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becasbelt · 2 years

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a hurt comfort fic where beca is just freshly off the completion of a new set setup and her trying to hype chloe up who is just exhausted from all that studying and being the cheerleader all the time for everybody else

curse you wenz.

also on ao3

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The alarm on Chloe’s phone loudly goes off again. Why she still uses the default iPhone alarm to wake up she will never know.

She grabs blindly at the device, swiping it off her bedside table and hitting the snooze button again. The time stares accusingly back at her. 8:18. Chloe had 12 minutes to get to a class that was 15 minutes away.

And yet, she remained in bed.

Maybe if she pulled the covers up over her head, she could forget about her classes and responsibilities get some sleep for once in her life. Because it seriously felt like it’s been years since Chloe got a full night’s rest. Last night it had been because Stacie and Amy had gotten into an argument over who had the most admirers on campus, and Chloe had spent an hour mediating while she slowly watched the time get later and later.

She hears someone thumping down the stairs form the attic and distantly wonders if Amy is gearing up for a round two this morning.

Just as she’s closing her eyes again (just to rest them; of course she wasn’t going to sleep through her class), a rapid knocking at her door makes them fly open again. Chloe remains quiet, half hoping whoever it is will think she’s already in class and will leave her alone. They wait for a few seconds, and Chloe can hear their foot tapping impatiently on the other side of the door, before knocking again.

Chloe groans. “Who is it?”

The door opens and Beca’s grinning face pops through. “You are in here,” she says breathlessly. So she’d been the one running down the stairs, then. “Awesome. I have something to show you.”

She walks fully into the room without invitation, and Chloe raises an eyebrow at the seemingly out of character action before taking in the rest of her appearance. “Are those… the same clothes you wore yesterday?”

Beca looks down at herself in surprise, as if she’s just as shocked as Chloe is. “Oh yeah, I guess I am.”

“Beca, did you sleep at all last night?”

Beca scratches at the back of her head, face screwed up as she thinks. “Uh… I had a Red Bull?”

The corner of Chloe’s mouth quirks up. So Beca was in one of those kinds of moods. “Beca, we’ve talked about this. You can’t stay up all night just because inspiration strikes.”

Beca bounces on her toes a little. “I know. I know, okay? It ruins my immune system and gives me headaches and Red Bull is terrible for me, blah blah blah.” She clutches her laptop tighter to her chest. “But I’ve come up with something really coolthis time, dude. Seriously.”

Chloe pushes herself into a sitting position. “Alright, let’s see it.”

Beca’s eyes flash excitedly and she takes a step toward the bed, already opening up her laptop. She stops short half a second later, brow furrowed as if she’s just realized something. “Hang on a second.” She looks around the room. Glances at Chloe’s clock. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”

Dammit. Why did Beca choose to be observant and remember things now.

Chloe tries to deflect. “Aren’t you?” she accuses.

Beca waves her hand in the air dismissively. “It’s just my music technology class,” she says, unbothered. “I don’t give a fuck about that class. I know it all. Besides, I’ve literally been making music on my laptop all night.” She laughs a little deliriously. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got it all covered at this point.”

Beca laughs for another minute, muttering something about professors being useless, and Chloe can’t deny the small smile it brings to her face to see Beca with so much energy. Until Beca stops laughing and points seriously at her.

“You have Russian lit right now. You have to go to that.”

Chloe sighs and looks miserably at the time. 8:22. “I have eight minutes to get there, and my professor doesn’t like it when you’re late.”

Beca considers this for a short moment before snapping her laptop shut and tossing it on the bed. She strides over to Chloe’s closet and throws it open, chucking a random shirt at Chloe. “Well, then, you better get dressed in two. I’ll drive you, and I can get you there in, like, six minutes tops.”

Chloe is staring at her as Beca continues throwing clothes at her. When Beca turns around and finds that Chloe hasn’t moved, her eyes widen, and she taps her naked wrist impatiently. “Let’s go, Beale! You’ve got one minute now!”

Thinking distantly that Aubrey would approve of this side of Beca, Chloe jumps out of bed to put some clothes on.

When Beca said she could get them there in six minutes, she wasn’t lying. Chloe would almost be impressed if she hadn’t feared so much for her life.

Chloe slides into her seat just as her professor starts the class, Beca sliding into the seat right next to her. Somehow she has another Red Bull in her hand.

“What are you doing?” Chloe whispers.

Beca looks at her funny. “Uh, learning about-” she squints at the PowerPoint slide at the front of the room- “Gavrila Derzhavin?” she finishes, absolutely butchering the name. She looks back at Chloe, as if that had been obvious.

“You’re not even in this class,” Chloe says. “You’re skipping your own class right now. Why would you want to be here? I don’t even want to be here?”

Beca shrugs and takes a swig of her Red Bull. “I wanna hang out with you.”

Chloe’s heart melts at that. She stares at Beca, dumbfounded.

“Oh! And since you probably didn’t have breakfast-” Beca pulls a granola bar out of her hoodie pocket and hands it to Chloe. “It may be a little squished because mayyybe it’s been in my pocket for 24 hours.”

Chloe accepts the granola bar gratefully with a grin and a fond shake of her head.

This girl. This ridiculous, frustrating, wonderful girl.

Chloe wraps her arms around Beca’s arm and leans her head on her shoulder, not hating being in class as much as she thought she would.

#once again unedited bc i'm a lazy piece of shit #been a hot second since i wrote bechloe folks come get y'all juice #bechloe #fanfic #almost canon #pitch perfect #pinkpastels113

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colloquiam · 11 months

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Human Rights and Sustainability

Human rights and sustainability work together in a sort of balance. If one of these factors in the development of our world outweighs the other, our overall quality of life is degraded. For example, It would be a shame to live in a sustainable utopia under the subjugation of a totalitarian dictator and vice versa. This is why the United Nations has published seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) necessary to improve our society. These goals, in addition to other issues regarding human rights and sustainability, will be the focus of this blog post

The United Nations’ SDGs include the promotion of gender equality, the establishment of affordable and clean energy, and the development of sustainable cities and communities. As a real estate entrepreneur the development of sustainable cities and communities is certainly of interest. Just last week our class visited Babcock Ranch, which is built to be a sustainable city. However, in my heart of hearts, I know that the goal of establishing quality education for all is most important to me. In Venezuela, where my family comes from, there are entire swaths of the population who never have access to a quality education. The girls are forced to keep the home tidy, the boys start to work at a young age, and the schools are pitifully under-funded. I believe the UN drafted this goal with the knowledge that access to education is the quickest way out of poverty.

In the developing world there is another issue that not only blocks peoples’ access to education, but to all social services which was brought to my attention in a ted talk by Kristen Wenz. The problem is that one billion people, primarily in developing nations, have no form of legal identification. Many governments have a social contract between a government and its citizens. When you don’t exist neither does your social contract. That’s not the only problem. The people who have no identification are often the untouchables of any society. This bars them from access to bank loans and can make them prime targets for human trafficking. It goes without saying that the poor parts of town are the most damaging to the environment.

Another work that discusses human rights and sustainability is the Earth Charter. In this document, it is written in the preamble the precarious situation our world is in and sixteen principles for making it right. One of these that relates directly to Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life. This edict goes above and beyond the SDG because it includes sustainability. If the students of today learn sustainability now, when they become the engineers of tomorrow the environment and our world as a whole will benefit directly from it.

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kyogre-blue · 3 years

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Ruin classification, part 2 (lol)

Continuing from yesterday’s discussion of the mysterious architecture style that appears in the Golden Apple Archipelago, I found a few more places. The current list:

Former Ha’ar Islands

Thousand Winds Temple

Nameless Island (of Wind and Time)

Cape Oath

Windrise

Dragonspine (Sal Vindagnyr)

near Ridge Watch

around Sal Terrae

Yaoguang Shoal

Guyun

Shrines of Depth

I’ll tl;dr my thoughts on this spread: Basically, there are two options here. One is that these places were built by different groups and they all simply learned this style from some original ancient civilization. We currently won’t have enough info to tell anything about this “proto-civilization,” so that would be the end of it.

The other option is there was some civilization that spanned the entire eastern coastline of Mond and Liyue. Here is trying to explain them one by one, as a kind of narrative:

Starting at Mond’s north-east coast, Thousand Wind Temple was built to pray for a respite from the cold, and Sal Vindagnyr’s lore mentions that it was founded by those seeking refuge from “snow and strife.” This is tangentially supported via the Sacrificial series being the only other mention of Imunlaukr.

Going down south via the coast, you reach Windrise and then Cape Oath. Cape Oath is possibly connected to Pilos Peak, and I am assuming the Archipelago has the remains from that, when Venti yeeted it. I can’t imagine what they were doing over there, but it’s bound to be a big deal.

Onward, you hit Sal Vindagnyr. Perhaps you can consider them the core civilization, which would tie into the Shrines of Depth that closed up after it fell.

Ridge Watch, Sal Terrae, and then Yaoguang Shoal would then be the immediately surrounding areas west and southward of Sal Vindagnyr (future Dragonspine).

And then Guyun is the south-most aspect of all this, though... and extremely puzzling one.

Moving on to the boring rows of screenshots as proof of how bored I was. Let’s start by reviewing the quirks of this style.

Fancy archway, note the three-pointed “mora” symbol in the center of the knot:

Bottom of pillars:

Pillars inside pillars:

Rocks walls have texture:

“Stained glass” wall decor:

Ugly tiles:

OK, so let’s move on to the very puzzling gameplay function of this style, Shrines of Depth.

Top and bottom pillars are present, window design very similar to the wall decor.

But the lore for Shrine keys:

These Shrines of Depths sealed themselves off when the civilization that built them was lost. Keys lost deep within domains are able to break the seals. Or perhaps that, for a moment, these keys help the seals to forget all that they have lost.

This is very hmm because Morax let this “civilization” build on top of Guyun, which was only created when he sealed up a bunch of enemy gods. And it’s not like those archways washed up on Guyun. They are very clearly part of the landscape.

On the other hand, the same stuff is present in Thousand Winds Temple, and also the nearby Wind and Time ruins. These temples are described in the Sacrificial weapon set, which says they were built while the war between Decarabian and Andrius was going on. But this set otherwise talks about the founding families of New Mond, so it should have been too long before Decarabian’s fall.....?

The other location discussed before is Cape Oath, which is connected to the now defunct Pilos Peak. This is presumably what Venti yeeted out to the Archipelago...

Other locations:

Windrise! Same bottom of the pillars, and there is another nearby structure with the same columns.

Before you ask, this is the only area next to a statue of the Seven to be like this.

Dragonspine (or rather Sal Vindagnyr):

It’s all over the place, really. They even have lanterns in the same style, which I haven’t seen anywhere else.

However, worth noting is that the Mural Room, and the Mural Room alone, uses styling more similar to the Domains and World Boss arenas. Here is both the three point symbol in the knot and the four point symbol of the domains:

Near Ridge Watch:

And then, this one was very strange, around Sal Terrae:

Now, I’m not too sure whether Havria’s actual location would count?

Havria herself is associated instead with these chalices:

And the one-time domain from Zhongli’s ch1 had a completely different design style (more Liyue-leaning, I would say).

This same style also appears on the shore nearby, on the side of Dragonspine:

(There’s a whole bunch of pillars and arches, I’m just too lazy to add even more images.)

Now, this adventurer fellow, Wenze, has some interesting dialogue:

Wenze: Hello, are you also an adventurer searching for the Abandoned City?

Wenze: Oh, you haven't heard? Somewhere beneath these ruins lies an ancient abandoned city.

Wenze: Rumors of such a place have circulated for many generations at the Adventurers' Guild, but nobody has found it yet.

Wenze: These ruins were once a city, too. But it was probably abandoned long before even the Archon War.

Wenze: It is said that beneath those two trees are buried the bodies of the last king of the ancient city and his enemy, who was also his true love...

Wenze: They perished together, but their burial separates them for eternity.

Wenze: The two trees that grew above the ruins once everything had turned to dust stand, just like them, face to face but separated...

I can never figure out which two trees he means? None of the trees there are particularly impressive or obviously paired together??

However, this dialogue makes it pretty clear those ruins can’t be the same civilization that built Thousand Winds Temple or on Guyun, since those definitely do not predate the Archon War.

Unless.... Mihoyo are reusing the distinctive architectural style....

They wouldn’t... right? Right??

#genshin impact #genshin lore

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she-is-the-wildflower · 3 years

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Faery Witchcraft 🍄

Tumblr is such a wonderful resource and I’ve found and followed so many wonderful and helpful witches. I thought my first post was the best way to hopefully get any help/advice/experiences without messaging a bunch of random people and driving them mad. So please leave me your comments or send me a message!

When I was a kid I grew up in a very spiritual home. My mom was raised hardcore catholic and she rebelled to the max because she hated it (got pregnant with me her senior year in high school at a catholic school). I remember her studying Wicca and Witchcraft frequently and our house was always filled with incense, spiritual stones, tarot cards, sage, etc. My stepdad at the time was a Henna artist at the beach and the house always smelled like it because he made it fresh every day and I was always outside with my hair braided and henna all over my arms. We hung out with tarot readers and fire poi spinners and people that worked for the Renn faire and other truly wonderful humans. But I was OBSESSED with fairies. I still have my collection of fairies (picture below of some of them) and my fairy books. I always sat in the garden with my flower crown making fairy houses and gardens from sticks and pots and left them sweets and talked and played with them. My room was even painted “fairy dust purple.”

I’ve also always been drawn to mushrooms and trees. The “singing mushroom” was my signature on every passed note in middle/high school lol. I remember being so distraught outside one day when I was a kid playing in the rain because the tree in our front yard was “sick” come to find out later the tree was dying and we ended up having to cut it down because the inside was rotting.

So after years of not embracing my spirituality and trying to find other religions I connected with and one hell of a toxic relationship where the things I loved my fairies and my stones (which I got rid of and I hate myself for it) were called stupid and childish, I’m right back here re-embracing witchcraft. Although now I’m older and I’ve been doing so much research and reading many many books and it’s just overwhelming and I feel like I’m starting from scratch. When I was a kid I feel like it just came naturally, now I feel like I have to do so much more. So what did you other witches do in the beginning?

I’ve also tried to sit down and take a hard look at that things that interest me and try to narrow down a particular branch of witchcraft that interests me. Based on my interests below...

Herbs, crystals, trees, mushrooms, faeries, spell jars, flowers, charm bags, tea/incense magic, Celtic culture (especially Scottish)

Obviously that led me to fairy witchcraft but I’ve read many a post about baby witches staying away from the fae and how they’re mischievous and “can kill you” but I’ve never had an ill experience with them, yet again that last experience I had with them was when I was a kid. So any fae witches out there do you have any advice? I’ve purchased the books below to do more extensive research and I don’t plan on attempting any contact with the fae until I’ve gotten a better hold on my own magick affairs but any advice is greatly appreciated on the subject.

The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by Walter Evans-Wenz

Fairycraft: Following the Path of Fairy Witchcraft by Morgan Daimler

Enchantment of the Faerie Realm: Communicate with Nature Spirits and Elementals by Ted Andrews

Blessed be ❤️🍄

#fairywitchcraft #fairy #fae #witch #baby witch #witch help #witch advice #fae witch

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lynne-monstr · 4 years

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Writers Month Day 23: Poison (tka, yuhuang)

king’s avatar shadowhunters au requested by @thorndykechristopher

summary: yu wenzhou is a warlock with a very slow spell casting speed due to a childhood injury. huang shaotian is the shadowhunter assigned as his bodyguard. Their first mission together is an unmitigated disaster but it all works out in the end.

ao3 link

With a loud, foreboding clang, the door slams shut and every window in the warehouse seals up. By the time Yu Wenzhou is able to coax his stubborn magic to his hands, it’s too late.

He’s trapped. They’re trapped.

He turns to glare at his latest Shadowhunter bodyguard, poised between Yu Wenzhou and the door with his blade raised. “I hope you’re happy now.”

Not for the first time, he laments the day Huang Shaotian roared into his life like a typhoon, loud and obnoxious and with no respect for Yu Wenzhou’s quiet life. He’s an accomplished fighter, that’s plain to see, but Yu Wenzhou has had doubts about his overall competence from the beginning. This mess of a trap has only confirmed what he suspected.

“Me?” Huang Shaotian points at his own chest with the hand not holding his mundane sword, as if Yu Wenzhou could be speaking to anyone else.

“I told you not to bring anything with adamas to this place. The warlock who owns this place hates Shadowhunters. All her worst traps are sprung by adamas.” Yu Wenzhou regrets not physically searching his new bodyguard before allowing him along on their first outing together.

He should have known better to think a Shadowhunter would listen to a warlock. It always took them a few months in his employ to learn basic respect. This one in particular seems more interested in listening to his own voice than following orders.

“Wait, wait, wait. That’s not what you said, Yu Wenz—excuse me, High Warlock Yu. If you’d said that, I would have done it. I know how to listen, I’m a great listener. You said not to bring my seraph blade or my stele and look,” he twirls in place, showing off his empty thigh and back holsters. And incidentally, a very nicely shaped backside. “I only brought the sword you gave me. See, do you see? You might be very smart, but you’re also very wrong.”

The unexpected compliment throws him but he brushes it aside. “You must have missed something because look around, the trap is sprung. We’re trapped here.”

“I didn’t miss a blade. I did what you said,” Huang Shaotian insists. After a beat, he presses his lips together in thought and pulls out a necklace from beneath his black tactical gear. “My necklace had adamas in it. Maybe next time tell me why you want me to do something, instead of treating me like an idiot and leaving me in the dark. Do you treat all your bodyguards like this?”

Yu Wenzhou searches his memories and feels a flush of embarrassment. The Shadowhunter is right. He’d specified seraph blade and stele in his preparatory instructions, not adamas. Huang Shaotian followed him to the letter. Unfortunately, he’d been chattering non-stop during their preparations, something about why everyone called him the Sword Saint. Yu Wenzhou had tried to tune it out as he went over his part of the plan but he had reluctantly learned that the ridiculous nickname was one Huang Shaotian gave himself. If Yu Wenzhou hadn’t been so irritated at nearly being late, he might have been charmed.

“I’ll take that under advisement.” Yu Wenzhou says. He pauses and adds, “My apologies, Huang Shaotian, it won’t happen again,”

It’s not just lip service. Yu Wenzhou is far from perfect but he doesn’t make the same mistake more than once. And as it turns out, Huang Shaotian is sharper than he appears at first glance.

“Apologies later. I don’t plan on dying here so let’s concentrate on not dying.” The words are barely out of his mouth before he sheaths his sword and stalks off to prowl the edges of the room, searching for weaknesses.

The warehouse is large, an old storage facility gone to seed. The weak overhead lights flicker as they open the boxes and search for anything they can use to escape. Most wards this strong are anchored by a physical object but Yu Wenzhou doubts the object is within the bounds of the wards. A powerful enough warlock could keep the object with them and the warlock who set them up was more than powerful enough.

For the sake of thoroughness, Yu Wenzhou, examines each of the sigils on the doors and windows with exploratory tendrils of magic. It confirms what he already knows. The spells used to seal the room were perfectly cast. The only curiosity is the strange variation in part of the magic. Some kind of clause for breaking it, though the terms for fulfilling it are vague.

Something about The Kiss to End Life. Talk about needlessly dramatic.

The occasional banging and tapping comes from where Huang Shaotian is probing the physical defenses of the room, chattering to himself while he works. His voice echoes off the metal walls and for a brief moment, Yu Wenzhou is struck by the horrifying thought that Huang Shaotian has managed to replicate himself into multiple copies, all of them speaking rapid-fire nonsense. Thankfully, it’s nothing but a flight of fancy and perhaps a sign that Yu Wenzhou is stretching himself too thin lately.

From the frustrated look on Huang Shaotian’s face, there won’t be any forcing their way out.

Eventually, they both give up on the main room and branch out. The only object of note is a table in the center of the largest of the secondary rooms. It probably functioned as an office when the warehouse was in use. On the shabby, dusty desk is a single vial of liquid.

Huang Shaotian brings the vial to his nose and sniffs. And curses.

“What is it?” Yu Wenzhou asked.

“Poison. Really bad poison, ugly poison. Nasty stuff.” Huang Shaotian frowns. “You ever heard of Death’s Kiss?”

Yu Wenzhou takes a step backwards before he can help himself. “Yes.”

“I figured as much. It’s deadly to warlocks.” It’s hard to say whether the amusement in his voice is a threat or merely the type of dark humor common to a race of people whose life expectancy doesn’t often exceed twenty-five. “It isn’t much better for Shadowhunters,” he adds with a laugh, and that settles that question.

The quirk about the wards tugs at his mind. The line about the kiss to end life isn’t difficult to decode. If one of them drinks the poison, the wards will come down.

Yu Wenzhou is suddenly grateful he held back that particular bit of knowledge from Huang Shaotian. He has no intention of sacrificing his bodyguard to save his own life but he can’t say for certain whether that courtesy extends both ways.

He’s still pondering the implications when Huang Shaotian picks up a folded piece that had been placed under the vial. “Looks, there’s a note.” He wrinkles his nose when a plume of dust rises up into his face. “Ugh I hate old creepy buildings almost as much as this old, stupid language.”

Yu Wenzhou peers over his shoulder and is surprised when he can’t read the writing. He’s been around for a millennia, there aren’t many languages that are a mystery to him. This one isn’t unknown to him, but in this case, his knowledge doesn’t help. “That’s a Shadowhunter language.”

Huang Shaotian nods. The crease between his brows deepens as he reads. “Oh wow, this warlock really doesn’t like you,” he says. “Is she your ex or something?”

“Or something.” Yu Wenzhou would prefer not to dwell on their history. “I might have embarrassed her when she made a bid for High Warlock of Guangzhou about fifty years ago and failed miserably.”

“I’m no expert on women but I think she still has a grudge. You should send her flowers or something. Or jewelry, that’s what they do in the dramas I—I mean, my friend—the dramas my friend watches.” He clears his throat. “Anyway, the note says that if I force this poison down your throat, the wards will drop and I can walk out of here alive.”

Yu Wenzhou goes from trying not to laugh at his bodyguard’s antics to springing backwards, his magic rushing to his hands.

Any spell powerful enough to fight off a Nephilim will take time to cast. Time he doesn’t have. Ironically, this is exactly what he needs a bodyguard for.

The sad part is that he understands why Huang Shaotian would betray him. From day one, he made it clear this assignment was a punishment from his superiors, and that he’d much rather be killing demons than playing babysitter to some stuffy warlock with slow magic, and how could a warlock even have slow magic anyway? The fact is, he has no real reason to be loyal.

Killed by his own bodyguard. Life has always enjoyed laughing at Yu Wenzhou.

Except Huang Shaotian doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t attack, he doesn’t even draw his sword. His eyes dart between Yu Wenzhou’s faintly glowing hands and his defensive stance. “What are you doing?” His nose wrinkles in a way that could almost be called cute except that he’s a trained killer by birth. “Wait, wait, wait, you don’t think—do you think I’m going to kill you?”

“You wouldn’t be the first who’s turned on me.” It’s both an answer and a warning.

Surprise fades into alertness, like Huang Shaotian is suddenly considering the need to defend himself against Yu Wenzhou. “Did you get your own note? Are you trying to kill me? Most people say it takes at least a week for the talking to make them want to do murder. This is a new record.”

Against all odds, Huang Shaotian laughs, warm and amused, the same way he does when he’s talking to himself and breaking Yu Wenzhou’s concentration. The edge of an angry black rune flashes against his collarbone in the flickering light. Who knows, maybe to a Shadowhunter, a fight to the death is amusing. They’ve always been a strange breed. Yu Wenzhou considers being offended but decides he has bigger things to worry about.

Luckily, the unexpected diversion works to his favor. He’s nearly halfway through his silent casting. Halfway towards being able to defend himself. Each passing second feels like a year but he’s slowly closing the gap.

Between them, the vial of poison sits innocuously on the table.

Something settles in Huang Shaotian’s gaze, though whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is too soon to tell. Yu Wenzhou braces himself for the worst. His magic may not be ready to use yet, but he trained extensively in mundane martial arts for exactly this type of situation. It’s not enough to defeat an armed Shadowhunters but it doesn’t need to be. It only needs to be enough to keep him alive until his spell is ready.

“You’re a powerful warlock, right? That’s what everyone says. The High Warlock of Guangzhou is scary strong, it’s too bad his magic is so slow.” When Yu Wenzhou doesn’t answer, Huang Shaotian makes a hurry up gesture. “Well, are you good at magic or not?”

“I am. What does that have to do with anything?”

Huang Shaotian’s eyes are bright, like he’s found the flaw in the neatly laid trap they’re in and is excited for the opportunity to burst it wide open. “If the wards came down, could you get us out of here? Both of us?”

Yu Wenzhou looks at him strangely, not sure where this is going. Because the wards can’t come down. The only option is the poison. Whatever Huang Shaotian is seeing is beyond Yu Wenzhou and that makes him uncomfortable.

He answers anyway. Huang Shaotian has earned his honesty, at the very least. “Yes.”

“Okay.” And with that, Huang Shaotian grabs the vial of poison and drinks the entire thing in one large swallow. “Don’t leave me behind, okay,” he mumbles, before staggering to his knees with a crunching sound that makes Yu Wenzhou wince.

He stares in shock. A tiny part of his brain is impressed; it’s been centuries since anyone managed to truly shock him.

The wards trapping them fall. There’s no outward physical difference but Yu Wenzhou can feel it humming against his skin, a pressure value suddenly released.

“Yu Wenzhou,” Huang Shaotian’s voice is barely more than a rasp, the poison already ravaging his body. “A little faster if you don’t mind.” Huang Shaotian sways forward, and it’s enough to break Yu Wenzhou out of his stupor.

He rushes forward and catches him before he can crash face first into the concrete floor. “Huang Shaotian, what did you do?”

“I thought you were supposed to be smart. I saved us. I did my job, now it’s your turn.” His forehead is drenched in sweat, his normally sharp eyes glazed. There's a faint smile lingering on his lips.

If he was a warlock he’d already be dead. As it was, he doesn’t have much time left.

Yu Wenzhou turns his concentration inwards, letting his eyes fall shut. The incantation to his previous spell is still unfinished and it’s only minor work to take the building power and twist it into a new form. The magic quivers beneath his skin, eager to be used but still too wild to be controlled. He takes a breath and calmly, quietly, coaxes it to do his bidding.

It’s harder than it should be. There’s an unexpected, persistent thread of worry and fear clouding his mind. His eyes keep glancing down to where Huang Shaotian is slumped against his chest. He’s shaking now, tremors swelling into convulsions as the poison spreads. He looks nothing like the fierce, loud Shadowhunter who told Yu Wenzhou off for keeping mission-critical knowledge from him.

He nearly sobs in relief when his magic finally flares to life in his hands. Mustering this much power for two different spells in quick succession has left him exhausted, but there isn’t time for fatigue and so he ignores it. He wraps his arms around Huang Shaotian’s back, pushing as much magic as he dares into him. It’s not an antidote and it won’t save him but it will hopefully keep him alive until Yu Wenzhou can fix this.

By the time he waves his arms in the familiar gesture of a portal, Huang Shaotian is unconscious. Even in sleep, his face is creased, like he’s still in pain.

Yu Wenzhou gathers him into his arms and takes them home.

Huang Shaotian has never been hit by a mundane car but if he was, he imagines it would feel like this. And by that he means really crappy. He aches so deep down even his bones hurt, and his head feels slow and fuzzy.

That’s alright, though. Pain means he’s alive.

The last thing he remembers is drinking poison like an idiot—and hasn’t Su Mucheng told him a million times that the biggest threat to his own safety is himself—and then nothing but agony. There’s a vague impression of strong arms and being carried and he really hopes he hallucinated that part because it’s not quite the impression he wanted to make on his first mission of his new assignment with stupidly good looking High Warlock Yu Wenzhou. His hot but stodgy boss aside, he has bigger problems. Like figuring out what happened.

Opening his eyes is a struggle, but it’s one that he wins. Of course he wins, he always wins.

The room around him is thankfully dim, but even the small amount of light makes him wince. Through the haze of his slow brain, recognition filters in. He knows this place. A rush of relief sweeps over him. He’d been pretty sure Yu Wenzhou had saved them but it’s nice to get confirmation he’s not in enemy hands. Tense muscles relax and he lets himself sink into the comfort of the very soft mattress under him.

A soft mattress. This isn’t his room at the institute (not that his room there has an uncomfortable bed, but it’s the firmer kind of mattress he prefers). This here is his room in Yu Wenzhou’s home. He tries not to spend too much time here if he can help it, but he needs to learn Yu Wenzhou’s habits well enough to fight alongside him, well enough to protect him, and that’s easier to do if they’re living under the same roof.

He blinks the haze from his eyes, taking in the weapons rack in the corner, the books on art and history and weapons lining the bookshelf, arranged by color because he likes the horrified expression on peoples’ faces when they realize.

The opposite wall is a bright, cheery blue when the lights are on, but right now it looks like a dark shadow in the poor lighting. He likes the way it stands out against the soft gray of the rest of the room’s walls. The room is decorated with photographs of far off places he’s never seen, and the occasional mounted sword. The night table next to the bed is clean except for the knife he sleeps with and a photograph of him and his friends.

He wonders if they know he nearly died. He can’t hear Su Mucheng chewing anyone out so he thinks maybe they don’t. He suddenly feels very alone in this empty room.

And then the dark lump of blankets at the foot of the bed shifts and he realizes it’s not a lump of blankets at all, but High Warlock Yu Wenzhou, sprawled forward in a chair and sleeping with his head on against Huang Shaotian’s bed.

That can’t be good for his back is, strangely, the first thing that crosses his mind.

He must still be woozy, because Yu Wenzhou pulls himself up with excruciating slowness. A popping sound echoes through the room as he twists towards one side and then the other. Once he’s straightened his glasses, he looks straight at Huang Shaotian and says, “As a matter of fact it’s not, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed with magic.”

What the hell is Yu Wenzhou doing sleeping by his bedside, holding vigil like they’re friends or something? Like he’s worried. They barely tolerate each other. Surely Yu Wenzhou has better things to do with his time (and his back) than keep watch over someone who’s basically his employee.

And perhaps more urgently, “Please don’t tell me you’re a mind-reader, too. Have you been listening to my thoughts? You should ignore the ones from 3pm yesterday. And also the ones right before bed and in the shower, I take no responsibility for those, I’m still a young guy, you know. Not all of us are old and boring because we’ve been around for a thousand years.”

Yu Wenzhou laughs, he actually laughs. Huang Shaotian’s been here for nearly a month and he’s never heard him laugh before. It’s a nice laugh. A warm laugh. “No mind reading, Huang Shaotian. You spoke out loud.”

“Oh. You can just forget all that, let’s pretend it never happened.”

“Okay,” Yu Wenzhou says.

It’s annoying to try and see in the dark and so Huang Shaotian leans over and taps the fancy alarm clock he bought himself that also doubles as a light. He bites back a hiss when his body protests the movement. And yeah, he can take a hint; no more moving until he feels a little less like he nearly died. Which he did—nearly die, that is—so that’s probably a good plan on his part.

When his eyes adjust, he blinks just to make sure he isn’t seeing things.

At the foot of the bed, Yu Wenzhou looks the most rumpled Huang Shaotian has ever seen him. His glasses are askew on his face and his clothes from last night’s failed appointment are dirty and wrinkled. Even his hair is astray, sticking up on the side of his face that was laying against the bed.

He looks unkept. And worried.

And that, well…Huang Shaotian’s not sure what to do about that. He can handle an angry Yu Wenzhou and a powerful Yu Wenzhou and even a condescending Yu Wenzhou, but a concerned Yu Wenzhou is new territory for them.

Huang Shaotian deals with it the same way he deals with everything. He runs his mouth. Sue him, it’s a tried and true strategy and he’ll fight anyone who says that his words aren’t as powerful as his seraph blade. Patting the side of his own hair, he says, “Um, High Warlock Yu, your hair is…um, you might want to take a look at that. You can’t expect anyone to take you seriously looking like an escapee from an evil hair salon”

Yu Wenzhou lets out a small huff and smiles. “You saved my life, Huang Shaotian, you can use my name.”

Oh fuck, is this going to weird now? Huang Shaotian has just gotten used to the way things are. He talks and his hot boss glares. It’s a good routine and sure, it’s annoying that the guy clearly thinks Huang Shaotian is an idiot, but he;s used to being underestimated at first glance. “Alright. Yeah, I guess I did save your life, Yu Wenzhou. Don’t go getting weird on me, now. I just did my job.” He pauses and tries again “Your hair really is a mess, did you know?”

Yu Wenzhou tilts his head, the hint of a smile spreading on his lips. He doesn’t fix the half of hair that looks like a hedgehog stuck its snout in an electrical socket, and it’s very distracting. “I find it difficult to tell when you’re being sincere and when you’re backtalking. Do you do that on purpose?”

This isn’t the conversation Huang Shaotian expects to be having at—he looks over at his cool alarm clock that can simulate the sunrise and notes the time—nearly four o’clock in the morning. He laughs, a little uncomfortable. “I think you’ve got it wrong, High War—I mean, Yu Wenzhou. I’m an open book, I say exactly what’s on my mind. Anyone will tell you the same.”

“You have a lot of people fooled.”

He’s right, but Huang Shaotian is in too much pain to lower his guard enough to admit it. He grew up in an entire Institute filled with attractive people, it takes more than a nice smile to get him to crack. “What do you want me to say?”

Thankfully, Yu Wenzhou doesn’t press him. He merely nods and asks “How are you feeling?”

“Like I drank poison.”

Yu Wenzhou laughs. “You’ll make a full recovery. I had the antidote in my potions stores and we got it to you in time. The residual aches should fade in a day. Let me know if they don’t, or if they get to be too much.”

“You’re not going to dock my pay for using up your pricey potions, are you?”

“I don’t pay you. I pay your Institute.” Yu Wenzhou presses his lips together, eyes scanning over Huang Shaotian as if physically checking him over. His voice is soft when he asks, “Why did you do it? You could have been killed. What were you thinking?”

It’s the same question Huang Shaotian has asked himself more than once. Like a coward, he takes the easy way out. “I was thinking it’s my job to keep you alive. I was thinking it was our only way out. And I was right. Don’t try to tell me I’m not because I am.”

“It was my mistake that got us trapped. It was my responsibility to fix it.”

And fuck, if Yu Wenzhou goes on like this, Huang Shaotian might actually start to be attracted to his personality as much as his stupidly good-looking face. “Yeah, it was. But you seem like the kind of guy who learns his lesson pretty quick. So don’t do it again and we’ll call it even.”

Yu Wenzhou frowns, and inwardly, Huang Shaotian groans. He’s too tired for wherever this conversation is going. “You still should have waited for me. You know my magic is slow. What if I wasn’t ready in time and you died?” By the time he’s finished, Yu Wenzhou looks angry. Angry like he was when he thought Huang Shaotian didn’t follow his directions, which is…more than a little strange. It’s not like he wouldn’t get a new bodyguard if Huang Shaotian kicked it.

“As if you’d care. You’ve hated me since I got here.”

“Do you really think that little of me? Do you think because I’m a warlock I don’t value the lives of the people around me?”

And shit, shit shit, he’s going to cause a diplomatic incident after his first assignment to the High Warlock. Only he could manage that while barely able to move. Ye Xiu is going to have him cleaning stinky ichor off blades for the rest of his life if he doesn’t fix this. “That’s not what I meant, High Warlock Yu.”

He struggles to sit up and a lance of fire races through his chest. Gasping, he falls back against the pillows, his vision going dark at the edges.

“Don’t move, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

When his vision clears, Yu Wenzhou is standing at the side of his bed, a hand hovering over Huang Shaotian’s chest.

His bare chest, Huang Shaotian realizes, when he looks down to see his runes on stark display. No point being embarrassed about that now. Besides, it’s not like he has much body modesty left. Showering in the Institute barracks saw to that a long time ago. It’s just that there’s something about Yu Wenzhou’s refined demeanor that makes him feel so much more exposed than he ever has standing bare-ass naked in the same room with a dozen other Shadowhunters.

No point worrying about that now. Yu Wenzhou has seen what he’s seen and it’s a small price to pay for not being dead. He puts on a smile, the one he knows for a fact irritates people. “I already hurt myself, remember.”

“How could I forget.” And that strange, fond tone is back. Huang Shaotian isn’t sure what it means but he kind of likes it. Or maybe it’s the residual effects of the poison rotting his brain.

Yu Wenzhou withdraws his hand back to his side, but not before Huang Shaotian notices the tremor in his fingers. “High Warlock Yu, are you—”

“I told you, no titles.” His voice has a worrying rasp to it that wasn’t there while he was seated.

Huang Shaotian has seen enough. He pats the empty strip of bed beside him. “Stop being a stubborn bastard and sit down before you fall down, Yu Wenzhou.”

“I’m fine. It’s been a long night, that’s all.” This close, the tight lines around Yu Wenzhou’s mouth are obvious. As are the tremors which have reached his shoulders, He looks like he’s one deep breath away from collapse.

The sight of him sleeping slumped over Huang Shaotian’s bed replays itself in his memory and he wonders whether part of the reason he stayed was because he was too drained of magic and strength to leave. He suddenly gets the feeling it took much more power to keep him from kicking the bucket than Yu Wenzhou has let slip.

Luckily, he’s spent enough time in the medical wing of the Institute to know how to get his way with stubborn Shadowhunters. He’s betting it works on warlocks, too. “If you fall down, I’m not scraping your sorry ass up off the floor, you got that? Or do you want me to injure myself worse after you spent all this time and magic on me?”

It works like a charm. With a faint nod, Yu Wenzhou sits. The bed dips with his weight. Immediately, some of the color comes back to his face.

Huang Shaotian thinks about all the teachers who lectured him about how Downworlders are different, are inferior. He looks at Yu Wenzhou who, despite his own exhaustion, rushed to his side when Huang Shaotian was in pain, and thinks those old lessons might be more than a little bullshit. If he’s learned anything in the last ten minutes, it’s that he’d drink poison for Yu Wenzhou again.

He thinks that might be a bit much to say right now. “You can stay here the night, I don’t mind,” is what he says instead. “Wouldn’t be the first time I shared a sickbed.”

Yu Wenzhou gives him a tired smile but doesn’t commit either way.

They sit like that, nearly close enough to touch, until he hears Yu Wenzhou’s breathing calm down into something approaching normal. “Hey, about what you said before. About how I should have waited for you to be ready before downing a poison shooter like a fraternity stud in a dive bar?”

Yu Wenzhou nods. “I don’t recall phrasing it like that, but yes.”

“You’re wrong. I didn’t need to wait. I’ve been watching you for weeks. You started casting the moment I read that note because you thought I was going to kill you. Wrong, wrong, wrong, you were so wrong all night, Yu Wenzhou. And by the way, but I won’t be offended this time that you thought I’m that type of person but if you do it again I’ll be very sad. But what I mean is that I drank the poison when I did because I knew you were almost ready with your magic.”

Yu Wenzhou’s breath hitches and he can practically see him wondering if Huang Shaotian purposefully read the note aloud to facilitate his plan.

“I didn’t plan it like that,” he answers the unasked question. “But once you went on the defensive, I saw the opportunity and I took it.”

“You’re very good at that.” Yu Wenzhou says. In the next breath, he lists to one side, barely catching himself from tumbling head first into the night table.

Huang Shaotian’s hand is already reaching out to steady him, but his help isn’t needed and he lets it drop back to his side. He keeps a closer eye on Yu Wenzhou, just in case.. “I’m not just good, I’m the best.”

Yu Wenzhou’s normally sharp gaze is dulled but his words are as sharp as usual. “Your first week here, you said you noticed holes in the protections on my home.”

“I did but you didn’t want to hear them. You said, ‘Huang Shaotian, you’re here to guard me not to poke holes in wards.’”

Yu Wenzhou nods his head. “I’d like to take you up on your offer.” He scoots forward so that he can lie down. It’s strangely intimate but Huang Shaotian doesn’t feel uncomfortable. “If I were to ask you what you noticed? Would you tell me?”

Huang Shaotian can feel his own exhaustion dragging him under, but still he answers. “Will you listen this time?”

“Yes,”

“Good. Okay yeah, we’ll do that,” Huang Shaotian mumbles, and lets himself lapse into tired silence. Beside him, Yu Wenzhou’s watches over him until he can’t keep his eyes open any longer.

He doesn’t realize at the time that Yu Wenzhou isn’t just answering that specific question. He’s making a promise.

Over the next several days, once they’re both recovered, Yu Wenzhou listens to his assessment of the ward placements. It’s only the beginning.

Because he doesn’t just listen to him when they’re working, he does it all the time.

Yu Wenzhou listens to him chatter about his seraph blades while he cleans them. He listens when Huang Shaotian complains about how bitter Yu Wenzhou’s coffee is on mornings when he’s so groggy he drinks from the wrong mug. He listens to him sing while he does the dishes, even when Yu Wenzhou argues it could be done faster with magic. He listens to him yell at the television when they’re watching trashy dramas.

He listens to everything. And he never stops.

#the king's avatar #yuhuang #tka fanfic #yu wenzhou #huang shaotian #tka sh au #ha i actually write something in this verse #thanks for the prompt this was super fun #lynne writes fic

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virmillion · 5 years

Text

Masterpost

of all of my sanders sides fics (under a cut because there is. Quite A Few More than i thought)

Chaptered

As Above, So Below - AO3 - 35,700 words

Warnings: cursing, blood, knives, fighting, OCD

Ships: platonic moxiety, platonic logince, platonic LAMP

Summary: Roman is a prince and Logan is his advisor-not-quite-friend. Virgil is a street rat runaway and Patton is his friend-not-quite-advisor. Unfortunately for Virgil, staying out of the castle is going to be his biggest struggle.

Arbitrary (choose your own ending) - AO3 - 4,007

Warnings: none

Ships: platonic LAMP

Summary: It’s Patton’s birthday! Who’s ready for a birthday party surprise? ...Guys?

Some Kind of Magical - AO3 - 45,113

Warnings: fighting, fire and burns, blood, deceit as a character

Ships: platonic LAMP

Summary: Senior year can kind of suck. A lot. Toss in some deadly oversized creatures and a final project that literally determines the rest of your life, and some problems are bound to get tangled up in there somewhere. Just keep your head down, finish your project, and everything should be just fine. Right?

I’ll Bring You the Moon - AO3 - 94,659

Warnings: Major character death, cursing, arguments, unhappy ending

Ships: romantic analogical, platonic LAMP

Summary: Logan has had his life planned out since, well, forever. Get through college, get an internship at NASA, rise through the ranks, get into space, something, something, happy ending and he’s set for life. The first couple steps were easy, out of the way in a snap. Meeting Virgil, however, kind of threw a wrench into those plans. But it’s fine. Logan can navigate a job at NASA, flirt with a cute museum tour guide, and deal with everyone’s inexplicable hatred of Neptune at the same time. It shouldn’t be too hard—after all, it’s not like it’s rocket science. ...Well, okay, so it is kind of like rocket science.

Abandoned Chaptered

Can’t Fake What I’ve Never Felt - AO3 - 3,826

Warnings: panic attack, sensory overload, cursing

Ships: platonic royality, background romantic prinxiety

Summary: “AU where everyone is emotionless until they meet their soulmate and upon meeting them they slowly gain one emotion at a time as the soulmate does something that triggers the emotion into existence” - me, oil on canvas in a discord chat, 2018

Kintsugi - AO3 - 3,021

Warnings: fire (a candle)

Ships: none

Summary: Virgil is just about fed up with this fancy little school, so he takes advantage of a quiet night outside. Difficulties ensue.

The Hypothetical Lower Bounds of the Glass - AO3 - 3,946

Warnings: food mention

Ships: platonic (or at least vaguely civil) analogical

Summary: Logan has multiple ways of working through frustrating emotions, on the rare occasion that they do arise. One such method is taking a long drive to an unplanned destination.

One-Shots

Taxi Cab - AO3 - 8,050

Warnings: none

Ships: platonic moxiety

Summary: Virgil needs a ride somewhere, anywhere, so of course, the nearest person with a car obliges

What Was Missing - AO3 - 3,983

Warnings: blood, major character death (kind of)

Ships: none

Summary: Something is missing in the mindscape. You don’t know what. Just... something.

Waves - AO3 - 4,241

Warnings: smoking cigarettes

Ships: platonic moxiety, royality, and logicality

Summary: People outgrow each other all the time. It’s perfectly normal. So why should Patton be so unhappy about it? He’s not technically a person, after all.

Bleeding Out - AO3 - 5,008

Warnings: blood and injury, intrusive thoughts, cursing, unhappy ending

Ships: platonic prinxiety

Summary: Roman takes Virgil on an adventure through the creative corner of the mindscape.

Purple - AO3 - 1,111

Warnings: really abstract writing

Ships: none

Summary: spiritual successor to Bleeding Out

Monster Under the Bed - AO3 - 1,207

Warnings: none

Ships: platonic Roman & Patton & Logan

Summary: When Roman is afraid of something, he goes to Patton, and Patton always knows just what to do.

Exoskeleton - AO3 - 3,850

Warnings: OCD, derealization, fighting (verbal and physical), food mention

Ships: platonic LAMP (mostly)

Summary: an honors zoology-inspired fic about Logan struggling to be A Person.

Lying From You - AO3 - 4,666

Warnings: blood, manipulation, deceit as a character (kind of)

Ships: none

Summary: As the core of Thomas’ feelings, it had always been Patton’s responsibility to care for his emotional wellbeing. Whether this was done in the healthiest ways remained to be seen, but he was trying, and that’s what was important. Keep Thomas happy as best he could.

Colorful - AO3 - 2,371

Warnings: blood, swearing, character death, unhappy ending

Ships: platonic Virgil & Roman & Patton, romantic analogical, background romantic royality

Summary: you know the au where everything is black and white until you meet your soulmate? yeah this is that but less happy

Detention - AO3 - 1,800

Warnings: light bullying

Ships: platonic moxiety

Summary: Virgil meets a kid named Patton in detention and decides to investigate further.

Come Back Home - AO3 - 3,540

Warnings: alcohol abuse (written poorly because I didn’t know how to write drunk people)

Ships: past romantic logince

Summary: Logan and Roman broke up and went their separate ways, coping as they could. So why are they both still thinking about the other?

Palindrome - AO3 - 6,006

Warnings: cheating in relationships, break ups

Ships: romantic prinxiety (for a minute), romantic royality (for two minutes), romantic moxiety (for three minutes), platonic analogical

Summary: Palindrome /ˈpalənˌdrōm/, n. - a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backward as forward

Just In Case - AO3 - 3,200

Warnings: (conceptual) major character deaths

Ships: none

Summary: A fail safe, for another term. Something to ensure that if the worst situation presented itself, they wouldn't be at a loss for how to function. Maybe Virgil ducking out the first time is what instigated it, but as problems continued to pop up, they came to realize that the absolute worst imaginable thing was well within the realm of possibility.

Bubble Tea - AO3 - 8,175

Warnings: none

Ships: romantic prinxiety, background romantic logicality, platonic royality, background platonic analogical

Summary: alternative title - i've never read nor written a coffee shop au, but here's some nonsense that's basically the same thing with a slightly different menu

And They Were Roommates - AO3 - 1,551

Warnings: some swears, sarcastic first person author

Ships: platonic logince

Summary: unedited nonsense that started out with having a point but eventually devolved into me lamenting my lack of inspiration and turning to spicy memes for comfort

Gone and Never Coming Back - AO3 - 4,453

Warnings: (Mentioned) major character death (it’s a plot point), nightmare describing a car crash, grief

Ships: platonic moxiety (sort of), platonic LAMP (sort of)

Summary: alternative title: patton learns how to cope with loss by being tossed directly into the deep end with three sets of ankle weights

The Sun Is Running Late - AO3 - 3,400

Warnings: death mention, implied suicide, the entire thing centers on the end of the world, first person POV (its roman)

Ships: (past) platonic LAMP

Summary: (to the tune of R.E.M.'s 1987 WENZ promo song that looped for twenty four hours) it's the end of the world as he knows it!

Creative Burnout - AO3 - 1,142

Warnings: major character not-quite-death, negative self talk

Ships: none

Summary: Roman is creativity, and he’s all out of ideas again.

Know Your Mark - AO3 - 2,514

Warnings: blood mention, stabbing, knife mention, negative self talk

Ships: none

Summary: Virgil has a target, so Virgil sets about to take them down. Should be perfectly simple, right? Right?

Of Royalty and Revelry - AO3 - 6,109

Warnings: blood mention, death mention, food mention, cursing

Ships: Romantic (one-sided?) Prinxiety, platonic Moxiety

Summary: Prince Roman fancies a newcomer, who isn’t too quick to speak up about their own opinion on the matter. Life lessons and begrudging companionships ensue.

Staying Up Late - AO3 - 3,292

Warnings: discussion of insomnia, nightmares, vague car crash (it’s a dream), spiraling thoughts

Ships: platonic analogical, maybe romantic if you squint

Summary: Virgil can’t fall asleep. Logan comes over to try to help. Everyone is tired.

Simulated Human Contact - AO3 - 1,195

Warnings: insomnia, medication mention

Ships: platonic analogical (romantic if you squint)

Summary: fluff and projecting onto analogical because i was incredibly tired

Coffee’s for Closers - AO3 - 22,222

Warnings: cursing, rude customers and coworkers

Ships: romantic analogical, romantic royality, platonic LAMP+Remy(Sleep)

Summary: Virgil is a barista. Logan is a barista. Everyone is gay—it’s just that this gayness only occurs at Logan’s cafe.

Love Is a Four Letter Word - AO3 - 12,758

Warnings: implied major character death, Less Than Happy backstories, some bullying, unhappy ending

Ships: platonic logince (more like acquaintances tbh)

Summary: Everyone has magic, and it’s really nothing special at all. Just another skill, sort of like a sixth sense. Roman is not particularly fond of his brand of magic, and sets off to find Thomas—the one person rumored to not have any magic at all.

#labhwrites #mine #masterpost #alright team im off to try to put a link to this in my bio wish me luuuuuuuuuuck

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kasaron · 5 years

Text

There’s not just a social contrast between Hale and Wenz; Hale is specifically noted as being more than a bit husky (not fat, mind, his build and body are more strongfat/thick-set than anything) whereas Wenz is this lean, gaunt (but well muscled) tallboi.

They both are the same class (Fighter) and even have similar statblocks, but I wanted to make the visual difference between them striking for giggles and so I can keep them stright in my head. Hale has a deep, heavy Glasgewian accent (or my horrible butchering of it) where Wenz is higher, more nasally, and much more Welsh-Meets-East-Ender, because my aristocratic accent was used already on Monty and I wanted enough contrast.

Hale is swarthy, a bit more than a bit ill mannered (comes with the ability to kill anything in a 400 foot radius) but is also a guffawing, easy-going type. He’s the type that has already sized you up before you took note of him, and the moment he’s decided to kill you he’s already taking the first shot. He doesn’t take prisoners, generally, if you went in for a penny, you’re in for the 350 pound hit of his crossbow.

Wenz is pale, gaunt, grim, more standoffish, more cerebral, more judgey; he’ll stare down at you and wrinkle his nose but turn a blind eye to your dalliances so long as it doesn’t impugn on his faith, but he will keep you at greater than an arm’s length for the sake that he trusts no-one, especially himself. He’d rather keep people alive, keep them talking, at least until he knows enough to avoid the next dust-up. If the law permits, he’ll turn them over, if not, he’ll send them off to Kalemvor himself.

I wanted to see how far I could take two characters with startlingly similar statblocks and the same initial class. So far, it’s fun.

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pinkpastels113 · 1 month

Text

my opinion on natla (for those of you who care lol)

spoilers ahead.

dislikes:

where is katara's fire??? they took it mostly away except for the (obligated imo) fight with pakku. like i understand that yall changed the story of her losing her mother so that she's more timid and insecure now but that was one of her main core traits. she has a passion and is reckless and sassy, and is a leader who inspires words of motivation to other benders. she is not afraid to sacrifice her life for the care and safety of others. this remake just... does not show that

pakku is no longer katara's grandmother's ex/grandfather, and did not show any plans to go to the southern tribe to help them rebuild, which i genuinely liked from the animation bc it showed that the water tribes are reuniting instead of still being separated btw the north and south (it might come later but there was no indication that it was in the works). he also does not teach katara waterbending. he just validated that she was a good waterbender and sent some kids her way to lead during the fire nation attack

aang does not have a crush on katara. it was one of the main factors that drove his character into a more goofy, relatable, and just overall likeable kid; because he is just that, a 12 year old kid. in the adaptation he is too serious, and the mutual admiration that he and katara were supposed to have of one another is more one-sided. in natla they made it seem as if... aang is a much older person trapped in a 12 year old's body dropping odd wizened quotes from Gyatso left and right about how to be the avatar and to look to the future and stuff like that, but not actually taking them into account and growing?? if that makes sense. like the show kind of took away his gradual acceptance of being the avatar and having the responsibility, through his simple coming of age moments like having a major crush on katara

the first season is completely centered around aang's guilt. he does not learn any waterbending or attempt at firebending (and being scared of it). i assume katara is going to teach him in season 2 but they could have squeezed some kind of training in between the eight episodes?

mai and ty lee are just standing there. like i'm not kidding. they don't do much but give azula an audience in her training sessions and rants about being the rightful heir. i did love ty lee's encouragement though, it was cute

but adding on to that azula does not have that... fear factor. she does not have her friends scared of her, or the fire nation people under her control/influence. at least not yet

sokka and katara enters the spirit world with aang? that was a bit confusing. i understand that the directors/writers need to speed things up a little and need to provide some backstory to sokka and katara, but they are not supposed/be able to go to the spirit world with aang. it threw me off guard

bumi confused the heck out of me. they did not have him reveal his identity at the end so the games and challenge that he had aang do in the animation was given to him in the "catch-up" (basically) of his time in the war with aang. he just seemed kind of (more so than expected) all over the place for me...

roku did not tell aang about the comet. they talked about koh and how to save sokka and katara from being forever taken by koh instead (they were captured when they were in the spirit world). i assume aang will find out about this later? but from what i wonder...

sokka is a bit too serious for me as well... i adored him for coming a long way from the sexist beliefs that he held at the beginning of book 1 in the animation, but that was basically erased in the adaptation, sooo. and i completely understand that what he experienced as a child in this adaptation should've shaped him into a more serious character but dang. it's kinda to the point were his jokes are kinda cringy

his apparent obsession with suki (which was SO cute) but then chasing after other girls immediately afterwards? yes this was portrayed in the animation and i completely expected him to be flirty and whatnot (he's my flirty sarcastic hungry boi), but why have him stare wistfully and longingly at the fan that suki gave him when he is just going to turn around and chase after random fire nation girls (the one that got them running in like ep 3)? it doesn't make sense (and kind of makes sokka seem like an asshole). the creators should not push sukka so quick and fast and hard and then 180 sokka into a playboy. pick a side pleaseee *cries* (sukka was not pushed as hard in kyoshi island in the animation so i was okay with sokka being as flirty as he was)

the kind of arguments that sokka and katara have are kind of patronizing and demeaning. it's more of a "you're such a little girl and need to grow the f up" kinda feeling instead of a "im your big bro and am trying to protect you" kinda feeling

appa does not fight at all :(( . he's just the ride. sometimes forgotten in the background

likes:

excuse me but the azula hair flip?? in her introduction?? amazing.

ty lee is so perfectly casted it's like her animation popped out into real life. the hair and clothes UGH

i cried in the zuko and iroh moments and flashbacks to their relationship/iroh's loss/zuko's burn. CRIED. it was so emotional and well done

again, zuko and iroh's relationship is so strong in this adaptation you don't even knowww. iroh has like zero bad bones in his body from the get-go it's kinda amusing T-T

THE ZUTARA SCARF SCENE

all the cast look like their characters to me. even if their core traits/personalities are changed

jet and suki. that's all i have to say

sukka kiss and initial awkwardness. i cackled when suki went *sad face* when she thought she scared sokka away

OMASHU IS BASED ON A LESBIAN COUPLE

ozai is as evil and bad and merciless as ever. also manipulative. i can get where azula gets it from

it further explains/shows the "my father trained me into the weapon he wanted me to be" for azula

june and iroh. it changed from the creepy one-sidedness in the animation lol and june gave a talk about her way of life

the graphics for the bending are so cool. zuko's fire kicks *mesmerized*

fire nation burning of people. shows really how antagonistic ozai's peeps are

freedom fighters!!

the tiny soft moment between zuko and aang when zee blue spirit saves him :DD

hating zhao as he should be hated because he's as cowardly and stupid as ever

the 41st division!! cried at that nice touch

the way zuko actually fought back and showed compassion for his father in the agni kai and how his father basically forced him to be the way he is (all angsty and conflicted and whatnot) because "compassion is weakness and here is the scar i manually burn into your face to prove you)

overall if you love zuko this is your show because other characters may have faults but they killed it with my traumatized dude with the lil scar! and his uncle!! which he is already and always super nice to!!

#it is 3am and i am tired #so will talk more later #and these are my opinions lol so dont come after me if they are not yours #natla #aang #zuko #katara #sokka #wenz can talk #for anne mostly #honestly just want to see more character development and aang training and toph!!

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