#wolfswriting

[lupizora]

Seeing that M10-inspired fanart earlier made me remember my little aftermath of that movie fic (I got some brainworms the first time I watched this movie that kept pulling me in different directions lol)

This was a more straightforward opportunity than he'd probably ever get out of Vermouth or anyone from the BO that had let him get away.

But is this alright? Letting down his walls for someone he couldn't see his face properly was irrational.

"What do you gain by saving me?"

"Gain?" KID laughed like it was the most amusing question in the world. “My, my, Great Detective. Is every act of goodwill, a transaction to you?”

"There isn't any logical reason not to save someone."

His own words from when he was still Shinichi came back to bite him with a vengeance.

Conan sighed. “I’d be a hypocrite if I said that, so no. But I don’t expect criminals to hold that sort of selfless sentiment.”

“Selfless, huh?” Kaitou KID stepped down from the ledge.

This simple action somehow activated Conan’s fight response. He squared his shoulders as much as it was possible while balancing on his crutches.

“Relax,” KID said, raising his hands placatingly until Conan backed down. “I don’t believe things are that simple. There are truly evil people in the world, yes. And the same can be said for the good ones. But most people you might meet are somewhere in between. Humans are walking, talking contradictions. You can reason some of their actions with logic, but not everything. After all, I’m an example of that contradiction: a gentleman thief.”

“Yeah, right.” Conan scoffed. “There is no honor among thieves. So what’s in it for you?”

KID set his hand over his heart. “You wound me, Detective. I’ll be the first to admit that keeping you alive has its use, but that’s only part of the answer. Before being a thief I am, foremost, an entertainer. My job is to capture people’s hearts, not stomp on them.”

“Get to the point.”

“I don’t like people dying on my watch if I can help it," the thief added with a hearty grin. "Simple as that."

[wolfsskull-moved]

They came for him late that night. Not bards, not by what he could make of their discreet dress. But it wasn't difficult to guess they were sent by the Inquisition—who else would endeavor to stay an Orlesian executioner's justice? The sour feeling forming in his gut wasn't a response to the idea that Lavellan's sentence would be worse, or unjust. The inquisitor had a good head on their shoulders.

He just . . . didn't think he could bear facing them. Thom Rainier had intended to die for his crimes here in Orlais, as he should have done long ago. He meant what he'd said to Lavellan before he left. He admired them, respected them. He couldn't stand before them now to see the pain he'd caused them. Not that it mattered—what was done was done.

Once back at Skyhold, his guards escorted him to a dim, out-of-the-way room, furnished only with a simple table and a bench. Rubble, lumber, and canvas from recent renovations were piled in a heap in the corner. He frowned. This was no jail cell. Did they intend to execute him quietly, then? We're that the case, why bother breaking him out of the prison in Val Royeaux and bringing him all the way back here? The guards left. No shackles, no lock on the door. It didn't matter, he wasn't going anywhere. He sat and waited, trying and failing not to think about what awaited him. He couldn't guess.

The door opened and Lavellan entered alone, quiet and unobtrusive as always. He'd seen them face down dragons and demons, lead armies, walk through the blighted Fade itself, and yet even now, with his life in their hands, they managed somehow to appear inconspicuous. "Inquisitor." They nodded, sitting next to him and setting a dark bottle on the table between them. He was accustomed to the inquisitor saying little, but now the silence stretched until he could no longer abide it. "I—I didn't know how to tell you," he said. "I knew." He stared at them. "You knew?" "From the moment we met. You don't have the taint." "How would you know that?" They met his eyes briefly, a ghost of a smile crossing their face. "We both lied about being Grey Wardens." They smoothed the vanes of one of the dark feathers they always wore on a cord around their neck. "My real name is Mahariel."

However long he might have been left to ponder the outcome of this meeting, he never would have guessed this. "You're Warden Mahariel—you served during the Blight. You slayed the Archdemon Urthemiel."

They nodded, still focused on the feathers. "I was . . . observing the proceedings at the Conclave. Just watching. When I saw what those wardens were doing—I needed time to figure it out before the Chantry could get involved. Humans are quick enough to blame the Dalish when something goes wrong, and if the Wardens were involved—it was safer for me to be someone else."

It was the most he'd heard them speak at a time, and he had no way to respond. He understood. "Leliana knows, of course," they said. "And Morrigan and Alistair. No one else can." "Why tell me?" "You're a good man. I trust you." "Do you?" Again, a hint of a smile. "No. But more than most." Then, "I found out everything, except what happened to the original Warden Blackwall." "We met in a tavern when I was on the run. I was nothing, a waste of life, but he wanted to recruit me. We headed to Val Chevin for the Joining, but Blackwall insisted on making a stop along the way: an old ruin from one of the previous blights. He said it led to the Deep Roads. I was to go down alone, find a darkspawn, and fill a vial with its blood." He swallowed. "When I returned, I found the Warden ambushed by more of the creatures. He took a blow for me." Grief and guilt welled up, threatening to suffocate him. "He shouldn't have died. It should've been me."

He was surprised by the light touch on his hand. Mahariel's jaw was set, but their eyes were kind and almost . . . sympathetic. "He—he would have wanted me to carry on to Val Chevin, I'm certain. But without Blackwall, there was no proof that I'd been recruited, that I didn't kill him. I couldn't go to the Wardens, but I couldn't just walk away. So Rainier died, and Blackwall lived." "We've kept this quiet. You can still be Blackwall, if that's what you want." "I'm done running from my past, but I've gotten used to Blackwall. Perhaps we can treat it as less of a name and more of a title, almost like Inquisitor. Reminds me of what I ought to be." Mahariel nodded. "I can arrange for you to undergo the Joining. Better late than never." "Thank you, Inquisitor. For everything. You've had more faith in me than I ever had in myself." Mahariel uncorked the bottle they'd brought and offered it to him. He drank, wincing slightly at the sharpness of it. "What is it?" They smiled. "Grey Whiskey. What wardens drink."

[lupizora]

I may not be able to finish this on time, but here's a sneak peak from a one-shot I wanted to post for the First Encounter anniversary 🤭

[lupizora]

HeiKai Traffic Police AU

Heiji thought that after graduating from the police academy, his dad would hire him as a detective. But his father assigns him to the traffic department as a paper-pusher, saying something along the lines of “You need to learn how to do your paperwork properly before handling homicide cases”.

Heiji is of course pissed, but there isn’t much he can do about it. So, he drones through petty cases over parking tickets, when something exciting does drop in their department.

Someone confiscated a motorbike that is rumored to be KID's as it was found parked near the sight of his recent heist in Osaka. While the MPD Division 2 is trying to gain rights over this case, it is left to the traffic department to deal with it. Heiji believes that if anyone comes to ask for the confiscated bike and license plates, that person must be KID in disguise.

At first, an older gentleman appears (Jii). It’d be too rude to just pinch his cheek out of nowhere, but his lack of proper documentation proves enough of a stopgap to refuse his request. The bike is after all signed under Toichi’s magic troupe, which Jii is handling until Kaito comes of age. But of course, Jii doesn’t have a motorbike license. So Heiji tells him to bring a different document. This process repeats with every new document that doesn’t correlate the driver (Kuroba Kaito) as the owner of this bike.

In the end, Kaito himself makes an appearance. Heiji is confused because there are a lot of Kudou lookalikes but even Okita isn’t such a doppelganger. So he pinches his cheek, which of course isn’t a mask.

Kaito mouths him off, saying “Are all Osakan police so rude??”.

Eventually, Heiji concedes to give him the bike since there’s nothing more to stall him for. If anything, he is surprised that someone so lean as Kaito is able to handle such a high-octane bike (more so KID). Kaito tells him that he’s a gymnastics athlete. Heiji remembers one of Kudou’s spiels about Sherlock Holmes and offers his hand for a handshake. It’s true that Kaito’s hand has callouses that could hold the truth about what he said, but there’s too little evidence to make a clear call.

Kaito places his other hand over their joined hands and when he pulls back, there’s a rose in Heiji’s grasp. He doesn’t miss the glint of a monocle as Kaito puts on his helmet saying that no one will believe him and drives off, leaving behind a disgruntled Heiji decimating the rose in his grasp. No one dares to comment on the almost petal-less flower that appears on his desk the next morning.

[lupizora]

This is a snippet from the extra 4.5 chapter (Name Your Price) of Hate Me. Find Me. Trust Me. my Raildex 5+1 Canon Divergence fic that I ended up taking out because the journey to reach this point made it not click. But I still really liked it, so you're getting it here instead! Enjoy~!

tw: gun violence

“No Reflection Shield.”

Accelerator scoffed. “You think I can’t keep it at a closer radius?”

“I know you can,” Mikoto said while pulling at the slide until it clicked again. “It just won’t make for an interesting exercise if I break my arms right away.”

“It’ll be unfortunate. But it’s not something the Doc can’t fix.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” She raised the gun to his eye level. “Are you chickening out?”

His eyes widened. He smacked her hand against the elevated ledge of the booth. When he managed to get a hold of her, Mikoto didn’t know. Her fingers, the ones curled around the handle of the gun, were being squashed against the cold plastic surface before the action had registered in her brain. She watched them with a detached fascination as they began to throb painfully.

“Never. Do that,” Accelerator was saying. “It’s not a joke.” His gaze remained dead set on the floor, but his tone was icy in the space between them. “Point this on me again, and I’ll rip your arm off.”

It wasn’t a warning or an empty threat. It was an ultimatum. At least, this was what he wanted her to believe. Sure, she was going to have marks across her palm from the pressure for a couple of hours. Nothing was broken or bruised, though. His grip, while firm, was slack enough that she could escape with a simple tug. The same hand holding her down also trembled ever so slightly, and the skin-to-skin contact didn't go unnoticed. She could zap him if she tried. Guilt wormed into her chest, making Mikoto feel even a tiny bit responsible for this sorry display.

She patted him on the shoulder with her free hand. "My bad, then."

"You're such a brat." Accelerator let go with a sigh. His cane clicked against the tiles as he retreated closer to the wall behind them. "There is one more shot. Make it count."

His back was turned, and his Reflection Shield was down. She had a clear shot. Mikoto whipped the gun around and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed louder than her Railgun ever did, cascading off the walls like a distant thunderclap. A wisp of smoke trickled from the end of the barrel, obscuring her view of the target. She focused on it until the whine in her ears subsided.

"Was it a hit?" Accelerator’s question carried over as if through static.

The hole was on the target's body this time. "Shoulder.”

"Broken cartilage at best. They will run away if they aren't delirious from the pain."

Placing the gun on the ledge, she contemplated it. "I'll fry them, then."

“And it comes down to whether you have access to your powers, yet again. This is getting nowhere.” He let out a humorless chuckle and pushed himself off the wall. “Let’s go. I’ll call someone to clean everything up.”

“Wait!” Mikoto bridged the gap between them, getting a hold of his vest. “I…”

It was harder to string words together when he looked at her with such a calm, ordinary expression. Malice or indifference, she could understand and recognize. Accelerator was a predictable person, even when he tried to convince everyone else of the opposite. But the two of them holding a normal conversation without threats, deals, or bargains involved?

“It wasn’t a waste. Coming here, that is. I–I think I needed the distraction.” She gulped. “So, what I’m trying to say is…I am glad you brought me here.”

“Hey, wait.” He rubbed at his temple as if trying to fend off another headache. “Are you thanking me?”

“Yeah.”

Accelerator’s eyes widened to a comical degree. If she weren’t already struggling with keeping her turbulent emotions in check, Mikoto would have certainly laughed at the sight.

[lupizora]

Title: Fragments (slipping away like sand)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 诡秘之主 - 爱潜水的乌贼 | Lord of the Mysteries - Cuttlefish that Loves Diving Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Leonard Mitchell | The Star/Klein Moretti, Leonard Mitchell | The Star & Pallez Zoroast Characters: Leonard Mitchell | The Star, Klein Moretti, Pallez Zoroast Additional Tags: Unrequited Love, Survivor Guilt, Dreams and Nightmares, Dreaming as a form of self harm (but you didn't hear that from me), Past Character Death, Yearning, Angst and Tragedy, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Self-Indulgent, One Shot, Lord of the Mysteries Spoilers, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Author has read up to the beginning of the Red Priest volume of the webnovel at the date of posting this so take that as you will Summary:

Living in a wretched world like theirs, to wish for anything was like building with your own two hands the stage for yet another tragedy.

Leonard returns to the Blackthorn Company. It's not a good thing.

Trying something different since having your fics locked makes it harder to share elsewhere, apparently. The tags were a bit more important this time, too 😂 My A/N this time is a thing of beauty, so I won’t replicate it. Enjoy my relapse into heavy angst lol /jk

[lupizora]

Just dropping by (at the last minute) to let you guys know I'm participating in this year's @kaishinbigbang!!

I have the great honor of @chatlote being my partner, whose idea had me in a chokehold from the moment I saw it! It's gonna be a bumpy ride for our boys since the underlined theme was 'it gets worse before it gets better' and I took that as a challenge lol

Also, Lina's art for this is so beautiful!! I can't wait for everyone else to see it as well~ ♥

So, keep your eyes open for August 14 when The Countdown to Immortality drops!

[Text version of the preview below the cut]

“I'm dying.”

Nothing changed in KID’s demeanor. Not a twitch on his shoulders. His fingers held the cup steadily enough that the water inside didn’t even ripple.

This complete lack of reaction pointed toward a single conclusion.

“Of course, you already knew that.” Shinichi scoffed, accepting the offered cup. “Why all this fanfare to meet me then? You could have sent a bouquet to my hospital bed and be done with it. Wait, I got a better idea. You could have turned yourself in and spared me the hassle of chasing you around. There are other cases I need to focus on right now.”

Despite the scornful words, KID smiled. “Attending my heists has always been optional.” His smile grew cheekier as he added. “And technically, for the past several months, you aren’t the one doing the actual chasing, Great Detective.”

“Details,” Shinichi mumbled. His face felt warm, definitely from another fever wave passing through. “So, that’s it? Me sitting on the sidelines bruised your ego and you had to come complain in person? Was it more important than tracking your next target?”

“Yes,” KID said. “Because I only ever had one target and that’s Pandora.”

[lupizora]

I still can't stop thinking about the M27 teaser trailer. Honestly, when the very first teaser (that had played after the credits of M26) became available online without subs or translation, I thought the new movie might have an amnesia sub-plot. Like something happened that would make Kaito forget everything related to Kaitou KID and Heiji and Conan would have to deal with that along with the rest of the movie's plot. Of course, that idea was shot down from the translation, but I got attached to it for fanfic purposes lol.

So, after seeing the new teaser, that first silly impression is slowly becoming a fully fledged fic (is it HeiKai, HeiShin, HeiKaiShin, idk haven't reached that far yet 😅)

Like yeah, I want the dissonance of KID being aware that Heiji knows Conan is Shinichi, and Heiji not really knowing that Kaito looks like Shinichi (because Kudou never tells him any details that are not important for the task at hand). If anything, Heiji probably heard that's an option from Kazuha because Ran kept complaining to her about all the times KID had disguised as Shinichi before (or given recent manga spoilers, even from Hakuba and his suspicions).

That's why when Heiji unmasks him by cutting through his top hat, KID still slips into his Shinichi disguise (after doing it so many times, I'm convinced he can without a mirror at this point). Not because Heiji will believe it, since Conan is right there, but to buy time.

Heiji, of course, is pissed off about it, and given the whole Kidzuha fiasco, he wants to cut KID in half more than play along.

But KID says that he can't help it if disguising as the people that Heiji loves will keep him safe from his wrath. While Heiji has a crisis over what kind of love does he mean, KID makes his escape (recently stolen sword and all). Heiji throws his sword after KID, like a javelin, and unbeknownst to him, actually hits the handglider. KID drops out of the sky, fate unknown.

Next day, Iori shows up to bring Heiji to Momiji's temporary place (will the plot remain in Hokkaido, dunno) as there is a sensitive matter to discuss. Turns out, they found KID somewhere. While they recognize this person looks like Kudou Shinichi, it's still pretty obvious the clothes he had been wearing was KID's outfit. Heiji manages to convince them to bring Conan along, since the suspicion for KID's real identity will fall on his "cousin" and who's better to dispel these kind of rumors.

What neither of them expects when they are left alone with KID though is that one, he doesn't know who he is; two, he doesn't recognize Conan; but three, he remembers Heiji.

For now, I think the sword has something to do with this temporary amnesia (like holding a part of Kaito's soul or sth) since he feels more like himself whenever he's close to it. I also like actual magic shenanigans in the DetCo universe because it means I can make Akako appear (if the magic is real, she can exist. That's my rule lmao).

But that's pretty much what I have of this idea.