation identification, and able to sense danger through disturbances in the surrounding ecosystem.

You had been reminded of this requirement on numerous occasions by your superior, yet somehow you defied all natural laws with how you constantly attracted trouble. Sometimes it’s a simple, easily avoidable mistake on your part, but other times it turned into a horde of enemies charging in your direction with no obvious escape in sight.

As a result, you were assigned under the direct supervision of the Lead Forest Ranger, Tighnari, for special training. But it wasn’t your fault you magically invited danger everywhere you went. At first, you were quite intimidated by the long-eared ranger. You knew he was the best of the best, so the stakes were high. If you messed this up, maybe you really were hopeless.

Expeditions were extremely silent and awkward with your new companion. After a while of suffering from solitude, you had tried to get to know him more, but it proved to be difficult.

“Hey, ‘Nari,” you would inquire softly as he was focused on referencing an encyclopedia from his pack.

An ear would twitch accompanied by a nearly indiscernible hum, eyes not breaking from his work once. “Yes, (Y/N)?”

“Um, do you ever take a break?” you sheepishly asked, rubbing the back of your neck nervously. He raised a brow, promptly closing his book, and touched his chin in thought. Worried you had offended him, you continued, “L-like do you do anything for fun?”

“This is fun, is it not?” Tighnari replied nonchalantly. “I love my work.”

It was true. All Tighnari would ever discuss with you was about Dawson Rainforest. Such was the extent of any line of questioning you could think of. You could rarely ever get a reaction out of him, not that you wanted to tease him—well, maybe you wouldn’t mind to see the quiet and clever Tighnari devolve into a stuttering, blushing mess at least once.

But that is beside the point. You felt ignored and lonely. Breaking the ice was useless. You were going to have to be a lot more forward if you wanted to get Tighnari’s attention.

Which ultimately led you to this moment months later, as you snap out of your thoughts staring at the burning embers rising from the campfire. You like to think your relationship had improved or you understood each other better since then. At the very least, your skills were improving and working with him in a team wasn’t as bad as it used to be.

You both had set up camp together less than an hour ago after completing your duties since you were too far from the main base to lodge for the night. Tighnari had just set his ranger journal aside, pale green eyes locked onto you.

A strange rush of heat spread across your cheeks in embarrassment. You prayed to the Archons it wasn’t noticeable. Had he said something and you completely missed it? Why is he looking at you like that?

You cleared your throat, unsure of what to say since he still scarcely gives you the time of day, “What?”

Perfect. You were such a great conversationalist, you reprimanded yourself silently.

“You were lost in thought,” he observed, lips pursing slightly in disappointment. “I… apologize if I have come across as rude in the past.”

“No!” you insisted, shaking your head frantically and laughing it off. “That’s not why at all. Don’t worry about it. Just feeling bored I guess?”

“You must always remain vigilant. As you can tell, none of the wildlife here seem bored in all their clamoring even in the darkness of night,” Tighnari notes out of habit, but he pauses for a second before shaking his head too and scooting next to you. “But we aren’t on a mission so I suppose I may entertain your antics this time.”

Did the flame of the fire suddenly grow hotter? Your cheeks flushed with another intense wave of heat when Tighnari grew near, surely it wasn’t your Pyro vision acting up. Then again, every time the lead ranger draws close, you swear you can feel the fiery pulse of your vision on your chest. Or was that your heart leaping?

His bright jade eyes flickered knowingly from your vision to meet your skeptical gaze, a playful, smug smile threatening to tug at the corner of his mouth.

“Do you enjoy this, ‘Nari? Making me—!” you accused in shock, words abruptly trailing off as you find yourself nearly admitting your embarrassment. “Argh. This is what you actually do for fun, isn’t it?”

“Me? I could never partake in such fruitless endeavors,” he responded with an innocent wave of his bushy raven tail, rotten mischief dripping from each word on his tongue.

“Oh, but the excitement is just radiating from you, go ahead. I’m ready to hear the great Tighnari speak to me finally,” you retorted sarcastically in a huff.

“I would be more inclined to say it’s written all over you, (Y/N),” his voice lowers as he leans in ever so slightly, tall ears towering over you in an almost intimidating manner. “I’m… not as oblivious as you may think.”

Fuck, the fennec fox never cared to talk to you and the minute he opens his mouth it was your downfall. Your breath hitched subconsciously, the only confirmation Tighnari needed, a sharp-toothed smirk adorning his smug expression. You hated it.

You had quickly learned long ago he had a penchant for teasing and trickery, and you always walked right into his traps. After all this time pushing you away and reeling you back in at will with his wit, he knew he had you wrapped around his finger. You were utterly touch-starved and Tighnari reveled in it, lightly grazing the back of his fingers against your hot cheek.

His pearlescent irises glimmered and marveled at you—a predator helplessly enamored with his prey.

“This isn’t fair, ‘Nari,” you whispered, lidded eyes watching with longing as he slowly inches further toward you. The instinct to pull away crosses your mind, just to deny him the victory, but how could you when the promise of his lips was so imminent?

He brushed his nose against yours gently in a loving nuzzle, whispering onto your lips, “Neither is this burning in my heart for you now, is it?”

Tighnari could hardly restrain himself any longer, drinking in your scent like this so intimately, inevitably succumbing to your sweet lips in a passionate display of desire. When he held your cheek or trailed his hand down to your waist, you felt that familiar burst of your Pyro vision glowing alongside his Dendro one—his touch consuming you with an aching need for more.

You almost considered caressing his long ears when he nibbled at your bottom lip, until he broke the kiss with a soft smile and couldn’t resist indulging in your addicting taste once more.

thanks for reading! reblogs are appreciated! my masterlist.

#[opulent dreams].✿ #genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact imagines #genshin imagines #genshin x reader #genshin leaks #genshin 3.0 #genshin sumeru #genshin tighnari #tighnari x reader #tighnari

[crimsonji]

Hello! Thank you for doing requests! I absolutely adore your work - you're a real blessing for the fandom :)

So it'd make me so happy to get an request done by you so I will try my luck and submit smth: how about a Cyno&Tighnari with a gn reader who tends to purr right beside their ear to get themself out of a situation cause they know they're so weak for them and their purring at the end of a sentence. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. We know how Cyno and Tighnari can be sometimes but I just find it so appealing to get them flustered cause of smth simple like this heh. (If you dont want to write for both, you can choose one ofc!)

Thank you in advance! Have a wonderful day

୨୧ cyno and tighnari get flustered from their s/o

ft. tighnari, cyno x gn!reader (seperate)

cw: fluff, vry short

>> 🍁 kazuha’s musings : ahh thank u for the compliment I’m happy,,,ty for this request it was very cute! I hope YOU have a wonderful day

✦ Tighnari

Tighnari's sense of hearing is extremely heightened compared to humans, and the first time you unexpectedly brought your lips close to his ear and let out the softest purr you can muster. He keeps a straight face, but the sudden twitch of his ears and the stiffness of his tail was a clear enough indication that your little trick worked like a charm.

He'll be quick to recollect himself, shooting you an unamused look before flicking your forehead as punishment "Don't think you can get away with this by doing... that." Tighnari acts all straitlaced, but you can see the pink blush on his cheeks when he finishes his sentence. He could fake any expression with mastery yet the angle and flick of his fox ears always gave away his true feelings, and he hated how obviously flustered he was whenever his ear twitched against the low purr from your lips. And archons, the knowing smirk that danced across your features only made Tighnari feel more embarrassed.

Really, Tighnari holds himself in higher regard than not getting so tongue-tied over a kitty purr, but he guesses the moment he caught feelings for you was the day he gave up said dignity. He found you attractive more than he'd like to lead on, and a strange part of him partially enjoyed the sound—even if it meant you were just trying to save face. There was an instance where you had snuck off from your forest ranger duties for whatever reason, and soon enough Tighnari had caught you and was fully prepared to give you a wordy lecture. But every word got stuck in his throat when you oh-so innocently pleaded with him, that annoyingly soft purr hitting Tighnari's sensitive ears.

He only sighs, chastely rubbing at his ears and pinching your cheek with a mean glare "Fine, fine, you win. Don't think this isn't gonna have any consequences, though."

Said consequence was that your ear scratching and tail petting privileges were taken away for a short while. Can you blame him, though? It’s your fault you make him feel this way…

✦ Cyno

Cyno was... caught off guard, to say the least, and it's very rare to see "Cyno" and "off guard" in the same sentence. Maybe this would be strange to some people, but the General Mahamatra had happened to be a lovesick fool when it came to his partner. Basically everything you do has him enthralled and captured in your grasp, but he seldom expresses these intense feelings of his like a moron. He visibly stiffens when that lovely sound leaves you, whatever he was mildly scolding you about almost being completely forgotten as Cyno's mentally processing what he just heard come from you. It was cute, he thought, purposely attempting to not meet your sly gaze while still trying to come off as intimidating (It didn't work very well, but at least you were amused.)

He does his best to save face by faking a cough, fist hiding his bit lip and a tinted red to his dark skin. He watches you smile happily, glints of sinister thoughts behind your features; but before he could say anything, you were already gone... Did Cyno really let you get away? And with little to no effort, too, just from a purr. At this point, Cyno's realized his utter defeat to you, almost mad at himself for falling for such a typical tactic. You're lucky you're pretty because anyone else who could try this would be met with the sharp edge of Cyno's golden polearm.

No matter how many times you've done this Cyno still feels just as flustered as the first time, stomach tied into a million knots and heart practically melting at the ringing of his ears. It's surprisingly easy to rile him up like this, even if you felt taken aback when you saw the profound effect it had on your lover. However, if you pulled your little stunt in front of others, it'd be so difficult for Cyno to still seem apathetic, praying to any archons listening that his friend Tighnari doesn't see the subtle changes in his speech or body language—unfortunately for him, it seems that Tighnari had seen right through Cyno just like you had.

Poor guy's so confused, too, on why he feels so strangely fuzzy at the sound of your purring, an action so plain in itself yet making the matra's heart swell... He might be a bit more lenient if you do this in the privacy of your home, stripped of all his inhibitions and letting himself adore you to pieces.

#[🍁] kazuha's haiku collection #[💌] letters of songbird #cyno x reader #tighnari x reader #cyno x you #tighnari x you #cyno fluff #tighnari fluff #genshin impact #genshin fanfic #genshin

[five-rivers]

Waking the Woods

AO3

Sequel to Rumors of the Woods of the Kingdom of Amity.

For @summerssixecho and @modordracena

Danny was sorting through the pantry, hoping to get all the misplaced poisons put back in the red cabinet before his parents came home the day after next.  More inedible substances would inevitably be stored in the pantry once they came back, but Danny would do just about anything to avoid eating another bezoar for just a little bit longer.  

Also, getting poisoned sucked, but that went without saying.  

His sister, Jazz, was gone, too, but that wasn’t unusual.  She’d gotten an invitation to study at the College of Elmerton, and of course she had to go, even if it was in another country.  

Which meant that he was the only one home when he heard the knock.  It also meant that he was so startled by it that he propelled his head into the underside of one of the pantry shelves at speed.

No one knocked on their door.  Ever.  Even the paying customers were more of the ‘let ourselves in’ type.  

Danny staggered out of the pantry, head spinning slightly.  Ow.  

The knock came again, this time taking on a decidedly frantic character.  Danny shook himself, and patted his head down.  No blood.  Great!  He walked to the door, half convinced that he’d find someone who was both out of town and very lost, but determined to be polite.  Show people it was possible for a Fenton to have manners!  Not their fault he smacked his head into the shelf.  

He slid open the door and immediately got punched in the face.  

“Oh, gods, I’m so sorry– Where did the door go?”

“It slides,” explained Danny, clutching his face.  “Sideways.  Ow.”

“I’m really sorry, I was just knocking.  I didn’t realize–”

“I know, I know.”  Probably, the whole ‘nobody knocks’ thing was the only thing keeping this from happening much more often.  He peeled his hands away from his face and took in his visitor as well as he could, given his temporarily blurry vision.  

Dark skin, yellow cloak, vividly red hat that had to be violating at least a dozen sumptuary laws…  There was only one person Danny had ever met that dressed like that.

“Tucker?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Tucker, sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.  “Surprise?”

“In more ways than one.”  Danny touched his face tenderly.  “Ow.”

“I am sorry.”

“It’s fine,” said Danny, deciding not to mention that he’d done much worse to himself not five minutes ago.  “Come on in.  What are you doing here, anyway?  I haven’t seen you since, uh…”  When had it been, anyway?

“Since I got apprenticed, I know.”

“Yeah!”  Tucker hadn’t been happy about it, but as his parents had said, felting was good, steady work.  People always needed cloth.  “Don’t tell me you’ve already finished your apprenticeship.”

“Uh, no.  It is sort of about that, though.”

Danny paused, halfway to the living room.  “You’re not running away, are you?”  Tucker had never seen the type, but it had been years.  

“No,” said Tucker.  “But, uh.  It’s sort of complicated.  It’ll take a little bit to explain.”

“Alright,” said Danny, continuing into the room until he could perch on the edge of his mother’s rocker.  “Go ahead.”

“Right.  So.  Every ten years or so, the weavers’ and felters’ guilds get together to negotiate with the shepherds about prices.  Tanner’s guild, too, sometimes, but not this year.  This year, my master got chosen to go.  Which meant I was at loose ends."

"So you came to visit me?" asked Danny, touched. 

"Um.  No.  Maybe I would've, but at the same time, the pages at the castle all came down with carbuncle pox–"

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that."

"So, the pagemaster asked the guilds to send apprentices to fill in for them."

"And you were sent because you were at loose ends."

"Right."

They stared silently at each other.  Just when Danny was about to prompt Tucker to continue, because that had explained nothing, the other boy exploded.  

"I was sent to give a message to the princess and she had a book out about Rangers, like the one your mom always had, and I asked her why she was looking up Rangers and she said it was for a personal project and she asked me why I could read - because apparently royalty think guild apprentices can’t read, go figure, she sounded impressed, though - and I told her that I’d always wanted to join the monastery, but money, and then, you know, she was surprised I could read, I wanted to say something impressive, not be written off, and I said I knew a Ranger family, and then she said that if I could get a Ranger to help with her project, she’d pay off my apprenticeship and recommend me to the head monk, and I said I could definitely, one hundred percent do that and you’d be happy to help.  So, uh.  Yeah.  Yeah, then I came here.  What’ve you been up to?”

Danny's jaw had dropped at some point during Tucker’s ‘explanation,’ but he gathered himself.  "The attic, I guess.  Tucker…  I'm not a Ranger."

"But your parents were."

"Not… not really."  Jazz, at least, had thought they were doing the whole Ranger thing to embarrass her.  The Fentons were alchemists by trade, if not temperament.  Rangers didn't really exist any more.

"Grandparents?"

Danny shrugged.

"Come on, Danny, you're literally my only hope."

"Why do you even want to join a monastery anyway?"

"Because that's where all the books are."

Danny rubbed his head, winced, and thought about it some more.  "This project isn't some creepy rich person thing, is it?"

"What?  No.  The princess is our age!"

"So?  I'm self‐aware enough to realize that I can be creepy about…" he trailed off, blushing furiously.  "Things."

"She's a girl!"

Danny blinked.  “So?”

Tucker stared at him.  He stared at Tucker.  

“She legitimately needs a Ranger.”

“What for?  It isn’t like there’s any magic in the woods anymore.  They’ve been mapped.”

“Apparently not,” said Tucker.  “Look, I know you haven’t seen me in a long time, and we’re not close friends anymore, but you have to at least be curious.  And you’d get to meet the princess.”

Danny sighed.  “Alright, alright.  I am curious.”  Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked all those questions.  “Where am I supposed to go and when am I supposed to be there?”

“The princess wants us to meet her at the castle at noon.”

“Tucker,” said Danny.  

“Yes?”

“You want me to go to the castle.  At noon.  Today.  Looking like I just got beaten up.  And convince the princess, who has apparently done a lot of research, that I’m, what, an apprentice Ranger?  Is that even a thing?”

“An experienced Ranger.  I, uh, might have played you up a bit.”

“Tucker,” said Danny.  “You were wrong.”

Tucker hunched his shoulders.  “About?”

“Us not being close friends anymore.  You see, if we weren’t, I would be kicking you out right about now.”

“Noted.”

.

Danny did not run around like his hair was on fire for the next hour, although at one point he came perilously close to actually setting his hair on fire.  

An hour was not long enough to prepare for this.  For that matter, days wouldn’t be long enough to prepare for this.  He was an apprentice alchemist, barely, not a monster-hunter, not a warrior of any stripe, not a mage, not even a historian.  

But on the off chance that there was magic… or a creature or some sort…

He packed his travel kit with a few randomly chosen vials of caustics and poisons, making sure they were carefully separated from the vials and flasks carrying more benign brews.  Glues, solvents, and cleaners went in another compartment, salves and topicals in yet another, and things you were actually supposed to eat or drink in a fourth.  

He felt woefully underprepared.  

Tucker was really lucky he didn’t have any other friends, darn it.  

His eyes strayed back to the lockbox in the back of the storeroom.  He shouldn’t…  But odds were, the princess was delusional or just getting scammed.  He could put everything back before his parents got home.  And if the princess had found something magical, wouldn’t it be better to have something that could affect it?  Even if it was old and super questionable?

With a skill born from his parents always losing their keys, Danny picked the lock on the lockbox.  Within were two vials.  One was pale green, with a dark, glittery red mixture inside.  The other was coated with crackling, peeling red and contained a liquid that glowed green through the cracks.  The reason for these color choices was, Danny assumed, because one of his ancestors was a sadist of some variety.  

He checked the labels to make sure they were what he remembered.  Tincture of Sanguiflora magicidium in the green vial and mana pondalorum physick in the red vial.  He triple checked his memory of their effects against the booklet in the lockbox.  Only then did he put them in their own, separate, compartments.  

He was ready to go, and absolutely sure he was going to regret this in at least some way.  

Welp!  At least it’d be interesting.  

.

Danny had never actually been to the castle before.  His parents were… Well, even if they were the absolute best alchemists in the kingdom (a disputed title) they weren’t exactly welcome around anyone who might not want their clothes ruined.  Or their houses.  Or their health.  Even beyond the Ranger thing, they were pretty eccentric.  

The castle was impressive, he supposed.  But it was just a large building.  He wouldn’t want to be a guy attacking it, he was sure.  But looking at it from the outside got old, fast.

“So,” he said to Tucker, “noon, huh?”

“You know that’s just an estimate.  Not everyone has clocks.”

“I am absolutely convinced that the royal family has at least one clock.”

“Yeah, but do they know that you have a clock?  That’s the question.  And is your clock even right?”

Danny shrugged.  

One of the guards whistled at them, and for the first time, Danny saw his face.  

“Huh,” he said, “is that Dash?”

“Might be,” said Tucker.  

“You!  Boy!” snapped Dash, who was only a little older than they were.  “Are you Tucker Foley?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“And the-” Dash sneered, “-Ranger?”

“It’s not my day job.”  Or any kind of job.  Actually, was he getting paid for this?  As much as he’d like to live off air and pleasant thoughts, he did have other needs.  At this point, though, it seemed too late to ask.  

“You’re expected.  Follow me.”

Wow.  Danny didn’t know that Dash knew any words as long as ‘expected.’  Shocking.  Maybe being around all these high-class people was starting to rub off on him.  

Not far inside the gates was a…  Alright, Danny didn’t know what was going on, but it had the energy of people preparing to go somewhere, so.  Yeah.

“Your majesty, I’ve brought the felter boy and his… friend.”

“I’m sure they have names,” said a girl who was wearing a surprisingly practical riding dress, “and I know you know at least Tucker’s.”  She turned slightly towards Danny.  “And you are?”

“This is, uh, Danny, Princess Samantha,” said Tucker, bobbing bow and elbowing Danny in the side until he got a clue and did the same.  

“I’ve told you, you can call me Sam.”

“R-right.  Sam.”

Everyone in the vicinity except the princess shot them a glare so venomous Danny was tempted to get out a bezoar (ick).  The princess didn’t notice.  She was too busy examining Danny.  He straightened under her sweeping gaze.

“You don’t look like a Ranger.”

“My parents have more experience.”  Or so they claimed, anyway.  “There’s not a lot of call for Rangers these days.”

“Well, you’re the first one to come to me with even a lick of authenticity, so I suppose you’ll do,” she said, finally.   “The Fenton line, correct?  Branch of House Nightingale?”

“Um,” said Danny.  “I suppose?”  He’d heard some things like that, but if he had any Nightingale ancestors, they were buried beneath far more common people.  

“I think you might actually be the last survivors of that house.  Do either of you ride?”

Danny and Tucker shook their heads.  

“More’s the pity, although we won’t be moving at much more than a walk with all the people who insist on coming with us despite their lack of interest in our nation’s heritage.”  She sniffed.  “You will be coming of course, Tucker?”

“‘Course he will,” said Danny, looping an arm around his shoulder.  “We used to be a team when we were kids.”

“Oh?  Goodness, that almost makes me reluctant to send you off to a monastery.  There are so few people with any Ranger training left.”

She turned away, back to her preparations, and Tucker threw Danny’s arm off and glared at him.  Danny grinned lazily back.  Served him right.  Danny could spread the misery around a little bit.  

.

It was true that the princess’s retinue did not move at a rate faster than a walk.  This was, however, at least partially because the princess kept stopping to give alms on her way out of the city.  It seemed the city’s population of beggars had learned her preferred routes.  

“Hey,” said Danny, “this was a one day sort of thing, right?  It’s okay that I didn’t pack stuff for overnight?”

“No, it should be fine, I think,” said Tucker.  “But there’s like a hundred people here.  Someone will have spare stuff.  Besides, if it goes much longer than that, we can just leave.”

Danny nodded.  “That’s true.”

.

When they finally reached the forest, they walked for another hour and a half, this time stopping so that the princess and her ladies could coo at the half-feral forest cats that sometimes watched their progress.

Alright, Danny cooed at them, too, and since he and Tucker were on foot, they had a much better chance of petting them, something he felt just a little smug about.

The first hour of that was on a well maintained road, the last was on a path that looked to be newly cut through tangled underbrush and fallen trees.  Much to the displeasure of the princess’s guards, she decided to dismount and walk next to Danny and Tucker for this part of the journey.  She called it ‘bracing.’

“We only found this because of the late storm during the drought last year,” she said.  “Father sent the fire watch to make sure there hadn’t been any bad lightning strikes close to the city, and one of them found it.  I spent months convincing Father to let me investigate.  I’m hoping that soon it will be something I can share with everyone.”

Danny cleared his throat.  “With this all being so last minute, Tucker didn’t actually get a chance to tell me what ‘it’ was.  Um, Princess Samantha.”  He had no idea how often you were supposed to address royalty by title.  It didn’t come up all that often in his life.  

Samantha’s smile faltered, slightly.  “It’s Sam.  And we’re not sure, actually.  That’s one of the reasons we wanted a Ranger.  I thought that you might recognize it from your training.”

“I don’t know how likely that is,” cautioned Danny.  

Samantha shrugged.  “It is only one of the reasons.  But you don’t have to be pessimistic.  I’m well aware that this endeavor might come to nothing.  It is one thing to hope to reclaim a country’s magical heritage.  It is another thing entirely to actually do it.”

“So… you don’t believe magic is getting used up?”

“I’m not sure.  I think it might have been…  But I have hope that magic is something that can be restored, renewed, and used more wisely.  Other places seem to have managed that, at least a little.  It would be a shame to give up on it entirely, wouldn’t it?  It was a wondrous thing.”

“Sure,” said Danny, “but there were also the monsters.  That’s what the Rangers were for, a lot of the time.”

“Even so.”  She fell silent for a while.  “Have you ever heard of the trap-rabbit?”

“No.  Tuck?”

Tucker shook his head.  

“They used to be quite common here, is my understanding.  The walls of my nursery are painted with them.  They don’t exist anymore.  It’s a sad thing, I think, for that to happen.  I would not wish it to happen even to monsters.”

Tucker made a face.  The princess saw it.  

“I have read the stories,” she said.  “In them, we strike first as often as they.”

“But those are stories,” protested Tucker.  

The princess shrugged.  “As is any history you did not witness personally.  But even we can’t return things to what they were, don’t you think learning what was is still a worthy goal?”

“It sounds like one, anyway,” said Danny.  “I’ve never really thought about it.”

They emerged into a clearing around a large pond.  On the other side of the pond was a huge tree with great, drooping branches.  The branches swayed in the wind, momentarily revealing something made of stone.

“It’s impressive, isn’t it?” asked the princess, stepping onto a path that led around the side of the pond.  It was made of uneven pavers and looked ancient.  

“Yeah,” said Danny.  “I didn’t know trees like that got that tall.”

“Neither did I,” muttered Tucker.  “What’s under there, though.”

“You’ll have to see,” said Samantha- Sam, skipping down the path.  

Danny started after her, and immediately tripped.  He just barely caught himself before face planting and possibly having a very expensive and dangerous accident with his travel kit.

He maybe wasn’t as recovered from his head injuries as he’d thought.  And, yes, he was counting Tucker’s accidental punch.  

It was fine.  

The stone beneath the tree was part of a structure, obviously made by intelligent hands and at least as old as the paved path.  There didn’t seem to be any way into the small building, just some words carved into the side.

“Do you recognize it?”

Danny shook his head.  “But there’s always been lots of different kinds of ruins.”  He walked around the structure, going slowly.  “Reminds me a little of shrines in old temples.  Those are open-sided, though.”

“I know,” said Sam.  “The tree doesn’t mean anything to you, either?”

“Should it?”

Sam shrugged.  Away from the shadow of the tree, her retinue was setting up camp.  They seemed more than happy to let the three of them investigate the maybe-shrine on their own.  Well.  Mostly.  A couple very formidable looking ladies were watching them like hawks, and a bald man had taken out a stool and a thick, dusty book to read in the shade.  

“I don’t think so…  It’s kind of similar to that one story, though, isn’t it?  The one about the tree of life and a sacred pool.”

“It is.  The water seems to be just water, though, and the fruit is just fruit.”  

“Might be where the story came from, though.”

“Maybe,” agreed Sam.  “What do you think of the writing?”

Gods, that was not his area of expertise.  Still, he stepped closer.  “Hm,” he said.  “It’s very writing-like.”

Sam looked at him, concern on her face.  “You can read, yes?”

“What?  Yeah.  Just give me a second.  This isn’t regular writing.”

“I’m aware.”

“You’ve gotten someone else to translate this already, right?”

“My tutor, William Lancer."  She gestured at the bald man, who briefly glanced up from his book.  "It’s good to have a second opinion.”

Danny nodded and called up his admittedly meager knowledge of this sort of thing.  He knew some, because a lot of alchemical texts were written in the old language, but he wasn’t exactly spending his days practicing it.  

“Um,” he said, intelligently.  He was starting to see what Tucker meant about wanting to impress her.  “The first binding, valued more than coin, valued more than land, but spent on it nonetheless, by those who do not own it.  When it is gone, dust is left.  Heart of the land, spend yours before your people.  We shall… wake?”  Danny paused.  “Is that ‘wake?’”

“‘Open,’” said Sam.  “We think answering the riddle might open up the… shrine, for lack of a better word.”

“Mm,” said Danny, who had usually seen it in the context of sleeping medicines.  “Is it the same on all sides?” 

“As far as we can tell.”

“Dust is, um.  Huh.”  He rubbed the back of his neck, wincing when he jostled his head.  “I think this dust might be the same dust as grave dust.  Does that help?”

“This isn’t one of those animal sacrifice things, is it?” asked Tucker.  “Or, uh, human sacrifice?”

“We thought of that,” said Sam.  

Tucker moved away from her.  

“But, ah.  Blood magic tends to be… unpleasant.  We thought we’d avoid that.”

“Might still be blood magic,” said Danny.  “I mean, blood fits, doesn’t it?  Blood relations are the first tie you have, it’s more valuable than money or land, but people still fight wars for those things, they just try to spill other people’s blood.  When it’s gone, you’re left with grave dust.”

“I would prefer not to get sacrificed,” said Tucker.  “If it’s all the same to you, your highness.”

“Tucker, if I was that desperate to get in, I’d just hire people to pull it down, or get a battering ram.  I’m not going to sacrifice anyone.  But… heart of the land?  We thought perhaps wood doves, because of the crest…”

Danny shrugged.  “At that point, it might as well be talking about your blood.”

“Mine?” asked Sam, scandalized but intrigued.

“Sure.  You’re popular, right?  Or at least, you’re royalty.  That’s sort of like being the heart of a country.”

“Couldn't it just be talking about the word, too?" asked Tucker, looking faintly ill.  "Couldn't it be that you just have to say the word blood?"

"I don't know, we've said blood a lot just now."

"But not in the old language," pointed out Sam.  

"Sure," said Danny.  "Sang."

Nothing happened.  He shrugged.  

"Maybe you need to say it," Tucker said to Sam.  

"Sang." 

Still nothing.

"Bleeding it is, then."  Sam pulled an unreasonably large knife from the vicinity of her corset. 

Tucker jumped away, and even Danny took two hurried steps back, ready to throw himself behind the corner of the building.  The ‘supervising’ adults were unalarmed.  

But the princess just pressed the blade to her thumb and held it out to the structure.  

Nothing happened.  

“Maybe you need to bleed on it?” suggested Danny.  

“You don’t want to get an infection, your highness,” said William Lancer, not looking up from his book.

“I know,” said Sam.  She pressed her thumb against the wall, just under the carved riddle.  

For a long moment… nothing happened.  

But then the walls shuddered and began to drop into the ground, leaving only the pillars at the corners to support the roof.  

“Yes!”  Sam pumped her fist and ran in as soon as the walls got low enough.  

This, finally, stirred the watchers to action. 

Danny and Tucker exchanged a glance.  It'd be bad if the princess were cursed, wouldn't it?

Danny hopped over the wall next.  The interior was… Not much of one.  He didn't know what he expected of a ten foot by ten foot building with no walls.  

"Look," said Sam, pointing up.  

"Oh, wow," said Danny, all awareness of what the princess’s minders were doing falling away from him.  The pillars might not be much to look at, but the ceiling…  Danny had just enough experience at art to understand what had gone into carving and painting it.  It was the night sky, as viewed from below trees.  Each leaf and needle was picked out in exquisite detail, perspective perfect.  And the stars… as an alchemist, even an apprentice one, Danny had to know when the stars were right.  These stars were accurate.  They were even accurate to this time of year.  Even the moon was right, its face a careful reproduction of what was really there.

“The floor, too!” said Sam, bringing Danny’s attention to the stone tiles and the small flowers and leaves painted on them as well as… were those map lines?  Danny wasn’t sure.  “This is marvelous.  Do you suppose the pillars are meant to resemble tree trunks?  I didn’t see it before, but now-!  Even if this was it, it’s worth it!”

“It is pretty,” said Tucker, finally following them in.  “Wonder what it was for.”

“It hardly even matters.  That is, it matters, of course, but look at it!”

They looked.  

And while they were looking, the walls shot back up, leaving them in pitch blackness.  

“Ah,” said Danny.  “Somehow, I feel like we should have expected this.”

“Bleed on the walls again!” suggested Tucker in a not at all panicked voice.

There was some shuffling as everyone ran into one another.  

“It’s not working,” said Sam.  

“Well,” said Danny, “at least there’s still the battering ram option?”

“That only works if there’s nothing inside the thing you care about breaking.  Do you– No, I suppose you wouldn’t.  What was the point of this, anyway?  To trap princes and princesses?”

Danny shrugged, even though no one could see him.  

“I don’t suppose any of you have flint or matches?” asked Sam.  “Candles?”

“Some,” admitted Danny.  “But you don’t really want to light a fire in a closed space like this.  Oh!  Wait!  I do have something.”  He opened the top of his travel kit.  The glowing mana pondalorum physick was immediately visible.  The red coating of the vial blocked most of the green light, but in the otherwise absolute darkness, it seemed to burn.  

“What is that?”

“Mana,” said Danny.  “Or water with mana in it.  Some of the old books aren’t super clear.  My parents saved it from way back.”

“Did they save anything else?” asked Sam, her eyes wide.  She reached for it.  

Danny pulled it back, towards his chest.  He had not anticipated curious royalty as a threat to his ‘not getting in trouble with my parents’ plan, but in retrospect he could see that was as obvious a risk as getting stuck in a weird possibly magical ruin.  

“Yeah,” he said, “there’s also the magicidium mix.  It’s, um, emergency magic antidote.  Magic killer.  So, if one of us gets cursed, you want to grab the green vial with the red stuff in it.”

“And, what, drink it?” asked Tucker.  

“Or dump it on them.  Drinking it is better, but, you know, curses…”

“Right,” said Tucker, nodding, “I absolutely know curses.”

Danny had doubts.  But he also had better things to do, like examining the inside of the walls.  He raised the vial, glancing up as the green light was reflected off the painted stars.  For a moment, he thought he might have caught a glimpse of something else, then the moment was gone.  

“Hey, why don’t we just dump the magic killing stuff on the walls or something?” asked Tucker.  

“Because it’s probably magic that makes them move,” said Sam.  “Not magic that keeps them in place.”

The walls had writing on them.  He turned to the nearest one, and brought the vial closer.  “That’s different from the outside, I think?”

“What does it say?” asked Sam.  

“Give me a minute,” said Danny.  “It’s really hard to see.”  He squinted at the writing.  “This is a lot longer,” he said with some dismay.

“You can read it, though, can’t you?”

“Just… don’t rush me.”  Danny chewed his lip, then read slowly.  “Beat true, oh heart, with wisdom and wit, for without these passion lies silent.  Um…  Those who would be woken, must be named.  Those who would be named, must be woken…  No.  Those who are named will be woken.  Speak, therefore, the names of…”

“What names?  Ours?  Mine?”

“Give me a second.  The names of… Okay, I’m not sure if this is just a poetic way to say sleep or not.  The names of those beneath the stars, for you must know them whether it is day or night.  Say them, wake them, walk into the light.”

“You think beneath the stars means sleep?  Those are completely different!”

“And beating around the bush is completely different from avoiding a topic,” said Sam.  “But they mean the same thing.”

“Yeah,” said Danny.  “The stuff I learned from is big on metaphor, but it was, you know, formal.”

“We’re going to die,” said Tucker.  

“We’re not going to die.  Let’s start with our names.  I’m Sam.”

“Danny.”

“Tucker.”  Tucker looked around, nervous.  “Do you think it wants our full names?”

“Yeah…” said Danny, also apprehensive.  “Magic usually does.” Not that he really knew, but that was the way it was in stories.  So.  “Daniel Vladimir Fenton.”

“Oh, gods, that’s your middle name?”

“Shut up.  I know yours is Meredith.”

Sam rolled her eyes with her entire body.  “Princess Samantha Annamarie Laurel Caspera Manson of Amity, Duchess of Beau.  Your turn.”

“Tucker,” he sighed, “Meredith Foley.”

“Alright,” said Danny, “maybe it means something else when it says all.”  

“Like what?  We’re the only ones here.”

Sam had started picking at her lip.  “We are,” she agreed.  “But…  The floor, it was a map, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” said Danny.  “I really hope you’re good at geography.  I’m not.”

“You’re a Ranger.”

“That has nothing to do with geography.”

Sam turned, surveying the room.  “What if it’s not the map, but the trees?”

“The… sculptures?”

“They’re under the stars, too aren’t they?”

.

The next half an hour or so was spent desperately trying to name… everything.  Danny and Tucker just recited every tree name and plant name they could remember - and some animal names just in case - while Sam was a bit more methodical.  Danny and Tucker’s frenzy was only occasionally interrupted by Sam saying something like Elmerton, Casper, Axion, Floode or Eerie.  

As a result, they had no idea who it was that finally triggered the walls to slide down again.  Danny, for one, didn’t really care.  He threw himself out as soon as he was able, and the others seemed to have the same opinion.  

He knelt on the grass and tilted his head up to catch the sparse sunlight filtering through the branches above him.  In doing so, he saw that everyone who had been there before was gone.  

“We weren’t gone long enough for everyone to have left, right?” asked Danny.  

“No,” said Sam, “not at all.”  She climbed to her feet and walked past him, examining the ground.  “It’s like they were never here at all…”

Tucker gasped and pointed up.  “Look at the tree!”

Fruit hung from its branches, heavy, round, and red.  

“What is that?” asked Danny.  

“You don’t know?”

“No.  I’ve never seen a tree like that.”

The walls of the small building grated as they started rising again.  Danny, Sam, and Tucker turned back to it, slowly.  Dread bubbled up in Danny’s stomach, creeping along his spine.

“Maybe we should just go back to the city,” said Danny.  

Sam shook her head.  “There’s no guarantee the city will even be there.”

“There’s no guarantee it won’t be.”

“And there’s no guarantee that stupid thing won’t disappear one of us if we look at it funny,” argued Tucker.  “Let’s cut our losses.”

“There must be a reason for this,” insisted Sam, crossing her arms.  “They wouldn’t just make all this happen for no reason.”

Danny eyed her suspiciously.  “There’s something else, isn’t there?  Something you know about this.”

Sam tapped her foot.  “Maybe,” she allowed.  “Nothing solid, mind you, but one Ranger journal I found suggested that this place was used by the old kings to petition the woods, and that they needed both royalty and Ranger to do it.  That’s… one of the reasons I wanted someone like you to come.”

“Petition it for what?”

“I don’t know.  It didn’t say.  It was one sentence in thousands.  It could have been anything.  Good harvests, few wolves, killing the Pariah King, whatever.  It might not have even been talking about here at all.  I just thought…  If there was anything left…”

“Clearly,” said Tucker, “there was something left.”

“Right,” said Sam.  “But it didn’t say anything about making people disappear.”

“It didn’t say anything about anything, is what it sounds like,” said Tucker.  

“Yes, but…”  She trailed off.  “Don’t you think it’s more likely that we were moved?  Considering.”  She gestured at the peaceful and undisturbed clearing.  “Even the path we came in on is gone.”

Danny hadn’t noticed that, but it was true.  The border of the clearing was entirely overgrown, with no sign that people had broken through the shrubs and small trees there.

“I think,” she said, “that to get back, we have to keep going.”  She looked between the two of them, then at the building, squaring her shoulders.  “I am sorry I brought you into this, but it’s done.  Let’s at least work together to get out of it.”

There wasn’t much choice, was there?  “Alright,” said Danny.  “Let’s go.”

The words on the walls were, predictably, different than they had been before.  Danny was getting used to this already, somehow.  “This is the wisdom of the land, that when the land drinks, the people shall drink, and when the people drink, so shall the land drink, and that when the land is fed, so shall the people be fed, and when the people are fed, so shall the land be fed.  For water to be received, it must be given.  Should salt be given, then salt shall be received.  The land that is fed on blood shall also bleed.  The seed that is planted will grow.  That which wakes will be woken.  The…”  Danny paused. 

“And you were doing so well, too.”

“Listen.”

“Sorry, it’s only… at least the last one had a clear instruction.  This sounds like some kind of philosophical statement.  Not that there’s anything wrong with those.”

“I’m not done yet,” said Danny, plaintively.  “I haven’t seen this word before.  I think it’s a person?  And they’re getting whatever they’re doing done to them?  It goes on like that for a while longer.”  He ran his finger down the line.  And then it says, because the people and the land are one, only about a dozen times.”

“Why would it say it a dozen times?” asked Tucker.  

“It uses a different word for land each time.”

Sam frowned at him.  He wasn’t looking at her, but he could feel it.  “What?”

“Like, mostly it uses the word for land that has trees on it, but–”

“You mean a forest?  Or wood?”

“No, there’s a different word for a forest.  Actually, there’s specifically a word for land that has a forest on it, as opposed to just trees.”  Which Danny only knew because a lot of alchemical potions had dirt as an ingredient.  Incredibly specific dirt.  “And there’s a different word for soil.  Or for unoccupied land.  It’s… the old language is weird.”  There was a reason it wasn’t spoken anymore.  

“And that’s it?”

“No, there’s one more line.  Show your intentions: to eat, and to be eaten.  No, wait, that doesn’t make sense.  That must be feed.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” said Tucker.  

“At least it’s an instruction.”

“Maybe we’re supposed to eat the fruit.  I might do that anyway, actually,” said Danny.  “What?  I’m hungry.  I didn’t eat anything at midday.”

“But what if you eat it, and then it eats you?”

“At least I won’t be hungry?”

“I think the bigger problem here is what if it’s poisonous,” said Sam.  

“Is that really the bigger problem?  Really?”  He gestured around himself.  “I’m going to eat one of those fruits and, uh.  Water the tree.”

“You can say you’re going to pee on it,” said Sam.  “I have bodily functions, too.”

“Whatever.  If that doesn’t work, we can try something else.”

Sam squinted at him.  He got the impression it wasn’t an expression she wore often, but it suited her face very well.  “You know, I expected a Ranger to know more about all of this.”

Tucker made flailing motions behind her.  

“That’s–  In the spirit of honesty, no one in my family has done real Ranger-ing since my grandfather disappeared when my mom was a little girl.”

“The woods do disappear people, oh my gods–”

“My parents just like camping and pretending there are still monsters, and Tucker said you needed someone, so…”

Sam’s whole face twitched.  “I see.  I suppose we can’t say we aren’t similar, then, with respect to false pretenses.  But… let’s not do that anymore.  For the sake of not dying.”  She paused.  “Is the red–”

“It’s really anti-magic.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped.  “At least there’s that.  If the fruit starts turning you into, I don’t know…”

“A wolf,” suggested Tucker.  

“Why not?  A wolf, I’ll make sure to pour it down your throat.”

Danny rolled his eyes.  “And if it’s poisonous, I’ll eat a bezoar.”  

“What’s that?” asked Sam.  

“Thing that helps with poison.  It’s gross, you don’t want to know where they come from.”

“I thought we were being honest–”

“It’s a stone formed in a someone’s stomach or gut,” said Danny.  “Like a gallstone.”

Sam looked fascinated, if disgusted.  “Does… does that actually work?”

“I’m… not actually sure.  But it can’t hurt.”

“I don’t know, it kind of sounds like it could be poisonous on it’s own.”

That was what Danny said to his parents, but did they listen?  No.  

He shrugged at Sam walked away from the building and towards the shore of the pond, where the branches trailed in the water and the fruit was easier to reach.  He pulled one off and rolled it in his hand.  It felt like a plum, even if the size and color was off.  

“Danny, are you sure,” started Tucker.  

"Am I sure what?" asked Danny, opening his kit.

"What are you doing?"

Danny looked down at the beaker in his hand, then back up at Tucker.  "Testing for common poisons?"

"Oh.  I thought you were just going to eat it."

"No, that's weird."  He set up his materials and poked a hole in the fruit with his knife to get some juice.  He let it drip into the containers, then stood up to throw the punctured fruit into the pond.

"Maybe we shouldn't throw things into the potentially magic pond," suggested Sam in a way that wasn't very suggestion-like.  

Danny shrugged at her, wondering vaguely if shrugging at royalty was a punishable offense.  Something caught his eye.

“Hey, there’s a bucket here,” said Danny.  “Do you think we’re supposed to do something with the bucket?”  He walked over and picked it up.

"Maybe it's to actually water the tree," said Tucker.  

"That makes sense," said Danny.  He tossed the bucket at Tucker.  Tucker fumbled it.  

“Why me?”

“I’ve got to watch this,” said Danny, pointing at where the fruit was reacting or not reacting to the chemicals in the beakers.  “And, well…”

“Dear gods,” said Sam.  “You had better not be about to say that I’m somehow unable to fill and carry a bucket because I’m a girl.”

“No.  I just thought you wouldn’t want to.”  And she could probably make life very hard for them if they annoyed her too much.  

Sam scoffed and took the bucket from Tucker.  “I’ve got it.”  

“Alright,” said Tucker.  “She’s got it.”

.

The tests for poison came back negative, so…

Danny bit into a fruit he’d just picked and blinked.  “Oh, these are actually really good.”

“We’ll take your word for it.”

.

“Look,” said Tucker, “That thing’s not doing anything, so I’m going to see if I can find the main road.  I’d prefer it if you came with me, but…”

“Might as well,” said Danny.  

“Fine,” said Sam.  “But we’re going to take precautions to make sure we can get back here.”

“Like what?” asked Danny.  

Sam pulled out a clue of string from… somewhere.  

“Do you just carry that around?”

“Of course.  String is useful.”

.

It turned out it didn’t matter.  No matter how they left the clearing, they wound up back in it.  

.

"It's been a couple hours," said Danny as they laid on the ground under the tree.  "I probably would have died by now if there was actually poison in those fruits."

"Mhm," said Sam, contemplatively.

"Just a question, but, speaking of which, have either of you noticed the sun getting lower?"

"No," said Sam.

"Nope," said Tucker.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."  He looked up at the still-blue sky.  “You guys are going to have to eat or drink something eventually.”

“Yeah,” said Tucker.  “But I’ve been thinking, and… what if it takes us someplace worse?”

“I don’t know,” said Danny.  

“Staying isn’t an option.”

“It could be.  Maybe the fruit grows back, or there’s fish in the pond.”

“Have you seen any fish?” asked Danny.  

“No.  Why?”

“Sometimes people use fish as fertilizer.”

“We don’t have anything to catch fish with.”

“We’ve got string and the fruit.  Maybe we can find some worms, too?”

“Might as well,” said Sam.  

.

None of them were particularly skilled at fishing.  No fish were caught.  

.

Sam chewed on the fruit.  “You know,” she said, “if it weren’t for the mortal peril and all, I’d say this was pretty good.”

“It is tasty,” allowed Tucker, who was pausing to glare at the fruit between every bite.  

“No, I mean all this.”  Sam waved at nothing in particular.  “It’s nice.  Fun.”  

At least someone was having a good day.  He’d been trying to ignore the swollen lump on the back of his head and his black eye, but it hadn’t really been working.  

Under other circumstances, though… He could see hanging out with Sam and Tucker being fun.  The odds of that happening if Sam went on with princess-ing and Tucker became a monk were pretty low, though.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything without being watched by half a dozen people since I was eight.”

“Anything?” repeated Danny.

“Anything.”

Danny didn’t want to ask, but the question was there, in his head.

“Yes, in the bath, too.”  She sighed and held up the fruit pit.  “I suppose we should bury these?  Over there, maybe?”

“Can’t hurt,” said Danny.  “Anyone have a shovel?  And– Oh!”  He opened up his kit.  “We can use this!”  He held up a vial of white powder.

“What’s that?”

“Niter!”

“... Doesn’t that explode?” asked Tucker.

“Sometimes.”

“Why do we want to explode anything?” asked Sam.  

“We don’t.  It’s fertilizer.”

“But it’s white.”

“So?”

Tucker sighed heavily.  “Maybe we can use the bucket as a shovel?”

.

Sam patted down the last bucket-scrape of dirt with a gleeful expression.  They were all pretty grimy at this point, but it looked like she was enjoying it.  

The scraping sound wasn’t exactly music to Danny’s ears, but it was still something.  They ran to the building.  Three of the walls had dropped.  The one nearest to the pond had remained standing.  

Danny swallowed.  Something felt… Not wrong, exactly, but there was a strong sense of meaning.  

“Hey,” he said, before Sam and Tucker could step in, “wait.  Maybe only one of us should go in.  Just in case.”

“In case what?  We’re already in a bad way,” said Sam.  “We might as well face this together.”

Danny nodded.  “Yeah, but this feels…  Different.  If everything’s fine, you can come in, too.”

“Different how?”

“I don’t know,” said Danny, “but you wanted a Ranger for a reason.”

“Yes, but we’ve established you aren’t one.”

“I’m enough of one for us to get here, right?  If I get stuck in there, you can always plant more pits and open it back up.”

“And who knows if we’ll be in the same place?” asked Sam.  

“Just… humor me on this,” said Danny.  “And remember, if I do get cursed, we have the magicidium.”

“There has to be an easier name for that,” muttered Tucker. 

“Sure.  Blood blossoms.  They’re called that because they’re red.”

Tucker spread his hands.  “Then why–”

“I like saying it.  It makes it sound cooler.”

Sam raised her hand, stopping them.  “You know you’re the only one who can read the old language, right?  You’d be the one going in to look at what’s written there.”

“I know.  I’m the one who suggested it.”

Sam groaned, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her wrists.  “I should have learned the old language instead of Elmerian.”

Danny shrugged.  “There’s always the future?”

Both of… oh, he might as well call them his friends, at this point… glared at him.  

“Fine,” said Sam, “but if you do get cursed, I’m going to say I told you so.”

With trepidation, Danny crossed into the building.  The floor and ceiling hadn’t changed, but the only upright wall was now packed with writing.  He craned his neck back to see what was on top.  The words almost seemed to glitter.

“This is a lot,” he said.  

“Can we come in now?” asked Sam.

“Not yet,” said Danny.  “Let me translate this first.  Children of the land, know this, we, your forefathers, and we of the land have built this path to see the… obscured?”  A shadow fell across Danny’s view of the carving, making the words seem to flash.  He stood on his tip-toes and leaned closer, squinting.  “To understand the world… beyond?  Within.  The world within the woods, and you have come because they have failed and you wish to repair.”  He put his hand on the stone as he leaned still closer, nose almost pressed against the stone in an effort to see just a little better.  It slid into a comfortable depression and he continued to read.  “Let the bright magic– mana– let mana alter–”

Light flared across his vision, then everything went dark.  He yelped.  

“Danny?!”

“I’m–  Hells and heavens–”   He rubbed his eyes.  “The sun didn’t suddenly disappear after that flash, did it?”

“No.”

“What flash?”

He’d been afraid of that.  “I’ve been cursed.”  His heart did a funny twist at the admission.  

If his parents were here, they’d be thrilled.  

Actually, probably not.  If they’d been cursed, they’d be thrilled.  They’d still be upset about him getting cursed.

“What?”

“I can’t see anything.  I must have triggered it somehow–”  He shook his head, as if that would throw off his blindness.  “The word obscured.  I thought it was just the lighting, but maybe it really flashed?  Um.”  He turned around, carefully.  “I think it was just the words that triggered it, but I’m going to walk in your direction…”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Tucker, “you’re going the right way.”

“Just stay straight,” encouraged Sam.  

The building was barely three strides across, but at the same time it was the longest walk he’d ever taken.  He was relieved when Sam and Tucker grabbed him.  

“Alright, so, if you guys can open my kit and get out the magicidium–”

“Blood blossoms.  Let’s call it blood blossoms.”

“Whatever you want,” said Danny.  

“They’re red, right?” asked Sam.

“Yeah, and sparkly.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Good,” said Danny, holding out his hand.  “Can you–  The cap?”

Sam pressed the vial into his hand, her fingers lingering around his as she made sure he had a grip on it.  

“I should just need, like, a sip,” he told himself.  He raised it to his lips, drank, and immediately knew that what he had in his hand wasn’t the blood blossom mixture.

With a calm he didn’t feel, he lowered the vial. 

“Can you see, now?” asked Sam.  

“No,” said Danny.  “I can’t.  What color is this?”  He held up the vial.

“Red,” said Sam.  

“The vial is red,” clarified Danny.

“Yes, that’s what you said, isn’t it?”

“No,” said Danny, closing his eyes.  “That’s- The blood blossoms are red.  But the vial they’re in is green.  This is the mana, isn’t it?”

“Uh,” said Tucker.  

“Kinda crackly glaze, glowing green on the inside?”

“Yeah,” said Tucker, weakly.  “It looked different in the dark.”

“Yeah,” said Danny, voice cracking.  “The dark does that.”

“I thought you said the red vial,” said Sam, very quietly.  “Oh, no, I thought you said the red vial.”  She sounded like she might be about to cry.

“Hey, it’s hard to tell the difference between red and green,” said Tucker, clearly intending to comfort her.    

“Genuinely, it is not.”

Someone, probably Tucker, swallowed audibly.  “You can still take the blood blossoms, though, right?”

“No!  No.  They don’t react well with concentrated mana.”

“By not reacting well, do you mean–”

“Niter isn’t the only thing in my kit that can make explosions.”  He swallowed and opened his eyes.  He still couldn’t see anything but this still felt more like facing things.  “This is fine.  I’m just blind, not dying.”  Probably.  “We’ll just be relying on more guesswork than before.  Or I can try to figure out what it’s saying by touch?”

“No,” said Sam, grabbing his wrist, “do you want to get more cursed?”

“Carefull,” he hissed.  “We don’t want to spill this here.  Where’s the stopper?”

“Here,” said Tucker, taking the vial of mana from him.  

“What else do you remember from what you were reading?  Before you were cursed?”

“I don’t know.  Something about letting magic change you to be…  Something.  And then something about guarding both sides on the next line down.  Or fighting.  Maybe something about waking up.  I don’t remember.”  

“Danny,” said Tucker, “your eyes are glowing.”

“They’re not, like, melting or anything, are they?”

“Just glowing.  The same color as the, uh, stuff.  The mana.”

“And your hair is turning white,” added Sam.  

“Oh, that’s great.  Maybe I am dying.”

“Don’t say that,” said Sam.  “Maybe- Maybe this is magic changing you, and we just have to let it run its course.”

“I don’t like that.”

“Neither do I, but it’s that or you explode, so forgive me for a little optimism!”  She’d never dropped his wrist, and now she trapped his hands between hers.  “I don’t want you to die.”

“Neither do I,” said Tucker.  “You’re my best friend.”

“We haven’t seen each other for years,” said Danny, trying not to sound choked.  “Come on.”

“Hey, some friendships are timeless, right?”

Sam sniffled.  “Even short ones.”

Gods, he really might be dying.  

“Does that mean I can tell people I’m friends with a princess?”

“Only if you want my mother trying to get you executed.”

“That’s not a n–”

The sound of the wall behind him dropping made Danny jump.  But what made him spin was that he could see light coming from behind him.  

Footprints made of flowers glowed on the ground.  A rectangle in the dimensions of the far wall was cut out of the darkness surrounding him.  Beyond it…

“Oh,” said Danny.  “Do you guys see that?”

“Do you?” asked Sam, suddenly sharp.  

“Maybe.”  He took a deep shuddering breath.  “Were there steps leading down to the pond before?  And was the pond glowing?”

“No,” said Tucker.  “But we don’t see that.”

“We see everyone,” said Sam.  “The way out.  The knights are there, someone must have sent for them.”  She laughed.  “We can get out.  They must not be able to see us, though.”

“I don’t think I can go that way,” said Danny.  “I don’t see it.”

He could only see the ancient and watchful trees that surrounded the clearing, the faintly luminous waters of the pond and the steps that led down to them.  Images of trees, not quite reflections, swayed on the pond’s glowing surface, seeming to extend into the depths.

“You should go,” he said, faintly.  “Now.  You don’t know if you’ll get another chance.”

If his heart had been twisting before, it was shuddering now.  

“No,” said Sam.  “No.  I started this.  None of this would have happened if I didn’t bring you here.  I’m not going to leave you.  We’ll go down to the pond with you.  Or at least I will.”  The last was said with an edge of challenge.

“Me, too,” said Tucker, though he seemed far less certain.  “I got you into this mess, Danny.”

“I don’t know that I’m going down to the pond,” said Danny, both touched and annoyed.  “And you don’t know if you can, if you can’t see it.”

“It’s where the path leads,” said Sam, stubbornly.  “Didn’t you read that that’s why this place was built.”

The footprints.  Danny closed his eyes briefly, and nodded.  “Walk where I walk,” he said, putting his foot squarely on the first print.  

He wasn’t sure if it was just the magic doing weird things to his vision, but as he got closer to the opening, the prints seemed to shift when he wasn’t looking straight at them, taking shapes other than a human sole.  He tried not to think about what that might mean.

He stepped out of the building.  Sam and Tucker walked out after him.  

“Wow,” said Sam, looking around.  “That’s… definitely different.”  She waved her hand in front of her.  “It’s like the air is glowing.”

A breeze stirred the waters of the pond to lap at the lowest step.  It felt like they were beckoning him down into that even stranger forest beneath its waters.

He pulled the strap of his travel kit off over his head.  “Here,” he said, handing it to Tucker.  “Just in case.”

“We’re going to be with you,” said Tucker, trying to push it back to him.  

“Yeah, but… Let me go first, alright?”

He stepped down and forward, once, twice, and his foot broke the surface of the water–

.

A forest is not a single thing.  It is a vast and sprawling ecosystem, containing within itself multitudes.  Creatures, plants, and even decay.  Life, limited and not.  Water, from beneath the earth, from the sky, from the rivers and streams, from the lakes and the ponds.  Air and soil and stone.  Death that becomes life and life that becomes death.  The trees stretch upwards.  

Yet, it is a single thing.  

Truthfully, sometimes it is even a single life.  A thousand trees with a single root.

And, here, there was magic.  

The woods woke, stirred from slumber by the ripples of a stone thrown into still water.  

A stone is changed by water.  A stone is changed, also, by the root of a tree piercing through it, dividing it, scattering it.  A stone may be shaped.  A stone may be changed.  But this stone was clay.  This stone was flesh.  This stone was a seed that might yet grow.  This seed was a star that might yet shine.  

They were awake.  

They were awake, and, so, they would wake.  

But the people were the land and the land was the woods, and the heart of the land had long ago promised a champion to the people, a guardian at both sides of the gate.  A contract that was wisdom.

The seed was well rooted, but the star was of the air, and there was accord between heaven and earth.  This satisfied.  But the price of knowledge was always the destruction of ignorance.  

This was the past:  The sword, the spear, the fire, for evil is the reward of evil, and sown salt shall reap no harvest but salt.  Monsters met with monstrous ends, even the monsters who called themselves men.  

“I don’t want to be a killer,” whispered Danny, “I don’t want to kill people.”

Then he would not be, and the gifts of killers would not be his.  

This, too, was the past: The wall.  The tower.  The rope.  The net.  The maze.  The binding word.  The sacrifice.  The promise.  

It shall be kept.  

“It shall be kept.”

And this was the past:  The house that was built under ax and saw, a home for a gardener.  The books that became forests of their own.  Long memories and longer stories, passed on forever.  The campfire and the meal shared.  The trees tended, and new growth rising from ashes. 

“I can do that,” said Danny.  “I can be that.”

The heart of the land sent forth a gift, with passion, wisdom, and wit, and it was received.  That which gives is also given, and that which is gifted may also receive.  There were gifts.  There were expectations.  A gift must be given in turn.

And the fruit of the trees shall sustain.  And the branches of the trees shall shelter.  And that which is protected shall protect.

And this was the future.

.

Danny crawled out of the pond, gasping.  Hands - familiar, now - pulled him up and out.  

“Oh, gods, Danny–”

“What?” he managed, spitting up water.  

“There’s stuff growing on you–”

“Your ears–”

“Princess Samantha!”

Something heavy and hard jostled into their little group, knocking Danny back to the ground.  He could feel it.  The ground.  All those little lives and deaths.  The things growing, hungry, wanting, needing– All the things he could give them–

“Stop this at once!” demanded Sam, bringing him out of… whatever that was.  He looked up and around, and was impressed by how many sharp, shiny, pointy things were pointed in his direction.

He tried to scramble to his feet, but was thwarted by his body deciding it just wasn’t going to do that.  His whole body felt like it had been taken apart and put back together with new parts.

… Which might actually be what happened.  The… presence in the woods within the pond had been…  It had been an experience.  One he wasn’t keen on repeating in the near future but nevertheless ached for.  

His head didn’t hurt anymore, at least.

“Back foul beast!” shouted one of the knights with a spear, his voice reverberating within his helmet.  “You will not lay your hand on the princess–”

“I was the one touching him!  He’s not a beast– Let me go!  Tucker, say something!”

“Please don’t kill us!  Danny’s just cursed!”

“What manner of curses have you wrought upon the princess!  Release her from your geas, monster!”

If Danny wasn’t so scared right now, he’d be laughing.  Who talked like that?

But he was scared.  He needed to get away.  He needed speed, swiftness, and the agility, or at least the size, to avoid all these spears and swords.  

Which was a ridiculous thought to cross his mind, because it wasn’t like he was going to pull any of those things from thin air.  

Except he did.  Change rippled over his body, throwing off white sparks like from fireworks.  Fingernails to claws, hands to paws, ears sharp, tail -  He ran, four-footed, between the feet of the nearest knight, body stretching and contracting in his flat-out sprint as if he knew what he was doing.  

He had no idea what he was doing.  

A spear impacted the ground in front of him, and he startled sideways into a horse’s path.  Everything was so much larger than him, now.  He lashed out, claws raking across the horse’s nose, and the horse reared back, dumping its rider.  

It occurred to Danny, then, in a sort of vague, panicked sense, that whatever he’d turned into, he could cause a lot of chaos.  

The next horse he saw, he went for the eyes.  

He neglected to realize that, as small as he was, chaos might affect him more than it usually did.  

Still, he made it to the brushy edge of the clearing in what he hoped was one piece.  He crawled underneath it, hopping through thin spots whenever he was able.  A tree rose up out of the shrubby mess like a godsent miracle, and he climbed up it, sinking his sharp claws into the bark, until he got to a branch that could support his weight.  His real weight, not whatever he weighed now.  

He huddled down, trying to remember what the change felt like, trying to will it to reverse, to make him himself again–

Slowly, his body returned to normal, fur fading back into skin, claws becoming nails once again.  His clothing, sans shoes, rematerialized from somewhere.  But… This wasn’t what his body had been like when he’d crawled out of the pond.  It had been different, then.  He could feel it.  He knew it.  

The tree he was perched in was not the presence below the pond, but that was a matter of degree, not kind.  The roots of the woods were tangled and reached as far down as the branches reached up.  To stone.  To star.  

It was quiet.  Steady.  Already established.  It didn’t need things from him, not like the ground.  Not right now, anyway.  

But still, it whispered to him, and he knew.  This was no more him than the forest cat's body he'd worn moments ago.

He curled in on himself and cried.

.

Tucker found him first, over a week later.

Although, it might have been better to say that Danny let himself be found.  Shapeshifting into a cat or squirrel helped with hiding, funnily enough.  

Shapeshifting was fun, even if it wasn't worth… everything else.  At least, so long as he was in the trees.  With his feet on the ground, listening to everything beneath them, without the lightning focus of fear, he couldn't direct it.  What he was fell apart into… this.  

Not the same as he'd been as Sam and Tucker dragged him from the pond, but more like it.  A shape closer to what he was wanted to be rather than what he wanted to be.  

But he'd seen Tucker coming, and he didn't want to talk to him while hiding in the trees.  That would be wrong, he felt.  

So, he walked into the middle of the road in front of Tucker, moss and grass curling up around toes that weren’t shaped right.  His fingers were long and sharp and so were his teeth.  He had no idea what his face looked like right now.  He hadn’t been brave enough to check… assuming, of course, that he could even tell by touch.  He could have stripes right now and not know it.  

He hoped he was, at least, recognizable.  

“Danny, gods.  We thought you were dead.”

Oh, good.  At least that fear was unfounded.  

“Hi, Tucker,” said Danny.  After not talking much for a week, his voice was scratchy.  

… Or maybe that was the crying.  Who knew?

“Oh my gods.”  Tucker drew his hands down his face.  “I can understand why you didn’t come back to the city with…”  He gestured at Danny’s entire body.

“That’s not why,” said Danny, before he could continue.  “I can’t leave the woods.”

“You what?  What do you mean, you can’t leave?”

“I just can’t.”  He’d tried to leave, at the beginning, but it didn’t work.  He could walk to the border of the woods, where they opened up into the fields immediately around the city.  He was quite comfortable there, even, standing under those branches, looking out.  But he couldn’t go any further.  

“Because of the curse?”

“I guess,” said Danny.  “There’s not really anything else, is there?  There’s not something that just makes people stop for no good reason.”  

“Can you– I brought the blood blossom stuff, can you take it?  Maybe–”

“No,” said Danny, firmly.

“But–” said Tucker, pulling the green vial out of his pocket.  

Danny wanted to cringe away from it.  “Just.  No.  Tucker…  I’m not sure how much…”  He wasn’t sure how much of him was left that wasn’t magic.  “Sometimes, when curses really take hold, it doesn’t–”  He sucked his lips in and regretted it as his long teeth scrapped at them.  “What do you think happens when that stuff is put on something that is magic?”  Danny tilted his head to the side and tried to smile again.  “It’s been over a week.”  

He watched Tucker’s face shift as he realized what that might mean, and his smile fell as well.  

"I've seen my parents come through a few times," he said, just to say something different.

"Did you talk to them?"

"No." He grimaced.  "Apparently, I'm a creature now.”  He ignored that he’d said as much to Tucker just moments ago.  “It didn't seem… smart."

"That must be…"  Tucker paused to search for an appropriate adjective.  "Hard."

"Yeah."  He'd been wondering if Jazz had come home.  If she was looking for him, too, or if she was still in Elmerton.  If she knew.  But he didn’t want to ask.  

"Sam will want to see you."  Tucker bit his lower lip.  "She kind of… asked if I would look.  I was going to anyway!  But… I can tell her I couldn't find you, if you don't." 

“No, I think I’d like that, actually.  She was right.  It was fun, before.”  He sniffled.  “Maybe we can even try to find what she was actually looking for.”

“Why would you do that?” asked Tucker, aghast.  “Messing around with all of this cursed you to have weird ears and be stuck in the woods for who knows how long.  Let’s just forget–  Well, I mean, avoid anything else like this as much as we can.”

The woods leaned in around them.  “I don’t think it works like that,” said Danny.  “Things are waking up.  And I think… I think the only reason Sam was able to find the- the path was because the woods were already waking up.  And some of the things… I don’t think they’re good, Tuck.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” squeaked Tucker.  “You know your eyes are glowing again, right?”

���Are they?”  He blinked and shook his head.  “Have you been looking for me the whole time?”

Tucker laughed nervously.  “No.  There’s, uh.  Turns out that if you disappear with the princess there are questions.  Lots and lots of questions.  So many questions.”  He shuddered.  “And my master is angry at me.  And the guild is angry with me.  But I’m fine!  What- What have you been up to?  What else have you been up to?  I, uh.  Ha.  Ha?"

A wry smile twitched the corner of Danny's lips.  "The tops of the trees, I guess." 

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2023

[mrbensonmum]

TV Show - Dr. House | House M.D. VI

So, we're now at episode 10/11 in the third season, and while House gets a visit from Tritter in rehab, Tritter shows his true colors, or rather, House reveals them.

I find it good that the judge clarifies again that Tritter acted completely out of line, and she can't quite understand why he was after House so much. But as described before, and also shown by Cuddy's reprimand, zero attention is paid to the fact that Tritter started it all. Yes, we're at a stage where all involved have made mistakes, serious ones even, Cuddy just a few moments ago. But as House pointed out so nicely, if Tritter doesn't get his butt kissed by everyone, he loses it! Plus, what really gets me mad is he's still chewing those gums even though he was told he'll lose his manhood if he keeps at it.

And yes, the judge said House provoked Tritter, and I won't argue against that, but the fact that House rarely does anything without a reason and no one asks about the real reason, namely that Tritter was the worst patient until then, is not questioned. Here I see a missed opportunity to delve deeper into House's character, even though it's been done many times before, but here they could have explored his motives a bit more, and I think that would have done the character quite good!

Fortunately, this storyline is over, even though I like it, it really raises my blood pressure!

Fun Fact: The prosecutor from episode 11 has the voice of Rüdiger Schulzki in German, who probably won't ring a bell to anyone, which is okay, but he's known for voicing the intro of the Galaxy Rangers and has voiced many characters in series in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, he passed away on August 5, 2022, in Hamburg! We don't talk enough about voice actors, which should change because every time something comes to us that wasn't produced here, it's the voice actors who are responsible for making the medium enjoyable in our language. And yes, sometimes dubs aren't really great, but believe me, that's rarely if ever the fault of the voices, but rather the dubbing directors who regularly dump one in the brain! So, enough rant for today!!

#tv show #house #dr house #dr. house #house md #greg house #gregory house #james wilson #dr. wilson #cuddy #dr cuddy #tritter arc