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#everywhere he might be attacked he has something to defend himself

valeriefauxnom · 2 months

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South Grastea, Annotated (and the geography for why the Halidom is a prospective attacker's worst nightmare)

So, even if we got some info on geography for Grastea, keeping track of where exactly everything is can be tricky. Thus, I made a small, crude map to help give an idea of where the 'big' locations are, story-wise! Hopefully it helps any fic-writer out there who might want to have an easy consult for where stuff is.

Thus, Euden's path in the main campaign is as follows, as represented by this even cruder drawing wherein black lines are like ch 1-4, blue 5-9, yellow 10-14, purple 15 (the filled in white circle is 'start' in Sol Alberia, filled-in black circle is 'end' of South Grastea shenanigans at the border:

Some of these are guesses (Chanzelia to Clave Loy'elune and Clave Loy'elune to Murgia Village, ex) but others are evidenced or shown outright, like Euden's path from Sol Alberia to the Mistholt forest.

Still a terrible map, but it does show how Euden was bouncing everywhere. The early chapters do make a lot of sense: he approached the Halidom through its southern forest route, then left to leave through Myriage lake to approach Sol Alberia from the north, then got turned around and fled to Mt. Adolla. Guess Euden was lucky when deciding to then flee to the Halidom instead of running to nearby Leonidas for help, though!

Oh, and I also kinda have figured out the vaugeries of how the Halidom is even approachable, because it was kinda confusing as to how people could access it from the west if it only has that main drawbridge in its near-island position.

Long story short, it is still effectively an island, with the only 'permanent' bridge being the stone bridge from the southeast, but even that has a drawbridge they could pull. However, the Halidom does have a wooden rope bridge that goes to the west.

This can be better seen on my own picture (which also shows how the Halidom on the map would change depending on how far you've developed the Halidom!):

From a near distance, it looks like so:

This is where it becomes funny in the Blood That Binds, wherein most the family split up to try and bait the replica Alberius from all sides. Leonidas is to the north, Valyx the south, Chelle to the west, and Emile (and Phares) to the east.

But, as we can see, the only true feasible routes to march any decently-sized force through is the west and the south. Any other route would require a lot of swimming and then mountain-climbing to scale the rocky walls, which is not recommended to keep an energetic and safe force.

Thus, replica Alberius and his brutish strength decides to strike west, north, east, and then south. If I had to guess, Leonidas was put to the north to either be a one-man army himself by being able to fly over the lake separating him from the Halidom, or as a stealth source of reinforcements to either Emile or more likely Chelle to hopefully catch Alberius off-guard.

But Emile? Emile was likely put to the east just to keep him out of the action. And they still didn't trust him to lead that force well enough in case something did happen that they plunked Phares there to babysit!

Interestingly, the Halidom's layout has unique implications for the tunnel system that exists. We know it goes from outside the castle into it (and specifically into Euden's room at one point), but from where does the other side emerge? Is it still on the island, or is it a long long journey to the under the water surrounding the Halidom and under that, followed by a long climb up? We can see some more tunnels in the Halidom map in game, so who knows.

We also see Halidom strategy come into play for Gala Leif's story.

As we can see, it's technically possible to get very creative and 'make a route' from the east, likely in the form of a long bridge to span the gap between the island and the mainland. This, however, is still a very unconventional and dangerous endeavor (defenders just need to break the bridge), characteristic of Harle, and likely not a recommended warfare strategy if one dreams of attacking the Halidom.

Honestly, though, it's a phenomenal position defensively. The biggest risk would be a siege because of the easily cut-off routes in and out, but even that is mitigated by the presence of flying dragons that could carry food as well as its own mini-forest on the island they could cultivate and sustain a small force with. Its likely water supply also is hard to disrupt, being an absolutely massive lake surrounding it and entering via a waterfall, which would be hard to stop or poison entirely.

Last but not least, the weather is also favorable to defenders who know the land well, as Chelle explains in the Blood That Binds:

The water surrounding the Halidom, combined with its temperature swings from day to night, causes thick fog that a defender could utilize (even if it's not magically thick as it was in the very beginning). Yes, in this case, it's the offense taking use of it, but the replica Alberius, possessing Alberius' memories, had a 'defenders' knowledge that the rest of the family wouldn't know as well since Euden as the only current firsthand source of nitty-gritty details for how the Halidom works defensively had not shown up.

It really does sound like a nightmare for an invader. It's no wonder Euden is able to defend it with such a small standing force, and quite likely a bit part in why so many left him alone in the early stages; the time and resources it would require to truly root him out would be disproportionate.

So...yeah. There's a bit about Southern Alberian geography and why the Halidom is a defensive monster!

#dragalia lost #dragalia #dragalia analysis

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queerxqueen · 6 months

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If you didn’t know what Zionism was then I think it’s worth acknowledging the role propaganda, brainwashing and indoctrination play in what’s happened too. And I want to preface this by saying my intention isn’t defence of Noah, but nuance, because people seem to be missing a large chunk and treating him like he’s a 50 year old that should know better.

He is swimming in propaganda, all his life. His parents, his community, his peers. He is easily influenced. Picture the Oct 7 event but with him surrounded by parents reacting and saying things on pure emotion (because a fact is that everybody knows somebody in Is*ael, the Jewish community isn’t large worldwide. It is safe to assume they were upset.) any corrupt people in his religious community - it would have been surrounding everywhere he turned. He gets sad when people are sad. Dangerous time for more misinformation to be fed to him. Really I am curious to know about his sister being around too.

People say he can still educate himself - and I agree yes he can and should, but they are dismissing how deep propaganda goes. This happening did not surprise me. Him doubling down is surprising me, upset me, but I still think growth can happen over time. Him taking down posts was a good sign but he is obviously pressured by those around him and I hope he grows a spine. (Does that sound familiar, stan world? Feeling pressured to do what others do so you don’t get thrown away by your peers/people you like? He is so close to your own very young age, you know that right?)

Those 30 year olds with their stickers have 10 years on him. He met many of them on the propaganda mess that was the trip his parents set up for him (likely his ‘birthright’ trip) that uses young people to promotes the ‘country’ by using the religion he cares about. Because that’s what he was fed his whole entire life. He didn’t do any of this in 2021 when the last big attack happened. That trip and the bullshit people he met really did damage. That is not me excusing his responsibility btw, but it is a valid analysis.

Shawn, Brett and the Duffers are double+ his age too and they disappoint me way more than Noah. They feed him more lies because he trusts them! They should know better than Noah who was recently 17, and 14 and a kid. Especially Shawn who is close to his family.

Its not new information that he needs a spine. He needs friends that care about him. He needs to not please people. Noah is responsible for his actions but his indoctrination plays a part that is so obvious.

You might be confused why I sound like I criticize but sound like I defend too. That is the nuance. That is called not bowing to people (kids!) in a fandom prioritizing the wrong thing. Ya. 🙏🏻 on God Palestine will be free, but he does not have ‘blood on his hands’ people need to take away such intense focus like that on one person who is not even a politician. They sound ridiculous and not true allies! A real ally would not be prioritizing getting likes on hate tweets and posts, and not even discussing the genocide. Noah is a speck in this, it is just loud on your Internet side.

I've listened to a lot of stories from anti-zionist Jewish people and almost all of them have the common factor of indoctrination and propaganda that has surrounded them their whole life. I definitely agree that's the case with Noah. It's tragic but it unfortunately doesn't excuse his actions.

Agreed that the Stranger Things of it all is irrelevant in the scope of the real violence going on and that people should direct their anger to do something that actually helps Palestinians (like calling representatives, educating yourself, joining BDS led boycotts, etc) instead of just hating on celebrities or boycotting one of the most popular shows.

I appreciate and agree with the nuance. It all still sucks though lol.

#noah schnapp #free palestine #zionism #answered #anon #brett gelman #ross duffer #shawn levy

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honeylikesyanderes · 1 year

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Yanderes with a blind reader

thanks for requesting anon!

i hope this is what you were looking for and hope you enjoy!

18+ mdni

asks/requests are still open!

------------------------------------------------------

karma:

karma would be a lot more protective with a blind darling

he would be the type to keep and extra eye on them

and make sure that they're always comfortable whether they're in public or in private

he's also the type to glare at people who make rude comments about darling because they are blind

and if they came up to you and tried to make you feel bad, he would verbally berate them

which is strange because karma doesn't speak a lot

God help whoever dares to lay a hand on you tho

they will be wiped off the face of the earth.

karma is definitely more gentle with a blind darling

especially if they have a history of people bullying/being mean to them.

even tho karma isnt one to be touchy or talkative, he'd let darling touch him a lot and he'd speak a lot

so they can know and really enjoy his presence.

(he also has this super secret fantasy where darling touches his face very sensually while trying to feel his facial features.)

if darling's vision can be corrected via surgery and darling is willing to pursue that route, karma will be 100% willing to foot the bill.

bhodi:

i think bhodi would really appreciate a blind darling

cause he would love that someone liked him for him

rather than his conventionally attractive looks

it really boosts his self esteem

bhodi would become more possessive tho

because darling fell for him bc of his personality and his voice

he wouldn't want anyone to take them away from him

(this is also partly because bhodi has self-esteem issues and doesn't think he's good enough for darling)

that being said,

bhodi would probably turn up his clinginess and stalking from 90% to 200%

he'd try and follow you everywhere (even into the bathroom if he can)

and he avoids leaving you alone with anyone else

he might even force you to quit your job and lock you away in his home

he tells you its ''for your own good'' and that ''the outside world is dangerous''

he just loves you too much to lose you darling

and he doesn't mind utilising your vision as a reason to keep you all to himself forever.

memory:

memory is curious

he hasnt really interacted a lot with humans, due to the fact that he cant cope with their stench

and he's in a little bit of awe when he realises that you cant see.

he's definitely the most gentle with darling out of all of the yanderes

and he is a lot more caring

he will aggressively defend you when his father says something rude about your inability to see

and he most definitely doesn't mind murdering anyone that deems you 'unworthy' or calls you rude names.

he will try to find methods to cure your vision problems

because being blind in a royal court is very dangerous

especially due to the fact that you're the mate and going to be the ruling partner of the next kings

people would attempt to hurt darling

and since memory is pretty good with inventions and science, he'll work something out

and if all else fails, then he'll turn you into a vampire asap

it may not make your vision perfect

but it will make darling's vision at least 70% better

darling would have to wear glasses at most.

max:

max is a little demon.

so dont be surprised if he lies to darling about things going on in the palace that they cant see

he'll be a little bit like bhodi

in the sense where he'll use darling's inability to see properly to increase their fear

then he'll utilise that fear to make darling dependent on him.

from lying about attacks, to telling fibs that they were almost assassinated-

max will do anything to keep himself in control.

he just wants to be wanted by darling.

he just has a terrible approach to it.

(he may also use his lies to trick darling into sleeping with him)

on the other hand, max isnt all bad

when darling eventually falls in love with him, he will be more open to them

he lies less and less

and he will be more vulnerable to them

he will feel a sense of closeness, because (like bhodi) someone that he calls his loves him for him.

he will kill whoever says anything rude about darling and their sight

doesn't matter if its his parents or a maid or a member of the court.

they're dead.

when darling gets part of their vision back after being turned, max becomes more protective

tho he's a manipulative ass and secretly a softboy, he doesn't want any harm to come to darling

no one is allowed to see them unless he or memory are there.

and he also always carries a spare of darling's glasses in case anything happens to the pair that they wear regularly.

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excessively-english-jd · 2 months

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Some Thoughts

So... Lilith left 7 years ago, and Charlie hasn't seen or heard from her since. Alastor has been missing for the past 7 years. Definitely not a coincidence to have these timelines match up, obviously everyone has already figured that probably, these have something to do with each other. Alastor is trapped by a deal, and it makes sense that that deal might be with Lilith.

But, there's a big question of... why? Why would Alastor make a deal with Lilith? By all accounts, he's a massively powerful overlord, who commands huge respect due to his ruthless reputation, who seems to be in good or at least not-hostile standing with most other powerful overlords, like Zestial. What need would he have to make a deal where he's the party under contract, and apparently a bad contract that he wants to escape?

Well, Vox is notably the one who first mentions that it's "been 7 years" since he last saw Alastor. From his and Valentino's conversation, it seems a lot like they last saw Alastor 7 years ago - and assumed he was gone for good and not coming back.

In this same conversation, Valentino mentions Vox being pissed that Alastor "almost beat [him] that time". There's also a line where Valentino references Alastor "[owing them] a lot more than money". Vox says "things have changed a lot since he left town". To me, this seems like it could all be related.

Picture: 7 years ago, there was a large turf war between The Vees and Alastor. They're all formidable forces, so the battle is huge in scale and in casualties (owing more than money - because so many resources, so many contracted souls, so many important structures were lost). Alastor and Vox are reasonably evenly matched, though Alastor almost beats Vox - but potentially the alliances Vox has with the other Vees ends up just about giving him the upper hand over defeat (Alastor almost beat him that one time)(he'd be nothing without the other Vees). Alastor, like he does with Adam, disappears before he can be killed.

Alastor, badly hurt, low on contracted souls, having lost territory, is now vulnerable and desperate. Having seen him defeated by the Vees, he's at risk of attack from other Overlords. There's also the risk of the Vees pushing further into his territory to oust him. And, of course, he's badly injured and unable to properly defend himself.

Sounds like the perfect situation for a deal. Lilith, assumedly already planning whatever it is she has in motion, could see use in Alastor. Once he's back to full strength, he's formidable and respected. He'd be a good guard dog for Charlie. He's also likely to go along with Lilith's plan, if she promises him more power (even if she doesn't necessarily plan to follow through with that, but that's another theory).

So, Lilith makes a deal with Alastor, very soon after his defeat. He disappears with her for 7 years to recover, and to prepare for Lilith's plan (it's been 7 years. They thought he was gone for good). In that time, his absence allows for a change in the layout of territories in Pentagram City, and for a change in power structures - notably, that the Vees massively expand their power and influence, to the point that Vox's tech is everywhere, and they have a very central stronghold - including what seems to be a TV shop right next to Alastor's major radio storefront (things have changed since he left town, and it's time to show him who's really the boss now).

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin hotel vees #the vees #i am probably not the first one to think of this as a possibility but oh well

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waywardstation · 2 years

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It’s Nothing Personal, It’s Just Business

Ingo and Akari have a fight after Ingo finds out Volo wants to assist Akari in gathering the remaining plates; the warden has grown distrustful of the merchant. But Akari vehemently defends Volo and leaves to go off and collect the plates with him, against Ingo's wishes. As time goes on however, she realizes Ingo's concerns about Volo might not have been wrong. She wishes she hadn't been so harsh with him.

If you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been many Minutes drabbles coming up lately, this is why! I decided to put a little bit of time into this every time I needed to warm-up write instead of a drabble. I based this off of this fic concept people seemed to like, as well as some requests for something angstier between Ingo and Akari, like an argument.

OR read here on AO3!

Enjoy!

————

“Do you not trust him? Is that it?”

Akari stared intently at the cracking fire that clung to the logs, unable to look any longer into the eyes of the man who sat across the fire from her, gently washing his coat. Normally, she would only have to glance up at her side to meet his gaze, leaning into his warm, comforting side to fend off the cold night temperatures.

But not tonight. The night was cold in the highlands, and a small part of her wanted to be warm against his side, but the larger part - the upset part - wanted to keep her distance, to express how frustrated she was. She hugged her knees tighter to compensate for the missing warmth herself. Not even the fire seemed temperate enough.

On the other side of the fire, Ingo sighed as he dropped his own gaze, the brim of his hat hiding his features. It was a heavy sigh, but it didn’t alleviate any of the stress that weighed down on his shoulders.

“Miss Akari,” He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “Is this about the earlier events today?”

When an elated Akari had come to see him at the training grounds after a long day, bleeding from several scrapes and sporting developing bruises, he had immediately fretted over her. When he learned that she sustained her injuries from a rather aggressive attack with an Alpha Vespiquen, his concern only grew; she normally didn’t get this scraped up from Pokemon encounters.

When she pulled out a grey plate and told him that Volo had brought her out there to retrieve it from the enraged alpha, he barely even processed the following bits of information - that the merchant had wanted to take her with him back to that isolated woman Cogita, living out in the wild, so that they could retrieve more plates for a recent fieldwork assignment he knew nothing about.

It quickly became apparent that she had only come to him to say goodbye, and let him know where she was going to be for the next week or so.

The information had grabbed a handful of the guts in his chest and tugged down hard, painful and distracting. Volo had dragged her out to the wild, and had let her get hurt fighting an alpha while she retrieved this plate for him? She was so scraped up; did he just sit back and watch? And now, he wanted to take her back to that secluded area to do it again? And Akari was going to go?

This train was moving far too fast, and Ingo was worried it would derail if he let it be. So he pulled the emergency brake immediately. With more command in his voice than he had meant to express, he told Akari she would not be going out there with Volo.

Not that he didn’t want her to. That she couldn’t.

He had even surprised himself with the firmness of that sentence, and it clearly dampened Akari’s attitude. At her reaction, Ingo had quickly backpedaled, rethinking his words - who was he to tell Akari what she could and couldn’t do?

It wasn’t like he was her actual family, despite how much it felt like it sometimes.

However, when Volo showed up a few minutes later, saying he had been looking everywhere for her and asking if she was ready to leave, Ingo quickly reverted to his previous stance. He could sense a miffed disposition hidden beneath the merchant’s cheery attitude, and it was clear why, once Akari explained she knew Volo wanted to leave immediately, but couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Ingo first.

Volo had wanted to take Akari away without even letting her tell him where she was going first.

Had he not let her tell anyone? That set alarm bells off in his mind, and had once again told him to pull the emergency brake.

Interrupting their conversation before it could go any further, he had told Volo that Akari would not be accompanying him.

Ingo was glad it had been his turn to stay behind and clean up the training grounds, so that Zisu did not have to see this. The conversation had quickly turned into a severely-strained, barely-restricted civil argument, and it ended rather bitterly.

“Akari, please come find me if you ever decide for yourself that you’d like to move forward with my help.” Volo had told her when he finally turned to exit the training grounds, having seemingly lost the argument. Ingo’s disposition only darkened towards the merchant with how layered that sentence was, both accusing Ingo of being wrong and overbearing, as well as encouraging Akari to go against him and ‘do the right thing’.

And the thing was, it seemed to sway Akari. She was considerably upset after that conversation and left the training grounds not soon after, rather than sticking around to even ask Ingo why he did that. Ingo was relieved that she didn’t leave to follow after Volo, having watched her instead head into the Galaxy Team Headquarters, but he once again asked himself if he had overstepped.

But Ingo had quickly realized his issue didn’t lie with not letting Akari make her own choices, it lied with Volo’s concerning behavior. Something about that man was deeply unsettling…

Ingo had later left the training grounds with the setting sun, only feeling comfortable enough to leave once he saw the Ginkgo Guild start to pack up and depart from the village, sure to return the following morning with newly stocked goods. Passing by the headquarters, he stopped by to try and find Akari, so he could explain to her his concerns, but he could not find her.

Perhaps she was trying not to be found. Perhaps it was best not to discuss such things in public around others anyways, and…he was not her parent.

So he had been surprised when Akari showed up at his highlands site well after dark, in the middle of him carefully scrubbing the day’s dirt out of his coat with cold riverwater. And from her expression as she approached and sat down by the fire, she was clearly still upset over what happened.

“Look, Ingo,” Akari tried to release some of her building frustration with a sigh, grasping at a stick on the ground. “I know you care a lot about safety and everything…but sometimes…I don’t know-”

Akari seemed to have lost her courage to continue, opting to start drawing mindless shapes in the dirt with her stick as she rested her chin on her knees, still hugging her legs with her free arm. The position took on a more defensive quality now.

“Miss Akari,” Ingo stopped scrubbing his coat for a moment, checking over it as he attempted to pick up where she left off. “The safety of other passengers is of utmost importance, and when called for, it’s imperative I conduct procedures to ensure-”

“-But you don’t have to! Sometimes you don’t need to!” Akari realized he wasn’t understanding what she was talking about. “I mean, like today? Volo was trying to help me with an assignment Cyllene sent me on! It’s not like he’s dragging me out in the middle of nowhere for no reason, he wouldn’t do that!”

Ingo glanced at Akari as she talked, again observing her cuts and scrapes from her earlier encounter with the alpha vespiquen…all of that, for one plate. He could agree with the former part of her statement, at least; Volo definitely seemed to have his reasons. But what was he after..?

“I mean, you don’t do this with anyone else, You never have.” Akari’s tone lost some of its steam as she snapped the stick in her hands absentmindedly, tossing the halves into the fire. “I haven’t said anything about it, but, I notice how you act differently around him, like you don’t like him or something. Why is it just with Volo?”

Ingo was silent for a moment, contemplative. His thoughts on this matter flowed freely in his mind, overwhelming almost every time he had seen the merchant interact strangely with Akari. But now that he was trying to put them into words for her, he was cautious not to let the same thing happen, instead beginning to carefully pick out choice thoughts.

It wasn’t that he was intimidated; certainly not. Ingo was a gentle person, but he was not a doormat. However, he knew the odds were stacked against him, as Akari was clearly in Volo’s corner. She was defending him, set on her own perspective, and this had become painfully more obvious in the days leading up to this current moment. Ingo knew he’d have to be attentive with his words if he wanted to get her to consider taking off the rose-colored glasses.

He supposed he would have liked to prepare for this more; he had told himself he would have this conversation soon, but he didn’t think it would be like this. The moment had sprung upon him sooner than he would have liked.

“...Volo’s behavior concerns me.” Ingo started, looking up from his now-clean coat to give Akari all of his attention. In return, he could see Akari giving her all of his. Good. “He seems like, well…”

Deep breath, in and out. Tread slowly and carefully with the words, and surely, she would understand.

“…like he hides his true intentions behind purposely-disarming behavior. His habit of gift-giving must be rather costly, and, well… it only extends to you. And, I have noticed he does not particularly involve himself in conversations unless it is about mythology, it seems…or if it is with you. Miss Akari, he worries me with how much he steers his conversations with you towards your origins, and how he had often seemed to group you and the rift together as the same thing…isn’t that a little concerning to you?”

Ingo searched Akari’s face for signs of understanding, or thoughtful contemplation, but he wasn’t quite sure that was what he found, with her features just as tight as her grip on the stick in her hands.

“That’s it?”

Akari still wouldn’t look at him, eyes glued to the fire with those two words. His speech had deflected right off of her, and Ingo realized he had not won her over. Had she even truly considered what he said?

“Ingo, Volo isn’t hiding anything. He does those things because that’s just how he is - he’s a nice person! I’m not surprised he’s interested in where I came from; I mean, I fell from the sky! And I like talking to him about it, he seems like he already knows a lot about this stuff! He likes to give me things because he wants to help me! Because he’s my friend!”

She hadn’t considered his words at all, viewing it purely as hasty, unfounded distrust, rather than repeated, worried observations. The tone in that sentence was exactly what he wasn’t hoping for. He had upset her instead of making her understand.

“Ingo, If he’s hiding something, what are his ‘true intentions’ then?” Akari challenged him, snapping another stick and tossing it onto the fire. “What would he be trying to hide underneath this ‘purposely-disarming behavior’ of his?”

This was a question Ingo had asked himself many times, but he didn’t know the answer. Truly, what Volo wanted was a mystery. He suspected all of the free gifts were to win Akari over, but for what? And why was he so interested in Hisui’s mythology? And now that the rift above the mountain was closed, Volo couldn’t possibly still be chasing after that - there was nothing left to chase! Ingo did feel like Volo talked about all of this to Akari specifically due to her coming from the sky…he recalled the one time Volo had asked himself about these experiences, but as soon as he had revealed he remembered nothing about his origins, Volo completely dropped interest in him, turning back to Akari.

But, he still had no idea why.

“…I don’t know.” Ingo finally admitted, sounding more than a little guilty as he let go of his coat, letting it crumple in his lap. “But-“

“-You don’t know?” Akari interrupted, genuinely appearing frustrated that he couldn’t back up his claims.

“Volo is not to be trusted.” Ingo tried to wrap up his previous thoughts quickly and get to the point, throwing out the first absolute he had ever contributed to this conversation. He gazed intently at Akari through the fire, trying to emphasize how seriously he felt on the matter.

Why couldn’t she understand?

“You barely even know him! You can’t judge someone based on suspicions, Ingo! Don’t you know how unfair that is?”

Indeed, Ingo did know, and he was a bit taken aback at the fact she would possibly bring that up. She knew very well the stories of how, as a stranger, the members of Pearl Clan were slow to trust him just because of how naturally he could wield even the strongest Pokémon. How some of the villagers’ kids at Jubilife were still a little wary of him based purely on his intimidating appearance, and how it sometimes disheartened him, even if he outwardly played it off.

On the other side, Akari didn’t fully understand what she had dug up until the words left her mouth. She had meant for it to only appeal to Ingo’s sympathetic side, not immediately realizing how much it would seem like she was trying to stir up his empathy instead.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt.” Ingo grounded his point, his thoughts focusing back on Akari’s wounds sustained from the alpha vespiquen.

But apparently, that was the wrong choice of words. It forced Akari to leave the misunderstanding unaddressed, moving past it in order to confront the new wave of anger that had flared up at the statement.

Did he think she couldn’t fend for herself?

“What, like this?” Akari pointedly held her arm up, presenting where a shallow but long gash marred the soft flesh. It had since been tended to and cleaned up, but it still looked rather painful. “Volo didn’t do this! An angry vespiquen did! I can take care of myself, Ingo, but Volo would never hurt me!”

Ingo had not implied that, but now the worrying thought was added to the pile that jumbled up in the back of his mind, pressurizing against his skull like a headache.

“As the adult who conducted you out there, Volo was responsible in that situation.” Ingo attempted to correct himself and clarify his statement, trying to keep the situation calm as he wrung his hands in an attempt to self-soothe. “Yet your injuries express that no one was performing needed safety checks. I do not want these events to be repeated, leading to worse consequences.”

“It’s not like he took me out there purposely trying to get me hurt! The alpha just jumped out at us!” Akari was not as calm as Ingo was, not even stopping to think about how it really had been risky, and at the least, she should be reconsidering the dangers moving forward.

“Ingo, I’ve known Volo a lot longer than you have; he’s always been like this! He’s just a nice person, that’s it! He’s not hiding anything, or secretly wanting to hurt me, or, or-“

“Miss Akari-“ Ingo attempted to slow things down; Akari was working herself up, and anger never got any problems solved.

“-I’ve even known Volo longer than I’ve known you!” Akari threw out, continuing to try and make her point. It had come purely from a place of reasoning; statistically, she had known Volo for quite a bit longer than she had known Ingo. Before she had even met the warden, Volo was really a primary source of support - encouraging her, gifting her with free presents, and offering her friendliness. She was just trying to emphasize how long she really had known him. But she couldn’t deny that statement had sounded emotionally charged.

“I mean…he’s the one who ended up coming to help me when I was kicked out, and everyone else turned their back on me!” She tried to back up her statement. “How could that be suspicious, when he had nothing to gain by doing that? Doesn’t that mean anything?”

Even though it wasn’t casting any blame on Ingo, she knew that wasn’t entirely fair to say. She knew he had wanted to go after her, and had fully intended to until Kamado stopped him and kept him in the village, making sure he would not go after her. He had threatened to cut ties with the clans if any of them helped her, but it was a threat he had not intended to go through with, hoping the empty words would be enough. So when it wasn’t, he took preventative measures to ensure he wouldn’t have to cut ties, something ultimately worse.

Of course, Akari hadn’t learned that until after she had gone through the agonizing process of pained rejection from everyone she had approached. After Volo had found her and graciously took her to Cogita. After he had set up a system of support that, if she was being honest, saved her life just as much as her reputation.

Ingo hadn’t done this because he was literally barred from doing so. But Akari didn’t know this until she had returned to the village to find him confined there, worried out of his mind but overjoyed that she was alive.

But she knew what she had said was not fair. If anything, Ingo was the first person to try and help her, days before Volo had come across her.

A deep sigh escaped Ingo as he hung his head, his shoulders slouching. This had not gone the way he wanted it to go at all.

“My point still stands. I do not want you to follow Volo out to the east.” Ingo kept his head down, his tattered hat completely obscuring his features - he did not want her to see how conflicted he felt with the compromise he was about to bring up. “…I do not trust him with you. You will not go out there. Not unless I accompany you.”

Maybe it was the fact that he had embarrassed her today in front of Volo and anyone else who could have heard the argument in the training grounds today, making choices for her as if she was a child who needed guidance.

Maybe it was the authoritative words he used, repeatedly overriding her options and limiting them to his conditions.

Maybe it was the fact that he still showed no trust towards her friend, and didn’t apologize for his upsetting, serious accusations.

Or maybe it was simply the anger that had flared up and urged her to automatically push back against any boundaries he set, jumping to conclusions that he thought she couldn’t handle herself.

“Are you really this paranoid, that I can’t do this by myself? Ingo!” Akari immediately pushed back, standing up from her spot - she felt like she had to move, or she would combust. “You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do, you’re not my…p-parent!”

Ingo knew that just as well as she did. He was not her family, not literally. But as the months had gone on, he couldn’t deny his relationship with her very much felt like one. And with the way she choked on the word as she took it and condemned it, it seemed she did too.

“I’ve done so much; I quelled the nobles! I closed the rift! I went against Dialga and Palkia! And look! I’m fine!” Akari kept going, her features expressing more distress than anger as she went on. This wasn’t about Volo anymore. She felt like the air was growing thin with how absorbed she was becoming in trying to express her feelings. “I did all of that, I can do this too! Stop…just stop suffocating me! Please!”

Ingo frowned as he always did, but the eyes were the window to the soul, and if Akari was paying attention to them, she would have seen his heart crack.

Amongst all of the hurt, his brain scrambled to conduct a sentence made up of messy apologetics and repetitive reassurances. But he swallowed them as Akari pulled out her flute, and forced out a quick, angry note, summoning Lord Wyrdeer. The majestic Pokémon would be here in moments to whisk her away into the night.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t go today because you said you didn’t want me to, and I…respect your decisions,” Akari said, putting her flute away as she brushed the dirt off of herself. “But I’m going tomorrow morning, with Volo! I have to do this!”

Before Ingo could say anything else on the matter, Wyrdeer arrived with thumping gallops to take her back home.

He let her leave, and gazed back at the clean, drying coat in his lap with a distant stare. He felt like he had been punched in the gut a few times over, with the choice words Akari had used against him.

Paranoid? Suffocating? Is that what she thought of him? He admitted he sometimes felt a little concerned that maybe he performed too many safety checks, or perhaps was overbearing with his desire to extend this to others - especially those he cared about, but…

Why had he let things devolve to this?

————

Akari yawned as she closed the door to her unit, the cold morning forcing a shiver out of her. The sun was still behind the mountains, casting a weak glow over the sky; Akari never usually got up this early.

But, she wanted to get out of Jubilife before Ingo came for his shift at the training grounds. Last night’s events had been so upsetting that she struggled with getting to sleep. She was still angry with him, and didn’t want him to catch her on her way to Volo and make her turn around, or insist he go with her again. Just the thought of that happening made her frustrated.

Though there was a small bubble of regret floating under the surface of that sea of frustration. She thought back on the words she had used against Ingo more than a few times last night, and each time had brought an uncomfortable, warm flash of shame.

Why did she say those things to him? She knew anger could make people say things they don’t mean, and last night, she certainly let her anger get the best of her. But she had still said them…what if Ingo thought she meant them?

However, Ingo had said awful things about Volo, when he wasn’t even there to defend himself. How could he say such things! She replayed his accusations in her mind, calling him suspicious, and careless with her…and looking for something else.

Volo was not like that.

The bubble of regret popped.

Suddenly noticing Zisu enter onto the road from across the bridge that led to Jubilife’s homes, heading for the training grounds, Akari realized Ingo’s appearance would follow soon after.

She wiped the tiredness and stress from her eyes and quickly headed for Jubilife’s gates, both to escape a potential meeting with Ingo, and to find Volo.

————

When Ingo arrived at the training grounds barely on time that morning as opposed to his usual early arrival, Zisu had immediately noticed something seemed wrong, but didn’t know what had happened.

“There you are!” She greeted him as he entered through the gates, mid-stretch. “I was beginning to wonder where my workout partner was! I thought you were going to let me do this all by myself! You doing alright?”

“I apologize, Miss Zisu,” the warden told her as he slipped his tunic off after his coat and tied it around his waist, preparing to join her in her routine. His look was apologetic, but she could see a distressed quality to his features that he was trying to hide. “I seemed to have lost track of the time on the way over here this morning.”

Another short stretch of silence, save for soft cracking of Ingo’s back as he began to fall into her routine of stretches with her, much more than usual.

“Crackly this morning,” Zisu attempted a lighthearted jab to poke fun at him with his tense back. “You’re not skipping out on those massage sessions with Pesselle, are you?”

“I ah, did not sleep well last night.” Ingo admitted, his features tight as he recalled the night before. His chosen sleeping position had been upright on the hard ground, his back against a rock wall by Lady Sneasler’s cave. He had been so stressed out over last night’s events, that heartburn had flared up and kept him from finding a more comfortable sleeping position. Ingo had meant it simply as an explanation, but Zisu took it as a sign to stop joking. Even without the more worrying details, she knew something was troubling him.

Another pop as Ingo followed her lead and stretched his shoulder.

“You know if the kid’s going to stop by today?” Zisu changed tracks, a more genuine quality entering her voice. Ingo always brightened when Akari came and had a battle with him, or showed him something interesting she had found during her fieldwork. And it seemed like he needed some of that. “I saw her leaving with a lot of supplies to go somewhere pretty early this morning!”

“No, I imagine not. She has departed for a few days.” Ingo responded, his frown deeper-set than usual - Zisu had confirmed that indeed, Akari had left to most likely go find Volo, and had almost certainly left early to avoid seeing him.

After a few moments of waiting for more, Zisu realized that was all he had to say on the matter.

Zisu knew the warden always grew a little concerned when Akari left on longer trips, but it was never anything like this. And Akari was fine; when Zisu saw her leaving Jubilife early that morning, she was perfectly healthy and packed to the brim with supplies…now the detail of a trip had made sense.

But now that she thought about it, she considered it odd that Akari had left so early, not even waiting to bid goodbye to Ingo. The kid was normally glued to the warden.

…Had something happened between them?

She focused back on Ingo as they continued stretching, his worried gaze fixed somewhere in the distance by the Coastlands, over a particular edge of Mount Coronet.

“...Ingo, is everything alright?”

————

“Ah! My favorite customer! I was hoping you would show up at some point! Have you come to take me up on my offer?”

Volo gave Akari one of his signature bright smiles as the girl approached him, pleasantly surprised to see she had managed to find him on the way back from one of his delivery trips through the Fieldlands. His happy disposition slightly comforted her, despite the thoughts that troubled her.

“Yeah…I um, look, I’m really sorry about yesterday,” Akari apologized to the merchant as she met his gaze, pushing through the tallgrass to reach him. “About Ingo, he’s just…concerned, is all-“

“Oh, I gathered as much.” Volo’s tone lost some of its cheeriness as he crossed his arms, recalling yesterday’s altercation. “‘High-strung’ or ‘insecure’ might fit him better…honestly! What does he think is going to happen? I’m glad you’ve come to your senses, and found me!”

“Yeah…” Akari brushed it off, not wanting to comment, but also not wanting to disagree for the sake of avoiding another altercation - she had had enough of those. “Anyways, um, how many deliveries do you have left? I’m ready to go when you are.”

“Oh, deliveries? Those can wait,” Volo waved a hand off to the side, disregarding his own work. “Finding the rest of those plates and uncovering Hisui’s mysteries for the sake of that wonderful pokedex project of yours is a much more pressing matter! What’s the importance of a simple ginko merchant’s chores, when there are legends to unravel? And if anyone can unravel them, it’s you! Come; if you’re ready as you say, we can leave for Cogita’s home immediately!”

With a wave of excitement washing over the deeper currents of trepidation, Akari followed after Volo as he changed course from Jubilife Village, pressing into the wild tall grass towards their destination in the distance.

————

It had been four days now.

Every morning, Ingo showed up to the training grounds just as troubled, and every morning, Zisu was growing more and more suspicious that something had happened between him and Akari.

Ingo worried intently over Akari’s well-being; Had she gotten hurt again? Was she eating enough, sleeping enough? Did she feel safe? Ingo was yet to see her himself, but Zisu’s reports of seeing the girl still leaving her unit early every other morning quelled his worries some. She was alright (at least he thought she was, Zisu never mentioned she ever looked upset), but for how long? How long until Volo let her get hurt again? Or hurt her himself?

…or maybe she was still fine because things really were alright. Maybe he really had just been paranoid about Volo? Maybe he really had been smothering Akari?

The thought did not make him feel any better.

He did not seek out Akari though, or send his Pokemon to go check on her; her words to him clearly asked him to give her space. Who was he to go against that, after she had already said he was suffocating?

Maybe he had grown more expectant of her company than she had of his.

Though Ingo greatly appreciated Zisu’s offers to spend time with him, and invite him to join her at The Wallflower after workdays. He knew it was spurred by concern and pity, her having noticed his troubled disposition, but she insisted it was so he could at least enjoy a meal and some time with someone before embarking on a long, lonely trip back to the highlands.

However, whenever she asked how he was doing, he was careful with what he disclosed.

He was constantly worrying about Akari, and admittedly replaying the things she had said to him in his head more than he should have. And while Zisu always reassured him she was open to listen, Ingo felt he could not talk about the troubling events; it was not proper to share such things about others. Besides, words from one side could never properly express the event from a neutral standpoint; he didn’t want to risk accidentally making Akari look bad to Zisu.

Instead, he shared with her his concerns regarding himself over their breaks and dinners, when she asked. In the least embarrassing way he could, he opened up a little about his insecurities - regarding how he worried he was paranoid, and projected his safety concerns onto others, to the point where it was annoying rather than appreciated.

While he was sure that over the days, Zisu was piecing together a narrative that was rather close to what had actually happened between him and Akari (She had from the moment he first spoke up about himself; it became painfully obvious very quickly), she never brought it up. Instead, she did her best to solely focus on genuinely reassuring him of his troubling thoughts without blindly complimenting him.

And it was somewhat reassuring.

Ingo appreciated her friendship immensely, and how she did her best to help him feel better, even when she didn’t fully know what was going on.

However, it didn’t quell his worries over the fact that in the last four days, Akari still hadn’t come to see him.

He fretted that Akari was still upset with him.

————

Akari was upset with herself.

As the days had gone on and she continued working with Volo and Cogita, some…concerning things had started to surface.

Maybe it was due to the fact that Ingo’s words about Volo had clung to the back of her brain, speaking up incessantly to give reason to the things Volo did, or pointing out actions that Ingo had shown concern over, emphasizing them. But something about Volo had seemed to start slipping, and matching up more with Ingo’s views of the man.

He no longer joked with her, or asked how she was doing. He wasn’t mean to her, he never had been - however, it seemed he was simply becoming more fixated on the number of plates she was collecting.

He never asked to see them, or hold them, or anything strange like that; that would have concerned her that maybe he wanted to take them. Instead, he simply began to talk about them constantly with her. So much so, that she thought the word suffocating applied better to Volo.

It hadn’t started like this.

She got plenty scraped up during her different trials in retrieving the plates, as Ingo worried she would. But when she retrieved her first plate, Volo had fretted over the damage she had sustained from the battle, offering her free medicinal balms to apply to the cuts and burns. The first thing he had asked was how she was doing, and if she was alright after such a scuffle. This behavior had reminded her of Ingo, in a way.

…and then he moved on to ask about the plate she had retrieved, and if it was in good condition.

But as she collected more plates, his caring behavior fell to the wayside. The free gifts to help her along began to wane (He had stopped showing up for work at the Ginkgo Guild entirely), and there was no more expected cheerful smalltalk or encouraging words about her skills. Now, it was always about how many plates she had, and asking how soon she thought she would have all of them, or what power she thought they held.

What she thought would happen after she collected all of them.

It was all he talked about anymore.

He actually seemed to be getting impatient for something he was expecting to happen, if she was being honest.

Ingo would not have acted like this with her, dragging her around and insisting she hurry onto the next mission quickly. He would have slowed down if she felt things were moving too fast, and would have checked how she felt about the situation.

Proceed with speed, but not haste, as he would say. A passenger’s comfort is just as important as their safety, he would say.

She missed his presence.

Having initially avoided Ingo out of anger at the start of the week, she now avoided him out of shame whenever she returned back to Jubilife for quick restocks (Which she hadn’t wanted to do, but with Volo’s flow of free gifts having dried up, she was forced for retrieve medicines and bandages for herself and her growing list of injuries back at her unit). Zisu had seen her though, and she was sure the woman had shared this with Ingo. Which in a way, made it harder to imagine facing Ingo now.

How could she possibly talk to him now? The frustration had long since burned away into something more akin to humiliation, and reluctant acceptance…that maybe he had been right, and she had hurt him for no reason.

Something was definitely going on; the thought had sprouted somewhere along this blur of collecting plates.

But now it was clear as day, with Volo leading her up to the crumbled ruins at the top of Mount Coronet. The ruins she had destroyed in her battle with Dialga and Palkia, now left to decay in its damaged state, sharp and jagged as it scraped the heavens.

The seventeen plates she had collected hung heavy in her satchel as she followed behind the man who insisted she bring them all, the setting sun’s bright light reaching over the mountaintops forcing her to squint. Her hand never strayed far from the pokeballs at her side, the atmosphere heavy with suspense as she took Ingo’s earlier words into account.

Would he hurt her?

She had been preparing for it the moment he asked her to follow him up here to this secluded area - the request was rightfully sketchy, when lumped with all of his recent behavior.

But why? What did he want?

“I must apologize, Akari,” Volo broke the heavy silence as he continued up the steps, not even looking back at her as they climbed higher and higher. “I do suppose I must seem to be behaving strangely.”

The admission did nothing to diminish Akari’s concerns. In fact, it only intensified and confirmed them. She said nothing as she reached the top of the steps with him, the wind rushing between the busted remains of the columns before them.

“I daresay you deserve to know what I’m really after by now.”

Volo’s following speech concerning the pursuit of Arceus, and the plates, and how unfair it was that the mighty deity did nothing to reward his efforts was barely processed by Akari. About how he made her follow through with the process of collecting the plates just so he could meet this all-encompassing deity.

She was too focused on replaying Ingo’s warnings in her mind, matching up every concern the warden had voiced with the words Volo had said.

When he pulled out the coveted eighteenth plate from behind his back, going on about using Arceus’ power to create a new, better world, and demanding her to give him the plates lest he use force on her, the static that filled Akari’s mind momentarily dissipated, being replaced with anger.

Now was not the time to freeze up, and let him win.

Ingo had been right about Volo, she finally allowed herself to freely admit. And she had called Ingo paranoid, and wrong, and suffocating for it. She thought back on all of the times Volo had talked distastefully (but subtly) about Ingo; initially feeling like justified assumptions in response to Ingo’s rigidness with him. But now, she recognized them as venomous words meant to pit her against Ingo’s concerns, and doubt any mistrust the warden expressed towards him.

She had fallen into his trap, and it pained her that it took her this long to see things as they were.

Akari would apologize to Ingo the moment she saw him again…if she ever would. She wished he was here right now, up on this lonely, isolated relic of a temple that Volo had dragged her to. So that he could comfort and encourage her like he always did, and so that she could apologize to him immediately.

Seeing the angry, pained look that made its way onto Akari’s face, Volo shook his head.

“You know, I didn’t set out to have things end up like this from the start,” the man told her. “I do like to think we had good relations. I enjoyed helping you, even before I saw that device you had been gifted with, resembling the deity. It was incredibly difficult accepting the growing realization that the all-encompassing Arceus simply favored you.”

He took a step closer to her, his frame towering over hers, but Akari did not back down, already grasping for Ember’s pokeball. Her recently-evolved companion would protect her, the phantasmic Typhlosion’s pokeball already heated with restless, enraged energy.

“Arceus only bestowed his attention upon you. How else could you calm all of the nobles so easily? Or Become such a force with your Pokémon? You collected multiple plates so easily, in a smaller time than it took me to unearth just one. There was a clear favorite, I’d say. So after you closed the rift up here on this mountain, I knew I would have to utilize the only thing they seemed to care about, if I wanted to finally meet them and receive even a fraction of their power. So believe me,”

Volo’s gaze bored into Akari’s soul, the look of a resilient man desperate to reach the goal that he had pursued for so long, now mere inches from his reach with only Akari standing in his way.

“It’s nothing personal, it’s just business.”

————

Passing under Jubilife’s gates and entering the fieldlands, his mind trying to focus on Zisu’s most recent reassurances from the dinner he had just finished with her, Ingo kept his eyes focused on the road in front of him.

It had now been almost a week since he had last talked to Akari. And while he was not one to actively seek out company, he missed her’s. He had not realized how comparatively lonely or detached he had felt here in Hisui, until the day Akari had approached Irida and himself looking for an escort. Now, he was starting to remember what it felt like.

He had continued to miss her when he came for his shifts at the training grounds, and had twice seen her passing through the gates from his station at the training grounds, but he stood firm on his decision to let her approach him first. Give her time.

Do not suffocate her.

His eyes drifted to the direction where he knew that secluded, mysterious woman lived, on the other side of Mount Coronet. Where Volo had taken Akari- no, where Akari had gone with Volo. She chose to go, he hadn’t forced her. He needed to let go of such a paranoid narrative. She was fine-

However, he was quick to notice a vibrant red glow up at the top of Mount Coronet from the corner of his vision. Obscured by clouds rolling in, and dimmed in contrast to the setting sun’s own light, he had almost missed it.

The slight tremors that ran under his feet a moment later made Ingo pause reflexively, but bursts of vibrant purple accompanying the steady red glow set a fire under him.

Flames of that hue only belonged to one Pokémon he knew, here in Hisui. It was impossible to forget them after seeing them flare to life, the day he had congratulated Akari for taking her beloved companion to its final stop on the tracks of evolution.

Ingo’s legs almost gave out from under him as he took off through the tallgrass, deviating from the beaten path in the direction of the mountain as he pulled out his flute to urgently call Lady Sneasler.

————

Akari wobbled as she tried to make her way to the edge of the temple, nearing the steps leading down the mountain, the badly-beaten (but triumphant) Ember resting within her pokeball, along with the rest of her team. Blood trickled freely from nasty cuts and scrapes where it didn't pool under the skin to form sensitive bruises, but her attention rested solely with the chipped, scuffed purple plate in her unsteady hands.

Volo was long gone, having left in apparent shame, and leaving that last plate behind. That thing was long gone, having torn the atmosphere open like a wound and writhing through it like the leech it was, once its symbiotic host had fled. The sun was long gone, leaving stars in its wake as the waning warmth of the day died with the light.

She had fought them both back, even being at a disadvantage - even being deliberately put at a disadvantage. The fresh events were already a blur, despite their culmination being no older than half an hour.

Everything had long left the razed ruins on top of that lonely mountain, except for her. She had lingered amongst the rubble until she realized it was dark, and the temperature was quite literally freezing, with the wind picking up and a light snowfall starting; she would need to leave soon unless she wanted to succumb to the cold up here.

But making her way down the steps was hard. She could have tried to convince herself that it was all of the pain from her injuries slowing her down. But realistically, it was hot, burning shame that chained her to this ruined temple.

How could she go back? More specifically, how could she face Ingo?

After those awful things she had said to him? Gone were the desperate wishes she had earlier, wanting him to be by her side so she could apologize to him. Those had evolved into a nauseating realization that told her she had irreparably damaged her relationship with someone who cared very much about her. Why would he want her around?

He had been right, and she had hurt him for it, and told him he was wrong.

Akari only made it down a few more steps before she crumpled, putting her aching head into her bloody hands as she sat down and slumped forward on the stone staircase.

Why did she do that? Why did she let Volo manipulate her like that?

As she pulled out the sickly purple plate Volo had left behind to inspect it, the drifting snowfall clung to her hair and stung her open wounds. The sharp edges of the plate dug into the sore flesh of her hands with how tightly she was holding it.

She dreaded the possible thoughts he had about her now.

“Akari-!”

Akari’s attention snapped back to reality, to the familiar voice that called her name over the gentle snowstorm.

That voice belonged to the man she had once called paranoid, now full of justified worry.

Through tear-obscured, blurry vision, she spotted Ingo, the man she had once called suffocating, now heaving to catch his breath as he pushed himself to keep going up the temple’s steps.

“Akari-!” He repeated again, finally reaching her. His hands were shaking, both from overexertion and the surge of excess adrenaline, as he dropped down on the steps to check over her. Akari’s tremors mirrored his, though hers were caused by prolonged cold and intense grief.

“I saw the- the…a red light- and shaking, and…are you alright? You’re bleeding! What…what did he do-?”

He was terribly wheezy, drowning in his own gasps for air, yet all he wanted was to know if she was alright.

He had come for her. The love, the care, and the compassion were all still there, just like always. After everything she had said to him, and after disregarding his warnings, and going off to do something he asked her not to do, leaving him behind…

There was driven concern in his voice as he used it to try and confirm she was alright, instead of harshly admonishing her or saying ‘I told you so’. There was warmth in the rough hands that tried to clean the blood from the fresh cuts on her cold cheek, numb from the frigid mountain atmosphere. And there was comfort in his presence instead of contempt, like there always had been.

Tears spilled anew over Akari’s cheeks as he checked over her face, still fretting over the bleeding cuts and signs of forming bruises that overlapped over older injuries sustained over the week.

“-I apologize, I know- give you s-space, but I could not- where…where is he? Is he still here-?” With anger seeping into his voice, and rough hands moving to her shoulders to brace her, Ingo’s worried ramble switched to other safety checks. The chipped plate in her hands led Ingo to assume Akari had overpowered the man (which ran a passing swell of pride through his chest), but that didn’t mean the merchant was gone. Ingo quickly glanced around the vicinity of the ruins for any sign of the merchant. If he was still around, Ingo wanted to get them both out of there quickly. He was not a violent man, but after finding Akari in such a state, he was not sure what he would say or do to Volo if he saw him. Lucky for everyone, he seemed to be long gone.

“You’re sorry? Ingo…I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Ingo’s questions went unanswered as Akari choked through her throat, words bottlenecked by the emotions squeezing it as she leaned forward to grasp for him. She buried herself into his tunic, her head pressed against his shoulder as hands grasped at the layers of fabric around him. The words came out almost automatically, taking the chance to follow through with the silent promise she had made. “I really messed up!”

“Miss Akari-” Ingo stiffened at the contact so as not to be pulled off balance; his legs still felt like jelly after running up all of those steps, and leaning on crumbled stairs was not the most stable position to begin with. Though, receiving a hug from her after such a long period of stark avoidance made his voice stammer with a spark of emotion.

“You were right about him!” Akari sobbed, her voice muffled as hands pulled his tunic close to her, tugging him closer - she could feel his chest still heaving, and his heart still racing. “Volo- he, he tried-“

“You didn’t know.” Ingo tried to justify the situation, short sentences between breaths that were finally starting to regulate. She felt his arms finally wrap around her and hold her back - he had been hesitating before, unsure if she wanted it at this moment until she initiated it. “No one knew, or even suspected, what he was doing. You did not know, and no one should expect you to have known.”

You are just a kid, Ingo thought, leaving it unsaid. But one who always tries to see the best in people.

“But you did!” Akari continued sobbing into his tunic; why was he being so humble? “You knew! And you tried to tell me! And I just- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean what I said! You’re not overbearing, or, or paranoid, I don’t know why I said those things, you’re not-”

That was all she could get out before her throat closed up again, and she retreated back into his tunic, curling up to further escape the cold.

Ingo’s heart ached at the display, both out of empathy for her, and the tired relief that filled in the cracks at her remorseful exclamation. She was still just a teenager, and he knew he had upset her at the time. He had known not to take hurtful words to heart in moments of frustration, but…having jabbed at pre-existing insecurities of his, they had still left a hollow, admittedly.

But the hollow would mend. It already was, with Akari’s apology. But she was clearly still torn up about things, and was beating herself up far more than he wanted to see. She had already been deeply hurt by someone who used her. Why would he turn around and add to that?

“I know your words were not…reflective of what you felt,” Ingo sniffed, disregarding the uncomfortable wet spot that began to seep into his tunic from Akari’s own tears. He didn’t even entertain the thought of how much blood she was probably smearing onto the white fabric, and he ignored the way that the sharp plate in one of her hands awkwardly dug into his belly. “You were upset. At that time, what I said went against what appeared to be true, and I could not even back up my claims. And, I apologize for being…suffocating. About it. Regardless, I should not have tried to make your choices for you. I will do better. So, given the circumstances, it is…”

He stopped himself from finishing his go-to sentence of reassurance. If he said ‘alright’, surely she would feel inclined to disagree again and start up another string of disputes, and he didn’t want to inadvertently make things worse.

“...understandable.”

Akari sniffed, and he felt her nod agreeably against his chest, taking a deep breath to reset herself.

“Stop, you’re not suffocating. You never were…I’m really glad you came.” Her voice muffled into the fabric again, the weariness apparent. She wiped at her eyes with the back of sleeve as she finally pulled away, the flow of tears finally slowing. “But I’m still…really, really sorry.”

She finally set the plate down beside her, having held onto it so tight it left red imprints in her frozen fingers, and reached up to gently wrap her arms around Ingo’s neck in a proper hug.

“Thank you for coming for me, after…everything.” She muttered into his shoulder.

“I’m only sorry I was not here sooner to help you,” Ingo replied, carefully wrapping his arms back around her, so as not to irritate any possible injuries across her back that would be hidden under her uniform. His eyes fell onto the plate she had set down. “Though I am not surprised to see you took care of it yourself. You’ve always been able to handle anything that’s come at you; bravo, Miss Akari.”

The warm breath from Akari’s soft, weary laughter tickled against his neck; he had no idea how much she had missed his expected phrases, or how much his encouragement meant to her - especially one that directly contradicted what she assumed he had thought about her the week before..

Though Ingo could also feel her shivering against him amongst the soft laughter; Akari felt a warm weight drape over her shoulders as he pulled back, removing his weathered coat and wrapping it around her. It instantly protected her against some of the weaker winds and snowfall, and was already warm from absorbing Ingo’s own body temperature.

It comforted her almost as much as the firm hand that patted her shoulder.

“Now, we should depart before both of our engines freeze up here. Lady Sneasler is waiting below, let us return to her. We need to get you back to Jubilife and warm you up,” He helped her stand up, keeping her steady as he led her down the steps with him. She leaned against his side, clutching his coat tightly around herself as they left the crumbled remains of the temple behind them. “I will make us both some tea, and tend to your scrapes as best I can, until Miss Pesselle is able to see you…if that is alright of course, Miss Akari.”

Even now, he only wanted to help her, trying to put everything painful that had happened behind him. He still loved her as much as a parent could possibly love their child, and the sheer amount of concern he held almost made her cry again. She winced at the way Ingo paused at the end and asked for confirmation, now seemingly conscious as to whether he was being ‘suffocating’ again or not.

But she would make sure she’d always reassure him that she appreciated everything he did for her. Never again did she think she could even possibly find it suffocating. He had always had her best interest in mind, and was always looking out for her. She would look out for him too.

“Yes,” She held onto his arm for support as they continued to trudge down the steep steps together. “…Thank you, Ingo.”

#submas #Ingo #warden Ingo #Akari #Pokémon Akari #Volo #Pokémon Volo #Zisu #Pokémon Zisu #pokémon legends arceus #Pokémon legends #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon legends #pokemon #Pokémon fanfic #this one is a bit angstier haha #but it has a good ending #all my work will always have a happy ending

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dracoqueen22 · 2 months

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A writing prompt for you:

FFVII, Reno & any number of other Turks, an escaped experiment that's supposed to spew poison but instead spews something else entirely. (Like sex pollen, for example.)

(As NSFW or not as you like!)

This is like... two years late, but at last! I have answered this flash fiction fest from the last one I hosted. Please enjoy! <3

There are many unspoken rules about being a Turk. Truths they’ve acknowledged over the years, that they pass on to new recruits but no one dares write down because the Turks are secretive by nature, and no one wants to admit that they are actually fallible.

Don’t go after an escaped experiment alone is not the number one unspoken rule, but it’s high on the list. Right next to it is: always wear a gas mask. And an addendum to that? Kill first, ask questions later.

You never can be too careful with what escapes from Hojo’s many, many labs. And if sometimes, the experiment growling back at you has the face of someone you used to work beside, well, you just pretend you didn’t see it.

Don’t ask Hojo what he’s doing. That’s a very important unspoken rule. Never ask Hojo what he’s doing behind closed doors. Else it might be your face your partner is seeing the next time something escapes, however accidentally. (Rumor has it that Hojo frequently lets things loose just to see how they fare against ShinRa’s elite, the bastard).

Tseng remembers the rules. He always remembers the rules. So why is he staring at Reno with glazed eyes, no gas mask, and sweat beading on his brow? Why is he launching himself at Reno with attacks harder and faster than Reno can defend or evade? Reno’s never won in a hand to hand spar with Tseng.

He’s under no illusions that he’s going to win now. Even if Tseng’s acting like a puppet without strings, some kind of powder puffing from his suit in lurid highlighter-yellow wisps.

“Fuck,” Reno gasps into his gas mask. He doesn’t want to shoot Tseng. Tseng is not the escaped experiment.

He’s the first responder who somehow didn’t bring his godsdamned gas mask and has now been dosed by whatever freak-of-nature poison Hojo’s newest pet sprayed on him.

“Come on, boss. Snap out of it!” Reno shouts as he twists to avoid another grab and doesn’t make it.

Tseng gets a handful of his suit jacket, so Reno wriggles out of it and cuts it down to a loss. He can get another jacket. He’s pretty sure he can’t get another arm. Unless he subjects himself to Hojo’s mercies, and since this whole situation is Hojo’s fault, no thank you.

His comm crackles. "Reno, do you need assistance?" Elena asks, all new recruit eager and helpful, and ugh, any other time Reno would be happy to let her do the hard work.

"Not right now, rookie. Stay the fuck away and go find whatever caused this mess," Reno snarls as he ducks away from another swipe from Tseng and contemplates his options. Why hadn't he packed stun charges in his baton this time? Why had he gone for lethal only?

Because it's a Hojo experiment, that's why. Kill first, ask questions later. That's the rule. Along with "always wear a gas mask" which Tseng apparently forgot. Which means Reno’s going to have to somehow take Tseng down, and hope Tseng doesn’t decide punishment is in order later.

Or hope that he chooses punishment, but it’s the kind Reno likes. Mmm. That would be nice. Bent over the knee, a little spanking, some fingers slicked up with lube and –

Tseng slams into Reno, and he curses – caught by the horny haze, damn it – as they both go down and Tseng winds around him like a python. He’s all long limbs and strong hands and those legs circle around Reno’s waist like a vise.

Fuck.

Tseng’s hard. Like hard enough Reno can feel the heat of his dick through his slacks, grinding against Reno’s pelvis as Tseng squeezes and squeezes with those powerful thighs of his, spreading that yellow powder everywhere.

“Come on, boss!” Reno yelps, twisting his head left and right, but it’s useless, because Tseng grabs hold of his mask, yanks, and tosses.

Reno drags in a gulp of air without thinking, and something powdery lands on his tongue. It’s bitter and sour, chalky as it goes up his nose and into his mouth. He coughs, eyes watering, as Tseng’s legs tighten and he– uh, yup. That sure is Reno’s boss grinding against him like a harlot.

“I’m never gonna let you live this down,” Reno wheezes.

Tseng looks at him with hazy eyes, face flushed, hair wild around his face. Wait, no. He’s looking at Reno, yeah, but specifically, at Reno’s lips. Tseng licks his own and then his mouth crashes down on Reno’s, and wow. Tseng can kiss. His tongue’s an unrelenting force that pushes a moan out of Reno. He turns to liquid want, spine tingling and brain going mush.

Reno gets a fistful of Tseng’s suit, grinding that yellow dust into his own skin, into the dark of Tseng’s suit. And he thinks he ought to push Tseng away. He ought to try and fight back, but his limbs are noodles, and Tseng’s burning up, and something’s boiling in his own gut, too. Lust pours through his veins, throbs through his dick, and Tseng rolls up against him, and Reno, he knows this dance.

He rolls down, and they both groan. Tseng’s biting at his mouth and lips, leaving them bruised and hot, his skin glittering from the powder, with a throat that’s made for marking. Reno’s had more than a few choice fantasies of pinning his boss down and seeing if he can dissolve Tseng’s elegant poise.

Well.

Tseng’s got no poise now. He’s making hungry noises, his thighs wrapped around Reno like a vise, his hands restless as they pull and tug at clothes like he’s forgotten how buttons work.

Reno has about five seconds to realize that this isn’t normal, and it’s probably all Hojo’s fucking fault, but then he’s drowning in sensation, and Tseng smells so fucking good. Every bit of restraint he has turns to shreds, and he kisses Tseng back. His comm crackles, but he flicks it off and lets himself enjoy this.

It isn’t how he imagined seducing his boss, but fuck, he’ll take it. Let Rude and Elena handle the escaping monster.

Reno’s got Tseng well in hand.

***

#draco writes fanfic #flash fiction fills #reno/tseng #reno of the turks #tseng of the turks #final fantasy 7 fanfic

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theomnicode · 2 years

Text

Genos and acquiring psychic powers

oH nnoooOO I thought of something horrible just now.

If y'all remember the meta about psychostimulants and I just now thought about Genos' true calling as a defender and potential healer...

Remember how Fubuki healed him firsthand? And stopped him from exploding?

And how Fubuki was doing a lot of actually protecting heroes from certain death on the battlefield and Genos himself trusted in Fubuki to take care of the heroes he brought to her?

I'm pretty sure that part has left a lasting impression on him. And he definitely feel inadequate in protecting people with his own raw power alone.

Then if you remember how in OVA, Genos wishes he had psychic powers so he could have saved sensei's crabs. That seems to be foreshadowing.

I'm calling it here, he's gonna get into his head that he REALLY needs some gosh darn psychic powers to actually protect people, shield them and heal them. Because he feels so inadequate in raw power.

More specifically, against OPM God.

What better way to do it but drink poison in a bottle, ergo psychostimulant that heightens psychic powers?

Courtesy from interrogating Psykos during the psychic sisters arc where he might notice Fubuki's prowess in defending herself with psychic whirlwind too. Against mental powers. He also saw firsthand just how powerful Tatsumaki is with her psychic powers and defending against Psykorochi who was god-empowered. He was in the thick of all that and only staved off her attacks with his own maximum capacity.

All this talk about how God attacks the weak points in one's spirit too and not physical attacks. He'd need to get mentally a lot stronger.

All he needs as incentive is a large scale attack where he is unable to protect everyone, even if he eliminated a threat swiftly, because he can't be everywhere at once. The scale of attack where lots of people actually die. They don't need to physically die, they could just die in his imagination.

If we really want to torture this guy mentally, destroyed schools, parks and dead little kids and lots of orphaned children that he personally comes in contact with. An actual honest to god nightmare scenario for him.

In his free time, Genos spends time at a park where he oversees kids play around. Just in case of monster attacks. And it really angers him to hear this guy be so irresponsible and not issue an evacuation order when these kids might be in danger.

Another type of incentive is that he would feel like he has to mentally protect Saitama and his vulnerable emotions, when Saitama actually starts to show vulnerability. Be his shield, the umbrella from the caustic rain of God's influence. Because he cares for him so much.

But he'd end up becoming a mental meatshield and not an actual shield. That's just how he is. He tried to protect Tatsumaki at the cost of his own well-being and he would definitely try to protect Saitama from mental attacks the same.

Saitama tried to teach him to value his own life and it took root, but there's definitely a setback in the form of the memories from the core, actually remembering dying and being too infatuated, he would not think rationally. All he would think of is not his own well-being, but others. And if Saitama-sensei can just turn back causality, he'd be safe no matter what risky avenue he takes right? He's free to take risks.

Hell, he might be out of commission still when the psychic sisters arc commences and he'd feel even more useless without an actual battle form.

Chances are the memories of everyone dying to Godrou is just about all the incentive he needs. If this is God's power, he needs to shield people from it. He would search for ways to desperately protect people from it if he can't even physically attack OPM God.

As S-rank, he would be privy to the interrogation information as well. Then all he needs is to procure said psychostimulant and he could get those damn psychic powers he thinks he needs.

Too bad doing so would make him 100% susceptible for God's machinations, if he gets a cognitive boost. Or it would just straight up kill him. He has no psychic powers, so he'd probably just fry his own brain or go comatose or whatever.

And I'm not sure but he'd probably gloss over Saitama's reaction to whatever happens to him. Because if something happened to him, Saitama could just bring him back. That is what he expects Saitama's modus operanti to be, but I'm not sure he'd have considered the emotional ramifications of him dying again.

But he does not know something important about Saitama and that is Saitama's own suicidal tendencies. Romeo and Juliet.

Nothing good is in store for Genos, nor Saitama if Genos goes through with this.

#opm #one punch man #genos #opm meta #opm wc spoilers #psychic powers #mental shield #fubuki #opm manga panels #opm god

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candycandy00 · 11 months

Text

The Dark Carnival Chapter 3: Twice x Reader Part 3 (Final)

AU fic about the League of Villains as members of a 1920’s traveling circus/carnival, and everywhere they go, people tend to disappear. Each chapter will feature a new Reader getting mixed up with one of the members. This is a dark fanfic so please don’t expect happy endings!

This was getting too long so I’m dividing it into three parts!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Smut. 18+. Violence/blood/horror. An ableist term is used to describe Jin’s mental illness (this is set during the 20’s after all). Gender neutral reader (they/them pronouns used to describe them). Twice’s split personality manifests itself as his ventriloquist dummy as this AU has no quirks.

Once you were out of sight of the two men guarding the gate of the carnival, the hands that had been dragging you suddenly relaxed, giving you the opportunity to pull free and whirl around to look at your attacker.

You’d half expected to find Jin, perhaps attempting to apologize. But the person standing in front of you was Touya, a cigarette between his lips and a dangerous look in his eyes. “So you figured it out,” he said.

“Figured out what?”

Touya narrowed his eyes, as if annoyed. “That Jin is batshit crazy.”

You opened your mouth to say something, to defend Jin, but you couldn’t. The last few minutes in his tent were too fresh in your mind. Instead, you asked a question. “What do you mean, he’s crazy?”

Touya sighed, pulling the cigarette from his mouth and exhaling smoke. “The way you ran out of there, I thought you’d experienced it firsthand. Jin has two personalities. One is the friendly guy you know. The other is…”

“Jimmy,” you said.

“Yeah. That fucking dummy.”

“Can’t someone just… take the dummy away from him?” you asked.

Touya shook his head, then took another drag of his cigarette. “You’re not understanding me. The dummy isn’t the cause of the second personality. It’s the container. Do you wanna know where Jin came from?”

You hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“The boss, our ringleader, found him in an asylum. He was locked up in a tiny dark room. A guard overheard him talking to himself in different voices and got the big idea to sell him to the carnival that happened to be in town.”

“That’s awful,” you said, imagining Jin sitting all alone in the dark, with only himself to talk to.

Touya went on. “We noticed right away that he had a split personality. Jin was agreeable and easy to deal with. Jimmy was an asshole who constantly picked fights and even tried to stab some of us. So the boss got an idea. He hired someone to make a dummy that looked like Jin, then we convinced Jin that Jimmy had moved to the doll. Let me tell you, Jimmy stirs up a lot less trouble when he’s an inanimate fucking object.”

You stood there for a moment, letting the story sink in. “So if you took the dummy away, Jin would think Jimmy was back in his body with him. He’d be dangerous.”

“That’s right. So if you care about Jin, you have to accept the dummy as part of the deal.”

You looked Touya in the eyes. “Why are you telling me all this?”

Touya shrugged and flicked his cigarette onto the ground. “Jin is one of us. I don’t want him to be hurt. I figured if you understood the situation, it might clear up any misunderstandings.”

“And why should I trust you? You’re the one person I’m most suspicious of.”

Touya sighed as he pulled a fresh cigarette from his pocket and lit it up. “Look, I really don’t remember your friend.”

“Marie,” you said. “Her name is Marie.”

“I really don’t remember Marie,” he told you, emphasizing her name. “A lot of people come to my tent after the shows. There’s no way I could remember all of them. If Marie really did come to my tent, she had a good time and then she left. Just like everyone else. Whatever happened to her after she left isn’t my concern.”

It was a cold statement about a woman he’d probably had sex with, but he had a point. If Marie was attacked or abducted after she left the carnival, Touya couldn’t be blamed for that. Maybe you’d been wrong about him. He was rude and couldn’t even remember the faces of his lovers, but he also clearly cared about Jin. Plus he’d been alone with you, the person who’d been dogging him for months, twice now and easily could have killed you, but he hadn’t.

Regardless, he’d given you a lot to think about, and you needed to go back to your motel room.

“Thanks for telling me about Jin,” you said to him. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Touya gave you a casual wave as he turned and walked toward his tent. You left through the gate, your heart and mind heavy.

You cared about Jin a lot, and hearing the explanation for his behavior had softened the anger and pain you’d felt earlier when Jimmy had said such cruel things. If Touya was telling the truth, Jin was mentally ill, and he couldn’t help what Jimmy said.

Could you deal with that? Could you handle Jimmy as “part of the deal”? You really weren’t sure, but you did know one thing: you had to see Jin again. You had to talk to him.

And so, you returned to the carnival the next evening. You didn’t attend Jin’s show. You thought it might make him nervous to see you in the crowd, so you waited until he finished the first performance and the audience cleared out. When you walked into the tent, Jin spotted you immediately, and his whole face lit up.

He practically ran over to you, grasping both your hands in his. “You came back! I was so scared Jimmy had ruined everything!”

“So… you know what Jimmy said to me?”

“Of course I do,” he said, “I was there! But I couldn’t stop him. I tried to make him shut up, but he wouldn’t. I’m so sorry! You know I disagree with everything he says, right?”

You gave him an uneasy smile. “It’s okay, Jin. I understand. I don’t blame you for what he said.”

Jin looked at you with such relief in his eyes, it nearly broke your heart. He wrapped his arms around you in a gentle but tight embrace. And again you felt like being in his arms was right.

“I’m so glad you’re not mad at me,” he said, his voice vibrating pleasantly beside your ear. “People hate me for what Jimmy says and does. I hate myself sometimes for not being able to stop him.”

You pulled away. “Don’t! Don’t ever hate yourself, Jin! You’re a wonderful person.”

He beamed at you, then suddenly his eyes shifted to the ground and he looked a little shy as he asked, “Do you want to come see me tonight? I’d understand if you don’t…”

“I do,” you told him, deciding on the spot. Before speaking to him, you really had no idea whether or not you’d go back to his tent. But your heart was pulling you toward him. You’d built a friendship with him over the past few months, and it had finally turned romantic. This was the last night the carnival would be in town, and after talking with Touya, you didn’t know if you’d keep following the carnival anymore. This might be the last night you saw Jin for a long time.

After agreeing to meet him later, you left his tent. For perhaps the first time since you’d began following the carnival, you didn’t watch Touya’s show. You just didn’t feel that spark of interest and suspicion anymore. Instead, you walked around enjoying the carnival as a guest. You watched other shows, you rode a few rides, and you even played a couple of games. It reminded you of the night you came with Marie, of her laughter, her delighted squeals on the rides, her bright smiles. Marie had been like a sister to you, and the thought that you’d wasted months chasing a false lead hit you hard.

When the time came, you returned to Jin’s tent the same way you always had. He was waiting for you, sitting on the edge of his bed. You couldn’t help glancing at the dresser, but Jimmy wasn’t there. Jin must have noticed, because he answered the question you were thinking before you could ask it.

“I put Jimmy in the trunk,” he said, pointing to a large wooden trunk that had been scooted to the far end of the tent. You’d seen it open before, with Jin’s clothes spilling out, but now it was tightly shut. “I thought that might make you more comfortable.”

“I appreciate that,” you replied, wrapping your arms around his neck. You stood on your tip toes to kiss his mouth as his hands moved over your body. He was particularly gentle with you tonight, softly caressing you and placing sweet kisses along your neck as he opened your shirt.

Jin was the best lover you’d ever had, and it wasn’t only because of his impressive physique. It was the care he took with you, the way he prioritized your comfort and pleasure. If the concept of “love” had a physical sensation, this was it.

Once you were both undressed, you playfully pushed Jin onto his back on the bed, then straddled him. He seemed surprised, but he was grinning, clearly enjoying this reversal of positions. You rubbed your body against him, feeling his erection grow beneath you. Once you could feel the wetness of his precum smearing over your entrance, you slowly sank down onto his cock, filling yourself with him.

Jin gasped, reflexively thrusting his hips up. He raised up on his elbows and looked at your face as you rode him and moaned his name. Looking him in the eyes, you almost blurted out the words you’d been thinking for the past few minutes. You almost told him you love him.

But you didn’t. At this moment, grinding against him, feeling his hot, firm skin against yours, you just didn’t want to complicate the situation.

You pressed your hands onto his chest, your favorite part of his body, feeling the muscles becoming tense as both of you got closer and closer to release. When you came, he did as well, at nearly the same instant. Sweaty and out of breath, you collapsed onto him, and he wrapped his strong arms around you again.

Then, like both nights before, you fell into a blissful sleep.

When you woke up, you noticed immediately that Jin wasn’t there. The bed was so small that his absence was very noticeable. You felt a sudden spike of alarm as you remembered the night before. You quickly looked to the end of the bed, then exhaled the breath you’d been holding when you saw that Jimmy wasn’t there. Your eyes swept over the dimly lit tent, falling on the trunk in the corner. It was still closed.

“Jin?” you called as you stood up and began dressing.

There was no reply, so you sat down on the bed to put your shoes on. Maybe he had to pee, or he stepped outside to smoke.

Just as you finished tying your shoes, you heard a voice you’d come to hate say, “I can’t believe you were stupid enough to come back.”

You froze for a moment, looking around the tent again. Where was he hiding?

“I don’t care if you hate me, Jimmy,” you said, “Jin likes me, and that’s all that matters.”

“Jin doesn’t know what’s good for him. He’s a simpleton who can’t survive without me.”

You stood up from the bed and walked around, glancing behind things to see if you could spot him. “I think you’re wrong about Jin. He’s a strong person. He can get by just fine on his own.”

There was silence for a few moments, then the voice said, “I warned you. I told you what I would do if you didn’t stay away from us.”

You remembered Jimmy’s threat to stab you, but you chuckled and said, “I’m not afraid of a dummy who can’t even move on his own.”

“Oh, you don’t know?” the voice asked, and you realized for the first time that the voice didn’t seem to be coming from the trunk. Instead, it was coming from…

The bed.

You turned quickly to look back at the bed, only to see Jin crawling out from under it. He was holding a large knife, and his eyes looked cold and empty. He grinned, a soulless grin, and said in Jimmy’s voice, “Sometimes we switch.”

Your heart stopped, or at least it felt like it did before it began hammering rapidly. Every cell in your body seemed to be telling you to flee. But Jin wouldn’t hurt you, would he? Even Jimmy wouldn’t actually stab you, right? He was just trying to scare you away… right?

Jin, or rather Jimmy, took a step toward you. In turn, you took one back. “Jimmy, I want to talk to Jin. Give him back control,” you said firmly, trying not to let the fear slip into your voice.

Jimmy was still grinning. “No thanks. See, I haven’t had control of this body in a long time. Now that I do, I’m not giving it up that easily. And you’re conveniently right here.”

You frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jimmy looked at the knife in his hand, then back at you. “It means I don’t have to go looking for you.”

From the direction of the trunk, you heard Jin’s voice yell, “Run! He’ll kill you!”

Even in that moment, as fear exploded in your heart, you were still amazed that Jin’s lips didn’t seem to move at all as he threw his voice.

Jimmy lunged at you with the knife as you ran toward the tent’s opening, and you felt the cold, sharp pain of the blade slicing your arm. You didn’t stop to check the wound, you just kept running until you were out of the tent, then darted into the shadows as quickly as possible as your sleeve became wet with blood.

You ducked behind some wooden crates until you heard Jimmy run past, then began quickly weighing your options. It said a lot about your panic-addled state of mind that your first instinct was to go and “free” Jin from the trunk. But then you remembered the dummy was actually just a dummy. Jin was still in his own body, he just didn’t realize it.

The thought crossed your mind to run into one of the other tents and ask for help, but you decided against that idea. You were an outsider. When you’d talked to them about Marie, the carnival folk had regarded you with suspicion and even outright hostility. There was no way any of them would side with you over Jin.

You took a deep breath and ripped some fabric from your shirt, then used it to tie around your arm. You didn’t think the wound was very deep, but you didn’t think continuing to bleed freely was a good idea.

There was only one option left that you could think of. You had to make it to the gate, get to your automobile, and drive to safety. Once you were behind your locked motel room door, you could decide what to do from there. You regretted telling Jin where you were staying, but you doubted Jimmy would follow you all the way there. More than that, you doubted the other carnival folk would let him, as it would risk him being caught.

Jimmy had to know you’d head for the gate, so you had to be careful. Running straight there would be too risky. You had to keep to the shadows, hiding periodically to stay out of sight. With this plan in mind, you crept out of your hiding spot and ran along the side of a tall food booth, then ducked into the seat of one of the rides. You waited and listened. After a few minutes of hearing no sign of Jimmy, you dashed out and past two more rides before hiding behind the counter at the balloon darts game.

Here, you heard heavy footsteps running by, and Jimmy’s voice call your name. He wasn’t too loud, no doubt trying to keep from alerting everyone else. There was a good chance the others would restrain him until they could “return” Jimmy to the dummy’s body. But if they found you, there was an equally good chance they would get rid of you to keep you from going to the police. You still didn’t trust Touya, who was the last person Marie was with before disappearing, and you’d heard a few rumors while following them about people vanishing after the carnival had been in town.

Jimmy’s voice receded into the distance, unfortunately in the direction of the gate. He was obviously patrolling the path to the exit. Would the guards stop you? You had to take the chance that you could rush through without being caught.

You quietly got to your feet, and as you turned around to look for your next hiding spot, you found yourself face to face with Jimmy. You screamed and jerked yourself backwards at the same time that Jimmy jumped over the low counter. He shoved you, and your back crashed into the dirt floor of the booth, knocking the wind out of you.

Jimmy loomed over you, grinning. “Thought you could get away, huh? Just like you thought you could lure Jin away from the carnival.”

What? Lure Jin away? You didn’t have time to give his words more thought, as Jimmy suddenly straddled you, just like you’d straddled Jin in his bed earlier. He pulled the knife from behind him and held it up for you to see.

“Jin will never forgive you,” you told Jimmy. “He’ll never forgive himself.”

Jimmy paused, and a look resembling regret flashed across his features. But it was gone as fast as it appeared. “He’ll forget about you eventually,” Jimmy said with an eerily blank expression.

You tried to raise up, but Jimmy used his free hand to press you back down, his fingers digging into your shoulder. You turned your head to the side, desperately looking for anything that could help you. That’s when you noticed rows and rows of small, colorful items lined up on a shelf under the counter. It took you a moment to realize they were the darts guests could throw at balloons.

You reached out with one hand and frantically grabbed a handful of darts, then jabbed them into Jimmy’s thigh that was right beside your torso.

Jimmy howled in pain and drew back, falling onto his side and off of you. Grabbing another handful of darts, you got to your feet and backed away. Jimmy got up quickly too, and leapt toward you, but you dodged and shoved three more darts into his arm. They were small, clearly unable to stab too deeply. They wouldn’t do much damage, but they would hurt. Jimmy screamed again and began trying to pull the darts out of his arm and thigh.

“Jin! Listen to me,” you cried, even as you grabbed several more darts. “You’re aware of what’s happening, right? That means you can’t be trapped in the trunk! You’re still in your body! You have to take back control!”

Jimmy pulled the last dart free and charged at you, screaming, “Shut up!”

You turned to run, but you didn’t get far before you felt Jimmy’s hand grab your arm and pull you back. You tried to stab his arm with the darts again, but he grabbed your wrist and held it down. You struggled, trying to squirm free of his grasp. Finally, in desperation, you yelled, “Jin, help me!”

Suddenly the arms restraining you dropped. You ran several steps forward, out of his reach, then turned to look at him. Jimmy was crouched down, holding his head in his hands.

“Stop! Just stop,” Jin’s voice said.

You took a step closer to him. “Jin? Is that you?”

He looked up at you, and his eyes were full of tears. “Go! Get away while you can!”

You hesitated. Seeing Jin in such mental anguish hurt a thousand times worse than the cut on your arm. But if you stayed, if Jimmy killed you, Jin would hate himself forever.

“None of this is your fault, Jin. Don’t blame yourself!” And with that said, you ran off toward the gate.

When you were so close you could see the guards, you stopped and looked back. Jin was still crouching there, his shoulders shaking with sobs. You watched as a young woman approached him. It was the knife thrower. Jin had once said she was like a little sister to him. She knelt down and wrapped her arms around him.

Feeling certain that Jin would be taken care of, you ran out the gate so fast that the guards barely seemed to notice you.

During the drive back to the motel, you couldn’t stop crying. Even after showering and using more torn cloth from your clothes to bandage your arm again, you felt a deep sorrow that wouldn’t go away. In the end, you fell asleep with a wet face.

The next morning you were awakened by a knock at your door. Startled, you climbed out of bed and peeked through the tiny hole in the door. Had Jimmy actually chased you here?

To your surprise, it was Touya who stood on the other side. Your mind raced with questions. How did he find you? What did he want? Was he here to kill you? But you took a deep breath and tried to think things through. The only way he could know where you were was if he checked the dozen or so other motels in the area, which seemed unlikely, or if Jin told him. And if Jin told him, he must trust him.

Deciding to trust Jin’s judgment, you opened the door. Touya put out his cigarette on the ground and stepped into your room without being invited.

You crossed your arms over your chest and asked, “What do you want?”

He sat down casually on the bed. “I just want to know what your intentions are.”

“You want to know if I plan to go to the police,” you said.

Touya smiled. “We didn’t get raided by the cops last night, so I took that as a good sign. But I wanted to be sure.”

“And what if I say I do plan to report what happened? Will I disappear?”

Touya looked at you sharply, the smile vanishing from his face. “If you go to the cops, they’ll come and get Jin. They’ll toss him back into that tiny dark room and leave him there to rot. He’ll never see the light of day again.”

You held his gaze for a moment, then sighed. “I’m not going to tell anyone what happened. Of course I’m not! I wouldn’t do that to Jin. I… care for him, a great deal.”

“I figured as much,” Touya said, standing up from the edge of the bed.

“Hold on a minute,” you told him, then went over to the nightstand and wrote something on a piece of paper. You handed it to Touya and said, “Give this to Jin. It’s my home address. Tell him to write to me when he gets to the next town.”

Touya took the paper, but looked at you curiously. “Are you sure you want him to have this? Anything Jin knows, Jimmy knows.”

“I’m aware of that. But I’m a long way from home. I trust you guys to not let Jin travel several states away from the carnival.”

Touya gave you a somewhat wicked grin. “Maybe so, but we’ll end up back in your town eventually.”

“That’s fine. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

Touya stared at you for a moment, then laughed as he headed toward the door. “I really should have invited you to my tent from the start.”

“I would have declined,” you said.

“Yeah, I’m sure you would have,” he replied, opening the door and stepping through.

You walked over and stood in the doorway. “Oh yeah, give Jimmy a message for me. Tell him I never had any intention of taking Jin away from the carnival. He needs a support system, and for better or worse, you guys are it.”

Touya nodded, then walked away. You closed the door and began stuffing your clothes into your suitcases. The drive home would be long, and you hadn’t found any answers about what had happened to Marie, but you were beginning to make peace with that. You lost a precious friend, but now you had gained another. Funny how life seemed to circle around.

****

When Touya returned to the carnival, he found Jin sitting on the tailgate of one of their trucks, apparently resting after having loaded up several crates. Carnival workers were running back and forth, shouting out commands as everyone worked on packing up to head to the next town.

Touya sat beside him and handed him a sheet of paper. “Here, it’s their address,” he said. “They want you to write as soon as we reach Grover’s Bend.”

Jin looked flabbergasted. “Really? I thought they’d never want to hear from me again!”

“Give them a little credit. They’re not the type of person to hate you after a little thing like you trying to murder them.”

Jim’s face fell. “But, I didn’t-“

Mid sentence, his voice changed, and he said, “I almost got them! I won’t mess up next time!”

Touya looked over and noticed the dummy sitting on one of the crates behind Jin. “Oh yeah, they had a message for you too, Jimmy.”

Jimmy said nothing, so Touya went on. “They had no intention of taking Jin away from the carnival.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

Jimmy’s voice made a scoffing sound. “Who cares? I just didn’t like them!”

Touya waved his hand dismissively, sensing the lie in Jimmy’s tone. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”

Jin sat there in silence for a little while, then he tilted his head and looked Touya in the eyes. “Did you kill Marie?”

Touya looked away from him, then took out two cigarettes. He lit them both and handed one to Jin before answering. “Probably. I really don’t remember though. Too many people pass through my tent for me to remember every face. You know that.”

Jin took a drag on the cigarette. “Since you can’t be certain, I’ll just assume you didn’t. For all our sakes.”

Touya scooted down off the tailgate to go help with the packing. “I appreciate it,” he said. Then he headed into the crowd of carnival folk, imaging what sorts of people he would meet at their next stop.

#twice x reader #twice smut #jin bubaigawara #jin x reader #jin bubaigawara x reader #x reader

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luxscape · 10 months

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Greetings 😁Can I request a zombie apocalypse au with the Hashirama,Tobirama and Madara?Thank you 🎈

Zombie Apocalypse AU

Hashirama

Resilient, resourceful, and revolutionary, Hashirama is the survivor who rallys people together. He would start a camp of survivors that would eventually develop into a large community, which would then turn their encampment into a settlement!

It's difficult to make it through many of the days, especially ones where they lose someone. But he is resigned to see the tough times through to a better future—perhaps not the status quo of the past, but something good for all, including rest for the undead.

He would inevitably come to lead that new town, as Hashi just has that undeniably optimistic element that draws people forward, draws them to change, to his transformative radiance. In this AU, he would use his powers grow produce and flora everywhere he went, as long as it was safe.... if he still had powers, that is

He would also try to use his powers to end the zombie apocalypse however he could

Hashirama is a self-sacrificing moron willing to die his loved ones, including the family he would undoubtedly have, unperturbed by the morose realities of the current world. That's almost certainly how he meets his demise, succumbing to the undead to save someone from that same fate.

Tobirama

Pragmatic, prudent, and posturing, Tobirama is the sort of person who will do what he must but will not compromise his integrity or honor, even in survival mode. He's not going to team up with just anyone; he will be scrutinizing when the opportunity to join forces comes along, lest he be weighed down and anchored to an untimely fate.

His only concern at the beginning of the outbreak is finding shelter secure enough, water clean enough, and food plenty enough for one (1) Tobirama and one (1) Hashirama. Once that is accomplished, Tobirama might be capable of processing the scope of what they're experiencing, and formulating a long-term game plan for something beyond survival. But his main concern is the safety of his brother, and almost simply as an extension, himself.

He will not hesitate defend both himself and his brother or their territory and resources, but Tobirama makes every attempt not to encroach on others or start shit. He sees any unnecessary conflict as a liability in the post-apocalyptic landscape. Tobirama is the kind of guy to pass by a peaceful settlement rather than reach out to try to forge an allegiance, lest conflict inevitably arise.

All that said, Hashirama's influence means Tobirama could never stay away from others for too long. It's likely that a stray survivor or couple comes along, and Hashirama convinces Tobirama that each group will be better off together.

Madara

Bleak, bleary, and bitter. Scavenging, attacking first, surviving. That is the only life Madara comprehends in this landscape. His sole focus is preserving himself and his direct descendants. If it's not his brother, his wife, or his child then it is expendable. He'll do whatever it takes to keep them going.

Autopilot is where he lands when the beginning of the virus sets down upon the world, and it's where he is when he dies. He is fixated on personal armament, traveling to a fortified area, providing for his family, and decimating anything that comes between those three goals. Knowing Madara, he would likely devise a plan of using the Infinite Tsukuyomi in an attempt to control the virus, or at least, the zombies.

The concept of a survivor camp or settlement is bizarre and beyond Madara. He sees resource-piling as a way for others to take from him and his family, not a secure way into the future. Anything he can take, he will and he will guard anything he has to the death. That being said, it's likely that he would perish early on, due to his utter lack of cooperation and trust in others. No amount of influence from his loved ones could interfere with his beliefs, especially his Us Versus Them mindset in the apocalypse.

The last dreary days of his life would see not only the end of Madara but his family, too. Without the aid or support of others, they would likely be in a constant state of movement to avoid large groupings of zombies. They would be exhausted, downtrodden, and likely suffering malnutrition when the end came upon them, left with only fleeting moments to reflect on what used to be, before they were consumed.

#hashirama senju #tobirama senju #madara uchiha #madara hcs #tobirama hcs #hashirama hcs #cw dark #zombie au #hcs #au hcs #anon #requested #i wrote

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madame-fear · 1 year

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I remembered a few days ago, someone asked ab if we could request a supernatural reader and it gave me an idea.

Dark Knight’s Scarecrow with a (fem) s/o with gravity manipulation powers. They can stop things like something dangerous (say like a rock, knife, bullets ect) and they can throw em back. Basically they can manipulate the gravity around em, heavy or weak, big or small.

Sometimes the reader may accidentally activate their ability and go on the ceiling but their hair isn’t like dangling, it stays the same like normally- lmao.

Their ability may activate without their knowledge due to certain emotions like for example anger, things could start to float or get crushed even. But if the reader realizes that their emotions are getting to them, they would un-activate it as in a matter of seconds before the reader accidentally harm anyone around them and they may start to feel bad because they didn’t mean to ruin anything :(

(Side Note: I just wanna say, I adore all of your writing and your such an amazing hard working writer 🥹❤️)

a/n : AHHH BABY IM CRYING, THANK YOU SO SM FOR ALL THE PRECIOUS LOVE YOU ALL GIVE ME 😭💞 hope you enjoy this, sweetheart !!

• Jonathan would definitely be impressed by these abilities you have – it's unlike anything he's ever seen on Gotham!

• He would totally be curious about you, and will most definitely be thrilled by the abilities you have. Expect him to ask you several questions about how it feels to float, and be able to move around things and objects with the simple (yet complex) power of your mind.

• I believe he would always have you by his side, not only of mere protection for you, but also as to stand by his side when he attacks Gotham as Scarecrow. With you by his side, he's unstoppable.

• Police bullets? You just stop them mid air, and harshly throw them back. Someone tries to attack him from behind? The person gets pushed far, far away. Batman? Much like anyone who'd try to attack Jonathan from behind, you would have the ability to make the bat boy float in the air, and violently push him against a window, or a wall.

• All in all, Jonathan is pretty much impressed by your abilities... and often, he'll smirk and perhaps chuckle to himself when you accidentally float to the ceiling like a loose balloon.

• Though, as impressed as he is with you, the literal second your mood changes to an angry or a sad one, not only he'll realise because Jonathan is a professional when it comes to reading your facial expressions, but as well because it's literal MAYHEM surrounding him.

• Things float and start flying everywhere with no control, and that is often a bad signal when you're around.

• Immediatly he'll comfort you and would do his best to make you feel better. And will also tell you that you have to be careful with the way your emotions get to you, because otherwise you might harm yourself as well.

• Both of you are literally the best duo in Gotham... and an unstoppable one, that's for sure!

• Jonathan is pretty much aware you can defend yourself, though... poor imbecile the one who has the audacity in laying a finger on you, or disrespecting/mistreating you.

♡ taglist : ♡

@nighthawkling @anemic-royaltyy @imagine--if @scarecrow-jon-babe @corruqti0n @captainsophiestark

#jonathan crane x reader #jonathan crane x you #jonathan crane headcanon #jonathan crane imagine #scarecrow x reader #scarecrow headcanons #scarecrow x you #scarecrow imagine #batman rogues x reader #batman villains headcanons #batman villains imagine #batman rogues imagines #batman villains x reader #nolanverse #dark knight trilogy #dark knight x reader #dark knight #dark knight trilogy x reader #batman begins

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giransbunnywife · 9 months

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ღ BunnyChet Hcs ღ

Your bun is having massive brainrot for these two still and it is literally all consuming. So y'all are gonna get some more random and cute hcs about them that's still as rambly but less about specifics and more just CUTE THINGS LOL. Because this ship is like filled with it, as cringe as it may beeee

Warning(s): self insert x canon, fluff, some highly suggestive mentions throughout

As I've mentioned before Chetney is her fucking yes man. Anybody disrespects her or talks down to her in any way (even if it's in just a disagreeable way) is met with him as pretty much her attack dog. He comes to her defense over the smallest of things to "defend her honor" whether that's strangers or others in the group. Something that is always met with a giggle from her.

There might be times that she might use this to her advantage or to have a little fun. Plus she does think it's a little adorable to watch him jump to her defense in such a feral way. And she rather feels a bit too powerful telling him to back down, especially if he's shifted into wolf form.... some of her favorite sites to see for particular reasons.

Chet never addresses her with the same nickname twice, unless by accident lmao, and is always coming up with new ones for her. Each one is cornier than the last, and if it makes her giggle than it's one that might be used when it's just the two of them. Though, he likes to keep her guessing, and she finds it endearing enough to humor it. Looking forward to hearing what the next one is going to be every day.

Some honorable mentions include: his 'lavender rose', floppy eared angel, and sweet bunny pie

The flirting between them is about much worse than you'd expect after things developed between them. Just as insufferable and cheesy as one would think, and somehow much worse than that on a good day. Bunny likes the attention a bit too much and is kind of weak for it, indulging in his quips with her own just as aggressively.

God forbid anyone is around her during a fight bc she will be thirsting after him when he's gone wolf mode and it will be a fuckin tiiimmeeee

Given that Bunny is a side sleeper that typically means that when they bunk together he's going to be between her thighs and using them as pillows (it's either that or just... between the tits lol). Sometimes he'll end up hugging them throughout the night, which is both adorable but also going to end up with her squeezing him in the middle of the night lmao

She occasionally wears accessories in her hair that were gifted from him, including a flower pin that is one made from a flower that was given to her the night that they had their "what are we" conversation. Even though she rotates from time to time to showcase different gifts from other gifts she's been given, that flower pin is one of her favorites and most notable.

Everywhere they visit he always has to give her something, whether that's something specialty made or something that he found for her. More often than not it's accessories that can go in the jewelry box that he made, making sure that she has plenty of options to choose from. And he can see her in them when they're together.

Chet can be a bit more extra himself if it means making her giggle. Anything to make Bunny happy and smiling and keep that goddamn adorable sparkle in her eyes. He might take it a bit too far or like all the fucking time which will only lead to Bunny getting annoyed and overprotective. But it was worth it for him lol

And to that end, Bunny is ridiculously protective over him. Both in any instance in which he is being his impulsive self, or if anybody were to try and fuck with him. Absolutely no one fucks with her gnome and gets away with it.

And my god if there's ever a time for her to be intensely protective she's gonna have to deal with his ass being all over her for the entire fucking day

She also likes to be extra cute and sweet when she wants something from him. It works every single time too, with him absolutely weak for her when she's being cute. Especially when it's directed at him. And now that she's his, it just means that he is like a moth to a fucking flame with her. And the dangerous part is that she knows.

#[ ship w chet ]#ship headcanons #self insert #self ship #self insert x canon #IM SORRY THIS IS SO LONG #iowajefoijwef;ioawjf imobsessedwthisshipnomatterhowcringeitmightbelmao #theyre cute as hell you will hear about them #might make a part two if i come up with some more were doing a rewatch rn

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ainyan · 1 year

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WIP - Making Waves (Excerpt)

She stood atop the earthworks gazing down at the scene below. Everywhere defenders and attackers were scattered, many of the former guarding the latter as the Scions and healers directed porxie after porxie in an effort to undo the tempering that had sent the Garleans mindlessly forward in a fight they could not win. Leaning against the wooden scaffolding, she absently skimmed her thumb along the edge of her chakrams, gathering her breath, gathering her thoughts.

“And thus another plan went up in smoke! I am beginning to see why Lord Zenos thinks so highly of you…”

Turning, she gazed up at Fandaniel where he floated above her, arms crossed and teeth bared in a grinning rictus, the cheerful expression by no means mirrored in his glare. She met his vexed eyes with equanimity, curling her fingers in a loose fist to keep herself from snatching at her weapons. He seemed to be waiting for a response, and when she offered none, his smile slipped. “Not that this changes anything, you understand. You have merely earned yourself a stay of execution.”

Still, she stared at him, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of knowing how the battles had taxed and sickened her. He waited another beat, two, and his smile slipped further, sliding into a snarl. “My Lord Zenos might be a bit put out were I to damage his favorite playmate,” he said flatly, “but he has given no such thought to your friends.”

That sparked a reaction; she couldn’t help it, no matter how she tried to suppress it. She felt the rage rise, felt the glower in her gaze even as her fingers flexed open and closed once more around the grips of her chakrams. His grin was all teeth, sharp and nasty. “I had wondered if you had become as jaded as my lord. It is good to see that life yet remains within. It will please my lord all the more when he takes it.” Before she could say a thing; before she could so much as take a step, he disappeared in a flash of dark magic, leaving her alone upon the scaffold.

Alone, and cold with a chill that had nothing to do with the frigid night air. Her eyes scanned the battlefield, slowly at first, then with increasing panic until they fell upon a slim, silver-haired figure kneeling beside a fallen soldier, talking quietly to him while a chirurgeon bandaged up his leg. Her breath left her lungs on a rush and she gripped the rope rail until the wave of dizzy relief passed.

Once she’d found the gunbreaker, she searched for the rest of the Scions, each making use of their healing arts to try to bring relief to the wounded and save as many lives - enemy or friend - as they could. All except Estinien, who stood guard over the healthy captives as the conjurers of Gridania. “Damn him,” she said, pressing her fingertips to her heart.

As if he’d heard her speak, Thancred lifted his head, his eyes meeting hers across the distance. She saw him frown, then push himself up. She knew she should stop him, but she said nothing, did nothing as he crossed the battlefield in a ground-eating lope and began to scale the earthworks, ignoring the ramps in favor of the quicker - if more rigorous - climb.

As he hauled himself over the rope rail, she finally stepped back, her face a mask as she gazed up at him. “Are you alright?” the gunbreaker asked. Some hint of her mood must have come through, for though he stepped towards her, he didn’t reach forth to touch her. “Something happened.”

What could she say? “No, I’m just tired,” she replied, her voice thin and reedy as she fought back the unreasoning panic that Fandaniel’s words had sparked within. “It’s been a long day, and those were some rough fights.” Her smile was wan and frayed at the edges. “I’m surprised you’re not more tired yourself.”

The gunbreaker’s gaze was suspicious as he stared at her, and it took her fretting mind far too long to realize that admitting to exhaustion was wildly out of character for her. Obviously, Thancred felt so, too, but he merely shrugged. “I’m dead on my feet, but there’s still more to do. If everything is okay,” and this time when he stepped forward he reached out to touch her jaw, just a gentle brush of his fingers, “we should go down and help.”

When she said nothing, he frowned, his eyelids fluttering slightly, but he withdrew his hand and turned away. Before he could swing over the railing, however, she reached out and grabbed ahold of his coat. He paused, glancing over his shoulder, and she tugged him back.

Relief flickered briefly in his eyes and he bent at her urging to press a gentle kiss against her lips. “I hope you’ll talk to me soon,” he murmured, reaching up to skim his thumb along her jaw. This time when he moved to leave, she did not stop him.

Nor did she immediately follow. Raising her fingers to her lips, she closed her eyes and swallowed, trying not to see Fandaniel’s face, hear Fandaniel’s threat. And yet, his words still echoed in her ears, an incessant, discordant beat drowning out all else.

My Lord Zenos might be a bit put out were I to damage his favorite playmate, but he has given no such thought to your friends.

Gods. How much was bluster, and how much was threat? Would Fandaniel go for her through those she cared for - those who did not have her sheer power and apparent good fortune? He wasn’t the first villain to threaten to kill all she loved when she proved too much for them to handle, but he was the first that she suspected might actually target her friends in an effort to make her suffer.

And who better to target than the man who had tossed aside years - decades - of emotional conditioning to cleave openly to her and her alone? Their refusal to acknowledge a bond had not made it any less obvious when both he and she turned away any potential partners and had arrived at - and left from - all public appearances together.

Gods. What a fool she’d been, to dream of happiness when the world teetered on a knife’s edge. To imagine that she would ever be able to live as free as those she served; she sacrificed that they did not have to.

Including… affection.

Her fingers fisted around the ropes of the rail and she opened her eyes, gazing out over the battlefield. Taking one long, deep breath, she forced herself to release the rope, then began the long climb downwards, electing to take the ropes rather than leap over the side as she normally would have.

For once, she did not rush from place to place; she walked, slowly dragging her feet as she marched inexorably towards the inevitable.

~*~

It took him longer than she’d expected, but when the door cracked open and Thancred stepped in, she looked up from where she lay on her bed, tucked under her covers. “I’m sorry,” he said as he crossed the room. “Urianger and Y’shtola dragged me into a conversation about the aetherical interruptions we’ve been investigating.”

“You don’t answer to me, Thancred,” she said softly, watching him with a very careful lack of expression.

His citrine eyes glinted with irritation and he crossed and settled down on the side of the bed, reaching down to place a hand on her arm. “Don’t you do this to me, Kali,” he said, an edge to his voice.

Her eyes slid from his. “Do what?”

Fingers tightened around her arm, holding tight. “Don’t pull away from me.” His voice was tight. “I don’t deserve that.”

The hells of it was that he absolutely did not. He had done nothing more than be the best lover she’d ever had, a caring partner who had stood by her through thick and thin, a dedicated companion and a loving father. What he deserved was his happily ever after - especially after all of the sorrow and pain he’d suffered.

But she saw no choice. If Fandaniel saw him as a chink in her armor, he would strike. And in losing Thancred, she feared she'd lose a part of herself that could never be replaced. “I’m tired,” she replied distantly. “I just want to go to sleep.”

“Then move over,” he said quietly, reaching up to pull off his coat.

Her eyes flashed. “Alone, Thancred.”

His eyes flashed right back. “That’s not an option tonight, Kal’istae.”

“Damn it! I don’t want you here!” Her voice broke and she rolled away from him.

There was a weighted silence. “I’d believe you more if you weren’t halfway to tears.” He reached out, skimming his hand along her back. “Kali, my dear, please don’t shut me out.”

It was the please that broke her. Silently, she began to cry. As her shoulders began to shake, he quickly finished stripping off his cloak and armor, then slid down onto the bed with her, reaching around to gather her against him. She resisted, but he proved for once the stronger, and she finally gave up, letting him hold her while her silent sobs wracked her body.

And as shudders gave way to tension, and tension melted into the laxity of sleep, he continued to hold her, anxiety stealing any chance that he might join her in slumber. He did not know what had happened - or not happened - to cause this abrupt shift in personality, but he would be damned if she would shake him loose without telling him why.

He wouldn’t give up the best thing that ever happened to him without one hells of a fight.

#ffxiv #ffxiv fanfiction #wol x thancred #wolcred #kal'istae miurani #thancred waters #fandaniel #post-heavensward au

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geminiamethyst · 2 years

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Limitless. Chapter 10: Truths And Lies

Chapter 1: click HERE

Chapter 9: click HERE

Chapter 11: click HERE

I don't think that this is the best chapter I've produced, but I hope you guys like it.

Kaito was glad to see a splash of colour again in this place. He expected White's office to be...you know...so white to point where Kaito would feel disoriented again. The desk and chairs were made of oak, with a leather computer chair for where White is to sit. The back of a small computer faced Kaito, obscuring the screen completely from his view. Bookshelves were filled to the brim with a variety of books that Kaito didn't even know existed. There was a filing cabinet that was sure to be locked up tight. Certificates from different universities and for different science courses were hung up on the wall proudly. There were only two things that had bothered Kaito. One was that this room made him feel like, he was in his old principal's office, and two was the fact that there wasn't a window in this room, just like everywhere else. How can anybody work without being in contact with the sun, even through a window? It seemed inhumane.

"I apologise for the wait, Momota. Things have been...hepatic to say the least." Dr White suddenly made himself known as he walked into the office. Kaito waited patiently as the man sat down, wiping his brow with a white handkerchief. "And I apologise that you had to see the savagery that Harukawa showed you."

"What's going to happen to Maki?" Kaito asked automatically. He doesn't know why he was asked that, but he let it go.

"She'll be put in Isolation for a while. A month should be enough to calm her down." Dr White explained. A month of being on her own? How Maki has not been driven crazy yet is a wonder in itself to Kaito.

"Sir, if I may, I'd like to speak on Maki's behalf." He spoke up. He didn't want Maki to be in Isolation for that long. She might have less time in there if Kaito explains what really happened.

"Oh? Go on." White urged, looking interested.

"Maki didn't attack the guard because she was angry." Kaito explained, remembering everything that had happened. White looked more interested and gestured for Kaito to continue. "I asked the guard if I could see you, but he denied that. I didn't know how my powers activated, I didn't even know I was off of the ground until heattacked me first. After shocking me, he looked like he was going to bash my head in, but Maki stopped him. She only broke his arm to protect me."

"She protected you?" White exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up so much that they might as well have touched the ceiling.

"You sound surprised." Kaito said cautiously.

"Well, I am. Harukawa has been here for a few years now, and she's never done that before." White explained, still looking baffled. "Yes, she had used her powers to defend herself in the past. But she's never protected the others before. You must have made a good impression on her or something like that." Kaito felt a little surprised himself at that. He was the first one that Maki had protected? But why would she protect him? Something didn't quite add up to him. Maki didn't look or feel friendly towards him when he tried speaking to her last week. Even after that encounter, she never spoke or even looked at Kaito. Why would she suddenly change her mind and protect him just like that?

"Is there anything else that you need to speak to me about?" White suddenly asked, offering Kaito a smile.

"There is actually. The main reason why I wanted to see you." Kaito said, keeping his voice as stoic as possible, despite his nerves rising all of a sudden. "Why did you lie to me about contacting my grandparents?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." White shrugged, not seeming to understand. He looked convincing, but Kaito didn't buy it.

"You told me that everyone here gets to write letters to their families. But that was a lie, wasn't it? No one here contacts the outside. There aren't even any windows here." Kaito accused. White looked unfazed, as if he were reading off of a script. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I never said such a thing." White once again shrugged.

"Okay then. What about the training? The training where everyone learns how to control their powers?" Kaito kept digging. He might be treading on thin ice, he felt like he was, but he has to make this guy slip up somehow.

"What training?" White asked, trying his best to look confused.

"When does everyone get to leave then?" Kaito kept on going. White again seemed unfazed. It was like he had forgotten his own lies that he had told to Kaito. This was starting to get irritating. Kaito stood up, slamming his hands on the desk so hard that it vibrated a little. "You can't keep everyone in this place forever. No one's snapped now, but what about later?! You gotta let us out at some point! Everyone's got families that are probably worried sick about them. Do even contact the families? Do my grandparents know where I am?" It hurt to think that, but with how things are going right now, Kaito's family more than likely knows nothing about what is happening to him. They must be so worried about him. They've probably got someone looking in on his disappearance. They've probably got the police searching everywhere for him. They've probably been on the news, begging for his safe return or any clues as to his whereabouts. Kaito can't even bare to think what they are going through right now.

"Momota, I suggest that you calm down. You don't want to go back on your anger issues, do you?" White advised, looking all too calm. Kaito was ready to keep shouting, but he didn't want to be reverted back to his old self. That was the last thing that he wanted, especially now. Kaito took a deep breath. He slowly sat back down, staying as calm as he could.

"Fine then. Just let me ask one more question." Kaito sighed heavily. White looked fed up, but gestured for Kaito to continue to ask. "Why is everyone here? Nothing in this place makes any sense." This was the final question that Kaito wanted to ask. This time, he can't let White avoid this one. If there was a point to keep everyone in this prison, he needed to know now.

"I suggest that you stay calm, Momota." White said calmly, but his tone carried a clear warning.

"So, are you gonna answer my questions?" Kaito asked, ignoring the warning.

"I'm afraid that I can't. The information that you're asking for is classified." White sighed, again giving Kaito a clear warning in his voice. A warning for him to back off.

"But-" Kaito started to protest. He can't back down. He needs answers now. At this moment, White was the only one to give him those answers.

"Momota, I honestly can't give you this information." White said, the warning tone in his voice becoming even more evident. "You're asking for too much." Kaito didn't want to back down, but he could tell that he was starting to get into some hot water right now. He was treading on such thin ice that one wrong move, and he'll be in deep trouble. He doesn't want to make a full retreat, especially now, but maybe regrouping with everyone else will help him form a better plan.

"Fine then. But when I speak to everyone, I'm gonna tell them everything that we talked about." Kaito vowed, getting up from his seat. He started to make his way swiftly to the door, ready to fling it open and run back to the others. They need to know everything that was said in this office, even if it's something that they've already figured out.

"Momota." White suddenly said. Out of impulse, Kaito turned around. Something suddenly ran through him. His body fell to the ground, convulsing uncontrollably. He desperately tried to get up, or move his body somehow, but his body betrayed him. He couldn't move it at all. Kaito tried as best he could to see what had happened. The doctor behind him had a now used taser in his hand. He looked extremely nonchalant as he slowly approached Kaito. The teenager tried his best not to pass out, but it was suddenly becoming hard to do so. He barely heard the door being open. He couldn't hear much of the conversation between White and the guard that just came in. Something about it being "his turn"? What? Kaito couldn't think much about it as he suddenly passed out.

#drv3 #Kaimaki #kaito momota #dr white #limitless fic #super power au

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felixcloud6288 · 1 month

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Higurashi: Eye Opening Chapter 15

Shion was making curry at the end of last chapter.

That meeting with the village elders made Shion realize something: There is no singular person responsible for enacting Oryou's darker orders. The whole village enacts her will in whatever way possible.

Just like what Ooishi and Rika said in Time Killing. This is a village of murderers where everyone is in on everything. No one knows who has committed the murders every year or if it is a singular person. But everyone is a co-conspirator; making alibis, hiding evidence, etc.

So Shion has concluded the entire village killed Satoshi.

And the recurring trend is that ultimately, no one truly knows anything going on. Kimiyoshi is one of the leaders of the Three Great Houses of Hinamizawa and he can only guess and speculate what happened to Satoshi.

He, like everyone else, is just acting on Oryou's will and orders and doesn't question anything further.

I'm trying to compare Shion's experiences with the curse compared to Keiichi. Specifically, I'm trying to make sense of how she keeps seeing Satoshi everywhere.

The biggest difference between her and Keiichi that I can come up with is Keiichi acted more in fear of the curse while Shion seems more defiant of it. In Abducted by Demons, Keiichi thought that the village was out to get him and he became paranoid and would start lashing out whenever he thought someone was after him. But Shion is instead being far more proactive in her paranoia. She's not planning to defend herself. She's going on the attack against who she thinks are her enemies.

One other big difference is Shion has a sense of focus. She wants to know what happened to Satoshi, and she's putting her attention toward getting information from the major figures in the village. Keiichi didn't have anything like that. He was just told there's a murderer and his friends might have some connection to it, and he was jumping at shadows.

But they do have something in common: They are quick to jump to conclusions no matter out of touch with reality they are.

How much of the dialogue between Shion and Satoshi was in her head and how much was she saying out loud? Mion was in the next cell. She would have heard everything. How much was she crying out of fear and how much was she crying over Shion's suffering?

When Mion cried over what happened to Shion and Satoshi a year ago, Shion realized that Mion Sonozaki was just a mask her sister put on. But in the year since then, Shion sees her sister as just Mion Sonozaki, heir to the Sonozaki clan.

Shion is going through the same delusional thinking Keiichi did when confronted with conflicting details of the mind and heart.

In Abducted by Demons, he couldn't figure out how to resolve the feeling of fear he had for his friends, despite knowing they weren't out to hurt him, and he ultimately killed them and then himself.

And here, Shion thinks the person before her is Mion Sonozaki, but she cries just like her sister would. And Shion's mind just breaks because she can't process how her heart knows this is her sister, but she's convinced she's just Mion Sonozaki.

One recurring aspect that has appeared more subtly is Shion is somewhat dissociated with her and Mion's names.

It comes up in the beginning of chapter 11, when she said she and her sister were both Mion and Shion. And we get a little bit of that again in the previous chapter when she thought Kimiyoshi would forgive Shion.

But it's much more explicitly shown in the end of this chapter when she starts screaming at her sister about what Shion and Mion could do. She screams that Shion can only do so much because Shion is not allowed to know anything. But her sister was Mion and could have.

Notice that she's using past tense. To her, the names and identities are not absolute. Mion and Shion are titles that she and her sister can change as they see fit. And she only hates her sister more for keeping Mion to herself when Mion was only lent to her.

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Spoiler Discussion

No one in the village knows who is killing people, but they all assume it is Oryou's will so they do everything they can to cover it up and interfere with any investigations.

And since Oryou was quick to take credit for anything if it meant fostering her ruthless reputation, this created a perfect environment for the true mastermind to thrive. Everyone assumes Oryou is behind everything so no one questions anything.

Kimiyoshi brought up the kidnapping from Time-Killing and even without the big reveal, there were some light hints that Oryou had nothing to do with that. The leader was working for "Tokyo".

And here we have the first major clue that the twins are in a permanent twin switch. Shion is the one who was supposed to be Mion. Her shouting at Mion is just that rage of her stolen birthright and identity boiling over.

And she seems to think of herself and her sister as two interchangeable halves. At any given moment, one will be Shion and the other Mion. And despite their different roles, they are supposed to be one and in harmony.

So when her sister "stole" Mion and kept her for herself, Shion gradually lost trust in her sister. And as this arc has progressed, Shion would remark about how she and Mion are becoming different people to the point that Mion Sonozaki stood by as Shion was forced to pay restitution.

Mion chose to pay the same restitution because she didn't want Shion to be the only one who has to suffer, but the damage was done at that point. Shion is aware of the difference in their power dynamics. Mion holds all the power and can force Shion to do anything.

#higurashi no naku koro ni #higurashi no naku koro ni reread #higurashi when they cry

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ascalonianlightbringer · 1 year

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I did the next phase of the Orders of Tyria arc, "Track the Seraph," and got some information out of it.

Gwen went to get information from Lionguard Keene, who isn't actually part of the Order of Whispers, but more of ... an asset, I guess? He works with them and supplies information. There are hints of this in the usual open world conversation, iirc, but here he says outright that he and Ihan used to be in the Lionguard together before Ihan moved on. Keene helps because they're "in it for all of us, right?"

Gwen canonically said, "Makes sense to me," but I'm more like "hell yeah!"

Also, for some reason, I find it extremely difficult to imagine Ihan as a Lionguard. But anyway.

Gwen then went to a different haven to meet with Ihan, who with other agents, has been tracking our missing Seraph, Kellach. He's being followed by Zhaitan's minions. Gwen remarked that the Order of Whispers seems to "have eyes and ears everywhere." That's the idea!

Ihan basically says as much:

He adds:

"The dragons don't care if you're charr, human, or hylek, so we can't afford to draw imaginary lines between nations. The Order keeps watch, so that no matter where Zhaitan's minions show up—we know about it."

doitforhim.png

So they went to the have, which was under assault from more undead, and Gwen got her first sight of abominations—after mapping Orr, I got very used to them, but I imagine they're pretty horrifying and scary at first glance. But she's got nerves of steel, so she jumped down and irradiated them with her greatsword, as you do.

We then talked to a different Lionguard, for whom this was also a new experience. He said that a wild-eyed Seraph came along just before the attack, and he was muttering to himself about Orr, dragons, and Alastia Crow.

Ihan, predictably, knew who she is, or was—a pirate seer occasionally contracted by the Order of Whispers to read the future. At this point, Gwen burst out in sheer frustration, "When we find Kellach, I swear, I'm going to stick a bag over his head, beat him with a shovel, and bury him in a hill of fire-ants!" Ihan seemed impressed!

I incorporated this into Althea's story, but honestly, it fits Gwen's personality much better.

So then they went back to Divinity's Reach to consult with the other representatives and Logan. (All glory to waypoint travel!) Josir speculated that Kellach consulted Alastia Crow over something and Ihan concluded the information drove him mad—and that he's surprised that doesn't happen to Priory researchers, too. Teamwork!

Anyway, Josir reveals that Alastia Crow just died in an undead attack. Ihan guesses that since Alastia was a seer, she might have seen it coming and left behind information. Josir agrees, but has a different idea—he knows an accomplished priestess of Grenth who could summon Alastia's spirit and they could get the information from the source.

Ihan, interestingly, is appalled at the idea:

I mean, fair (and I think one of the cooler lines from this part of the story, prose-wise), but it's interesting for a spy/assassin type to be the one with qualms. Hiroki, meanwhile, is dismissive of the whole search and keeping the Vigil on guard against another attack.

Honestly, this makes perfect sense, and it's a bit peculiar that you earlier had to choose between the Vigil defending a town or the other orders uncovering answers. There's not really any reason that Hiroki and the Vigil soldiers couldn't defend Triskell Quay (the thing they're most equipped to do) while Ihan and Josir searched for answers. Maybe it's part of the general strife between the orders that they don't just cover all their bases cooperatively.

I've done the Order of Whispers choice before, and remember the pirate infiltration plot as rather silly (also, female characters are extremely scantily clad in the mission even though some pirates have great long coats). So I went with Josir this time, meaning Gwen will have worked with each Order by the end.

Also, I think Gwen would prefer to get her information from as close to the original source as she can get. She's very practical and a bit ruthless when she believes she's in the right. I don't think she's super comfortable about raising Alastia's spirit, but she's prepared to take the route she thinks is most effective. I've always imagined her as deeply devout even for a human, as well, so she can probably square it with her conscience by assuring herself that if a priestess of Grenth is willing to go through with the ritual, it's got to be okay by Grenth.

Ihan also seems to be very religious, interestingly. After Gwen made her choice and talked to everyone, he said he was kind of creeped out and would stay in DR to pray for her. He is a very strange personality, but I like him a lot.

Hiroki's take was "Bah on these library crawlers and sneak thieves," which I kind of love for her. <3

Josir, meanwhile, had explained that his priestess pal is greatly favored by Grenth and is consequently able to summon spirits (so the gods do have some involvement with their worshippers—which I guess makes sense with Gwen being blessed by Lyssa, but this feels like a bit more). Also, his very bright blue eyes turned green for no reason, which might be suspicious, but I suspect is just a glitch.

After Gwen's choice to follow his plan, he asked if she was sure, and she said it should be interesting. He very excitedly responded, "The Mists is one of the greatest unexplored frontiers. Think of all the things we could learn!"

Sure, Josir.

#t: greetings friend #p: honor the past #h: everyone has a secret #s: fight what cannot be fought #c: gwen velazquez #c: hiroki #c: ihan #c: josir #c: keene #gw2 spoilers #long post

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