Tfw When you only know about Euphoria through your older sister finishing the third season and watching last couple episodes but you didn't need to know/see the rest because you cried over Rue and Ali anyway and
synopsis: your daughter is starting preschool today, and liu kang is experiencing both the proudest and most terrifying moment of his life.
genre: domestic fluff, soft girl dad liu kang <3
word count: 1.8k
september: her first day
you wake to an empty bed, the sheets on liu kang’s side already cool. a quiet smile tugs at your lips before you even open your eyes fully, because you know exactly where he is.
padding down the hallway in your slippers, you push open the door to your daughter’s room. the sight that greets you is so achingly sweet it makes your chest tighten.
liu kang is curled on his side in the too-small bed, one arm protectively draped over your four-year-old. his long dark hair is loose and spilling across the pink pillowcase, and their faces are so close their noses are nearly touching. your little girl’s tiny hand is fisted in the front of his sleep shirt like she’d been afraid he might disappear in the night. the nightlight still glows softly in the corner, casting gentle shadows.
he must have slipped in sometime after you fell asleep, probably around 3 a.m. when the anxious father in him won out over the calm monk.
you cross the room quietly and brush a strand of hair from his face. his eyes flutter open immediately, those warm brown eyes softening the moment they find you.
“good morning, beloved,” he whispers, voice still husky with sleep. he glances down at the sleeping girl between you and smiles, small and almost shy. “she had a bad dream. i… could not leave her.”
“i know,” you murmur, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead, then one to your daughter’s chubby cheek. “time to wake up, darling. big day today.”
she stirs with a little whine, burying her face in liu kang’s chest. he chuckles low and fond, rubbing her back softly. “come, little one. the world is waiting for you.”
getting her ready turns into the kind of morning that makes your heart feel too big for your body.
liu kang is meticulous. he sits on the edge of her bed with her in his lap, carefully brushing her hair until it shines, then braiding it into two perfect plaits with little ribbons that match her dress. the dress itself is a soft yellow with tiny embroidered dragons along the hem — shorts underneath, because your husband is nothing if not thorough. he helps her into brand new light-up shoes that flash with every step, and when she stomps excitedly, the delight on his face is pure.
you head downstairs to pack her bag and make lunch while they finish up. a few minutes later, little footsteps thunder down the stairs followed by liu kang’s quieter ones.
“mama!” she cries, launching herself at your legs. then she spots the lunchbox on the counter and her face falls into the most dramatic pout you’ve ever seen. “mamaaa, you didn’t cut them right…”
you blink, staring at the perfectly normal triangular sandwiches. “what do you mean, baby?”
liu kang appears in the doorway, looking mildly sheepish. he rubs the back of his hand, a tell you’ve come to adore. “she… prefers them cut into stars.”
you look from your pouting daughter to your ridiculously powerful, god-like husband who is currently avoiding eye contact. “stars.”
he nods once, already moving to take over. “i will handle it. you have done enough, my heart.”
of course he knows how to cut sandwiches into perfect little stars. of course he does.
when everything is packed — tiny backpack with her name embroidered on it, lunchbox full of star sandwiches and apple slices — he lifts her onto his hip and carries her to the car. she chatters the entire drive, swinging her legs so her light-up shoes keep flashing.
“i’m gonna make so many friends! and i’ll tell them my baba can breathe fire but he doesn’t because he’s nice. and i’ll show them how i can do cartwheels and maybe they’ll let me play with them…”
you glance over at liu in the passenger seat. he’s quiet, eyes distant as he watches the world pass by out the window, jaw just a little clenched. you reach over and rest your hand on his thigh, and he covers it with his own immediately.
when you pull up to the preschool, the parking lot is full of excited kids and emotional parents. you park, but liu kang doesn’t move right away. your daughter is still talking a mile a minute in the back seat.
you squeeze his hand. “she’s going to be okay, liu. she’s brave. just like her father.”
he exhales slowly, then turns to look at you with that soft expression he saves only for family. “i know. but she is still so small. my little flame...”
you all climb out of the car, your daughter bouncing with excitement at first, holding both your hands and skipping between you. but the moment you reach the gate, she sees the crowd of new kids and the big classroom beyond, and her steps falter.
she turns around, looking up at liu kang with wide eyes. “baba… do i have to go? maybe i can go a different day.”
liu kang’s face crumples. he crouches down immediately, taking her little hands in his much larger ones. you can already see him softening, ready to scoop her up and go home.
you place a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he looks up at you, eyes pleading.
“maybe she’s not ready?” he whispers. “maybe one more year?”
you roll your eyes lovingly and crouch down beside them both.
“sweetheart,” you say, brushing her cheek, “you are so ready for this. you can do scary things. you can do hard things. and we will be right here waiting the second you’re done. baba and i are so proud of you already.”
liu kang watches you, then nods slowly, drawing strength from your words. he presses a kiss to her forehead. “your mother is right. you carry fire in your heart. now go, show them how brightly you shine.”
inside the classroom, the noise and colors are overwhelming but cheerful. while you speak with the teacher, liu kang spots a colorful picture book with a friendly dragon on the cover. he immediately guides your daughter over to it, kneeling beside her as she flips through the pages, momentarily distracted and smiling again.
when it’s finally time to leave, she turns those big puppy eyes on him, the very eyes she inherited from him. “baba, don’t go…”
liu kang looks like his heart is physically breaking. you have to slip your arm through his and start guiding him toward the door.
“don’t look back,” you whisper firmly, though your own eyes are misty.
he makes it all the way to the car before the dam breaks. the second the doors close, liu kang buries his face in his hands and cries, shaky little sobs that shake his broad shoulders. you lean over the console and pull him into your arms, stroking his hair as he clings to you.
“i know,” you murmur against his temple. “she’s going to be okay. she’s ready.”
about thirty minutes later, your phone buzzes with a notification from the preschool app. liu kang literally jumps, fumbling to open it with shaking hands.
it’s a photo: your daughter sitting happily at a little table, laughing with two other girls as they play with blocks. she looks completely settled, bright-eyed and joyful.
you beam. “look at her! she’s making friends already! she’s doing it, liu!”
he stares at the picture for a long moment, a small smile tugging at his lips… before his expression turns a little sulky. he leans back in the seat with a soft huff.
“she has already forgotten about us,” he mumbles, eyes fixed on the photo like it personally betrayed him. “she does not need me anymore.”
you can’t help but laugh, cupping his face and kissing the pout from his lips. “oh liu, my sweet, dramatic husband. she loves you more than anything. this is just the beginning. she’ll come running to you tonight with a million stories.”
he sighs, but the sulk softens as he leans into your touch, resting his forehead against yours. “i miss her.”
“i know. me too.”
by the time pickup comes, liu kang is physically shaking with anticipation.
the classroom door opens and there she is, her tiny backpack strapped to her shoulders and a slightly crumpled piece of artwork clutched proudly in one hand. but the moment her eyes land on liu kang, everything drops — backpack, paper, all of it. she lets out a delighted shriek and runs full speed, arms wide open, straight into her baba’s arms. liu kang catches her instantly, scooping her up and crushing her to his chest like she’d been gone for three years instead of three hours.
“my little flame,” he murmurs, voice thick and trembling with relief as he breathes in her scent. “i missed you so much.”
you smile at the sight of them, then slip inside to speak with the teacher.
“i have to tell you,” you say with a soft laugh, “liu really appreciated that update photo you sent earlier. i think it kept him from falling apart completely.”
the teacher chuckles warmly. “that’s adorable. honestly, she talked about almost nothing except her baba. how he cuts her sandwiches into stars, how he braids her hair, how he’s the strongest and kindest person in the world… it was very sweet.”
your heart feels too big for your chest. you turn to gather the discarded backpack and artwork from the floor. unfolding the paper, you see it’s a colorful “all about me” template — little boxes for name, age, favorite food, color, animal, and so on. but what catches your eye is the last box: what means the most to me.
on top of your daughter’s enthusiastic squiggles and dots, the teacher had neatly labeled it: my baba.
you stare at it, throat tightening, heart threatening to leap out of your chest. the love in those messy lines, the certainty of it… you can’t help but feel overwhelmingly lucky in this moment. lucky to have this man, this sweet, devoted, beautiful man, as the father of your child.
the teacher notices you staring and smiles gently. “she was very certain.”
you blink back happy tears and fold the paper carefully, stepping back outside.
liu kang is still holding your daughter, listening with rapt attention as she babbles about her day, every little detail spilling out between giggles. you walk over and hold up the artwork.
“look what she made, liu.”
your daughter immediately points at the squiggly box with pride.
“that’s you, baba!” she announces, poking the paper. “my favorite thing.”
liu kang’s breath catches. he stares at the drawing, then at her, eyes glistening. for a moment you think he might cry again, relief washing over the earlier fear that she’d already outgrown him, that she didn’t need her baba anymore. instead, she had been thinking of him the whole time.
he presses his face into her hair, voice rough with emotion. “thank you, little one… that means everything to me.”
her first day has been emotional for everyone.
but especially for liu kang, who loves her so deeply it undoes him in the most beautiful ways.
Yes vampires take blood from other people
.... How would that work in a scientific standpoint
and I dont mean that in terms of the entire concept of vampires
I mean it in terms of taking another's blood for themselves because like
there are different blood types out there
and they all either do or don't have certain antibodies which would cause the body to reject new blood if it isn't a certain type / entirely removed of antigens so the body could accept it in the first place
BUT
i remember seeing people here and there headcanoning vampires inject a venom of sorts when biting their victim, the venom supposedly turning the victim into a vampire too
now had they mentioned WHEN exactly would they inject it?
no idea don't remember
But what if it was right as they bite the victim + before they start sucking blood?
venom would not only act as The Thing That Turns You Into a Vampire but also as an unconventional ZZAP
could vampires smell different blood types?
what if there are two different concoctions they'd inject with one for converting to vampirism and another for antigen removal
in some cases vampire ZZAP wouldn't even be used because some blood types (O) are universal and can be given to anyone
What if all vampires are AB blood type because their immune system can manage with accepting any blood type
I'm either a genius or I'm WAY overthinking a fictional concept like mf vampires
Love, dadatron, my man would try, but Lord would he be a shit father at certain points of time. Now... might I ask for idw/mtmte dadatron? Maybe when he comes back in issue 25 of Lost Light, he not only has a fleet, but he also has a small little bit with him... was tempted to make him suffer, but he be a semi good dad during/post LL/mtmte (not before... feel it would be similar to tfp Megatron if he was a father before mtmte)
EXACTLYYY he's not a very good dad... he's the best dad around (to you in your optics) when you're too young to really understand the world but when you get a little older, you see through the MASSIVE cracks.
now idw papatron... thats a bit more complicated
i'll be so fr with you, phase one idw megs is a tough parent. very no-nonsense. like tfp lets you goof off every now and then but this guy? he expects proper discipline and will scold you severely if you're not meeting his expectations. you're more than his sparkling, you're his heir. he expects more from you than tfp ever would. you'd try so hard to impress him, putting yourself in dangerous situations and i wouldn't be surprised if you died either. people tend to forget how emotionally detached from everything phase one idw megs really is. that mf turned bots into living landmines for shits and giggles while quite literally running the cybertronian equivalent of concentration camps. he was BRUTAL. also a lot more emotionally unavailable? he's so busy with the war that he barely has time for you- top 1 worst megadads ever.
but if we're talking about him having a bitlet in the functionist universe, ohhhh its so emotional for him. like he's hesitating but with all the chaos going on, he can't just leave you out there either! he's reluctant, but i think a few of the other bots from the functionist universe might encourage him but terminus kinda disapproves cause they're in the middle of a conflict and megatron can't just go about raising kids now when he's their only commander!
for him, it'll be the first time he's going to have to learn to be gentle. most of the time, even aboard the Lost Light, he's a stern and brooding old mech. he can't exactly keep that up if he's going to raise a healthy little sparkling. he hesitates to as advice at first but soon learns how to hold you gently, he's never held anything as gently until you came into the picture. your giggles and babbles makes something in his spark positively melt. and for once, he's smiling. he enjoys this feeling a lot more than he thought he would.
is he perfect? no, not really. miles better than his counterparts though. when doing something mischievous, he doesn't just scold you. he tells you why you're not supposed to do that and the consequences of your actions. megatron doesn't want you to turn out like him.
he would want you to be better than he ever was. he wants you to be kind, empathetic, and understanding. things that he still struggles trying to grasp.
this might culminate into overprotective behaviour. he wants you away from all bad influences. which is why when he's back on the Lost Light, he hesitates to let half of them carry you around even though they're all so eager. it took him weeks to allow Rodimus, who wouldn't stop begging, to let him babysit you.
Rodimus proceeded to take you in his alt mode and zoom in the hallways of the ship, making you squeal and laugh at some instances when he almost ran over bots. nevertheless, he's your self-proclaimed 'fun' uncle. Megatron thinks hes a terrible influence, the moment you start doing finger-guns at Megatron, he already regrets allowing Rodimus to take care of you.
as captain of the Lost Light, he's a busy mech (just like in the functionist universe). so it means that you're usually looked after by someone else and it ends up with you being the ray of sunshine aboard the ship.
sometime its Ultra Magnus, who lectures you on keeping clean. also you screamed out in terror first time you saw him as Minimus Ambus. you thought he was an imposter. its like those videos where kids see their dads without their beards for the first time.
Rewind and Chromedome often gets chances to take care of you, and despite your mischief, it kinda makes them want one of their own. they know how to calm you down so you're quick to recharge and Rewind has a huge collection of animated features for you to watch!
Drift and Rodimus gets cuteness aggression around you. until you bit Rodimus' digits when he was pulling too hard on your faceplates. Drifts still thinks you're adorable and Rodimus doesn't want to give up his only chance at annoying the scrap out of Megatron by being your fun uncle.
Ratchet is mostly neutral about you and is the one Megatron trusts the most with. he's quick to discipline you. Megatron kinda struggles getting the balance of gentle and stern right so sometimes, its up to Ratchet to give you a spark-piercing glare. you prefer going to Velocity when you're hurt because of it, she's so much more gentle with you.
Tailgate loves playing with you. He's too old for it but he likes keeping you company by indulging in your little games. He'll drag Cyclonus into it too who's just sitting there extremely displeased.
Skids would have been fun uncle Rodimus thinks he is. he would've probably shown you around the bar (Megatron has forbidden any of them from taking you there but Skids prolly dgaf). he would've given you a tour of the vents. his adventurous spirit would've rubbed off on you.
but one day, Nautica probably would take you into Swerve's and she'd teach you to dance in there, holding your smaller servos in hers as she leans down to make it easier for you, the two of you moving to the rhythm of the bar's radio.
when you do show up to the bar, Swerve makes sure to give you the least intoxicating, kiddie energon he can find. he will sometimes give you sweets for free when you show up. he likes you. at least until you give him the petname 'energon mech'. but you're just a kid! so he's inclined to forgive you... even if the nickname sticks.
if he had been alive, whenever you have something that Megatron isn't sure how to deal with, he would've consulted Rung because Rung is the one who checks up on you. you would've been kind enough to not forget his name and probably his favourite patient. would've 100% gifted you a model spaceship or given some treats like Swerve would.
you're not allowed ten feet around Whirl for obvious reasons but Tailgate tries to convince Megatron that it wouldn't be "that bad". you... you test Whirl's patience. he is not fond of sparklings, you repel him away every time you go close to him. he gets this weird feeling of endearment when you chew on his claws though.
you're not just being raised by Megatron here, you're being raised by a whole SHIP. it gives him hope because he knows you'll turn out alright... you have the support net he lacked when he spiralled, you've got people looking after you and Megatron is glad he was able to give you that. he thinks of it as the best possible gift he could ever give you because it was the one thing he lacked the most.
you're the most protected sparkling in the history of sparklings cause you've got like nearly 10 uncles, 2 aunts and an ex-warlord father ready to jump anyone who'd hurt you.
he's the happiest when you've got something to smile about
at least, until when his sentence finally arrives. you've given him the best moments of his old age.
If Shang Tsung consumes other peoples' souls for immortality
Do you think he acquires all the diseases that come with them
TECHNICALLY no because soul and body are not the same (soul, mind, and body type stuff ykyk with how they're named separately in statements like that)
BUT what if when he acquires a soul not only he may acquire powers (like Shang explained to Kabal in mk11), he temporarily acquires the soul's physical conditions*
I could also delve into memories of the soul too by crediting recipients of organ transplants getting memories of the organ donor, but that's a different story and my focus is on the soul and body than the mind
So what if a soul or so was basically cursed by a god or smth to always have some chronic illness on them no matter to where and how often they reincarnate -- maybe something like an allergy or chronic pains or sleep apnea. I don't think it can be something like cystic fibrosis or cerebral palsy; a chronic illness like that would only hinder his world domination plans, and this keeps taking up his time as he's figuring out how to deal with it?
In fact
If he WAS to get smth like that I hope he has been snooping around in Earthrealm med schools to know how to deal with it (he prolly hasn't — but considering he has a whole floor — The Pits — as a playground for tampering with genetics and alchemy he might as well know more than what we were revealed)
Or maybe the soul died from a very bad instance of flu or fever or some kind of other viral disease — in any case of whether it was hereditary or something contracted, like I said my boy has to PREPARE; whether it be to suffer through a very bad cold or have something akin to a wheelchair ready for multi sclerosis
Or just maybe he instead acquires immunity to some things because of the DNA mutations of the person he snatched a soul from (Malaria among Afrikaans, Rickets from Scandinavians, all kinds of vitamin deficiencies, some cases of HIV etc.)
Maybe that's why he still hasn't died yet
He's stacking % immunity to things so hard they're all maxed to a 100 like in a video game
And his ass just won't die bcs of that
* NOT LOOKS, Physical conditions ≠ physical appearance (eye color, hair length etc), that's a different story and from my understanding he doesn't need to steal someone's soul in order to shape shift into their appearance
With that do you think mouthless cybertronians just consume energon via an IV transfusion like method
Because well,
They're technically, literally eating their own blood
It wouldn't matter to them if its tasty or smth
But with that comes the idea that if the Cybertronians are technically 'eating' their blood, could it mean that they only 'eat' for sustenance and not for taste? If yes then there's no way that they're consuming high grade energon (which I've understood to be basically their alcohol in some adaptations) bcs it's tasty in some way
Especially bcs I don't think I've seen any show/comic have them comment on taste like that (but tbf I haven't watched THAT many of them so I might be missing out — or my memory just isn't serving me correctly)
Are you telling me they're consuming high-grade energon just for the sake of getting woozy
Wait Then if no actual taste then what's the point of Swerve's bar??
Just what kind of things is he using in his concoctions that Cybertronians have preferences for theoretically tasteless sustenance like that
I forgot to upload him for valentines, but we're gonna pretend he was a little nervous and needed to get a bit more courage before asking to you be his valentine
The most superior Cupid, at your service!! Who he’ll let fall in love is for him to know and you to find out 🙄… I lovee Pinkwave so much he’s so beautiful and cute 😮💨❤️ perfect for Valentines!! Even tho it ain’t that day yet 😒 it’s just cuz I doubt I’d actually be able to make myself draw something related for the right time if I’m just not in the mood… but it’s been a good while since I’ve done Pinkwave so yayy
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