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#because now murder is wrong

tmnt-obsessed-ace · 1 year

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Indigo playlist because Im tired as fuck from moving all the fallen branches out of the driveway and I dont wanna write until later.

Here Comes Trouble-Neoni

Hooligan-Neoni

Warning Label-Neoni

Lost Control-Alan Walker (ft Sorana)

Darkside-Neoni (this is just a Leo song in general)

Antihero-Taylor Swift (note: I do not listen to Taylor Swift, the only reason this song is here was because it came on the radio while me and my mom were out shopping and this song fits, ok?)

Ruin Your Life-Besomorph (ft RIELL)

Bad Intentions-Neoni (ft NOCTURN)

Dangerous-The Tech Thieves (ft Besomorph)

Underground-Neoni

Haunted House-Neoni

Never Say Die-Neoni

What I've Done-Besomorph (ft Behmer and LUNIS)

Scream-AViVA

Bad Blood-Taylor Swift (this one came from a tmnt 2012 Raph tiktok about Slash and Mona's betrayals and oh god it fits when The Rise Gang encounter Indigo as a hitman and are on opposing sides yessssss)

Who Am I-Besomorph (ft RIELL)

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing-Set It Off

Antihero-AViVA

Demons-Neoni

Deep Water-Neoni

Bury Me Alive-Neoni

Back From The Dead-Neoni (ft AViVA and Besomorph)

Origin-Neoni (ft Besomorph)

Long Time Traveler-Neoni

Feet Dont Fail Me Now-Neoni

The Ballad Of Jane Doe-Ride The Cyclone (Annapantsu cover)

Once Upon A December-Anastasia (2022 Annapantsu cover)

Happy Ever After-Neoni

Champion-Neoni(ft BURNBOY)

Waiting On A Miracle-Stephanie Beatriz (I knew I forgot a song damn it)

Will probably add more eventually (and probably make this an actual spotify playlist but lazy)

#indigo is a fun little guy #taking heavy inspiration from the Mutant Apocalypse #because while I still have not watched those episodes #I find it interesting that because he lost his memories of his brothers he became just as bad as the Shredder #So lets play around with that a little bit #2012 Leo with no memories of who he was and his family.#forced to fight every day multiple times a day in the Battle Nexus #everything was life or death kill or be killed #and because he had no memories of anything beyond the arena he doesnt see it as brutally cruel and downright evil #its just a normal thing for him #to him murder and death dont carry the same ramifications as they do for other people #people die #so what?#and if he didn't do it someone else would #not a big deal #but then once he's out of the Nexus he's expected to make a massive 180 #because now murder is wrong #its desipicable and its evil #so he has to unlearn everythint from the Nexus and relearn morality #so...his morals are a little bit all over the place #and then he slowly finds out he HAD a life #he HAD a family that loved him #he was a completely different person #and it was stolen from him #and boy is he fucking pissed #he's a silly little guy #that I love to whump #at least he isnt fucking ugly like Maximus Kong was so thats a plus #if canon Leo met Indigo he would be horrified #which is exactly why Im gonna write a side fic where Indigo meets Aoi from Two Souls

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royalarchivist · 5 months

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Bad: I'm making a mini-rabbit farm.

[Richarlyson starts attacking the rabbits]

Bad: No no no! No! No! Richas- get out! Get out!

Pac: [Laughs] Richarlyson!

Bad: NO!!! No! Nononono, get out! Get out! Get out! Help! Help! He's killin' 'ma bunnies! Pac, discipline your child!

Pac: Richarlyson, it's your birthday today, you can do whatever you want, and whatever it pleases you!

Aypierre: Don't kill them! You can't smack them!

Pac: Pepito, join us! Kill the rabbits! Come on, come on, you're gonna love it!

#Pactw #Richarlyson #Badboyhalo #QSMP #Pac: I support Richarlyson's rights and ESPECIALLY his wrongs 😌#Aypierre and Pepito are also there but they're not featured a Ton in this clip so I'm not adding this to their tags for now #Pac #Bad #Torn between my heart feeling soft over Pac including Pepito vs. the fact that he's inviting Pepito to participate in the bunny murder LMAO #idk if it's because I was a teacher or because I have a million little cousins with ADHD and anxiety but #if someone told me ''discipline your child!'' I'd also become the pettiest person in the world regardless of the situation lmao #December 1 2023 #Q

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krys-loves-otome · 1 month

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Stolen from Scummy's reblog because I wanted to do it too!

Note that most half-filled squares are ones that are technically true, but it's under specific circumstances and rules, will explain below

So, for now, some Blorbos from me:

-Intense in loves and passions (for Nobunaga, for MC once they get together, for trying to get Mitsuhide to take better care of himself, in his care for others, dude is just passionate for his loved ones!) -His love for Nobu and his interactions with Mitsuhide can get a little fruity, not gonna lie. -Technically orphan since we don't really hear much about his family aside from his poor upbringing and having to be a bum to get by until Nobu came into his life. Agas in discord has also told us about RL Hideyoshi and how much his mom loved Kennyo and I think that's funny to think about sometimes. -Frequently violent but only when it comes to protecting his loved ones. He thinks one of them is in trouble and the man will go feral trying to find a way to help them. Overall speaking, he's not particularly violent, I don't think though.

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-Nothing anyone says is gonna make me change my mind about this man being bisexual. Nope, not happening. -Technically a tragic backstory as he frequently does Team Oda's dirty work of spying and torture, but his tragic backstory is not quite to the extent that some other characters go through, like poverty, figure-headness, and killing a loved one.

-Technically frequently violent, but it's mostly in the pranks he pulls. Not ferally violent, in a sense. He's sneaky about his violent tendencies. You don't want to mess with his wife, after all. -Divorced? He's a double agent that always goes back to his ex (Team Oda).

------

-Being an immortal vampire means you must have some complexities and that doesn't excuse you being fruity, monsieur. -Technically an orphan as I don't think we hear much about his birth family as we do Leonardo and Vlad. They're mentioned sometimes but no word on their current status as he tends to focus more on his found family. Until I get confirmed status, he's orphan status to me, thus why the creation of his found one. -Divorced from Vlad, duh.

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-Listen. Listen. Devon/batteryrose was onto something with shipping Nokto and Slivio. Plus, been thinking of finding ways of shipping my OC and him with Rio. Just something about Nokto and the Bentonite princes does something to my mind, okay?

-Technically an orphan after what happened to his and Licht's mom, plus the whole reason for the Belle procedure is because his dad died. Maybe it doesn't count because he was an adult when his dad died, but, technically speaking, both his parents are dead, so... -Murderer by technicality because of Blood-stained Roses Day (all the princes at the time were said to have participated, so, technically speaking). He also tried to poison some merchants for a business deal, so attempted murderer too, technically?

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-Have you seen this demon when his family is in danger (actual, perceived, or otherwise)? He will go absolutely bat-shit feral when his family is in danger! Once you're under his wings, nothing will stop him from going to the absolute limit and beyond for you.

-Technically divorced from the Celestial Realm because of Circumstances™️, not from a specific person.

-Also on a technicality, because of that... whole war with the Celestial Realm, so some angels were more than likely killed, right?

#krys talks #meme thingys #ikemen sengoku #ikemen vampire #ikemen prince #obey me #hideyoshi toyotomi #mitsuhide akechi #comte de saint germain (ikevamp)#nokto klein #lucifer (obey me)#some other things I didn't get around to talking about above #hideyoshi and mitsuhide are murderers by trade bc both are warlords so that's why that's colored in for both #hideyoshi may also be a frequent rule enforcer but he does soften up around some of them so technically a rule changer than a breaker #nokto having no friends is technically true as he has brothers and his faction isn't all buddy buddy like his twin's faction is #plus he does more business dealings while socializing but we don't really see anyone he really talks to about deep personal things until-#MC comes along #maybe to licht on occasion but they're more estranged currently so Nokto doesn't really have any close personal friends methinks #about Lucifer he is technically an enemy of god (who is his creator) and he went against him for his little sister #turning him back into his angel form and his dream back in NB 38 still sits wrong with me and I hope that gets addressed in future lessons #if it'd had just been bc of his ring reacting to him or something that would have been one thing but... still sits wrong with me #and thinking on it now still thinking if Lucifer is more of a rule breaker or a rule changer #his downfall was bc of rule breaking in the first place #and he's a rule enforcer bc of his brothers and their antics #but there are times he does soften up if he sees the rules are actually hurting his family #and change them because he knows first-hand what breaking hard rules does to a person #so as of nowadays #despite his rule-enforcer ways he does bend sometimes if the situation calls for it #those are my thoughts for this #feel free to discuss if you wanna

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simplegenius042 · 8 months

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Another Late WIP Wednesday and a Late 6-sentence WIP Sunday

Tagged by @adelaidedrubman @socially-awkward-skeleton @direwombat @cassietrn and @inafieldofdaisies for WIP Wednesday and invited by @demigoddessqueens to join in for 6-sentence WIP Sunday.

Rules for the 6-sentence WIP Sunday: Make a new post and share six sentences of an upcoming WIP. Then tag some friends!

Tagging @strangefable @poisonedtruth @voidika @josephslittledeputy @josephseedismyfather @chazz-anova @derelictheretic @ec-10 @gaeadene @g0dspeeed @henbased @jillvalentinesday @neverthesameneveranother @deputy-morgan-malone @strafethesesinners @vampireninjabunnies-blog @wrathfulrook @shallow-gravy @a-rose-in-a-garden-of-weeds @snake-in-the-garden @ladyofedens-blog @little-wolf-seed @minilev and @deputyash + anyone else who wants to join.

One WIP for Far Cry The Silver Chronicles and another for Life, Despair & Monsters. Snippets below the cut.

For WIP Wednesday I got more Silva's Hope. Also... some short action! [NOTE: This fic is still under heavy construction, so some things may or may not change in the future]

[TW: Violence, blood and death]

Upon crawling onto the pond bank, Silva took a moment to still herself and breathe, a choice she knew wasn't the most sensible given the circumstances.

She spat out the pond water, the taste vile and cold like the river water. Her head felt heavy, unfocused, not helped by the darkness of the night. Disoriented from the crash but still conscious, still awake, still alive. Were her fellow co-workers so lucky?

Yes... And no.

She remembered her panic at how limp and stagnant their bodies had been, and Joseph, that falsa profeta bastarda, telling Nancy (of all the people she thought would sell her out, she never once suspected the kind elderly woman who had been a second mentor to the junior deputy like the Sheriff) to stand down.

"No one is coming to save you," he had told her. He had told her like it wasn't a fact she already knew. A lesson she hadn't already learned. A sick, stale joke that only his God seems to find funny, to her expense.

The relief she felt when he left, when the others awoke from what she thought would be their final slumber. The selfish gratitude she felt towards Jannah, the relief that she hadn't survived another disaster alone again.

But it didn't last, she reminded herself. Besides maybe the Mariscal, her fellow colleagues; Hudson, Pratt and Whitehorse were likely captured, taken away by these santos. If the Peggies were anything like the congregation back on the Archipiélagos, then the fates that awaited her mentor and recently acquired friends were either conversion or execution, depending on how patient the cult's beloved profeta really was.

She weakly chortled; a preferred substitute, the mirthless laugh to the strangled sob she wanted to let out. A strange sensation that weighed heavy on her chest. And to think I had escaped, she mused to herself, finding no strength to restrain the thoughts and fears, shaking her head with a clenched jaw, To think I had escaped it all. No longer a prisoner, but a free survivor.

Joseph's words came to mind with more force; the way he called onto his obedient servants to begin "the Reaping", to kill all who stood in their way, that a seal had been broken. That the Collapse had begun. It sickened her, how the words of a man (just a man) like Joseph Seed were no different from Father's own.

The major difference she could tell between the two was that Father succeeded his vision, got what he wanted, and Joseph was just a fraud given too much power and trust. He doesn't know anything about the Collapse. She did. She lived through it.

Hadn't I? Had she not played a hand in the destruction of her people, the justification used to bring the Enforcers to the front doors of her Father's most hated enemy with guns and fire?

The Collapse has begun. That's what the falsa profeta said. The Collapse has begun. The words she had never dreamed to hear, nor wished to have lived to witness. The Collapse. A title. A simple title that was used to rule her life with fear. A title that profeta threw around like it held any weight anymore, as if it didn't prove his words, his status, his so-called visions, were all false.

It had to be.

She embedded her gloved hands into the mud on the bank of the pond, shaking as her protected fingers curled around the wet dirt.

It had to be.

She couldn't accept any alternative, not after what she's seen. What she was left to live with.

The crunch of sticks and dry grass crushed under the weight of approaching boots caught her attention, and the distant hollering tipped her off to their source.

The santos were approaching, and she was still kneeling over on the pond bank. One hand clutching mud. The other shifting around, searching, until it wrapped around a pointed rock, twisting it out of the ground.

The voices were getting louder, the boots approaching closer, though decreased in sound, with voices disappearing as the hunting party separated.

She heard two; one each on both sides of her, confirming her targets. She clutched the mud further into her palm, and the rock was breaking off the bank with ease.

"Do you remember my instructions piccolo boa? On what to do when caught?"

Silva dragged the rock closer to herself, still kneeling over, still small and vulnerable. The enemigo's lights shined close.

"Look weak, and keep whatever you can use close and out of sight."

Silva's heart pounded, but she soundlessly took deep breathes, eyes closed as the light to her right shined onto her figure.

"Atta girl. And when they come closer?"

The santos to her right startled at the sight of her hunched down figure, and he called out to his amigo as he approached closer.

"Found her!"

"Aim for the visors..."

Silva opened her eyes as the two peggies attempted to swarm her, swiftly turning and throwing the clump of mud at the peggie to her right, a bald man with a long beard, his pained groans indicated success but his amigo alarmed his amigo.

She turned to her next target, a man with a smaller beard but long hair. He rushed forward, lifting the butt of his rifle at her kneeling form. As he brought the rifle to her head, she dodged, and with her free hand, latched onto the rifle's stock.

Unveiling the pointed rock, an efficient substitute to her dagger, Silva used the momentum to propel herself up, and bring the peggie closer down, his face stretched into horror as the rock closed in.

"...And hit straight for the eyes."

Droplets of warm crimson and clear fluids splattered on her cheek and chin, an unexpected contrast to the clean kills she was used to with the Enforcers. Shaking away the distinction, she returned her focus to the dead man leaning forward.

Letting go of the embedded rock, she clutched the rifle with both hands, and kicked the man's twitching corpse back before turning around, the thud behind her ignored.

Her first target managed to get the mud out of his eyes, blinking rapidly and tearing up with a curled lip. His face dropped once he saw Silva with a steeled face and his amigo's rifle aimed at him.

She tipped her head at him as she flipped off the safety, a final farewell to the panicked man as he fruitlessly struggled with his own rifle.

And here is a 6-sentence (paragraph) piece for Sonya's Push. Hand over the spotlight Jennifer. There is a bigger fish scarier than you and Dicko, and his name's Malvolio:

Now facing Jennifer and Dicko as they approached, she could see the once anonymous champion's suit was a sharp blue covering a black undershirt, supposedly tailored for his short stature. He seemed to be somewhere in his thirties, and had a rather fine face, dark eyes complimenting his dark hair, which was groomed expertly.

Though Jennifer couldn't deny a sense of disappointment upon seeing the anonymous champion with a winning streak of seventeen matches in person; he wasn't an unusual sight from the regular rich bastard who came here, besides his clubbed cane. He looked rather normal. Though she couldn't deny how unusual it was for a man of supposed wealth like Dicko participating with his own Beastie.

Regardless, she was content with keeping up her facade, holding onto Dicko's arm as they approached him, but Dicko had stopped, almost tugging Jennifer back. She looked to the taller man, confusion breaking through when she saw his transfixed face; shocked really, and one filled with recognition as he utters in surprise, "Malvolio?"

Jennifer blinked as she looked between the two men, and saw this "Malvolio's" lips curl up into an open grin, as he proceeded to give a jovial greeting, "Well Jolly Ho, Dicko! I didn't know you owned this arena. Jeez, it's been a while since we last did business together. How long has it been? Four? Six years?"

Dicko's face remained unchanged, though Jennifer knew he was scrutinizing the short man in front of them with a cautious gaze she's rarely seen on him. Dicko subtly motioned the hallway guards to stand down, leaving Malvolio's companions alone with their contained Beastie. Despite his visible apprehension, he answered Malvolio, "Six years."

Malvolio's dark eyes briefly shifted to Jennifer, but they swiftly reconnected with Dicko's gaze, his grin widening, "Six years? And you still did not forget about little old me? Intriguing. I do hope your life has been luxurious and well in our distance. And I must ask; how have you been treating it?"

#wip wednesday #wip sunday #far cry the silver chronicles #wip: silva's hope #oc: silva omar #far cry 5 #silva when applying advice given to her about breaking through enforcer's visors against a man with no headgear: this will be a clean kill #silva now splattered in blood and eye fluid and realising she's in the present: *kind of mildly surprised*#life despair & monsters #wip: sonya's push #jennifer #dicko #oc: sir enigma malvolio #love death + robots #sonnie's edge #“clubbed cane” that's definitely hasn't been used to murder people #dicko's about to have a bad day not just because things will go wrong but simply because he has to deal with malvolio's unnerving joy

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eriexplosion · 1 year

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For the record I do not like Crosshair as a Villain I like him as someone who was immensely fucked up by incredible amounts of trauma and is reacting badly to it and in Star Wars that means you get to commit little a murder. As a treat.

Seriously though I do not think all of his actions are justified or Morally Correct but I do think that they're understandable from his perspective and that his perspective is incredibly warped at this point and that this cycle was kicked off by something entirely outside of his control. It's up to him to pull out of that cycle and no one can do it for him, but he did not start it and he is not the main driver of it. I have zero interest in seeing him Punished as a Villain or treated like he's evil.

Anyway:

#star wars #the bad batch #the bad batch spoilers #this blog supports Crosshair rights and Crosshair wrongs #this extends to all clones btw they're all victims of a horrific system #shockingly this means they don't all come out the other side squeaky clean noble and nice #its not a denial of their agency its a recognition of the fact that they're all completely traumatized #on top of being very young because double the aging does not change only having 13 or less years to be alive #and having literally every second of it be dedicated to war #anyway the murder was very bad but also if he didn't do it Cody would probably not have walked out of that room so he made a decision #and like Cody said he has to live with it now. and we'll see where that takes him.#i am also a villain fucker btw i just don't think he's a villain

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shamera · 6 months

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NaNo day 27

DID IT, this is where I originally envisioned part 1 of the hunter AU ending, lol. If anyone has read the manhwa, they will now know which one had a ginormous influence on this story.

unedited, part 1 came in at 46 pages and 27,447 words. (i am FEAR) I guess I should go back to the time loop story tomorrow, especially since I'm in no rush now that I passed the NaNo goal, so i can take my time to try and get as much done as I can in the next two days before November ends!

It was nearly two full days before Fang Duobing was allowed out from under watchful eyes and got his things back. Two days of interviews, interrogations, doctor check-ups and psych evaluations to ensure his injuries would heal properly, especially the poison in his legs. Two days of deflecting when asked what happened in the dungeon, telling things accurately all the way up until everyone else left and it was only him and Li Lianhua.

He didn’t know what to say. How could he tell anyone what actually happened?

To the world at large, Li Xiangyi disappeared and supposedly died ten years ago. Fang Duobing could change that supposed fact now, he could rub in the faces of disbelievers who all thought Li Xiangyi actually perished fighting a dungeon boss. As if! How could the founder and leader of Sigu Sect, the one who took out reams of dungeon bosses, be felled by one?

(Especially when Fang Duobing just watched Li Lianhua defeat one in just a little over a minute.)

The news from the television in his hospital room kept covering the sudden and unexpected dungeon, the first one in China in two years, and the shock when it opened only to close again within an hour of its inception.

The first dungeon, in fact, to close in the past decade.

It brought about plenty of questions, especially since no one understood what happened, and the number of dungeons throughout the world was close to reaching its starting point. The common theory was that once the earth held enough dungeons as when the event initially occurred, then unexpected dungeons would stop appearing, and there would be a sort of stability and civilizations would stop having to worry about unexpectedly being pulled into a gate the same way Fang Duobing did twice in his life now.

He didn’t know if he believed that theory. It sounded nice on paper, but there was evidence to back it up, and it just— didn’t feel right to him.

So. He feigned amnesia for the duration of his time in the dungeon. Terrible side effect, so sorry, and it only prompted doctors to do extra tests and scans that came up with nothing.

(Besides, there were plenty of other people from Wansheng Sect within the dungeon all the way to the end, searching for people, and they should know far more than he did!)

Every time he asked about Li Lianhua, the answer was the same.

He hadn’t woken up yet.

When his parents came to visit him, sitting by his bedside as he tried to protest that he felt fine, that he was okay with only surface wounds that would heal within a week or two, they stayed quiet with a strained smile, their hands white in their laps.

His father had to leave after half a day being the busy man that he was and the fact that he would be the one taking care of any media slip-ups from this incident, and Fang Duobing only breathed a sigh of relief when his father gave him a comforting squeeze of his shoulder and was ushered out the hospital room by his harried assistants who already had things they needed him to read over and liaisons that were searching for him.

His mother, on the other hand, stayed the entire time with a grim countenance.

“We could have lost you,” she murmured as she held onto his hand, running her thumb over his wrist over and over again. It made Fang Duobing feel horrible, remembering all the times during his childhood where his mother would sit by his bedside doing the same thing at the height of fever or recovering from treatments. “I would ask what happened, but… we won’t talk of it here. Once the doctors release you, I’m having both you and Li Lianhua transferred to private care.”

Fang Duobing couldn’t prevent his tense frown. “...He’s still not awake yet?”

He Xiaohui’s hand tensed over her son’s and she gave him a stern look. “No. He’s… we won’t speak of it here.”

A government liaison gave him back his things when he was finally discharged with orders to report in the moment he remembered what happened within the dungeon. Within the plastic bag were his dirtied and ripped clothes and his cracked phone.

Fang Duobing gave a hollow smile at that moment, glad for the one privileged of being a Hunter that allowed him to conceal items on his person at all times like an invisible Qiankun pouch. He didn’t want to be questioned about the wooden dagger he had.

In the western countries, it had often been compared to video game inventories, but for Fang Duobing the space had been too small to be of proper use. He tended to only shove his wallet, keys, and phone in a space that amounted to a tiny purse (along with whatever might end up in pockets normally so he tended to have a napkin or piece of candy and some paper bills now that he got used to living with Li Lianhua). His cracked phone had been shoved into his pocket on instinct as they ran, a holdover from before he Awakened as a Hunter.

The government liaison gave him a squinty look as Fang Duobing attempted a polite smile back, but there was no law yet requiring Hunters to empty out their inventory and Fang Duobing was prepared to refuse if asked.

He didn’t have anything to hide, not really, but it was a matter of privacy. And if forced, then he could show what he had and turn the situation into one where he wasn’t trying to hide anything, but rather that his rights were being violated.

(It was a suspiciously Li Lianhua thing to do.)

With the tower of Tianji Hall still under surveillance, not the mention a portion of the building still gone and the surroundings cordoned off as workers demolished the top of the building so that it wouldn’t fall on unsuspecting civilians before it could be rebuilt— Fang Duobing found himself bundled up back to his childhood home rather than the apartment he had been renting away from his family.

(It was a bet, really, and a concession. Living away so he wouldn’t be pressured by his family on the regular, but also proving that he could live away on his own. Proving he could be the person his family wanted him to be, but that he just didn’t want to— that had been his way of proving to them that he had the capability to choose his own path rather than having it chosen for it. It was only meant to be for a year, just long enough to drive the point home.)

The home of the Fang and He family was a lavish and luxurious one, one that He Xiaohui inherited and her husband moved into despite his own prestige and wealth. Fang Duobing knew he was lucky in this way, to have parents so content with each other, who were in a happy and harmonious relationship in an era of divorce, especially for the families of wealth and status. While his father was extremely serious with his job, he was far more relaxed in his home life, often content to leave decisions to his wife and support whatever she wanted.

Pulling up into the ridiculously long driveway and beyond the gardens specifically designed to both look beautiful and hide deadly traps for anyone who might think their family easy to infiltrate, Fang Duobing had a moment where he wondered if all his adult years had been just one fever dream.

There were people in the gardens tending to the plants, and Fang Duobing parked carelessly along the driveway, slipping on his sunglasses against the bright afternoon before he left the vehicle, taking even that basic level of protection against the barrage he knew he was about to get.

“Fang Xiaobao!”

And there it was. He tried not to cringe as his aunt shouted, somehow coming up behind him even though he hadn’t seen her on the drive in. Fang Duobing mustered up a sweet smile, hands up placatingly as he turned to face her.

“You sure do have some nerve, not responding to any of my texts! Do you make a habit out of making trouble for me, while pretending to be a good son for my sister, huh? I had to take care of all the clean-up and the PR with your dad, and shareholder meetings since my sister obviously deserves to spend time with her injured son, but what about me? If she hadn’t been keeping me updated on if you were okay, I would have thought you died in the hospital! Maybe the doctors strangled you to death for how annoying you can be!”

“Xiao-yi,” he pleaded, “I just got my phone back today, I swear. I wasn’t even allowed out of my room the last two days, how could I have contacted you? I was being watched around the clock! Didn’t they do the same for you? So you have to be a little more understanding for your favourite nephew, alright?”

She took a step forward to jab a finger at his chest, and he was glad to see that she looked far healthier now, merely a bandage on her arm exposed by the sleeveless sundress she was wearing and the dramatic makeup gone now to reveal a more familiar look.

“Oh, you think you can sweet-talk me, mister? I ought to—”

“Xiaobao.” They were both interrupted as He Xiaohui called out from the front door. “Do come inside before you catch a cold. You too, Xiaofeng.”

Fang Duobing wanted to give his mother an incredulous look as he glanced up at the blue sky. Catch a cold? In this weather? But his aunt was already dragging him forward by the arm, and he only protested mildly, letting her get her way.

After the door closed behind them, Fang Duobing realised that there were no servants in the foyer to greet them. Even his aunt calmed down immediately, her earlier expression of indignation fading away fast enough for Fang Duobing to grab that it was a front all along.

“Anything outside?” He Xiaohui asked her younger sister, who shook her head.

“Not that I can find.” He Xiaofeng responded, unusually serious. “But we wouldn’t know all the abilities that they have at their disposal.”

“What is this about?” Fang Duobing demanded, pulling off his sunglasses. He looked between his mother and aunt, remembering the wording while he had been in the hospital. “...Are people spying on us?”

His mother, her mannerism impeccable even now, merely pursed her lips in response, the muscles of her jaw tightening.

“There’s no proof of it.” She admitted, and ushered him along down the hall to the main room. “But there have been some suspicious inquiries being made. On what happened to the dungeon, of course, and on whether Tianji Hall had anything to do with it as it appeared right in our building, and then disappeared before a Sect could confirm that it would have been a harvesting dungeon.”

With dungeons placed in different categories and ranks based on how dangerous they were, harvesting dungeons were the most convenient for people, with weaker monsters to allow for Hunters to go on and look for goods they could bring back to the world. It meant the location would be protected for the Sects to use so long as they logged the items they brought back and paid a portion of it as taxes.

That meant, however, that Tianji Hall would lose their entire building location to the Sects due to that.

“Why would anyone think that?” Fang Duobing demanded. “It wouldn’t benefit us at all! Not to mention, it was our people who got harmed in the process— who do they think they are? No one can predict, much less command the location of new gates—”

A whap to his ear halted his complaints, and his mother responded fondly, “Of course all you say is true. But rumours are hard to dispel once it’s been released.”

“Not to mention,” his aunt added, “just how unusual it is for a dungeon to disappear like that. It’s the first time it’s happened, so people have a right to be suspicious, even if we had nothing to do with it.”

Fang Duobing stared between them.

“Actually.” He said, then halted. Then he thought better of saying anything, but then thought at least they should know. “About that.”

He Xiaohui held up a hand. “Explain later. I know there was more to your story, Xiaobao, but there’s someone you should see.”

Fang Duobing’s childhood home was large and sprawling, situated just outside a metropolitan city for quality real estate, and there was an entire wing dedicated to when He Xiaohui felt like working on her unusual inventions at home. That meant there was also a makeshift medical room besides her laboratory, in case of emergencies. It had been something her husband asked her to build, worried about her burning or electrocuting herself. He fitted it with hospital worthy equipment, and no one questioned its existence after He Xiaohui’s experiments nearly shut down the city power grid when Fang Duobing was thirteen.

Now, the room was renovated yet again, with another occupant in mind.

Fang Duobing felt his breath catch as they entered.

“I took the liberty of securing Lotus Tower out of harm’s way,” His mother said quietly, settling behind him. “Your aunt made sure to visit him when she could since they didn’t have him as tightly guarded as you, and the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. The Hunter specialist they sent in thinks there might be signs of a curse, but they dismissed that soon after. After several… suspicious individuals were found around his room, she called me and I made the arrangements to have him brought here instead. As he didn’t have any family listed, a more determined organisation would be able to keep him until he woke otherwise.”

“You think someone would have just stolen him away?” Fang Duobing asked, his eyes still on Li Lianhua, connected to several machines and resting atop a makeshift hospital bed. The man was so still underneath the connected wires and breathing tube that the only consultation was the heart monitor steadily ticking away.

“There were a few fake names on the visitor registry,” his aunt said darkly. “I left Zhan Yunfei to keep watch, and they were definitely there for Physician Li. We didn’t manage to see their faces in the hospital, but… well, I have people checking the identities against CCTV. They should get back to me today.”

Fang Duobing had the nagging feeling that someone knew.

After crossing back through the gate, Fang Duobing barely had a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, of being safe now, before Li Lianhua just. Dropped. Next to him. Dropped like his strings had been cut, nearly bouncing on the ground before Fang Duobing noticed and dropped to his own knees painfully on the uneven pavement as if he could still catch the man.

Everything had been fine right before they crossed the gate— and for a single shameful moment, Fang Duobing imagined that Li Lianhua arranged something like this just so he could get out of the conversation he promised.

Then he noticed the blood staining his mouth underneath the darkness that was still fading away from where they had originally been drenched, and the panic turned very real as Fang Duobing made to carry Li Lianhua the rest of the way to the paramedics.

He thought perhaps it was the fight that caught up to the man, the exertion that Li Lianhua usually could not expend. But the doctors could take care of that, couldn’t they? They would fix him and he would rest, and then Fang Duobing would be able to confront him about what happened in the dungeon.

“Xiaobao,” his mother said gently. “The two of you were the last ones out of the dungeon. I know how you are when you lie, and you’re not very good at it. And with Li Lianhua like this…”

“It really does look like a curse.” His aunt interjected very quietly.

Fang Duobing could understand why the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong, and why the Hunter specialist might dismiss the idea of a curse. Curses only applied to Hunters, mostly because civilians tended to die immediately rather than be afflicted. Yet a curse shouldn’t have— shouldn’t have taken him down like that. Not when Li Lianhua had no trouble battling the dungeon boss, not when he could yank Fang Duobing from the darkness, and not when he was just fine as they left.

All sects had curse specialists, the way they aspired to have healers. Too many times Hunters would come back from dungeons with a debilitating curse that would need to be seen to, sometimes taking the specialist months before they could figure out what it actually was and how to break it.

“Did the two of you… encounter something? Something unusual, something out of the ordinary? Did he touch something or, god forbid, accidentally eat something—”

“Not like that.” Fang Duobing interrupted his mother. “But we… The entire dungeon was unusual, wasn’t it? We found a place that… well, everything he touched, I must have as well. But I’m fine, nothing’s happened to me.”

“You’re a Hunter,” his aunt said quietly. “It could be different.”

So is Li Lianhua, Fang Duobing thought, but did not say.

“Whatever it is,” He Xiaohui gave a frustrated huff. “So far I haven’t figured it out. And I wanted to bring you first because events at the hospital were far too fishy, and because— Xiaobao, you might have to prepare yourself. He’s not doing better—”

And then he thought of letters he had seen in Lotus Tower before, that niggling feeling when his mother said Li Lianhua had no one to claim him from the hospital.

“He did have someone.” Fang Duobing said suddenly, realising only in that moment he had sat next to the man’s bedside when he had to look up at his mother. “He often wrote to… a temple. A monk. Not even emails or anything, but actual real letters.”

That must have been a close friend. Li Lianhua certainly never wrote him letters before the times Fang Duobing had been dragged back home, not even emails.

Once more, Fang Duobing was struck by the idea that he had never really known Li Lianhua.

Above his head, the He sisters exchanged troubled looks. The silence stretched for a long moment until He Xiaofeng’s phone alerted her of a message, and she hurriedly pulled it out in an effort to focus on something else.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, checking through her message. “It’s an alert—”

And then she quieted, and Fang Duobing looked at his aunt when she didn’t continue. “What?”

“I’ve got hits for three of the people who tried to visit Li Lianhua at the hospital.” He Xiaofeng said, eyes glued to the glow of her screen. “All three are ex-Jinyuan Alliance members.”

Fang Duobing stiffened. Jinyuan Alliance. The very reason for Li Xiangyi’s disappearance, now looking for Li Lianhua.

“All the more reason to keep him here.” His mother said firmly. “Whatever specialist he needs, we can bring them here instead. I’d like to see anyone try to send a spy here or break through my defences. I’ve been needing new test subjects for my experiments.”

“And I keep telling you that you can’t say things like that aloud if you don’t want the lawyers to come down on us,” He Xiaofeng grumbled with a pout. “Xiaobao, what happened in the dungeon? Do you know why it closed suddenly or why the Jinyuan Alliance is now sticking their nose where they don’t belong?”

It made sense for the Jinyuan Alliance to investigate this. They disbanded a decade ago just as Sigu Sect did, when the last dungeon had been closed. And now ten years later a new dungeon appeared and closed. If Li Xiangyi hadn’t died in that disastrous event back then, then what about the Jinyuan Alliance leader Di Feisheng who was said to have died alongside him, was said to have killed Li Xiangyi…?

“I don’t know,” Fang Duobing admitted. He turned his attention to Li Lianhua, far too quiet and pale and still on the bed. “I’m still working that out myself.”

It must have been enough of the truth to pacify his mother, as she only sighed and laid a hand on his hair, fingers curled to sift through the strands above the ponytail.

“Don’t take too long.” She told him. “In fact, sort through your thoughts today and tell me by tomorrow if you can. Whatever you can manage, that is. Whatever this situation is, there are forces we’re not aware of at play here and I’d like as many details as I can to better prepare. Tianji Hall can’t sit on the sidelines this time, not when we’re right at the centre of it.”

“I know, mom.” Fang Duobing told her.

“Find me those letters,” she continued. “Not to read through it, but so I can send a message to this monk to tell them what happened. And don’t spend all day in this room. You need to eat a good meal and take a shower— you smell like the hospital. You know where to find me if you need me.”

Then she pressed a brief kiss against his hair and left.

“I’ll be back in the evening,” his aunt told him.”First I have to follow up on those three— Jinyuan Alliance doesn’t even exist anymore, but if they had anything to do with this dungeon, then I’m going to find out about it.”

She followed her sister out the door, closing it carefully behind her, and then it was just Fang Duobing left.

“And then there were two,” he said to himself, sitting back against the chair (and did they have to imitate the hospital so much that the chairs were uncomfortable as well?) to relax his knees as he stared at Li Lianhua’s form. “...You were supposed to tell me everything by now. I still don’t know…” he trailed off, uncertain as to what he meant to say.

He reached behind his waist toward his belt where he usually reached for his inventory, and pulled out the wooden sword, which looked more like a dagger now that he was all grown up. Despite using it in the dungeon, hacking through thick monster carapaces, the wood was still smooth and polished, entirely blunt and safe enough for a child to practise with.

The name ‘Li Xiangyi’ was carved into the base.

“What’s the truth?” Fang Duobing mumbled to himself, smoothing his thumb over the characters. “You old fox, always avoiding me when I need to hear from you. Even now you’re running away.”

He spent so long— more than half his life, even, chasing after the ideal of Li Xiangyi. To be just like his childhood hero, to live up to him, to continue where he left off… It was really no wonder he felt such a connection with Li Lianhua when he thought about it. It wasn’t that much of a stretch that he could anticipate Li Lianhua’s words and actions when he spent so long scrutinising every detail of every interview and observed moment in Li Xiangyi’s life. Fang Duobing spent his teenage years daydreaming of finding the Hunter again, of perhaps just… meeting him where he stood, and Li Xiangyi would look at him and remember him, and he would smile and look proud and—

It was a silly dream, especially when he couldn’t even make it into Baichuan Court.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there, sitting vigil over Li Lianhua and lost in his thoughts of just how he really should have recognised him, have realised everything, from the fact that despite how very different Li Xiangyi and Li Lianhua were (and they were so, so different), at the core of it all, Li Lianhua threw himself into danger the same way Li Xiangyi did to help other people.

And wasn’t that the crux of how he influenced Fang Duobing’s life? Wasn’t that the very same will, the strong instinct to protect, that Fang Duobing was chasing after?

He couldn’t reconcile the two, not really. They stood different, they moved different, they looked different no matter how similar. Li Lianhua had tics and habits that Li Xiangyi definitely did not have ten years ago, and one was so earnest and truthful most people took it for arrogance and disrespect while the other lied with a silver tongue in such a way that he always got his way.

To Fang Duobing, they felt like two entirely different people.

“Li Lianhua,” he said quietly. “Just… be okay.”

Even if he never got his answers, Fang Duobing would rather be angry at the man for years and years more than to think he might come to some conclusion only to have him leave forever.

He sighed, listening to the calm pulse of the heart monitor, and tucked the wooden sword back into his inventory, frowning when he found barely enough space for it.

Why…?

There was something there that wasn’t the usual, and it felt heavy now that he was paying attention. He grasped at it, the item small in his hand, and pulled it out of the inventory, feeling the weight of it like a metaphorical thing.

It wasn’t physically heavy, but it had such a presence that Fang Duobing couldn’t believe he didn’t realise it was on his person before now. It was round, and as he put it to the light, he could see it looked like pearlescence caught within a ghost. Like a shimmering aerogel shaped into a sphere where the core was denser as it went in, visible despite being only the size of a bottle cap.

It wasn’t the same, but he recognised that feeling of metaphorical weight. Of the denseness, the heavy presence.

It was the very same as that black ball that prevented them from exiting the dungeon. Sure, all dungeons had drops, but he had never seen anything like this before. Tianji Hall specialised in Hunter gear and materials, and that included all materials brought back from dungeons.

“What?” Fang Duobing asked dumbly, raising it against the light.

“I told you,” Li Lianhua’s tone was cranky, the same as when Fang Duobing used to wake him up too early in the morning. “Not to take anything out of the Black!”

Fang Duobing snapped his head to the side, elation running through his veins for a single moment before he registered the sight.

Sitting on the edge of the bed next to the prone and unmoving body, was the irritated ghost of Li Lianhua.

(Fang Duobing would later deny the shrill scream that brought his mother racing back into the room.)

#NaNoWriMo #mlc nano 2023 #THIS IS IT! that's part 1 of the Hunter AU #despite this whole ordeal now I kinda want to continue #I was mostly writing silly and directing it toward my own interest #and a lot didn't make sense and I forgot to write things and wrote in the wrong order but #I dunno I still kinda enjoyed it despite the hours staring blankly #because it was not going how I thought it was going #I *know* how it continues just like I knew how this part ended #I have ideas for political intrigue #Shan Gudao and Jiao Liqiao and maybe even bringing in Princess Qiaoling #not to mention DI FEISHENG in the next part #but god this is long #and I feel like I barely just started the whole story #do I wanna invest months and months more into this #CAN I do that without losing interest despite wanting to do my murder mystery?

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