I'm resurrecting from death and the first thing I thought was... OMG I MISSED THE END OF ZANKA! AKI WILL HATE ME! IM SURE SHE DOESN'T EVEN REMEMBER ME!!!! Then I went on ao3 and saw that ZANKA isn't over and I was kinda relieved 😂 I haven't missed the last chapter 😭 is everything good at home? I missed you AKI T.T
HAHAHA asadl;ksfd that is so funny and so sad that I still haven’t finished that ONE chapter but yes, you’re good, probably even until the next year. OTL I’m super busy and stressed these days, but also happy in some ways? I’m in a weird space, let’s put it that way lol. I’VE MISSED YOU TOO, how are you???
I also have to say, I’m on Twitter a lot more these days. If you have a Twitter acct, follow me on https://twitter.com/rinsled05 <3<3<3
Hiii!!!! I'm here to say that watching the current Olympics gave me a lot of Rivals feelings 😭💕 I think I'll have to re read it again because I miss the story a lot 💚😭 I miss doing fanvids for it too 😭💚 so be prepared for receiving asks about me re reading the whole thing 💕💕💕
Omg, I’m looking forward to it so much!!! Thank you, I love getting asks and seeing people re-reading my fics ❤️❤️❤️
@cmonniss HELLO!!! College is going well for me! :D I’m sick at the moment though, but I guess that’s supposed to happen a lot your first year (rip)... I hope things are going great for you! <3
@loveprez AHHH HELLO!!! THANK YOU & I HAVE MISSED YOU TOO <3
@fallsintograce NO I COULD NEVER FORGET YOU!!! Haha where is ky-fan nowadays?? We gotta get the gang back together
hi I know we’ve never talked and I feel terrible for never finishing those memes you tagged me in, but it makes me happy every time I see you on my dash with A+ YOI content. Hope you’re having a great day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO @loveprez ONE OF THE SWEETEST, KINDEST, WARMEST HUMANS I KNOW <3<3<3 Thank you for being so supportive and always believing in me far more than I believe in myself. T^T <3
I was going to write you a Victuuri ficlet of domestic fluff, but decided: why am I writing fluff, when I know you love angst??? xD Then the plot for a full one-shot of angst struck me in the shower- best place for ideas! -so... here’s the first part of it, on your birthday, and the entire piece will hopefully be done soon! (note: this was heavily inspired by Natsume Yuujincho.)
Humans are strange creatures.
They come, they sit beneath his tree with their eyes closed, and then they leave. There doesn’t seem to be any meaning to their movements, any sense of purpose. Sometimes they come in pairs, in threes. Yammer beneath his tree till the sun touches the horizon and the sky bleeds orange. It’s your turn to take that nasty brat for the weekend, a man hisses; with your secretary of all people, a woman weeps.
Viktor watches, and listens. Sits on the highest branch of his tree, hunched over, legs swinging in the air. It can get lonely, being the only guardian spirit on One Tree Hill, so he takes whatever company he gets. Even if said company—below, a man yells at his elderly father to move faster, old man—isn’t very nice.
The worst part, though, is spring. When he makes the flowers blossom and the humans come by to marvel at their splendor. When those fragile beings are at their happiest, laughing and dancing under the swirl of falling petals.
That’s when Viktor wishes that they can see him.
Someone is crying.
That’s not unusual. But nothing accompanies the sounds this time, no screams or shouts or a gruff order to shut the hell up.
Curious, Viktor peers down.
There’s a human child at the roots, face buried in his knees. His skinny shoulders are heaving, breath catching at every sob. He sounds so sad, so lonely and distraught, that Viktor feels compelled to leave his perch. It won’t be the first time he approaches a human. He drifts down often, to whisper words of comfort, or dance a jig and share in the merriment during springtime.
He’s never heard, of course. Never seen. But isn’t it, as humans say, the thought that counts?
So he floats to where the child lies, his sandals landing noiselessly on the grass.
“There, there,” Viktor says, resting a hand on the mess of dark hair.
He definitely doesn’t expect the child’s head to snap up. For glistening brown eyes to meet his and draw impossibly wide through smudged glasses.
“I, I’m sorry,” the child says. “I thought – I thought I’d be alone here…”
Viktor’s breath hitches in his throat. “You can see me?”
“Um…” The child’s shocked gape turns confused. “…yes?”
“Oh my saplings.” Laughing, Viktor throws his arms around the human child. “You can see me.”
It’s enough to stop the child’s crying. Enough for the child to, hesitantly, share with Viktor that his precious dog had passed away. That he had to leave and get away from the sympathetic looks and offers to help.
“The offers frustrate me the most,” he says, swiping at his eyes. “It’s not like they can bring him back, you know?”
“No,” Viktor says, softly. “They can’t.”
Not even guardian spirits can restore what is lost.
The human child fills the rest of the time talking about his friend. A stray he brought home on a whim, they had become inseparable: sleeping, eating, playing together as if making up for all the days they lost when apart. Until the car accident. The pup had wandered through the front gates, to the road outside. Tried to cross, only for—
The child pauses.
Viktor watches his jaw clench, his lips tremble. That’s what humans do when they’re trying to be brave, when they’re trying to hide their sorrow from the rest of the world. But he’s alone now, with Viktor, and no one else. No other human, anyway, who can be rude and nasty and so very unkind.
Viktor lays a hand on the child’s head again, the leaves rustling sadly above them. “It’s just you and me here,” he says. “You don’t have to hold back.”
The human child turns, eyes wide. Then slowly, softly, his face crumbles, and he lets go, mouth open in a wail, globs of tears rolling down round cheeks splotched with red.
“There, there,” Viktor says, fingers carding through the dark strands. “There, there.”
The child stays with him. Cries and cries till the evening breeze sweeps through the grass, till the golden rays of sunlight give way to softer, sepia hues. Viktor doesn’t move, doesn’t say a word. Just as the child said, there’s nothing he can offer. Nothing beyond his presence and warmth.
It’s dark when the child finally turns to Viktor. There are less lines on his face now. Less pain. “I have to go,” he says, voice hoarse. “But thank you for listening.” He flushes. “And I’m sorry for intruding.”
“You’re not intruding,” Viktor says hastily. “Not at all!”
The child's mouth forms an 'o'. "I thought you were here to meditate. That’s what people come here to do.”
“Is that what they’re doing? I’ve always wondered.”
“You’re silly,” the child laughs after a beat. It’s a lovely sound, and Viktor decides, right then, that he’d very much like to hear it again.
“I’m Viktor,” he says, bowing as he has seen the humans do.
“Yuuri,” the human child says, with a bow and a smile.
It becomes routine, Yuuri visiting Viktor at his tree. He comes when the light begins to fade, when every other human has left. At first, he visits for one sundown, maybe two. It shifts, gradually, to three times, every other day, and then... then, well, Viktor can’t think of an evening when he doesn’t see Yuuri now.
Viktor is delighted, because there’s something about the way Yuuri laughs: the way the corners of his eyes crinkle, the way freckles burn soft and faded across the curve of his cheeks. Because Yuuri brings something new each time he visits, too – some inexplicable human thing for Viktor to touch and sample, maybe even keep.
And because, for the first time in centuries, Viktor has a friend.
“You haven’t changed since we first met,” Yuuri says.
They’re sitting on the highest branch of Viktor’s tree, pressed hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder. Yuuri’s taller now, the round curves of his frame smoothed into harder, more angular lines. His voice has changed too; deeper, but no less gentle.
Viktor blinks, his cheeks bulging with the sweet wonder that Yuuri calls a daifuku. “Should I?” he asks. Only the words come out muffled, powder shooting from his lips in a white puff.
Yuuri laughs, and Viktor’s chest tightens with the strangest feeling. It’s different from anything Viktor has experienced; unfamiliar, but not unwelcome. Nothing about Yuuri is unwelcome.
“Yes, I mean… it has been a few years. I’m in high school now.” Yuuri gestures at his clothes. (What was it Yuuri said it was? A ‘uniform’?) “Unless your country has found a way to keep old age at bay?”
Ah, right. Yuuri thinks he’s a foreigner.
Viktor knows he should tell Yuuri the truth. “I’m a guardian tree spirit” isn’t exactly hard to say.
Except it is.
Especially to sweet, trusting Yuuri, who thinks Viktor is just another human like him. Viktor is fairly sure he’s not supposed to be seen; if Yuuri finds out he’s seeing something he’s not supposed to see, then there’s no telling how he would react. Humans can be so delicate, and the last thing Viktor wants is to frighten Yuuri.
The last thing he wants is for Yuuri leave.
Viktor swallows the mouthful of food. “Yeah,” he lies. “We’re very, uh… advanced that way.”
“Wow,” Yuuri breathes. “Do you think we can visit your home together someday?”
We are visiting my home together, Viktor thinks.
“Of course,” he says instead.
When Yuuri turns to Viktor, face lighting up in a radiant smile, the strange feeling returns tenfold.
I never crawled. Never. I apparently just sort of... scooted my tiny butt across the ground in an upright sitting position the entire time. And then, one fine day, I decided I was done with the scooting and just. Pulled myself up on my feet.My dad likes to joke that they should have attached a wash cloth to my ass so I could have cleaned the floors for them like some human baby Roomba.
