For many of years I had this tradition of drawing Wirt and the beast once a year to see how much I have improved, then depression hit in 2023 and couldn't continue, but it left so really amazing art in the process
I had a parasite XF/SQH x MBJ thing going on in drafts but now I am thinking about parasite SY
Uhhh content warning like death but just for s second
SY transmigrates while SJ’s having one of the worst QI deviations ever and Shen Yuan is reincarnated as “Lover’s Embrace” flower, which is a carnivorous plant-parasite that attaches itself to its host and either binds the host with another person (which is usually the lover, crush, friend, family etc of whoever the host is, hence the name) or binds to the host itself.
The way the Lover’s Embrace flowers works is rather simple, they pick a host to live off of, offering protection from most diseases and an advanced healing rate in exchange for living/feeding off of the body’s energy. While attached to a suitable host the parasite will encourage a more carnivorous lifestyle. This leads to scenes where people are found absentmindedly eating live bugs, animal corpses, and occasionally live prey. They rarely go after humans because it’s much more harder to influence the hosts to consume human meat than it is convincing them that raw pig is a delicacy.
If a Lover’s Embrace latches onto an unsuitable host it’ll attempt a synchronize before quickly beginning searching for a new one when it fails, expending the limited energy it initially has to search for other people. While in this half-synchronized state the parasite is partially influenced by the emotions of the host as it takes control of the body to find someone else to transfer too. Obviously this ends in cases where the emotions of the host influences the Lover’s Embrace into viewing the host’s partner, family, friends etc. as the ideal host. This results in a weird amalgamation where the parasite and its original host “merge” with the host “ideal host”. Usually these amalgamations don’t survive for long (which is good because almost all recorded amalgamations have been known to wail in agony and pain). The body of the amalgamation is highly contagious since the Lover’s Embrace starts “flowering” immediately after death to spread its spores and start a new cycle. (Lover’s embrace is actually a mushroom that has evolved to have an appearance very similar to flowers! It even has faux vines and roots :3) This means it’s really hard to deal with once an outbreak has started. Fortunately only a specific strand of Lover’s Embrace targets humans, the normal Lover’s Embrace doesn’t target humans and parasitizes animals and insects.
Shen Yuan’s spores ended up near Shen Qingqiu and while originally the plant was harmless against SQQ’s cultivation and MQF’s healing efforts, SY was buffed by the system and ends up fully attached to SQQ. The whole thing with Lover’s Embrace is how easy it is to treat if discovered quickly and fully eradicated. MQF and SQQ did discover it early, however because of the system they didn’t eradicate it initially like they’d thought and allowed SY to fully synchronize up w/ SQQ’s body.
Normal Lover’s Embrace flowers don’t possess their own thoughts and use pheromones and brain waves to influence the thoughts of the host(s), however SY having his own consciousness means that the trait of his species can be used to communicate with the host—Shen Qingqiu. Normally SY would’ve taken this chance to… idk, kill SQQ or control him so he doesn’t abuse LBH but SQQ is a powerful cultivator and SY is technically not matured yet. The fact that he’s not mature enough to post a major threat to SQQ as well as the almost overwhelming instinctive need to protect the host and keep them alive prevents SY from doing any harm.
Anyways so after the QI deviation SY goes unnoticed because it’s normal to be weak after such a major QI deviation. SY spends his time feeding on SQQ’s QI bit by bit and spreading his body throughout SQQ. This ends up with SY making it to SQQ’s brain and peeping into his dreams—a feat that wouldn’t be possible if SQQ wasn’t injured enough to need rest. Obviously SY peeks into the past of SQQ and his nightmare-ridden self and slowly SY begins to understand the reasons behind the things SQQ does. Ofc this doesn’t mean SY approves of his actions, but it’s enough of a shock that SY rethinks his plans on what he’ll do when he gets strong enough to have an impact on SQQ.
Anyways stuff happens, SY goes dormant for a period of time to process the QI he’s taken bla bla. SQQ (who is still weakened from SY nibbling at his QI reserves) ends up going on a demon hunting mission. (He doesn’t feel any weaker, but his QI runs out faster and he’s not aware of this and hasn’t mentally adjusted his limits accordingly) Right well SQQ notices that things are turning south because the demon has good endurance and his QI’s running low than it normally does. The Demon latches onto this and takes the weakened state of SQQ as an opportunity and uses a razor thing we’d to quite literally slice through the side of SQQ’s head (see below).
Anyways so this happens and SY finally wakes his ass up and he’s in action before he even realizes what’s happening. Since his body has already spread and merged with SQQ’s body SY spreads his little mushroom tendril root-thingies and yanks the other half of SQQ’s head back on—mending the piece as quickly as possible starting from the inside going outwards. SQQ is surprised that he doesn’t die immediately and is rather stunned as he feels his body being repaired as whatever’s helping him attacks the demon with these odd tendrils. Then he notices that the tendrils are coming from the shallow cut the demon had left on his body.
Oumm I kinda lost the plot but basically SQQ figures out what SY is and while he’s not super happy about being parasitized, SY did save him and he’s proven himself to be useful time and time again.
The whole head-slice thing doesn’t leave a scar or anything. SY takes it upon himself to emerge from that particular area though whenever he’s being used for intimidation or something. Like SQQ turning around and half of his face is just countless vines, “flowers”, a mass of flesh/teeth (think rows of sharp teeth like a leech) and endless eyes all locked onto you with hostile intentions.
A quiet Saturday night at the library should have been perfectly ordinary. That is, until a very tall, very grumpy, and dangerously attractive stranger appears out of nowhere, carrying more than just a mountain of books and entirely too much tension.
For a lifelong wallflower, Books have always been safe: quiet aisles, orderly shelves, and enough romance in novels to last a lifetime. But now, there’s Bakugou Katsuki: infuriatingly sharp-eyed, almost absurdly handsome, and somehow making even cataloging the Dewey Decimal System feel like a high-stakes adventure.
No introductions. No explanations. Just a stolen moment in the stacks that is far too cliché to be real and yet, somehow, completely, undeniably electric.
Somewhere between heavy books, whispered apologies, and quiet chaos, you start to realize that life doesn’t always follow the story you expect. And sometimes, the best tropes aren’t in books at all...they’re standing right in front of you.
Chapter 1: The Girl Who Lived in Stories
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Chapter 13:
Chapter 14:
Warnings for series:
Strangers to Lovers, Slow Burn, Fluff and Angst, Librarian Reader-Insert, Domestic Fluff, Canon Compliant, Angst with a Happy Ending, Pro Hero Bakugou Katsuki, Pro Hero Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Protective Bakugou Katsuki, Bakugou Katsuki Needs a Hug, Top Bakugou Katsuki, Eventual Library Sex, Oral Fixation, Oral Sex, Dom/sub Undertones, Dom/sub Play, Semi-Public Sex, First Kiss, Soft Bakugou Katsuki, Eventual Romance, Humor, Eventual Smut, SO MUCH FLUFF, self aware reader, occasional 4th wall breaks
