#orange fics

[uchidachi]

Taash Week Day 4: Taamlok

I wrote a short (and steamy! 🤭) ficlet for @datvcompanionweeks Taash week! What can I say, I was inspired...

Something about Tasting the Neck

Rated M, 444 words, Rook/Taash

Sometimes, Rook talks too much...

[bitchyyficyy]

all tender yellow blue

A xiaoven fic

-

Venti couldn’t find Xiao.

Normally if he searched the winds, he would find him. That would be reserved to citizens of Mondstadt and those who worship him, unless they had an anemo vision.

This worried Venti for many reasons. Why couldn’t he find Xiao? Did something happen? There should be no reason he’d suddenly stop, unless he was disconnected from the winds somehow or…

He decided to go to Liyue and find out.

He went to Zhongli first, to ask if he’d seen him.

He finds him laboring over a cup of tea, worry scribbled all over his face.

“...are you okay?” Venti finally asked.

Zhongli glanced up at him, opening his mouth, then closing it again.

Venti sat down at the table with him.

“I’m just… worried.” He sighed. “About one of my adepti.”

Venti feels his blood run cold. “Is it…” His mouth feels dry. “Is it Xiao?”

Zhongli nods softly. “He… he can normally handle his powers, but I think he…”

“He’s okay, right?!” Venti asked urgently.

“He isn’t dead, or dying, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Zhongli says quickly. “His powers take a lot out of him. He can manage it well, most of the time, but today he just… pushed himself too far. He collapsed and couldn’t even bring himself out of his transformation. I had to scramble to reverse it and bring him to get help.” He sighs again, blowing his own hair out of his face. “He passed out, and Baizhu promised he’d let me know when he woke up.”

Venti curls up a little bit. “I was looking for him… I can normally find people that have anemo visions with my powers, but… he wasn’t showing up.”

Zhongli reaches for his pocket. “That’s because the first solution I thought of for reversing his transformation was parting him from his vision.” He throws it at Venti, who would’ve dropped it had he not used his own wind to save it from the ground. “You can bring it back to him, then?”

Venti nods and stands to leave.

“Be… careful.” Zhongli says. “He doesn’t like people seeing him vulnerable.”

“I know.” Venti responds, and then goes with the wind.

It does not take long to get to the pharmacy. As his feet touch the ground again, he peers in desperately. The counter seems empty.

“Xiao?” He calls quietly, worried about being too loud and starting or upsetting him.

He hears talking in the distance, and then a soft pattering, quick, coming towards him.

“Are you looking for Mr. Xiao?” Asks a voice he couldn’t see the source of.

“Uhm, yes, I am.” He answers, darting his eyes around to find the person talking.

“He is in the back. Qiqi can lead you to him.”

He finally finds them; A small zombie girl, opening up the counter for him to come behind.

“Qiqi thinks she remembers Mr. Xiao talking about you.” She pulls out a notebook. “Ven… ti?” She asks, looking between him and the pages.

“Yep, that’s me!” He grins, much more gleefully than he truly feels.

She nods with a tinge of finality, then begins to lead him back.

She leads him to an infirmary room, with a cot holding one injured adeptus.

“Xiao.” He breathes.

Xiao opens his eyes, clenching his jaw. All his muscles seem to be tensed, even as he sprawls across every inch of the cot. His right arm seems nearly limp.

“Venti?” He asks, voice breaking. He clears his throat quickly. “Qiqi.” He calls her closer. She stumbles up to him, and he whispers in her ear. She nods and scurries off.

Venti kneels by Xiao’s side. Xiao turns to face him slowly, and it’s almost as if he’d never taken off a mask in the first place, like he were still in his other form, and still had himself in fight mode— it seems his mask has fallen away.

“Can I be honest?” He croaks.

“Of course.” Venti responds, offering his hand.

Xiao takes it desperately in his left, squeezing hard. “It hurts, Venti.” Tears well in his eyes. Venti has never seen Xiao cry. Venti does not do well when people are crying. “The painkillers…” He pauses to take a breath. “They’ve barely even made a dent in it. I don’t know…” He gasps. “I don’t know why.”

Venti feels like his heart is shattering. “I have to tell Dr. Baizhu.” He says.

“No.” He begs. “I don’t want…”

“He won’t think you’re weak, Xiao. He’s a doctor, he knows you’re injured. And you can’t rest if you’re in pain like this.”

“I think… something happened to my arm.” He looks at his right arm, as if he’s straining to move it. It budges, but just barely. “It hurts the most, like a desperate ache. From my wrist to my shoulder…”

“Please, let me tell him.” Venti requests. “I promise he’ll make it better. And I’ll— I’ll make sure he knows… I’ll make it all better, okay?”

“I don’t want you to leave.” Xiao responds.

“Qiqi!” Venti calls. Xiao drops his hand as the girl scurries in, almost falling over in her attempt to slow down. “Can you tell Dr. Baizhu I need to talk to him?”

She nods again, and runs back out the door.

“I won’t leave you. Not if you don’t want me to.” Venti promises.

Baizhu comes in with Qiqi, who seems a lot more urgent about getting there than he.

“So you’re Venti.” He asks.

Venti just nods. “Could I talk to you…” He glances at Xiao. “Semi-privately?”

He turns to Qiqi. “Can you go stand at the counter and make sure nobody comes in, Qiqi?” He asks. She gives an urgent nod and walks away, slower this time. She waves to Xiao once Baizhu turns.

They walk to a corner of the room, in order to not disturb Xiao. Venti explains everything Xiao told him, and Baizhu slowly looks more and more worried and disturbed.

“Thank you for informing me.” He says once Venti is done talking. “I must… go collect something to help. You will stay with him, I assume?”

“Of course.”

“I will not be gone long.” Baizhu departs. Venti rejoins Xiao’s side.

“He’s going to get you something.” He says, taking his hand again. Xiao nods. “I would call every healer in Mondstadt to help you if you’d allow.”

“I know you would.” Xiao answers, staring at the ceiling.

“You’re not saying I can’t.” Venti jokes, offering a little smile.

“Don’t.” Xiao says, and whether he’s shutting down the idea or the joke in general, Venti stops smiling.

He breaks the resulting silence by saying, “I wish I could help more.”

Xiao still doesn’t look at him. “You being here is nice.” He says instead.

Venti takes the hand he’s holding and presses a soft kiss to Xiao’s knuckles. Xiao shivers, finally looking at him again.

Could Venti really soothe his pain? No, not at all. Were the kisses comforting to Xiao all the same?

He would not admit such to anyone else, but Venti definitely knew.

[uchidachi]

I promised I would post Veilguard fic before the end of the year and I'm squeaking in right under the line.

Meet the Beetles

Fandom: Dragon Age The Veilguard Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rook/Taash Characters: Taash, Female Dwarven Ingellvar, Emmrich Volkarin Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship, Bugs & Insects, Decomposition Chapters: 1/1 Words: 869

Summary: On a trip to the Necropolis, Taash finds out that Rook is an expert on carrion beetles, and also that infodumping is hot.

[uchidachi]

Fandom: Dragon Age 2 Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Anders/Fenris Characters: Ser Pounce-a-Lot, Anders, Fenris, Merrill, Carver Hawke, Hawke's Mabari, Male Hawke Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Non-Justice Anders, Justice!Ser Pounce-a-Lot, POV Animal, POV First Person Plural, Feline Narrator, Minor Carver Hawke/Merrill Chapters: 1/1 Words: 2,099

Summary: Ser Pounce-a-Lot was the one who became possessed by Justice instead of Anders. Now the demon cat roams the streets of Kirkwall with his Father, fighting the forces of Injustice, Mice, DOG, and also begging for table scraps.

Read on Ao3 HERE

Banner created for @thedissonantverses fic cover challenge! Original photo here

[uchidachi]

I promised I would write something fluffy for the Free Day of @datvcompanionweeks Taash Week to make up for yesterday's Taash/Rook angst, so here's a fluffy little flash fic that ended up longer than the one that I was working on all week. So it goes.

Mourning Glories

Author: Tafka Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rook/Taash Characters: Taash, Female Dwarven Ingellvar Additional Tags: New Relationship, Fluff Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,272

Summary: Soon after starting their relationship, Rook Rhea Ingellvar sits with Taash in the Memorial Gardens and daydreams a bit.

[uchidachi]

Well, I've gone rogue for @datvcompanionweeks' Taash Week once again, and not stuck to the prompts at all.

Here's a very angsty Taash POV after returning from Tearstone Island. I cried writing it so be warned:

Denial

Author: Tafka Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Rating: Teen Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Rook/Taash Characters: Taash, Davrin, Neve Gallus, Emmrich Volkarin, Lucanis Dellamorte, Female Dwarven Ingellvar Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Temporary Character Death, Angst Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,120

Summary: Taash deals with their emotions and grief in the immediate aftermath of losing three of their teammates, including Rook, on Tearstone Island.

[uchidachi]

It's still Femslash February for a few more hours, so I brought you some toxic villain yuri:

When Your Crush Won't Shut Up about Her New Boyfriend #justgirlyproblems

Author: Tafka Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Aelia/Zara Renata, Johanna Hezenkoss/Meredith Stannard Characters: Aelia (Dragon Age), Zara Renata, Johanna Hezenkoss, Meredith Stannard Additional Tags: Unrequited Love, Pining, Jealousy, toxic yuri, Blood Magic (Dragon Age), Fantasy and Fictional Setting Racism, Body Horror, Implied Cannibalism, Blood, god forbid women do ANYTHING Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,578

Summary: Aelia, Johanna, and Zara have a group project assignment to build a red lyrium juggernaut for the Risen Gods. Zara: Thinks she’s the vertex in a love triangle, and is loving it Aelia: Knows she’s in an unrequited conga line, and hates it Johanna: “What if I was a giant bone construct and you were a giant red lyrium construct and we kissed??” Meredith: Wishes for the sweet release of death

Read on Ao3 HERE

[uchidachi]

I wrote FIVE fics for the @black-emporium-exchange this year!

Magelight - Nathaniel Howe/Velanna, M, 2k: Velanna comes to Nathaniel’s room in the keep to agree to start a relationship with him. At three AM.

A Voice on the Line - Fenris/Dorian Pavus, T, 2.6k: The sending crystal that Dorian gave the Inquisitor is stolen by Venatori, and then a deep and mysterious voice comes on the line. Dorian has to keep him talking, or his life may be in danger.

Crowning Glory - Josephine Montilyet/Cassandra Pentaghast, G, 2.5k: Cassandra remembers when she was little, and her mother would brush her hair…

A Good Judge of Character - Gen, G, 1.8k: Davrin and Assan encounter Grey Warden Carver unexpectedly while on a mission in the Emerald Graves.

The Alamarri Falcon - Lucanis Dellamorte/Neve Gallus, T, 2k: Of all the offices in all the cities in all of Thedas, he had to walk into Neve’s

(Also, you should go visit the entire collection, this was such a good year for rare pairs!!)