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rosedere · 6 days

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The Liyue Lotus and the Merchant from Snezhnaya (Pantalone x Reader)

Part 1, Chapter 2: The Lotus that became a White Rose (you are here), Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6~

Summary:

A surprise visit to your new residence causes a interference in your plan of being low key.

If you think I'm lost, maybe

You're looking in the wrong places lately

You never ask if I'm okay

I've never felt better anyway

Thankfully, the gradual transformation of becoming “Lián” was complete.

No one had suspected a thing, assuming you were a small apothecary shop in the harbor that worked and lived alone.

It was only after week 10 of being undercover that the two Fatui soldiers appeared at your door.

Unsuspecting you began to play the part as "Lián,” you answered your door.

Your eyes almost bugged out of your head when you realized who it was:

One seemed to be a tall Fatui mage with a purple hood over her, making it difficult to figure out her true face; the other Fatui skirmisher was also wearing a dark hood over his figure just as his fellow solider had.

You were anticipating the worst.

And the worst indeed was what you got.

“Lián?”

“Yes?”

"Do you remember us?" The fatui mage asked, the voice that came from her was delicate and cheerful but not familiar to you.

"Galina,” the mage said, holding a hand out to you.

shakily, you let your hand connect with her outstretched one as you shook it cautiously.

After the awkward handshake, you pulled back to see the skirmisher bow before you.

“I am Fedor, Miss Lián,” he said before holding his bow for a few seconds.

“Please do not hesitate to ask for our assistance since...”

“We are your assigned guards,” they both said in an uplifting tone.

Oh archons…. As if the pressure wasn't crushing.

“Ah, no need to fear! We are more than qualified to keep you safe as per the regerators order,” the mage spoke.

"Oh, so I'm assuming Pantalone has sent you here?” You folded your arms.

“Yes, I did send them, darling.” A booming voice was heard behind your two guests.

His long, flowing coat pooling behind him as he walked up the cobblestone steps leading past the scent of spring shops below your small home.

Of course, he did not come completely alone, with the few low-ranking Fatui soldiers surrounding him like knights.

It made sense, though, from the intel you gathered since he was utterly defenseless in the Fatui ranks. But what he lacked in brawn, he made up for with his scheming brain.

You gritted your teeth.

“Pantalone… you shouldn't have,” you said, letting your powder blue shawl cover more of your chest.

He stood behind the two guards on your doorstep with his usual graceful smile twinkling before you.

“Well, I wouldn't have to if you decided to take me up on that offer from our last date, darling.”

You remembered what he was saying. But you thought your dismissal of his pitiful offer was enough.

“I know—I just want to go a bit slower in our relationship,” you puffed your chest out with a hefty sigh.

“I just dont want to ruin your reputation as a bachelor” you added flipping your hair.

He only raises one eyebrow at your statement.

"Such and active imagination you have there,” he laughed.

"I have already stressed I am a monogamous soul, I'd never play with your heart like that"

He then gestured back to the two guards before you still standing at attention.

“Please don't hesitate to get to know your two guards; I unfortunately have to go tend to some business, so I'll leave you for now, Liàn." Pantalone immediately walked towards you, parting the soldiers to the right and left for him in sync.

Stopping right in front of your doorstep towering over you.

“May I have a farewell kiss from my resilient lotus?”

You could feel your scowl trying to form on the corner of your mouth, but you had quickly fought the urge.

He knew he had the upper hand with all these guards around. He only wanted to show he was in power. It made you sick.

Pantalone closed his eyes, leaning down to where your lips were expecting you to give the kiss on his plush lips before you.

Another sigh escaped before you quickly pecked his left cheek.

Pantalone, still waiting, opened his eyes to give you a clearly annoyed smile.

“Darling”

“I gave you what you wanted–”

He roughly grabbed your chin, pulling you to look up at him. Eyes widen in surprise.

“If I were you, I wouldn't act like a fool in front of my underlings now,” he scoffed his face distorted in annoyance.

“I'll give you one more chance to make it up to me.”

As he said this, his grip on your chin was harshly increased, making you wince.

You so badly wanted to breathe frost into his mouth if you weren't undercover right now.

Letting a small, pained whine out, you found his lips in front of you before you leaned in.

It was already embarrassing that he was about to take your first kiss, but now he was doing it in front of his lower rankings.

You hesitantly brushed your lips against his before you latched onto his firmer lips. This action immediately makes Pantalone eagerly connect to your barely parted lips. He was quickly moving his lips over yours, trying to get you to open your lips more for him, but you tried to just stay as still as possible for him.

Your mind was starting to get hazy from the lack of air, you welcomed the cut off from his mouth, he then held you close to his chest.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?”

You nodded in response, as you were forced to be against his chest.

Pantalone gave you another kiss to the top of your neatly parted hair before he pulled away.

“Oh, before I go, I do have something to give you for our next date tonight,” he mirthfully said with the snap of his fingers.

The two guards that were escorting him before came before him holding four bags from a place you'd never heard of before.

Immediately, they held it out before you could grab it.

“Be sure to wear it. I want to see you in something other than that,” he pointed, gesturing to the frayed white silk dress you wore wrapped in your well knitted powder blue shawl.

“I will, I'm so flattered you even thought of me,” you gingerly grabbed the shopping bags from the two guards in front of you, who quickly went to form a circle around Pantalone.

“You're too kind, my little lotus,” he smiled.

With a small wave, he turned and walked down the alley, with his subordinates following closely behind.

Leaving you alone with your new accessories waiting patiently before you on your doorstep.

“So… Do you two just stay here?” You questioned the hooded figures before you.

“We are here and there; wherever you want us to be or do for us is what we must do." Galina assured with her hand over her chest.

"So what is our first task, my lady?” Fedor bowed.

"Well, if it's acceptable, would you mind watching the entrance? You're welcome to come in, but I'm going to dress in the clothing I received and–”

“Of course, my lady,” they both responded in unison before the mage practically disappeared before your eyes in a bright spark of purple while the skirmisher began the walk down the steps towards the stone steps of your accommodations.

Thank God they left.

You knew he left them here to spy on you.

Shutting your door, you used your elemental sight to see if it was truly safe from the guards that were waiting outside your "home"

Quickly going to your bedroom, you went to the small nightstand in the bottom drawer, collecting your beloved weapon and vision.

Desperately circling your bedroom, you tried to think of a place to hide your items without them being noticed.

Walking around the small room, you heard a creak under your bedpost.

Stepping on the wooden plank, you realized it was loose. Wiggling the board, you were able to see the earthy soil of Liyue under the plank.

Digging with the plank, you made a hole deep enough to leave your items there.

Holding your weapon and vision, you delicately left it in the poorly dug hole before you covered it completely with as much soil as you could pack.

It was sad seeing your items deep in the ground below.

But you had to do what you could to not be caught so early in your undercover work.

Cautiously exiting your bedroom, you tried your elemental sight to see no traces still.

It seems you were able to complete your dirty work in less than 10 minutes.

As you walked towards the entrance, your foot almost connected with the shopping bags hastily left in the doorway.

You eyed the clothes suspiciously.

You knew, at least because of the frequency of the dates and his insistence on being exclusive with you, that he wouldn't send you anything weird.

But with your new problems sitting outside watching your house, you knew your lifeline to Yelan and your other agents was completely cut.

Sighing to yourself before you reached down and grabbed the bags, you looked them over once more using your elemental vision.

The clothes themselves were fine, but well, you just had to confirm what you thought you saw in the bags.

Placing the first two bags on the bamboo table in the kitchen, you opened the expensive, exotic-smelling bags. It was clear they weren't from Liyue, as the material was too thick and heavy for something made for Liyue heat.

Finally, after unwrapping the millions of pieces of tissue paper from the items of interest, a few designer tags fell out.

Well…

You held it up, thinking he sent underwear.

But as you unraveled the scraps of cloth, you felt up the thick white fur that wrapped around what appeared to be the neck when you realized what it was.

"No, he didn't,” you audibly groaned, unable to keep it in your head.

To confirm your theory of what the item was, you stripped your shawl and untied your dress, slipping on the shreds of cloth Pantalone spent 90 million mora on if the price tag was correct.

Unfortunately, as you slid the dress into yourself, it did fit just as a formal qipao would...

The sleeves were nonexistent, and the three thick cuts of silk and cashmere that fell down to your feet were pretty much an accident waiting to happen. If you moved two inches or the wind even blew past you everything would be revealed to all of Liyue Harbor.

The fur neckline that wrapped all around your torso to your neck was tight around you, feeling like a choker to the max on you, but in a way, maybe it was a good thing since the back was completely open, only being held by three ribbons of silk, creating a back window.

Maybe a twig can fit in this.

Unfortunately, besides the revealing nature of the dress and the tightness of it, you had to say it would probably be beautiful on anyone else but you, as you were no model that was a firm size 00.

And you werent interested in wearing it in front of the likes of Pantalone either.

embarrassed by the amount of skin you were showing, you tried to get the dress off only to realize it wasn't as easy as it seems since it was so tight fitting to your body.

Walking to look at the other bags, you found an expensive pair of shoes that were actually tasteful, and in your style being thin heels that made them look like they were crafted of ice flowers. The gloves, which were a deep navy blue, were also very beautiful when paired with the ill-fitting dress.

But just as you were starting to make the best of the situation, however, you opened the last bag.

"God, I hate being undercover,” you groaned as the non-existent thong and white bralette were twirling within your grip in front of you.

Note: mehhh sorry for the filler this chapter next chapter though is more interesting heh

#pantalone x reader #yandere pantalone #yandere content #yandere genshin x reader #genshin x reader #reader insert #yandere x you

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stormoflina · 4 months

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you wont answer me cuz you know im right. i loved szobo in the early days but his drop off was huge and now he is just another hospital merchant. for all the hype of him being the next kdb he cant even score a solo goal and im yet to see a good pass from him in the final third

Well hello anon.

I didn't answer you, because

1. The last couple of days my head was moving in between the Moon and Mars, and I'm not sure if I would have been able to remain respectful.

2. I'm getting tired of all these anons coming to my infobox and, for the lack of a better expression, trying to take the piss out of me. If you read my posts you know that he's one of my favourite players, and that I'm not mindless hater about any of our players, but especially not towards him.

3. You were being very condescending and annoying.

But buckle up my dear salty anon.

Dominik, naturally, is an offensive minded midfielder. At Leipzig, he basically played as a wide 10 (or occasional RW) and for the most part he does the same for Hungary. In both teams he was a pressing monster, his pressing is arguably one of the best in the current Liverpool squad as well. The difference is, that in both teams he had other midfielders behind him. He still had defensive duties, but not this current caliber. In Hungary he plays one of the hardest and most taxing roles: he drops deep to collect the ball, helps the build up from deep, and he contributes a LOT in defense, but he also has freedom to roam around the pitch, and enjoys the other midfielders support when he appears in the final third.

In Liverpool, he is a box-to-box midfielder. A different role, and not just a different role in midfield, but he is a midfielder under Klopp, played in the RHS in a triangle with Salah and Trent. Salah is our main goalscorer, Trent is our main creator. His job is to provide a stable link up between the two, allowing them to express themselves freely, offer his support, keep the width when needed, etc etc. Without him doing this, that rhs can't function properly. And this is just one of his many responsibilities. When Trent inverts into midfield he drops back into either help out (Ibou), or takes up completely the RB position. A position he has never played, by the way. He's constantly pressing, constantly running, constantly covering/contributing in defensive duties. He is the 5th fastest player this season. Other than his pressing, his other great quality is his off-ball work. Again, arguably, his awareness and intelligence when it comes to that is one of the best in the current squad. I encourage you to watch back some of our recent matches and take notice of him instead of the one giving the assist/scoring, many cases, without his efforts it wouldn't get to the point of it being a goal scoring opportunity.

I'm not going to argue with you and say that his passing hasn't looked a bit off in certain matches, that he didn't have some bad first touches or unnecessary long shots. He did. But please also think about all these NEW and constant duties, (other than the pressing& off-ball work), doesn't come natural to him at all and how these can affect his performance in the final third. Yes, it's an excuse,but a reasonable one in my opinion, maybe not for you, whatever.

All in all, it's easy to fail when you have been shifted from a role of being supported to being the one who is the constant and many times only support. Mind it, this is happening in a much more physical, much more demanding and stronger league. It's no wonder fatigue and eventually injury caught up to him. Other than Endo (and he only had like 5-6 starters in the PL), all of our starting midfielders struggled with injuries throughout the season, Domi was the last one to go down.

Anyways, this is the last time I did this. I'm so sick and tired, especially now with all the hate towards him, having the same conversation again and again. You think he's a bad, selfish person with a big ego, who insults and makes fun of his teammates etc etc. I'm not here to change your mind. But maybe try at least watching football with your eyes open before you start accusing one of the team's most selfless and most hard-working players, who is literally out injured (and likely very upset and heartbroken about that) because he tried to give his everything for his club, manager, teammates and fans.

#dominik szoboszlai #lfc #liverpool fc #im so over this i might pin this ask on my tumblr

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luimagines · 1 day

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This seems to have become a trend over the past few days, so I'll add my idea of what I'd do if I was sent to the Chain (which would undoubtedly end up with me on swordpoint).

I've played almost every Zelda game and read through the entire Hyrule Historia and Hyrule Encyclopedia, so I know a lot of things I shouldn't. My information could be helpful, but it could also be suspicious, which is why the plan (if I was not immediately found in this hypothetical) would be to roll up looking like sort of very strange merchant and say something like "Hello everybody. I have free information. Free! That's a good deal, is it not? And on just two conditions, you can have it! 1, do not ask about or try to discover anything about my identity, and 2, do not ask about or try to discover anything about my sources. Do we have a deal?" Then make a diagram of the timeline, my current theories on the enemy's weakness, and anything else that could potentially be useful. If it's not a given that I'm safe from being stabbed or left behind to fend for myself, I'd keep some information as insurance so they'd have to keep me safe to get it. I would absolutely end up being accused of working for the enemy and I don't think I'd have a very good defense against that other than 'I'm not guilty, if I did the crime, I wouldn't have done it so messily, I'm better than that, if I was a traitor, this would be how I would do it, so as you can see, these accusations wouldn't be flying if I was actually guilty' basically 'if I wanted to kill you, I would have stabbed you by now' and the fact I can put together a better betrayal plan within a minute would not help my case.

Since I wouldn't be much use besides information, I'd probably end up as a sort of cleaning assistant and repairman, since I can take care of horses, do enough sewing I could mend clothes and could probably learn how to care for swords if they are willing to let me handle them and I'd probably be wondering if I'm doing enough the entire time given I showed them all my cards at the beginning and am essentially just a strange guy who helps them and identifies monster weaknesses and locations after that.

Honestly, a very solid presentation/argument. I would also say to add that if you were a traitor, then why on earth would you giving them the info. That would be a rather silly thing to do as the enemy. ^.^*

However, I don't know if that would be enough for them to take you along with them. Like of information merchants the Link's meet, they kinda of just come and go and they eventually hunt them down when they're needed again, but the information dealer isn't exactly part of the adventure.

So I don't know how to spin this in a way that would convince them to allow you to join them.

This could get very tricky.

#pinky replies #modern au #modern! reader #i think #exept not really

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shipwreckedwithcaptainmarrow · 4 months

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It's not often I stray from history posts here, but today I am writing this in honor of my good friend Logan Spencer, who just passed away suddenly from a motorcycle accident.

I met Logan directly through my Shipwrecked page here, and quickly became great friends with him. He joined our Crew of the Charles Revenge-Living History, he assisted in the construction of my ship-stage in my backyard despite him being state away in Georgia, and I've enjoyed gaming with him and many phone calls and stops by his home. He also soon after became a fellow Order of Leviathan nominee alongside me, and I'm so glad he made it in. He was also a significant member of the Alee Pirates, a pirate Shriner unit out of Savannah, Georgia.

Logan was born in 1990, growing up in New Bern, North Carolina. He had been fascinated with pirates ever since he was a child, and loved everything Blackbeard. He was also a major fan of Jimmy Buffet, pirate history in general, and an avid supporter of all my endeavors. He was a loving father to his children and family, a kind and generous man who was willing to help anyone, and I am thankful to have known him.

I saw him last only 5 days back at Wormsloe Plantation's history festival. It was brief, but I got to give him a hug, and saw him last walking with his children.

He was also, like myself, a huge fan of music, so I'd like to share this link he sent me to a song he loved about Blackbeard:

youtube

Rest in peace my friend. Fair winds, and following seas mate. You helped many people, and made a difference. Thanks for everything Logan. I will miss you. Today's been a very hard day for me emotionally about this loss. Its crazy losing someone, especially someone with similar interests at the same age. Definitely not okay.

(Pictured is Logan Spencer's nominee photo for Order of Leviathan, us playing the pirate board game Merchants and Marauders together, and us on my ship stage during my birthday last year that he helped me build)

#Youtube

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the12thnightproject · 8 months

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Chapter 22: Tangled: Mitsuhide consoles a vulnerable-feeling Katsu… in a variety of ways.

Mitsuhide x OC; Hideyoshi x MC (Mai)

All Chapters Archived on Ao3

Logline - With Mai, Hideyoshi, and Aki missing, Mitsuhide and Katsuko reluctantly team up. Disguised as a merchant and his concubine, can they outsmart the man known as the God of Deceit?

“Go away.” Just let me curl up in a miserable ball. I rolled over and buried my face on the mattress.

He didn’t go away. Instead, I felt myself being lifted off the bed again, as he pulled me onto his lap and held me and patted my back, while I snuffled all over him. The storm of tears continued for a while as I poured out my fear and frustration onto his shoulder. His fingers were soft in my hair, slowly untangling it, lifting away the pieces that had gotten stuck to my face.

Eventually, I ran out of energy (and possibly out of tears), but felt too wrung out to move. He kept his arms tight around me, as the sobs subsided and all that was left was the sound of our breathing and my occasional whimpery hiccups.

Finally my misery gave way to awareness. I should really move. "Sorry. You're probably going to get a leg cramp."

"I imagine so," Mitsuhide agreed easily but didn’t let me go “Do you feel you can explain what is going on without turning on the waterworks again?" Oddly, his teasing tone made me feel slightly better. At least he was still treating me like me.

"I don’t know who I am anymore." My words burst out as quickly as the tears that had come before.

"Brat, that was one of the first things I checked when you opened your eyes. You were confused but even then you were aware of your identity." He shifted us both so that he could lean back against the wall and keep his grip on me.

"I don’t know what I am. If I can no longer climb and run without feeling sick, then what can I do? I even get dizzy when I read. If I can't do what it is that makes me me then." Adding to all that were the dreams I had been having about things that hadn't happened but felt as real as any memory.

"As I pointed out moments ago, it has been barely a week since you injured yourself." He brushed his fingers over a yellowing bruise on my am. “If that has yet to heal, then why do you expect that this-” he rested his palm on my forehead, "will be any faster to recover."

"That makes sense when you say it." I looked down at my arm. "Then it gets all mixed up when I start thinking about it. Or when I feel about it."

"Perhaps that’s also part of your injury. That..." he paused as if looking for a word, "unusual healer Shojumaru found, claimed that you might be confused and emotional for a little while and that the more you could rest, the sooner you would recover. Therefore, rest is what you must do."

“Thank you.” To my horror, I felt myself wanting to cry again. Knowing that there was a physical reason for my emotions was a relief, but it didn’t turn them off. I took a deep breath, hoping to prevent another, as Mitsuhide had put it, show of ‘waterworks,’ then it hit me that I'd been sitting in his lap for the past twenty minutes. More embarrassing was that I wanted to stay there. I scooted off. "Sorry. Even if I'm not too heavy, I'm sure my hair stinks."

Sho had helped me bathe earlier today but she'd been too worried about getting my injury wet to wash my hair. I forced out my best self-deprecating ‘silly me’ laugh. "Probably it was just the smell of my hair that set me off."

"Well we can’t have that. Thankfully, it is certainly something I can assist with." He got to his feet, and I'm sure I heard one of his joints crack in relief.

"You're going to help me wash my hair?" The thought of Mitsuhide playing hair stylist... well it did not compute.

"Dear me, did your injury also affect your hearing? That would be unfortunate.” He bowed, theatrically (or, sarcastically… with Mitsuhide, it amounted to the same, I think), then whisked himself out of the room.

A little while later he returned with the full tea kettle, two buckets and a bundle of cloth. He repeated the trek and returned with two more buckets, these filled with cooler water. Then he efficiently arranged everything on the writing desk, and before I knew it, I was kneeling with my head in the improvised sink, while Mitsuhide washed my hair as skillfully as any professional beautician.

All he needed would be to start gossiping about the cast of some reality show, and he could find a job in any fine salon. Although the idea of him doing so made me want-

“What are you finding so amusing?"

--to giggle.

He scrubbed something with a faint woodsy scent into my hair, his movements careful around the wound on my temple. "You do realize this is a singular occurrence."

Since I couldn’t explain… there was no Sengoku era equivalent to hairstylist, I simply said, "I am just happy for it to be clean again." I really hoped that when I had landed in the street, I hadn't landed in anything worse than mud, but the mud was bad enough. I closed my eyes and allowed due vibration of his fingers on my scalp to relax me. He was clearly being extremely gentle because of my injury. Too gentle in fact. I understood that he did not want to jar me further, but if he could just press his fingertips in a bit more…? "If you want, you can scrub a little more forcefully. It's fine."

"Are you telling me to go harder?" He made an amused humming noise. "I will make a note of that for our future."

"You may keep an entire library full of such notes, but they’ll only gather dust." As the words flew out of my mouth, I realized I had missed our snarky exchanges. My sarcasm had been automatic. But deep down, I wondered what it would be like if he were to let loose all of his exquisite tortures up on me. Something told me that it would be highly enjoyable. Mitsuhide was clearly good with his hands.

"No knowledge is ever wasted." He switched buckets to rinse the suds out. "One never knows when a piece of information will suddenly become handy."

"Whereas some information ends up languishing as a footnote," I sighed as the warm water streamed across my head.

"Some people prefer reading the footnotes. They can be the most interesting portions of history." He wrapped my head in a dry cloth.

My experience with how outsiders viewed "Kaya" didn’t make the life of a ‘footnote’ sound particularly worthwhile. Though being someone's main story had never featured much in my daydreams, I knew it was still preferable to being a footnote. And when I reminded myself that Mitsuhide was in love with Mai… well, all I would ever be to him was a footnote.

"My my, it appears I have gotten you rather wet." Mitsuhide ran his finger around the collar of my kimono, which had become splashed during the wash. He gave me one of those taunting smirks just daring me to comment on his double entendre.

"Don't quit your day job.'' I found my hand towel and tried to blot out the worst of it.

"Perhaps you might want to charge into a new night robe, such as this one." He handed me a neatly folded square of turquoise silk.

When I unfolded it, it was revealed to be a simple yukata made from the fabric I had admired that day at Shojumaru’s warehouse. "I thought you were having this made into a haori for yourself?"

"One key thing about the art of disguise. You should always keep with you one item that makes you feel like yourself." He held the garment up to my face and looked at me for a long moment, until I felt hot under his gaze. "Yoshimoto was correct. Jewel tones do suit you."

There were a thousand questions I wanted to ask him. When had he arranged this – had he always been intending to give this to me, even from that first day we had appeared in disguise as 'Kaya' and 'Kyubei'? The day I had been injured in the accident? More importantly, what thing did Mitsuhide keep with him that reminded him of his essential the self, a self I was beginning to think was far more complicated than I had imagined.

But before I had formed even one word, he'd simply tapped his fingers over his lips and then slipped out of the room.

In the sudden quiet, I changed into the yukata. The material was cool. Soft under my fingers. Wearing it felt like a comforting embrace.

The seventh thing I hate about Mitsuhide - he keeps doing nice things for me.

Within a few more days, the concussion symptoms had abated enough to allow me to resume daily life. I hadn’t tried to climb anything, but looking out the window no longer made me feel dizzy. Hiko came by a few times and brought me a gift of a pretty fan as a thank-you for saving him. He even showed off his juggling skills, and to my complete astonishment, Mitsuhide brought out his flute and provided a little light musical accompaniment.

The tune was familiar. It sounded like … he had been the source of the music I had heard when I had been unconscious. It hadn’t been a dream.

Later, once Sho and Hiko had gone back to their home for the night, and Mitsuhide and I were eating our respective meals I asked him about the music. "I didn’t know you could play the flute."

"I did live a long and varied life prior to you crashing into it." Before I could point out that he had been the one to seek me out, he continued. "I often masquerade as an entertainer, much as your father has done, and yes before you ask, he and I did once work together, and no, I will not tell you that story. Having performance skills such as music and dance is handy in those situations."

True enough. That hadn't been where I was going with my questions though. "The first night I was injured. I don’t recall much, but I do recall hearing a flute. That was you, wasn’t it?"

He inclined his head. "The healer mentioned you might find it soothing."

"Where is this healer now? Did he not come back after the first time?" It was strange to hear about a doctor who popped in once but didn’t come back to check on a patient. Maybe he had needed to be sent for.

"From what Shojumaru has told me, the man is brilliant but rarely sober." As if to illustrate the point, Mitsuhide poured himself a cup of tea, rather than breaking out his sake. "As long as you appeared to be incrementally improving, I thought it not necessary to further test his sobriety."

Huh. Well anyway. "Thank you for the music then. I did hear it, and it was soothing."

I cleaned up my dishes, and as Mitsuhide appeared to be finished with his bowl of glop, I washed his as well and boiled more water for tea. He watched me in silence, and I didn’t feel any further inclination to make conversation. When I returned to the table with the tea, though, it seemed like the silence had turned into awkwardness.

Since my injury, had he had to put aside his investigation to care for me? Hopefully that was not the case. "Brat, if you have something you want to know, just ask, I would hate for you to reinjure yourself thinking as hard as you seem to be.” He brushed his hand across my forehead.

"Well. It's… have you been able to do anything about Shojumaru, er, Motonari? Or did my accident force you to stop everything?" I might have been extorted into working for him, but having done so, I was still determined to be useful.

"I have, and your injury has not delayed anything in the slightest, as we would always be waiting for the Oda fleet to catch up to us." Perhaps to be companionable, took the pot of boiling water, and rather expertly prepared the tea. He’s a terrible cook, but he makes decent tea. "The pieces are nearly in place."

I waited for further enlightenment, but he said no more. "And...?"

"You would be advised to drink that while it is still warm." I must have looked sulky because he added, "It's best if you don't know the details, but trust me, your participation will be crucial. Now, brat, do you think you've healed enough to join me in a game of shogi? You did mention that Aki has taught you the rules, yes?"

My first thought was, yes, you know I play because we have played. I had a distinct memory of facing Mitsuhide across a shogi board... except it wasn’t true. It must have been another of those oddly realistic dreams. Mitsuhide and I had never played shogi with each other. "Yes – he and I played often."

"Good. Do not think I will go lightly on you because of your injury." He got up and motioned me to follow him.

"I would be annoyed if you did." I picked up my tea and hurried after him.

"I imagined that would be the case." He surprised me by bypassing his private office and climbing up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Are we playing in here?" Why? Danger Will Robinson! My brain suddenly flashed back to the kiss we’d shared before my accident.

He smiled at me as if he knew where my mind went. But instead of teasing, he simply patted the open futon. "It is more comfortable. You may rest your injuries in between turns. I have not missed the way you are rubbing your neck. It will do neither of us any good if you overstrain and set your recovery back." Left unsaid, but clearly part of the subtext is that he would likely notice if that happened, and probably send me off to bed like an overtired child.

Well, that was considerate. He could simply have ordered me back to my room to sleep, but it seemed he was willing to be entertaining tonight. Hopefully whatever it was he was planning would play out soon, because injury or not, I was feeling a bit stir crazy. Likely he’s noticed that as well. "If I win, will you tell me what the plan is?"

"I will not." He handed me a small vial. When I opened it, I saw it contained the minty stuff he'd put on when I still had a severe headache. "Use this if the pain returns, unless you prefer I apply it for you."

Huh. He was trying to distract me, it seemed. "If I win, may I have Aki's letter? And I can put this on by myself."

"Pity. I thought you enjoyed that massage." He gave me one of those devilish smirks.

I had. It was not the point. "My father's letter."

"And if I win? What will you do for me if I win? Perhaps I should be the one asking for you to massage oil onto me." He tapped his finger on his lips in an exaggerated thinking it over pose. I knew he was only doing that to call attention to his lips, so I scowled at him. "No? Hm, allow me to propose this, then. If you should manage to defeat me," his tone made that sound like he considered that highly unlikely, "then I will return your father’s letter to you. If I win, you shall teach me this code."

Hm. Earlier this summer, back when I was still in disguise in Azuchi, Mitsuhide had beaten Aki in a game of shogi (although Aki had hinted to me that he’d allowed that to happen). So, Mitsuhide was at least as good, if not a better player than Aki. I, on the other hand could rarely best my father at the game. Honesty compelled me to admit, at least to myself, that I was unlikely to win. "For every piece of mine that you capture, if I lose, I will give you one symbol of the code." Mitsuhide would need at least fifteen symbols decoded in order to break the entire code. More if I gave him the lesser used symbols or ones he probably could figure out on his own anyway. '”But if I win, I get the whole letter back."

"Fair enough." He nodded, then we began the game in earnest...

It took less than an hour for him to win.

I buried my face on my arms. "Ugh. That was embarrassing." Granted, there had been a pretty slim path to victory. But I'd not even gotten onto that path.

"Don't despair. You are not the worst player I've run across." My face was still hidden, but I heard the clink of tiles. "You gave up nine tiles."

“I know. I kept count." I sat up and cast a depressed scan over the game board trying to figure out where I went wrong. The opening, probably.

"That is why you lost. You were so certain you could not win, that your strategy was solely to limit loss. Had you played to win, you might have managed it. Remember that." He tapped my forehead, a semi-caress that had become familiar to me by now. "Sometimes only a daring risk is the key to victory." He pushed a writing desk over to me. "The code key please."

I carefully transcribed the code to nine symbols figuring that what he intended to do was use those and my letter to figure out the rest of Aki's code. With that in mind, I gave him letters that would be in the greeting and the signature. I mean he likely would have been able to decode the greeting anyway. I handed Mitsuhide the paper. I didn’t grin triumphantly (although I thought about it).

As he glanced over the list, he rubbed his chin. "Well played, Brat." He gave a theatrical sigh. "I see I will have a task breaking the rest of it" He rattled the bag with the tiles. "Shall we play again?" Before I could protest that I refused to give him more of Aki’s code, he added, "No stakes. Strictly for diversion and education. I intend to make an expert of you in this."

How long does he think it was going to take to find his friends anyway?

We couldn’t keep these disguises going forever. Nor did I want to live with him indefinitely. But that night, after losing another game (one where I did come closer to winning, to be sure), I went back to my room, wrapped myself in that turquoise yukata, and realized there was a tiny part of me that privately admitted that Mitsuhide wasn’t that awful to be around. Almost companionable, even when he was teasing me. I could get used to him.

But, for my sanity, it turned out that our interlude playing house was about to come to an end, and it would end with my betrayal.

@lorei-writes @selenacosmic @bestbryn @lyds323 @tele86 @akitsuneswife

#10things #10 things I hate about mitsuhide #ikemen sengoku #fanfic #ikesen fanfic #ikesen mitsuhide #mitsuhide akechi #ikemen sengoku fanfic #katsuverse #hurt comfort

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myhauntedsalem · 1 year

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The Bullock Hotel’s Intense Ghost Deadwood, South Dakota

In the late 1800s, Seth Bullock traveled to the Black Hills gold strike with a wagon full of supplies to sell to the miners that worked in Deadwood, South Dakota. He spent the rest of his life here as a merchant, rancher, sheriff, U.S. Marshall, and hotel owner. At age 21, he was a Montana Territorial State Senator who played a role in establishing Yellowstone as a national park.

When he and his partner arrived in Deadwood Gulch, in 1876, he found a hell-bent, rowdy mining community. Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the head and killed the day after he arrived.

Within a few short months, Seth was appointed sheriff and with several handpicked deputies he was able to clean up the town. Seth was a tall, imposing man with a steely-eyed stare, who demanded respect. He was an honest and fair businessman who often solved potential violent situations with intelligence and creativity.

A territorial judge liked to tell the story of when Bullock stopped a dangerous miners strike. These men hadn’t been paid, so they camped out in the mine refusing to come out. Bullock not wanting to injure anyone dropped a foul, smelly substance down the airshaft. The striking miners eventually surfaced in search of fresh air.

He managed to keep law and order in Deadwood without ever firing a shot or killing anyone.

In 1884, riding on his ranch, Bullock ran into three rough-looking characters. One of these men was Theodore Roosevelt, the future president of the U.S. The two men became life-long friends and during the Spanish-American War in 1898, Bullock enlisted as one of Roosevelt’s famous Rough Riders.

After a fire destroyed Bullock’s hardware store on Main Street, in 1894, he and his partner Sol Star had a luxury hotel built on the site, the Bullock Hotel, which remains open today.

Seth Bullock passed away in 1919, at the age of 70. Many eyewitness reports indicate his ghost haunts his hotel.

A long-time employee of the Bullock Hotel shares several compelling guest experiences.

One morning, he saw a little boy point to a photograph of Seth Bullock, that the hotel displays and explain the following excitedly. “Dad, that is the man who helped me, last night when you and mom went downstairs. I told you I left the room to explore and got locked out. I was lost, and he approached me, he said he could help. He led me back to our room and opened the door without a key. See, he has a big mustache but he was wearing a big hat and wore cowboy boots. ” He pointed to the photo “That man has the same eyes.”

This employee states this incident was the first of many that convinced him the stories about Seth Bullock haunting the hotel were true.

Working the front desk, late one night he received a frantic call from a guest staying on the second floor. She complained, there is a dirty man out in the hallway smoking a smelly cigar when no smoking was allowed.

The employee asked her to describe this man. “He is tall, has a large mustache, he stared at me rudely. He is dressed like a cowboy with a large hat and boots tucked into his pants.”

There was no one of that description staying in the hotel.

The employee goes on to explain that many guests have given similar descriptions of a man they saw in this same hallway.

In Room 211, where Seth Bullock died, guests have experienced everything from items being misplaced to objects being thrown across the room. Witnesses state while walking in this hallway, they heard their names whispered.

Music is heard in this area with no source and maids state they often find themselves locked out. One used a towel to keep the door propped open only to see it fly across the room. Maid carts also move without assistance on this floor.

Electrical items turn on and off in this room even when they are unplugged. Guests report they felt a strong presence that appeared to be watching and then later followed them.

The Bullock staff keeps a notebook in their lobby so guests can record their experiences. It is believed many other ghosts besides Bullocks remain at this hotel.

The hotel’s kitchen, bar, and basement all have had multiple incidents of unexplained activity.

#The Bullock Hotel’s Intense Ghost #Seth Bullock #Paranormal #Ghost and Hauntings #Ghost and Spirits #Haunted #Haunted locations #haunted salem #myhauntedsalem

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erwin0859 · 21 days

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hello erwin, i hope you're well! may i please request reader (with a personality like hu tao/ei) who's dreadful at cooking trying to make something with whichever three characters you think would be funniest?

i've been thinking of this for a while and thought it would be really funny- i feel like cooking with a short tempered character or another character who's bad at cooking would be hilarious, but i'm curious to hear what you think! hope you have a good day :)

-🐈‍⬛

I am, thanks; I hope you're well too, and have a good day as well 😊 Considering the nature of this request, I shall try a different layout... although, I wasn't inspired in the same way for each of them, I hope you will like it still 🤔

Cooking headcanons with a GN reader who can't cook & whose personality is a mixture of Hu Tao and Ei, with...

... a character who can't cook (Raiden Shogun)

Oh boy...

Upon hearing about this kind of event, Yae Miko asked to assist you two

Officially, to be the judge who will taste the results (her sacrifice shall be remembered) but officiously, it's just to enjoy the show

Ei will be glad to have some social time with someone like her

The two of you decided to attempt preparing some Tricolor Dango Balls, hoping that a favourite snack would be more motivating, thus with higher chances of success

The result was... anything but that, not just because of the potato shapes, but also due to the, somehow, identical color for each of them

... and the lack of noticeable taste

At least, it doesn't look nor smell too much like poison

In any case, judge Yae Miko could still ask a certain Gorou to taste-try instead, as a gesture of "apology" for all the past teasing he got from her

... characters who cook suspiciously (Hu Tao, Kamisato Ayato)

When it comes to Hu Tao, you will naturally go along very well with her too, like with Ei

As for Ayato, it will be an original type of break from work

He's used to playing Genius Invokation TCG with Itto anyway, so he won't mind another form of curious... "originality"

They will both help you, even using your lack of knowledge as inspiration to try something new

Then will come the time to have a taste of the result... well, more like finding a guinea pig

It would be more fun interesting to receive exterior feedback, after all

Ayato naturally thought about Thoma (it wouldn't be the first nor last time)

As for Hu Tao, well... how about going for a stroll through Liyue Harbor? Surely there's a merchant out there in need of some mood boost, after losing a commercial contract to a competitor

... characters who are great cooks (Noelle, Navia...)

They won't question how it's possible, they will instead selflessly teach you, all the while cooking the food at the same time, with patience and words of encouragement

Your bubbly reactions will be payment enough for them, making them feel pleased to have helped you

In the end, you'll enjoy the food together and they will invite you for another time

... cooking with Xiangling

If never you believed that being dreadful at cooking was unusual, wait until you witness in person the ingredients used by Xiangling

It will help you put things into perspective

If she can cook something tasty without following the commonly-accepted culinary norms, then it means that you, too, can do it!

After seeing the non-negligible room for improvement you possess though... she suggested you to be her assistant instead, for this time

This way, she could show you now, and next time you'd do some practice (... with her help still)

... cooking with Bennett

You know, straight from the start, that it won't happen with ideal conditions

Not that he wouldn't help you, quite the contrary, the mood will be cheerful and optimistic despite all odds

It's just that the labels on the recipients he brought are gone... after he found himself dripping wet from falling in a lake... startled by one of Timmie's pigeons... trying to survive one more extra day

At some point, you wondered if this recipient was full of salt or baking soda

And later on, if that one was filled with cinnamon powder or black pepper

What's the worst that could happen anyway?

Barbara is used to regularly check on him, so one more or one less check up will not make much of a difference to her, at this point

... cooking with Qiqi

"What... was the next step again? I... I forgot."

One good thing though: she doesn't mistake your bubbly behavior for being the one and only Hu Tao

Thankfully, Dr. Baizhu showed up to save the day... and also to prevent you from starving tonight

... cooking with Arataki Itto

"What do you mean, you can't cook?"

"Now, compadre, lemme tell you: this is a sentence from the past! 'cause Arataki "Numero Uno Cheffo Supremo" Itto, here in the flesh, will teach you all there is to know!"

"Uh-huh, that's right! And after I show you how the pros do it, you'll make even the Raiden Shogun herself show up, to come taste your cooking! I'm talking from experience here, you know?

And if the smell isn't enough... well, I'll just throw papers into Tenshukaku again, it's no big deal."

Needless to say, Shinobu's 6th sense for incoming troubles triggered after hearing all that... and it didn't take long for the stove itself to be on fire

"Holy moly pepperoni, who summoned the Pyro Archon in here?! We don't even have any offerings ready! Shinobu, do something! Help!"

... cooking with Fischl

Your stomach will be full for the day... but your mind will have reached its monthly limit of speech-processing

If it wasn't for Oz translating everything she says into a less grand, more common (and understandable) form of language, then communication would have been more difficult

At least, she appreciates your efforts to converse with her, despite the... difference of style between you both

"I, Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung, shall assist thou in thy divine mission of fulfilling thy satiety by thyself"

"Thine ancient and forgotten recipes, from thy secret realms within thy depths of thy Immernachtreich, shall be revealed to thou on thy blessed day"

"Where thine clouds from thy evil forces of darkness, thine despicable enemies of light, will become disintegrated, as thou shall spread wide thine wings of culinary knowledge"

"Thus, beginning a new era in which thou shall be able to course thy own path, becoming a sovereign of eating preparation"

"A path where thy kitchen shall no longer be regarded as a place of everlasting, insurmountable hardship"

"What mein Fräulein means to say is, she will gladly teach you how to cook"

Thank you for reading! Link to main post

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landsharkbite · 1 month

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info on rosa's activities in spirale!

I first made this post back when Spirale City was restored after the events of Overlay, but since it's been ages I thought I'd reestablish where you can most easily find Rosa in each of the wards!

FIBONACCI WARD

This is the ward Rosa frequents the least, outside of businesses established on the surface. If she’s here, your greatest chance of finding her lies in areas outside the canyon where she’ll be getting a cup of coffee or bartering for ores, spare machinery and metal scraps in order to secure her Aggron friend's next meal.

Although she can be seen wandering, playing with the radiocats and patronizing establishments all on the middle to lower floors of the canyon towers, the obvious and biting disparity between the higher levels and those below remind her just a little too clearly of her experiences and treatment at the hands of those who considered themselves her betters during her time in Veilstone (her own pocket dimension’s rendition of it, at least). There are occasions when she’ll visit the higher floors, barring the High Roller areas, purely because many of the business owners there are too scared to deny her entry and she gets a kick out of daring them to try. These visits are sparse as the posh luxury is suffocating to her, but spite drives us to do crazy things.

There are also days when you'll find her on the canyon floor, assisting in structural repairs, handing out rations bought with her personal funds and doing what little she can to help those unfortunate enough to be confined there by their inability to leave.

GOLDEN WARD

A lot of this ward is too glitzy and glamorous for Rosa to be truly comfortable but she can still enjoy a good deal of what it has to offer. Most notably you can find her at the Marina where she keeps her boat, a small sailing yacht that can accommodate up to two people. If you’re an acquaintance or a friend of hers and you’d like to go out on the water to fish or just get away from the hustle and bustle of land for a while, let her know. Chances are she’ll be of a similar mind!

Another winner in Golden is the Netwalk where— and you’ve likely anticipated a pattern by now— Rosa will be enjoying some quiet time with the animal life. For all her catlike qualities (purring, a compulsion to chase laser pointers and an ‘if I fits, I sits’ instinct) Rosa is decidedly a dog person, even if none of them are equipped to pick up a ball to play fetch save for Isabelle. Every dog is a good dog, Brent.

You can also find her in an underground gambling hall on Crimson Lane after hours if you’re lucky. Betting on fights is a form of gambling after all, and beating someone to a pulp for a pocketful of cash still feels pretty good even after all these years. Rosa’s careful about this, though— if it were ever to become a full time career again she’d have to shoot herself.

COTES FANTASCI WARD

The openness and the natural areas of this ward tend to draw Rosa like a fly to honey. Much of her time spent here takes place during the evening or at night, largely in the shade of the Eternal Tree or even the Forest of Airaisal for an extended period of repose during those times when she doesn’t particularly feel like being found.

The market town is another fair bet, where she can sometimes be seen picking over the merchant stalls and shops for unusual (perhaps even bordering on macabre) curios and delicacies. And lord knows why you’d be there but you may also find her trawling in the Underside where she’ll be drinking and/or dominating the occasional tavern brawl in a brutal fashion. Monsters are willing to bet on a good fight too, and Rosa only has so much professional experience on her resumé to utilize.

ARCHIMEDES WARD

Rosa’s home ward, and the ward that receives the greatest portion of her time and attention by far. Barring the Church of Onoma (being the bitter curmudgeon regarding religions and their godforms that she is), you can run into her just about anywhere on this part of the map.

It’s easy to think of Rosa as... uncultured, and you wouldn’t be entirely in the wrong if you did. Even if the finest and highest forms of art escape her, that doesn’t stop her from patronizing the halls of the Tempus Museum or sitting in on shows at the Theater of Calliope, especially if there’s a sparring match or a musical performance taking place. Rosa once played instruments herself years ago, showing some promise with a guitar and piano, and she can still sing well and read music with some ease. This was all at a turbulent period in her life however, and these pursuits were ultimately abandoned. Having mellowed now in age and learned greater patience, she often thinks of picking them up again.

The Star Trail and Dionysus’ Chalice are places both well loved by her, as she’s never one to say no to good food or drink. But even with all this, your best bet at finding her waits at Savior’s Respite. The view, the flora and the haunting quiet all provide an optimal space for Rosa to have a moment alone to hear her own thoughts.

This can be dangerous. She doesn’t much care.

#ooc #about #reference

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scarletwritesshit · 7 months

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🐕 Luocha x Sushang 🐕 A Merchant's Loyal Dog by the Name of Sushang

Luocha glanced at the hyper brown-haired girl that he had begrudgingly allowed to accompany him on his mission.

That girl has far too much energy, he thought.

Luocha did not have to worry about being unable to quell the inexperienced knight in the event of a conflict, but rather, she just talked so damned much for his own sanity. It was an onslaught of never-ending yap inquiring about his cargo or pointless small talk that he could care less to hear.

Sushang’s claims were that she was making absolutely sure that he didn’t feel lonely on his journey. That problem was already addressed by what, or rather, who, was sealed within the coffin he carried on his back. He couldn’t explain that to her, though. One answer will lead to twenty more questions that he would never hear the end of, and the truth of that coffin was his business and his business alone.

To her, apparently, whatever was Luocha’s business was also her business, and he would on numerous occasions catch her in the middle of an attempt at prying into the coffin. He would scold her all the same, gently at first, until he was forced to resort to a sharp, stern tone. With how persistent she was, despite the fear Luocha would momentarily strike into her, he couldn’t help but wonder if she actually enjoyed receiving such a scolding from him.

While the mystery remained unsolved, Sushang was all too happy to hound him with question after question, time and again. And even a vague answer bought her more joy.

So, what do you REALLY do for a living?

I am merely a traveling merchant and nothing more.

But you haven’t sold anything!

Why, my wares are reserved for exclusive customers alone.

Am I one of your exclusive customers?

More like, an exclusive assistant, in a way.

His responses bought her joy. Always. Curiosity, was it, inspiring such enthusiasm for mundane responses? It seemed more of a strange obsession with Luocha himself, as every little glance or word directed at her sent Sushang into a clearly repressed internal frenzy.

He wasn’t born yesterday. Luocha knew precisely what was going through Sushang’s head. And he wasn’t afraid to exploit this weakness to encourage Sushang to do him favors.

Mara-struck soldiers were fairly common on the Xianzhou Luofu. Luocha struck down a few personally during their initial encounters, but with how little of a fight they put up against him, it was hardly worth the exercise. And why should he go through the effort of sitting up the coffin and drawing his blade when a young lady would be all too happy to show off for him?

The mara-struck desperately snarled at Luocha in its best attempt to strike some sort of fear into him. It was going to take a little more than a mossy corpse to bring the embodiment of an apocalypse to his knees, and so he sighed in a graceful, pleading manner to bring the attention of Sushang.

“Not another one,” he complained, despite knowing damn well that he could end its stubborn life with one fell swoop.

“Luocha, is that your way of asking me to cut it down for youuuuuu?” Sushang asked.

“Why, that would be lovely, my dear.”

It was as if Sushang had a thousand fireworks set off inside of her, as her face lit up with determination and she spoke not a single word more before taking off.

All too easy, he thought. Sushang was still far too young to fully grasp the extent of her feelings, and so she was quite eager to do practically anything he wanted with the bribery of a sweet little smirk.

She was the perfect accomplice for his business. Having a loyal Cloud Knight by his side helped lower the natives’ suspicion of him greatly. And if he played his cards right, he could get her to do his bidding with not a single question in return. Dirty work, performed under the nose of the Cloud Knights, to help him slide right through the cracks of the ever-present security.

And if Luocha maintains her undying loyalty, perhaps an even greater reward would be in store for him.

Tch…he was getting himself far too worked up at these thoughts, though it was likely something that Sushang would be far too happy to oblige even now. The headache of her yapping was a small price to pay for the convenience of a master key to the Xianzhou Luofu.

He had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he had not realized that Sushang had finish clumsily knocking down the mara-struck that was in their way. Prying her sword out of the ground, she almost fell backwards, but attempted to hold it gallantly to show off for Luocha. Thinking that he was intently watching, she smiled and presented the cleared path before them.

He still could’ve done it faster.

But every strike would be another chip in his sword.

He picked up the coffin and walked past the remains and an enthusiastic Sushang, paying absolutely no mind to either. Sushang was quite displeased with his negligence, and so she made it her duty to get Luocha to compliment her absolutely flawless skills in battle.

“So,” she said, running up to his side, “what did you think? Pretty great, huh?”

“You got the job done,” Luocha said, keeping his eyes fixated on the path ahead of him.

Sushang ran out in front of him and stomped her feet down, staring at him in the eyes and pouting. “You weren’t paying any attention, now were you?”

“Why would I need to observe? You did what was needed, and I care not about the execution,” he said, walking around her.

Still not satisfied, Sushang kept speeding up ever so slightly to stay ahead of him while continuously whining for attention.

“It HAD to have been faster than last time, at least!”

“Wasn’t paying attention.”

Sushang now decided that the best tactic for getting Luocha’s attention would be to pay him no mind at all. Instead of furthering his argument, she silenced herself and crossed her arms, dragging her feet. Luocha failed to take notice of her scowl, let alone her displeasure.

Awfully quiet she’s being, he thought after some time. Peaceful, yet suspicious, but I worry not as I still hear the sound of her footsteps dragging behind me. Angry or not, that girl would dare not leave my side, and I have full confidence in that.

He was long overdue for another inconvenient mara-struck obstruction when at the turn of a corner, two soldiers sent him and Sushang back a stride. No worries; Luocha’s dainty hands and precious cargo would not have to be soiled with his faithful servant by his side.

“You know the drill, my lovely Li Sushang~,” he beckoned.

Only this time, she wasn’t falling for his sweet words. Er, perhaps obeying was the proper term here, as she was powerless against the blush that overcame her face, but she crossed her arms and huffed away.

“I said, you know the drill Li Sushang,” he said once more.

Sushang held her ground, refusing his demands. Certainly, that was one method of getting Luocha’s attention whether or not it was her greatest idea. Secretly, she was basking in the amount of focus Luocha had on her, though she hadn’t considered the possibility of this backfiring.

Now that she was suddenly refusing his demands in some sort of unexplainable act of rebellion, Luocha would have resort to more forceful means of obedience, as he cannot be losing his grasp on his precious companion over something so minor. He had to show her that he wasn’t allowing anything of the sort to fly, even if it was all for a little bit of his attention. And so, sometimes a little force was necessary for him to make his stance clear.

Luocha grabbed Sushang by the shoulder and spun her around to face him. Her proud, rebellious expression was immediately wiped off of her face as Luocha pinned her against the railing. To get closer to eye level with her, he bent down and glared directly in her eyes.

“What did I say? You are to do what I ask of you if you even want the slightest chance of staying with me,” he barked, knowing that Sushang wouldn’t allow her love to slip away from her so easily.

“I…I…” she spat out, words unable to form.

“Do I make myself clear?~” he said, releasing one of her shoulders to gently caress the side of her face.

Sushang nervously nodded her head, flustered, yet fearful.

“Which means, if I tell you to bark like my obedient puppy, you are to speak on demand.”

“B-bark?”

“Louder.”

“Er…bark, bark bark!”

Please with her cooperation, Luocha released his grasp and gently patted her on the back.

“Ah, that’s my good girl. Now, what was it that I asked of you again?”

Sighing, Sushang charged ahead and started flailing her oversized sword at the mara-struck, battling exhaustion to please Luocha before his dissatisfactions drives him to request other forms of pleasure.

Glancing once to assure that she was doing what was asked of her, Luocha leaned against his coffin and began stroking it, pressing the side of his face to it longingly.

I have confidence, that this little puppy will lead us to our destination unscathed. And if not, she could always serve her purpose in other ways, for the time being. Wouldn’t you agree, that she is an ever so lovely lady?

I know a useful catch when I see one.

🐕 Notes:

i feel like i should clarify that i love luocha and sushang but lets be real here

Mr. Totally Not Otto Apocalypse's moral compass is as backasswards as it gets and god damn is that sexy of him

#fanfiction #fanfic #hsr #honkai star rail #honkai star rail fanfic #luocha #sushang #luoshang

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tlonista · 2 years

Text

Blood and Blue Diamonds: Chapter 12 Notes

I think you can take a premise so seriously it flips over to being crack, because I’m not sure how else to describe…

“Vander and Silco are the guys who bombed a newspaper on behalf of a Midwestern union and accidentally killed socialism in LA.”

The thing is, I laid out Blood and Blue Diamonds with a couple of ground rules.The first was that it had to start with parallels to both the major beats of the Arcane universe and the real history of LA. The second was that it had to include hypothetical space for the other major characters to have their own arcs in separate stories.

I’m not totally convinced this will work, and I think it’s going to lead to some weird plotting choices. But LA is such a bizarre place that I didn’t want to flatten it out with a bunch of over-the-top historical changes, and I felt uncomfortable turning things into the “two guys take over the entire plot of Arcane” show. I like the challenge of imagining there’s this whole parallel CaitVi hardboiled odd-couple story and a straight gangster tragedy with Jinx.

But this meant I needed some kind of real historical parallel to the topside-undercity conflict, and I ended up going with the LA labor struggle. In short, LA in the 1900s through the 1930s was one of the most intensely anti-union cities in the country, and also the target of essentially a pro-labor terrorist campaign.

So… anyway. Vander and Silco’s roles are loosely based on John and Jim McNamara, a pair of brothers and union activists who helped orchestrate a nationwide bombing campaign in the early twentieth century. The McNamaras nearly killed Harry Chandler by destroying the headquarters of the Los Angeles Times (a huge anti-union force) in 1910, then were probably-illegally detained by a private investigator and taken to California, where they were so obviously guilty that their attorney Clarence Darrow (yes, the Scopes monkey trial lawyer) tried to bribe the court instead of defending them. Eventually they pleaded guilty and went to San Quentin, while the mainstream LA labor and socialist movements were nearly wiped out partly by the reputational damage of having supported them.

This was more or less the end of the McNamaras, so they were not involved in the 1923 San Pedro dockworkers strike, which along with the bombing is my extremely loose parallel to Arcane’s uprising. In real life the International Workers of the World organized a strike that was put down by the police and protracted activism that led to some brutal attacks by the KKK, who were virulent opponents of organized labor in addition to their better-known racism.

The Council for Progress is a combination of the San Fernando Syndicate (which we’ll get into later) and the Merchants & Manufacturers Association, one of the biggest anti-labor forces in the city at the time. I don’t think they carried out anything precisely like Viktor’s backstory here and particularly not as late as the ‘20s, but M&M and the LA Times played just absolutely vicious hardball with any business that flirted with unions, and it’s not far outside the scope of their actual operations during the roughest periods. I’m drawing a bunch of this from the LA Times history Privileged Son, as well as American Lightning, a history of the bombing and somewhat oddly also D.W. Griffith.

Sky had iterations that were closer to her assistant role in Arcane (including actually a librarian), but depressingly enough they kept getting nixed by segregation. So I figured why not translate her research skills into being a classic muckraker newswoman. While somewhat different from Sky’s position here, Los Angeles had what’s likely the first newspaper published by a Black woman, Charlotta Bass.

And finally, I’m getting into things people likely already know, but the Pinkerton Detective Agency was famous for two things: very effective private detective work and violent strikebreaking. It was also at one point the employer of Dashiell Hammett, who arguably codified the hardboiled genre.

Everything I’ve just said notwithstanding, things will get somewhat less historically accurate from here.

#arcanoir

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theretirementstory · 1 year

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Bonjour et bienvenue, it is 7c and cloudy. I am going to a concert in town this afternoon, the Orchestré Symphonique de l’Aube, Peter and the Wolf, as well as excerpts from The Barber of Seville and Carmen.

Talking of excerpts: here is the poem for today, Who Has Seen The Wind? by Christina Rossetti

“Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.”

This week I was asked again, why I had chosen Bar-sur-Aube to live in. The local people find it difficult to comprehend why any “étrangèrs” would choose to make their home here. I try to explain, it is the countryside, the facilities, train station, cinema, hospital, the history of the town not just with champagne making but with the growing of hemp, the seeds being used in foods, the fibres used in stationery, construction insulation and in the textile industry, with the woody part used as winter mulching. There has been a settlement here since the Iron Age and in the Middle Ages “Champagne Fairs” in mid-February and mid-April saw merchants from Flanders and Italy trading oriental spices and silks for textiles and raw materials. The half timbered three and four storey houses are perhaps an indication of the wealth in the town at that time. We still have grand old buildings, like the old Palais de Justice (pictured above) which now houses the music school. Yes, young people here are actively invited to learn to play the piano, flute, violin, etc. It may appear to be a dull and dusty town which sees tourists passing through on their way to some bigger city but this town has a lot to offer a tourist if they just “scratch the surface”. Blimey! That sounded a bit like the Sunday sermon 😉.

So let’s look at my week which didn’t get off to a good start……

My appointment with the dietician didn’t bode well from the start, her door was open, she made no attempt to come to check the waiting area and instead RANG MY PHONE!! When she heard it ring out in the waiting area she called me in, met me with that false smile (doesn’t reach the eyes) and as I handed her my food diary (for which I think I should have been awarded an A* GCSE) she glanced at it, said “you don’t eat the same breakfast everyday?” and proceeded to huff and puff over what I had written. She then produced a couple of sheets (which I appear to have mislaid) started to make notes in her file and as I was trying to explain something to her (I could see she wasn’t listening) she said “I don’t understand what you are saying and I don’t have time to listen to you!” Then she asked me for a cheque and bundled me out of the office. I have another appointment at 10:30 tomorrow, after which she can stuff her false smile and rude comments where the sun don’t shine!

I had another rendezvous with the Dentist, was I “coronated” that day…… no of course not! Looks like the crown will be placed (on my tooth) next week 🙄.

It was the AGM for the groups that meet at the “ancien collège”, of which the knitting group is a part. I had hardly put my toe inside the room before I was surrounded (well it seemed like that) by people using my name, wanting to ask me something, the 92 year old member of our group was waving to me and pointing to the chair next to hers. Anyway it turned out that (they weren’t after my autograph) they were keen to know if I would take over the role of key holder, subs collector, etc., as our previous “leader” had resigned. It was also proposed that the meeting be changed from a Wednesday to a Friday (not really convenient for me as that is my day with the refugee ladies) but as the group was down to just three members and a Friday would provide an additional two the proposal was voted in. The 92 year old lady, the doyenne of the group, has “all her buttons on”, and she will be assisting me with the running of the group. There was galette des rois and champagne afterwards, I had a small glass of champagne and had to refuse another helping of both.

My young friend, Pauline, messaged me from Eire, she had arrived in Dublin and is spending time looking around the city before she starts work on Tuesday. She was so excited about being there and I hope that the six month internship works out well for her.

I cannot decide if I am becoming a boring old **** as I have been thinking of what I will plant up in my garden this year. I have been and bought beetroot seeds (I really enjoyed the beets last year), I bought sweet pepper seeds (will try them again) although I didn’t have a lot of success before. Of course there will be broad beans (need them planting very soon) and peas as well as the salad leaves I grew last year (they were lovely) I will buy two “beef steak” tomato plants as I preferred them to the cherry tomatoes. I have bought the bee and butterfly mixed seeds again as the flowers do provide lots of colour in the garden. I also planted up the snowdrops Anie had brought for me and cleared the few weeds from the raised bed where the hyacinth, tête à tête, tulips and iris are producing lots of greenery. Oh I could go on but I don’t want to bore you!

I have also been thinking about a couple of breaks away, my friends in Strasbourg want me to go and see them there and I fancy a little break somewhere else. I had been looking at a coach holiday but I am not sure if I want to be away as long as the tours I have seen. I do prefer to go somewhere on the train, where I can go to see what I want to see, the only difference is that with the tour I would be with a group of people (which can be a good or bad thing). Oh decisions, decisions!

I am also keen to do my walking everyday (another thing the dietician asked about but wasn’t interested), I have noticed though that “all roads lead to the bar”, well it provides me with a seat, coffee and the newspaper before I walk back home. I really think that I should take a right turn when leaving my estate, that will take me to the river which I love to see. The only problem is there is nowhere convenient for me to sit and watch the world go by. Oh well we all have to make choices in life 😂.

I have been doing a little bit of knitting again, I really don’t think that I will be knitting anything for myself again, it is too heavy, but it is easy to knit small items. One of the new ladies coming up the knitting group was telling me that she does Tunisian crochet, now I have googled that and I think I could do it and that it wouldn’t be too heavy etc so I am going to order a pack of crochet hooks and give it a go.

I rang my cousin in Essex, he had been to the opticians and it wasn’t good news, he will lose his vision, how soon no-one knows. It is rather sad as he lives alone and has always enjoyed pottering around in his garden and greenhouse. Well keep doing what you enjoy for as long as you can, I say.

I think I should get a move on, as I need my hair washing and I have to decide what I will wear to go to the concert this afternoon.

Oh yes, it is a month today since I had this “foreign body” planted in my circumflex artery. I must admit it has made a difference and long may it continue to do so.

Have a good week until next week!

#nature #trees #barsuraube #france #photography #crafts #tricot #winter

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1863-project · 2 years

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Ah, some additional informaton:

-we're not told if the wyverian has a different greeting of sorts, but the implication was that he was going to shake our hand before immediately getting distracted by his work.

(In monster hunter stories 2, they DID play a bit with that. The protagonist is a Rider from a isolated rider village attempting to try and find piece within the local hunters guild. Many from that village including the protagonist would greet others by touching their faces, but this was not something other characters would do with them. )

We were specifically tasked with saving him/ensuring his safety, so he effectively was throwing our work away in order to keep studying the field work. Which to be fair, was a big deal as it was researching something that was dangerous, and could potentially have killed/injured a lot of people if ignored.

(This also directly tied into the main female character's story. Early on they frequently stated many self-sacrificial things like 'laying down their life for the cause'. Something that went over my head as a player, as it was usual 'heroic self-sacrifice talk. However in game, it was something which Greatly bothered the Admiral and the Village Elder. The Elder sent us to help out in part to make amends for not assisting in their crisis 50 years ago, and later was also implied to help this person see more value in themselves then just their legacy. protecting their home is good but they also have to protect themselves! His actions of basically rejecting our help/refusing to return to safety basically teaching her thats how others must see her when she was being self-sacrificial. Not as something noble, but as something annoying/alarming!)

-The Wyverians as a whole aren't coded as autistic, I think. In Rise alone, there are the Twin Quest Maidens (One with a bubbily personality described as 'like the sun', and the other being a more stern/serious personality, described as 'like the moon, and enjoys staying indoors). There's the Guild Leader (Who effectively is the protagonist's Father figure of sorts, besides the Village elder. They talked about changing the protagonist's diapers and effectively cared for them), theres the Two Merchants in the game, and a Doctor that you needed to find. None who really portray any autistic traits, nor are they ever called annoying. Wyverians are also stated to be kind of rare in general, and there are significantly fewer then humans.

In general all other people refer to him as annoying/irritating/eccentric, but they also take note that he's smart, and respected as well. The things he built were impressive, and he's generally pretty correct about his musings. (Its worth noting that the series is post-apocolyptic, with steam engines being the peak of technology. In Sunbreak they actually have a tiny mining train, which is exclusively used to transport materials that were mined across a very small area. )

The only other intelligent race seen frequently, are the Lynians, which themselves are split into a couple of different groups. Half being a race of small ape-like creatures that are often depicted as primitive creatures, who often don't get along with humans. Which is uh, possibly problematic to say the least. Though there are none in rise, so I don't know how well they handled this in the games they show up as.

The other half are cat-like creatures called Feylines, who kinda go into a few different groups themselves as they have different shared cultures. (But effectively they were curious about humanity, taught themselves how to speak, and work alongside humans as equal partners. Every hunter effectively has a Cat-person Buddy called a Palico, and many feylines work as Housekeepers, sailers, merchants, mercenaries, Doctors, researchers, Ect. They mostly also talk in Cat Puns. (Also they're the ones driving the really tiny mining train. A feylines is upset that they can't ride the train. Like I just wanted to establish that these are very tiny trains being driven by a tiny cat person that at their tallest is roughly up to your knees. They're adorable. )

Basically if he were a Feyline then it probably would have been more concerning to me, because they are much more distinctly not-human then the wyverians, and you do things like pet the cat's head or play with them with little cat toys.

I am highly interested in the Feyline Train omg

But thank you for all the supplementary information! This does make it sound like he's more autistic-coded than not, so it's definitely a "him" thing and not a "these people are alien" thing, which is reassuring. It sounds like he's just neurodivergent!

#replies #Monster Hunter #Monster Hunter Rise

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kawaiigirly21 · 29 days

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Promiscuous pt 2

A long time ago, Natasha lived a small and humble life with her immigrant mother in a small fishing village in the mountains. It was there where Natasha developed an admiration for nature and all the creatures that inhabited her home. It was also there, though she didn’t know it yet, she met one of the most prominent figures in her father’s life. “You have to tell her Nikita. You can’t keep the truth from her forever. Don’t you think she deserves to know who her father truly was?” Natasha’s mother glared at the man angrily.

“Natasha is my daughter and it’s my choice to tell her about her father! And I say that she’ll know him as a traveling merchant! That's final!” The man gritted his teeth at the woman. “But why?! Why must you hide the truth from her?!” Nikita shook in grief as tears began to flow from her eyes. “I loved Sasaki with all my heart! I would never do anything to dishonor his memory! But…But…I can’t bring myself to talk about what he did! Who he was! It’ll only shatter my heart once more…Please Kagekatsu…Please don’t tell her about Sasaki.. I fear that if she knows…I’ll lose her the same way.”

As the man left, he caught a glimpse of Natasha as she played in the grass with the local children. She had Sasaki’s long black hair and his wide yet stupid grin. It had shocked the swordsman when he was informed that not only was Sasaki married but had a daughter who was born the same day he died. He had to know for sure if these were just cruel rumors or the truth. If talking to Sasaki’s still distraught widow wasn’t enough, seeing his daughter in the flesh was. As the bunny they were playing with scurried away, past Kagekatsu, the other children followed after it. Natasha however ran up to the man. Amazed that someone that muscular and intimidating could even exist.

Before she could even open her mouth to talk to him, Nikita quickly pulled Natasha away, all the while glaring at him. Looking at her daughter, Nikita thought to herself. ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her from that life. No matter what.’ It wasn’t until 8 years later where Natasha began her path to becoming the swordswoman ‘The Promiscuous Flower’. As the years went by, Natasha had begun developing her insane strength that she’d soon be later known for. She used her ability to help others whenever she could, while also finding time to assist her mother in their flower shop. It was on her 13th birthday when her peaceful life changed.

A large group of well armed bandits invaded the small village and brutalized everyone and everything in sight. Of course this being the time period it was, the main attraction these miserable lowlives desired was the women. When the bandits took the women and girls back to their camp to have their way with them, Natasha was among the stolen women and girls, her mother narrowly escaping and attempting to save her daughter but failed and in turn was slaughtered before Natasha’s very eyes. When the leader gave the women and girls orders to strip for them, Natasha, who was overcome with grief and anger, blatantly refused. Determined to keep her virginity and dignity.

This angered the leader who had Natasha sent to his personal tent where he tried to force himself on her, only for her to violently thrash around and claw at him in a futile attempt to keep her virginity. It wasn’t until the man effortlessly broke her tiny wrist that she stopped fighting. For the time being. Laying on one side of his bed as the man slept on the other, Natasha silently planned her revenge. First it started with spying on the bandits and how they trained. She notably favored the art of the sword and in her private free time that she was granted by the leader who took her on as his concubine, she trained.

She took teachings from nature and as her body started to develop, she soon learned the art of seduction. In her mind, she would form a perfect copy of the man who ruined her life and fought him. Hundreds no thousands of times. Until every copy she made was slaughtered just as brutally as her mother was years ago. On her 18th birthday, Natasha finally put her plan into action. That night, like usual, the man, whose name she had come to know as Suzuki Takashi, had entered his tent expecting to have sex with the girl and as per usual, she let him use her body to his heart's content.

Maybe it was the unchecked clearly festering childhood trauma talking or her mind was just fucked up all on it’s own, but Natasha actually enjoyed having sex with Takashi. He was disgustingly primal in bed and didn’t give two fucks about consent. If he wanted her, he was gonna have her. And truthfully it was this trait that she had come to admire that about him. And later in life, it was that trait she had begun to seek out in her romantic partners but would never find. Which is one of the reasons she slept around. During the ordeal, Natasha found herself on top of the man and while he was entranced in the pleasure of her riding him, swiftly and silently, Natasha stabbed the man.

Over and over before the man grabbed the sword and pushed her off him with brute force. Escaping outside, Natasha stood in the dark rain as she stared down the very man who made her life a living hell. A dark smirk came upon Takashi’s lips as he saw her expression. “So you wanna kill me? Well if you're gonna attempt to take my life little girl, do it properly. In a fight.” Tossing her his own blade, Takashi took one from one of his men. Looking the man in the eyes, Natasha scanned his body and took in every little significant detail before running at him with all the rage in her body channeled through the blade she held, immediately decapitating the man.

All those around watched in shock as the girl killed Takashi with a single devastating blow that seemingly didn’t take her much effort. Looking over shoulder, Natasha noticed the other bandits trembling in fear. Completely ignoring their begs and pleads to let them live, she cut them down. One by one until there wasn’t any left. The rest of the captive women watched on as Natasha turned to them. “You can go home now.” Without another sound, the girl left. Taking Takashi’s blade with her. After traveling on foot for weeks, she wound up at Toda Dojo. the very dojo that trained her father. Though she didn’t know it yet, the moment she entered that dojo, she was already on her path towards greatness.

#record of ragnarok #ror sasaki kojiro #reverse harem #ror buddha #oc #character x oc #original character #x black oc

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myhauntedsalem · 2 years

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The Bullock Hotel’s Intense Ghost

Deadwood, South Dakota

When he and his partner arrived in Deadwood Gulch, in 1876, he found a hell-bent, rowdy mining community. Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the head and killed the day after he arrived.

He managed to keep law and order in Deadwood without ever firing a shot or killing anyone.

After a fire destroyed Bullock’s hardware store on Main Street, in 1894, he and his partner Sol Star had a luxury hotel built on the site, the Bullock Hotel, which remains open today.

Seth Bullock passed away in 1919, at the age of 70. Many eyewitness reports indicate his ghost haunts his hotel.

A long-time employee of the Bullock Hotel shares several compelling guest experiences.

This employee states this incident was the first of many that convinced him the stories about Seth Bullock haunting the hotel were true.

The employee asked her to describe this man. “He is tall, has a large mustache, he stared at me rudely. He is dressed like a cowboy with a large hat and boots tucked into his pants.”

There was no one of that description staying in the hotel.

The employee goes on to explain that many guests have given similar descriptions of a man they saw in this same hallway.

Electrical items turn on and off in this room even when they are unplugged. Guests report they felt a strong presence that appeared to be watching and then later followed them.

The Bullock staff keeps a notebook in their lobby so guests can record their experiences. It is believed many other ghosts besides Bullocks remain at this hotel.

The hotel’s kitchen, bar, and basement all have had multiple incidents of unexplained activity.

#The Bullock Hotel’s Intense Ghost #ghost and hauntings #paranormal #ghost and spirits #haunted locations #haunted salem #myhauntedsalem

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