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ymiwritesstuff · 1 year

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A Heart of Gold

Here is the Kiryu fic!! It came out a bit differently than I originally intended but you know what that's fine lol. I also found getting his personality right a bit challenging but I hope I at least somewhat managed to capture his vibe!! Please enjoy!

Yakuza Kiwami 2

Kazuma Kiryu x Reader

Summary: A year has passed, and the dark memories remain, but waking up next to him has never felt so right.

Notes: Takes place before the events of the game, vague spoilers for Kiwami 1 (nothing specific, just mentions of loss etc), Fluff, Suggestive themes towards the end!

Also posted on AO3!

The soft, comforting sheets shifted below you as you moved, your limbs moving on instinct to bless you with the sensation of a good morning's stretch. Your bare feet stuck out from under the blanket and your mouth opened wide for a yawn. It had been a good night, the best in a while, as the relief of knowing that you wouldn’t have to do anything of importance the next day melted all your tension away. And it was even better when you woke up next to him.

The right side of the bed was rarely empty, as life had gotten relatively normal recently. Though the events that occurred a year ago still lingered in the air and in the minds of those involved, you were sure everyone appreciated the tranquility that followed. Especially him.

You slowly turned to him and smiled to yourself softly. There he was, eyes closed, the usual creases between his eyebrows gone, and his mouth slightly agape as he breathed. You had only recently started seeing him like this, sleeping so soundly without worry. It brought you some peace of mind. After all that had happened, after everything he had lost, he deserved it.

No matter how many times you woke up next to him, you were always entranced by his features, especially when he looked so at peace like this. You were certain that the nightmares still haunted him, and they probably would continue doing so for years to come, but the sight of him sleeping next to you in serenity at least told you that he felt safe enough to let his guard down with you. That alone made you the happiest person in Japan.

His face was so enticing, you couldn’t help but place your hand on his cheek and continue looking at him fondly. Kiryu barely shifted at your action, too absorbed in his dream. Your eyes ran over the details of his handsome face. He looked as stoic as ever, save for the tiniest twitch of his eyebrows every now and then. His breathing was steady and quiet, and thin strands of dark hair kissed his forehead. You smiled to yourself once again.

He was quite adorable.

Caressing your thumb along his cheek, you spoke gently: “Kazuma.” No response.

You withheld a laugh. In a way, it felt rude to wake him up from his peaceful slumber, but you also wanted to see his dark eyes looking at you with the adoration you had come to love almost as much as the man himself. So you tried again:

“Kazumaa…” You drawled at him again, adding some melody to your quiet voice. His closed eyes twitched slightly, but they did not yet open. You pouted and moved closer, curling some of your fingers behind his neck, the tips making contact with the short strands of his hair.

You found yourself smiling more as you heard him groan softly, finally responding to your voice. He shifted, readjusting his position slightly, but his eyes remained closed. In fact, you thought you noticed him squeezing them shut even further as he sunk deeper into the pillow.

Instinctively, though rather lazily, Kiryu put one of his strong arms around you in a way you were familiar with. It gave you the opportunity to shuffle even closer to him, to the point where your noses were almost touching.

It felt special to have him so close to you. You could see how he relaxed his otherwise tense muscles became around you, and how your presence brought him the comfort he most certainly needed. He was always on edge, for reasons that had become clear to you over time, and had to maintain that Dragon of Dojima spirit he had become so renowned for. It was a part of him, yes, but you had always felt like perhaps he never expected or asked for such a title.

To you, however, he was just Kazuma Kiryu. A man with a heart of gold that you’d do anything for. If only he knew how lucky you felt.

Fueled by your thoughts of affection, you pressed your lips to his in a kiss so chaste and faint, it left you wondering if you should have been more daring with it as when you went to pull away, you already missed his lips.

Kiryu’s hold on you tightened, and all doubt in your mind of him still being asleep got washed away when he rolled onto his back, effortlessly laying you on his chest. His arms were securely wrapped around your form and finally, his eyes fluttered open. Your hands quickly found his face again.

“Good morning, handsome.”

Kiryu’s lips twitched slightly upward at your greeting, one of his hands sliding to the small of your back. “Good morning.”

God, you loved that deep voice of his, even more so when the raspiness of the morning accompanied it. You couldn’t resist the urge to kiss him again, and he returned it in the way you were used to.

Pressing your ear against his chest, you listened to his steady heartbeat and traced his arm and shoulder with your digits. His gentle hand rubbed your back in the most comforting way.

“How did you sleep?” You asked. It had become somewhat of a habit of yours, especially after the times his sleep was plagued by nightmares. He rarely told you about them, but you always knew.

“Good. I slept good,” he replied, briefly glancing at the time and quirking one of his eyebrows. “Don’t you have work today?”

You shook your head against his chest before lifting it up to meet his warm gaze with your own. “I have the day off,” you announced, to which Kiryu let the faintest chuckle of what to you sounded almost like relief.

“That’s good to hear.” His brown eyes softened as he looked at you, his comforting touch at your back almost lulling you back to sleep. You took in the kind glow in his irises, wondering how they could ever be used to scare street thugs away. You of course had seen how he used his stern scowl to fend off attackers, and it made you appreciate moments like these even more.

“We can do anything we want, Kazuma,” you said with a small giggle, bringing your hands to his perfectly sculpted shoulders, and thinking of all the possible things you could spend the day doing.

Kiryu’s eyes wandered to the door at the other end of the room, eyebrows frowning the tiniest amount as if he were buried in his thoughts for a brief moment. “Do you think…” He began, quickly drifting his eyes towards you again. “...Haruka is still asleep?”

Oh?

Your eyes widened slightly at his somewhat out-of-the-blue question and the twinge of warmth on his face told you more than words ever could. That was quite bold, for him anyway.

With a small grin, you turned your head towards the door, his question and the implications behind it echoing in your head loudly. You giggled to yourself as your thoughts traveled farther than you should have allowed them to. With a playful sparkle in your eyes, you looked at him as you dawned on an idea.

“Shower?”

Kiryu looked at you for a moment, seemingly surprised at your proposal, but his expression quickly melted, and he gave you a firm nod, before lifting the blanket off the both of you. Your hands lingered on his chest as you raised yourself from the comfort it had given you.

As you got up, Kiryu held your hand, as he so often did. It was one of those little habits of his own. And you adored it. He was not the best with his words when it came to affection, but the small physical things he did told you all you needed to know. He held your hand when you walked, played with your hair when you cuddled, had his protective arms around you when you cried, and held you close when you slept.

All of that and more was the reason you loved him so.

Whilst he led you to the bathroom by your hand, your eyes fixated on his irezumi that beautifully adorned his back. The way the ink twisted and distorted with the flow of his muscles as he walked was almost hypnotizing, it was impossible to look away. The dragon that watched his back was stunning, the intricate details always blew you away and pulled you back in. And the fact that such fierce imagery was carried by the most kind-hearted and loving man you had ever met gave it an all-new meaning in your mind.

You could stare at it for hours.

Kiryu flinched ever so slightly when he felt your hand on his back, and as he turned to you at speeds fueled by sudden surprise, you immediately retreated your hand and gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry.” You hadn’t meant to startle him in the slightest, you had just been so absorbed in your thoughts that you let your muscles move on their own. “It’s just… So beautiful,” you concluded, keeping your eyes on the image at his back.

Kiryu let out a brief chuckle, your words sticking to him like tar. It was not the first time you had expressed your adoration for his irezumi, but every time, he felt a tingle in his core.

“It’s not the only beautiful thing here.”

You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at his reply. It was very… Him. Traditional, maybe a little cheesy, but oh so endearing. You never got tired of it.

With warmth on your cheeks, you spoke:

“Very smooth, Kaz,” you teased and your free hand found his chest again. “You’re getting better at this.”

Kiryu huffed and rolled his eyes softly, chiding himself for forgetting how much you enjoyed toying with him like this. Despite his outward reaction though, he found it charming.

“Thank you for your input.” The sarcasm and humor in his voice weren’t lost on you, and you found yourself laughing once more as he opened the bathroom door. Though you couldn’t see it, he was smiling as well, thanks to the pleasant sound that was your laughter.

His hand finally left yours as you closed the door behind you, eager to start the day in the right way with him. Probable ulterior motives aside, you really did only crave a shower, but you were glad that he was willing to join you.

You walked up to him again, eyes locking with his. Kiryu held onto your waist, while your hands were on his broad shoulders. No words were exchanged, nor did they need to. You could spend hours just looking into his eyes that had seen so much. Too much, even.

The pain was not fully gone, you surmised, and you didn’t expect it to be so for a long time. You were however proud of how far he had come. He had lost so much, but he pulled himself up and tried to make things right for Haruka and you despite everything. It was admirable, but you also wanted him to know that you were willing to share some of that burden with him.

You were sure he knew this and saw it in your efforts. He was an observant man, after all.

Kiryu loosened his hold and glanced at the shower behind him. “Shall we?” You smiled and nodded.

Before he had time to do anything else though, you brought your lips to his ear, sending shivers down his spine with your whispers:

“Remember Kazuma,” your fingers lightly traced the muscles on his shoulders and neck.

“We have time.”

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#yakuza #yakuza imagines #yakuza x reader #kazuma kiryu #kiryu kazuma #yakuza kazuma kiryu #kiryu x reader #kazuma kiryu x reader #kazuma kiryu imagines #kiryu x you #reader insert #fluff #yakuza kiwami 2 #ryu ga gotoku #ryu ga gotoku kiwami 2

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rukimakino-heirofheart · 5 days

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ZUN's Music Collection vol. 10: Mugen Noh of Tanabatazaka ~ Taboo Japan Disentanglement.

Getting a new Hifuu CD after so long is extremely exciting, especially when the cover looks like this (Maribel's design getting ever so slightly closer to her completed Yukari appearance) and especially when one of the arranged tracks is fucking AoCF Necrofantasia. The CD was fully uploaded and translated within 24 hours of the Reitaisai release — never change, RenMerry shippers — so I immediately went to check it out.

Track 1: Dawn Breaks on Tanabatazaka (Original)

Not very much to say about this one other than that it's nice and the soft instrumentation lends it an interesting tone.

Track 2: Tinkerbell of Inequality (Original)

Surprisingly heavy percussion and bass here. Unlike the minimalist Fires of Hokkai, though, this track has a complex "mechanical"-sounding drumline that feels more like something you'd hear out of Len'en. I like this a lot.

Track 3: Does the Forbidden Door Lead to This World, or the World Beyond? (HSiFS)

A hard downgrade over the original. I get what ZUN was going for — stage-1-ifying the song makes it more of a tonal fit with the album — but making it less punchy and softening the drums in the mix makes it sound kind of generic.

Track 4: Smoking Dragon (UM)

Mostly the same as the original but with a key change and a more complicated piano harmony. Not much to write home about.

Track 5: Mugen Noh ~ Taboo Marionette (Original)

ZUN rarely writes in 3/4, so this was pretty surprising. I like this a lot; the mood is tranquil but with plenty of drive at the core, and its instrumentation gives it DiPP/PCB-era vibes while still being unmistakably modern Touhou.

Track 6: Crazy Backup Dancers (HSiFS)

Woah. I like this a lot better than the original from HSiFS, the updated arrangement does a great deal here and the new section in the second half makes the track as a whole a hell of a lot less annoying.

Track 7: Yorimashi Between Dreams and Reality ~ Necro-Fantasia (AoCF)

Opening right off the bat with an original intro (is that 12-string guitar(?) patch a new instrument???), the long-awaited AoCF cover sounds fucking awesome in the newer style! Cutting down the mix to just the ZUNpet and one or two other patches for percussion texture is a fun technique and it's cool to see it deployed so well here. My only real complaint is that it feels like it should be longer.

Track 8: The Lonely Road of Hitachi (Original)

3/4 swing melody over an unswung 3/4 beat (with occasional 4-tuplets?), neat. The heavy arpeggio delay on the piano gives the track an "asynchronized" feeling that I like a lot.

Track 9: The Lamentations Known Only by Jizo (WBaWC)

The addition of the choir layer is a good choice imo, and the tone overall is more melancholic which fits its context in this album. Feels a bit space-filler-y but it's still solid.

Track 10: The Concealed Four Seasons (HSiFS)

This sounds pretty much the same as the original. Don't get me wrong, the original was a good song (if atypical for a stage 6 boss), but it's kind of disappointing that the arrange isn't very distinctive.

Track 11: Ghosts Exist Even When It's Not Night (Original)

A slowly-building staff roll-ish track that works nicely to cap off the album. I like it.

Overall thoughts & story

Eight years since the last Hifuu CD, ZUN still has it. The worst it ever gets is "well that was disappointing" and the best it gets is fresh and exciting. The story is an interesting development while leaving plenty of room for future exploration — it explicitly connects the shared features of Okina and Yukari's abilities to Merry's use of time travel in CoSD, for one thing — and the choice to include Okina's narration stands out and has me curious what volume 11 is going to be like.

9/10 definitely worth it.

#ruki's album reviews #touhou #hifuu club

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redgemwink · 4 months

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nostalgia blinded catgirl rants about the new dragon quest monsters game

okay i'm dropping dqm dark prince and wanna give my thoughts on it. actually i NEED to give my thoughts on it, i am dying to scream about how much i loved and hated this game. so i'll be blunt, both joker and joker 2 are better than dark prince and it isn't close. the vibe of this game felt much closer to like.. the original monsters remakes on the 3ds than the ds games. the season changing gimmick is terrible. the story is terrible. the lategame dungeons are terrible. the vibes are just off for me idk. i guess i'm biased bc the whole thing of travelling to islands and sometimes finding random events in joker were so neat and i loved that little weirdo monster that you could fuse into all kinds of weird forms and in general the areas and story felt more thought out.. and the hub area was wayyyy better. god, and the characters. i seriously could not stand ANYONE in this game. solitaire bb i miss you xoxo. tournaments were ok, the announcers were fun. i do think dark prince had some positives, like the sweets based areas were really neat, it felt like i was in candyland and i loved it. and as usual the fusing is really fun, it's still the biggest hightlight to me! scouting monsters and fusing them and just discovering all kinds of new ones is a great time. what really drove me away though was i guess the atmosphere and the dungeons. seriously, the dungeons suck BAD. the upper echelon ones have you aimlessly running in circles pressing buttons and shit to alter the dungeon slightly and you have no idea how many times you need to press it and you just keep ending up in the same place and it's the least fun ever- ok god fuck this game actually LOL i had fun with the early - mid game a lot and just fusing monsters and stuff but uhhhh i do wish i just stopped playing after the "bad ending" bc honestly it's a great stopping point bc the game just gets worse from there from both a story and gameplay perspective. the game has some bad performance issues, visually looks way worse than dq11, and in general just feels kind of.. subpar. i feel like as i played i couldn't help but think "wow i wish i was playing monster joker rn" and.. yeah! maybe i'll just go find my old copy of it and play it instead! i don't normally rant like this on here yall know i'm usually only here to rt yuri but like. i HAD to talk about this somewhere. i have rlly mixed feelings on this game but i'm still glad i played it, there were parts i enjoyed for sure and above all else i had a great time fusing monsters! i just hope if they ever make another dqm game they just,, remake monsters joker 1. FAITHFULLY. VERY, VERY FAITHFULLY..... PLEASE. ok gn!

#flora rants #i wanted to love this game so bad.. i really did hh #i just can't help but feel so much of the charm from joker 1 has been lost #it was the first one in the series i played so i can't help but compare them #this game wasn't BAD but it feels like.. pretty much what you'd expect from a monster catcher on the switch. so like #ugly and performs bad

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aria-ashryver · 11 months

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I have never actually asked, but maybe you could share something about your original work? 👀 Not necessarily all the details, but a brief overview or your favourite part of it so far?

Oh. Oh what a can of worms you just opened lmao. Thank you my love, so very much, for asking.

Look gang, I’m writing a book series!

⚔️🌩️The Stormsinger Chronicles🌩️⚔️

Growing up, I always wanted to escape into fantasy novels. I wanted to be the knight, and the princess, and the dragon. But I wanted to read something that wasn’t Ye Olde Medieval England or Gritty America But With Magic. I wanted to find a place closer to home, you know?

Cue the Stormsinger Chronicles.

In a world where magic has been strictly prohibited, and the cycle of life and death has grown stagnant, two sisters must overcome a decade-long rift to set things to rights. If they don’t murder each other first. Which is hard to do when people can't die, but Kyrie and Petrah are nothing if not stubborn.

In short: it’s a longform, speculative fiction trilogy set in a landscape inspired by the people, flora, and fauna of New Zealand!

In (slightly less) short: its a queer fantasy novel, yo. Every one of these characters is a delightful mess. There is not one “chosen one” among them — it's just a bunch of gays, doing their best (struggling. failing. bickering. falling in love. punching each other in the face). The story hinges on the relationships between characters — familial, platonic, romantic, antagonistic — and through this, and the wider world, I’m writing with the aim that ANYONE can pick up this fantasy land and know that there is a place for them here. We can leave the straight, white, male heroes in the fantasy books of old. (Except for Callum, who I wrote to be a straight, white male hero on purpose to subvert everything that trope is hehe. He's very sweet.)

Here's some characters!

Kyrie: Grumpy, foul-mouthed OG Fuck Up. Probably covered in mud.

Petrah: Done with your shit, wants to read and drink tea.

Meredith: Looks sweet, will kill you. Social schemer.

Callum: Looks like he'll kill you, is very sweet (but can also kill you. He won't, but he can.)

Jin: Annoying people into doing crimes with you is flirting, right?

Zamir: That Classy Bitch, excellent eyebrows (with which to judge you)

Niamh: Possesses all the brain cells the rest collectively lack.

Alistair: Literally can't NOT insult you, really needs a nap. He's trying.

[Image Removed - see note!]

There’s roaming bands of nomads! (Un)Natural disasters! Elven politics! Murder plots! Undead! General fuckery! Found family! Gods who are very bad at their job! Runecrafting! Enemies to begrudging besties! Worldbuilding for days! Diverse characters! Yearning! Trauma! An uncharacteristic lack of exclamation marks!

Here's a (WIP) map! [Image Removed - see note!]

My favourite part is... all of it hehe. But currently, I’m enjoying sinking back into the landscapes of the various regions and the creatures we can find there. Did you know NZ used to have a predatory bird called a Haast Eagle? Which —with a wingspan of 2-3 metres and claws the size of a tiger’s— was the largest eagle in the world, ever?

…Guess what I’m foisting on my characters 😈

It’s so much fun to write a world where (lacking predatory mammals like wolves and bears, etc, like NZ’s landscape is) the dangers lurking in the wild come in the form of dread weta, giant spiders, horned barklizards, Haast eagles, and dragons that look remarkably like Tuatara.

Oh, and there's the three Harpy Dens. Yeah, they’ll fuckin’ kill ya too. If the Deathless don’t catch you first. Good luck!

⚔️🌩️⚔️🌩️⚔️🌩️⚔️🌩️⚔️🌩️⚔️

I’m gonna delete this in a hot second! Two reasons;

1) I’m sharing an image that includes inspiration art for characters that I intend to have my own art commissioned for — none of this art belongs to me, this is just a glimspe into behind the scenes vibes (and I had this screenshot on hand from when a friend asked about my character’s relationships)

2) On the map, any and all names in Te Reo Maori are placeholders, including (and especially) Ao Marama; when the manuscript is complete, I want to work with Tangata Whenua to have their input on choosing appropriate names for my towns and landmarks — I don’t have the whakapapa to speak to this myself, being Ngati Paheka, so it would be pretty tone-deaf of me do write without input from Maori voices. (Fortunately all five of my step-siblings are Maori, so they can be some of my first betas lol, but I’m still gonna reach out to like the Pacifica Students association at my uni and then onward form there to sensitivity readers and such)

Draft is at 120k and counting! If you've read this far, (why are you reading this far? i love you 😭😆) I'll leave you with the current opening line!

It was nearing dinnertime in Westwatch, and Kyrie was seriously contemplating shooting a man in the eye...

#listen to me cackle as I hide behind the cut and prepare to smack you in the face with an essay

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siriannatan · 10 months

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Yokai Ryokan - Chapter 2

My updates might be even more sporadic than usual, I'm quite busy this following month and a half :{

Jimmy woke up to a cold, very cold and damp sensation on his cheeks. And the first thing he saw as he opened his eyes was Scott's cyan and gold eyes, and he could feel his cold breath on his face. As Scot pulled away with a relieved smile, he noticed the small horns he had only ever seen in books about myths and legends. Small, rounded, slightly resembling antlers. And there was that tail with cyan scares and dark cyan fur along the top of it and a fluffy tuft at its end. And as he blinked and looked around he spotted fWhip, and his nervously flicking fox ears and all his tails. Was it seven? Nine? It was hard to say with how much they were moving. Burning away what remains of those monsters. "He's awake," Scott called out to the redhead, still supporting Jimmy so he doesn't fall down again. Be it on his back or his face.

fWhip burned away the last already mangled and charred corpse and quickly joined them. "How are you feeling? Are you good enough to walk? We're really sorry but whatever happened makes it impossible for us to disguise ourselves again," he jumped to explain.

"Slow down, he's got to be confused," Scott sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I know, but more of those things might be coming," fWhip huffed and more howling echoed in the distance. "Dang it. Can you walk?" he asked.

Jimmy just shrugged. A lot has just happened and he was surrounded by handsome - very handsome - men, he'd be overwhelmed even if circumstances were different, tails and horns and monsters or not. "I think so, the weird itching and headache are gone?" he added with a slight shrug.

"Okay, we'll take you to the inn, I'd rather not test how Katherine might react, she tolerates us, strong yokai it is, to a degree, and that wasn't onmyoji energy... I have no idea what that was but we should be careful," Scott nodded and helped Jimmy up.

Jimmy could not, in fact, handle walking the other half of the way to the inn end ended up being carried by fWhip. The kitsune, as the man himself said was much warmer than the water ryu (a/n: my damn brain needs a separation from European dragons). And created a small soul flame - another fWhip explanation - to light up the path and maybe keep some monsters away. "I have no idea what those were but they gave me the creeps," fWhip muttered. "Like... I never saw something like that..."

"Neither have I, but they seemed eerily familiar... Like there was a connection... Something in their energy was familiar but I can't put a finger on it," Scott muttered in an annoyed tone, twirling his umbrella. It was rather cute to Jimmy's frazzled brain. "Hopefully whatever's blocking our ability to disguise ourselves runs out or we're in trouble, Katherine won't like it," he sighed.

"Isn't Gem one of the shrine maidens?" Jimmy asked he was feeling significantly better but fWhip just shook his head when he said he could walk. "Why wouldn't she be okay with..."

"It's too complicated to say now but in short words," fWhip explained as more howling could be heard in the woods. Still distant. Maybe a bit further than before? "A strong yokai who used to live here turned evil," he continued, speeding up, "and it wasn't that long ago so Katherine's not big on trusting us right now," he finished. The inn was almost in sight.

"Stratos has wards, we'll be safe there," Scott's voice was slightly shaking as more howling echoed through the woods. This time closer. He was clearly not in the mood to fight anything. Much less completely unknown to them monsters of even more unknown origin.

When they entered the back side of the ryokan they were met by a shocked Joel. As Scott and fWhip tried to explain their appearance, Jimmy looked to the path. One of the three-headed beast dogs was there snarling. "Guys? There's one..." As he was saying that Joel pulled a bow out of nowhere and shot it dead. The Beast dissolved into dark smoke as the arrow vanished.

"Inside," Joel said sternly and no one argued with that. fWhip carried Jimmy to the staff building followed closely by Scott. "Luckily all the guests are in town, enjoying all the early stalls and pop-up performances," he said and left to find his wife.

They sat in silence. fWhip scrunched his face and suddenly tails and ears were gone. "It passed," he let out a relieved sigh as Scott followed suit. "And do not apologise, you obviously have even less of an idea what happened there than the two of us," he added, patting Jimmy's cheek.

"What the hell are you two doing to Gem's friend?!" Lizzie huffed as soon as she walked in. Hand on hips, hair tied in a messy bun, still in an apron. She was clearly helping in the kitchen before Joel went to get her. Speaking of, he was behind her, hand on her shoulder.

"Protecting him?" fWhip offered. "We were walking him from the shrine so Gem can get her work started. About halfway there, he fell to the ground holding his head. Then those monster dogs, like eight or ten walk out, Joel saw one. And then Jimmy exploded this... good, warm, clearly not human, energy, destroying them and our disguises. They work now," he explained and looked over Jimmy and Scott to see if they wanted to add anything.

"What he said. We've been hearing howling the whole rest of the way," Scott nodded but he didn't look like he was quite there. He was staring out a window at the darkened forest. "There was something familiar in those monsters' energy... I haven't... It was weird," he finished his scattered thought. "How are you feeling? Even the smallest odd feeling."

Jimmy hummed. "I'm fine now. My head's slightly spinning but I think that's mostly confusion," he shrugged and there was fWhip's hand on his forehead. "I certainly feel better than I was the whole day... Like since the third torii of the stairs from the main road to here," he added and fWhip blushed slightly. The mysterious figure on the gate came back to mind. "It was you I saw on that gate?" he asked, blinking.

"Yeah... I just wanted to see Gem before Katherine puts her in miko robes..." he sighed, sitting back and staring at the tatami floor.

"So... What now?" Lizzie asked. "We can't let Katherine know Jimmy's possibly a yokai of great spiritual power, she'd flip," she sighed and looked at Joel.

"Well, I can't talk for fWhip but if you," he looked at Jimmy, "are okay with it I can stick around you to make sure no more of those dogs attack and maybe try and teach you how to control your energy? Or try to? You looked damn bad since we saw you at the temple," he pushed some errand hairs off of Jimmy's face. "And if you are okay with it," he added, looking at Lizzie and Joel.

"Oh, I don't mind, that thing gave me the creeps even through the barrier. And if Katherine and her shrine maidens are worth anything they already felt that energy and will be looking for whatever caused it," Joel hummed, leaving Lizzie's side and looking out the window looking towards the shrine. "And pretend everything is okay because of the festival... Lizzie?"

"Same as Joel. And I hope you would help if anything attacks this place," she nodded, her attitude softening a bit. "fWhip I know you hate hiding things from Gem but..."

"Don't worry, I'm going to help. Just... I'm trying to think what Jimmy can even be. I... His energy was so different from me or Scott and we're the strongest around here. It was so..." he stopped for a second. Looking right into Jimmy's eyes. "It felt, for the lack of better words, good. Like it's incapable of hurting anything but it destroyed those monsters. I never heard of Yokai with such good energy," he finished with a shrug.

Jimmy just nodded. "I have no idea what's going on but I get that we can't tell the temple because some strong yokai turned evil recently and they have a hard time with trusting more powerful yokai, and I'm guessing here, even smaller yokai aren't too happy with it," he slowly summarised what he gathered from it all. "And I might be a yokai but we have no idea what kind and why I wouldn't know it... Okay... I"m more than willing to learn how to control what I did there, even maybe learn how to utilise it to defend myself," he added, staring up at the ceiling. This was a lot.

All five of them were silent for a moment until Jimmy sighed and flopped to the tatami floor. "Can we leave heavy topics for later and rest now? I was feeling weird the whole day, exploded and learned I might not be human..."

"Of course," Lizzie jumped right back to being a host. "Sausage is making dinner, you two better stay the night, we can't be sure what's in the woods," she chattered and almost dragged the three of them to the staff house's dining area where Hermes was already setting up plates.

"We're having guest, auntie?" he asked, looking between fWhip and Scott with wide eyes. The kid obviously was excited to see them.

Lizzie nodded, and once she had the three of them seated, Joel went to make sure no more monsters were trying to breach Ryokan's protections and went to help with dinner. Taking the kid with her. Leaving them awkwardly sat together.

"Are you really okay?" fWhip asked after a minute. Or two. "You're Gem's friend... I don't... I don't often talk to humans who don't know about yokai, but you don't have to hide what you're really feeling. I... I'll understand..." he was clearly not saying everything he wanted to say. But the way Scott patted his back was more than words. Gem. It must have been hard for him to learn his twin sister was different.

"I... I'm slowly processing what's happened today... I think I'm okay but it's a lot. We'll see how I feel after some sleep," he sighed and stared out the window. It looked darn peaceful considering all the recent revelations. "I'll assume, everyone here and that Oli character is also Yokai."

He was right in assuming that but neither Scott nor fWhip would say what kind of yokai everyone was. "It's their thing to say," Scott said and the kitsune nodded. They did confirm that fWhip indeed had nine tails and he agreed to show them to Jimmy in more detail another day when they had more privacy and time. And Scott was indeed a mythical ryu and usually lived in the lake, during tourist season he moved between smaller lakes in the woods. And with a chuckle, just before the diner was served he said that he was willing to show Jimmy his full form if they ever happened to have enough room.

"Everyone in town, even just humans, knows that there are yokai around," Scott calmed Jimmy's worry that someone might see him. "The valley is locked to tourists outside the season and I'm very careful, no need to worry about me," he finished with a smile and thanked Lizzie for the food.

An hour after the dinner was finished and he got into his bed Jimmy was unable to sleep. He kept tossing and turning in his futon. Overthinking his whole life and all the weird hunches he ever had. All weird shadows he could recall seeing. Was it all being a possibly forcefully disguised yokai or something else? Should he tell fWhip and Scott about all those small dumb things he avoided thanks to these premonitions? All the bigger things he could possibly stop but being a coward didn't? Probably. Next time it's just three of them he told, lied to, himself.

He was at it for maybe another half an hour. An hour? When a shadow appeared in his window. A small fox with three tails and weirdly shining in dark piercing blue eyes. The same shade as fWhip's tail fur. "fWhip?" Jimmy called out and the fox jumped in through the half-open to the summer heat window. And sad on top of /jimmy's chest. Still as a small fox, luckily for Jimmy's poor bone structure.

"Rest," Jimmy heard fWhip's voice from the fox as it settled on top of him. It was calming and reassuring. But also...

"fWhip you jerk..." suddenly Scott slinked into the room. Jimmy clearly remembered closing it but he was not about to question anything these two do. And there was a cool presence of Scott next to him. "We guessed you would be awake, analysing your whole life, hope you don't mind if we try to help."

"I certainly couldn't sleep when I learned I'm a yokai and Gem isn't. There are no yokai hybrids, it's fifty-fifty chance which the child is..." fWhip hummed, almost a whisper, not moving off of Jimmy's chest.

#my stuff #my stories #empires smp #empiresshipping #fanfiction #empires shipping #empires fwhip #empires scott #empires jimmy #yokai au

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aka-indulgence · 2 years

Text

Jewel of jewels

In which the reader (if you choose to step into the self-insert shoes) gets abducted by a dragon.

I’m. I’m just a fan of “dragon steals you to make you part of his treasure hoard” idea sfhjsdks

(Male dragon, female reader)

AKA the rare original idea (meaning: not fandom related, also actually not rare because I think about original ideas too but this is one time I have the motivation to actually write it)

---

...

The ground... it feels hard. Your body aches a little. You groan a little as you touch your back. And is that rock under you?

You open your eyes a little, slowly becoming as wide as saucers as you take in the environment around you. Quickly, you push yourself off the ground to look, ignoring the slight scratches on your hands as they push against small pebbles.

You’re... in a cave?

It’s enormous, giant stalagmites and stalactites in the distance. Somehow, the cave seems to be illuminated by something, and it feels warm in here.

You move again, startling when you knock into something, turning to see... coins?

Gold coins littered around you, the emblem on them unfamiliar to you. You even see some other shiny things in the scarce piles around you (that no doubt had more value than your home), necklaces, rings...?

You stand up, walking towards the light source, where the ceilings are patterned with golden shimmering... only to immediately stumble, falling forwards on your hands. You were on the ledge, high above the ground of the cavern you see, but also:

The cave was brimming with gold, jewels, ornaments- treasure far grander than you could’ve ever imagined. There were mountains of coins, some a different color. You can see the twinkling of different jewels, red, green, blue, even one that seemed to have the colors of the rainbow.

You could barely see the cavern floors, that’s how much treasure you saw.

“W... what?” you say, your echo fading away, your voice too small to fill the cave- the size of which made you goosebump. “Where...? How? Why?”

You step back, your head spinning. You look behind, and it seems this ledge is jutting out of the cave walls- there’s nowhere to go.

“Why.... am I here...?” you say, your voice small. You can’t seem to remember anything-

“Princess...”

You scream, falling on your back. The voice was so immense, it felt as if the cave shook with it. You could feel it vibrating through the ground as something warm washed over you.

You turn to look- and what you saw struck such fear into your heart that any sound you would’ve made froze.

Near the back of the ledge, you were staring into large amber and red eyes, its gaze piercing you.

“You seem speechless, my dear.”

He had dark scales, armored plating covering his body. It shimmered slightly, reflecting the gold. You were as tall as his snout, and his blades for teeth were as big as your torso. He had ridged, wavy horns that pointed backwards from his head. Huge folded wings. You can’t see exactly how large his body was (you were too petrified to even think of going near the ledge to check), but you could see his forked tail in the distance, swishing back and forth almost playfully like a snake, the sound of gentle whipping in the air.

You think it was safe to say he’s giant.

The dragon chuckles, the sound like a rumbling volcano.

“Do you like what you see, princess?”

You finally find the urgency to move again when the dragon brings his head closer to you, the small movement making the earth shake.

You shuffle backwards as fast as you could, sentences failing to form.

“Wh-what, who?!”

Your fingers feel cold, your face feels cold. You scream again when something big thuds behind you, the dragon having put his claws behind you, stopping you from moving any further.

The dragon shook his head. You could see his horrid teeth forming a menacing grin. “I can see you are frightened, poor little thing. To answer your question, I am a dragon, and I’ve brought you to my lair. Don’t you remember the mountains...?”

The mountains?

The mountains...

...

It was a nice sunny day. Clouds dotting the skies.

A group of villagers decided to search for the “Dragon’s Hoard”, a legend no doubt been spoken about countless time, not just in your village. There were rumors that one of legends was in a mountain near the village. A foolish knight had come and gathered a group of men to go with him on this quest, including someone you knew.

“No, please, just come back home!”

Your childhood friend, bless his soul, was always the one to look for adventure, no matter what sort of trouble he might’ve gotten into. It was almost like he was testing the reaper himself. Dragon or no dragon, you knew the quest was too dangerous even for knights. If there was no dragon, the mountain will surely prove to be too grueling for everyone involved. Yes, the people of your village have scaled it... but never past a point.

“This could be big for us! We’ll no longer be a simple village, we’ll be richer than kings and queens, haha!”

“That won’t happen if you lose your life! Please just come home! If it truly is a dragon’s hoard, you surely won’t live long enough for the treasure to matter!”

Despite your own words, you followed them just past the point your people usually ventured. The knight had found you annoying, evidently, and while the people from your village defended you, they also insisted on pressing on.

“Then what are you going to do about the dragon, Mr. Knight? Are you going to vanquish it with your needle?”

“Peasant woman, you don’t know how us knights have been trained. We know how to kill an oversized beast.”

And then the unthinkable happened.

A large shadow had emerged from behind the mountain. No one realized what it was until it was too late.

“D... DRAGON-!!”

No one even had the time to prepare. In the moment a village man shouted the word, he was upon you. A roar that cracked the skies made everyone freeze in their spots, and then...

And then all you could remember was screaming, as the ground receded further and further away from you as you were taken ever higher.

The... the dragon... he took you.

“Ah. So you do remember me after all.”

The dragon’s slit pupils tightened a bit, locking onto the small movement of you bringing your knees closer to your chest, as you try to shrink as best you could.

“W... why...” your voice felt quieter than a whisper after the dragon spoke. “Why have you brought me here, oh great dragon?”

The dragon made a sort of growling sound- if you thought his voice shook you, the sounds coming from deep in his throat was an earthquake. He blows a small ring of smoke around you.

“I know you have heard dragon stories, little one.” the dragon hummed. “Surely, you know the one where the dragon keeps the princess in the tower...?”

You have. But that doesn’t explain anything to you.

“Yes... but I-I’m not a princess...”

You see more of his white teeth exposed. Is that... a smirk?

“Oh my dear, did something happen to you while you were asleep? First you forget who I am, the next you don’t realize you’re a princess... whatever am I to do with a cute little thing like you?”

“Y-you must be mistaken!” You try to explain. “You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I-I’m not a princess. I live in a village near the mountain. I’m not the princess you seek, I’m sorry...”

The dragon seems to pause for a moment, as if taking in the information.

Oh no... have you disappointed him with the truth-?

“You are the one who’s mistaken, princess.” The dragon purrs. It sounded like he... seems to have taken a liking to you? “Aren’t princesses beautiful women who take your breath away? You cannot lie to me in the hopes of being released.”

“I-I’m not royalty, I don’t have a crown-!”

“I care not for a crown on your head, little pet.” the dragon scoffs. “I have countless of crowns and medals and gold more than any human can fathom. If I wanted a crown, i would take the crown, not the human who owns it.”

“S... so why take... me?” You look up at the dragon helplessly, the fear lingering but confusion clouds your mind.

The dragon laughs, a low, rolling rumble.

“My dear. As a dragon, I have a fondness for treasures... everything that’s beautiful. So beautiful that it corrupts weak minds with greed... I am that greed. When I see something precious, I take it here, to my hoard. And you, princess... what are princesses but someone precious, someone more precious than even the most valuable jewel...?”

You squeak, scrambling away as the dragon turns his claws, moving them as if to cup you. You hear it again- that growling sound. You see his mouth stretching into another smile.

“I have seen many humans seek my hoard. None have ever come close. Even when there was only but a small hill of gold, I witnessed kings attempt to find my treasure trove. Anyone that came close, I burned to nothing but ashes. Few I let survive to tell the tale. There are others like me who have done the same, making those poor humans confused with many tales of dragons, where you can’t tell which is real and which was fabricated...”

The dragon turns his head, bringing one eye closer to you, as it looked like he was drinking your image.

“But I. I am luckier than the others.” The dragon said. “None of them have the fortune of finding such a precious little thing like you.”

The dragon’s claws twitched closer to you. You can’t move, you can’t look away from the dragon’s eye.

“I see people. I hear people who come for my treasures. And I saw you. Sweet little thing. You didn’t want treasure. You only wanted everyone to be safe... you knew how deadly this ‘adventure’ would be. I saw how tired you were... yet you followed those men, same as the others- unprepared for a dragon.

As soon as I saw you, I knew you had to be mine, and mine alone. Humans don’t know how to take care of a treasure like a dragon does. So I came for you. I came to claim the precious gem that had unwittingly wandered into my domain.”

Your breaths were short. You swallowed thickly as it felt like your body was rooted to the ground.

You didn’t want to know, yet the question tumbled out of your mouth anyway.

“Wh... what do you intend to do with me, dragon..?”

The dragon shows off his mighty teeth again. You could almost see your face reflected in a tooth.

“As I do with the rest of my treasures, love.”

You shrieked as the dragon’s claws fell on top of you, digging into the ground like prison bars as you’re caged in. The dragon’s eye peers in, showering you in an ominous, red glow.

“You belong to me now, little one. I don’t intend on ever letting go of my precious treasures. And you, my dear... you are my most prized possession.”

#not sans #i repeat this is not a sans fanfic so if you dont wanna read i will understand #original idea #???#i forgot #i wrote that one original thing ages ago and idk what the tag was dhjksdf #reader x monster #aka writing #dragon #horaaay #im anxious bc i cant believe its not sans!!#sdjhfdfs

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ballorawan740 · 3 years

Text

SCP Scenarios: SCP x Fem!Child!Hybrid!Reader

Requested by: @nightfoxyycats

I'm so sorry this took longer than expected T_T

(Yes Ik it's longer than the others I do, and that's cuz I usually end up mixing the headcanons into drabbles/one-shots, but this time, I kept it as bullet points and I got carried away. Oops. And yes, it's easier to write headcanons this way but it'll end up being long af)

When Cain first met you, he overheard and was curious about this new SCP during a test, so he decided to come and watch, from afar of course.

Anyways, the little test was just a plain and boring one and little (Y/N) was taken back to her containment cell after 10 minutes. Cain had requested to see you as he remembered seeing in your file that you can breathe fire and cry lava among other things due to your dragon abilities.

It's not like he didn't believe them since he's been in the foundation for many years, but he was just curious about a hybrid child like you and wanted to see if you were doing well. You being a shy child was quiet at first and when Cain went to visit you every so often, you both became close and he was a father figure to you, even though you were abandoned by your father since birth and your mother died not long later.

He took good care of you and made sure you were well fed. You were rather polite to the guards and staff so Cain wouldn't need to worry too much about you intentionally killing them. But only for a short period of time as who knows what you'll be like when you're older.

Luckily for Cain, you were also carnivorous, so he didn't have to worry about you eating your 5 a day (not that you wanted to anyways you ungrateful meat-eating child).

Whenever there's a containment breach, the first thing he does is to look for you

Aside from some side effects, he isn't worried too much as he wouldn't receive any wounds anyways so hell just charge towards anyone who looks/sound like you

He's basically your new dad ok?

SCP 076 (Abel)

Abel first came into contact with you during a containment breach

He just saw you casually flying around and occasionally lending the guards a hand by breathing fire just to burn some holes for easier access (how professional)

He saw you again moments later when you were alone and you decided to approach this hulk of a man to ask for some help, thinking he worked there. Abel had abandoned you (like your hopes and dreams left you a millennium years ago) but you insisted on going with him so he took you in

Later his rage in the facility had vanished as he had cared for you for the short period of time he had met you and handed you over to the guards, much to their surprise

He then ran away as he's not totally scared of kids or anything and hid in his box

You insisted on visiting 076-2 and so the researchers did, realising much later that you both had bonded. Abel was a parental figure to you.

A very overbearing protective guardian I must say.

Even more so when there's a containment breach

Like imagine 610 and 682 mashed up together to form an extremely hostile entity and that's Abel for you

But that's only if you were hurt, if you weren't or fit was just a normal containment breach, had be extremely worried

SCP 049 (Plague Doctor) (Guy's pls don't be mistaken, I don't have any beef with 049 ok? XD If I make any characters a little OC then 049 will gladly rid the pestilence from you without consent)

This sassy MF so-called doctor right here met you when for some reason, the doctors had decided to put you both into a testing room (no, it wasn't Bright's idea).

049 was just doing his thing as you just sat on a really high chair (cuz you do be short so ofc you wouldn't be sitting on a lower chair which is lower than your taste in men/women) and watched curiously. The doctor thought it was somewhat cute and laughed slightly from your curiosity.

Sensing that you didn't have the pestilence, he allowed you to scooch closer just to see. After the test was done, the guards took you back out with slight aggression, but you, for some reason, were still polite to the guards despite their aggression which made 049's heart swell due to your pureness.

You yawned slightly and accidentally blew out fire from your mouth which almost caused a containment breach if it weren't for 049's quick thinking

Later on, the researchers had decided to put you both in the testing room again, and you both began to bond as 049 requested you to burn the bodies he performed surgery on

Needless to say, you both had a great time and the researchers were mildly amused

If you somehow knew another friend (*ahem* 035), he'd probs ask him/her to care/loof for you if there were a containment breach

Or he would just sigh and look after you himself if you were closer to 035 and he asked so nicely

SCP 035 (Possessive Mask) (Right about 049 being sassy.... I'll take that back, 035 is the sassiest, right next to a certain sculpture in the foundation)

Anyhow, 035 was actually the reason you were stuck in the foundation anyways

God knows how, but you met this guy wearing this theatre mask and you ended up here in the foundation

Now everyone thought you were either a Keter or Euclid

I mean, you were so close to being put into the Euclid class but ended up in safe since you were so polite to the researchers as well as shy and relatively easy to contain... For now

Whenever they used you in a test, you were rewarded with whatever you wanted, within reason ofc, whenever you behaved well which was like 98% of the time minus minor accidents since you weren't entirely in control of your powers

Sometimes instead of a reward, you'd request to see 035 as he would perform to you and that was only granted when its safe to do so and when that hideous mask would do as he/she/it is told

035 would be that somewhat overprotective yet goofy uncle that everyone loved and he was totally wrapped around your fingers unless you were hurt or if he urgently needed something or someone

If there was a containment breach, he'd look for you, if not he'll call out his 'friend' to look out for you (*cough* 049 *cough*)

When 035 finds you, he'd most likely ask you to fly around to see the nearest exit or he'd just carry you when there's someone chasing you

If 035 were to kill anyone, you'd cry and tell him no to which did end up in burning the floor but oh wells, they're rich enough to contain him so why not use the extra money to rebuild the floor right?

Anyways, 035 loves you no matter what and he'd do anything to make sure you're doing well

SCP 999 (Tickle Monster)

Ok so, when you and 999 first met each other, you were kind of just wandering around the facility minding your own business

999 just casually slithered up to your leg and offered you some sweets and a hug since you looked upset and so you accepted it

You both found a place to sit and just talk bout stuff and what life was like before you were captured

But you were cheery just like 999 and rarely attacked anyone, and if you ever did, it was either that you were hella pissed or you accidentally breathed fire/teared up some lava which burnt some stuff

The researchers would secretly take in some notes bout your interactions and just continued on with their day and left you both alone, but would sometimes keep a stern eye on you

They say it's for everyone's safety, and that's true to an extent, but the main reason they do it is to monitor your progress of you controlling your powers

Anyways, sometimes when it gets busy in the cafe or down the hallway, you just fly across the room, and sometimes, you'll be extra cheeky and play hide and seek with the researchers

999 would occasionally join in but he's more like a worried older brother to you

During containment breaches, 999 would run around looking for you and when he did, he would check if you had any injuries

When you say you didn't, he was relieved but not for long since you mentioned bout making new SCP friends and he just died right there and then (not really)

SCP 682 (Hard to Destroy Reptile)

Similarly to Able, he'd be wary of you at first

Like, he can sense that you weren't just an ordinary child when you just appeared behind him

He was somewhat irritated when you followed him around, but you reminded him of 053, so he just let it slide and let you show some affection towards him

It's not like he didn't like it, he was just embarrassed

Anyhow, the researchers wanted to test how 682 would bond with you, so they made you meet up with him again but in his cell

You were both chatting like father and daughter and soon, everyone had found out that not only could you fly, you could also cry lava, which yes did burn a small hole on the ground and you could somehow breathe fire

You were also immune to the fire and lava so they decided to have a full-on body check and discovered that you were built similar to the komodo dragon with a side of 682 (XD Don't ask)

682 was left stunned, but luckily he didn't feel the need to run up the wall like that bunny

Like who tf invented a self-eating bunny?

Anyways, research shows that just like Abel, the giant lizard was very protective of you

The theory has it that you were somehow related to the lizard, perhaps he laid an egg before containment and some guy took it in and froze it then decided to hatch the egg

During containment breaches, he would basically rampage around the facility, killing anyone and everyone until he found you

And when he did, he would check on you like the amazing father he is and then carry on killing but was then stopped by you

So he would just carry you around until you fell asleep

SCP 105 (Iris)

I think Iris would be a good mother/sister figure when it comes to kids

It kinda came from the fact that Iris hangs out with Abel and Cain a lot, so it kinda just rubs off her

Her motherly/sisterly instinct just heightened when she first found you on a mission and she just took you in

It took a while to bribe the foundation that she kinda had custody

Not exactly custody, but she had a say when it came to your safety, especially the fact that you weren't exactly human and your appearance would cause a disturbance to others

I feel like Iris would be a stern yet kind guardian towards you, leaning towards the stern part since you're a child SCP and has fire breath and lava tears

Iris wouldn't be entirely bothered by you flying around, but she had to bribe the researchers and some SCPs to help you fly better

She would murder anyone who had to cry because they made you cry and cleaning up after your tears is such a mess considering that you have little control over them

Your fire breath on the other hand is slightly more controllable, but if you were hella happy or mad you'd breathe the fire and burn anyone/anything

Most of the time, its unintentional and you're usually sweet and kind towards anyone, so manners aren't a big thing for Iris to teach you

She'd even teach you some of the stuff she learnt/discovered and you'd just sit there being nosy and curious about everything

Like that one time, you almost caused a breach cus you were so curious and friendly that 682 was about to snap off your head and rampage out of the foundation

And don't even get me started with the brothers and 096, OML

Other than that, you both were like a family you never had :,) (You're welcome!!!)

During containment breaches, Iris would literally pick you up and run

Unless you weren't with her for whatever reason (Yes, you're attached to each other's hips... Don't lie, you love it!), she'd do anything to find you

If you were hurt, shed tend to your injuries immediately and lecture you about safety

If you weren't hurt, shed still give you a lecture, then pick you up and run

If you made friends on the way, she may or may not approve and bite of anyone head

And the foundation wouldn't want an Angry!Iris around

SCP 106 (Old Man)

This old man here is basically the definition of a cool uncle/granddad

Without a doubt, he'd go into his pocket dimension and comes back with a teddy bear or some sweets

He'd spoil you a lot and the foundation had enough of this cuz by the time you become an adult, you wouldn't be independent enough

Anyways, 106 would let you go into his dimension and practice your abilities there for the safety of others

The researchers would occasionally ask you to carry a camera with you just so they know what it's like in his pocket dimension

106 rarely gets mad, and even if he was, it'll be about someone trying to hurt you since you're too kind and shy to make him mad

You're even kind to the researchers and guards which is worrying to 106 as they might take advantage of your kindness (which may be true for some, but most of them are just glad you're kind since it makes their jobs so much easier)

Sometimes, you'd make things levitate which was a shock to anyone who walked by and witnessed this

But only for a few seconds though, so it's not much

106 would encourage you to use your telekineses and he'd attempt to train you

Which didn't work so well, so that sucks

During containment breaches, he'd use his pocket dimension to his advantage

He'd hide you in there just so you don't have to get hurt

If you weren't there with him, he'd kill and hunt down anyone who might know where you are

He'd make sure you weren't hurt otherwise he would go into scary uncle mode

If you weren't hurt, he would just hug you which stops you from crying lava

SCP 096 (Shy Guy)

Now what makes you and 096 a unique pairing is that you're both shy

The only difference is that you can speak but 096 kinda doesn't

But that's not a problem since you both just understood each other since day 1

I'd say 096 is that introverted uncle/cousin but he's kinda chill and sweet with you

As for containment breaches, the only difference with this tall guy is that not only will he kill anyone who sees his face, he'd also hunt down anyone who'd hurt you

096 has a newfound ability for this and the researchers were shocked when they first found out

A certain chainsaw loving doctor wanted to test it out himself but was stopped rather quickly by the other researchers

Anyways, one time you almost burnt down the foundation because 096 crept up behind you which scared you to tears

And you screamed as well which didn't help at all since you could breathe fire

Also, when you're not with 096, you'd use your levitating powers to grab lighter objects which did result in the objects falling onto your head

And this is why you need to train more, so then objects wouldn't be yeeted onto your tiny head and knock the nonexistent brain cells out of your nonexistent brain - Sorry not sorry (Ok so at least pretend to laugh)

If anyone bullied you and you didn't say a word, 096 would know and even if you tried to stop him, it wouldn't work

Unless you're in a life-threatening situation, but even then, he'd kill the guy

Dr. Simon Glass

Unlike the others on the list, you're the one who approached the doctor

Mainly because you were lost, but you were curious as well

Simon would probably be the best person to run into, other than Kondraki, but still

It's because he's a psychologist and still very much human (I mean, Kondraki's a normal human I guess, but he has those butterfly thingys)

Anyways, when he first saw you, you were in his office flying about and crying lava

Simon saw you and was shocked but attempted to calm you down and get you you sit with him for a bit, then call the others

But boy did that not work out, because this poor innocent boi was boutta get killed by your firey breath cuz he startled you too much

Bright, Kondraki and Clef just strolled in and saw the mess and even attempted to get you to chill, but this didn't work either

So poor Simon Glass had to find his way to get you to stop being so scared which obviously worked

You sat down with him and he let you doodle on a blank piece of paper

And being a good psychologist he is, he used psychological methods to get you to feel comfortable and to start talking to which you did

You were so polite he gave it to a chocolate bar, but instead of taking it off his hands, you used your telekineses to levitate it in your direction

Simon recorded what he had seen before letting the other researchers take you and offered to take you under his wing on the condition that you were you have a check-up every now and again

That wasn't much of a problem since you were so polite and chill - Usually

During containment breaches, he would make sure that you were safe first and it wasn't so difficult to deal with you since you were with him most of the time

When you're not with him, he'd be extremely worried like a mother hen and run in any direction that would take him to you

He'd be relieved to see you and if you were hurt, he'd bandage you up and try to not cry

If you've made new friends, he would be very happy about it - Unless it's a Keter or Euclid class

They'll be on his watchlist

Anyhow, Simon Glass is basically your mother and mentor

He'd teach you all the basics you'll need and help train you if he can (he'd most likely have to ask the other doctors and SCPs with some bribery)

Dr. Jack Bright

Our favourite doctor here would be that goofy uncle/dad

I feel that he'd sympathise with you since he's also an SCP (sorta) and he feels kind of trapped in the foundation

If you're lucky enough, Jack might be able to take you out for an hour for some fresh air

You'll automatically be under his wing and nobody will ever question it. Ever.

Although he may be goofy and does stupid things, he would be surprisingly protective and his fatherly instincts kick in right away since he first met you

He would allow you to use your powers to an extent and teach you how to use your power properly

You are well aware of his anomalous abilities with his neckless, so whenever Bright had to change bodies, you'd automatically know where he is (other than the obvious neckless thingy)

If there were to have a containment breach, Bright would panic but quickly become calm as that's the only way he could find you and keep you safe

When he finds you he would give you that lecture while finding any scratches on you

If you were to grow, he would give most guys the dad glare of the century and all those guys would run tf away cuz nobody messes with Bright's newfound daughter

I have high doubts that he would let anyone do tests with you when he's not there and even if he was, they would need his approval, so most of the time, you don't even need to worry much

Dr. Alto Clef

(OML Why do I keep adding new characters?! There's so much to write T_T)

Right, so when Clef found you, it was like as if his long lost (well... not so lost) memory came back to him

For some reason, you reminded him of 166 (OML I'm so lost for this SCP, like boi she had a rewrite)

So he took you in the foundation like he did with his daughter and took care of you Since he works for the foundation, he's not remotely terrified or anything, but he's curious about your abilities

And of course, you managed to use some of your abilities because of some SCPs and Bright Clef took you to meet 166 and you both showed your abilities and since 166 is older than you, she's probably trying to help you control your powers more

Which, of course, makes Clef a proud dad

If there were any containment breaches, he'd panicked but once he found you with his other daughter, he was relieved

166 made sure that you weren't hurt and if you were, you'd be bandaged up so Clef doesn't have to worry too much

Anyhow, if Clef decides to introduce you to the tiger doctors, he'd make sure Glass is the first since he's the most sensible person (but let's face it, he wouldn't admit it)

Then it'll be Iceberg, Coggs (that's his name right), Light and a couple others Bright and Kondraki would be last since they would be somewhat chaotic (mainly Bright) even though they're the fun uncle

Whenever Clef has a mission, he'd shove you to either 166 or Glass, if he's free, if not then it'll most likely be Light (and if she's also busy, then yall screwed)

And bless the guy who takes an interest in you when you become a teen cuz our messy boi would make sure that guy would suffer

Dr. Benjamin Kondraki

Ok let's face it, Kondraki would definitely be the mother hen of the dad world in the SCP Foundation

He's literally your mother, kinda like Glass but kinda not, ya know what I'm saying?

Like he'll feed your curiosity since many people around you wouldn't and you're an SCP so you're trapped in the foundation anyways

I'd say he's quite cautious and caring, obviously, but if he's out and about, he'd definitely let you go with him

Unless he's going out for a mission, then that's a definite no-no

He would let you hang out with the safer SCPs like 999 and maybe 166 if Clef is chill, but he has to let you hang out with her cuz she's the only other SCP who could help you get a grasp with your powers

Like how to not burn the bloody floor when you cry and stop breathing fire inconsistently by accident

An attempt was made when they try to train your telekineses but they'll have to wait till you're older

Since most of the time you're stuck with Kondraki, I don't think he'd be all too worried bout breaches, of course, he'd be worried about your safety, but you're there with him

If not then god knows what Kondraki would do

Like that one time, he begged Clef and Bright to look for you in which they did but then they made him do something for them in return

Let's just say, it wasn't pleasant at all, but it could be worse since Clef had a shred of sympathy left for the man and Bright just wanted chainsaws

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ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole · 3 years

Text

Stories of Paris

Part Three

Part One Part Two Part Four AO3

Masterlist

...........................................

Dick stared at the photos on Bruce’s desk. He had been rummaging around desk in his office to find where Bruce had hidden his report. But he had gotten distracted by the photo’s had put on display. A bittersweet smile danced across his face at the sight of Martha and Thomas with a small Bruce. Warmth filled him viewing the one of him, Alfred and Bruce shortly after he arrived at the Manor. The third one. That one confused him though. It featured a young Bruce with a teenage girl dusted in flour smiling doing “ninja moves” in the kitchen.

For as long as Dick had known, Bruce had a permanent ban since forever of even entering the kitchen. He had obviously been baking IN THE KITCHEN without burning the place down. It frazzled his mind about that. Looking closer at the girl, Dick didn't recognise her at all.

Dick could place most of the Gotham socialites which Bruce knew and grew up with. He knew Oliver who Bruce had a friendly rivalry with from school. He was aware of the key people Bruce interacted with at W.E and in the JL.

This girl didn't fit into any of these categories. He couldn't place her at all. To have a photo of her, meant she was important.... and he knew her around his parents' death. So, who was she?

A polite cough brought Dick out of his thoughts to find Alfred staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I, I was looking for something Bruce left on his desk. Honest. No pranks either! Promise!" Dick rushed out, looking guiltily at Alfred.

"Is that the case indeed, Master Dick? I would suggest that instead then to wait until Master Bruce's home and he might be able to help you find it"

Dick knew that Alfred was subtly warning him to give up the search to avoid trouble. Dick needed a different tactic to distract Alfred to buy himself maybe a little more time to finish his quest maybe… hopefully…

"Alfred. Do you know who the girl in this picture is? I've not seen her before and it's odd!"

"Many things are odd in Master Bruces life, but I think you should ask Master Bruce that specific question Master Dick. It is the photo he chose to frame not I."

Alfred did pause at the photo and gently smile. It was clear to Dick that Alfred knew this mysterious person and was also fond of them. It was also clear that Alfred wasn't going to provide the answer.

"I suggest Master Dick we should leave the study for today and head back into the main Manor for some tea.”

Looks like his search was going to have to pause for the moment.

......

It was later that week when Dick finally found an opportunity to bring up the photo on his desk. Much to Dick's surprise Bruce lit up like a Christmas tree. He's whole demeanour softened and lost the harden edges and he, Bruce ‘I am darkness, I am the night’ himself, GUSHED.

"That picture is of Mari. She was my 'babysitter' so Alfred could get breaks.” Bruce rolled his eyes at the babysitter comment, but he did gain a soft smile. “She was amazing. Mari really helped me start to grieve shortly after my parents' death. The photo reminds me of her telling me stories of Paris while baking cookies. Where it all started."

"How come she never visits, and I've not met her?!" Dick pouted. Bruce talking so fondly of her, it was weird. The permanent cloud of gloom he usually shrouded himself in had gone.

"She's a busy woman running a company, finding time for visits is hard. We regularly talk on the phone though."

"Oh" Dick felt slightly dejected. This woman was clearly important to Bruce, but he never introduced her to him or vice versa in all the years he'd been living with Bruce. Also, the 'where it started' was oddly cryptic too.

"Next time she calls we can see if we can face time so you can meet her. I'd always wanted to introduce you in person. Have I ever told you about the time Mari and I got into a bet about who could decorate the most gargoyles on WE?"

"Nooo..." Dick replies cautiously.

“It’s how ‘Pinkie’ got his name and why you can still see bits of pink glitter on him. I’m still not sure what glue she used especially to be so effective...”

That evening Bruce told Dick these ridiculous tales of the mischief he and Mari got up too while Alfred wasn't there. It was hard to comprehend but for the first time in 5 years Dick saw a different lighter side to Bruce.

______________________________________________

Jason was curled up in 'his spot' in the library. It would catch the afternoon sun and create a warm blanket-esque feel. Like time pauses to allow him to escape reality. Today, instead of reading a classic, he was reading through a worn diary-like book he'd found while searching for a new Dickens to read.

The book was handwritten and almost childlike in style and language which intrigued the curious boy. It took a few pages to realise that this was likely to have been written by Bruce when he was younger. Maybe a similar age to Jason. The book read like a cross between a diary and writing a story. Some of the things a young Bruce was putting to paper were too weird to be true. A baby turning giant as wanted a lollipop?! A crocodile turning into a dragon?! Maybe Bruce wanted to be a writer when he grew up before he had decided on being a vigilante and CEO. The man was odd enough that it was a possibility. Jason did enjoy the heroes that were in the book. They seemed to learn on the job and didn't have an adult to boss them about and were powered by mini gods. So surreal.

Jason spent the afternoon devouring the stories of a young Bruce.

It was Sunday, and Alfred insisted on family dinner, Jason decided to teased Dick about if he got emotional, he would turn into more of a fashion disaster like an Akuma. Dick looked at the younger boy in confusion and Bruce paused.

"Where'd you hear that Jason?"

"In the book in the library B. You could have made a fortune with those stories. When'd'ya stop wanting to be a writer?"

"Book…" suddenly it clicked together in Bruce's head, and he smiled. "Those stories weren't mine. They were Mari's. She used to tell me all about what happened in Paris before she came to Gotham to study for a few years."

He softened, as he reminisced about the stories she told him. The adventures she described. He knew in hindsight she glossed over the horrors she'd experienced. She never hid them as such, just never went into the details. He now knew he saw it in her eyes, the misting over and faraway look reliving the pain, when she referred to the incidents.

Jason looked over to Dick for guidance. He'd never seen or heard Bruce act this way. It was weirding him out.

"Mari? As in Mari from *the photo*? Stories? You mean the kitchen antics you both got up to?" Dick asked, taking the lead from Jason. Even though Dick occasionally talked to her on the phone, he still couldn't really place her or understand that someone who was so physically distant had such an effect on Bruce. She seemed nice enough but the strength of Bruces attachment was odd.

"The photo?" Jason tilted his head in confusion. The Manor was filled with photos and knick-knacks. To know which one Dick was referring to specifically was a mystery. Jason was lost by Dick’s conversation direction.

"Yeah, Bruce has one of her on his desk. Like he has of us."

"Mari is family. Of course I'll have her photo on display. She was the one who taught me about found family. That I didn't need to be alone once after my parents, that I could choose my family. Why I *chose* you two. I had forgotten that I had written her stories down."

It was Dicks turned to looked at Bruce confusedly before glancing to Jason for clarification.

“I found an old book in the library which B had written. It’s about heroes and gods saving Paris from the original Mothman. B, well I guess, Mari, is an amazing storyteller. The whole story is so surreal. A new take on Alice in Wonderland sort of thing, Mothman created evil butterflies, Akuma, who took over a civilian and turned them into fashion disaster monsters which the heroes banding godlike powers had to defeat to save them!

The Akuma were forced into worse fashion than you voluntarily wear, Dick.”

Jason stuck his tongue out at his elder “brother” with his finally comment.

“Did I not tell you Mari’s stories that she told me when I was younger Dick?” Bruce butted in before the boys devolved into an argument about fashion. He really didn’t need to hear it when he got enough ribbing from Mari about some of the suits he’d worn to gala’s, he quite like not hearing more fashion “critique” at home.

“No Bruce!!! You’ve not told me about them!! I only found out about Mari by stumbling on her photo?! You claim she’s family, but you don’t seem willing to share her!” jabbed Dick. This woman was still a mystery to Dick (and now Jason) as to how she was so important to Bruce but was kept at arms-length from them.

With Dick’s reaction and Jason’s curiosity, Bruce after dinner took the book Jason had discovered and retold some of the stories of Paris Mari had told him. About the times she had taken him to ComicCon and had made them their cosplay outfits and maybe the small scene they had caused resulting in them being banned.

He also ended up having to promise the pair that next time she called they could get to talk to her. Jason was desperate to know more about Mari’s stories.

______________________________________________

Tim was rather animated at the dinner table this particular evening, Bruce noted. He was talking passionately about the meeting that had occurred in Bruce’s absence (thank you very much Riddler!!) which was highly unusual. Tim was trying to convince Bruce that they ‘needed’ to bring their European director to Gotham.

“She was *amazing* Bruce”, Tim stated with stars in his eyes, “I know it's all done by video conference and all. But her glare. It was such a bat worthy glare!! Every time the board members here tried to talk over me, she’d glare and call them out. It made them shut up. Every time they tried after that she’d raise an eyebrow they’d stop. It was just like Alfreds! And she listened to my ideas and then worked with me on how to adapt them to make it more profitable AS WELL as humanitarian. She didn’t treat me like a kid. Plus, all the statistics and reports show that Europe is W.E. best performing region. Please… please… pleeeaasseeeeeee Bruce can we get her to visit and like teach me her magic ways!”

“Tt - you’re begging behaviour Drake is a disgrace. It’s no wonder the board don’t take you seriously.”

Jason looked across to Dick and raised his eyebrow. Watching the Pretender and Demon Spawn verbal spar was the norm but seeing the Pretender beg at B was not what he expected when Dick had “insisted” that he visit for dinner for Alfred. Still, it was free entertainment alongside Alfred cooking.

“Her glares better than Batmans.” That seem to catch Bruce attention properly from the boy’s verbal jabs, “Who did you say was represent Europe at this meeting?”

“Ms DC? The European Director. Or that’s who she introduced herself as.”

The grin that Bruce gained was unnerving to those at the table which Alfred raised his eyebrow at. It was eerily like Damian’s when he is plotting their ‘downfalls’.

“I see that you met Ms Marinette then Master Timothy. It has been a while since she has visited. I would agree with your assessment Master Timothy for her to visit, but not for work, Master Bruce, I think I will get in contact to arrange for her to stay with us. She deserves a break from the chaos you cause her with W.E. As well as a proper introduction to your children you so regularly ask her opinions on, yet still seem to ignore her sound advice.”

Dick slammed his hands on the table. “WHAT!! You’re talking about MARI!! Bruce’s mysterious family?! The business you fob off me off originally was YOUR business!!! YOUR COMPANY!!! And Timmy got to meet her properly before ALL of us!! What the... Bruce!!!!!!!!”

Tim and Damian looked at each other in surprise at Dicks unexpected outburst.

“What mysterious family are you referring to Grayson? I am his family.... as well as you stray’s he has collected I suppose.” Damian gritted out.

“What Dickiebird is talking about Demon Spawn, is the reason we’re all here. Mari was his babysitter and introduced him to found family and like got him being semi human when he was younger. Bet he’s the train wreck of a person because she left.”

“Jason!” Bruce scolded, “Mari didn’t leave. She lived over here for years after finishing her studies. She took over the European office as a favour for me and to be closer to her husband. Apart from Alfred, she was my family after my parents died. You will not speak ill of her. She *is* family!”

Bruce looked over his chaotic children trying to decide if inviting Marinette over would be a wise idea after all. He hadn’t planned to let it get so far out of hand. He honestly thought he would introduce them much sooner than he had. But juggling being CEO (admittedly she had helped him so much with it), Batman (again she had assisted in training and sometimes as a sounding board), being a father to the rabble before him (who he regularly called to regale some amazing proud parent feat to her about or for parenting advice... which he may be a bit selective on actioning) he never found time to physically introduce her.

He spoke to her all the time that it sort have always slipped his mind that the boy’s may want to meet her properly. He knew Jason semi regularly was in contact with her after stealing her number from his phone when he first discovered her. It always slipped his mind Dick never did that. And given the workload that he might inadvertently ladened on her she probably didn’t have the time either. Especially if she took leave, it was to spend with her Parisian family. Maybe Alfred had a point.

“Alfred. I believe you are right. Mari is a gem that has dealt with a lot. Please contact her to arrange a trip over. I wish you all of Tikki’s blessings in trying to convince her to stay at the Manor rather than at a hotel. Oh, ensure that she uses our private jet, I do not want to inconvenience her at all. Also extend the invite to Kim. I know the pool isn’t up to his usual standards, but he’ll still have full access to the gym if he would like to attend.”

“Of course, Master Bruce.”

Tags:

@neakco @jayjayspixiepop @prettylittlebutterflie @lady-bee-fechin @corporeal-terrestrial

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beevean · 3 years

Text

Opinion: How could Sonamy progress in IDW?

[note: the original article was written in Spanish by @latin-dr-robotnik]

Today we’re going to discuss a recurring topic on my blog, with a more complete perspective.

Today’s article was inspired by an ask I got a few days ago about my possible perspective on the future of IDW Sonamy. I thought it would be interesting to revisit and expand this topic, because it’s still something of great interest for thousands of fans all around the world, and because SEGA has recently adopted a very peculiar position on the couple and their dynamic. As I detailed on my article SEGA and its most recent Sonamy side – more canon than ever, the dynamic has been going through a shift that can be distinguished into two main parts: 1) the commercial potential of Sonamy as a merchandising and marketing icon; 2) the stability of the interactions in the comics, in the short monthly stories on Sonic Channel, and so on.

That being said, there’s no need to mention that we’re going to focus entirely and nothing more than on this ship. I usually suggest other articles for those who prefer to read on other subjects, but today I will recommend our Discord server [translator’s note: the server is mainly Spanish-speaking], where discussions about ships are limited on their own canal that is separated from other themes: general discussions, music, fangames and mods, fanfics, fanart and even gaming in general. As you know, if you want to bring something else to our community, or just avoid talking about Sonamy, you’re more than welcome to join. Now, back on track.

What’s going on with Sonamy in IDW?

To recap what’s happened in these last months: Sonic and his friends finally got through the nightmare that was the Metal Virus, he and Amy hugged a few times, and since very recently they’ve been involved in a short arc about Chao races in Twinkle Park Zone, with a sinister background. In these last months after the eradication of the virus, there have been much closer and warmer interactions between our two hedgehogs, and I suspect that part of this is what inspired that question in the first place: what’s going on?

As I commented in the article where I proposed that Sonamy is “more canon than ever” (I know that it’s an exaggeration, that was the point), SEGA is treading carefully and the main canon seems to be willing to negotiate a more open representation of the relationship between the two in their different continuities, from best friends to something more. What I did not expect to happen was reading an answer from Evan Stanley (artist and writer that replaces Ian Flynn) about their dynamic, summing it up with “they like each other”.

The redrawing of Sonic’s expression when Amy hugs him in a recent drawing of hers made people wonder if this was yet another example of SEGA’s “censoring” (comparison below), to which Evan answered that it was modified to keep Sonic in character: he’s a guy that does not show much emotional vulnerability or too many negative emotions, and this is why sometimes the artists have to adjust WIPs to keep in line with this official point of view. Evan assured that this is not any kind of confirmation that Sonic does not like Amy, and doubles down by highlighting that in the official material, in the wikis and on Sonic Channel they show that, and I quote: “They like each other, but Sonic just isn’t the kind of guy who is going to make goo-goo eyes at Amy or perform grand acts of romance. If you wanna see that, that’s what fan works are for.”

And Evan’s words are a great way to sum up what’s going on with IDW Sonic right now. When it comes to interactions, they’re working with two characters who deep down “like each other”, but both show it in their own way. Amy is much more proactive when it comes to express her feelings, while Sonic only sometimes shows a glimpse of his feelings, with a smile or a small gesture. But at the end of the day they’re still friends and, depending on the situation, the comic can focus more or less on these details.

Comparison between the first sketch showed by Evan and the final product. The modification of the expression was minimal: Sonic’s slight blush was changed into a smile, maybe being a little overwhelmed by the gesture of affection.

The “progression” of the dynamic in the future

A good part of the answer to this question is based on my idea that right now, when it comes to Sonamy, we reached some kind of comfortable plateau. What am I referring to? To the fact that there have been a lot of varied interactions in these last 3 years of the comic, and they’re everything I could have asked for and then some. When we talk about Sonamy in canon, as Evan said, we don’t tend to hope for great romantic gestures from Sonic, we barely even ask for a look that hints that they understand each other beyond what it seems at first glance, so the fact that the IDW continuity is betting so much on this ship is basically a dream come true. For this reason, I don’t think things will change much in the future.

If I have to make a prediction on Sonamy’s future in IDW, I believe that there are still a lot of possibilities that our known writers (and maybe new writers!) could explore more, to see what makes this dynamic work so well. Actually, about 10 years ago, Ian Flynn wrote that if they could take advantage of the abilities and similarities between the two characters as adventurous spirits and with a strong moral sense, they would be “like poetry in motion”. This largely happens in IDW Sonic if you look carefully, but there are always new stories to tell and opportunities for them to work together and explore a bit more their strong bond, stronger than other friendships that they share. When the next major arc comes (which seems to be getting closer), they could explore aspects of their dynamic that are slightly more experimental, like being separated for extended periods of time and under dangerous situations… as long as they don’t turn it into a painful experience like the Metal Virus arc.

What Ian Flynn wrote about Sonamy, what works and what doesn’t. This was written in 2011, when Archie Sonic was still the major comic continuity, and when, according to Ian, Sonic was still “tied” to Sally Acord, leaving little room to the writers’ opinions.

The reality is that I see a stable future for the dynamic in the IDW universe. Sonamy is not fit for a lot of drama (fights, breaking up, etc.) without feeling forced or completely out of place, and only fanfics and fanart could be capable of capitalizing on this kind of content. On the other hand, for reasons I detailed in past articles, SEGA would not dare to alter the established order of the dynamic, let alone new that they managed to recover and maintain control over the ways Sonamy is being portrayed everywhere. SEGA won’t pull a Dragon Prince, which ended up confirming the main ship and then they made them go through a crisis and break up in a heartwrenching way in the graphic novel that acts as a bridge between season 3 and 4.

In short

The future of IDW Sonamy is looking bright and stable. I don’t think there will be serious changes to what we’re experiencing right now, and this is why both Evan Stanley and Ian Flynn agree that the dynamic is practically in the perfect place, keeping in line to how SEGA wants them to be represented together. This means we won’t see more affectionate gestures than what we’re seeing now (I doubt we’ll ever see again Sonic offering Amy a rose like in Sonic X), but it also means that we have now a solid basis for our expectations. In the now old IDW Sonic #2, Sonic and Amy had the chance of seriously talking a bit about what they thought of each other, with Sonic being determined to keep living life his own way (although he wouldn’t mind Amy to accompany him… or even suggesting himself that she could come), and Amy being determined to respect his way of life, because that’s what she loves about him, and she doesn’t want him to change. Since then, all we have seen and we’ll keep seeing in the comic is a consequence of this key moment; the two philosophies that they have and they share, in a constant back-and-forth with some tense moments and some cute moments.

An interesting detail that wasn’t included in the ask and that makes me think is the possibility that all of this will feature in the games as well. This is a completely different matter for another day, but I like to think that there is the possibility that we’ll see SEGA being more interested in inserting more Sonamy in the games, even if in an indirect way like in Sonic Unleashed and its emotional support, especially if the rumors that we’re about to get a soft-reboot are true. Romance is not something Sonic games are famous for doing well… at all, but that doesn’t mean it would be a bad idea to add a little sprinkle of IDW Sonamy in the mix.

And finally, I think I’ve talked enough about this topic, As you know, we’re waiting for some news, and I hope we’ll see each other again here or on our Discord. We’ll see if on this 25th something interesting happens. In any case, see you next time!

The moment that shaped the present and future of their entire relationship, 3 years ago.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonamy #long post #translation #oh look just in time for that famous thursday 25th #keeping up the chronicles of sonamy's evolution #this was fun to translate lol #it's probably a little clunky in some places but it should be readable enough #anyway now i'm hyped lol

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inevitably-johnlocked · 3 years

Text

Hugs, Cuddles & Kisses Pt. 6

Hi , do you got any fluffy johnlock with cuddling

(submitted by here-4-tha-ship)

Anonymous asked: hiii got any johnlock fics where sherlock wants a hug but he feels embarrassed to ask john? thank you sm <3

—–

Hi Lovelies!! I sure do! And enough to do a new list too!! So thank you, people don’t ask for this enough these days hahhah! Hope you enjoy!!

See also:

Hugs & Cuddles and Tooth-Rotting Fluff (Pt. 2)

Hugs & Cuddles Pt. 2 /…/

…/ Hugs, Cuddles & Kisses Pt. 3 /…

Hugs, Cuddles & Kisses Pt. 4

Hugs, Cuddles & Kisses Pt. 5

A Better Fate Than Wisdom by flawedamythyst (G, 1,339 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss, John’s Sexuality Crisis, Pining Sherlock, Happy Ending, Fluff) – Nearly four hours pass between their first kiss and their second.

Evermore by SosoHolmesWatson (G, 2,068 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4, 5-Year-Old Rosie, Love Confessions, Song Fic, Parentlock, Oblivious John, Pining Sherlock, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Disney Songs, Beauty and the Beast) – For the past years, John and Sherlock have lived at Baker Street again, raising Rosie together--as friends and nothing more. Ever since the little girl has watched her first Disney movie, she is obsessed with princesses. When John comes home one day, he finds his friend and his daughter in the middle of a reenactment of her current favourite. Part 1 of Made of Music

Living Musical by VeeTheRee (G, 4,149 w. 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Hobbies, Summer, Song Fic, POV Sherlock, Painting, Play Fighting, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Love Declarations, Hair Petting, Promise of Forever) – A one-shot of John and Sherlock being domestic during summer. There is paint, fluff, and music from Imagine Dragons, namely from the album 'Speak To Me', specific song in this one-shot is 'Living Musical'. Part 1 of the Happy Fluffy Johnlock Time series

Date Night by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 4,451 w., 1 Ch. || Anxious / Worried Sherlock, Caring John, Schmoopy Fluff, Fidget Cube, Baking / Cooking, Date Night, Established Relationship, POV Sherlock Holmes, Understanding John, Grumpy Sherlock, John’s Bum, Kisses, Hugs, Domestic Fluff, Touching, Hair Petting, Light Humour) – It's John and Sherlock's first Date Night as an official couple and Sherlock needs it to be PERFECT. Mrs Hudson helps. Part 7 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection

To be loved by Strange_johnlock (E, 12,436 w., 8 Ch. || Post S3, Established Relationship, First Person POV Sherlock, Pet Names, Soft Sherlock, Mild ADHD, Protective John, Captain Watson, Body Appreciation, Bottomlock, Rough Sex, Travelling for Holidays, Introspection, Sherlock Loves John So Much It Hurts) – John is so deeply integrated into the work, both as my conductor of light, and as a great shot with a vicious right hook who tackles men -and women- no matter their size all in my defense. He protects me with all he can without question, and this loyalty is surely more than I deserve. Or: Sherlock is counting his blessings.

There's So Much Labour Just in Breathing Lately by Susan (E, 12,708 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF / Mentions of S3 Events, Romance, Angst, Grief/Mourning, Grieving John, Mutual Pining, Meddling Mycroft, Therapy, Ambiguous Hopeful Ending, Infidelity) – The dreams he hated most – the ones that left him a sweating, shaking mess when he woke – were the ones in which Sherlock was just Sherlock. Laughing or drinking tea. Sitting across the table from him at Angelo’s eating pasta. Trailing his open hand behind him on the way to the bedroom. “C’mon, John. I’m about to have my way with you.”

holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.

On The Fence by BeautifulFiction (T, 13,770 w., 1 Ch. || Fencing, Case Fic, First Kiss, Insecure John, Pining John, Hug, Greg Finds Out) – The murder of the King's College fencing champion leads to revelations about Sherlock's past. Will it be the point that tips them from friends to lovers, or will they remain on the fence?

The shape of the world around us by Salambo06 (E, 15,058 w., 5 Ch. || Lumberjack John / Botanist Sherlock, Different First Meeting, John Has a Beard, Light Case Fic, Flirting, First Kiss / Time, Masturbation, Love at First Sight, Horny Sherlock, John’s Bum, Bottomlock, Tenderness, Virgin Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Shy Sherlock, Sexual Fantasies) – Looking through the bush, Sherlock felt his heartbeat quicken as a man passed in front of him. Sherlock frowned, trying to get a closer look despite the bush. The man was wearing a red plaid shirt rolled up to his elbows, and Sherlock couldn't take his eyes off the man’s arms. Muscular, slightly tanned with golden hairs along his forearms. For some unknown reason, Sherlock found himself imagining them around his waist, holding him tightly. Closing his eyes for the briefest second, Sherlock shook his head. Opening his eyes and looking back to where the man stood only a moment prior, he found himself alone. Great, now his only chance to find his way back to town was gone. “Why are you wearing a suit?”

A Hooligans’ Game Played By Gentlemen by scullyseviltwin (E, 15,213 w., 1 Ch. || First Time, Rugby as Foreplay, Porn with Lots of Plot, John POV, Ogling, Body Appreciation, Cranky Sherlock, Slow Burn, Bed Sharing, Cuddling, Touching, Heavy Petting, Blow Job, Botttomlock) – In which John wants to get back in shape, does so, joins a rugby league and has sex with Sherlock Holmes. In that order.

Division by MrsNoggin (E, 19,542 w., 11 Ch. || Coffee Shop AU || First Kiss/Time, Fluff, Barista Sherlock, Clingy Sherlock, POV John, John’s Limp, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles, Sensuality, Touching, Virgin Sherlock, Insecure John) – John likes mysteries. And every morning he dips into the local independent coffee bar with his newspaper and ponders another... one Sherlock Holmes.

Deck the Halls by itsalwaysyou_jw (T, 31,018 w., 24 Ch. || Advent Fic / Multiple One-Shots, Assorted Tags) – One Johnlock ficlet for every day leading up to Christmas. Who is ready for pining, first kisses, established Johnlock, and everything in between? This collection of stand-alone ficlets will have it all.

Lucifer's Gardens by ampersand_ch (E, 32,679 w., 12 Ch. || GERMAN VERSION || Romance, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Murder, Poison / Drugging, Mystery, John Undercover, Academic Club, Therapy, Rituals, Jungian Archetypes, Doctors & Physicians, Grief/Mourning, Esotericism, Hospitals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, John Falls In Love With Another Man, Jealous Sherlock, Crying, Doctor John, Hand Holding, First Kiss/Time, Mysticism, Hugging, Touching) – John goes undercover for an investigation as a favour to Lestrade in a village in Suffolk. The events surrounding the case awaken deep-seated fears in Sherlock. While John begins to come to a realisation of what he needs in Lucifer's Gardens, Sherlock tries to find a way to reach John – in more ways than one.

Isosceles by SilentAuror (E, 56,609 w., 7 Ch. || Post-S4, POV John, Original Male Character / Sherlock Dates Another Man, Love Triangle, Jealous John, Virgin Sherlock, Sexual Coaching, Angst, Romance, Domesticity, Unrequited Feelings, Miscommunication, First Kiss/Time, For a Case, Friends With Benefits, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Spooning) – After solving a case for a major celebrity, Sherlock gets himself asked out. When John asks, he discovers that Sherlock has no intention of going, at least not until John agrees to coach him through whatever he might need to know for his date...

Lunar Landscapes by J_Baillier (M, 57,046 w., 21 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || S3/TAB Fix-It, Slow Burn Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Confessions, Drugs, Pain, Medical, Injury, Sherlock Whump, Mental Health Issues, Panic Attacks, Romance, Secrets, Tragedy, Trauma, BAMF John, Doctor!John, Drug Addict Sherlock, Injured Sherlock, Grieving John, Idiots In Love, Protective John, POV John Watson, PTSD Sherlock, Sherlock is a Mess, Medical Realism) – An accident forces John to face the fact that Sherlock's downward spiral had started long before his flight to exile even left the tarmac.

Gold Rush by ShirleyCarlton (E, 71,783 w., 17 Ch. || Post S3 / No Mary, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of Past Sexual Abuse, First Kiss, Case Fic, Slow Burn, Alternating POV, Switchlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abduction, Anxious/Insecure Sherlock, Miscommunication, Emotional Lovemaking) – John has divorced Mary and pops round to 221B one evening to find Sherlock in the middle of a case. As Sherlock tries to find the identity of a young woman’s stalker, John realises he can no longer deny his feelings for Sherlock – which then, to their befuddlement, turn out to be mutual. Shy kisses and tentative embraces ensue. But will Sherlock be able to cast off a shadow from his past that he thinks might prevent John from wanting to stay?

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #hugs and cuddles #my fic recs #fluff fics #submission

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caffeinatedseri · 3 years

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The Strength of Selfishness

Each character in BSD has a degree of selfishness or selflessness in themselves, but the way this concept is executed opens discussion on the nuance of “selfishness,” or specifically the flaws in believing selfishness is an inherently bad trait.

Atsushi

Atsushi fits the description of selflessness, but I’d argue that he’s actually more selfish than he thinks he is (keeping in mind that being selfish isn’t necessarily a bad thing).

Akutagawa points out how Atsushi will needlessly risk his life in order to protect others, which sounds like a pretty heroic act, but it comes with a cost. Atsushi isn’t invincible, especially at this point in the story when he hasn’t fully mastered his ability, but his insistence on protecting others puts him in constant danger.

At the end of the day, Atsushi would have a greater chance of surviving many of the dangerous situations he puts himself into if he was more selfish by protecting himself before others.

However, Atsushi is also somewhat selfish in his motivations for acting so virtuously.

Once again, Akutagawa points out how Atsushi only acts this way because of his deeply rooted belief that he has to risk his life for someone else in order to give his life value. You could argue that Atsushi only saves others as an attempt to prove to himself that he’s worthy, an inherently selfish motive. If Atsushi actually died, he would be endangering the people he could save in the future.

Selfishness also includes self-centeredness. Particularly with Akutagawa, Atsushi’s tendency to focus solely on himself becomes especially noticeable. Atsushi constantly doubts himself and his strengths; he also ignores his privileges and the struggles of others, particularly when he can’t completely understand them — hence why he views Akutagawa so harshly but sees Kyouka and Lucy as people who need to be saved.

Despite all of this, Atsushi still creates a positive impact in other people’s lives. His innately selfish motivation is what drives him to protect others, and he ultimately succeeds in doing that (case in point Kyouka and Lucy again).

Akutagawa

Akutagawa is pretty similar to Atsushi in how his past led to his inevitably selfish motives, but his manifests in a different way.

Akutagawa has to be selfish to protect himself, due to a mix of his past prior to joining the mafia and Dazai’s teachings that collectively reinforced the belief that if he’s weak, he can’t survive.

This results in Akutagawa taking other people’s lives, a direct contrast to how Atsushi saves others, in order to prove his worth as a strong individual that deserves to live. However, this sentiment narrowly crosses the line of hypocrisy when Akutagawa does the very same thing that he criticized Atsushi for: looking for value in his life through other people.

Akutagawa also unnecessarily risks his life in order to prove his strength, which is arguably more dangerous and selfish than what Atsushi does.

When Akutagawa fights Hawthorne, he practically eggs on Hawthorne to kill him, or at the very least fight with the intent to kill. Akutagawa was also injured before entering this fight, so running away would’ve been all the more reasonable than continuing to fight.

Drawing another parallel to Atsushi, Akutagawa has that very same resolve of risking his life unnecessarily to prove his worth.

It’s undeniable that Akutagawa has killed many people — which is arguably extremely selfish — and loss of life really isn’t something that I want to push as morally correct. However, I would like to push the idea of redemption: finding a way to escape this messy lifestyle. I sincerely doubt that the incessant cycle of killing is any good for Akutagawa, or that it’s the life that he wants to have.

With Atsushi and Akutagawa, both of their character arcs will develop accordingly to this balance of selfishness and selflessness.

Ranpo

Ranpo is characterized in a slightly selfish way, but this mindset comes with good reason (relating to Ranpo’s past).

When Atsushi was kidnapped, Ranpo places priority on protecting the agency. If he were to meddle with Atsushi’s problem, which was technically a personal issue, then the agency as an organization would be put at risk. This isn’t necessarily a “wrong” mindset, but it is self-centered.

Of course, this is one of many examples to showcase Ranpo’s arrogance, but his arrogance is actually a form of self-protection.

“So his father knew, after all. He understood that Ranpo possessed an extraordinary gift. He knew his son had the special ability to observe, remember, and uncover the truth in the blink of an eye. That was why he sealed it away. He didn’t want Ranpo to go astray, to ever hurt others and make the world his enemy. His father wanted Ranpo to learn virtue and what’s right just like any ordinary person until he had grown up with good judgment and knowledge.” — LN 3, “The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency”

Before Ranpo met Fukuzawa, he was just a young, lost boy who didn’t recognize his extraordinary talents. His parents taught him to be modest to allow him to develop as a normal person, but he never truly understood who he was in comparison to other people because he was orphaned at a young age.

Thus, Ranpo had to embrace his superiority, in an albeit dramatic way, in order to accept the world and himself. If he believed that people weren’t as intelligent as him, then he wouldn’t have to hate himself for feeling like an outsider to a world he doesn’t understand.

Similarly to Akutagawa, Ranpo’s selfishness isn’t born out of hatred or negligence for others, it’s simply a survivalist instinct.

Dazai

Dazai’s case is a little trickier to define, but I feel that he’s changed a decent amount throughout the series. I’ve seen some people argue that Dazai only helps others because of Oda’s dying wish, which would make his motivations for doing so inherently selfish. This rings true for Dazai before becoming a part of the agency, but I’d say he’s changed a lot just from interacting with the other agency members.

Dazai’s shown to be capable of the selflessness that involves risking your life for others, but because he’s Dazai, he’s most likely never going to actually die (he has taken necessary precautions to make sure he doesn’t die like in Dead Apple). In this case, Dazai was willing to risk his life for intel from Fyodor, similar to how he got captured by the PM intentionally for intel on Atsushi.

What he says here is especially important: “Certainly, people are sinfully stupid. But what’s so wrong about that?” The Dazai that was once isolated from others, that lacked a sense of direction and purpose in life, has grown one step closer to finding that purpose.

It’s no secret that character to character relationships have a big impact on everyone in BSD, but it’s especially relevant for Dazai who’s growth comes from learning about human nature. He and Fyodor both share a level of super intelligence that ostracizes them from the rest of society, which consequently makes them incapable of understanding other people.

Dazai’s statement here just shows how he’s willing to look past people’s mistakes — yes, they may be sinful and/or stupid, but that’s just a part of human nature.

And in this case, he acts in a stupid way by risking his life for someone else. Yes, it may be stupid, but this selflessness is also a part of being human.

I’d also like to add that Dazai was somewhat selfish in leaving the PM so suddenly after Oda’s death. As an executive, he undoubtedly had some responsibilities to handle, and not to mention Chuuya who was dragged into the mafia because of him in the first place. However, leaving the mafia was ultimately better for his development, and you could argue that the PM is doing just fine with Mori remaining as the leader. Thus, Dazai is another example of how selfishness isn’t harmful in nature.

Mori

On the topic of Mori, he’s a character who outright acknowledges his selflessness as a necessity for the mafia’s advancement.

As I mentioned before, selflessness is a stereotypically heroic trait, but it’s flipped around in BSD. You see protagonists with greater selfish convictions than the antagonists, who live their life based on this idea of selflessness.

Of course, just because Mori is an antagonist, this doesn’t mean that selflessness is an innately “evil” trait. In fact, this selflessness is how he grows his organization and gains respect from his subordinates. Mori’s selflessness is used for the benefit of everyone else in the PM (ignoring the obvious crimes that the mafia commits of course).

Oda

Oda is often seen as the role model example for a “good man,” in the world of BSD — which is true to a certain extent. We certainly know how he was selfless in a multitude of scenarios, from saving the orphans at the Dragon’s Head Conflict, to his resolve to not kill anyone, and his push for Dazai to leave the mafia.

However, I’d like to discuss Oda’s selfishness. Oda was well-aware of Dazai’s issues during Dark Era, and he seemed like the only person who would understand Dazai at that level. Despite this, he still chose to die.

“(Dazai) is just a child who’s too smart. Just a crying child who’s been left alone in the darkness, a world of nothingness far emptier than the world we can see.”

— LN 2, “Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era”

Oda is an idealist first and foremost; when reality fails to match his ideals, it becomes unbearable for him to continue living on.

Oda was selfish in his conviction to die, because he knew he could’ve done more for Dazai, but he chose to leave him with a dying wish rather than staying with him to potentially fill that void of loneliness.

(I’d like to mention that Oda wasn’t wrong for his choice, because Dazai ended up on the right path in the end. It was simply an act of selfishness that ended for the better).

Kunikida

Kunikida is an idealist, much like Oda, but he also draws close to being a realist at certain moments.

Kunikida shares the same selfless resolve as Atsushi: to save everyone. His ideals seem unbreakable to the point where he would risk his life and succeed in the end no matter what, purely because he’s just that committed towards his goals.

This treads closely to Atsushi’s selfishness. In this case, for Kunikida, it’s somewhat a part of his self-fulfilling prophecy to make his ideals come true, but he acts selflessly because of these ideals that he believes in.

An important thing to note here is Fyodor’s grin, because Fyodor — as an idealist — is well aware of the fact that the greater the ideals, the loftier these ideals become in reality.

“By that very logic, then Miss Sasaki was not responsible for any of these recent events! She didn’t even want a world in which all criminals are rightly judged! She only— Tell me, Dazai! Was it right for her to die? Is this the ideal world I’ve sought for…”

— LN 1, “Osamu Dazai’s Entrance Exam”

At the end of the Azure Messenger Arc, Kunikida realizes the flaws in his ideals when he fails to uphold them. By trying to save both Rokuzou and Sasaki, he ended up losing the both of them. No matter how hard he tried to save them, there was no possible way for him to achieve the level of “justice” that he desired.

This teaches an incredibly valuable lesson to Kunikida that shifts his mindset towards a more selfish direction.

Kunikida’s experience leads him to teach Atsushi, another person strongly motivated by ideals, to not follow the same path as him. You could interpret this as a sign of Kunikida’s declining resolve, but I prefer to view it as another form of self-preservation.

Kunikida very well understands the pain that comes from not meeting his ideals, which could easily affect to Atsushi considering how difficult it would be to save Kyouka.

The scene in which Kunikida goes to save Atsushi parallels what Kunikida told him previously: “Your boat can only carry one person. If you let someone beyond salvation come aboard, you will only drown together.”

Notice how Kunikida is in a boat with plenty of space, but out of fear that his ideals won’t be upheld, he’ll lower them to an lesser standard. Instead of trying to save two people, he settles for one, despite the fact that he has the capacity for two.

This instance is a moment of selfishness from Kunikida, an act of self-preservation to prevent the inevitable pain that comes with unmet ideals.

However, Atsushi subverts his expectations by pushing himself to save Kyouka regardless of his sinking boat, because Atsushi’s own ideals motivate him to do so. Kunikida teaches Atsushi to be careful with the balance of selfishness and selflessness; Atsushi teaches Kunikida the beauty in being selfless.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd meta #bsd atsushi #bsd akutagawa #bsd rampo #bsd dazai #bsd mori #bsd oda #bsd kunikida #idk what an idealist is tbh

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tl-notes · 3 years

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Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon S2 Episode 3 Notes

Sparrows! Specifically the Eurasian tree sparrow, known in Japan as the suzume. You can just about see them all over Japan, all year long—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a season word!

Depending on their depiction, they can be used as a season word for most times of the year, but a major one is “late spring,” as that’s when they’re out and about finding food for their baby birds. You can also see in the art they look a little floofy, indicative of the winter coat they haven’t fully shed yet; suzume in summer have a more sleek look. Here’s a shot of them from late summer last season:

And from closer to winter here↓. Quite fluffy.

As a quick refresher, 季語 kigo, or season words, are words/phrases/concepts used to give a sense of season to a haiku (or other poem/work of art), which is what part of what differentiates them from a senryuu. They were used pretty frequently in a lot of episodes last season, but a bit less so this time so far.

Where Lucoa and Ilulu are talking about a “right” here, the Japanese word is 資格 shikaku. While this usage is similar to “right” in English, the connotation is a little different as the word actually means more “qualification.”

Whereas a “right” is generally something you have innately in some sense (e.g. if you make art you automatically have copyright over it, you have human rights just for being human, etc.), a shikaku is something you earn (e.g. if you study and take a test for certification program and pass, you’re rewarded with a shikaku.)

Ilulu’s response to the question here is

そういうのは違う。小林がくれたあの言葉はなかったことにはできないから。

One way in which this differs from the English is that she’s not saying it would be right or wrong, but rather not the solution she’s looking for—because it would also mean undoing the words Kobayashi gave her, and that is something she doesn’t want to do, no matter what.

In contrast the English feels more like she thinks it would be wrong to do that, and even if she did it wouldn’t let her escape what Kobayashi said to her. (That would make more sense if Kobayashi had called her out on being evil, but that’s not really what went down.) An alternative wording might be something like:

“That wouldn’t solve anything. Besides, I don’t want to erase what Kobayashi gave me.”

This line is: 小林さんのようにはいかないなー

This is perhaps just my interpretation, but the English here sounds like Lucoa once convinced/helped Kobayashi in some fashion previously, is trying it again with Ilulu, but failing this time. (I don’t that’s ever happened though.)

In contrast, I think the Japanese is saying that Lucoa is trying to be like Kobayashi (e.g. when helping alleviate/solve Tohru’s various worries), and it’s not really working for her. I.e. “It’s not working like when Miss Kobayashi does it.”

Ilulu’s line about “I don’t want to ask Kobayashi about it because she’d probably solve it too easily" seems to support that reading; the dragons know Kobayashi as worries-solver.

The English here has Lucoa saying she’ll go talk to Kanna/Saikawa, and casually telling Ilulu to wait in the bathroom. But Lucoa doesn’t actually talk to the kids, and even if she was planning to, why would Ilulu waiting in the toilet do anything?

The answer is that Lucoa is actually telling Ilulu to talk (to an unspecified subject, assumed to be Saikawa, since she’s a human and thus someone Ilulu feels guilty about interacting with; Kanna she’s more fine with, as a dragon). And instead of “Go ahead and wait in the bathroom,” it’s more of a “Go wait in the bathroom and see what happens,” with the implication Lucoa is going to set something up.

And she does!

“I won’t lie about X, but Y is a different story.” This seems to imply she will still lie about Y? That seems a bit odd to me, especially when she just lied about X (those feelings) to Kanna/Saikawa minutes ago.

The Japanese says something a bit different though.

The core of the middle line here is 気持ちに嘘をつかない kimochi ni uso wo tsukanai. Because the に, the particle indicating “direction,” is attached unadorned to "feelings,” it is saying not “lying about X” but “lying to X.” This construction, to say one is lying to a feeling, is fairly common in Japanese media. It’s basically equivalent in English to lying to yourself about those feelings.

(for “lying about X” you’d change the に into a について or similar)

So basically she’s saying she won’t pretend, to herself at least, that she doesn’t want to play. But that’s a separate issue to whether she has, as she said before, the “right” to play after what she did.

You could maybe put it sort of like this:

“I won’t lie to myself about my feelings anymore. But that doesn’t mean I can act on them after what I did.”

I feel extremely silly even pointing this out, but the beam here is 尿意 nyoui, which is the urge to pee, not necessarily actually needing to pee. Hence why she seems to stop needing to as soon as she gets to the bathroom and walks straight back to the living room with Ilulu after they talk.

“Be deceived” here is not 騙される damasareru, lit. “be deceived,” but 騙し討ちにあう damashi-uchi ni au, which is like being hit by a sneak attack, being stabbed in the back, etc. In a fairly literal sense in this case too, as they’re talking about actual combat.

I mostly bring it up because it feels like there is not much difference between “being deceived” and “being tricked,” despite those being portrayed as polar opposites (deceived by hostile dragons, tricked by kind Kobayashi), so it might have been wise to differentiate them more in the translation.

E.g. perhaps “She had to change to avoid a knife in the back.” (though dragons don’t use knives, so maybe a claw?)

Another pretty minor point, but the “doesn’t know right from wrong” is 分別のない funbetsu no nai, where funbetsu means not so much “knowing right from wrong,” but a more encompassing sense of discretion and maturity.

I mostly bring this one up because it struck as me awkward to say Ilulu explicitly shouldn’t know right from wrong, since that would be going backward to her be okay destroying the city again. Instead it’s more that she shouldn’t need to feel weighed down by what’s “correct” or what she “should” do. One possible alt example:

“So go back to being a kid, and worry more about what you want to do than ought to do.”

(Lucoa also changes from a narrative tone to a more conversational tone at the end, in conjunction with the visual shift away from the flashback, so swapping the “she” to “you” might be appropriate.)

Note how Kanna shuffles the cards here. Depending on where you’re from, this may seem like an odd way of doing it (unless you watched Yugioh maybe). A lot of places with majority English speakers tend to use the overhand shuffle or riffle shuffle, but in Japan (and many other Asian countries) the most common shuffle is the one on display here, known as the Hindu shuffle.

~The More You Know~

The act of handing over a piece of candy like this has been used as imagery in other places in the show as well, though I’ll leave thinking about what it represents to you.

“Blanket” is futon, which is used to refer to both the “mattress” part and “blanket” part of a full futon, the traditional Japanese bedding (not the same thing as the sofa/couch mattress you might hear called a futon in some places).

I mostly mention because just “a blanket” kind of sounds like they’re going to leave them on the floor, but they’re actually going to get the equivalent of a guest mattress (+blanket) to put them to sleep in, as it’s late enough for this to turn into a sleepover.

Just as a bit of trivia, the word she uses for “onlooker” here is the same term as the “spectator faction.” In the manga Tohru interjects with “Aww, come on, why not Chaos faction instead?”

Also as a side note to this whole bit about Kobayashi wearing a maid outfit; recall this scene from early in season one, where Tohru found an outfit Kobayashi had bought and stuffed deep in a closet:

Relevant! Anyway, back to the actual episode now:

If you felt like this exchange felt a little disjointed, especially given Tohru’s tone of voice: the idea is that Lucoa is saying Tohru really goes to extremes when it comes to matters relating to Kobayashi, which is implying that it seems excessive to call so many people over for a relatively mild issue (not that she necessarily minds though). Tohru’s response is a slightly defensive “yeah I know, but thanks for coming over anyway.”

(They’re saying it in ways such that you have to read between the lines a bit though, so it may not come across as easily in a translation.)

The word for “cold” here is 水くさい mizu-kusai, basically meaning “watered down” (like beer etc.), and used frequently to refer to a person/actions/words that the speaker considers too reserved for the relationship they have with the other person.

So it’s similar to cold, but cold in the context of already warm relationship. If talking about a stranger or someone you don’t get along with normally, you shouldn’t use 水くさい; you can just say 冷たい tsumetai (lit. “cold”) or similar.

In this context you could probably have her say “No need to apologize, Kobayashi-san.”

Also I like how they swap around the honorifics (Miss, Lady, -san, -sama, etc.) based on the speaker (I think differentiating between dragons and native-Japanese-speaking humans?). I would say it works given the setting, but that’s just me.

The text there says “Money Street.” It’s probably obvious, but it’s based primarily on Monopoly, which is semi-popular in Japan (though not to the extent as say in the US).

Just some trivia, but the “sales pitch” for the game in the Japanese market is more that it’s an educational game that teaches investing and negotiation skills. (The origin of the game in general being an educational tool about exploitation of tenants by landlords, so not quite the same thing.)

Japan also has Momotarou Dentetsu (”Momotetsu”), which is a video game series that’s been around since the NES and is broadly similar to Monopoly rules-wise.

I just want to point out, amid all the riches, the bag of potato chips and other junk food in the back there.

Mini-trivia: the cardboard boxes in the background there seem to be a mix of the Amazon logo and the Seino Transportation logo, a Japanese shipping company with a kangaroo logo.

You probably noticed it without me pointing it out, but I enjoyed the fact Elma got corn starch* all around her mouth from the daifuku and then immediately got told to go play with the kids while the adults are talking.

*It may seem like powdered sugar if you’re used to donut holes, but daifuku, like most Japanese sweets (wagashi) generally, is not heavily sugared and not even particularly sweet by the standard of most “sweets” (which is part of the appeal for many). The skin of the daifuku is powdered with corn starch or similar simply to make it less sticky.

Kobayashi’s “do that” here is やろー yarou, which can mean “let’s do X” (which is a construction often used to tell/suggest someone to do something, without really including yourself in the “us”).

However in this case—especially given Kobayashi’s pronunciation and tone of voice—I think it’s actually a homophone of that, a form of 野郎 yarou, a word for “guy” with often negative connotations, like saying “son of a” or “asshole” etc.

The idea, I think, being that his immediate agreement of “Oooh, right I didn’t think about you wearing it,” comes with a heavy implication of “yeah you’re right, you couldn’t pull off something cute like that,” so she’s replying with a (mostly good-natured) “oh you fucker.”

This giant 完 kan means “the end,” used like “fin” at the end of a story or game etc. It’s also frequently used in “fake end” jokes. E.g. a show about a sentient zombie might start with the main character getting hit by a truck and dying immediately. The end! ...Except not, and they wake up as a zombie.

So here, the original goal was “make a maid outfit for Kobayashi to wear.” Then Georgie convinces Kobayashi that anything is a maid outfit as long as you are a maid at heart, so really, she’s already wearing one! The end! ...Except not.

Here’s some extra, probably needless, context on this “annoying”: it uses the word 面倒くさい mendokusai, which is basically used to describe something as annoying, a pain, etc. When used to describe a person like this, one of the ways it can be taken is specifically that the person is really fussy about details that others wouldn’t really care about—which describes Kobayashi about maids pretty well.

So just for clarity, it’s not necessarily “I became an annoying person who is a maid otaku,” and can be more of a “within the context of my maid otaku-ness I became annoying.” Just to kind of shed some light on the extent of her self-deprecation here.

The word Kobayashi uses for “helping with the housework” is 家事手伝い kaji-tetsudai, which is a noun* that means “a housework helper”... here, basically a more bland way for a native Japanese speaker to say maid.

Hence why Tohru reacts with “Oh, don’t call me that, call me a maid!”; Kobayashi went as far as to acknowledge her clothes as a maid outfit, but not quite as far as calling her maid outright. That’s our “annoying maid otaku” doing her thing.

*It can also be verbed.

These neighborhood notices, 回覧板 kairan-ban, ~lit. circular notice, are a method used by local governing organizations to distribute information or forms etc. For example, about an upcoming neighborhood event to pick up litter.

The general idea is that one person gets the notice, reads it, signs it, then goes and passes it to the next household in line. It saves paper versus sending everyone a thing in the mail, encourages interaction between neighbors, and is more likely to be read than a flyer/email, though some people consider them a pain and they generally feel a little dated.

The phrase for “piercing noise” is 劈く金切り音, tsunzaku kanakiri-on, ~lit. “ear-piercing sound of tearing metal.”*

“Was it that loud?” in the Japanese is a little different, そんな音してた?, meaning “was it making a sound like that?”

I’m mostly just bringing it up to say that the “Sasakibe’s cooking isn’t just loud, the sounds don’t even make sense” gag is alive and well this season.

*The “sound of tearing metal” phrase can also used idiomatically for some types of high pitched sounds, but I imagine it was chosen very deliberately here.

It’s probably obvious, but this is a reference to the music video of the OP for season one. You can see it on the official channel for the band, fhána, here.

The season two music video is here, and it seems to have decent English subtitles for the lyrics if you’re curious what they are.

The adjective here is ニヒル nihiru, an abbreviation of nihilistic. It can be used as actually “nihilistic” like in English, but it can also be used more colloquially to describe a person with dark vibes. It can almost be a compliment!

“Sleeping” here is 惰眠をむさぼる damin wo musaboru. Damin is not just sleep, but “worthless” sleep—not like a nap because you’re tired. Musaboru is a verb for ~gorging upon on something (often metaphorically, not just food).

The two words are somewhat frequently used together for, basically, lying around the house doing nothing all day. And not in a particularly flattering way, so it’s pretty funny for her to just be like “yeah I do that as a hobby I guess.”

It doesn’t mean the same thing, but it’d be like saying your hobby is loitering. Maybe could have translated as like “Hobbies? Vegetating.” or “Procrastinating?” or something, though I don’t know if those would have the right impact...

Kanna’s word for “idol” here is アイドル aidoru, i.e. idol in the pop culture sense.

Tohru’s word is 偶像 guuzou, or idol in the religious sense.

(Tohru swaps to the pop culture “idol” when she starts talking about Kobayashi though.)

Kanna’s “lost it” it here is 大変 taihen, a pretty common, almost generic word used as an intensifier (greatly, immensely, seriously, terribly, really, etc.) in both positive and negative ways. E.g. “thanks, you really saved me!” or “that was extremely rude.”

When used alone, like here, it usually implies something bad has happened, like something has befallen Tohru and/or she’s in some sort of trouble. Hence why Kobayashi immediately rushes home worried and bursts through the door like this—and loses her tension when she sees Tohru is fine, just... extreme(ly annoying to Kanna and Ilulu).

You could maybe say e.g. “Something’s wrong with Tohru!” to keep that double meaning open.

(”Lost it!” also makes sense for Kobayashi to be worried about, but the type of worry is somewhat different in that case; “oh god what is she going to do” vs. “oh god what happened to her.”)

The “lick” here is べろ bero, an onomatopoeia for licking that’s also used as slang for "tongue” (noun).

A bero chuu, as in the chorus here, is slang for a French kiss/deep kiss/tongue kiss.

~The More You Know~

The text here says “If your total assets are above one billion, proceed towards goal.”

Only billionaires can win...

Here is 私のものはカンナのもの, lit. “What’s mine is Kanna’s!”

This line is a reference to a catchphrase of the bully/antagonist in Doraemon, Gian: “What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is mine.”

His line, and character, is so well known it’s spawned the term “Gianism” to represent that sort of self-centered philosophy: everything is rightfully mine to take, even if you think you lay some claim over it.

It’s interesting that the inversion of Gianism, i.e. “what’s mine is yours,” is the only way Kanna and Saikawa are able to overcome the rules, beat the billionaire, and win the game.

Solidarity forever.

#maidragon #Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid #kobayashi-san chi no maid dragon #translation notes #anime

41 notes · View notes

sooibian · 3 years

Text

Star-Crossed

Pairing: Baekhyun x Fem!Reader, OC Lys, Minseok, Yixing

Description: In his struggle with his inner demons and the outside world, will Baekhyun succeed in saving the one he loves?

Themes: Romani AU, magical realism, fluff, angst, mildly explicit, implied smut, secret relationship, knife related superstitions

Warnings: Blood, knives, violence

Word Count: 8.2k

Tagging: @changshapatrol @rosetvler @bbyunz @is-that-baekhyuns-shirt @royal-aeris @bbhmystar @tydontstop shy tagging @his-mochi-cheeks !

Part of the Steampunk Romani AU collab with @leewalberg @vampwrrr @xui-n-soowillbethedeathofme

Pre-reading notes:

Baekhyun can influence physical objects with his mind, unnamed MC is a plant whisperer, Yixing is a dragon, and Lys is a mind reader.

Glossary: bulibasha - clan leader; chao - tea; dragă - darling; dya - mother; gadjo - someone of non romani descent/origin; iubit - lover; kafa - coffee; lăutari - musicians

**********************************

The camp was bathed in an enchanting silver of the sparkling night sky. Evenings like these were ideal for bonfires and conviviality. Merry peals of laughter reached your ears in sporadic waves - delightful by nature but not entirely alluring. You’d always preferred the abyss of your own thoughts. Encumbered by gaiety, not many missed you on such occasions for you were ordinarily out of sight - living on the far edge of the camp, a stone’s throw from the surrounding forest that served your clandestine gift for curative botanicals. The one that you had inherited from your mother.

You would have loved nothing more than to spend your days curating elixirs for inflictions superficial and of the mind. Hogweed for flu, Borango for the heart, lavender blossoms for the mind...the flora would sing sweet praises of her roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Songs that could be heard by you and your mother before you. The others, they had to study. They had to spend nights on end learning and perfecting this scientific art.

Destiny demanded you take over your ailing grandfather’s weapons trade and spend a good part of your life acquiring and selling lethal daggers, swords, machetes, and often the antiquated colt. But you held no bitterness against the inexorable fate and accepted life as it came with its blunt and sharp blows.

As you sat tidying your workbench, your paring knife slid off and fell to the floor with a clang as if to signal you of an impending rendezvous. The wintry chill took you by the tips of your fingers ever so gently and guided you out of the comfort of your home only to envelope you in her warmest embrace.

The sound of his footsteps set your heart racing and you cursed at your rather self-destructive whims and fancies. Not wanting to seem like you were dawdling, you almost hurried back into the caravan but decided against it in the last minute. Even after everything, he had your soul dangling by a string, jerking it to the tunes of a bittersweet symphony. Appearing unflustered, you forced your eyes to marvel at the blue-white Rigel and red Betelgeuse instead but they battled for a mere glimpse at him.

The moon cast a beautiful, pearly sheen on the visitor but failed at masking his savagery. His black ankle banded pants, the frayed red brocade coat that was layered over a lace up shirt, the weighty golden azazel ring on his left thumb which was a sign of his elevated status in the clan, the leather belt around his lean waist, even the bandoleer strapped over his right thigh that steadfastly held his jamdhar all bore garish smudges of dried blood.

The guilt of seeing this dagger on his person never ceased to bog you down. Had you not found it, it would never have found Baekhyun.

He stopped at a foot's distance from you, one hand pressing a piece of cloth to an old gash across his eyebrow which seemed to have come undone. He watched you with an unmistakable conviction in his boldly lined eyes while yours landed on the sprig of basil resting against his throat. It made your heart clench with a fatal concoction of hurt and guilt.

He shouldn’t be here.

You pointedly scrutinized the smoky emanations that rose in black wisps from the weapon. Despite your continued dissent, Baekhyun insisted on using the jamdhar. He cleared his throat meekly, drew the weapon out of the bandoleer and hid it in the inside pocket of his coat and advanced towards you.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, you said "Stay", and raised your index finger at him as if in command. The last time Baekhyun wound up in your caravan it didn't end well for you. In fact, every time he came to see you, he brought along with him agonizing memories of that day - the one day on which you both wished that the sun hadn’t risen.

As soon as you turned around, he grabbed you by your wrist to hold you firmly in place. The front window of the vehicle burst open and with a whooshing sound your medicine crate and teapoy flew out of it only to carefully descend at your feet.

"When will you ever stop flaunting your feathers like a peacock." You muttered under your breath, pursing your lips to suppress a smile. "I'll need a flask, a lidded dish...and a mat."

In one quick movement, he pulled you towards him, deliberately pressing his firm, laddish torso to your back. He leaned in closer, his tender lips and warm breath tickling your ear, as he whispered, "Take me inside, saves us the hassle", sending a frisson of wildness down your spine.

But you were quick to prise away from his captivating grasp and meet his misty eyes with an unwavering gaze. Crossing your arms over your chest, you stated with a hint of annoyance in your tone, "The Healer lives not too far from here. I'm just a weapons dealer, anyway."

Strangely enough, only the potions and cures concocted by you soothed Baekhyun’s woes - they helped restore his strength that was devoured raw by the jamdhar. But that wasn’t the only reason why he was drawn to you. If Baekhyun knew love, it was because he saw it in your eyes. With his head rested in your lap, the one feared by all felt at home... he felt at peace.

Averting his gaze from your stern countenance, he let out a deep sigh and conceded defeat.

***

You started him off with a decoction of Feverfew flowers diluted with water and honey to help soothe his muscular aches while concocting a balm out of beeswax, Laca leaves and powdered root of the Allheal plant for his bruises. He took a hesitant sip and thrust the flask back into your hand, wincing at the bitter taste of the brew, "More honey."

"Honey doesn’t come cheap." You jeered, immediately regretting your words as you glanced over his soul crushingly worn out demeanour.

Baekhyun’s undertakings as the money lender’s henchman always ended up taking an ugly toll on him. This wasn’t something he was cut out for but weighed down by the burden of fealty, the obvious facts seemed to elude him. Hastily handing him the jar of honey, you inched closer to him to clean his wound.

He retreated playfully. Gaping at you, he complained in mock-offense, “Men and women shouldn’t be inappropriately intimate!”

Unheeding, you responded, “Especially if they’re spoken for.”

His jaw dropped in protest but he clamped it shut at once. Lowering his gaze, he quietly added a generous dollop of the sweet nectar to the flask and stirred the mixture with one of the decontaminated knives from your medicine crate.

“Stir with a knife and stir up strife”, you taunted him despite yourself.

Undeterred, he continued to stir with an increased vigour. “Since it doesn’t bode well for us to see each other unless I’m battered and bruised”, he retorted, chuckling darkly, the sparkle of the entire galaxy pooling in the depth of his eyes, “this solves it.”

Growing up, you never concerned yourself with the frail and sickly lad who had the ability to influence physical objects with his mind; he didn’t mingle with kids his age and spent most of his time tailing the money lender’s son Minseok. Now that you think about it, it was the other way round. Minseok tailed Baekhyun, cleaning up the messes he made and looking after him despite the second-rate treatment the adopted boy received from the rest of his family. For someone that small-boned, Baekhyun was loud, boisterous, and slightly too obnoxious. It wasn’t long before you wrote the troublemaker off as someone you’d rather steer clear of.

You, on the other hand, spent the better part of your childhood and adolescent years learning the Romano Zakono at the feet of your grandfather, apprenticing with the Healers of the clan, practising intricate embroidery and the cursive script, and secretly mimicking the songs and dances of the lăutari.

You’ll never forget the day he sneaked up on you dancing to one of Damian Draghici’s songs. It was a little before sunset, you were alone by the pond, dressed in your newly sewn red crêpe skirt and a coordinated red blouse that showed off your elegant collarbone and just a tasteful bit of your midriff. Last year, you came of age and started discovering the sublime beauty of womanhood that was revealed by the luxe curves and graceful lines of your body. With a golden belt tinkling on your waist, beaded earrings dangling in your ears, a colourful cotton scarf around your head, eyes emboldened with the darkest kohl, lips tinted with a fearless maroon, you sneaked shy glances at yourself in the clear pond.

The soft evening wind had rendered your already wild hair untamed and you were draped in the fragrance of the woody white oudh carrying sweet undertones of ylang ylang flowers and patchouli. You’d stolen a tiny bit of the expensive attar from your mother’s dresser drawer and dabbed it behind the top of your ear. You always wore perfume in that spot since it was oilier than the ear lobe, and oil tends to hold on to perfume better, helping it to diffuse for longer. That way, you’d carry the delectable essence of nature with you at least until the next sunset albeit at the price of a scolding from your stern but loving dya.

To your knowledge, you were the only one by the pond. Everyone was busy celebrating the union of one of the elders’ granddaughter with the blacksmith’s son. Dressed up this splendidly, it would be an utter waste if you didn’t sneak out for just a bit to croon and sway to Damian Draghici’s latest Trandafire after being spellbound by the performance of the lăutari at the wedding.

Halfway through your routine, you were alerted by a sudden ruffling of the leaves. As you turned your head in the direction of the sound, struggling to see in the fading daylight, a scrawny boy fell out of the magnolia tree and straight into the pond, tush first.

Mortified, you wanted to run to the Healer to ask for a little something that would obliviate your memory of this ordeal, or better yet mix that something in this rude intruder’s kafa the next morning. But the impact of him falling into the water created a huge splash, leaving you partially drenched. There’s no way you could go back to the feast looking like this. What on earth was this boy doing here while the entire clan was by the gazebo, celebrating!

Upon a closer look you realized that he, of all people, was in dire need of some flesh to his bones.

Dripping wet he staggered out of the pond, a pout on his lips and eyes downcast. Ignoring you, he started to walk towards the camp but you yelled after him, “Creep!”

The boy who couldn’t have been more than a year younger to you, was half a head shorter. He turned around and sneered, low-toned, “Creep?”

“How dare you...how dare you..watch me..” Perplexed and livid, you contemplated on the choice of your words.

Hands on hips, he sauntered towards you with his head tilted to the side, brows pinched together and a corner of his mouth raised in a smirk. The mood of his tone sent chills down your spine when he asked, “How dare I what?”

Fuelled with an unadulterated rage, you glared at him but he merely stood there, countenance casual, as if he’d just asked for directions to your grandfather’s weapons’ store.

His outfit was ragged and clearly bigger for his frame but it highlighted his broad chest and shoulders. The cuffs of his pants were tattered, loose threads hanging by their seams and the right elbow of his black lace up shirt was patched with a squarish cloth of a different fabric. If you were dressed anything like him, you would have skipped the wedding, too. The patch on his elbow had come apart as a consequence of the fall, revealing a fresh wound.

Sighing in defeat, you grabbed him by his left wrist and dragged him to the edge of the pond. To your utter surprise, he followed without any protest. You sat down and he sat next to you, albeit a little too close for your comfort. You slowly dipped your feet in the cool water and he, reluctantly, after folding his pants up to his knees, did the same.

Unfastening the drawstring on the little pouch fixed to your belt, you removed a clean gauze and a vial of white petroleum from it. Soaking the gauze in water, you took him by his right forearm but he flinched and retracted. “What are you doing?” He asked, eyes widened in surprise.

“Cleaning your wound.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Why would you do that? I have nothing to give you in return and I don’t like owing people.”

“..owing people? How old are you?”

“What has my age got to do with anything?”

Shaking your head, you gave him a small smile, “No, nothing. You don’t owe me, alright? I’m doing this to...to... improve my skills. If anything, I owe you. Clear?”

Baekhyun’s suspicious eyes eased into a soft smile and he nodded in agreement. His smile was radiant and his striking eyes were accentuated with smooth, bold strokes of glittering kohl which had smudged along the edges, resembling a beautifully chaotic thunderstorm. The dimming evening light cast a faint shadow of his eye lashes on the apples of his translucent cheeks. Amidst his pleasing facial features, it was his nose that stood out for you. You couldn’t quite tell what it was but you wanted a small bite of it.

He was undoubtedly the most handsome boy you had ever seen.

“Why aren’t you at the wedding?” You asked, carefully folding the sleeve of his shirt up to his upper arm and cleaning the blood off of his elbow with the wet gauze. As you were applying a generous layer of white petroleum over it, you felt his stiff posture gradually relax.

His gaze shifted from you and he stared into the distance and replied, “No reason.”

You simply nodded and decided against prodding him further. Taking the cotton scarf off of your head, you folded it into a makeshift bandage and swathed his elbow in it.

“Why aren’t you at the wedding?” He asked, fixing you with a steady gaze.

“Because I’m dressed way too exquisitely for a mere wedding.” You laughed.

“I’d have to agree.” He said in a small voice. “Do you come here often?”

“Would you like me to?”

“As a Healer isn’t it your duty to follow up on your patients?”

“I’m no Healer, but I’d like to see you again on the next full moon. To check up on the…. very deep gash on your elbow.”

Baekhyun’s lips curled upwards and his eyes crinkled. He nodded sagely in response.

“I have to go now”, you said, finding a part of your heart already missing the boy you never wanted anything to do with.

“I’ll leave first”, Baekhyun responded.

As you watched him go, magnolia flowers came floating in the air towards you in a straight line. They spun and wove around each other in a circle as if dancing to the beats of Trandafire. The brightest fireflies fluttered and joined in on the little gala of flowers, entwined like gemstones on a tiara, as the soiree adorned its rightful princess.

***

Thereafter came a seemingly endless string of secret rendezvous under the starry night skies. Baekhyun would braid your hair with flowers, sing you sweet love songs, bring you little gifts he’d find on his travels with Minseok and his father. They were mostly ingredients that you couldn’t find in the forest; you’d only describe their physical properties once and he’d commit them to memory, presenting you with only the best of the best of his finds.

Musings of the past were quick to pave the way for promises of a future. Even with its neck haltered and back against a wall, love was foolishly brave.

The more Baekhyun got involved with the money lender’s dealings, the lesser time he had for you which made every moment of yours with him even more precious. You held on to each other until the very last second as the agony of parting continued to amplify with the next meeting.

Years went by and one sweltering summer evening, you acquired a sealed weapon from a thirsty gadjo in exchange for an amphora full of fruit wine. The gadjo said it was a jamdhar, a rare push dagger, mainly intended for piercing armours. It was useless to him since the weapon had sealed itself and only an equal could unsheathe it.

But to you, the jamdhar meant freedom.

The dagger was rare, unreasonably powerful, mysterious and quite unlike any weapon in your grandfather’s munition. Merely fifteen inches long, it weighed about eleven pounds on the scale but it was quite heavy to be wielded by the average person. You could use the dagger to your advantage to evade inheriting the weapons’ trade and convince him to allow you to pursue your dream as an apothecary instead.

You later discovered that your plea had fallen upon deaf ears but you reckoned it was worth a try, anyway.

On Sara-la-Kali’s pilgrimage day, a feast was hosted by the babas of the clan. Among the many events held that evening, one event was held by your grandfather inviting men and women, young and old, to unsheathe the jamdhar.

Eyes outlined with an ebony galena and dark hair tousled, Baekhyun was dressed in black leather slacks and a loose midnight blue silk kurti which accentuated his broad and masculine frame. He wore an ivory tooth necklace and adorned the forward helix of his left ear with a gold ring. There was something different about him that day. He was unfaltering and undaunted. He was a force of nature.

He fixed the weapon with an unflinching gaze that sent shivers down your spine and proceeded towards it with one deliberate step at a time. He grabbed the sheathed jamdhar as if holding up a feather and drew the reticent dagger out of its cocoon with a sharp hiss.

The weapon gleamed in the moonlight. Its hilt was forged from pure carbon steel and it cut through the birchbark bench like cutting through floating sand. Vicious and double edged, its narrow blade was as clear as mirror glass. Yet, when Baekhyun glanced into it, he saw doleful eyes of strangers - men, women, and seldom children. These were reflections of the spirits of the lives claimed by the weapon.

The jamdhar was mighty and it made the man who possessed it invincible but it was bursting with resentment. Now that the weapon had found its true master, its energy only strengthened after each kill, rendering the master’s soul a shade weakened. Baekhyun would only continue to grow restless until he lost control of the weapon...and eventually of himself. You shuddered to think what might ultimately become of him if he didn’t discard the weapon soon enough.

It was after Sara-la-Kali’s pilgrimage day, the almighty Byun Baekhyun had become a stranger to you but your hearts were still tied together by the fragile thread of...love.

You wondered if you could still call it that.

It had been a year since.

A year of sleepless nights and frazzled days. You found him growing distant in your unyielding pursuit of asking him to relinquish the weapon. But the weapon had given him everything he couldn't afford to lose - fame, might, wealth, and most of all the respect that he yearned for growing up. Nobody dared to cross Byun Baekhyun. Nobody spoke ill of him. His mere presence would hush the busiest streets and people would bow down to him out of fear or admiration... or both.

They say time heals but it was now your arch nemesis. So you did what you knew best. You concocted brews that would help restore his strength only for it to be swallowed up again the next time the vicious blade had tasted blood.

You kept to yourself otherwise than when he needed you but the more you tried to fight shy of him, the more you found yourself in his company - observing the little things that pulled you deeper into your affections for him. The look in his eyes every time he saw fireflies dancing around your caravan, the erratic beating of his heart you felt against your palm when he kissed you for the last time...every time you noticed these things - your safekept heart threatened to leap out of it’s wrought iron cage only to land into his deceitful hands.

“You didn’t know ...they..they didn’t tell you?” Your trembling fingers grazed the fresh sprig of basil resting against Baekhyun’s sternum as you struggled to ground yourself by focusing on your breathing.

His palm met the side of your face in a gentle caress. “I didn’t. Believe me, I didn’t.” His voice was but a tremulous whisper in his futile endeavour to hold back tears.

“I was gone for one day.. I had some business up north.. and.. and everything.. everything’s changed! Just like that...everything’s changed!” You tried your best to lay hysteria off of your voice, but faltered. He wrapped his arms around you, his grip strengthening by the second, holding you closer, tighter as if his life depended on it. He then guided you to your bed and sat you down.

Whole body wracked by sobs, you squeezed your eyes shut. And then you saw her. Lys. The money lender’s youngest. She was a vision with hair as dark as the night rippling down to her waist, skin so beautiful as if covered in specks of gold. You envisioned a goddess enveloped in the strong, reliable arms of your beloved and your heart sank to your stomach.

As bewitching as she was, no man in his right mind would take her as his wife for she could hear the words they never dared to utter. And that was treacherous territory even for the bravest, the most virtuous of them all. Lys could crawl into the mind of anyone she laid a mere finger on and their deepest, darkest secrets would come unraveled to her.

She could hear them all. All but one - the only one you held dear.

As soon as they got a whiff of this, the elders arranged her marriage with Baekhyun showing utter disregard for his consent.

“Let’s run away together”, you managed feebly, dreading his obvious answer.

Devastated, he searched your eyes as a silent tear streamed down his cheek. He took your hands in his, tenderly pressed them to his lips and broke down in sobs.

“You do all their dirty work! Why are they so cruel to you? Why? You’re capable of so much more.” You argued in vain.

His dark eyes shot up to meet yours, stoic and resolute. “I’ve known only one thing all my life that is kill or be killed. You’re only saying this because you don’t know the real me. You’ve never seen me make a man’s head explode. You’ve only ever seen the things I let you see. I am a horrendous brute who was abandoned by his own parents...a monster who deserves no love.

My parents...my parents were simple-minded villagers who perceived anything out of the ordinary as black-hearted. After they found out what I was capable of, they started looking at me like I was different...like I was not human. They’d feed me leftovers, starve me for days, even try to beat the demon out of me. Nothing worked. I was still capable of doing the things that they considered wicked sorcery. At last they decided to sell me off to a merchant for a jagged piece of silver.

The caravan was on one of their travels to the east at the time. They stopped by a field outside my village. It was the elders who spotted me… an eight year old left to his own devices, drawing water out of a well only with the sheer force of his mind. It was Minseok’s father who saved me that day. He saved me from the unthinkable. I can’t do this to them… I can’t let them down. And the more I think about it, I know that I have nothing to offer you. I have mastered no trade, I possess no talent for the arts. I have nothing to give you. I believe you deserve better. You’ve always deserved better. Better than -” His voice trailed off.

“Show me your best blade.”

A glossy yet assertive female voice fell upon your ears while you sat polishing some of the antiquated procurements with alcohol. Your grandfather loved for his collection to be immaculate as if they were elegant relics or souvenirs and not lethal weapons, a single plunge in the right place from which could mean only one thing. Though gradually and unwittingly, you grew up to care for them as such too.

“What do you need it for?” You inquired, attention fixed on the task at hand.

The sound of the visitor’s footsteps grew closer but before you could turn around, firm hands rested upon your shoulders, squeezing hard. The visitor whispered in your ear, “One that is good enough for carving a man’s heart out of his chest”, and broke into a high pitched, maniacal laughter.

“Lys!” Scared out of your wits, you exclaimed as all sounds suddenly started to become more and more distant. Everything faded out of sight and you felt like a lamb to the slaughter under her terrorizing gaze. She continued to look at you intently and shot you a knowing smile, effectively binding your limbs in dread. Tossing a piece of silver in your direction, she walked away with a freshly polished navaja, a fighting knife.

The sheer idea of Lys being aware of your deepest secret rendered you physically and mentally incapacitated for the rest of the day. Anxiety took over, tormenting you with the worst possible consequences of your now unveiled thoughts.

One that is good enough for carving a man’s heart out of his chest.

What did she mean by that? Would Baekhyun have to bear the brunt of your feelings? Has he not suffered enough at the hands of this family by constantly living on the edge of terror and despair?

Would this cost him his life?

Sleep evaded you that night.

Wearing a weapon in the thick braid of yarn around your waist, you threw a shawl over your shoulders, gathered your skirts and headed towards Baekhyun’s caravan.

***

Just as you were about to reach for the door, it swung open and appeared before you two well built, dark haired men - one of them a head taller than the other. Your heart stopped the moment a pair of feline eyes bore into yours. Minseok closed the door behind him and you instinctively backpedalled, almost tumbling over a piece of rock until Yixing grabbed you by your arm to steady you.

"Bladerunner, what are you doing here?" Yixing asked genially but a glint of suspicion danced in his eyes.

Your mind made up too many excuses for you to actually be able to stick with one.

"Answer him, Bladerunner." Minseok commanded with a hardened expression.

Baekhyun trotted out of his caravan and answered good naturedly, "Bulibasha, I'd asked her to bring me a vial of chamomile essential oil. It helps with my muscle spasms."

"Why would you ask that of a Bladerunner, Baekhyun? Is she running an illicit trade?” Yixing inquired, tilting his head to the side, the dimpled smile on his face unflinching

“Bulibasha, I-” Trembling from head to toe, you bowed before him expressing repentance.

Minseok gave you a quick once over and asked Baekhyun, “Why is she dressed like a looter? Tell us what’s going on, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun and you were both well aware that Minseok and Yixing weren’t men you could deceive. They would smell a lie from miles away and the truth would lead to a certain death...or worse, banishment from the clan.

Forget about him, dragă. He's no nurturer...

Your mother's voice boomed in your ears, seizing your throat and bringing tears to your eyes.

“No chicanaries, Baekhyun.” Yixing warning came out sounding more like an advice.

The moment you opened your mouth to confess in a way that would save Baekhyun's neck from the noose, he took two small strides and stood next to you. Eyes downcast, he held your ice cold hand in his and declared defiantly, “We’re in love with each other, Bulibasha.”

***

Yixing ordered to see Minseok, Baekhyun, and you in his private chamber at the break of dawn. To your utter surprise, he permitted Baekhyun to walk you back home provided he would be back within the quarter of an hour.

Your caravan was encircled with a faint golden light from the fireflies dancing around it. Baekhyun smiled weakly at the tragically beautiful sight and you committed the slow upward curl of his tender lips to memory.

Your heart was laden with guilt. When wrapped you in his arms, you whispered into his strong chest as your mind was clouded over with the familiar, comforting scent of sandalwood on his skin, “You shouldn’t have.”

“I shouldn’t have let it come to this. I should’ve stood up for us long ago. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” He breathed softly and plucked the string akin to a noose from around his neck and slid it into the inside pocket of his coat.

“Whatever happens tomorrow”, he whispered as a silent tear made its way down his cheek, “remember that I will never leave your side. Rest assured, I will never let any harm come to you. I love you... I always have and I always will.”

Yixing’s bender tent was twice the size of your caravan. Dimly lit and carpeted, it exuded an intimidating aura. Draped in black, red, and gold panels it carried portraits of eminent members of the clan and the largest one, the one the clan leader himself stood before, was that of a black and gold dragon the mere sight of which was enough to bring the bravest of the men down to their knees. Minseok was seated next to Yixing against the backdrop of the portrait of his own father. His eyes were smoldering embers as he returned your meek obligatory smile with a scowl and stared you down as you and Baekhyun knelt before them. A sense of impending doom settled deep into your bones.

Sure, you felt dread and panic, but just this once you did not feel guilt. Apparently, neither did Baekhyun.

‘Being able to know you and love you has been the greatest gift of all’, was the only thing he’d said to you this morning.

“Bladerunner, did you not have prior knowledge of Baekhyun’s engagement with Minseok’s sister?” Expression neutral, Yixing was quick to do away with unnecessary introductions and jump to the heart of the matter.

When your eyes met his, you realized it would take him mere seconds to burn this room and everything along with it down to ashes. You wondered if he understood the language of the eyes because it was exactly what you implored him to do.

“Bulibasha, we -” Baekhyun spoke on your behalf but with a raised hand Yixing commanded him to stay quiet while holding your gaze steadily.

“I did, Bulibasha.” You declared with all the strength that you could muster, yet your voice was no louder than a whisper.

Lips stretched into a thin line, Yixing’s gaze mellowed as did his countenance when he asked, “Yet, you continued to pursue your relationship with him?”

You hung your head in response.

“Bulibasha -” Baekhyun stood up and pleaded fervently, “Bulibasha, please -”

“This is not something a woman of honour would do now, would she, Bladerunner?” Minseok spat in disgust.

“Minseok!” Baekhyun bellowed, hands balled into fists and seething with rage. You shot a glance at his reddened face, your heart hammering wildly in your chest. A part of you wanted to grab his hand to soothe him but a Minseok’s sharp glare of contempt changed your mind.

“Yes, Bulibasha.” You chose to answer Yixing in your effort to quiet things down.

“Bulibasha”, fiery gaze still boring into Minseok’s, Baekhyun said to Yixing, “I wish to secede from the clan.”

He turned to look at Yixing and pleaded with him, “If this isn’t something a woman of honour would do, then can I be called a man of honour? Should a man like me be allowed to serve the clan? I’ve toyed with not one but the hearts of two respectable young women. This is the only thing I ask of you, Yixing. If our friendship means anything to you, command me to leave and let the Bladerunner continue living with the clan as if none of this ever happened.”

“The Bladerunner has been found guilty of breaking ethical codes, Bulibasha”, Minseok reasoned, “the Zakono beseeches her expulsion instead and Baekhyun should be asked to keep the promise he made to my sister.”

Both Baekhyun and you stole a glance at each other acquiescing in how well-prepared Minseok was. Suddenly, you heard an unmistakable sharp, slicing sound of metal against metal. Acting upon instinct, you quickly rose and threw yourself at Baekhyun, pushing him down to the floor and out of range as a dagger came flying through from the entrance behind you. It flew past the top of your right ear, nicking your helix and lodging itself in the right eye pupil of the portrait in front of you. It was the portrait of Minseok’s father.

Under the startled glare of everyone in attendance, the knife thrower grinned proudly at her skills.

It was Lys.

It took you a moment to realize that had Baekhyun not been pushed out of the way, the blade would’ve gone piercing through his back straight into his heart. Her silken voice boomed ominously in your ears.

One that is good enough for carving a man’s heart out of his chest.

“Lys! You’ve ruined Father’s portrait!” Minseok lambasted his little sister.

Head cocked to the side, Lys sauntered over to her father’s portrait, brushing your arm with her fingernails as she passed you by. Full scarlet lips stretched into a gratified smile, lustrous skin and dark hair glimmering in the soft golden glow of the tent, she pulled the knife out in one graceful movement.

Chucking to herself, she came and stood before you. Placing a hand on your cheek she whispered, “You have beautiful skin, Bladerunner. I’d hate to ruin it.” She ran the blade of the dagger (which you recognized as navaja) along your jaw down to your clavicle. Unflinching, you met her eyes, letting her know that you’d long accepted your fate. She pressed the blade into the side of your neck, leaving you with a deep cut that was as long as your little finger. Blood began to run from it immediately but instead of pain you felt a sense of relief wash over you.

Baekhyun pulled you out of the way and stood like a barrier between you and Lys, glaring at her. His jaw went tight as he roughly grabbed her knife bearing arm, the firm grasp of his fingers was sure to leave her with striking red streaks along her wrist. Smiling to herself, Lys stretched out her other hand in front of Baekhyun. “Hand it over. It never looked good on you, anyway.”

He was quick to draw the basil necklace from the inside pocket of his coat and slap it in her palm. Next, he slowly drew the navaja out of her grasp, inviting a loud gasp from Minseok.

“Baekhyun! What have you done?” Yixing roared.

One prevalent belief still held by the clan was that taking a knife straight from someone’s hand meant that the relationship between the giver and the recipient had been severed. But the enormity of his own action was lost on Baekhyun.

He declared instead, “If the Bladerunner is to be punished, Bulibasha, I deserve a harsher punishment. I don’t care what the Zakono says. You can’t go on acting like she was alone in this!”

Minseok, who seemed to be at a loss for words, simply glared at Baekhyun’s out-of-character rebelliousness.

It was Lys who spoke first. Searching Baekhyun’s eyes, she said to nobody in particular, “He seeks her when he’s upset. And even when he’s not.” Turning to bow before Yixing, Lys stated, "Bulibasha, I would like to request a private audience."

You slept all day after the trial and woke up a little before noon the following morning.

It had felt like one mammoth nightmare - right from the day you laid your eyes on the sprig of basil around Baekhyun’s neck to yesterday when he smacked it in Lys’ hand - leaving you with yet another battle wound on your quest to rescue the man you loved. What transpired yesterday between Lys and Minseok was known only to Yixing, Baekhyun, and you and you were all under an oath to never speak of it again.

The jamdhar was now in Yixing’s custody and it was most likely to be buried deep into the earth after a final discussion with the Elders.

Work that day went by in a daze - all you wanted now was to spend every second of everyday with your beloved but you abandoned the idea till the dust on the matter had settled. You came home to a potted plant which stood pretty on the windowsill of your rustic brown caravan and looked picturesque against the pink bougainvillea creeper around it.

The plant was that of basil.

A basil plant on the window of a woman indicated that she was spoken for. Only one person could’ve put it there. The moment reached out for the plant, you felt a firm grip strengthen around your waist, pulling you closer. Baekhyun nuzzled the side of your neck, soft lips brushing along the edge of your clavicle. This time you didn’t fight this long overdue affection, instead revelled in it.

“Men and women shouldn’t be inappropriately intimate”, you breathed as you found yourself caged between the caravan and the length of Baekhyun’s muscular frame. His lips found yours, teeth playfully tugging at your lower lip before exploring every inch of your exposed skin crudely, eliciting soft moans from your parted lips. His hands found your hips, thumbs digging deep just over your hip bone. His lips teased the sensitive part on your neck as his fingers moved to unfasten the lace of your tan buckskin waistcoat. Threading your fingers through his hair, you pulled him closer evoking a throaty chuckle from him. Giving the sensitive spot the attention that it deserved, Baekhyun took you by the waist and in one swift movement you were lifted off your feet and scooped into his strong arms.

You buried your face into the crook of his neck as he pushed the door to your caravan open with his elbow. He gently laid you on the bed, one corner of his mouth raised in a smirk. Cocking his eyebrow, he allowed his eyes to mercilessly rove over your dishevelled state before slowly sliding into bed with you.

***

You were woken not by the everyday melody of songbirds but by a loud clang that rang mercilessly though your caravan.

“I just...wanted to make you some chao!” Pants hung dangerously low on his waist, a brazenly shirtless Baekhyun exclaimed, the boom of his voice echoing in your ears. Rubbing the sleep away from your eyes, you gave him a quick once over while your head had already begun to throb slightly thanks to the unwelcome blaring this early in the morning. Veiling your modesty with a fleece blanket, you floundered out of the comfort of the bed and meticulously studied the sorry state of your sacred space - your precious little kitchen.

Olive green eggshells were carelessly strewn across the counter. The contents in the saucepan that was perched atop the stove bubbled frenetically, threatening to overflow. Even in your sleep befuddled state you could make out that Baekhyun had carelessly thrown three deshelled pheasant eggs in boiling water which had now dissipated in a foamy mess.

“Baekhyun, what do you think this is?” You raised a green box the size of your palm embossed with a delicate gold flowery pattern, to his eye level.

“Sugar.”

The throbbing in your head increased and your eyes started brimming with tears.

“Where did you find this box, Baekhyun?” You questioned condescendingly.

“In your medicine crate?” He drew the sentence out in a question, taking a cautious step back.

But you took a threatening step in his direction and spoke in a deep, menacing voice. “You….you thought I’d keep sugar in my medicine crate?”

“There was no sugar ...no sugar in..in the cabinet!”

“You know I never use sugar in or for anything.” You maintained, as a tear rolled down your cheek.

“Why are you crying?” He asked, eyes fixed on the green box that was clutched possessively to your chest.

“Baekhyun did you use whatever’s in this box?”

“N-no?”

“You don’t seem so sure?”

“I did not! You’re scaring me now! What is in this box?”

“Tell me you didn’t use it, Baekhyun!”

“I did not use it! I promise! Now will you tell me? Please?”

Exhaling heavily, you answered, “My life’s work”, and hid the box in the farthest corner of the medicine crate.

“Explain”, he said with a yawn.

“Mithridatum...a poison antidote made from sixty-five ingredients. It’s an ancient recipe and it’s taken me fifteen years to research, scavenge for ingredients, and formulate.”

“Why do you keep it around so carelessly!”

“Carelessly?! It was in my medicine crate!”

“You know I need sugar in my chao, dragă.” He pouted.

You handed him a bottle from the kitchen cabinet, “Use this. It’s tapioca syrup.”

“Won’t taste the same but I’ll survive. Now let’s put Mister Mithridatum someplace safer, shall we?”

“Miss Mithridatum is safe enough in my medicine crate as long as you keep away from it. Thank you very much.”

Baekhyun beamed. You knew this smile a little too well so you checked to see if your fleece blanket was doing its job. But Baekhyun was nothing if not audacious. He advanced towards you as you retracted. Hands on hips, putting on a wide grin, he spoke in a voice laced with sugar and spice, “Nice outfit.”

You gathered the fabric up to your neck and bit on your lower lip to keep from blushing. “Thank you.” You said sweetly, feigning innocence.

“You’d look better without it.” He towered over you as you hit a dead end, with your back against the wall of your tiny living space.

You pushed him in the chest and he cried out like a wounded puppy. “Baekhyunnie, bring us some breakfast from my mother’s, will you? Don’t make it look like you spent the night with me, alright? Go now, I’m famished!”

“Of course, you are.” Baekhyun teased and his face scrunched up in a bright yet bashful smile.

“Don’t forget to put on a shirt!”

***

Your mother sent you a generous portion of pumpkin stew and fried cornbread which Baekhyun and you ate - no - inhaled in silence in the comfort of your caravan.

“I have something to say.” He looked at you solemnly and you felt your heart sink to your stomach. And it probably manifested in your eyes since he took your hands in his immediately and calmed you down, “Good...good something, dragă!”

“Baekhyunnie, you scared me.” Panic betrayed your voice and water started pooling in your eyes.

“We’re never to be parted again, dragă. I’ll follow you into the shower too if you like.” He nodded solemnly.

“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Frowning, you teasingly clarified.

“We’ll see about that later. Anyway, since Minseok has let me go as part of the settlement...you know whatever happened with...with -”

“Lys.”

“Yes. So, I have a lot of free time on hand. And your iubit doesn’t know much about anything but he knows weapons.” He looked at you intently and shot you a knowing smile.

You urged him to continue with an anxious nod.

“After we’re married, I could speak with dya and take over the weapons’ trade and you can… probably.. continue to make more Miss Mithridates? Or do nothing at all, I’ll be the sole breadwinner of our little, happy family.” He declared, flexing his muscles.

You held him by the wrist and put his hand back in his lap to reinforce the seriousness of the conversation and asked, “You would do that?”

“Unless you want me following you into the shower everyday...yes.”

“What if Yixing disapproves?”

“He can’t, dragă. My freedom...is...it’s part of the settlement.”

You leaned back and looked up into his face, blinking tears from your eyes. You held your finger up at him and mouthed, ‘One moment.’

Rummaging through his clothes you found what you were looking for and said to him excitedly, “I can’t believe you still have this!”

It was the scarf you’d tied around his elbow the day he injured himself while sneakily watching you sing and dance by the pond.

“Already snooping through my things? You wound me!” Baekhyun pulled you into his lap and whispered into your ear, “I take it with me wherever I go.”

You skillfully drew out a couple of loose threads from the scarf and reached out for a fresh sprig of basil from the plant on your windowsill. Weaving the sprig into the threads you studied his face with rosy eyes.

“Hurry up!” Said Baekhyun, tugging at your arm. As you were helping him wear the necklace with trembling fingers, his hands travelled the length of your back and his lips ghosted over yours, inhaling your unsteady breaths.

An disappointing knock on the door jolted you out of your celebration.

“Are we interrupting something?” A familiar voice reached your ears and you felt your face flame. Smoothing your hair and skirts you scrambled out of Baekhyun’s lap and bowed before the visitor, not daring to meet his eyes.

“Ah! Yixing! You should know better than to walk in on a couple unannounced!” Baekhyun grumbled and ran a hand through his hair, still seated with his legs wide apart. He took your hand in his and pulled you back into his lap.

“Bulibasha -”

Yixing merely chuckled at your embarrassment while looking around your uncharacteristically messy caravan for a place to sit. Pulling away from Baekhyun, you tidied the bed for him.

“Bulibasha, you said we.”

“I’m sorry?” Yixing gaped at you, confused.

“Are we interrupting -” You explained, feeling the heat rising up to your cheeks again.

“Oh, yes! Minseok, come on in!” Yixing bellowed.

“Are you sure Baekhyun’s completely clothed?” Came a high pitched voice from outside the caravan.

Yixing snorted and exclaimed, “Pretty much!”

Minseok cautiously stepped into your caravan and bowed politely.

“You too? Can’t I have some alone time with my beloved?” Baekhyun whined.

“It’s been less than a day and you’ve forgotten us already!” Minseok chided, taking a seat next to Yixing.

“Such is a woman’s love, Minseok. It beguiles the best of us! Anyway, we won’t keep you too long.” Yixing winked at Baekhyun and you bashfully retreated to make the guests some chao.

“Come and join us, Bladerunner, there’s no need for formalities.” Said Minseok curtly and you immediately obliged. There was nothing to serve the beverage with, anyway, apart from watery eggs in a pot.

You came and stood next to Baekhyun and rested a hand upon his shoulder. He immediately intertwined his fingers with yours and you felt relief surging through your veins.

“I’d like to apologise for the things I said to your woman, Baekhyun. It was unkind of me.” Minseok stated, his tone contrite.

“You were only looking out for your little sister. If I were in your place, I would’ve probably done the same.” Baekhyun replied in all earnesty.

Minseok and Baekhyun gave each other a meaningful nod before the cat-eyed man turned to you and said gently, “I truly wish you both a lifetime of happiness, and I’ll make sure to knock some manners into the boy before he’s permanently consigned to you.”

You glanced over to the kitchen and laughed, “That would be of great help!” before peering at Baekhyun who feigned offence at Minseok’s words.

“One last thing before we take your leave.” Said Yixing, slapping his thigh, “The Elders have suggested the full moon of the fourth month for the wedding. Bladerunner, I trust you will convey this to your dya?”

You gave Yixing a measured smile and nodded.

“And Baekhyun -”

Baekhyun pulled you into his lap and held you by the small of your back. Lovingly searching your eyes, he whispered, “I can’t wait.”

*********************************

A/N: This oneshot will be followed up with a spin-off for Lys which will explain what transpired in the “courtroom” but if you know me, you’ll know about my snail’s pace when it comes to updating. So I’ll be happy to give you a summary over DM if you’d like! :)

This was my first time attempting something in this genre/theme so I’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts on it.

Also, Piper, I’m sorry you got stuck with me :P

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