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tkwrites · 4 days

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Please - Quinn Hughes x ofc

gif by 40ep

Title: Please

Author: Tory / @tkwrites

Relationship: Pre-established: Quinn Hughes x Sarah Roberts

Summary: After they finally move in together, Sarah follows through with Quinn's request for her to edge him.

Warnings: smut (18+ only), unprotected sex (wrap it up unless you're in a consenting relationship!) p in v, fingering (f receiving), oral (m and f receiving), edging, orgasm denial, slight domination, sub Quinn

Word count: 2,600

Comments: The idea for this came to me in the wee morning about two weeks ago. I started writing right away, and it kind of took on a life of its own. It's beyond smutty and a little outside my usual wheelhouse and comfort zone. All the same, I hope you enjoy! If you do, please let me know by commenting, reblogging, or sending in an ask! Your feedback gives me so much inspiration to keep writing.

Please

A Quinn & Sarah Snapshot

“Sarah,” Quinn begged, “Sarah, please.”

She ignored him, continuing to trace her mouth over his left thigh.

A moan that was thoroughly pornographic — laced with frustration and desire — left his mouth.

“Sarah,” he said again, hips shifting up.

He was going to die. She was going to kill him if he didn’t get some relief.

Looking past his hard, weeping member, she found him flushed and sweaty, mouth contorted into a sort of pleasured grimace as he held on for her.

A pang of guilt twisted her stomach before she reminded herself he wanted this.

Still, she decided, it had been enough.

She was moving. Thank god, she was moving. Her stomach brushed against his cock as she crawled over him, and he breathed a deep sigh. It wasn’t as good as her mouth or her core, but at this point, anything touching, anything garnering even a little bit of relief was better than nothing.

Her mouth dipped to his neck, and he whimpered, gripping the silk ties to keep himself from rutting against her. He’d made that mistake earlier in the night, and it had resulted in a sharp admonition, a disappointed look, and caused her to not put her mouth on him again until he’d made her come another time.

The memory of it made him tremble. “Sarah, please.”

She pulled away, looking into his face as she swept his sweaty hair back. “Please what?” she asked innocently.

“Can I come? Please?”

A soft smile spread over her lips, and hope ignited inside him.

It wavered when she paused, a thoughtful look on her face.

“I don’t know,” she said, finally.

He didn’t know how much longer he could possibly last.

When he’d asked her for this, he hadn’t expected…well he wasn’t totally sure what he’d expected. He certainly hadn’t expected her to slide into the part so easily. Sarah could be sassy, but it wasn’t her usual way of being. He couldn’t deny that seeing her this way brought out a heavy, thick desire in him he’d never experienced.

He’d never been edged before, never dominated like this, but he’d thought about it so often in their many weeks apart that summer. This fantasy of her in charge made its way into the regular rotation when he was missing her. When he finally moved back and she finally moved in, he asked her for it, the prospect that it could become a reality too consuming to resist.

Now that it was really happening, he had no idea where all his restraint was coming from. He supposed all the conditioning for hockey probably played a role.

“Do you think you deserve it?”

He nodded fervently.

“Tell me.”

“I’ve been good,” he said, voice even more husky.

“You have been very good,” she consented but didn’t do or say anything else.

He would have to plead his case. “I made you come so many times.”

“How many?” she asked, mouth dangerously close to his ear.

The lustful haze surrounding his brain made it hard for him to think. He couldn’t forget how close her skin was to his, how hot her breath felt on his cheek.

“How many, Quinn?” she repeated as her tongue trailed from the bottom of his ear to the bottom of his neck. A streak of fire whipped down his spine.

The first time had been on his cock right at the beginning of the night. She’d tied his wrists to the bed, one near each corner, with two swaths of silk she seemed to produce out of thin air. She then climbed on top of him, lubed him up and sunk onto him without any kind of preamble.

He had thought watching her ride him without being able to touch her — forced to watch her slip and circle her own fingers over her clit — while holding himself back as she fluttered around him, squeezing him within an inch of his life, was torture.

It turned out he had no idea what was to come.

A short while after that was the rutting incident. He’d almost shot off, slicking himself through her soft, smooth center as she kissed his neck torturously slow. The pleasured noise that left his throat couldn’t be stopped, and she’d darted away with a rebuke before he could actually come.

As his penance, she’d untied his right hand so he could get her off as she knelt next to him, knees spread wide so he could see her glistening core take his fingers so well. Watching her come undone, head thrown back, one arm behind to hold herself up while the other hand massaged her own nipples, he swore he could have come right along with her without her even touching him.

His train of thought was interrupted as the palm of her hand slipped over the front of his hip, trailing a soft touch by the base of his shaft. His whole body twitched.

“How many?” she repeated.

Pride washed over him, remembering the way he had brought her to climax before she tied his hand down again. He’d begged to clean his fingers, desperate to taste her. Instead, she’d hovered over him so he could drink her nectar straight from the source. He’d thrust his tongue into her and felt like he might just waste away if he didn’t get his dick in her soon.

How long ago had that been? It felt like hours.

“Three,” he gasped.

Sarah could practically see his thoughts as the fascinated, hungry expression he wore when he watched her come ghosted over Quinn’s beautiful face.

“You’re sure?”

He nodded fervently. There had been at least three. He forced his mind into coherent memory, trying to decipher if he’d fantasized one of them.

“I could have sworn it was four.”

“You would know better,” he conceded quickly. Maybe he’d missed one, too concentrated on not coming himself.

She hummed, looking him over as she trailed a hand up his chest. His skin had taken on the most beautiful pink flush in the hazy light filtering through the rain splattered windows. His chest rose and fell in steep little jerks. He really was rock hard, pre-come dripping and dribbling onto his pelvis, sweaty and slick.

Despite being tied down for so long, he still resisted the restraints, pulling the silk taut before fatigue would set into his arms, and he had to rest for a moment. It was as if he couldn’t help himself. Like the desire to touch her was just too strong. As he went through this routine again, dropping back to the mattress panting, she decided it had been long enough.

“You’re such a good boy, Quinn.”

She’d never imagined those words coming out of her mouth, but when he told her he liked it as they started talking about this whole edging idea, she’d found them easier and easier to say. Especially after seeing the pride and pleasure that took over his face each time they left her lips.

He whined and nodded his agreement.

“I think you’ve earned some relief,” she said.

Thank god. His chest caved in a deep sigh. Oh, thank God.

“Do you want my mouth?”

He nodded.

“Or my pussy?”

He nodded again, biting his lip as if the very idea of having her wrapped around him was bringing him too close to the edge.

“You can’t come in both.”

He’d been hard so long, it felt like he might just stiffen right back up so he could. If only.

On second thought, that might actually kill him.

“M-mouth first,” he finally managed to say, “but I want to come inside you.”

“Okay,” she agreed, “Okay.”

She shifted back to kneel between his legs, and he ventured to ask, “will you untie me?”

“Not yet,” she said before fastening her hot mouth to him.

She sucked the pre-come off his shaft, her tongue flat against him in long, slow strokes, savoring the taste.

A groan rang through the room, loud, earnest, and laced with relief and gratitude.

When she took him deep and his hips jumped, she didn’t even admonish him. He’d earned a little bad behavior. He’d been so patient.

She worked back to his tip, suction and tongue so intense it felt like she might just suck the very life out of him. God, if he could, he would let go in her mouth right then.

His eyes rolled back, lashes fluttering when she pulled off him with an audible pop. Restraint he didn’t know he had somehow held him back from coming.

She straddled him. He felt beyond grateful. Beyond turned on. Beyond anything he’d ever felt in his life. He felt like his skin might just melt off, it was so hot.

Forcing his eyes to stay open, he watched her lower herself onto him, watched himself disappear into her tight heat, watched her mouth fall open in a silent scream.

He was already pulsing. Or maybe that was her. It was hard to tell whose body was whose when they were fused together this way.

She leaned forward to work the tie on his left wrist undone.

Taking advantage of her position, he sucked one of her nipples into his mouth, relishing the shiver that ran through her, right to her core. If he got enough pleasure flowing through her veins, she would come faster, and he wouldn’t have to hold on as long.

She sat back up, shifting him a little deeper.

His eyes rolled back. “Sarah, please —”

“Just one more time,” she whispered. “As soon as I come, you can.”

Sarah was already so sensitive. Too sensitive, really, to be taking him again. She hadn’t planned on coming four times. She hadn’t really planned on anything other than teasing him, but it became obvious how much he enjoyed watching her come as he held himself back. So she’d come. Once on his cock, and twice on his fingers. She’d planned to be done then, thinking she’d suck him off as a finale, but the way he’d fought to get his fingers to his mouth, begging to taste her, made desire ripple to life in her once more.

Taking advantage of his prone state to fulfill a fantasy of her own, she lowered her center to his mouth. As his tongue thrust into her, the bridge of his lovely nose had pressed against her clit, bringing her to a climax that was beyond anything she’d experienced.

Now that his length was inside her again, rigid and twitching, electricity shivered through her, walking a thin line between pleasure and pain.

“Quinn,” she breathed.

He moaned.

“Quinn, you need to be really gentle.”

His head jerked in a nod. “What do you want?” he rasped.

God, his voice lit her on fire. How could this much desire be coursing through her again? “Make me come, Quinn.”

“Fuck,” he breathed reverently.

She’d only untied his left hand. He was glad to have it below his head, but it felt like a useless tool. He fumbled, trying to make the non-dominant, blood starved fingers work the way he wanted them to. Winding to the apex of her thighs. He ghosted his thumb over her, barely touching.

“Oh,” she moaned.

Once he found the right spot, on the sensitive underside of her clit, he rested the pad of his thumb there, providing direct, gentle pressure she could move against. Her eyes rolled back and she flexed around him. He devoured the pleasure that rolled across her face.

Just a little while longer, he told himself. Just a few more seconds. Then, a few more after that.

“Fuck me, that feels so good, Quinn.”

God, he wanted to be the only one who got to fuck her for the rest of his life.

It didn’t take long. She was so sensitive and so turned on from the whole night that it felt like he just needed to flip a switch, and she was coming undone again. The look he was giving her: loving, lustful, and proud was the final catalyst, sending her careening over the edge.

As soon as she constricted around him twice, he was gone. Done for.

Shouting his pleasure, he came harder than he ever had in his life. His whole body tensed, hips thrust up, desperate to get more of himself inside her.

“Quinn,” she moaned. “Oh, yes.”

She collapsed on top of him.

Feeling the release of his orgasm unknot his muscles, he tried to catch his breath. It was a good thing he didn’t have practice the next day. He would need time to recover from this.

A while later (time had lost its importance) she pushed herself up, hands on either side of his shoulders.

He whined but didn’t try to stop her as she lifted her hips.

They both hissed at the loss.

Before slipping off the bed to clean up, she leaned over and undid the other tie. Smoothing her thumb over the soft inside of his wrist, she murmured, “you did so good. You were so good to me, Quinn.”

He made a pleased little noise.

She slipped off the bed, going to the bathroom and cleaning herself up before coming back to him with a glass of water. By that time, he’d recovered enough to sit up against the headboard.

“Do you want to take a shower?” she asked.

How could she think about something so mundane? He was busy trying to relive the entire evening. He gulped the water and thought about her noises, the way she felt.

Remembering it made him twitch with desire. It wasn’t too surprising when it hurt a bit.

Once he took a deep breath and let it out again, mirroring the same thing he did after winding down from a game, Sarah knew he was ready to talk.

“Do you want to shower?” she repeated.

He should, but his legs felt like lead. Screwing up his determination, he gulped the last of the water before nodding.

“Did I do okay?” she asked as he slipped to the edge of the bed, his hand trailing over one of the silk ties.

His eyes darted to hers, worried she somehow thought different. “You were perfect.”

And she had been. Bossy and assertive, but her same loving tenderness was still there, under all that. She was still Sarah, she’d just put on a costume for the night.

Once the water was warmed up, she pulled him into the shower with her.

He let her soap him up, loving her gentle caresses with her loofah. She was even using her vanilla soap, and the smell surrounded them, replacing the sweaty, musky smell of sex with the lighter, sweeter fragrance he associated so much with her.

When she moved on to washing his hair, he practically moaned as his fatigued legs shook. “You’re going to put me to sleep,” he murmured.

Sarah giggled and continued scratching her nails over his scalp.

He rinsed off and took over the loofah to soap her up, carefully memorizing the contours of her body.

Finally out of the shower, they did the after shower things, and Quinn helped Sarah replace the sheets.

Settling back into the soft bed, Sarah asked, “Do you feel okay?”

“Never better,” he said, a dopey little smile taking over his face.

She pressed a kiss to his forehead, pulled the blankets up, and brought him against her for a well-deserved night of rest.

Want more Quinn and Sarah? Check out the Sanpshots Masterlist

To read all my fics, check out the Fanfiction Masterlist

#quinn & sarah snapshots #quinn hughes #quinn hughes fic #quinn hughes imagine #quinn hughes fanfiction #quinn hughes x oc #quinn hughes smut #quinn hughes fanfic #qh43 #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagine #hockey romance #hockey smut #hockey fanfiction #quinn hughes oneshot

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 7 months

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WIBTA if I told my girlfriend to lose weight?

Okay, so that sounds horrific, but bear with me.

To be clear, I (23M) could not care less what weight she (27F) is or what she looks like. I love this woman with my whole heart and none of it is about her appearance. We’re pretty much engaged in all but name, the only reason it’s not official is because we don’t have money to even think of weddings right now, and I plan to spend the rest of my life with her.

Thing is, she’s obese. Like, medically, not in a derogatory sense. This is massively affecting her health. She’s constantly out of breath, constantly in pain, constantly struggling, and it’s leading to other conditions such as sleep apnea. She thinks she has asthma because she’s always struggling to breathe, but I’m 95% sure it just comes down to weight and her doctor has said the same, but she tends to write it off as doctors being fatphobic.

Much of this is due to the fact that she used to struggle with binge-eating disorder. She no longer binge eats, but she does overeat in general because her body is so accustomed to constant food, so she gets painfully hungry and dizzy after 2-3 hours of not eating.

I’ve tried to encourage her to exercise with me, diet with me, count calories etc., but she gives up super easy when she doesn’t see immediately results. She also says herself that she finds it very difficult to see herself accurately - she has the reverse of “typical” body dysmorphia, where she sees herself as thinner than she is, so she genuinely sees herself as thin or like slightly curvy. (To be clear, she is very visibly obese, people comment on this often, and while I’ll be the first to go fists up if someone’s a dick to her about it as people have been I also am genuinely worried about her health.) Because of that she has no motivation to lose the weight because she just doesn’t see it. It’s bad enough that she’s been told by doctors she WILL likely struggle later in life with heart failure, diabetes etc if she doesn’t lose weight, yet her POV is more, “It can’t be that bad because I’m not that big so I don’t need to worry about it”. She has occasional reality checks, most recently she put her measurements into some site that shows an image of what you look like from a third person perspective, and she was completely shocked like “I can’t look like that. Do I? This is a wake up call”, but days later it’s completely lost and she’s back to saying she’s not that big again.

She wants kids with me, and I just absolutely do not want to commit to having children with her when I know there’s a not-insignificant chance she’ll have serious health issues in the future that could mean she’s not with us for as long as she could be. Both for the kids’ sake, and selfishly because I want her around! I don’t want to think about something happening to her earlier in life and being without her.

But I just don’t know what to do. Gently suggesting it hasn’t worked, saying I’m worried about her health hasn’t worked, saying I don’t want kids until she’s healthy hasn’t worked (even if she’s still overweight I really don’t care as long as she’s not in a “danger zone” y’know?), trying to meal plan with her hasn’t worked, trying to get her to keep track of calories hasn’t worked, trying to exercise with her hasn’t worked.

People I’ve asked in the past have told me to be firm about it, but I’m incredibly reluctant to do that - I struggled with anorexia for most of my teenage and adult life and I know how deep it can cut to have your weight criticised or commented on. I don’t want to be that dick who basically calls someone I love very much unhealthy and fat and tells her to lose weight or no kids or some horrible shit like that.

But I just. Can’t work out what to do. She does express a willingness to lose weight, she says she wants to, she just doesn’t have that motivation to do it. I don’t know what else we can try.

AITA for focusing on this in the first place? Like am I actually just being fatphobic, or is my own past with EDs influencing my thinking? Am I going about it all wrong? Should I just accept it as something that’ll be a potential issue in future and deal with it then or am I fair to worry about it early on?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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morhido · 10 months

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I've been lost in the owl house sauce for about three years and as a result i've mentally compiled a list of the characters' speech patterns and body language. Then i realised i should probably do something with that information and decided to jot it all down :>>

This is just gonna be the hexsquad for now since my lists for other characters are fairly sparse but additions/requests are welcome! Mayhaps i'll add to it in the future sjdkshskj

(The 'other' category is for general quirks, or things that just didn't fit the other categories)

LUZ:

• Happy/excited: stamps feet with high knees, squeaks/makes high pitched sounds, makes fists and brings them to her chest/face

• Sad: will initially deny if she's upset, whether she fesses up is up to circumstance. Lowers her head, can become unresponsive, becomes tired, voice will generally remain quiet and flat even if something cheers her up, empathetic crier

• Stressed/overwhelmed: repeats phrases over ("no no no, you're belos, you're just belos!"), falls to her knees or puts on hood when overwhelmed, acts overly casual to compensate for her panicking ("yikes, my dude"), protective of others when in physical danger (usually holds amity's head). More comedically, can often make unnecessary/dramatic gestures (e.g. spinning, cartwheeling, flopping to the floor) when stressed

• Angry: gets louder, sometimes unwilling to hear the other person out, becomes very physical, loses volume control (often to her own detriment), sticks her elbows out to look more intimidating. More comedically, will sometimes make animal noises/gestures (e.g. hissing and clawing)

• Other: often prematurely assumes that people will react poorly to her ("she's gonna embarrass herself, i can't watch!" / "if amity sees this, she'll think i'm such a loser!" / "what if the palisman doesn't like me?"), can accidentally be inconsiderate of other people in favour of her impulse, resorts to violence quickly and generally doesn't try to make peace with adults, very easily becomes rambly with strong emotion and can repeat words and phrases, can become loud and panicky during combat if her goal is self-preservation but becomes much more focused if fighting with/protecting other people

WILLOW:

• Happy/excited: becomes very active and touchy, very straightforward, taps toes, will be oblivious if others are intimidated by her, voice pitches up when excited

• Sad: draws herself in, becomes quiet, looks down/closes her eyes, isolates herself, can become less responsive, talks to herself

• Stressed/overwhelmed: loses control of magic, covers hair, voice pitches up when extremely nervous, very rarely acts on impulse even when scared, high-pitched squeaks/screams when startled

• Angry: vines grow from the ground beneath her, shows vocal disdain for whatever is upsetting her, can become very sardonic ("you want me to give up? You want me to admit how stressed i am?"), can go from high and stern when upset ("you just met them, give them a chance!") to low and loud when fully angry ("what advice could you POSSIBLY give me??")

• Other: denial is default coping mechanism, very often does the gag of pretending to be intimidating and then doing something sweet/cute, will be oblivious to the other person's fear when this happens, love language is physical touch, makes her feelings known unless she's specifically not trying to upset people, can speak pretty formally ("enchanting!", "how dare you?"), talks to herself in second person when hyping herself up, takes offensive role in combat

AMITY:

• Happy/excited: voice can get louder, smiles with teeth when extremely excited, becomes more impulsive with what she says and does

• Sad: raises voice when trying to make a point, voice cracks, becomes quieter with remorse, remains very quiet and calm when comforting/confiding in someone else

• Stressed/overwhelmed: s1 amity would get extremely defensive if any vulnerability was exposed ("help? All you're doing is prying into your friends' lives!"), rambles when flustered, holds hem of skirt when she's nervous/doesn't know what to do, also generally moves hands a lot when nervous, attempts to leave situations that are upsetting her, high-pitched screams when startled (does this less throughout the series as she becomes more on-guard and impulsive)

• Angry: often gets louder and more animated (e.g. her trying to break out of the dome in clouds on the horizon), face turns red, pushes away the source of her anger, doesn't usually stay angry for long, moves her body forward (e.g. pointing, gesturing, or actually stepping forwards), will often stick her arms straight at her sides

• Other: generally uncomfortable leaving her comfort zone but extremely confident in fields that she already excels in, extremely accepting of change in other people, arguably the second most impulsive of the hexsquad (especially regarding luz's safety) and uses fire to solve a lot of her problems, will take control of a situation when she knows she's in the right ("you're gonna listen to me for once"), usually very perceptive to others' emotions

GUS:

• Happy/excited: draws fists up to face, big gestures (especially with hands/arms)

• Sad: self-blames/depricates ("yeah. It's all my fault"), curls up with his arms and head on his knees, usually very vocal about being upset with something, "you've done it again, augustus" (in the context of being tricked by someone), can remain in this state for a long time, draws in on himself but doesn't push other people away

• Stressed/overwhelmed: loses control of magic (finds it difficult to discern reality from illusions), often hides behind willow when scared, laughs/smiles nervously when anxious or flustered, can get tunnel vision on the thing that's upsetting him

• Angry: stays level-headed and doesn't often raise his voice, speech becomes more emphatic, can become snarkier ("hey belos, remember me?"), remains distant from the subject of his anger, usually stays in a stance

• Other: very eager to prove himself whenever he has the opportunity (love language is acts of service), most willing to resort to violence ("nobody's dying" "not with that attitude", usually in a joking manner), most annoyed by his friends' shenanigans but always willing to tag along, makes big gestures (especially when emphasising something), sometimes repeats phrases when feeling strong emotions ("gus? Nickname? HUMAN nickname?? GUS???" / "wait × 6, is this really what you wanna be doing with your life?")

HUNTER:

• Happy/excited: extremely animated with his hands, voice gets louder, becomes very confident. Is very playful and arrogant when in golden guard mode and will usually try to show off or start relying on empty threats

• Sad: voice goes quiet and airy, voice cracks, can become raspier

• Stressed/overwhelmed: doesn't like to be touched when upset, is overwhelmed by affection and will often start crying, goes silent and dissociates when processing upsetting information, voice cracks, becomes extremely snappy and irritable from long-term stress, freezes under pressure, draws in on himself when panicking, goes silent when flustered

• Angry: becomes grumpy when things don't go his way, is extremely animated and expressive when actually angry, can become sardonic, raises voice, makes small movements (e.g. shaking leg or pacing small area). As golden guard, would try to physically intimidate the other person (e.g. looming over or walking towards them)

• Other: doesn't tend to self-blame and will either pass the fault onto someone else ("you got us trapped in the emperor's mind!"), or acknowledge when someone else was in the wrong ("you were tricked. That's what belos does, he tricks people"). Almost never initiates combat and plays a more defensive role, extremely theatrical/expressive and talkative (will have to actively restrain himself to not talk about something), squeaks a lot

#i had one of these posts for an old fandom i was in and it was uber helpful for writing their dialogue #so hopefully this can help someone else :>>#toh #the owl house #toh luz #luz noceda #toh willow #willow park #toh amity #amity blight #toh gus #gus porter #toh hunter #hunter noceda #hunter deamonne #gekkering

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burst-of-iridescent · 5 months

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Hey does everyone remember when Aang physically hurt Katara via burning her due to his own negligence with fire because he didn't listen at all to her concerns? But all of Katara's concerns were her being worried for him getting hurt and not herself, and then he hurts her badly, this never gets addressed again in the show, but I remember this vividly.

i actually like this scene on its own.

aang burning katara is a good character building moment because it's a brutal reminder of his own capacity for destruction. he needs to understand that his reckless actions can have horrific repercussions in order to fully realize the weight of his responsibility as both a firebender and the avatar, and it makes the moment where he uses zhao's recklessness against him more impactful. it also sets up the "water = life, fire = death" dichotomy that's part of katara's arc on viewing the world in binaries, which will later be broken down in book 3.

but ultimately the incident is still of greater significance to aang, and he's the one to bring it up in the guru and western air temple episodes, telling both guru pathik and zuko about his guilt over burning katara and his refusal to firebend ever again. this experience is also what leads him to accept zuko as his firebending teacher, and then finally forgive himself when he learns the true meaning of firebending. for the most part, it's a well-sustained arc and one of the few narratives aang has that is actually brought to completion.

do i wish that katara and aang had actually talked about his actions beyond this episode? yes. do i wish the aftermath had been focused a little more on katara instead of showcasing the impact of her physical injuries mostly through aang's continued self-flagellation? yes. but as a one-off incident contained to a single episode, i don't mind it.

what i do mind, however, is that this is not the last time the show is going to use katara as a lynchpin for aang's character development.

in the book 2 premiere, katara is turned into a pawn to propel aang into the avatar state. in the guru, her imprisonment is the reason that aang chooses to go back to ba sing se instead of unlocking his chakras. that is three separate times now that katara has been damselled in order to facilitate key turning points in aang's narrative, but not once does the same apply in reverse. there is never a moment where aang is the only one put in danger solely to drive katara's arc, the way she is in his. the closest we get is katara bringing aang back to life, but even then his death is still the result of his own choices and more integral to his storyline than hers.

now, compare this to the final agni kai.

at first glance, katara being put in danger just to complete zuko's redemption looks like the same tired trope, and had the scene ended at his sacrifice, it would be. but crucially, it's katara who continues the fight. katara who defeats the scion of fire nation destruction at the height of her power. katara who saves zuko just as he saved her.

in proving herself a master waterbender powerful enough to defeat azula and save someone she loves - someone who sacrificed themselves for her - from fire nation aggression, katara brings her own arc full circle. it is in triumphing over azula by saving each other that zuko and katara become the people they were always meant to be, and so their individual arcs are brought to their narrative culmination through bookending the other. the final agni kai works where the kat.aang moments fall short because it is of equal significance to both zuko and katara's narratives.

obviously, this is not to say that it's bad for certain characters to exist just to drive another character's arc. it's inevitable that some will be written solely to fulfill that purpose because a story only has so much narrative space, and it usually can't - and shouldn't - be divided equally amongst every single character.

but if we're talking about two main characters who end up in a lifelong romantic relationship, and it's the female character being repeatedly damselled to drive the male character's storyline within an already imbalanced dynamic... perhaps it's time to rethink a few things.

#anti kataang #zutara

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heeseung-min · 3 months

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[08:26]

Another day another boring time for Sunoo. He rolled his eyes when his classmates being noisy than usual. Couldn't they just shut up for a second? It makes him wanted to shoot all of them so he can be at peace. His thought got interrupted when someone knocking on his desk.

"Hi Sunoo. Do you want to go eat tteokbokki together after school? We can have it at your favourite place."

Jung Jia. She is most popular girl in the school. But, she is famous for her looks only and she is also a bully. Sunoo saw her bully other students sometimes. He rolled his eyes and scoffed making the girl felt embarrassed.

"You- you don't want? To go with me?"

Of course Jia won't give up. She has been crushing on Sunoo for quite a long time so she doesn't want to let the chance go just like that. She is the most popular girl in school after all. She would not let Sunoo reject her just like that.

"Just get lost."

Sunoo's cold tone was enough to make the girl went back to her seat. Jia clenched her fists when her friends made fun of her. She hold herself from launching her anger on them. The class went silent when the teacher came in and some of them murmured when they saw a new student following the teacher.

"Alright class, this is Y/n. She just transferred here so I hope you guys will be good to her."

The teacher asked Y/n to sit beside Sunoo. She can see some of them flashed a genuine smile to her and she also could see some of them rolled and scoffed at her. Sunoo on the other hand was mesmerized. It's the first time someone caught his eyes. You are really beautiful. You smile sweetly to Sunoo and once again introduce yourself to him.

"Hi, my name is Y/n. What's yours?"

He knew from this moment he should make you his.

"Sunoo. My name is Kim Sunoo."

______

"Don't you think Sunoo has changed?"

One of the classmates asked to Jia as they were having lunch break. Jia looked up to them for more details on that.

"Don't you see he's been hanging out with Y/n? Hell, before this he didn't even want to talk with us. But now, look at him being smiley and giggly with Y/n."

Jia turned her eyes to the third table from them and saw by herself how Sunoo behaves when he's with you. She clenched her fist when she saw Sunoo put a strand of your hair behind your ear. What Y/n has that makes Sunoo stuck with her everytime. Jia couldn't hold her anger anymore so she left her friends who were still eating.

"Fuck you, Y/n. I will make sure you regret this."

_____

You were sobbing and protect yourself from Jia and her gang. When you wanted to go to the library, you got pulled to an empty gym. There, you saw Jia was smoking while staring at you. Her friends were smirking at you and there you knew you were in danger. When you wanted to step back, you got hold by her friend.

"Don't go, doll. We want to play with you for awhile."

You got kicked from behind and a slap on your head. The slap was so strong it made your head spinning a bit. When you tried to move your body to the other side, Jia came in front of you and hold your face tightly.

"I admit you are cute. No wonder Sunoo likes you. But that doesn't mean I let you take him away from me just like that."

She started to pull your hair and dragged you everywhere. Even though you screamed and begging to let go, she didn't care and continue torture you.

"Stop...please..."

"Awh doll. We just started, you can't back out just like that."

They started to tear up your clothes leaving some of your skin exposed. Jia captured your picture few times before showing you one of the result.

"I think some of the senior would like to try you after they see this."

"STOP IT AHHH YOU ARE CRAZY FREAK!"

You shouted and pushed Jia with a bit of energy on your body. Jia groaned when her butt fell hard on the floor. Her friends started hold you from both sides so you can't run away.

"Yeah I'm crazy and I want you to stay away from Sunoo."

______

Sunoo felt worried when you didn't show up. Both of you had agreed to study together at the library. However, it's been an hour now and you didn't even reply his messages or pick up his calls.

Once again he pressed at the call button and waited for you to pick it up. But after few seconds his call was forwarded to the voicemail. He sighed and turn off the call. But then, a message suddenly went in. Sunoo quickly opened it and hoping it was you.

Y/n❣️: Sunoo, sorry I had to go home early. Sorry for not telling you earlier.

Sunoo: No no that's okay. Are you okay, tho?

Sunoo waiting for your reply. You were typing but then you stopped. After two minutes, you replied his message shortly.

Y/n: I'm fine.

The next day, Sunoo didn't see you at the class. He texted you about that but you didn't say anything. He concluded you must be tired and sick so you don't have energy to use phone at all.

But, he became worried when you were absent for a week. The teacher even asked if anyone know what is happening to you but no one answer. However, when Sunoo saw Jia and her friends were giggling, he felt suspicious.

Sunoo was walking to your house. You never show him but he remember the route since he followed you quietly. It's not harming because he did that to protect you from danger. He climbed to your window and saw you were sleeping. Thankfully because of your clumsy ass forgot to lock the window, he could easily enter your room.

Sunoo was absolutely shocked when he saw bruises on your face. There were also on your legs and body. He was mad. Who dare to do this to you? Who dare to hit you?!! He calmed himself and went closer to take a look. Some of the bruises started to fade but Sunoo knew you were hit pretty badly. His thought were interrupted when he heard a notification from your phone. He took it and read the text that just got sent.

Jia: Are you scared to come to school? Come on, we were just playing with you.

Sunoo read every messages that Jia had sent to you and it made him boiled so much. That bitch touched you and hurt you. He will definitely teach her lesson.

He put the phone back on the table and went beside you.

"I will make sure they will rot to hell. I will make sure they get back what they did to you."

_____

Weeks has passed and you finally got an urge to go to the school. You noticed Jia hasn't been texting you since a week ago so you thought that she finally has stop bullying you. The bruises finally faded but the trauma they caused to you was bad. You tried to report it to the teacher about them but the teacher didn't believe you instead saying it's what friends did. Since then, you isolated yourself at your home and didn't contact with anyone. You felt guilty mostly to Sunoo since he didn't do anything wrong but you didn't ever for once call or message him.

Your hands were shaking when you finally arrived in front of the class. You can heard the noises of your classmates from the outside. With a little bit of braveness, you pulled the door and went inside. All of your classmates went silent when they saw you and you started to get anxiety from the staring. You were walking to your seat until one of them shouted.

"Y/n, are you okay now? I heard Jia and her gang bullied you."

"Yeah, she is shitty for doing that."

"It's okay Y/n. It's finally over."

Over? What did they mean by that? You were surprised at how kind and worried they were. You wanted to ask but then the door got opened and Sunoo went inside instead. When he saw your face, there was a relieve expression on him. He quickly went to sit and hugged you tightly.

"Do you know how much I miss you?! You making me feel crazy!"

"I'm sorry, Sunoo."

Sunoo caressed your face gently. The kiss he left on your lips suddenly shocking you. All of your classmates started to cheer for both of you leaving you and Sunoo blushing so hard.

"Where is Jia and her friends?"

"Oh, they got expelled."

Sunoo said casually while munching on the food. You gasped loudly and looked at him for more details.

"How?"

"Someone saw they were bullying you and they reported to the principal. It was difficult because you know her parents and Mr.Kim keep protecting her but eventually they lost and Mr.Kim and Jia with her friends got expelled."

You let out a sigh after heard what Sunoo said. No wonder you didn't saw your teacher. It was substitute that went into the class this morning. You suddenly crying at the thought that you finally free from the bullying. Sunoo wiped the tears that came out from your face.

"I'm here, Y/n. Don't hide anything from me anymore. Let me help you, okay?"

"Yes, yes thank you so much, Sunoo."

It doesn't matter if the thing that Sunoo said is half truth. What matters is that he finally got rid of what's bothering you and him. He didn't mind to kill anyone if it's for you. Hell, he already did that to Jia with her friends at the night they got expelled from the school. He can still remember the satisfaction from stabbing Jia many times on her body until he ended her life by stabbing straight to the heart.

"Your mother made a mistake by having you but it's okay. I did the favor for her."

He also can still remember how Mr.Kim begged him to not kill him that night. He was about to watch some porn videos until suddenly someone knocked on the door. When he saw Sunoo, he was going to lecture until he got kicked by him and Sunoo keep punching and kicking him until he became so weak.

"You ignored when Y/n reported to you about Jia. Why? Because that bitch sucks your cocks?"

"I'm-I am sorry-erghh!!!"

"Sorry won't change anything. It's okay, I will kill you so you can go to the hell together with Jia."

"I love you, Y/n."

"Love you too, Sunoo."

Ooooo damn😂😂😂 it's been a long time since I write yandere sunoo ahh it feels good reading it. Hope you guys enjoy it as well.

Taglist: @stacey-stonem @duolingofanaccount @huggyuvita @obsessed1with1straykids @eeunoia @rowretro

#yandere kpop #yandere enhypen #kpop yandere #enha x reader #lee heeseung #park jongseong #park sunghoon #jake sim #kim sunoo #yang jungwon #nishimura riki #yandere drabble #yandere sunoo #sunoo enhypen #enhypen au #enha sunoo #enha scenarios #enha imagines

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identityua · 9 months

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Can I have Venti, Focalors and Ei dating hcs?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

DATING THE GENSHIN ARCHONS.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

PAIRINGS: Ei & Furina x GN!Reader

WARNINGS: Mentions of death (Makoto). Me completely bullshitting everything about Focalors, since we have practically nothing to go off of. Tooth-rotting fluff as well! TAGS: Romance, kisses here and there, maybe even cuddles, pda, possessive behaviour (only a tad and mostly on Focalors), kinda sad, but also nice.

(I didn't write for Venti sorryyy)

• The only way for your relationship to develop is already after the decree, because well, she was absent during it. Which means you don't have to put up with the awkward Shogun puppet, and actually hang out with Ei herself! • Let's start off with the fact that the electro archon is pretty much, entirely clueless about the whole romance thing. Unlike the other archon on this list, who has some idea of it either due to experience or media, this one spent thousands of years isolated. So let's be honest, you are going to need a lot of patience and skill to guide her into the playing field.

• In the first stages of your relationship things would be awkward, maybe even embarrassing. Baal wouldn't know how to react to your advances. Attempting even a simple peck on the cheek, would result in a confused:

"What are you doing, may I ask? A kiss, hm... It feels uncomfortably wet."

• Despite the lack of intimate knowledge, she will try her best with you. Because you are one of the most important things to her, you make her feel warm and secure, something Ei hasn't experienced in a long while. She will just have to put up and learn with you "interesting human antics."

• I hope you have a good dentist. The electro archon has an extremely sweet tooth, and in addition she has a whole array of servants and cooks at her disposal. Pretty much every date/hangout will consist of consuming copious amounts of sugar at one point or another.

• She doesn't really understand that humans need nutrition in different forms, not only sweet mochi and dango. So either try to explain that to her or... eat some protein beforehand.

• Being around Ei is calming. Whether you are an active or a quiet person, somehow her presence just balances everything out inside of you. Messy thoughts turn silky smooth, as just her soothing voice is enough to make you forget your troubles. Who needs a therapist when you have the electro archon?

• While you get to enjoy the tranquility that comes with being in her gentle company, sadly for Ei it is the exact opposite.

• Don't get me wrong, she loves spending time with you but... Ei just cannot shake off the sticky feeling that comes with it. You are a mortal, and mortals die. Their lifespans are short and often insignificant, little flickering candles that die out in a moment compared to how long she has lived.

• The thought simmers inside of her with each passing day, painfully reminding her of what she has felt when Makoto passed. Thoughts of eternity are mixed into this painful concoction as she wonders, has she made the right decision?

• However the archon is wise. She is a deity that has lived for many a millennia, and remembers the lessons she has learned through healing and self-discovery. The precious moments in life will hold no meaning If she staggers their flow. What matters is the now, she will worry about the later when it comes.

• Your relationship is neither public or private, because she doesn't exactly care If anybody knows. If danger is to come for you, because somebody with malicious intentions finds out you are affiliated with her -- Ei can protect you, no doubt about it. So it doesn't truly matter If somebody is aware of it or not. I would worry about Miko finding out, which she of course will, because that kitsune will not ever stop teasing the both of you about it.

• The one to think about marriage the least. It's not in the cards for either of you, and as she is slowly letting go of the idea of eternity, the symbol of "eternal love" can be a bit too ironic.

• Overall, a relationship with her is the exact opposite of the one with Furina. It is calm, secure, and loving, everything that a wounded soul like her would need to heal and keep on living. You are the light of her days, and no matter how fleeting, Ei will cherish every memory made together.

FURINA

• You know how the traveller is considered to be the saviour of many nations, due to their heroic acts? Saving cities from destruction and stuff, and how their journeys are super dangerous? Well, you made their job 10 times more difficult. Because Furina's act just went up by a mile.

• The citizens of the city of Justice simply cannot be happier that you exist, because around you, their beloved Lady puts on an even better, grand performance (in hopes of impressing you.)

• Chief Justice, however? Pray for him and his nerves.

• As long as you are present beside her in court, she tends to be in a better mood during the trials, even the ones she would normally consider boring. After all, how can she be bored If her precious mortal is right by her side?

• At the same time however, her emotions are bursting out of her, with you around. Yes she is in a better mood and more agreeable to compromise, but this drama queen cannot hold back from showing off in front on her partner. You are the only one who can influence her. So, you have to physically sit her down, and your conversations during trial are often something along the lines of:

“In my holy opinion, you are utmost guilty!”

“Love, he just asked a question, let’s not make assumptions just yet.”

“UGH, fine🙄”

• Will make comments during trials that are guaranteed to be the foulest roasts you have ever heard. The entire time you two are just trash-talking everyone, gossiping like high-schoolers.

• The hydro archon cannot get enough of you, but she is highly inexperienced in relationships. Therefore she will be flustered to initiate anything, but will brush it off with a mocking laugh. She adores acting all high and mighty, like you are lucky to even be around her (It’s the other way around). However If you were the one to touch her out of nowhere, she would practically melt, trying her best not to cling onto you like a koala.

• (Sometimes however, she does cling like a koala.)

• PDA is a bit iffy, because she does get extremely flustered, but she wants everybody; and I mean everybody to know that you are hers. So the Lady Justice will sit there, head up high with pride, blush all over her face, boasting about how she is the best of archons and of course has the best partner. Kiss her on the cheek and watch steam come out of her ears.

• Lady Furina is the type to say “Eyes on me” to her partner, but not in a suggestive way, no. She just wants yours undivided attention, and will get annoyed If she can’t have it 24/7. Please for the love of everything, set boundaries with her. She is a being that has lived for hundreds of years, she has no idea what that is.

• Kisses with her are a bit awkward, stiff even. She would never allow for them in public (only on the cheek is okay, since she prefers not to get too flustered). Which means they would be intimately shared only between the two of you. Furina would drop the act ever so slightly, her truthful nature slipping out. The scared of rejection, terrified of losing you nature, which she hides underneath so many covers of her flamboyant personality. Perhaps, this vulnerability is what makes her kisses so emotional and so very her.

• Despite the fact that she can be a bit much, she tries to be as caring as possible around you. As someone who spends days and days analysing criminals, she picks up on behavioural patterns very easily. Therefore, as soon as you are upset, she is on the case, looking for a way to get you smiling again. She will drop anything and everything to be at your side If you need her, because you are just that important to her.

• However having said that, she is not the best at picking her words sometimes. Furina can be a little offensive with her comments, so just let her know it bothers you. After all she does care for you, and would hate having you hurt.

• Will not apologize. Unless she has tremendously fucked up, don't expect any verbal apology. Focalors is like Slavic parents, instead of saying “I’m sorry”, she will bring you a gift and tell you to stop sulking. After all, she’s the god of Justice, she’s not used to being wrong.

• The one archon out of all in Teyvat to think about marriage the most. I mean she is the holy deity and persona number one in her own court, she can arrange that whenever and however she wants. As your relationship progresses, Furina finds herself daydreaming about you and her having a majestic wedding. The thought makes her giddy with excitement.

• Dates with this archon are spontaneous, and are probably the most unique you have had in your life. I mean, who else would take you sightseeing into the abyss? Yeah, only this one.

• Can be a Karen to service workers whenever you go to restaurants. Don’t let her, or she’ll never stop.

• Overall, being in a relationship with Focalors is spontaneous, fun and lively. Never a dull moment with her, but she can be overbearing and a bit clueless. Have patience for her, she does truly love you after all, as much as a deity can.

• Catching Focalors’s attention in the first place is not that difficult, for one reason. Yes, she seeks constant entertainment and you would think that she needs a jester for a partner to keep her in a relationship. But due to her tendencies and the fact that everyone only adores her for the dramatics she puts on, she can get quite lonely.

• No one really knows or understands the hydro archon for who she is, therefore she is terrified of slipping up, making a mistake, showing any sign that she isn't all mighty and all knowing.

• So If you manage to see past that façade, and not make fun of her for it? Take her heart, It's already yours.

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #ei x reader #baal x reader #raiden shogun x reader #furina x reader #focalors x reader #genshin imagines #genshin impact x reader

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stomach-bugg09 · 1 year

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uhhhh can i please request a sully! reader fic wherein she’s lo’ak’s twin and is so so much like jake that although neytiri wouldnt admit it (shes her favorite) but shes also smart like her uncle tommy and brave like her late uncle tsu’tey? i just want more platonic and familial sully family love 🥹 basically just her life and the people she’s impacted, maybe she almost dies bc come on lets give neteyam a break 😭 and her family’s reactions + her recovering 🙏🙏🙏🙏

sully family x lo’akstwin!reader

tags: @pinkhotdogsfr @eywas-heir

a/n: so, first of all, thank you so much for the request!! second of all, this is so cute and def right up my ally. i decided that, just bc it's generally broad, i’d format it as a head canon so i can continue to test my horizons with writing. hopefully i do your req justice!! feedback is always appreciated. (p.s... please send in requests 🙏🙏 i need the inspo)

you were a sully, and sullys stick together

lo'ak's twin headcanons

being lo’ak’s (older) twin, there’d always been some sort of… fued, if you will, between the two of you. of course, it was light hearted—most of the time.

you’d always try and one-up each other, watching each other’s (extremely dangerous) antics and deciding that the next best idea was to perform something even riskier. let's just say, the two of you liked to keep neytiri and jake on their toes.

because of your quite idiotic decisions, both of your parents, although it was usually more jake than neytiri, felt like they were constantly scolding the two of you. together.

and don't even get me started on poor neteyam, always trying to take the blame from you two. man, he is tired. can't you just be.. i don’t know, smart for once? (the answer is no)

but, one thing that neytiri and jake constantly talk to each other about is the reason you and lo'ak are hazards to yourself and to others is all because of jake. you are just too goddamn alike — dangerously so!

as a result of the two of you being a constant reminder of his own problematic personality, he is harsher on the two of you than he intends.

he’s just scared of you getting hurt.

neytiri almost always reprimands her mate for yelling at the two of you, but she also knows exactly where he’s coming from. she’s been on the front lines of jake’s stupidity for years, so she’s all too familiar with the dangers it brings

but, joke as they might about how dumb you are when it comes to risking your life just to one-up your twin, a small sentimental part of jake notices how goddamn smart you are. not only is your daring personality similar to himself, your intelligence is uncanny to his own twin.

every day he’s reminded of tommy — as you sit next to him with a map, helping him plan the escape route if a raid goes wrong, as you converse with norm, as you examine every living creature that wanders the forest… all of it is a reminder of the brother he once cherished, and that just makes you even more valuable to keep safe (from other threats, but mostly from yourself + lo’ak)

sometimes, when you’re sitting with your father and discussing the best way to approach or escape a raid, neytiri will be sitting nearby, doing her own duties. she always has at least one ear open to listen, and as she hears the alarmingly mature and smart words that leave your mouth, she swells with pride. she may deny it forever and ever, but a part of her favors you because of.. well, everything in all honesty. you're a brave young woman who knows exactly how to speak for herself, what's there not to like?

on occasion, when you aren’t grounded for doing something dumb, neytiri will take you on hunts. the two of you bond, and it is just adorable because mother-daughter bonding is where it's at.

and do not forget how brave you are. oh my god, how is it even possible that you jump towards danger. you would put your life on the line for your siblings, and you would do it again and again. in that, neytiri is reminded of tsu’tey, another piece of pride being sewn into her soul.

now… what happens when you guys have to leave?

well, first of all, let's acknowledge the fact that yes, you did join neteyam and lo’ak to flying from your spots on patrol and into the raid. why’d you do it? lo’ak said he was. it was a no-brainer.

secondly! yes, you were extremely proud when lo’ak flipped the avatars off after they captured you. and you most definitely bit the one that held you when it was your time to escape. and then maybe you hit him over the head with a gun on the forest floor. (you couldn't do anything after that — kiri grabbed you before you could.)

now, when you got word from your parents that you would be leaving… you were not happy. like, at all. you were actually quite pissed, if anything.

the forest was your home. weren’t you just giving the sky-people even more satisfaction by allowing them to drive you from your home?

but, alas, you were eventually able to tone down your stubbornness and actually understand your parents’ point. you were in danger, and that meant having to sacrifice comfort for the lives of you and your siblings.

so, off you went.

by the time you reached the metkayina tribe, your ass was so extremely sore from riding your ikran all that ways. and your legs were so very stiff. do not recommend!!

oh, and the way that that metkayina boy eyed your apparent “freak-like attributes,” that had you set off pretty quickly. kiri had to grab your wrist before you thought to say or do anything.

the pride you felt when your mother stood her ground… of how we love neytiri. an absolute boss.

but, all in all, you could stay. so.. you did. and even you had to admit, the water was gorgeous, even if swimming was the worst form of cardio.

you were quicker to learning the metkayina ways than your twin was, so that was gratifying of course. but, you also knew it wasn’t all that easy learning to breathe when he was head over heels for the girl teaching him (a fact that you definitely did not miss… and you most definitely teased him for it)

now, of course when it gets the point in with ao’nung being an absolute bitch ass to your sister… oh yeah you wouldn't let that slide. unfortunately, you came to scene a tad late, so you only witnessed the ends of the fight. that didn't keep you from smiling with pride at your two brothers who annihilated a group of.. what? four? five? it's hard to say, but they still somehow “won?”

and do NOT get me started on when you and neteyam found out what ao’nung did to lo’ak. you almost murdered a bitch. thank the lord lo’ak ended up being okay, because otherwise ao’nung would have been dead.

you were skeptical at first when lo’ak told your group about payakan. but, based on your deep rooted knowledge of each other, it didn't take long for you to realize he was telling the truth.

so, when it came the time post sky-people’s arrival, you were completely on-board to join lo’ak to warn the whale.

you, of course, tried your hardest to remove the tracker, but you were also an unfortunate victim of yet another kid-napping.

by the time neteyam saved you, lo’ak, tsireya, and tuk (who clung closely to you as soon as you were released), you and lo’ak were fully aware of spider’s presence on the ship

while you weren't really looking to save the human boy, you knew, morally, you would feel better if you did… so, you left tuk to tsireya and joined the boys

you have a lot of battle intelligence just based from listening to your father speak and eavesdropping on the conversations he had when planning raids, so you helped neteyam lead the way.

unfortunately, by the time you all escaped, a bullet had pierced your shoulder. you could barely keep your head above the surface.

you barely even acknowledged as your brothers laid you on a rock, tears pouring down their cheeks as they attempted to not only reassure you, but reassure themselves.

you were losing blood quickly, but tsireya was quick. she knew exactly what to do, so she did it. neytiri and jake were barely functional as they watched the metkayina girl tend to your shoulder. but, as much as they wanted to, they could not stay. they had two other daughters kidnapped by quaritch.

so, as they went to save their girls, tsireya kept your from bleeding out (temporarily) before rushing the two of you on her ilu back to her mother.

the recovery process was long but sweet. every member of your family was overjoyed when you woke up and ended up being alive and okay. lots of tears were shed.

they were quick to help you recover to your full abilities, and they were more excited than you were everytime that you reached a new achievement. getting out of bed was apparently something to be proud of.

but, all in all, you were a sully, and sullys stick together.

#avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #neteyam sully #tuk sully #tuktirey #kiri sully #loak sully #sully family #sully family x y/n #sully siblings x reader #sully family x reader #lo'ak x twin!reader #neteyam x reader #lo'ak x reader #sully!reader

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igotanidea · 1 year

Text

Told ya! : Jason Todd x fem!reader

request: why was it so hard to believe she had a boyfriend? Why was her friend constantly teasing her about it? At least until he finally decided to show himself and said friend were forced to listen to some action......

Warnings: sugestive at the end, but nothing explicit, swearing, sexual tension and teasing.

Italics are flashbacks in the first part and sounds in the second.

****

„Let’s go out and party tonight” Leah was splayed on the couch on her back, facing the ceiling and absentmindedly fiddling with her hair. Y/N could almost see the wheels in her friend’s brain turning as she was masterminding a plan. “Maybe you can finally meet someone to actually become your boyfriend.”

“Leah….” Y/N sighed deeply rubbing her forehead, leaning on the kitchen counter nearby “I told you already, many, many times, that…..”

“That you have a boyfriend” the other girl lift herself up, facing Y/N with a raised eyebrow, teasing smile and a twinkle in her eyes “Sure, I heard you loud and clear. A boy in another state? A Canadian? That one? The one I never get to see or meet?”

“Leah…..”

“Oh, come on, Y/N. You know you don’t have to lie to me, we are friends. No shame in being single. You just gotta you know…..” Leah shimmied her chest a bit “bite the bullet, baby. Get some action.” now she also buckled her hips a bit in a very suggestive gesture.

“STOP IT!” Y/N could feel her face becoming bright red and burning. God, Leah was her best friend, but she could also be a bit too …. emancipated, leaving Y/N flustered and ashamed.

“god, you’re so cute and innocent when it comes to talking about sex” Leah smiled brightly “like a little girl. I know, I know, it can be scary when you’re a virgin, but it is in fact quite pleasurable and ….”

“I’m done with you! I’m out! I …. I gotta get to work, so …. Have a good day or whatever, Leah.” Y/N threw her hands in the air in frustration over her friend’s behavior, grabbed a jacket and a backpack and left the apartment, banging the door.

“Don’t be mad at me!” Leah yelled after her “I only mean the best for you! I love you, Y/n!”

“Screw that.” Y/N thought, gritting her teeth. At this point she should already be used to Leah’s teasing. The girls knew each other since their high school years and she was always like this. Like two sides of the same coin – Leah always got the fire that pushed her forward, making her a shining star, always on the spotlight, while Y/N preferred staying in the background, shy and easily intimidated, not really wanting any attention.

But.

The matter of the fact was that she did have a boyfriend.

In the same state. In the same city, to be honest.

He was just ….. busy.

Busy with being a vigilante, fighting crimes at night and yeah, you guessed it , former Batman’s sidekick. With the breath of danger constantly on his neck, there were never a good time to bring him into contact with her friends. Not that any of them wanted that, but it gave Leah plenty of arguments to call Y/N a liar, a confabulator and storyteller. Damn it! That wouldn’t be so frustrating if it wasn’t for the fact that to up the teasing, Leah would constantly put Y/N into other man’s arms and the shy girl being himself had absolutely no idea how to oppose. Sometimes it resulted in a highly awkward situation.

***

“It was supposed to be a casual coffee!” Y/N hissed at her friend, dragging her away from the table in the café. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Um, not what, but rather who” Leah corrected “Tom.”

“Why did you bring him here?!”

“To show you how fun boy’s company can be. We got together a couple weeks ago and he is just so good at making me feel good.”

“Leah!!!”

“Chill, sunshine. I’m just giving you a taste of what you can have. There’s no need to thank me. Now, can we please go back to the table? I don’t think I can last long without his hands on me….”

“I hate you…..” Y/N muttered, but putting on the brave face, smiled and approached the guy.

“Tommie…..” Leah sat as close to him as possible, almost on his lap “Please, forgive my friend. She has no real experience with boys and hence the shyness and strange behavior.”

“It’s all right, love. Not everyone is as …. bold as you. it’s actually quite cute so see a girl standing on the other side of the barricade. I heard a lot about you, Y/N.”

“You did?” Y/N’s eyes went wide at the simple thought of what words Leah could use to describe her.

“nothing wrong, I swear.” Tom raised his hands in defensive gesture and smiled sympathetically

“Just about giving you a little show of hugging and kissing and …..”

Oh my god…… Why?

***

“Jace?” the ringing of the phone woke her up in the very early morning(though some people would call it very late night). She swore she would stay up, knowing he was dealing with a particularly hard patrol, but cramming for exams and burying herself in the textbooks did nothing to help her keep that promise.

“hi, baby…..” he mumbled with that hoarse voice and her sleepiness was gone in a second.

“Are you all right? Are you hurt?” she was already one leg out the door, forgetting being dressed only in pajama shorts and old T-shirt.

“I’m fine, princess. Just needed to hear your voice.”

“I miss you, Jason. Where are you?”

“I’m actually outside your apartment.”

“What?” she let out a scream, but immediately put a hand over her mouth, not to wake Leah “Where?”

“Right here” a gentle tapping on the glass got her attention and once she spun around she noticed Jason in his civilian clothes.

“Jay!” she rushed to open the window, longing to have him in his arms, wanting nothing more than to hold him, kiss him, touch him.

“What are you doing?” the door opened suddenly and showed Leah with disheveled hair, blurry eyes and print of the pillow on her cheek. “I thought I heard you talking to someone?” she yawned widely

“Yes.” Y/N smiled, her gaze flickering to her friend and then back to window, noting Jace already gone. “My boyfriend.” There were zero chances Leah would believe it in her current state, so Y/N did not risk any exposure to Jason’s presence and alter ego.

“Mhmmmmm.” Leah mumbled “that’s quite the imagination you have there, Y/N. You truly are desperate if you’re using Camila Cabello song as an excuse….”

“What?”

“He comes alive at midnight…..”

“I don’t….”

“damn it girl, you need to get laid.” Leah laughed a bit “I wouldn’t mind a bit of sounds coming out of your room, you know. Anyways, I’m going back to bed. And you should do too.” She closed the door and went to her room, leaving Y/N alone.

“Why didn’t you tell her that you do have a boyfriend?’

“JESUS CHRIST! JASON!”

“Sorry.”

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?! I told her, she just doesn’t believe it. Not that I blame her. You are practically a ghost to everyone I know. “

‘I know it’s not ideal, but …..”

“I don’t care, Jace. That’s the whole point. I can handle the teasing as long as it keeps you safe. As long as you are only for me.”

“I am. But it’s not fair and you should not go through this shit only for my benefit.”

“Are you gonna kiss me or not?” she interrupted him, pouting and crossing her arms.

“Thought you’d never ask.” He grinned and dragged her out to the emergency exit, enveloping her in his warmth, shielding from the cold night air.

****

She meant what she said that night. She did not mind the teasing. And that was why Y/N finally agreed to go out and party with Leah. Knowing exactly what to expect.

But.

She never planned getting the attention of one of the snippiest guy on the campus and spending the night running away from his sticky hands.

“Don’t hide from me, pretty one!” he yelled chasing after her, while Y/N was swinging between the partying people, desperately searching for any kind of shelter. That was until she bumped into someone’s chest and a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, making her squeal and struggle out of instinct.

“Relax, princess, it’s me.” Familiar voice made her look up, meeting with those angel green eyes.

“Jason….” she whispered, clinging to him, immediately feeling safe in his arms.

“Who is this fucker?” Y/N’s chaser came into view and eyed Jason with a stern expression “Are you bothering my girl?”

“Your girl?” Jason laughed viciously “You should really be careful with words. And who the fuck are you calling fucker?”

“Um…. I don’t know? You?”

“You want a fight?” Jason took a step forward leaving Y/N behind. None of the boys realized that the crowd already circled around watching the scene. Some people has already started recording. “Want me to remind you how many bones you have in your body? Cause I swear if you laid a finger on my girl, fuck, if you did as much as throw a glance her direction I will break each and every one of them.”

“Jason……” Y/N tugged at his jacket desperately “Let’s just go home. Please. There’s no need to make a scene. I’m tired, please, Jace….”

“I got my eyes on you, you piece of shit.” Jason hissed, relenting to his girlfriend pleas “And if I ever hear you came near her.” He dragged a finger on his throat before turning around, grabbing Y/N’s hand and leading her out the party, straight to her apartment. They both forgot about Leah, but that girl knew well enough how to take care of herself. She came into the flat half an hour later, demanding explanation.

“Y/N!!!”

“Leah! Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I left you there!”

“Fuck that” Leah shook her head “who the hell is this guy?” she peeked behind Y/N’s shoulder and eyed Jason “hi, handsome. I’m Leah, Y/N;s roommate.”

“I know.” he mumbled, without any smile or friendly expression.

“You did?” Leah’s voice turned seductive “how?”

“My girlfriend mentioned the teasing you gave her.”

“Wait, girlfriend? You mean….. Y/N…. what?”

“Yeah. Apparently I’m very real. And honestly, quite pissed that everyone decided to torment my little princess.”

“Y/N…. I …. I ……” Leah mumbled, her face screaming shock and dumbfoundedness “I’m sorry… I ……”

“It’s all right, Leah” Y/N put a hand on her shoulder “I told you. Guess next time I say something you will believe me.”

“Yeah…. I …. I guess.”

“good.” Y/N smiled brightly “now if you excuse me, I would rather take care of my boyfriend once I have him. Or maybe…..” the girl shot Jason’s a glance and his eyes sparkled, blown with lust “let him care of me…..”

Neither Jason nor Y/N waited for Leah’s response, disappearing inside her room and closing the door tightly.

What was it that she once said?

I wouldn’t mind a bit of sounds coming out of your room?

***

“Jason…..” she moaned, the door doing nothing to muffle the sounds and Leah prayed to whatever god or other entity were up there to make them stop. “Yes, please, more…..”

Her whines and ragged breath was subdued for a moment. Maybe they were done for the night?”

“Yes! Yes! Right there! Give it to me!”

“Princess.’ Great, now his deep silky voice joined hers and embarrassingly, Leah started getting wet. God, this Jason guy was so hot and sexy and now she was forced to suffer, imagining things that she would never have. “you feel so good. Mhmmm” he groaned and she whined much louder “so tight.”

“Please, Jason….. Baby…. Please, I’m so close. So close. Don’t stop.” The bed cracked and Leah clearly heard the slap of skin on skin and the sound of banging the headboard. “Ah!!”

“Come for me, baby. Cum on my cock, I want to feel you.” judging by the sounds he thrusted into her more and more and more and ….

“JASON!!!” holy fuck, her scream must have been heard on the whole campus. Her orgasm definitely was intense, and that assumption was quickly proven by ragged breath and panting.

Hopefully, that was it. After all, Leah had her fair share of guys and none of them lasted more than one round…..

“got another one for me, princess?” he asked and Leah heard him loud and clear through the thin wall, not that he was keeping his voice quiet. It was like he wanted to be heard. Apparently Y/N nodded because they started going again. Moans, whimpers, whispers were going to keep Leah up all night.

***

“Good morning”a few hours later, Y/N full of energy came into the kitchen when Leah was currently eating breakfast. Hickeys and marks all over her body and Jason’s shirt draped all over her speaking for itself. “Did you sleep well?” she teased

“I….um…..”

“oh, you are just so cute and innocent when it comes to sex.” Y/N ginned watching her friend turning red, for once in her life the situation turning around on Y/N’s benefit.

“He….. he’s good isn’t he?”

“Oh, my dear friend…… Let me tell you all about it…..”

Now, finally, it was Y/N’s turn to tease. And Jason’s getting up and coming into view, shirtless showing his perfectly sculptured body was enough to make Leah shut up for quite some time.

@ultravioletqueen

607 notes · View notes

lunar-wandering · 1 year

Text

Kaiju's and Blankets

!!!Season 4 Special Spoilers are in this fic!!!

Summary: MK gets sick, and gets stuck in kaiju form as a result. Everything else that spirals from that point is nobody else's fault but Wukong's. (Who is DEFINITELY not sick, thank you very much).

Word Count: 6.6k

Read on Ao3

“MK are you… sure you’re okay to run deliveries today?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well…” Pigsy trailed off, uncertain, looking up and down at MK’s rather… unkempt appearance today, as well as noting how almost hoarse the kid’s voice sounded, watching as MK’s smile despite these facts remained unchanged- even as his whole body jolted as he flickered with a golden glitch. “You’re doing the thing.”

“What thing? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” MK glitched again, reaching behind himself just in time to grab his monkey tail as it appeared, holding it behind his back in an attempt to keep it out of view- an attempt that severely failed as Pigsy leveled him with concerned look, Mei even looking up from her phone game to raise her eyebrow at his actions. He sniffled, raising his free arm and rubbing his nose on the back of his sleeve, grabbing the takeout bags afterwards, partially disguising it as a more casual movement. “Aaaaanyways- I’ll just be out delivering these! Won’t even take that long! Be back soon!”

Both Pigsy and Mei watched in concerned silence as MK walked backwards out of the restaurant, giving the both of them a rather sloppy salute before turning off and sprinting down the street, leaving cracks in the pavement behind him- albeit he didn’t seem to notice. Mei sighed, pocketing her phone.

“He’s going to pass out, isn’t he.” She deadpanned, Pigsy nodding solemnly in agreement with her assessment. She stood up, stretching her arms above her head and rolling her shoulders, loosening up her muscles.

“You’d better go after him, Mei.”

“Already on it, Mr. Pig Dad Sir!” Mei bent down, getting into a ready to run position-

Only to be thrown off balance as it was like the entire world shook, the building trembling, a sound similar to an explosion resounding as both her and Pigsy got tossed into the air from the force. Mei, thankfully, oriented herself to land on her feet- using a touch of dragon power to zoom into the kitchen and catch as many objects as she could before they could shatter on the ground.

Pigsy wasn’t nearly so lucky, instead slamming down onto the floor, the wind getting knocked out of him. He remained on the floor, taking a moment to catch his breath, before groaning as he slowly pushed himself up, Mei quickly setting her objects on the counter and rushing over to give him a hand.

“What was that?!” He wheezed, giving Mei a pat on the shoulder as thanks before making his way towards the door. Before he could get there however, Tang was suddenly there, appearing in a golden flash of light, staff in hand and looking frazzled and panicked, not even letting Pigsy or Mei get a word out before he spoke.

“You guys are going to want to see this.”

With no further explanation, he slammed his staff on the ground, both Pigsy and Mei shielding their eyes, closing them against the light as they felt the now-familiar sensation of teleportation. When they opened them again, they both blinked, taking in the absolute destruction.

There were buildings that were literally flattened, pressed down against the ground- a few fires starting up in the remains of some of them. Thankfully, there had long since been a magic system put in place to automatically teleport people in danger out of the way in the case of possible natural disasters, and most of this space was an area that had been abandoned since Spider Queen’s attack the previous year, so there wasn’t that much concern about civilians, but.

There was a giant crater in the ground that most certainly had not been there before, one that they were currently standing at the very edge of.

And, at the middle of the crater, standing awkwardly at the exact center of all the destruction, with his tails swishing nervously… was MK.

In kaiju form.

“Well,” Mei put her hands on her hips, “That’s less than ideal.”

“You’re telling me.” All three of them jumped as Sandy suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind them, staring at MK with obvious concern. “He told me last night that he was just coming down with a little cold.”

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s very little anymore.” Pigsy sighed in exasperation, stepping forwards, about to jump down into the crater and approach MK, planning on lecturing him about the importance of not hiding illnesses again-

“Ah- wait!” Tang grabbed the back of Pigsy’s clothes, pulling him back towards him.

Just in time it seemed, as MK suddenly twitched, all three of his tails coming to a complete standstill as he inhaled, turning to the side to face more towards the uninhabited part of town-

Another sound like an explosion went off, and Tang just barely managed to get a shield up in time to protect them from the resulting shockwave as MK’s entire kaiju body jerked forwards. The ground shook, and all of them stumbled, barely remaining standing, a cloud of debris getting kicked up as more houses were flattened.

It was only when the dust finally settled that Mei fully processed what had just happened.

“Was that a sneeze?” She asked, as the shield slowly flickered away. “He did all this with just a sneeze???”

“It… appears so.” Tang said.

Mei wasn’t entirely sure if that was cool, or mildly scary.

After a moment of deliberation, she settled on it being concerning. Something like that couldn’t be good for MK’s health, obviously. (Even if his power level being well over what must be 9,000 was awesome as all hell).

“Yeah… I hate to say it, but I think we’re going to need Monkey King’s help on this one.” Pigsy crossed his arms, thinking. “Now, the only question is… how do we get a kaiju to Flower Fruit Mountain?”

The words “Flower Fruit Mountain” seemed to have somehow managed to catch MK’s attention, as he turned towards them, seemingly only just now noticing they were there, as his tails and fur stood up on end in what could only be best interpreted as shock at their presence. In mere seconds, he had crossed over to stand in front of them, kneeling down on the ground to be closer to eye level with them- the ground slightly shaking with the motion.

He looked… apologetic, a tiny noise akin to a whine escaping from him- Pigsy wasn’t even sure if he could speak like this- based on Macaque, he probably should be able to, but then again, Pigsy had never seen a sick Macaque kaiju (and, quite frankly, never wanted to). Still though, he gave his best disappointed stare up at him, MK shrinking back a little.

“Yeah yeah, I know all your excuses, kid. Right now, let's just focus on getting you out of kaiju form- don’t think you’ve escaped the lecture though.” He hastily added on the end upon seeing MK start to look slightly hopeful. MK, in response, slumped a little, his tails and ears drooping. “Do not give me the puppy dog eyes, kid. We’ve got, for lack of a better word, bigger problems right now.”

MK let out a small rumbling chuckle- and then instantly turned to the side to cough into his arm, the ground shaking again, but Pigsy focused less on his sudden loss of balance and instead on how… painful it sounded. Maybe that’s why MK wasn’t talking, he had sounded quite hoarse earlier, maybe it hurt more to speak now.

Either way…

“We need to get you to Flower Fruit Mountain.” Tang finished Pigsy’s thought before he could even speak it. “Albeit… I’m not entirely sure how. Sandy’s boat is way too small, and I’m not sure that I can teleport you when you’re like… this.”

MK tilted his head to the side, seemingly in contemplation. And then, a very familiar smirk appeared on his kaiju face.

Pigsy knew what that smirk meant.

It meant trouble.

“Kid, I swear-” Pigsy didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence, as, without any form of warning, MK was reaching down, scooping all four of them up into one hand.

Pigsy and Tang’s matching screams were nearly drowned out by the sound of Mei’s loud enthusiastic cheering.

MK slowly and carefully stood up, holding his hand close to his chest to help keep his hand stable as he slowly started walking his way out of the city, keeping a close eye on where he put his feet. Pigsy, subtly, used the opportunity to check the kid for fever- albeit, like this, with MK in this form, he couldn’t really tell. MK felt a little warm, but he had no idea what the normal for a kaiju even was.

It was only when they reached the beach- and MK just kept going, stepping into the ocean, that Pigsy realized what MK was planning to do.

“MK, this really isn’t the best idea, you’re just going to-”

“Make myself more sick?”

All four of them startled as MK’s voice came out in basically a whisper from behind them.

Turning around, they could barely make out the form of MK, in monkey form, hovering inside of his kaiju, where the heart would reside. His position perfectly mirrored his kaiju’s completely, his legs moving in tandem with it- almost like he was controlling a mech. He was looking down, and it took Pigsy a moment to realize that it was because his kaiju was looking down at them- MK must only be able to see through his kaiju’s eyes, then.

“I don’t think what happens in this form can really transfer to my physical state.” MK continued, voice somehow, despite being in a hoarse whisper, still sounding far more energetic than a sick person should sound. “I can’t even feel the water around my feet!”

Pigsy huffed.

“If this comes back to bite you, do not come complaining to me.” He mumbled.

The rest of the trip through the ocean was slightly slow, but mostly peaceful. (There was one point, where MK had sneezed again, accidentally dropping them in the process as he turned away from them, but thankfully, Mei had been fast enough to snatch them up in her dragon form before they could hit the water. MK had, softly, apologized as they were settled back into his hand, to which Mei threatened to steal all his copies of the Monkey Mech game if he dropped them again. MK had whined about it for the following 15 minutes).

When they reached Flower Fruit Mountain, MK stood still on the beach for a moment too long, the others turning back to him in concern.

“...I swear, you better not be about to sneeze again.” Mei threatened. There was a moment where MK didn’t respond-

And then they were all clinging to his hand as MK gave a full body shake, kicking both his legs, sending water droplets flying everywhere to the beach below.

It was only when they were steady again that Mei let out a strangled laugh.

“You’re like a dog!”

MK pointedly avoided looking at them.

“...I tried not to.” He mumbled, “Instinct took over…”

Mei cackled at him, MK finally looking back down at them with a pout. Pigsy rolled his eyes.

It took far faster than usual to climb the mountain up to the waterfall that led to Wukong’s recently rebuilt house, mainly due to MK not needing to take nearly as many steps. He gently lowered his hand to the ground, allowing the others to step off, before reaching out a finger, placing it in the water to split it in two, allowing a path of access through it.

It was only when all four of them had crossed through it that MK let out a distressed sound, causing them to turn back around to face him.

There was a beat, before they realized the issue.

“Oh.” Tang said, “You can’t fit.”

There was a slightly louder distressed noise. Sandy stepped back to the other side of the waterfall, patting MK on the side of the leg.

“Don’t worry MK, I’m sure Mr. King will have something that will, at the least, make you a little smaller!! I’ll just stay out here with you while the others go in, if that’s okay?”

MK glanced back at Pigsy.

“We won’t be long, kid.” He affirmed, and MK gave him a nod, before slowly pulling his hand back, the flow of the water once more slamming down and obscuring him and Sandy from view. Pigsy turned back to Mei and Tang. “Alright- sooner we get Monkey King out here, the better.”

Sun Wukong was not sitting out anywhere in his cave, unlike previous times that they had shown up unexpectedly. They would normally stumble upon him lounging on a sunlit rock or a shaded tree branch, usually either eating or reading something or other. Sometimes Pigsy wondered if he ever got up to much else (outside of training MK, that is).

Mei, the fastest of the three of them, zoomed right up the steps to Wukong’s house to knock.

“Mr.King!! We need your help!!” She called-

There was a loud crash from inside the house, and all three of them winced. A few seconds later, the door opened, Wukong panting like he had run to them, looking slightly panicked.

“What’s- what’s going on- where’s the kid?” He looked around frantically.

“He’s sick-” Mei started, having to stop mid-sentence to avoid biting her tongue as Wukong grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her.

“Sick? Sick like- dying sick? Does he need a peach??? I can go steal a peach for him-” Wukong let go of Mei, the dragon girl stumbling back to be out of his reach as he turned to try and move off his front porch, likely with the plan of stealing another immortal peach in mind. Tang and Pigsy stepped in his way before he could.

“The kid’s not dying, Monkey King.” Pigsy reached out to try and calm the monkey down, Wukong side-stepping away from his touch, but still pausing. “He’s just got a cold.”

“...Oh. Well, y’know, even mortal colds can be deadly-”

“It won’t be.”

“...Okay… Then what do you need my help for?” Wukong tilted his head to the side, staring at them in confusion as he leaned back against the wall of his house, “I’m not exactly the best when it comes to medicine nowadays- it used to be so much simpler when you could just use a flower and a spell.”

Tang mumbled something about having to teach the Monkey King about the advancements of modern medicine, and Pigsy sighed.

“The kid’s gone all super-kaiju on us.” He said, “He’s sitting outside the cave right now, we were hoping that… at the least, if you can’t turn him back to normal, you could at least make him… smaller?”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s easy.” Wukong smirked as he pushed off the wall, only to wince as it cracked behind him. “...Oops. Uh, I’ll fix that later, c’mon, let’s go see the kid.”

Pigsy and Tang instantly turned to start heading back towards the waterfall entrance, Wukong trailing behind them, Mei taking a split second to glance between the Monkey King and the crack in the wall with sudden suspicion before catching up to them, sliding to walk in time beside Wukong.

“Soooo, Mr. King. How’re you doing today?” She asked, leaning towards him slightly, raising an eyebrow as he leaned away, avoiding eye contact with her.

“I’m fine.” Wukong sped up a little, tail swishing as he moved around to be in front of Pigsy and Tang just in time as they arrived back at the waterfall. Reaching out, he activated the magic surrounding it, parting the waters before turning back towards them with an over-dramatic smirk, giving them a half-sarcastic little bow. “After you, guys!”

Pigsy and Tang simply rolled their eyes, walking forwards, but Mei made the point of making eye contact with the Monkey King as she walked past him, following it up with an ‘I’m watching you’ motion that made Wukong’s expression shift to one of nervousness, before he covered it up with a small laugh, stepping through the waterfall himself.

MK visibly brightened up when he saw them emerge from the waterfall, shifting to lean down towards them.

“Told you we wouldn’t be long, kid.” Pigsy said, lightly patting the side of MK’s face that he could reach. “...Where’s Sandy?”

“Right here!” Sandy popped up from MK’s shoulder, sliding down MK’s arm to be on the ground with the others. “MK was just letting me braid his hair while we waited.”

Sure enough, there were a few tiny braids throughout Kaiju MK’s hair- in all honesty, Pigsy was impressed that Sandy had managed to get so many of them done in such a short period of time.

“Right.” Wukong said, shaking out his hands and summoning his cloud, floating up to be able to touch the center of the kaiju’s forehead. “I… can’t say if I can change you back to normal, per say, but I’m pretty sure I can at the least get you small enough to be able to fit inside the mountain.”

There was a brief pause, and then Wukong’s eyes lit up gold, tendrils of magic swirling around the kaiju. There were a few small moments where the size of the kaiju fluctuated, getting smaller and then bigger again, followed by a bright flash of light that had the four on the ground shielding their eyes.

When they opened their eyes again, MK was much smaller than he was before. Still a giant kaiju, yes, but he’d be able to fit through the entrance if he crawled, and should be able to stand within the cave itself no problem.

“Well, at least that’s one problem solved…” Pigsy trailed off into a mumble, “We’re definitely going to need to find a bigger soup bowl somewhere though…”

“...Why aren’t they moving?” Mei questioned, and Pigsy looked back up to find that MK and Wukong seemed to have entered… some kind of staring contest, both of their tails swishing.

A full minute passed, the four on the ground waiting in complete silence, trying to figure out what was going on.

…And then MK raised a hand, snatched Wukong off his cloud, and slammed his palm onto the ground, sending up a small splash of water that the others only just managed to avoid as he pinned Wukong to the ground in the shallow pond.

“Kid!!! What are you doing?!?!” Tang yelled, as Wukong let out a wheezing breath-

And immediately broke into a loud coughing fit, the others watching as Wukong’s whole form seemed to flicker before restabilizing. Mei let out a loud gasp, pointing at him.

“Ohhhh- I knew there was something up with you!” She said, “You’re sick too!!”

“I am not!” Wukong managed to hiss out, before starting to struggle, using his free hand to smack at MK’s fingers, his one free leg kicking uselessly in the air. “Let me go!!”

MK didn’t move, and although his expression didn’t visibly change, everyone could just feel the tangible disappointment coming off of him.

It didn’t take very long for Wukong to give in, suddenly going limp in MK’s hold.

“Fine, kid. You win.” He let out an overdramatic world weary sigh, flickering again, only this time, once the flickering died down… well, to say it politely, he looked like an absolute mess. His fur, albeit now soaked with water, looked completely frazzled, like he hadn’t brushed it before getting out of bed that morning, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his face was slightly flushed. Pigsy would, honestly, be willing to say that he looked worse-off than MK did.

MK, in response to his mentor letting down his glamours, let out a somewhat-pleased sound, removing his hand, freeing Wukong. Despite this, Wukong continued to lay there, staring up at the sky- his view of the clouds unfortunately blocked as Mei leaned over him, blocking his vision.

“Jeez, you look awful.” She said, reaching down to press the back of her hand against Wukong’s forehead.

“Thanks for the compliment.” He said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not sick though. Just didn’t sleep too well, that’s all!”

“Mhm, yeah, tell that to your fever.” Mei huffed, reaching down to grab his arm, forcibly lifting him back up to his feet. Wukong, on instinct, shook, the water in his fur flying everywhere. “Hey!! You’re getting me wet!! Man, MK really did take after you a lot…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, nothing!” Mei gave him her best innocent smile, dragging him over in the direction of the others- MK having used his hand to reopen the waterfall and let the others through again. “C’mon, let’s get inside before Pigsy goes full chaos mom mode on you.”

“Goes full what-”

Twenty minutes later found Wukong pouting, sitting cross-legged on top of MK’s head, MK himself having laid down on his stomach, curling up slightly like a giant cat. Wukong had been practically forced to change into a pair of peach-themed pajamas Pigsy had happened to find after rummaging through the Monkey King’s closets- and had a blanket draped over his shoulders as well (he had just taken a dip in the water after all- they were better safe than sorry).

“I’m not sick.” He mumbled petulantly, MK reaching up and poking Wukong’s head as gently as he could with one finger in response, sending him slightly off balance to the side before he re-stabilized himself, grumbling incoherently.

“Hmm, we’ll have to find some kind of blanket for the kid eventually…” Pigsy said, rubbing his chin as he thought. “Albeit, unlike Monkey King, he doesn’t seem to have a fever yet, so we can probably hold off on that for a little longer…”

“Don’t have a fever! Cause I’m not sick!” Wukong called down from his position, everyone dutifully ignoring him.

“I would like to find some way to get some form of soup fed to MK though.” Pigsy finished, “Which means we’re… definitely going to need some kind of large bowl… albeit I can’t think of where we’d find something like that.”

“Oh! Oh! I know!!” Wukong waved his hands to get their attention, before pointing up. “The guys up there have tons of giant bowls you could take and use!!”

“...Isn’t that stealing?” Sandy asked, Wukong shaking his head.

“Naahhhh, they won’t even notice if one bowl’s gone. I can take you all you guys up there right now!!”

“Ah- wait!” Tang’s shout only barely managed to stop Wukong before he could snap his fingers. “You’re sick, you can’t be transporting a large group of people- nevermind a giant bowl.”

“Not sick.” Wukong said, sniffling, but still lowering his hand.

“But who could transport a giant bowl for us, as well as the ingredients?” Pigsy hummed, the group falling into silence as they thought it over.

“...What about Macaque? He’s got that shadow-portaling thingy.” Mei suggested- Wukong immediately bursting out into hoarse laughter, mixed with a few coughs. “What’s so funny?”

“Please, like Macaque would ever agree to that.” Wukong said.

“Well, it’s not like we have much of a choice…” Tang muttered, before raising his voice so that the others could hear. “Alright, but who’s going to stay behind with these two?”

There was silence for a beat, and then Wukong scoffed.

“We don’t need a babysitter.” He said, “I can keep an eye on the kid just fine- hEY!”

He was cut off as MK reached up, grabbing hold of Wukong’s tail, dangling his mentor upside down, the Monkey King scrambling to grab the blanket that had been wrapped around him and hold it close to his chest to prevent it from falling to the ground.

“I’ll keep an eye on Monkey King.” MK’s hoarse voice whispered, slowly swinging his mentor back and forth a few times, before setting him on the ground, lightly putting his hand overtop of him again when it seemed like Wukong was going to protest- Wukong instead accepting his fate, laying on the ground with a resigned expression.

“Well, with that settled… I guess we’re off to see Macaque!” Mei said, turning to stand beside Tang as he got ready to teleport them to Macaque’s dojo.

“He’s going to say no!” Wukong called, Pigsy waving him off.

“We’ll just see about that.”

“No. Absolutely not.” Macaque said, immediately, leaning up against his doorframe, raising one finger to silence them before any of them could even speak a word. “Wukong and the kid aren’t here. Which means that whatever this is about- because there must be something going on, this many of you wouldn’t be on my doorstep otherwise, this must be about them, and I want nothing to do with it.”

“How do you know there’s not some kind of world ending threat going on?” Mei asked, slowly pulling out her sword behind her back, where Macaque couldn’t see.

“Please, if there was a world ending threat, trust me, I would know.” Macaque huffed, crossing his arms. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the giant kaiju incident this morning, I’m not blind. I want nothing to do with it.”

“Really now? And nothing will change your mind?” Mei’s smirk slowly grew slightly more dangerous, Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy stepping slightly to the side, knowing full well to not get in her way.

“Nope. No way, no how.”

Within the next split second, there was a sword embedded in the doorframe, just bare inches away from Macaque’s face. Macaque let out a slightly fearful breath, a few stray pieces of hair that the sword had managed to snag slowly falling to the ground.

“That.” Mei hissed, “Is your only warning.”

Macaque, for his part, recovered rather quickly.

“...Nice aim, kid.” He muttered, before sighing. “Fiiinneee, I’ll help you out, but just this once- and you better pay me back for it. What do you need me to do?”

Wukong stared up at the ceiling of the mountain.

It had been twenty minutes since the others had teleported away, and they still weren’t back yet. Or, well, he thought it had been twenty minutes. He didn’t exactly have a clock on him. It had felt like it had been an hour, but he wasn’t really the best at keeping track of time, so he was going to guess that it had actually only been twenty minutes.

…Twenty minutes were far too long though.

Groaning, Wukong pushed himself up into a sitting position, MK opening up one eye to stare at him. Dang it, he’d been kinda hoping that the kid had fallen asleep since he had closed his eyes about… ten minutes ago? Yeah, ten minutes ago was probably a good guess.

“I’m bored.” Wukong’s voice trailed off into something that borderlined a whine. Quickly jumping to stand up, ignoring the way it made his head spin a little, Wukong turned to the kid. “Do you want to watch a movie? I can go get my laptop!”

MK let out a small rumble, opening his other eye to focus fully on Wukong.

“The screen would be too small for me.” Was his response, “I wouldn’t be able to see it.”

“Mmm, I guess you’re right…” Wukong trailed off, tapping his chin in thought. “Oh! We could set up a projector! Get a giant sheet, set up like a movie theatre screen! I’m pretty sure I have a projector around here somewhere…”

“What about the giant sheet, though?” MK asked, and Wukong paused, thinking.

And then a brilliant idea struck him.

“I can just steal some blankets from Demon Bull King’s house!” He said, moving from standing to sitting up, grabbing the blanket that was resting on his shoulders, tying the ends of it together to turn it into a blanket-cape. “Demon Bull King’s blankets are huge, if I get enough of them, we can probably use one or two to cover you as well!”

“Ah- but you’re sick-”

“Psh, I’m fine!” Wukong waved him off- and MK, unfortunately, was not fast enough to catch him, Wukong having summoned his cloud and zoomed out of the cave before the kid could even blink.

It was only when Wukong was halfway across the ocean that the thought struck his ever so slightly hazed mind that maybe leaving MK alone by himself might not be a very wise decision, but, well, he was already almost at his destination, so there was really no point in turning back now.

By the time he was climbing in through the Demon Bull Family’s kitchen window, carefully making sure that his blanke- his cape didn’t get caught, landing silently on the floor, he was right back around to considering this to be the most genius thing he had ever done.

“Right.” Wukong whispered to himself, clapping his hands together. “Now, if I were DBK, where would I put the blankets?”

Probably the hallway closet, most likely, which meant getting past all the traps that Demon Bull King likely had installed. Wukong sighed, about to open the hallway door-

Only to pause, noticing the coffee-maker sitting on the counter.

Now, Wukong wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, it was a little bit too bitter for him. But he remembered hearing that coffee-makers could also make hot chocolate… surely this one could too? He was kinda in the mood for a hot drink… and hot chocolate sounded really good right now…

Blanket retrieval mission temporarily on pause, Wukong started digging through the small box of insertable coffee’s that was sitting beside the coffee-maker, hoping to find one for hot-chocolate. And, sure enough, he managed to find one. Giggling slightly to himself, he inserted it into the machine, pressing the on button-

He was not expecting how loud it was.

“Ah, no- shh shh shhhhhhh!!” Wukong waved his hands, panicking. If Demon Bull King heard this and found him now, he’d never be able to get those blankets. Quickly, he started pressing buttons, but none of them would seem to turn the damn machine off.

Making a split second decision, Wukong reeled his arm back- and punched it.

He paused afterwards, slowly shaking his hand clean of the bits of debris as he stared at the destroyed coffee-machine.

…Ah. That probably hadn’t been his best decision.

Well, at least it was silent now. Carefully, he swept the broken pieces together, opening a cupboard with his foot and depositing it in there. Surely no-one would notice that. Or, well, at the very least, it wouldn’t be noticed until he was far away from here. Nooo consequences for the Great Sage, Equal To Heaven tonight!

Wiping his hands clean of the whole mess, Wukong turned, opening the door to the hallway, deciding to return his focus to his original mission; stealing some of Demon Bull King’s blankets.

After a minute or so of staring, analyzing the many traps lining the walls, he took a deep breath and went for it.

Dodging the traps largely went without issue, Demon Bull King seriously needed to update his home security. (Albeit, there had been a point where a couple of arrows had flown a little too close for comfort when Wukong had stumbled, a wave of dizziness hitting him, likely from the fever- the fever that he definitely didn’t have, yep, for sure, he was as healthy as a horse, definitely).

He had also been right, Demon Bull King did, in fact, store his blankets in the hallway closet. He did have a bit of a struggle getting them out of the closet- one of them falling over top of him and causing him to have to take a moment to free himself from it’s horrible confines, but he managed to get about three, giant blankets.

Three should be enough, right? One for the projector, and two for the kid. That worked.

Slowly making his way back to the kitchen, dragging the blankets behind him, Wukong froze mid-step in the hallway.

And then turned to the side and sneezed- completely obliterating the wall that had stood beside him.

He blinked, as the dust cleared- revealing Demon Bull King, Princess Iron Fan, and Red Son sitting on the other side, in their living room, staring at him in shock.

“...Oh. Hi?” Wukong lifted his free hand to give them a nervous little wave.

Demon Bull King’s bellowing yell of “Sun Wukong!” was all the warning the Monkey King needed to take off running at full speed, the entire Demon Bull Family hot on his heels.

Fifteen minutes later, MK, who had taken to using his hand to draw shapes into the ground of the cave, jumped- before hissing as a bright swirling fire appeared in front of him.

“Relax, Noodle Boy, it’s just me.” Red Son said, the fire clearing away to reveal him standing there, carrying Sun Wukong over his shoulder- who was still holding on to the three blankets he had stolen. “I’m just here to deliver your idiotic mentor back to you.”

“Hey! I take offense to that!” Wukong struggled, getting unceremoniously dumped on the ground for his efforts. MK, instantly, grabbed him, lifting him up and holding him in his hand, to make sure he wouldn’t run away again.

“That taken care of-” Red Son clapped his hands, “I’ll be taking my leave-”

Red Son was cut off, as suddenly one of MK’s tails reached out, scooping him up off the ground.

“What- Oh come on Noodle Boy, I can’t stay here!I have stuff to do!” MK gave no response to that other than a small rumble, not making any move to put the fire demon down. Red Son huffed, adjusting slightly to make himself more comfortable, grumbling, “I hope the Dragon Girl is having a better day than I am…”

Mei panted, bent over, one hand against the giant bowl, the other against her knee, as she tried to catch her breath. The others were in similar conditions, Tang outright laying down on the floor of Macaque’s dojo like he was dead- the only sign of life from him being the way his chest quickly rose and fell with desperate breaths.

“That-” Mei inhaled, “That was-”

“Awful?” Macaque suggested, from his position of being down on his hands and knees on the floor. Mei shook her head.

“No, amazing!” She said, tilting her head back with a laugh that, in her state, made her seem near-insane. “We absolutely need to do that again!”

“Let’s put ‘doing that again’ to the side for now.” Sandy said, patting the side of the bowl. “We have the bowl now, but we still need to get the ingredients.”

“Oh, no problem.” Macaque said, snapping his fingers, various shadow portals appearing above the bowl, dumping various vegetables down into it. Pigsy stood up, grabbing hold of the edge of the bowl, leaning down over it to pick up a carrot and inspect it.

“...Where did you get these?” He asked. Macaque shifted nervously.

“Ah… you know, here and there.” He shifted his hands side to side, before letting out a sigh. “...From some stores nearby.”

“Did you pay for it?”

“Why would I need to do that?”

There was a moment of silence, before Pigsy groaned.

“Y’know what, I don’t have the energy to deal with a ‘stealing is wrong’ discussion. Let’s just get all this back to the mountain.” Pigsy didn’t need to say any more, as a dark shadow spread out under each of them, and within the next heartbeat, they were back on Flower Fruit Mountain.

…They all paused, taking in the scene in front of them. Somehow, there was now a giant white sheet of fabric hung up on one of the walls, a small projector on a table projecting one of the Monkey King movies onto it. There were also two blankets over top of MK’s kaiju body, and Wukong was curled up slightly by MK’s hand, as well as-

Mei blinked in disbelief.

“Red Son? What are you doing here?”

Red Son turned to face them, looking slightly irritated.

“I’m being held hostage.” Was his response. Not even a second later, Wukong popped up from his curled up position to turn and stare at them with a bright smile- despite his expression however, he somehow looked more frazzled and feverish than he had before.

“Oh, you guys are back!! You should join us- Red Boy over here makes amazing popcorn.” Wukong said, Red Son reaching over to smack him on the shoulder.

“...Yeah, okay.” Pigsy decided that you know what, today had already been so weird, he might as well just take this in stride. “We have to make the soup first, though.”

Getting things set up for soup-making shockingly didn’t take as long as any of them thought it would- Red Son’s presence ended up being particularly helpful, making it easier to get a fire started to cook the soup with. It didn’t take long at all for the soup to be ready, everyone getting their own small bowls before MK sat up and took his much larger one, the entire group sitting in a small semi-circle beside him.

Or, well, almost the entire group.

“C’mon Macaque, aren’t you going to join us?” Mei asked, looking over her shoulder at where the aforementioned monkey was standing a rather good distance away.

“No thanks.”

“Why not?”

“Cause I know what Wukong will do.”

“What will he do?” Mei tilted her head to the side in confusion, Wukong also turning around now that his name had been mentioned, albeit with a devilish smirk on his face.

“Yeah, Macaque, what will I do?” He asked. Macaque glared at him.

“He’s going to lick me.” He said, “He’s going to wait, until I’m distracted, and then he’s going to lick me, and then I’m going to get sick, and I don’t want to get sick. I mean- look at what he did to the kid! I am not dealing with that!”

Everyone shared a brief glance up at MK, who just stared back down at them blankly. Admittedly, up until this point, it hadn’t occurred to anyone that Wukong having worse symptoms- or, more likely, being further along in the stages of the illness, likely meant that he had been the one to give it to MK in the first place. Almost simultaneously, they all turned to Wukong to give him a light glare. Wukong held his hands up in self defence.

“Hey- it wasn’t me- I’m not even sick!”

No-one even bothered to argue with him, instead rolling their eyes. Mei, for her part, set her soup bowl down on the ground, and then, despite Macaque’s protests, zoomed over, picked him up, and brought him over to sit with the rest of the group- Pigsy setting a bowl of soup down into his lap.

For a blessed twenty minutes, there was silence, the group watching the movie in relative peace.

And then there was an ear-splitting shriek.

They turned, and, sure enough- Wukong had used Macaque’s complete entrancement with the movie to grab hold of his wrist and lick his hand.

“I told you!!! I told you this would happen!” Macaque yelled, pulling his hand away from Wukong, shaking it almost like it was on fire. “Gross-”

“Oh, c’mon you big baby, it’s not that bad.” Wukong rolled his eyes, sniffling a little and rubbing his nose on his sleeve. Macaque glared at him with visible disgust, before groaning, wiping his hand on his pants.

“If random shadow portals start showing up everywhere within the next few days, know that it will be your fault.”

#Monkie Kid #LMK S4 Special Spoilers #LMK Spoilers #Monkie Kid Spoilers #fanfic #my writing

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skrunksthatwunk · 24 days

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sorry just watched all of lacey's games (thru rabbit hole at time of writing) and i wanna talk about laceys diner can we talk about lacey's diner? we're talking about it now

tl;dr lacey's games is about the presentation and consumption of girls.

cw suicide, csa, incest, cannibalism. if you've seen the series, you know. i only speak of them vaguely here though

in lacey's diner her livelihood depends on how well people like her food, how it looks, how it tastes, how quickly she gets it to them on time. if any of these things falter, they reject her and reinforce her desperation (trauma around failure and acceptance + threat of extreme poverty via the restaurant closing).

eating her food is accepting her, choosing to be with her in some way. lacey gets eaten in the prior episode so her stalker can be with her forever, out of an obsession with her (/her body) that leads him to destroy her to better possess and consume her (like her uncle). she can't be late serving them herself, because that's not good presentation—her inability to get food out on time is a reflection of her flaws, and a cause to reject her. she must be available for others, punctual. she can't put the wrong ingredients in—elements of herself, her life—she must exclude them entirely from the part they eat, the part she gives away. she keeps the part that is filled with the disgusting, ugly, painful things in her life, about her.

and when she gets fed up and feeds those raw, authentic parts of herself to them (out of spite, tired of trying her best to no avail, to give them a taste of their own medicine), she is punished, not allowed to serve anyone again bc it's too gross and dangerous. she is punished for lashing out, for not keeping it all bottled up, and in her helplessness, resigns herself to death.

as seen in rabbit hole, jay was too boyish to be consumed happily by the audience (the mothers in the emails), so she was killed off and effectively haunts lacey. if she is not presentable enough, she too will be destroyed and discarded. if she is too presentable, she will be consumed too completely. she has no control, no say (as we know from lacey's wardrobe), no agency outside of pretending she's in a sparkly dreamy world. and jay—who said she would rather die than wear makeup—is forced by lacey to wear makeup in death. she's fixing her by making her conform to the same gender standards she's strangled by, saying that if she was less boyish she wouldn't have died. again, femininity and conformity (and thus being pleasant to others, presenting oneself to be admired and consumed) is safe to lacey, something she must perform to survive. yet, of course, lacey is hurt immensely for her being a girl, for her being a woman, and for her trauma resulting from those events.

all her talk of being ugly when she's grieving, of almost crying in front of him (her uncle iirc), of needing to be pretty even for the people who abuse and hurt her... and how she wished the world was ugly and grotesque when jay died because that was how it felt, but it was just sunny and oblivious. she was the one standing out for being upset, and the world was pretending and consumable and she couldn't anymore. she had to scrape herself together though because what else is there? when her job and stability and life is at stake, how can she afford to be traumatized? to not pretend, even when she's alone? augh. ough. look i just like lacey. i want her to be ok

i don't know that lacey herself is supposed to have a linear, consistent story. i kind of think she's an avatar for like,, girlhood suffering and trauma, and the traumatized people who come from that (hence her dying in multiple ways and coming back). perhaps as rocio's way of warning or comforting girls who went through similar things to her, or to vent her own issues because the thought of making something that's such a farce, such a forced, gussied up version of what it's like to be a girl, bothers her. the audience comes to the website to consume lacey at her best, at her most presentable, and are instead met with the harsh reality of cockroaches and used condoms. and yet, the audience of lacey games the video series consumes her too, only they are seeking out her trauma, trying to invade her mind and pick it apart. we're all consuming what we want, whatever we find appetizing, of lacey. and for rocio, you get the sense that she is also a tool, a way for rocio to express her inner distress. in that, lacey is put through all this unfortunate shit by rocio to make her more presentable and consumable to her. we are all using lacey, we all see her and eat her and destroy her. and she comes back to us and her cage because the pain's comforting in its familiarity.

in short, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. 👍

#this is not conclusive and it's not edited so it's just me like. shitting out my thoughts full speed #but i hope you guys get it bc like. my mind is scrambled over this rn #lacey games #laceys games #anyway as someone whose mental whatevers lead me to not be able to do stuff i need to do like. constantly #laceys diner hits different. in a small way #and the whole series also hits in like. a gender way (<- im a girl but also im not a girl. + lesbian so. 👍)#like lacey feels transgendah to me in a way. might just be ny particular brain poison though

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talesofesther · 1 year

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tender as the rain

Wednesday Addams x Reader

Summary: You find Wednesday walking alone in the rain.

A/N: If you ask me what this is, I'll be inclined to punch you, lovingly. Literally the result of my boredom and procrastination. Read at your own risk.

Masterlist

Puddles of mud and water splash around your feet. You're running, or more so walking really fast. You don't want to look desperate, even if you feel it.

The woods are awfully nightmarish with the pouring rain, big drops of water hitting the leaves create sounds that get you on edge. But Wednesday is nowhere to be seen and last you knew she was looking for some old abandoned meeting house in the woods.

She can take care of herself, you know it. However, it doesn't ease the incessant beating of your heart.

You find her following footprints that you were unknowingly walking over. She greets you with a scowl, hair clinging to her forehead and raindrops trickling down her chin.

It's a little awkward, your hands rise to touch her but you stop yourself midway. For a beat, you thought Wednesday seemed confused as to why you stopped, but the look is gone before you can fully register it.

"What are you doing?" You ask a little breathlessly, tasting the rain on your lips as you speak, subtly checking her over for injuries, "the statue dedication is happening soon, you should be getting ready and not… walking in the rain."

That was a good enough excuse, right?

"I'm alright," Wednesday reassures you first, and you mentally curse the way she can read you like an open book, "I was trying to learn more about Crackstone, and following a monster."

You sigh in relief, falling into step beside her as you start walking back to town. Only then do you open your umbrella, it won't do much now that you're already soaked, but it gets Wednesday walking closer to you.

"Without me? I'm hurt," you smirk, though not as confidently as you wanted to.

"Not my fault if you were preoccupied handing out fudges with Bianca," Wednesday huffs with a bite to her tone.

She refuses to look at you, choosing instead to focus on the immensity of the trees around her. You, on the other hand, follow the path of a rogue droplet of rain with your gaze; it drips from her hair and goes all the way to the corner of her lips. You can't help but notice her sullen eyes, the purplish lips, the trembling of her hands.

She's cold. She's been out in the rain much longer than you had.

"You could've said something, I would have come with you," you tell her quietly, feeling the rain soak through your sneakers.

"I didn't need you." Wednesday is still looking away when she mumbles it, so you don't catch the turmoil in her eyes; the fact she'd rather say that, than admit she would never willingly put you in danger.

You're used to the pain that comes with loving her, "yet I'm here anyway."

—

Weathervane's bathroom doesn't offer much in terms of helping with the wet clothes that cling to your body, but it would have to do.

Yours and Wednesday's coats are draped over one of the bathroom stalls, still dripping; while you do what you can to dry the rest of your clothes and your hair with paper towels.

Wednesday sits on the sink's counter, her hands clasped together on top of her lap. She's only in her white shirt, a few buttons undone; her hair is free of braids, cascading over her shoulders in black waves to dry faster.

It's unnerving how she still refuses to look at you.

This happens sometimes, you'll do something or say something that you can't exactly pinpoint and it'll get Wednesday distancing herself.

Casting a glance at her rigid figure, you bunch up a few paper towels, dampening the edge of it and moving closer to the raven-haired girl. It's only when she looks at the general direction of your face, that you speak; "may I?"

With her nod of consent, you stand between her legs and raise the damp paper to her eyes; she closes them before you even touch her cheek, you can feel her tensing under your touch. Her skin is still cold to the touch, but not as much as it was before you got out of the rain. You refrain from wrapping her body in a hug.

You're gentle with the way you clean the smudged eyeliner from below her eyes. You can feel her breathing fanning over your lips; unsteady, heavy.

Wednesday is gripping tight onto her skirt, and you don't think she realizes the way she starts to lean into your touch.

"Maybe you don't need me," you start in a hush, not sure where you're even going with this, "but you don't need to be alone, you can choose to have someone if you want."

You turn your attention to her hair next, separating one side into three strands and carefully placing one on top of another.

"Either way," you bite your tongue, wondering if you're digging your own grave, "you can tell me to go anytime, and I will."

At last, Wednesday's midnight eyes finally find yours. She looks at you for a long time.

You're close, so close you can count each of her freckles. It feels intimate. And you don't know Wednesday realizes it too. You don't know she's never had this with anyone; that it terrifies her.

She reaches out to you then; nimble, cold fingers tracing the edge of your jaw as if you'd crumble under her touch, "I can't ask that of you."

She tugs at the lapel of your shirt before you can ask why, pulling you to her until you have to brace yourself on the edge of the counter she's sitting on. You're warm on her, a warmth she's grown obsessed with — how foolish, to think she'd be able to escape the Addams family curse.

"As much I'd prefer otherwise," Wednesday pecks the corner of your lips, a kiss that's barely there at all. You feel her words on your skin, "I need you all the time."

⋆* ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

Thank you for reading this little story. Feedback and reblogs are literally what keep me motivated to continue posting here, so I'd appreciate it if you could take some time to reblog and comment if you want. <3

Wednesday’s taglist: @milkiane @bookfrog242 @heelaechan @imagine-reblog @simp4wanda26 @sakurarukas @bluetreecloud20 @the-night-owl-blr @imlike-so-gaydude @user284747 @dreifhraniquo29 @emeraldevan @simp4nat @boobabietch @impossibleliv1031 @deadpool-in-a-snood @rainbow-love4ever @maria-403 @pompompuri @halleest @wandaromanova @marveloussimp @rainbow-hedgehog @left-and-right-up-and-down @get-the-fuck-outta-here @awolfcsworld @elduster @alexkolax @georgi-salva @imdumbhi @youralphawolf72 @reginassweetheart @justyourwritter69 @yangsroboarmm @8e-h-e8 @irish-piece-of-trash @femalehomosexual666 @wol-fica @wednesdays-woes

#wednesday addams x reader #wednesday addams imagine #wednesday addams x fem!reader #wednesday addams #wednesday #wednesday addams x you #wednesdayedit #imagine #fanfic #fluff #angst #wednesday addams fanfic #jenna ortega #wednesday x reader #my story

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pinkysberg · 6 months

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anytime i wanna defend abigail it's just droves of ppl going "i like abigail BUT" proceeds to be annoyed she was mad at john. i can't even convey how frustrating it is. it's just so annoying bc OF COURSE shes mad. abigail is victim to john's consequences for 12 yrs by the epilogue and this fandom just wants her to just take it all with a smile.

it doesn't matter he got her pregnant, took away her ability to provide for just herself and then abandoned her in that circumstance. but she better not be upset about that or I'm going to start feeling less empathy for her. not like she can prove it was his - even though idk why she'd cling to the idea that john was the father when he clearly wanted nothing to do with jack for 4 years at the least. but then she's mad because - get this: he'd rather be in the same camp as his son and still neglect his responsibilities to get drunk with various members of camp and goof off. but abigail better just keep her frustrations about that to herself because I'm tired of hearing her complain about the same thing all the time even if the circumstances haven't changed at all whatsoever. i know that abigail remains loyal to john despite his consistent screw ups and has faith in his ability to be better but can she just shut up? i know the consequences of john's actions are now directly putting jack in danger but how dare abigail be mad that john's violent tendencies resulted in him being cornered by 3 men who wanted revenge and needing to kill them all in front of jack? how is that even john's fault? it's not as though he murdered some guy for looking at him funny! abigail should be thrilled john prioritizes the geddes and their impression of john over her and jack's wishes and wellbeing! at least he has a job! it may be a job her secured by immediately showing his hand and giving away the fact he's not "jim milton" but also abigail's clearly cheating on john during the epilogue anyway based on *checks notes* a sign on doctor's office that is literally never not there. guess he stays fucking idk.

#like this is fr how it sounds at this point #shut up n take it ig #and with a smile #abigail marston #rdr2 #thinky

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loki-us · 5 months

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Welcome to my Mega Problematic Sylvie post

I wanted to make a list of everything problematic about Sylvie in s1 and s2 because she gets away with whatever she wants and it bugs me to no end that she never takes accountability for any of the pain she causes.

You have been warned. So let's get into it.

1. Sylvie’s way is the only way and she expects everyone else to just bend to her will without complaint

2. She is physically mentally and emotionally incapable of trusting anyone besides herself

3. She uses other people's emotions to manipulate them into getting what she wants

4. She refuses to even entertain the possibility that anything besides her own opinion is correct

5. She criticizes others' attempts to clean up the mess she caused while she herself does absolutely nothing about it

6. Always looking to ruin and run, taking the easy way out and avoiding any accountability

7. Puts her own need for revenge above the well-being of everyone else in the multiverse

8. Blames everyone else for the problems she herself caused

9. Insults everyone at the TVA for their lack of empathy despite it being the exact reason she didn't want to return in the first place. Every critique she delivers just illustrates how much of a hypocrite she is

10. Berates Mobius and all the people who are actually trying to fix her problem even though they never once blamed her for the mess they're in

11. Acts like she's doing everyone a favor just for being there and insulting everyone when in reality, Loki had to ask multiple times before finally getting her to return

12. Never willing to put in more effort than just destroying everything and walking away

13. Even when directly asked for her help, Sylvie straight up refuses. She couldn't care less about anything besides her McDonald's employee-of-the-month badge

14. Sylvie gaslights Loki into thinking they're the same, that she's not in the wrong because they're both only thinking of themselves. In reality, Sylvie is thinking only of going back to her own timeline, alone, while Loki is thinking only of making his friends happy, because that's what makes him happy too.

15. While being completely unsympathetic to Loki struggling with his greatest fear, Sylvie makes the decision that Loki's friend's are all better off where they are now. But is it really better for them, or just better for Sylvie?

16. And now, after 11 episodes and countless requests for Sylvie's help, she actually cares about the rest of the multiverse. And yet it's still solely because her own timeline is finally in danger

17. When Loki ends up sacrificing himself to solve the problem Sylvie created, her only response is a joyful shrug that she's now happy, alone, and responsibility-free.

Overall, I know Sylvie's only purpose as a character is to be a darker mirror of Loki and everything she does is understandably informed by her trauma. This is likely a result of having a limited-episode-series and having all male/not diverse writers creating female characters. Sylvie is used only as a comparison to Loki before he met Mobius, and unfortunately is never given any thoughtful character moments like Loki had showing how he was aware that his actions hurt others. In 1x1, Loki talks about how he doesn’t enjoy hurting people and only does it to maintain control. The only time we ever see Sylvie reconsider her actions is when she didn’t kill Timely, which I think is more because she saw herself in Timely as someone who didn’t want to be controlled by their ‘destiny,’ not because she developed any kindness or compassion toward him.

I understand the fact that Sylvie was never given someone like Mobius to allow her the opportunity to change like Loki did, but I don't think that should excuse her causing so much pain and being so self-centered. Sylvie never trusted or cared about anyone and that's also my biggest argument against Sylki; her loving or being driven by anyone besides herself is just so inconsistent with her entire character.

Anyway, my purpose here was not to be hateful or to search for any reason to criticize Sylvie, but instead to look critically at her character since I've seen a lot of people praise her as the strong, independent female Loki whose behavior can always be forgiven. Unfortunately, the way she was written is that Sylvie turned her own trauma into everybody else's problem and they all spent 2 seasons trying to clean up her mess. That's my take thank you and goodnight

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sweetainwen · 7 months

Text

ᴜɴᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴsɪɢʜᴛ [WANDERER/SCARAMOUCHE]

Summary: the creator just wanted to find the reason for that system error, but she had brought with her an unwanted insight into the game itself, causing a dangerous and unexpected collapse within him.

Pairings: yandere!Scaramouche/Wanderer x fem!OC (you can think of her as Y/N)

Genre: sagau, yandere!au, isekai!au, futuristic!au, sci-fi!au.

Warnings: jealous!wanderer, fluff, angst, d^aths (no blood tho), wanderer losing his mind, noncon kissing.

SUMERU ARCHON QUEST SPOILERS

I STARTED WRITING THIS BEFORE THE FONTAINE RELEASE, SO IT'S NOT PRESENT

THE WANDERER'S NAME IS THE ONE I CHOOSE (IT MEANS "LIGHT", "RADIANCE")

Word count: 12k+

A hand gently, lightly brushing his hair. The humming of a sweet, soothing tune tickling his ears. A smile, a face, a calm voice and muffled words.

His eyes struggled to focus.

Everything was blurry, but he could catch those details of the one who was tenderly lulling him.

She was moving her lips, she was talking. but he did not understand. He was still groggy. Nevertheless, he sensed it.

It was home.

“Here, your food.”

He snapped his eyes open, staring at the bowl in front of him before looking up at the arm holding the item and finally at the person sitting to his left on a medium tree trunk.

The Wanderer saw her give him a surprised look, blinking.

“Oh, sorry, did you fall asleep?”

He let out a grunt, almost snatching the bowl out of her hand and spilling out its contents, causing her to gasp slightly.

“My, how grumpy,” she snickered amusedly. “It seems like I'm putting you through torture. You can't call me a bad cook, big hat guy.”

He took the spoon between his fingers, sighing annoyed at the way he had been called for the thousandth time, “Quit with that name.”

“I would if I had a real name to call you by,” she shrugged with a smirk on her face, the spoon playing with the food in the bowl. “But since you won't tell me, I had to give you one. It suits you, doesn't it?”

Her eyes were fixed on his hat at that question, and the Wanderer preferred to ignore it, causing her to put on a feigned pout.

She took a bite of her lunch, "Is this how you treat your travel companion?"

“You are not.”

“But we are traveling together to Sumeru!”

“You have decided to join. Without my consent,” he reminded her, his gaze now on her.

“You didn't refuse though.”

This time her sullen face was genuine.

He stared at her without arguing back, the impulse to leave her there on the spot taking over. However it dissipated shortly after the lively gleam in her eyes struck him.

Again.

“Stop talking and eat up. We need to get back on the road.”

He brought his gaze back to the food, but he could feel the young woman's victorious smile.

She was truly a whirlwind in perpetual motion. She got into constant trouble between hilichurls, treasure hoarders, and even fatui.

It was better to call her a loose cannon.

That was just how he had met her several days before, though the hilarious part was that the hoarders were running away from her.

And he even ended up in the middle of their battle when those bandits had tried to use him as a shield.

It had been a scene comical enough to almost make him sneer.

And that was when she proclaimed herself as his travel companion, since they had to go the same way.

“Have you gone freaking nuts?” he blurted out with crossed arms.

She blinked before putting on a huge smile, “Why not?”

“I could kill you too.”

“You don't seem like a bad guy at all, hat guy," she shook her head, stretching her hand toward him and eyes twinkling like stars. “I'm Clara. No last name, just Clara. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

And he had let her come with him.

He felt a kind of force drawing him toward the young woman. He could not respond in any other way to her gestures and words than with indulgence.

And it irked him that it was no problem for him.

Those eyes on him now accentuated the annoyance he had been feeling for the past few days.

As a result, he put into action what he thought whenever he was stared at intensely by her before continuing on his journey.

A movement of his hand was enough to create a vortex that surrounded the young woman and carried her away from him.

The gasp of surprise and words of displeasure never failed to be heard.

But she always managed to return and take him wherever she wanted to go.

Such as booking a room at an inn for the night.

“Using your element to get rid of me is completely pointless. You are perfectly aware that I'd be back on my feet in no time,” Clara sneered at him, sitting on the windowsill with one leg toward her chest as he lay on the bed far from the open window.

“And you acknowledge the fact that I could harm you with that.”

She giggled in response, and he saw that particular glint in her eyes again that if he could lose his breath, it would have happened by now. The smile that followed it made the picture even more vivid.

“You would have already done what you had to do, Hikaru.”

He frowned, astonishment at hearing that name, “What?”

“Oh. Calling you big hat guy all the time doesn't seem appropriate, and since you won't tell me your name, I decided to give you a real one. Why?” She brought her arm on her knee before resting her chin on it. “You don't like it?”

“Why that name?”

This time, the smile she showed him was a sweet one, devoid of any malice.

“Because you remind me of how a person can emanate their own light, and head towards the end,” she explained in a soft voice, her face now turned up to the night sky. “Like a bright star high in the sky.”

Silence filled the room.

The Wanderer did not know what to answer, and he did not want to answer. The name said so lightly, but with meaning, was the same one the traveler had given him.

It was so strange.

“Although... these stars and this sky seem to have something wrong with them.”

The Wanderer sat on the edge of the bed, confused by the sudden change of subject, “Wrong how?”

He watched carefully as her expression became thoughtful, almost serious, absorbed in finding an explanation.

“It's as if ... you want to go one way, but you are pushed in another. Determined to follow that set thought of yours, but it gets diverted, and you don't know whether to continue or not. A false sense of control. A purpose-built hope.”

She went back to look at him. And the feeling he got from it was totally different.

She seemed to be observing him, seeking something deep within him. Like an astrologist reading your future.

“Well, it's probably just my mindless reasoning," she shrugged, her facial features softening. “I'm going to go to sleep now. Good night, Hikaru.”

And as she got up and headed for her bed, that feeling vanished along with her no longer being in his line of sight.

He lay back down again, confused for the umpteenth time by their interactions. There was definitely a double meaning in what she had said, and he even began to believe that it had some connection to the reason for her journey to Sumeru.

And at that point, after days and nights together, he was wondering: what was she looking for?

Everything was dark, he could see nothing. He could only hear murmurs and noises.

But then there was a gentle touch, his hair being tousled by her hand.

All went quiet, and a faint, sweet chuckle echoed in that darkness before making way for a soft, muffled voice.

He felt it. Deafening and overpowering. That strange feeling.

“You're such a good boy.”

Like it was home.

He snapped his eyes open, and the first thing he saw was Clara’s surprised and slightly worried face.

“Is everything all right?”

Disoriented, he tried to grasp the situation. One of her hands was at the side of his head, while the other was in his. He couldn’t blink.

And Clara, surely noticing his inquisitive look, was quick to explain.

“I saw you stirring in your sleep. I thought you were having a nightmare so I tried to wake you up, but you grabbed my hand,” she showed him their intertwined hands. “Then I tried to soothe you with caresses and reassuring words. And it worked.”

She gave him a smile, but he said nothing. He only stared at her.

Clara tilted her head slightly to the side at that reaction, not understanding what else he wanted to know. Or he probably didn't believe what she had told him.

She did not give it much thought.

When Clara felt his grip loosen, she gently freed her hand from his, standing up.

“I brought your breakfast. It’s on the bedside table. Eat with no rush, I’m going downstairs.”

And she walked on, closing the door behind her.

The Wanderer sat at the edge of the bed and sighed deeply, his eyes going to the tray with his breakfast mentioned by Clara.

He had been experiencing those moments for days now. It was beyond annoying.

Dreams that showed scenarios that then affected him emotionally and psychologically when he woke up. Not just any scenes, but of himself in situations that seemed familiar despite the fact that he had never actually experienced them.

Memories.

It was also strange and impossible. Because he was a puppet. He could not sleep, consequently neither could he dream. However, he was doing both, and he was unaware of how he was doing it.

What was he to expect now? That he would no longer have to pretend that he had to eat?

Of one thing he was sure though. It had all started after the arrival of the one he was now watching chatting and giggling with an inn employee outside the inn after leaving the room.

He sensed it. That greater force pushing him back toward her.

Uncontrollable and domineering.

And another emotion mixed with it. An emotion so strong that he wanted to rip off the head of that young man standing too much close to her.

Instead, he moved closer, catching their attention, and with a movement of his fingers, he made a vortex appear around the young woman that dragged her away from the guy, leaving both of them stunned and confused.

And after throwing a glance that made the unfortunate man shudder, he went behind the whirlwind with Clara rolling her eyes.

He just sneered, feeling a little better. Clara huffed after being released far from the inn, adjusting her disheveled clothes and walking toward the direction they had come from.

Knowing her intentions, he stepped in front of her and before she could even open her mouth to argue, he revealed the object of interest and threw it at her, watching as she tried hard not to drop it.

“Your bag,” he informed her, putting a hand on his hip.

She just shot him a glare, her eyes almost twitching.

“What am I surprised about? Your social skills certainly can't improve in a snap of the fingers,” she muttered displeased, fixing her shoulder bag over one shoulder and checking the contents for possible breakage. “Be more careful when holding other people’s things! And stop frightening people for no reason at all! Poor guy was praying that he wouldn't end up in pieces.”

He did not speak, resuming his walk as if he had heard nothing.

“Ignoring my words, are you?” she gave up, going after him.

“Just a little while and we will arrive at our destination,” was what he communicated instead.

He suddenly felt himself grabbed by the arm, almost causing him to lose his balance, and caught her radiant face a few inches away from his.

He could tell he had had a heart attack at this.

“Really?! Finally! Then we must hurry, I can’t wait to get there!”

He frowned, trying to break free from her grasp, but was taken aback by her sudden jerk forward before she started running and dragging him with her.

She was too enthusiastic for his liking, a child in an adult's body. Hopping here and there like a rabbit with a goofy smile and sparkling eyes through the streets of Sumeru.

He felt like a nanny and couldn't say he was pleased about it.

“Sumeru is just as it was portrayed to me. I love it!”

“Your elation over a city is quite childlike. I could swear I'm dealing with a child.”

She hopped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks and puffing out her cheeks, “And you’re too edgy and grumpy for my liking. Change your mood when you’re with me. I won’t tolerate a gloomy atmosphere.”

“You’re such a-“

“Cute, lovable, little person? I am, thanks for noticing that, Hikaru.”

She stuck out her tongue at him before a smile spread across her face, and he grimaced at what he called her antics. Realizing the presence of the god of wisdom coming toward them with her lips upward instead made him roll his eyes.

“I take great pleasure in seeing that you have finally found yourself a friend.”

That sweet, little voice made Clara turn around, and was taken aback as soon as she saw who was before her.

The Wanderer placed one hand on his hip, shaking his head at her words, “You shouldn’t.”

Nahida slightly giggled, shifting her focus on the young woman by his side, conscious of how she struggled to conceal her astonishment and nervousness in her presence.

“I’m- I’m honored to make your acquaintance, Dendro Archon! I’m… I’m Clara!”

“Very delighted to meet you, Clara.” She almost cooed at her reaction. “I’m hoping he’s not causing you any distress.”

She gesticulated, eyes wide open, “Oh! Of course, he isn’t! Our traveling proceeded smoothly! Not one person was the victim of his aggressive look or word!”

The Wanderer gave her a look and Clara pressed her lips together after the gaffe she had made.

The little Archon cocked her head to the side, entertained by their interaction. But the most interesting behavior was that of the former balladeer, somehow influenced by the young woman to be more calm and condescending.

“You seem to get along pretty well.”

The duo looked at her, baffled. Before they could comment, the clatter of rapidly approaching wheels against the ground alerted the young man.

His hand was quick to rest on her hip, bringing her closer to himself and thus preventing her from being run over by the wooden cart.

The man carrying it apologized several times under Hikaru’s grim gaze, and Clara and Nahida’s surprised eyes before going on his way.

Clara thanked him and, moving slightly away from him, turned to Nahida with a curious look, “There is a lot of movement around. Is there any celebration going on?”

“A festival. Would you like to partecipate?”

Her eyes sparkled, “Can I really?”

“There is no prohibition on this,” Nahida giggled. “Everyone is welcome. With Hikaru's company, it will be easier to integrate.”

“Excuse me?” his eyebrow shot up.

“She’s not familiar with Sumeru. Consequently, someone who is should be her guide.”

It wasn't the beaming face and the implied order of the Dendro Archon, it was Clara's eyes filled with expectation and eagerness to witness a common joy that dragged him through the stalls ― one of which she had almost ended up being scammed and if it hadn't been for her stopping him, he would have probably literally blown up every one of his pieces for sale and the seller himself ― and ultimately among the people moving to the beat of the music.

But he had stood on the sidelines, leaning against a tree and watching as she laughed and got involved with the locals. On her head the hat she had snatched from him.

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.

Her face that showed eyes like sparkling gems filled with life, red cheeks, and lips fully spread in a joyful smile.

She was some sort of flower in the midst of the desert. You found it strange that it was there and at the same time you thought it was wonderful to see it there.

It led you to get closer and stand there admiring it. To cup your hands at its sides and hide it from any intruder.

A sight that you wanted only yours to witness.

And the way he was thinking irked him.

His ears sensed a shift in the air, and Hikaru was able to quickly catch the hat Clara had thrown at him with one hand.

“Guess you’re not fond of festivals. Or should I say people in general?” she remarked, moving to his side and placing her elbow on his shoulder. “Oh, look! I can touch your shoulder even like this!” she added in mock surprise.

He didn't speak, but Clara saw him raise his arm slightly and form a small swirl of air from his hand. She stepped back just far enough not to be blown away with her hands in surrender ― although she didn't think he would really do that.

She tried not to laugh, but it was impossible.

And it was in that instant that Hikaru saw all around her become blurred and overlaid by an environment all too familiar to him. Her clothes replaced by others and her laughter accentuated.

It echoed in his ears. Overbearing, piercing.

It mixed with the muffled music and chatter in the background of the festival.

A desperate cry broke in, words overlapping each other. Distorted and almost inaudible.

His head began to ache, his eyes squinted, and an annoying ringing thrummed in his ears.

And it became more and more unbearable.

He wanted it to stop. It fucking hurt.

“Please! Please, don’t leave me!”

“Are you all right?”

The suffering vanished as soon as her hands touched his cheeks, bringing him back to the present.

“It's better if you reach a quieter place. Or maybe go straight to bed. It's pretty late, I'd say.”

He didn’t utter a word, completely disoriented by this event. And with no hesitation, he agreed with her suggestion, leaving that chaotic place under Clara’s attentive eyes.

She crossed her arms pensively.

“I assume that your research is not bearing fruit, given the way the situation is somewhat out of control.”

Clara looked at the Dendro Archon beside her, blinking away the fear from her eyes and with a hand on her chest the near heart attack she had from her sudden arrival.

“Don’t ever do that again if you do not wish for my death!” She exhaled, “I cannot ask such questions without having at least a phase of knowledge and trust between us. It will just take a little longer because of his wariness. Nothing is out of control. What gave you this impression?”

Nahida didn’t look away from the crowd and Clara followed suit, “Is this the first time he has shown himself like that?”

Realizing that she was referring to how Hikaru had grabbed his head with one hand and his face had distorted in pain, Clara cocked her head to the side, not sure how to respond.

“I think it is. Although he had a pretty awful nightmare last night. He wouldn't stop squirming and at one point wouldn't even let go of my hand. The situation is indeed quite strange.” She shook her head, crossing her arms again, “He should not experience this kind of thing; he is a puppet. Still, seeing him trying to hide it is very amusing.”

She smiled, amused by the memory of him eating and sleeping like a normal human being.

Nahida hummed thoughtfully, “It may be a consequence of your closeness.”

Her gaze ended on her again, and Nahida did the same.

“You two share something deep,” she replied at her silent question. Something that both unites and changes you.”

“Like… a connection? Are you trying to say that because of this connection that we have,” she pointed at herself in a surprised manner. “I am instigating a change in him? He forgets everything if I get out of the game and then remember again if I go back in?”

“A deep connection. The more you feel, the more intriguing and dear is something or someone to you,” she clarified her hypothesis. “You must remember your effect on the people of this world. Your presence can be sensed by every single individual here. You are the creator. A powerful figure, more than us Archons. We are not fully aware of the influence of each of your actions. And I forewarned you of my inability to help you in such dangerous cases. What I see is total blackness; you are not part of this world. That’s why you have to be careful not to ruin the balance of Teyvat more than Dottore and Wanderer have discovered. Do it for the sake of all of us.”

Clara let out a sigh, and nodded.

Her voice was sweet and gentle, but the weight of the words spoken was not light.

The things that were taking form in this game were not supposed to occur. Having real interactions with people here was not an expected possibility, because it was a game.

A game that she herself had given shape to and was having huge success.

She was living in an era where technology was overdeveloped, it could very well be compared to a sci-fi movie. Time travel had been discovered, even flowing into parallel universes. Computers were no longer cumbersome but a small device that showed you in hologram what you wanted, like the keyboard and the mouse itself.

Being a video game producer, she had in mind a game that would bring back the old days, a gacha style of gaming that had gone out of fashion long centuries before, leaving only complete games to continue through time.

Thus, she had shared with her co-founders this idea of hers, which was accepted with some misgivings.

She did not have many expectations either, nevertheless people had liked it, taking her by surprise. Probably because this generation had never seen any, except in documentaries or such, and wanted to experience what it was like to live in an earlier era.

Some time after the game was released, she had thought of creating a more realistic alternative of it using VR headsets to engage even those who had felt no interest.

However, something had gone wrong, because she had experienced firsthand one of the scenes she had intended to include in the game that was still far from being added: the Tatarasuna Mistery. In which a mysterious disease had infected, killed many locals and scarred Hikaru to the core.

She hadn’t been an exception.

The crying, suffering, screams, desperation.

It had been too much to watch and had nearly given her a panic attack.

And she had done the only thing she believed was right: use her VR headset to get out of there. When she did, she was wearing the clothes of that world and had some small wounds on her feet from running on the ground barefoot in terror.

It was then that she realized she had created a parallel universe of that game. The game codes had been mixed up and incorporated by the three-dimensional-capable machine she had used as a technical test, bringing to life the scenarios that were still being designed.

This discovery was too dangerous to share; in fact, they decided never to talk about it again. The fright and concern her co-founders had felt after seeing her in that state had been enough to agree to keep quiet about the matter.

Unfortunately, a problem occurred when an event came out further on, in which Scaramouche, the sixth fatui harbinger, made his first appearance.

Some of the scenes were not what they were supposed to be. They had changed. Scaramouche should not have said that the sky was fake, a hoax. But they had let it go; it gave a sense of mystery and decided to go with the flow.

After that, Il Dottore said the same words. It was not a simple concidence. Her game had a reality on its own and was writing its own story. Even their employees were beginning to detect strange things.

She wanted to solve the issue, but she did not know whether destroying that universe would bring consequences in the game and be discovered by the S.T.C.C.O., the Spatio-Temporal Continuum Control Organization.

Wandering between worlds must be authorized by them to prevent ill-intentioned people from changing parts of history for selfish purposes, and if they did not show permission they could shut the company down.

Risking a life of progress was out of the question, consequently the only option was to look for a foothold in that same world and figure out how to fix it against the disagreement of her co-founder friends.

The only way she believed possible was to ask for help from the one who had wisdom and knowledge on her side, The Dendro Archon Lesser Lord Kusanali.

She smiled. Kind, welcoming. And a small movement of her head in a reverent greeting.

“Welcome, outsider.”

She was petrified of Nahida’s awareness of her. It showed her skill as the ruler of a region, but it was all the same frightening how her identity could be so easily discovered.

She found out later that not everyone could do that, only the archons, so she had breathed a sigh of relief, hoping, however, that she would not one day end up buried alive for all the pain they had felt because of her.

Her explanation of the events, where she came from and who she was, had left Nahida speechless. She had understood she was a foreigner, but not the significance of her presence there.

Everything about the young woman had some kind of wall blocking any outside access, and the reason she could not was precisely her provenance.

The Dendro Archon had then taken her to Hikaru while he was still Scaramouche, and the sight of him lying unconscious after the battle with the traveler had made quite an impression on her.

Everything here was real; you could talk to them, joke with them, touch them.

Remorse had made its way into her, and unconsciously she had approached and reassured him of his rebirth.

He was now Hikaru, the Wanderer.

She still had to find out what made him think everything was fake before releasing another region and archon quests, though it was proving quite difficult to do so.

She just had to try several times in different ways until he gave in.

That was why she had asked Nahida to send him on a trip and have them meet in the least forced way.

It would have taken her longer, but since in this universe time seemed to pass as it did in his game and unlike his world, she didn't mind.

The same could not be said of her indecision about whether or not to knock on the door of the room where Hikaru had decided to rest.

She could feel tension in the air. It was strange. And… intimidating.

Especially after talking to Nahida.

“Are you coming in or not? Don’t have any hands to open the door?”

She almost let out a scream at this sudden voice, a hand on her chest.

The way both of them made her almost die of a heart attack from a fright was really impressive.

Opening the door slightly, she let only her head pop out, almost shy, "I just wanted to know if you're feeling better."

“What do you think?” He articulated sharply, not even glancing at her.

“Well…” She entered the room, walking towards the bed where he was sitting and standing a short distance from him, “Is it a headache? Do you want me to fetch some medicine?”

“It’s not necessary. It will go away on its own.”

“Oh, good.”

Silence built between them.

Perhaps it had not been a good idea to visit him now, he was definitely not in the mood for small talk or anything else ― as he always was ― but she could not leave him alone.

“What’s your purpose here?”

After the initial moment of stupor, with a blink of her eyes, she could only say, “What?”

He looked at her, and almost took a step back because of how dull his eyes were.

“Sumeru probably has something to do with your traveling. What is it that you’re looking for?”

That was totally unexpected.

She thought she would have to work her way up to simply have a reply from him without creating suspicions. Even though it didn’t look like there wasn’t any from his intense gaze.

“Answers.”

He raised an eyebrow, a slight hint of amusement in his hollow eyes at her short response, “Answers. To what? The bright star high in the sky and the feeling of being controlled?”

He was definitely mocking her and the metaphor she used to express her opinion.

“Precisely that one.” She tilted her head to the side, “What do you think about it?”

“Everyone is controlled by someone one way or another. Willingly or unwillingly.”

“That makes sense. But how are you aware of that control? What signs do you see to come to that conclusion?”

“I don't know. Your instincts?”

She opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again, sighing slightly.

It was too good to be true. It was Hikaru they were talking about. The personality could not change.

She had a pang in her heart. She had given him that personality, like every character in the game. She had caused trauma and tragic experiences.

And that struck even deeper.

Everything in the palm of her hand, but as soon as something was out of control she wanted to fix it right away.

It was also a logical consequence of her work environment; she could leave nothing to chance.

The guilt still consumed her from the inside.

She realized only now how they had remained silent and with their eyes on each other.

He seemed to want to peer deep into her. To look for behavioral changes, for a weakness, to give certainty to doubts.

Or perhaps she was influenced by her own guilt.

It was suffocating.

Her hand moved, slowly, giving the puppet the choice to shrug it off, but he did not. It rested on his head and began to gently caress it.

“I’m sorry.”

It was a faint whisper, but a strange glint flashed through his eyes at it.

“For what?”

“I don’t know, just… I’m sorry.”

It had been spontaneous. She wanted to tell him, even though he did not understand the act.

And again, the same gaze as a few moments ago was on her. This time it was less oppressive and more… soft.

He reached for the arm of her hand still on his head and put it down, before pulling her close to him and resting his head on her stomach. His arms wrapping around her waist.

The word astonishment did not fully describe how she felt about this gesture.

It was completely out of character. Nonetheless, she had to remind herself that he was no longer a mere character in a game and that anyone who got an aloof, arrogant and conceited attitude could fall apart.

As a result, she encircled his head with her arms, attempting to convey comfort and reassurance.

She felt his grip on her waist tighten slightly, but was completely oblivious to the effect her words had on him… and the sudden change in his eyes hidden from her sight.

Thus, when he was standing at her heels the following days, it had her somewhat confused.

Scratch that. It was really confusing how calm and kind he had become to her.

It was likely due to that moment they shared together a few nights before, but the shift was…

Well, at least he had not completely changed; that would have been unsettling.

But she did not expect that he would even lie beside her on the grass, on a small slanted ledge of a hill, to watch the sunset together.

A bird flew in front of her and, following it with her eyes, she saw how it landed on Hikaru's head.

He sighed but did nothing to get it off.

It wasn't the first time this had happened; even if he tried to make it leave, he wouldn't succeed like he did with the others, and that made her laugh.

“They love you, huh?”

He didn't look at her, “Shut up.”

“Never.”

He raised his hand, ready to make her fly faster than a bird, but she surrendered by shaking hers.

“Oh, my! You should calm your horses! There's beautiful nature here contributing to a breathtaking view and you want to sweep it away? That's so cruel!”

“I eliminate possible contamination.”

She blinked, “Wait. Me?”

With his eyes now on her, he cocked an eyebrow matter-of-factly, “Who else? The bird? Is your brain a decoration by any chance?”

She snorted, sitting down on the grass, “Then you should avoid associating with a person who has her brain as a decoration. That way you can avoid becoming dumb yourself.”

She was about to get up, but Hikaru's hand putting her back down blocked her from doing so.

And without saying anything, she smiled, bringing her arms under her head again and closing her eyes. A slight smile took up the young man's lips; she would not find out though, for it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

And after he did not know how long, heavy breathing of a sleeping person could be heard instead, and when he looked to his left, Clara was completely in dreamland.

Hikaru let out a small snort of disbelief at the scene.

The sound of stepping on grass behind him caught his attention.

“You like her company now, don't you?”

He sat up, watching the bird finally fly away, “She is bearable.”

Nahida giggled, “So bearable to follow her around, right?”

He reimaned silent as he got up and brushed off his clothes from the dirt, but didn't miss to give her a side-eye.

The little Dendro Archon observed as a small wind began to rise with a movement of his hand, lifting Clara into the air and carrying her directly into his arms; one below the crook of her knees and the other wrapping around her back. Her head drooping before resting on his chest.

With a nod toward her as a sign of goodbye, he jumped up into the air and flew away, leaving her alone.

Along with her worries.

She sighed slightly, “Seriously, I hope nothing happens.”

It could not be said that something was not wrong, as doubts had crept into Hikaru's mind anyway.

Such an answer as Clara's would have pleased no one; it was too vague.

That was why he had changed his attitude a bit, to get more informations.

Laying her on her bed, he took the bag off her shoulder without waking her and sat on the edge of the bed, his gaze drawn as always to her face.

He had a gut feeling of her being involved in those chaotic and confusing fragments of situations he was recalling, although there was a certain confidence ― which by now had wavered ― that he had never experienced them.

Getting closer was the best method to piece together those called fragments, but the more he did, the harder it was to detach and stay focused.

She was the one distracting him.

A few strands of her hair had fallen across her face, and his hand reached out to move them aside. After that he heaved a sigh, realizing that he had been staring at her for he did not know how long before he recovered from that strange state of daze.

He was definitely losing his mind.

He stood up and walked over to the chair placed by the door to put Clara's bag, which he still had in his hand, on it.

Before he could open the door a sudden noise stopped him. It had echoed in his mind, like a jingle.

Familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Another forgotten memory.

Looking behind him, he spotted the bag upturned on the ground with something out of it. It almost seemed to shimmer under the moonlight coming in through the open window.

And as soon as he took the fallen object in his hands his brows furrowed.

It was big, almost as big as half his head, and black. There was some kind of rope tied to the ends of it and eyes in the center of that small bizarre thing.

He recalled Clara’s exaggerated care for her bag, figuring now that it was most likely for this item and its possible fragility.

The more he stared at it, the more there was something tickling his mind.

And it turned into a deafening ringing that caused him to blink several times before he heard a muffled voice and saw blurred images of that same object and a young woman showing how to use it.

“Bring this to the back of your head, then this to the front.”

Like a puppet, he led that rope behind his head and the large part in front of his eyes. It fit like a glove.

“And press the button on the left side.”

He skimmed lightly for a prominent spot until he found it.

Through that device, a spiral of colors appeared before his eyes as the ground beneath his feet seemed to disappear into thin air before he felt it again.

Now he could only see white, and he quickly took that thing off, finding himself in a completely white and empy small room. A sliding metal door opened ahead of him and he hesitantly stepped out.

What he saw left him totally shocked.

There were pictures and drawings of a lot of people posted on the walls, but the ones he recognized immediately were Lesser Lord Kusanali, the Raiden Shogun, the traveler, their fellow flying being.

And himself. In all his forms.

To his left was a chair that had small wheels instead of feet and a kind of desk with another strange invention on it; there were almost transparent windows in which one showed a picture of flowers and writing in a small square while the other showed letters and symbols.

They were not part of the alphabet of the Teyvat language, so he could not tell which letters they were.

Next to them was yet another one with an almost mouse-like shape.

Attracted, he tried to press the arrow symbol pointing to the left located in the middle of that rectangular window, and a female voice suddenly boomed in the room.

She had used a welcoming tone, however, he did not understand what she had said except for a few words.

Xu Shi Han.

He was sure it was a name.

It was then that his gaze landed on a frame. A picture frame where Clara was smiling together with other people.

What was a picture of her doing here? Was he going insane?

Where the heck was he?

Raising his head, he looked out of that large window that gave a view of huge, long, light-filled buildings and the dark sky.

This made him come to a realization.

He was in another world.

He looked at the picture frame again.

Clara’s world.

She had gotten to Teyvat with that same machine that had taken him here.

He clutches on it still in his hand, overwhelmed by that discovery.

Then who was Xu Shi Han? A friend of hers? A workmate? Both?

Or was this all a hallucination?

Sudden sequences occupied his mind, almost causing him to lose his balance and grunt from the incessant pounding in his head.

He cast a glance at the device in his hand and decided to go back and ask the young woman for an explanation.

It was better to be direct this time, she might even have a solution for those headaches and disconnected memories.

It was beginning to irritate him.

However, as soon as he entered that white room again, put the object on and pressed the button, he had to grit his teeth and hold his head.

It felt like it was being hammered. Repeatedly and relentlessly.

A searing burning melting his brain until it reached his legs, which gave way under the weight of the pain.

There were voices.

It was unbearable!

Voices. Images.

He wanted it to stop!

Giggles. Cries. Screams.

Stop! Enough! No!

Please!

He inhaled deeply and his eyes were drawn to someone standing in front of him with their back to him.

Trees, plants and bushes began to dip into scenery.

Tilting his head to the side, curiosity crept in at the sight of that person dressed in clothes he had never seen before.

She had also removed something black and large from her head and was looking around. He could only see half of her face but wonder and excitement were visible on it despite standing slightly away from him.

Adjusting the basket full of harvested fruit on his hip, he moved a foot forward but found a small tree branch under it, alerting the young woman who spun around at the noise.

It was like being struck by a lightining. She was really beautiful.

“Oh, forgive me! I didn’t mean to frighten you!” he exclaimed in a soft voice, shaking his head. Confusion was visible in her features, and his fingers began to play with part of the rim of the basket, feeling shy, “Are you lost, by any chance?”

She let out a sigh, “I… think so. Am I on a island?”

Even her voice was melodious.

“You are. Kannazuka, more specifically in Tatarasuna.”

He saw her eyes widen and look at him intently, almost as if she wanted to see through him.

“What’s your name?”

“Oh! I’m Kabukimono, pleased to meet you!” he smiled, enthusiastic about making new acquaintances. “And you are?”

She seemed to have relaxed a little, smiling back at him, “Shi Han. The pleasure is all mine, Kabukimono.”

Technically it was not a lie, yet she was puzzled by the situation because it was not supposed to start that way.

Had she gotten the main settings wrong? A reversed scenario loading? She recalled checking several times before putting the machine into operation.

Glancing one more time at the trees, the bushes, with the chirping of the birds around and the sound of their shoes against the ground, the feeling of experiencing such a realistic sensory stimulus never ceased to charm her.

Her gaze fell on the puppet leading the way to the village after telling her that she could stay with them as long as she wanted. The shy but lively way he interacted with her turned the corner of her lips upward.

“We’re here!” he informed her, quickening his pace.

Chatter and laughter reached her ears, and she stepped out of the way in time to avoid being bumped by two children chasing each other.

She followed Kabukimono with her eyes as he walked over to this familiar young man with a red lock of hair to show him the basket of fruits, being repaid with a smile and probably words of praise.

After that, his attention switched to her, thus bringing the other to look at her as well, and she decided to approach for introductions. She then understood why he looked familiar; he was Niwa Hisahide, the one she would blame for the island tragedy in the game.

They appeared like real people. Having them face her really did have a strange effect.

She certainly could not say that they were fictitious characters and was trying out the game in virtual reality to attract more players, so she had opted for a simpler and quite believable explanation: she was traveling but had gotten lost and her possessions had been stolen.

She had also immediately found a bag to put her VR headset in to avoid curious questions.

Kabukimono had already thrown a quizzical look at it, which was not supposed to happen, since it was not meant to be exposed to the eyes of the characters.

Even if there were inventions here, explaining the use of a VR headset could have involved complications in the game which she was not inclined to have.

Everything had to go smoothly, and her intent had been achieved.

She wore the local clothes, got along well with the villagers, and helped with whatever errands were available.

Still, Kabukimono's reluctant behavior around her had not escaped her notice.

Conversations were brief ― almost nonexistent ― and he would run off, yet he had been so friendly during the first meeting.

These interactions were odd; she did not remember including them as options. Actually, nothing was as she recollected setting them up.

As he was now with the elderly women who spoke to him as he smiled and listened eagerly.

“Don't worry. He had these reactions with us at first too,” Niwa's voice caught her attention as the young man walked up beside her with a hand on his hip. "He just needs some time, you'll see how he won't pull away again."

"But it's been days," she sighed. "And I'm not doing who knows what action to deserve this attitude again. I'm approaching in a gentle way."

He hummed thoughfully, “You are right about that. But... it may be that you are different.”

“Different?”

He smiled, “Sometimes we have different impressions of some people. Honestly speaking, yours leaves its mark, Shi Han. You release positive energy that relaxes and makes one feel at home. Apparently, your energy has a powerful effect on him and that makes him shy and clumsy.” Niwa chuckled at the dumbfounded face she had while he was talking, and shoved the sheath with the sword inside into her hands. “Now take this and hand it to him. He lost his previous sword and had asked me to forge another.”

Awakening from her initial astonishment, she tried to speak but he was already on his way.

So she huffed out a laugh and the only thing she said to him was a "thank you!" to which he responded with a shake of his hand.

She hadn't really noticed that he had a sword in his other hand, caught up as she was in the Kabukimono dilemma.

Niwa's confession had left her speechless. So much for the fictional character!

If they had told her that she would hear such a thing from a nonexistent person, she would have laughed in their faces.

Glancing at Kabukimono, she caught him staring at her before returning his eyes to the women who were walking away after the talk ended. She almost chuckled as she walked toward him to fulfill her errand.

“Hi. Here, from Niwa,” she spoke kindly, showing him the weapon he then took from her hands.

“Thank you,” it was almost a whisper.

“I heard you practice sword dance. It must be difficult.”

“Not very.”

“You put in a lot of effort, though”, she smiled. “This is not to be underestimated. Although I have never seen you dance, I know enough about this.”

He had not responded, he just looked at her. She seriously believed that she was hated at this point and that Niwa's words were just to reassure her.

"Would you like to... watch me?"

That caught her off guard, but she widened her smile, "I would love to!"

She hadn't really expected that! It was a really huge leap of progress!

It certainly had not been easy to ask her to see him dance, but she was really happy about it. And now that she was witnessing that dance, to say that he was talented was an understatement!

The smooth and accurate movements, the relaxed facial features, and the passion-filled eyes with which he performed the poses was nothing short of mesmerizing.

As a backdrop, the trees, the river and the light wind that had risen made it almost magical.

She couldn’t stop looking at him.

He was so immersed in it that he seemed to have forgotten her presence after ending his dance, so she applauded him, catching his attention.

"That was... magnificent. I don't know what else to say.”

His eyes drifted to the sword, playing with its hilt, “I’m honored to be complimented.”

Shi Han was completely taken hostage by the tenderness he had awakened in her, and without thinking about it she had mussed his long hair in an affectionate gesture.

Kabukimono had only blinked in surprise.

"Oh, forgive me!" she pulled away, raising her hands in surrender. "You were so sweet that I moved unintentionally. Please, don’t hate me!”

“Hate you? I would never!” he quickly shook his head, almost offended by that.

“Oh. I thought… you hated me.”

“Never! I’m just…” now he looked anywhere but at her, what was probably embarrassment invading him. “You are so beautiful and kind…”

She would have had an explosion of diabetes if he had not stopped!

How in the heck was he so, so sweet? He was a precious cinnamon roll!

“So it is not a disturbance if I request to see your dance again?”

“Absolutely not.”

“That’s a relief then. And… thank you for your compliments.”

The response she received was sparkling eyes and a toothy smile.

And the following days Kabukimono had left all shyness behind and kept staying close to her like a child trailing after his mother.

He would smile constantly, seek advice on even the smallest things, ask to pick fruits or just go for a walk together.

A total different character.

You could not look at him and not think of protecting him from any danger.

To think that he would change his personality after that tragic event that he would soon have to endure was really a shame, yet the story had to have footholds to continue.

Every action and reaction was calculated and giving them drastic plot changes could have consisted of inconsistencies in moving forward.

Messing up was not an option.

She was going to enjoy the course of events without a hitch.

And watching Kabukimono had become her favorite pastime; he was so adorable and innocent. Like now as he placed the firewood under the cauldron.

Surely he had noticed her fixed gaze on him, for she could see him playing with the sleeves of his robe.

“Asahi is late.”

She chuckled, “He wants to do it himself, as small as he is it will take him a while. He wants to be useful, like you.”

“He shouldn't tire himself though, since he's not very well.”

“I know, but let him do it. It's really cute to see him so hard-working.”

Asahi, the sick child who would add to Kabukimono's suffering when he would pass away.

He was already ill, that tragedy would take place sooner than later.

Another detail she did not remember at all was his name, because she had not given him one. He was just supposed to be an addition for the character that would become Scaramouche.

But if she dug her heels in over everything, she would start to get headaches, so it was best not to question and just comply.

“Water is here!” the small enthusiastic voice of Asahi caught their attention and they saw him almost trip and tip over the bucket full of water.

“That's too much water, Asahi!” Shi Han burst out laughing, helping him move closer to the fire.

“We still need it!”

“Yes, yes. Pour it slowly or you'll ruin the firewood.”

The teasing, the smiles, the chattering, the caresses. These heart-warming interactions had always fascinated Kabukimono.

Every human feeling and emotion captivated him.

There was something mysterious and inexplicable about the way they worked and manifested themselves.

However, the one who attracted him like a moth to a candle was Shi Han.

The manifestation of her emotions was a subtle but strong trait; the change of them could be sudden or slow.

He often found himself staring at her more than he should, completely invaded by a strange feeling that a puppet should not experience.

He had no heart; it was impossible.

Could it perhaps have been her aura? It was not to be ruled out. The villagers also felt at ease with her and almost considered her family.

“Is something wrong?” Shi Han's gentle voice and her face so close to his made him pull back a little from the sudden entry into his view. “I called you several times. Do you feel strange?”

“Oh, no. It’s just… You seem to feel so much happiness…”

“Are you not happy?” Asahi asked confused.

“I could, if I didn’t have…” Unconsciously, his hand went to his chest. “… a void here.”

“You mean, you wish you had a heart?” He nodded and heard Shi Han sigh, sitting next to him. “Mmh, have you ever heard this story before?” the question gained their attention as the child placed the bowl of food on the floor, “There once was a puppet soldier whose greatest wish was to be with a ballerina doll forever and ever. But the soldier didn’t have a heart and didn’t know where his feeling came from. One day, his owner didn’t want him anymore and threw him away into a fire. But even in the flames, his eyes never left the ballerina.” He smiled, ”The next day, the people found a tiny heart in the ashes left by the fire.”

He exhaled, sadness filling his voice, “Probably ashes in the shape of a heart, but that’s not a real heart.”

“Maybe. But what if…” He tilted his head to the side, “… hearts can be born from ashes?”

That would have changed things, but he was not sure.

“You don’t need a heart,” Shi Han spoke, grabbing his hand and slight sparks orerran his body. “The fact that you worry about being empty and that you might not reciprocate in the same way shows that you feel something.” A tender smile played on her lips, eyes looking at him with affection, “You are able to express emotions without it. You are more human that most people. Am I right, Asahi?”

“She is!” he had almost shouted it while nodding firmly.

Her face lit up, as if he had remembered something, “Oh! Asahi! Your handmade gift!”

The child made the same expression, got up and ran to a wooden box, pulling out a doll.

Kabukimono was quite confused.

After the child had gotten closer, he noticed the details of the object better. It was him. Its hair and clothing were the same as his, and it had what looked like a small tear under its eye.

“I'm aware that it didn't turn out that well, but I still wanted to give you a gift.”

He was at loss of words. He had a knot in his throat and his eyes were stinging.

He grabbed the doll and stared at it, a smile forming on his lips.

“Look, you’re smiling,” Shi Han rubbed his shoulder in a comforting way. “You’re happy, Mono.”

“Mono?”

She sucked the air through her teeth before grinning, “Kabukimono is too long. Mono is better.”

He smiled back, feeling shy again but with a tingling sensation.

He heard Asahi giggling, but a coughing fit struck him, bringing Shi Han to stroke his back and him to look at him worriedly.

“Everything is fine, just coughing.”

“You should still get back into bed. I’ll accompany you.”

He followed them with his gaze until they vanished into the other room and went back with his eyes on the doll. He touched its hair, its trim and stitching.

A gift made with affection.

A goal he did not think he could achieve. He thought people would not consider him; lacking a heart he might not feel empathy, or understand certain actions dictated by certain feelings. Consequently, causing estrangements on their part.

Yet they were friendly, loving, and hospitable. They treated him like a son, an older or younger brother, a friend. He felt loved and always wanted to be loved.

And very much loved by Shi Han.

It had become a permanent fixture. He did not want to do anything that could lead her to be bothered by his presence; he wanted to be praised.

More and more.

She had become the first person he spoke to as soon as the sun came out. A strong force continually pushed him toward her. And he did not mind.

Just being near her gave him warmth and love. He could sense it.

Like now, as the sound of the flowing river was heard, sitting at its bank and looking at the night sky.

It was better to say that he was watching her admire the stars.

“I love this view. I've never seen so many stars light up the night.”

“Where you come from there aren't many?”

She shook her head, “No. Let's just say they've… dimmed over time.”

“You will see them often by staying here then.”

She had opened her mouth, but had not spoken. This jolted him slightly and he began to feel a squeeze in his chest at that nonverbal response.

“Are you… leaving?”

Shi Han had definitely noticed the sudden change in mood, because she was hesitating, but she eventually nodded.

“I’m traveling, so… I’m moving all the time.” He turned his head to the other side and pulled his knees to his chest. “I also have to stay with my family. They definitely miss me. But this doesn’t me- wait, what’s wrong? Are you crying?”

Hearing her concerned voice gave him a sense of victory.

First she would sneak in and then decide to leave without thinking about what she had left behind? Without thinking about how he would feel? Was she really going to leave him? Why?

He didn't want to!

Her hand moved his shoulder slightly so she could look at him, but he resisted. He heard her calling him, but he did not answer.

He felt betrayed.

“Mono, please, listen to me!”

“I am.”

“You aren’t. You didn't hear a word I said because you’re still like this.”

He stood up abruptly and looked at her, taking steps back before halting and showing her bag in his hand.

Shi Han had widened her eyes, taken aback and confused by his action.

“Speak the truth. It has to do with that object you always carry in here with you, doesn't it? The way you take care of that thing has always intrigued me. You never show it to anyone, you keep it hidden and you seem obsessed with it.”

She let out a long sigh with her eyes closed, sensing the situation getting out of hand.

She was probably thinking that she would never have thought of such an overreaction on his part and that she didn't even know how they had gotten to this point.

He didn't know either. All he knew was that a trigger had been set off.

“It is because it’s an important object for me. It has an emotional value. It’s a gift.” She explained in a soft voice and stretched out her hands, “Come here, I’ll show you.”

He kept looking at her, stalling for a while until he gave up.

Shi Han reached into the bag and pulled out the object.

"Bring this behind your head," she had lifted that thing above her head and brought with one hand what looked like a strange rope behind it. “Then this to the front,” the large part went in front of her eyes. “And press the button on the left side,” her finger stayed on that specified spot but didn’t press down. “That’s it. But since I break a lot of things, and you know that, I don't use it much to avoid breaking it.” She took it off and smiled at him before putting that thing back in the bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Sorry if I startled you. I was going to talk to everybody about it these days. And I was telling you earlier that I would come back to visit anyway, and we may as well write to each other.”

He lowered his head, distress overtaking him.

Of course there were these options, but they were not like having her by his side all the time.

It was different.

“But I will not see you every day.” his voice had come out hoarse, as if he were tearing up.

“You can travel with me. And we can take Asahi with us, too. If you want, we can ask Niwa as well. I don't know if he would agree to travel, but it doesn't hurt to try.” He raised his head, stunned by the proposal. Shi Han cupped his cheeks, her fingers wiping away tears he did not know were coming out, “There, there, stop crying. Have you calmed down? Do you like my idea? No more sadness?”

He nodded, inhaling a deep breath to cool down.

This myriad of emotions were making him dizzy. And what she did next almost caused him to lose strength in his legs.

She giggled, tousled his hair and rested her lips on his forehead. After that, she hugged him. His face leaning against the crook of her neck, warm and soft skin touching.

“You’re such a good boy.”

Her fingers run through his hair, stroking gently and slowly.

He couldn’t think straight. He was over the moon.

He hugged back, tightening his grip as much as he could without hurting her.

It was like being wrapped in a cocoon of warmth, comfort and fondness. Safe from any danger, feeling special, and have no negative thoughts.

She was the last piece to complete his wish.

Like it was your home.

It felt like home.

He had attained peace. A feeling so wonderful that he wished it would last for eternity.

But against his every thought and will, that newly completed paradise was gone.

Black smoke had begun to surround them, and the villagers began to get sick. They were getting worse and worse, and no one knew how the heck to stop the disease.

And they were dying. They were dying and dying one by one. A chain reaction that had spread terror and despair. And the helplessness about the situation didn’t help.

Hence, he decided to ask for help from the one who had created him, the Electro Archon herself.

He did not want to leave Shi Han, Asahi and Niwa alone, but he had to do something.

When he arrived in Inazuma, no one would let him in to have an audience with the Archon. With tears in his eyes and desperation clouding his senses, he did not for a single moment stop asking about his creator, displaying the golden feather around his neck, left by her in his hands.

Even though Yae Miko appeared in Ei's place, he begged to save the villagers, on his knees, his hands grasping her clothes. Shepromised help, and he believed her.

After returning to Tatarasuna, he saw Shi Han standing outside the house in the distance.

“Shi Han! The shogunate will come here! Let’s inform Niwa and-“

Now close by, he could notice Shi Han's dull eyes and bare feet. A bad omen took hold of him and he ran toward Asahi's bedroom.

When he saw him, Asahi seemed to be asleep.

Deeply asleep.

He had a lump in his throat, his hands began to shake.

That was a joke, wasn’t it? Asahi was definitely joking. It was not the best moment to do that, but he was playing around.

For sure.

“Asahi, it’s not good time to play. You need to wake up. The… The shogunate is coming and…”

One touch and he suddenly pulled his hand away, as if electrocuted.

Asahi was cold to the touch. Too cold.

No. No! No! No! Please, no!

Why? Why was all this happening? What had they done wrong to undergo such a thing?

The child’s words crossed his mind and he smiled through the tears.

He was here. Asahi was still here. His heart was still here.

And without a second thought, the flames enveloped both him and the house. He waited, waited until he could see it, but there was nothing there.

No heart from the ashes but anger and sadness made an appearance.

He clenched his hands into fists, tears that would not stop falling, “How dare you die like this, and break your promise to me?” He sneered, “What a joke… It’s just ashes, nothing left but ashes.”

He lifted his head up, a deep sigh leaving him. He stayed like that for a while before walking out.

He still had his Shi Han. He needed her hugs and sweet words.

He needer her.

However, he did not expect to see her with that black object on her head, her hands still on each side of it.

Hesitantly, he spoke, “Shi Han?”

Their eyes met, and what hers conveyed made him even more desperate.

“What… are you doing?”

Shi Han gulped, lips quivering and voice shaking, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

It was too much.

Tragedy was to come, but she did not imagine it so suddenly. She had not even had time to breathe. It was all going too fast, and witnessing it firsthand had never been in her plans. To see the life of someone you spend time with vanish before her eyes without being able to do anything to stop it was the most deplorable torture there was.

Waking up from the catatonic state with the smell of smoke from the flames Kabukimono had started burning the house in which she had memories was another pain.

She could not take it.

It was all too realistic; she did not even believe she was in her own game anymore. Maybe she was and there had been mistakes during the data transfer.

She didn’t care anymore. She wanted to get the fuck out.

If she had entered in the game with the VR, she could as well come out of it.

Fear was dominating her and she didn’t give a shit about anything or anybody else. She couldn’t.

She was doing what was right for her sanity. And she also felt so bad for that.

“What are you saying? I… I don’t get it.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I can’t stay here any longer.”

“Wait, wait! What do you mean? What are you trying to say? Where are you going? Where-“

Adjusting her VR, she pressed the button and everything was reduced into a spiral of colors. Seeing the familiar white room again, she collapsed on the floor, relief taking over her senses. Hearing her friends' and co-fonders’ voice put a definite end to that long moment.

But for Kabukomono had been an istant. A light and then nothing. She was gone.

His Shi Han was gone.

Where? Where had she gone? What had she done to make herself disappear? And why? So was it a lie? She did want to leave him?!

His head hammered incessantly, it felt like needles penetrating and pushing deep. His pupils constricted, a silent scream leaving his body, his hands clutching his head to try to stop the pain.

It hurt. It was unberable.

“Shi Han! Shi Han!” he sobbed. “Don’t go! Come back! Why are you doing this?! Please! Please, don’t leave me! Shi Han, please! Don’t leave me!”

Shi Han exhaled, almost running out of air. After regaining oxygen, she sat on the edge of the bed and a sigh of relief left her lips.

She was in her room, probably after she fell asleep and was brought in.

That was terrifying.

Dreaming of those events was not really something she expected. She had had nightmares after returning from here, but they had faded after a few months.

Guilt was kicking in again.

She needed a glass of fresh water for her dry throat.

Movements alerted her and she got up, spotting Hikaru under the moonbeams picking up her bag and placing it on the chair.

“Oh, it’s you. Was it you who brought me here?”

“Did you think it was someone else?”

“I… never thought you would do that,” she giggled. “but thank you.”

He just hummed, “Your bag fell and this thing slipped,” he lifted one of his hand to show her VR, the other one on his hip. “Nothing broken, you can rest assured.”

She let out a sigh of relief, “Ah, thank God- Archons. It’s a precious item for me.”

She walked over, checking that nothing was really broken, and put it back in the bag, then holding the latter to herself and returning to the bed to place it on the nightstand.

She wanted to hit herself because she had almost made a stupid mistake. Here they were not thanking God but the Archons.

It had never happened before, but the air was imbued with something strange.

It was heavy, tense.

“Is something wrong? You look nervous, Shi Han.”

“Oh, it’s al-“

Her heart skipped a beat, turning pale. She turned around to look at him, searching for something in his eyes that suggested she had heard wrong.

She had certainly heard him wrong. A trick of her ears. He didn’t know her real name.

“What…?” it was almost inaudible and she saw him tilt his head to the side. “Oh, sorry, Hikaru. I thought- nothing, don’t worry,” she shook her head and gesticulated with her hands. “I really should sleep.”

“Hikaru was the best name you could have chosen. I really had an enlightenment in my life.” One step forward, one more, another, as he continued, “But giving it to me through the Traveler was not necessary. I would rather you had given it to me in person.”

He was there, close to her. Too close. She was petrified.

His irises seemed to glow in the dark. Threatening, smothering.

She did not know how or when, but she felt pressure on her arm, was pulled to the side, and the sound of something being broken echoed the room.

Her eyes settled on the nightstand, where her bag was no longer. Her lips began to tremble, her face to distort with fear, and her breathing became labored.

His foot was still on top of it, the VR inside shredded.

He knew. He knew her real name, about her.

Fuck! Fuck!

How was this possibile? How did he find out?! Did her presence really lead to this? She had been careful, avoiding anything that might spoil the plan. Really!

Realization kicked in and she stared at him, while his eyes had never left her and had watched her every facial change.

“You used my VR!”

“Is that what it is called? It is certainly a wonderful invention.” With his hand still holding her arm, he drew her to him, chests touching and faces a short distan apart. “It made me see your world. Our past.” She could feel his breath against her lips. “You don't know... how painful it was after you left me. Asahi, Niwa, you. I saw the darkness, and called your names. Yours especially.” His other arm went around her waist, pressing their bodies together as tightly as he could, ”I wanted your hugs, your caresses, your reassuring words. You were my support, my fixed thought. But after a while, I began to forget you, only you. Probably because you are connected to my world and can manipulate a few things. And I bet the stars and the sky are part of it, aren't they?”

She gulped, trying to push him away, but she couldn’t.

It was happening too fast, she couldn’t react. Her head was spinning, her pupils shaking.

“But I’m also aware of how what happened has worn you down. You tried to make things better, giving me a new rebirth.” He gave her a knowing lopsided smile, a sinister glint in his eyes, “Everything is okay, honey. Your suffering is coming to an end. You will be reborn with a new you. I promise.”

A flashback of her stroking his hair and humming a melody while he was in a coma popped into her mind. He had recited the same words she had said.

He had heard it all.

“I'm sure you didn't do it all by yourself. Someone helped you. But even knowing the current situation, Lesser Lord Kusanali did not act on it. I assume that no one can do anything if you are involved.” His hand left her arm, which fell dead weight, and moved towards her chin, cupping it, “Am I right, Clara?”

She coudn’t breathe.

Demanding, controlling, out of his mind.

“Am I right?”

She breathed out, “Yes.”

“It means no one can meddle between us. Is that correct again?”

“... Yes.”

His face lit up, a smile making her skin crawl.

He giggled, caressing her cheek. He placed his lips on her forehead, before cupping her cheeks and kissing her.

She was squeezing her eyes, paralyzed.

He nipped at her lip, causing her to flinch and taking advantage of this, he swept his tongue between her lips, tangling and tinkling their tongues together.

He broke the kiss, staring at her with eyes filled with confirmed madness.

And hugged her. Her face against the crook of his neck.

“You’re such a good girl.”

The paradox was paralytic and finding a way out erased.

She realized that she had taken Nahida's words lightly.

But what could she have known? How could she have known that he would behave this way? These were not excuses! She could not have foreseen this!

But unconsciously she had believed that she would not arouse suspicion. Foolishly she had gotten too close.

And she had brought disaster with her.

Memories had surfaced that should not be there.

An unwanted insight into something that should not have been there.

He was so attached to her that his affection had transcended time and space, outclassing that betrayal and seeing the positive side of her redemption toward him that would also be projected onto her game, having a close connection between parallel and video game realities.

But she was the culprit. She had decided to test the waters by prolonging her stay in a place that was beginning to seem strange to her.

And she was paying the consequences. Willy-nilly.