I absolutely love your hurt/comfort bingo, so much angst! And happy endings! Please write "Cradling someone in their arms" for Speaker and Liam 🥺
Title: Cat’s Cradle
Summary: Liam casts a spell to protect you all in a place that encourages magic to backfire.
Warnings: Major character injury, hyperventilation
Notes: It’s been a minute since I’ve done a BTHB piece, and this one is going to be much shorter than some of the old ones, but I really like this idea. (If you sent me a BTHB prompt a long time ago, I will fill it, don’t worry! I just have some late gift pieces to finish first.) I’m sorry that this ended up being a little more gen than you probably intended, but I just needed to give Li some comfort after all of the things @speakergame‘s author dropped on us in the Discord. I hope you like it.
Also here on AO3.
Lily version.
Your first thought is that you should have known. Somehow. It’s not like the clues weren’t there, but you all came here to solve a completely different mystery, and so they might as well have been whispers in a hurricane. Your sister’s headache, Rory complaining of the dark being harder to see though, Kana being even less willing to use their voice than usual... it wouldn’t surprise you, now, to hear that Sebastian or Azalea had been feeling the strain, too. You’re glad that neither one of them had tried to use their respective powers down here.
But Li--
Li.
“Liam,” you gasp, moving forwards as your vision finally clears and the smoke settles, to see him lying on the ground with violet magic sparking from his arms like the tattoos there are a circuit board, not part of a human body. The others are still standing, and you can hear them call out at all different volumes, various degrees of concern ranging from fully-panicked (your sister) to handling-it-but-worried (Kana).
Sebastian starts to say something about someone checking the exits--that’s right, you were all locked in here, right before--and searching for supplies, other dangers, but his voice fades in the face of Li’s shallow, pained breathing. You reach down to try and take his hand when it feels like someone shoves a hot knife through your palm and into your forearm.
“Ah--” You hiss and pull your hand away on reflex, only to see sparks of Liam’s magic crackling off your fingertips as you move.
“Careful,” Azalea says, taking your hand gently in her own. The red impact mark of whatever just happened fades as she rubs her fingers over it, and your heart clenches before you realize she’s not using any magic. The marks are just being soothed away. “We--I think his own spell hurt him. He wiped out...whatever those things were trying to attack us, but it hit him, too. I just don’t know...”
“We have to help him,” you say, and Azalea looks at you with determination and sadness in equal parts. She knows, but she doesn’t know how.
“--have to go,” rasps Liam, drawing your attention. You look down, and there’s a second where it looks like his eyes are completely black. They’re not, of course; they’re normal, but it takes you a second to blink away the panic, and that’s enough time for Liam to curl in on himself, turning away from you as he repeats, “Go. Bef... Before m-more of them--”
He breaks off on a gasp. You’re not sure if it’s the way his whole body shakes through a wince, the way his breath sounds like it’s getting shallower, or the words themselves, like he expects you to leave him there, that hits the hardest.
But it doesn’t really matter because before you can think better of it, you’re reaching out. It’s a good thing your body knows what your heart wants to do and doesn’t need your mind’s help right now because as soon as you touch Li again, that bastardized version of his magic floods into you like the world’s spikiest mouthful of a too-hot drink. You grit your teeth and breathe through the pain as you roll Liam back towards you, getting an arm under his back as you go so that you can pull him up into a hug. One of his hands lands on your arm and the other on your stomach, trying to push you away. But you hold on.
“No,” you grit out. “No, I won’t leave you.” Liam freezes in your arms at the words, and it’s a shard of ice in your heart.
“Wait!” you hear Azalea say suddenly. To your horror, the next thing you feel is a hand on your shoulder. The magic that’s now sparking off of you, just like Li, jumps to whoever touched you faster than you can turn your head, but when you do, you realize with a sinking feeling that it’s your sister who reached out.
It takes another second to realize that it doesn’t hurt as bad anymore. Your sister's hand grows almost painfully tight on your shoulder, but she doesn't instantly pull away like you had, like she’d touched a hot stove. And Liam isn’t almost hyperventilating against your shoulder, either.
“Ow,” your sister says, and she lets go, shaking her hand in the air. “What’s happening? Are you two--?”
Her words stop suddenly when the pain comes back and you hunch forward, putting more of your body over Liam’s like a shield, even though you’re getting the sense that this doesn’t work like that. Liam actually cries out this time, and you squeeze your eyes shut. If he’d started acclimating to the pain, then feeling relief only for it to get worse again was probably harder than getting hurt in the first place.
“I think I get it,” Azalea says. She sounds as frantic as she does hopeful, this time, and you look over to her from the corner of your eye. You want to stop her as you see that she’s also reaching towards you, but you can’t without letting Li go. Her hand lands on your knee.
A soft sound, like she’d just lifted something really heavy (heavy for her, of course), passes her lips, but she doesn’t pull away. Instead she nods, and when she speaks again, it’s loud enough for everyone to hear. (You realize that Liam’s cry probably got all their attention, when it became obvious he was still hurting despite your best efforts.) “Something here is making all our magic turn against us. It’s why some of us have had a headache, and why Kana started feeling sick when they talked. When Liam cast a spell, his magic backfired, and his body can’t absorb it back up because it’s... Well, it’s like it’s been poisoned.”
She uses her free hand to point to the almost thorny lines of violet covering you, your sister, herself, and Liam. It really doesn’t look like Li’s regular magic except the color.
The touch on your shoulder comes back, and you hear your sister hiss a little bit this time. But her grip stays solid, and the pain lessens again. “But this helps?” she asks.
You don’t respond as Liam tries to push away from you again, saying, “Don’t-- I’m fine...”
“Aw, I see!” says Rory, voice bright, circling around the group of you clustered on the floor. “Spread the force over a bigger area, and the pressure gets lighter, right?” Rory’s hand lands solidly on Azalea’s back, and this time you barely notice a reaction at all except for your own pain decreasing. Against your chest, Liam is breathing more deeply, and his muscles are no longer so tight that you feel like you’re holding wood instead of a person.
Kana comes up behind you, crouching in a manner that you’re sure is unfairly graceful before putting a hand on your elbow. They still don’t speak, probably more acutely aware now than ever about how dangerous it is, but their thumb brushes comforting, silent patterns across your arm. Sebastian, at almost the same time, reaches a hand down to your sister, who takes it with a smile as she catches the look of concern on his features.
With all seven of you, it barely takes a few more seconds for the pain--now reduced to a feeling like slightly-too-hot shower water rather than anything truly dangerous--to drain away completely, leaving Liam spark-free and flushed as his face remains buried against the front of your shoulder.
For a moment, you all just breathe.
Then you hear movement. Footsteps, maybe, or something else; you’re sure Rory and Sebastian can hear it more clearly even if the result is a bit of a headache down here.
“Are you good?” Sebastian asks, looking between you and Liam. As soon as you nod, he lets go of your sister’s hand and goes back to trying to find a way out, and one by one, the others go to help.
You notice Liam trembling slightly in your arms as they all move away, and for a horrifying second, you think he's still in pain. But you’re still holding him, and you feel nothing except the heat of his breath where it’s trapped between you. You’re about to ask what’s wrong when he speaks, quietly as always but somehow smaller.
“Told you you should’ve left,” he says, and his voice breaks on the last word. You have a feeling from the tone that he was going to continue and couldn’t. You hold tighter.
“Liam Michael Cowles,” you say thickly, dropping your forehead helplessly onto his shoulder, “we are not going to leave you. Don’t even joke about that. You’re a part of this team--” (family, you think) “--and you’re my friend, and I won’t leave you behind for anything.”
His breath hitches in your ear. You pull back just enough that he has to put an arm down to hold himself up as you move your hands to press against his face. “Whatever’s coming,” you say, “we’ll face it together.”
You smile at him and long for the day when he won’t be surprised to hear you say he’s a part of you.
Hello ☺️ I have been wondering about it for a while and only now decided to actually ask 😂; how susceptible are ROs to Speaker's puppy eyes? Do they cave in quickly? (Or maybe they just leave the room ASAP in order to not to?) Are they completely immune to it? How good are their puppy eyes and do they actually use them sometimes? (I can only imagine Rory 😂) And when it comes to Li and Az, then did it change from the way it was when they were children? /// Thanks as always and take care 💜
most to least susceptible:
Rory - Sebastian - Liam/Lily - Kana - Azalea
Rory caves in even at the threat of puppy eyes.
Sebastian is a tough guy but he is neither prepared or equipped to deal with cute and gives in very easily.
Liam/Lily fare much better against other people (Luke in particular gives devastating puppy eyes, and Li had to build up an immunity), but it’s different when it’s you. They simply can’t resist.
Kana and Azalea would be pretty much tied, except Kana is more likely to indulge you even though they didn’t fall for the puppy eyes. Azalea is completely immune.
best to worst at puppy eyes:
Rory - Azalea - Kana - Liam/Lily - Sebastian
Rory is the only one who would ever really use them (maybe Kana, if they had to) and they are extremely effective. The mental image of stoic, grumpy Sebastian trying to use puppy eyes on anyone is hilarious and I’ll be laughing about it all day 😂😂
Li has never been very good at puppy eyes, even as a kid. People always assume they’re up to something (to be fair, they probably are).
Azalea is very good at puppy eyes and always has been, but she will only use them as a last resort. When she does, though, look out. One hit KO, no choice but to give in, too cute for words.
Hello ^.^ I am more of a lurker, but I really wanted to say that I have been playing Greenwarden since November and your story got me really interested. I especially enjoyed recent update. All these asks here made me fear Bautista's part, but I loved it so much that I just had to comment 😅 Everything was just so perfect. MC crying at being called a friend, their awful 'coping mechanisms', Bautista pulling back on the kiss. Now I love and respect them ever more. MC clearly wasn't in the best state of mind in that moment and while that wasn't the best decision Bautista could make, it was one of the better ones.
I may be over interpreting, but I think that if things progressed Bautista would think as if they took advantage of MC in a volunerable state. And I can't ever imagine them doing that.
Thanks for the update, it was wonderful and I am in awe. /// Have a good day 😄
Yep! Baut still very much does think that they took advantage of the Tracker while they were in a vulnerable state and feels Mucho Mal about it.
Hello 😄 Can I ask some questions from Sparrow ask game? 😁 Could you answer 6, 7, 12, 27, 35, 36 and 38 if you feel like it? I really hope there is not too many of them 😆 /// Have fun 😀
Ahhh thank you!!! I’ve answered some of these previously, so I’ll stick them at the bottom so you don’t have to trawl for them ^^
Childhood
Aya did her best to do good deeds as a child. Rose always told stories about heroes and good guys and the importance of doing good deeds. The fact that the people they’d done tasks for had agreed to pay them helped.
There had been a moment where she very nearly gave Arfur the warrants because he threatened the two of them, and being faced with the threat of real violence from an adult is quite frightening for a child actually, but Rose never wavered in the face of Arfur’s bs and that gave her the confidence to run past Arfur and back to Derek’s station where she turned in the warrants.
Prior to her return to Bowerstone, she looked back on that time with contempt because what good had those good deeds done really? They’d simply led to Rose’s murder in the end. It was only when she actually saw how much the Old Quarter had changed and how much better people’s lives were did she realise that her choices could effect the world beyond her and her sister. It was a little uncomfortable, considering she’d just earlier denied any sense of responsibility to Theresa because she didn’t believe she could change the world, she was just out to kill Lucien. So it was jarring to see that she’d already changed things by not letting her fear get the better of her.
Employment
She did some work in taverns, serving drinks to make money. The work was repetitive and, at times, irritating because people kept trying to talk to her, but there was a rhythm to it, it wasn’t sweltering like blacksmithing, and it paid better than cutting wood.
She only got involved in renting property after moving Alex and Thane to Serenity Farm - she rented out their house in Bowerstone rather than selling it, and she realised that it would cover more of her costs to have a flow of regular income even when she was adventuring.
Friendship
Aya first met Walter when he’d been paid to kill her. Some noble felt threatened by her, given her execution of Lucien, and wanted her dead. Walter was a mercenary and a very depressed one at that, one who decided he’d rather die on his feet than drowning in a bottle. He was the only merc to take the job because everyone knew it was suicidal, and he had no plans on surviving the attempt.
So when he found her camped out in the woods outside Westcliff, he was in for a surprise. Aya offered no resistance, she didn’t even reach for her weapon. Just waited for him to get it over with. And Walter realised that this Hero, this legendary figure who all of Albion had raised up onto a pedestal as this unstoppable force, was just a woman. A very broken woman who, like him, had given up on living.
When the balverines attacked, they fought to defend each other rather than themselves, and when dawn broke, they decided to travel together because there was something worth living for now. Eventually they fell in love, but given Aya’s troubled past with relationships and death, they kept their relationship a secret with only a handful of people knowing they were together and even less knowing they’d married.
As for Jasper, he was the first and only applicant to the position of butler when Aya purchased Fairfax Castle and her first butler promptly resigned. Her advertisement specifically mentioned that anyone who was unprepared to deal with regular bouts of violence and existential danger need not apply, so Jasper promptly inquired. He never told Aya where he learned to deal with live explosives, but his services proved invaluable as she began to lay the groundwork for Albion’s unification.
He helped her stay grounded in day-to-day activities rather than letting her get caught up in thoughts of war and nothing else, and when her children were born, he assisted her in juggling her parental duties with her royal ones. There was nothing Jasper wouldn’t do for his Queen and friend, and he was one of the few to know just how deeply troubled she really was.
Sister
Aya was young enough when their parents died that she can’t remember them. Rose was her big sister, but also the only parental figure she had growing up. Their family’s farm was seized by landowners and they were tossed out onto the streets, so Rose was having to be a big sister and a parent in a hostile situation all while figuring out how to keep them alive.
Rose worked so incredibly hard so that Aya never caught onto just how precarious their situation was. She tried to stay optimistic when things weren’t great, she came up with stories to help her little sister fall asleep, she was always on the look out for opportunities that would further their survival while being cunning and stubborn enough to avoid more unpleasant options. She made Aya’s toy sword with bits of scrap, and traded some chocolate for another kid’s toy gun for her birthday - she wanted her sister to survive, but also to be a child even if she didn’t get to be one too.
And it worked for the most part. Aya knew their situation was unfortunate, but she rarely saw the worse side of things. She got to be innocent, running around with her sister, swinging her sword at bullies and practicing her shooting with old bottles she found lying around. And as far as she was concerned, she had the best big sister in the world, because how many other big sisters would get you your own sword and gun, and make up bedtime stories for you, and always find a way to get dinner, even when the pickings were almost nonexistent?
She had no idea that Rose was going hungry some nights to keep her fed. She had no idea that that bit of chocolate was the first Rose had managed to get in over a year and she’d still given it away to make her happy. She never knew what kind of work Arfur was pestering Rose about and just assumed he wanted her to go pickpocketing or something along those lines.
It was only when she found Rose’s diary did she realise just how much her sister had sacrificed. How hard she had worked, how much pressure she had been under to keep them alive. She actually sat in the alley where their old shelter had been and cried because she felt so intensely guilty that she’d never realised just how much hardship Rose had endured and how much worry and pain and suffering she’d been hiding for her benefit. As excited as they had both been at the prospect of Lord Lucien inviting them to the castle - especially when he suggested the idea of them staying and living there with him - it was only after digging up that diary did Aya really understand why her sister had wished for that castle so badly. Because it was more than just food and a warm place to sleep, it represented the opportunity to be a child again. To be loved and looked after by a parent, and to be innocent again.
After taking over Castle Fairfax, Aya’s first self-appointed task was to find out what Lucien did with Rose’s body and recover her remains, which were late laid to rest in what eventually became the Royal Tomb. She couldn’t bring her sister back, not at the cost of so many others, but she could make sure she had an actual grave. A reminder that she had lived and she had mattered.
Seer
I have a hard time imagining Theresa being particularly ‘motherly’ but she did serve as Aya’s guardian during their time in the Traveller’s Camp, so she was the one to tend her wounds and such.
Once Aya was a little less dependent and could leave her caravan without the risk of her legs giving out beneath her, Theresa stepped back and let Aya’s care become more communal. She was very conscious of keeping an emotional distance because of what needed to be done. But they did forge a strange little bond, not quite as close as a mother and daughter, but not quite that of a student and mentor. Theresa cared in her own way, and Aya became quite attached in return. She was an adult looking after her in the wake of tragedy, and offered stability, safety, and the chance to do something about Lucien.
Things began to change along the way, however. When Theresa mentioned needing a Hero, not a pacifist monk, only for one of Lucien’s men to show up and give Hammer a reason to break her vow, Aya got a bad feeling. She didn’t want to think Theresa would have done that and ultimately she chose to say nothing because she needs Theresa to get to Lucien, and it was only in the Spire did it subside because it felt so inconsequential. Seeing her again afterwards, hearing her voice and being welcomed home after ten years was enough for Aya to disregard any suspicions she had. She was just happy to see her friend and guardian again, to know that she had not been forgotten.
But then Theresa takes the Spire for herself and Aya is shocked. She spends time, studying Lucien’s old diary, and realises that Theresa had been using her from the start. That for twenty years, she’d been a pawn in a game she hadn’t realised was being played. That broke something inside of her, and destroyed their relationship for good. She never trusted Theresa again after that, and it took a long time for her to learn to trust anyone again.
Future
Aya was the kind of parent who tried her best to be a good parent that her children could turn to while also trying to prepare them for the challenges that were to come. The loss of her first child had been incredibly hard on her, so it was a long time before she was ready for another.
But when Logan was born, she was head over heels for him almost immediately. She adored her son, and she wanted to do everything in her power to protect and prepare him. She brought him everywhere for the first few years of his life because she was terrified of what might happen if she wasn’t there, though she claimed it was so that he would be familiar with the environment of court and such for when he was king. She began to loosen up on that rule when he was about eight and she was expecting Lorna, but Logan always wanted to go anyway because he liked being involved and he wanted to learn so that he could be a good king. He’s a mama’s boy, always has been, and it’d be rare for him to not be hanging off her arm or sitting beside her, listening or asking questions or jabbering about something he’d learned from one of his tutors.
Aya didn’t spend quite as much time with Lorna as she did Logan, something she regretted in the end, but she adored her all the same. For a couple of years it was quite common to see Aya on the throne, Logan on her knee and Lorna cradled in her arm until Lorna was big enough to get bored and she wanted to go explore and play instead. When she realised that Lorna was the one who would decide the fate of both Albion and Aurora, she entrusted her training to Walter. She didn’t want her own experiences as a Hero to taint Lorna’s view of what being a Hero was like. She wanted her daughter to have the opportunity to be the kind of Hero that she couldn’t have been herself, and Walter could help her achieve that while she prepared Logan to be King.
Aya’s hopes were that Logan would be Albion’s King, and Lorna it’s Hero, and that the two would work together to protect their home and their people from the oncoming threat. She had hoped they would find their lives fulfilling and that they would be there for one another.
So naturally it would have broken her heart to see the state they end up in. She wouldn’t approve of the things Logan did, but her heart would hurt to see what the Darkness did to him, to see what he drove himself to out of fear and disappointed when he forced that lesson on his sister because what good did it do really?
Ultimately, she would blame herself because she knew that something was coming and she hadn’t warned him sufficiently. She had always hinted at things, she’d had plans and expectations that didn’t account for the trauma he’d suffered, and she realises that had she just laid it all out for Logan, then maybe he might have done things differently. Maybe someone would have believed him. And maybe he wouldn’t have betrayed everything she’d built, had she just… told him.
As for Lorna, Aya would be so very proud of her. The throne room debacle was never going to be fair, and it wasn’t fair to expect her to live up to her beliefs on the spot like that because it was such a rug pull. One moment everything was fine and then she was being ordered to decide who lived and who died. But it gave Lorna a reason to do better once she left the castle, and she was determined to get it right from there on out. She built up a revolution, took the throne, and then did her damndest to not only rebuild what Logan had torn down, but then worked to improve upon it, all while making her own personal sacrifices to ensure Albion’s safety.
And in doing so, Lorna succeeded not only in saving Albion and Aurora, but in living up to her ideal as a Hero. She kept her promises, she looked after her people, and she did the right thing even when greed would have made everything easier and less stressful. She was the ruler Logan couldn’t be, and the Hero that her mother didn’t think she was herself.
In the end, Logan and Lorna reconcile. They become brother and sister again, and nothing would make Aya happier to see that the Darkness hadn’t torn them apart. That Theresa’s manipulations hadn’t permanently destroyed the bond they shared. Because she looks at her children, and she still sees a little boy cradling his baby sister for the first time and promising to protect her always. Because in her eyes, they never really grew up. And she’s just relieved that, in spite of everything, they get another shot at being a family.
Hello 😄 You got me 'really' worried that sth bad will happen to the Seer, with your tags in one of the previous answers. I love angst, but there are some boundaries and "Speaker" characters are way too real for me by now 😂 /// So connected to it I have a question how would ROs comfort Witness, who woke them because of a horrible nightmare? /// Have a good day 😁
Gavin knows a thing or two about nightmares. His first instinct is to hold you close and try to offer you an anchor to reality to draw you out of your fear. Might try to talk if that’s something you need, but he’s really awkward at being verbally soothing.
Malcolm/Mallory sings to you, something gentle and sweet and also probably French because that’s what they know. They might also (once you’ve calmed down) offer to shift so you can have a giant wolf to cuddle, because who doesn’t feel better after cuddling with a giant wolf?
Anastasia would try to coax you into talking about it. Tell her what you dreamed about that has you so frightened, and tries to prove to you all the ways it couldn’t possibly be real.
Casey might panic a little, their fear feeding off of yours. They will take their cue from you, comforting you however you’d prefer to be comforted, but if you leave it up to them they’ll try to distract you. Telling stories or jokes or watching a movie or leaving the house or just kissing you until your forget the nightmare entirely. Whatever you need.
Hi, I am back with expanding on old asks 🙂 I wanted to do it in order and this one gave me a small headache 😂 (since apparently Witness doesn't have a great sis) /// What would be ROs reactions to someone close to them (or to the second MC) trying to matchmake them with the Witness? (I am also curious how different would it be for Gav if it was Anya or one of his siblings). /// Almost like last time 😉 Thanks 😄
poor Gavin is going to get matchmaking attempts/romance advice from every corner 😂 Gav will tolerate Anya’s attempts at matchmaking because she is 7 and means it innocently enough and genuinely just wants him to be happy, but his siblings had just better hope he doesn’t change the locks on them (again) if they start meddling. Ana is probably going to be the worst instigator because she’s like a sister to him and is going to have a front row seat to everything, whether he likes it or not (he does not).
Anastasia is also going to get it worst from Gavin and Anya, because they’re family and that’s what family does. She enjoys it, though! She likes that they care enough about her to meddle, and there must clearly be something there between her and Witness if even Gav can see it, and that gives her hope.
Casey and Mal would probably play matchmaker for each other. They have a very unlikely friendship that is one part antagonistic and one part ride-or-die. and matchmaking is a good way to do something nice for your friend while also annoying the hell out of them, so really it’s a win-win.
Casey loves it but won’t admit it. They’re always around Witness anyway so it’s not like it takes much to get them near each other, but “being together so they can protect you” and “being together because you want to be” are very different things, and they like when the first one becomes the second one.
Malcolm/Mallory hates it but won’t admit it. They like an excuse to be around Witness of course, but they don’t like being put on the spot about it. They’d prefer to just let things happen naturally. but they don’t want Witness to think it’s them they’re objecting to (because it definitely isn’t), so they just keep quiet about it.
Hello 😄, I have replayed Speaker yet once again and got flooded with feelings how great it is. There are just so many variations depending on everything 💜 I went only friendship route and if all RO scenes will instead change into bonding with our sis it will be hard not to go this way 😂 (even if I love Li's tarot jokes 😂). /// And are Cowles so observant that they know when Speaker flirted with Li at least once, have Nell saw and told them or is Gav truly a mind reader🤣? Have a good day 💜
I love writing variations 😁 it makes it a lot more difficult, but also the end result is so much more rewarding
the Cowles family are all very observant people and Li is nowhere near as subtle as they think they are. Even if Nellie didn’t witness the flirting herself (and there is one option, after all, where she’s right there watching you both 😂), she’d be able to tell that something happened just by the way Li was acting about it. considering she knows all about how they felt about Speaker as a kid, it’s not hard to put 2 and 2 together, and nothing stays a secret in that family for long
plus, Gavin may not be a mind reader, but he is an empath. if his younger sibling comes home from Speaker’s house giving off waves of panic and longing, it doesn’t take much to figure out why
