Summary: You come back from Twisted Wonderland with habits you didn't have before.
Tags: Angst, loss of memories, modern world au, headcanon-adjacent, reader is yuu
"You were missing," you were told by your loved ones. "Nobody could find you. How are you feeling?"
After tears were shed and hugs exchanged, they departed from the hospital bed you laid in. You try to think back to where you were... but nothing comes up. (For a split second, you can hear the sound of creaky stairs and imagine soft black fur, but they vanished as quick as they appeared).
It didn't take long for the doctors to discharge you, citing that beyond your scraps and blood loss, you were perfectly healthy. And it's true! A little hungry, dehydrated, but fine.
Until loved ones, strangers, really anyone around you started to notice habits of yours that aren't quite right...
Your neighbors always smelled paint.
The weather was beautiful. Clear skies and the sun powerfully shining down, which would be annoying if not for the cold breeze that passed through. They will remain locked inside, unable to join in the peaceful day because that smell was everywhere.
They couldn't help but notice you buying insane amounts of red paint. At first, they thought that you wished to make your place a little brighter.... Maybe after whatever you experienced you wanted a change of pace. But they saw as you opened one of them and grabbed that largest paintbrush and stood there.
It would range from a quick passing moment to nearly an hour of you waiting... for what? There was nothing in front of you except a white fence. You waited there as if expecting for something to materialized right in front of you or for someone to shout an order.
(They wouldn't admit it, but they did catch you once flinging the red paint all over a stray shrub tucked away in a corner. It was the first time, some tension left your shoulders and you turned around as if expecting someone to nod their head in approval).
"What an odd thing to do..."
A classmate asks you for homework help.
You're behind in school so you've been taking make-up classes every day to catch up. Even though you've been out of school for a while, your grades don't really act like it.
There was a sense of routine that you didn't really ever show before your disappearance. Beyond the fact that you always wanted some tea to accompany your studies, nobody thought much of it. Except one.
A fellow classmate of yours just wanted the easiest way to the top. Slip them the answers, yeah? They'll pay you. Or better yet, give it to them for free! I mean, it's just some measy math homework. Then, if you ever need help... they'll scratch your back.
They would slide next to you in class, have some small talk at the lunch tables, and even joined you in after-school lessons! You finally had enough of it one day and confronted them. Right in the middle of class.
You stand up from your chair and turned to face them, "All this effort into cheating, you could have just been studying! Get off your lazy ass! If you do any more shady shit, I swear I'm going to-"
Some of your friends pulled you away, but your classmate couldn't forget your determined expression.
(Before your disappearance, your classmate never saw you as the type of defend yourself. You followed the pecking order. Now, you were arguing, standing up for others, and... made sure no one felt they were left out...?)
"Geez... so prepared for anything, huh?"
The detective assigned to your case was only getting more confused.
You had been inside the police station for the past couple days as they tried to get anything out of you. Even though your family insisted that you were struck with a case of amnesia, they wanted to confirm that for themselves.
Now, that could have been done if they can even get past step one!
All the detective had said was look over a contract where you agree to help the police in your case. What they got was...
"Can I get it back to you later? I want to go over every line myself. Don't want any loopholes."
"Listen, it's just formalities---"
"I'll read it once, no, twice! Just to make sure." You said without even acknowledging what the detective mentioned.
Over the course of months, every time a contract, a document, any piece of paper that required your signature, you refused to sign it without going through every line. One. By. One.
(The detective had reached out to your loved ones, but this has never happened before. You were like everyone else and signed anything after hardly skimming it through. Now, you needed to make sure you knew every single detail of a 'terms of conditions').
"Thorough... what a smart soul."
Note: This idea has actually kept me up at night (during finals week no less!) and I needed to get my thoughts out so here it goes!
Summary: You are away on a mission. You know they are inviting a women over to their home for work purposes. You have access to the cameras in your shared home. Bored, you check them and see...
Tags: established relationship, all 5 Lis, fluff, no cheating!, living together, security, unwanted sexual advances, angst, arguing, reassurance, might be occ
Inspired by @/snowflakesandsweettreats post over on tiktok!
Caleb
He leads the Lieutenant over to his office, head held up high. His uniform feels too stiff on his body in a home that was never meant to see it as you made sure it was taken off the second he arrived back from work. Caleb opens the door and watches as the Lieutenant steps into his office, her hands saluting him as thanks.
Since she entered your shared home, he hasn’t once spoken to her beyond the curt “hello” and he plans to keep his word count to a minimum. Caleb walks around her as she stands to attention, not daring to sit down on the chair in front of her without explicit directions from the Colonel, even when he sits down.
“Lieutenant, sit.”
She moves almost too quickly, nearly knocking down a picture on his desk of you and him from the photobooth. He tries not to make his annoyance clear, “Lieutenant, speak and I am expecting full details on why the Fleet requires my attention when I am off duty.” Caleb waits as she fidgets around her fingers.
“Colonel, the Fleet is not the same without you!” She blurts out.
He blinks at her.
The silence that follows mimics his Evol, suffocating and lifeless. Caleb resists the urge not to use it on her, but she continues, “I… and I’m sure others,” she rushes to add, “miss your presence. I believe it’s important for the Fleet’s motivation for you to return as quickly as possible from your rest.”
“With all due respect,” he pulls out his phone, “I received 88 messages declaring an emergency that endangers the Fleet and all of Linkon. If I am listening correct, you misused your power to—”
“This is an emergency!” Caleb was almost impressed— she had the guts to cut him off. “Back on the Fleet, I’m one of the few you speak to…” Her voice hushes down to a whisper.
“You must be lonely in this big house without nobody. I’m worried this might affect your ability to lead. I want you to know I’m here for you. I know how you look at me and—”
“Get out.” Caleb stands up and uses his Evol to close her mouth. “Do you know whose chair you’re sitting in? My girlfriend’s. Do you know who insisted I take this useless meeting? My girlfriend. Do you know who made it possible for you to live? My girlfriend. She roams these rooms, waits for me, and so much more that someone like you couldn’t understand!”
Without sparing a glance, he forces her to take one step at a time back to the door and along the way, he berates her, “Lieutenant, I will be stripping you of your position. Effective immediately. I expected better from a Lieutenant who graduated at the top of her class and I will be making sure you don’t forget it.”
She scrambles out with tears rolling down her cheeks. Caleb locks the door and out-of-the-corner of his eye, spies the security camera with a green dot— he’s being watched. And he knows exactly who’s behind it.
He blows a kiss, mouthing, “love you, pip-squeak!”
Zayne
He lets out a sigh while eating the salad. He sits at the far-end chair of the dining room table while his co-worker, a newly-hired surgeon, sits across from him, barely touching the food you prepared. Zayne rests his eyes on her, “It’ll be difficult to return to the hospital, but you have swore the Oath. You cannot let your first loss pause your entire career.” He speaks bluntly.
She finally eats some lettuce, speaking in-between tears, “Y-yes, sir. Th-thank you for letting me… speak to you about… this.”
Zayne gives a quiet “you’re welcome” before reminiscing on how she ended up here. She walked into his office with blood on her uniform and a slurred speech, he immediately asked if something was wrong. Now they are here. He remembers your gentle touch, acknowledging you’ll be alright with letting her step into the shared space you both called home.
“How do you deal with… it?” She asks, cutting in-between his thoughts.
“My girlfriend helps.”
“Oh,” She seemed to deflate like a balloon, “Was she the Hunter in your office?”
He nods. “She takes care of—”
“How could she know anything?” The surgeon stands up swiftly, nearly knocking over the chair. Her face is suddenly flushed bright red and her eyes, which were already wet with tears, burned bright with resentment. She begins to walk over to him, but Zayne gets on his feet, “Miss, step back,” His voice wavers, but he feels his Evol beginning to creep up on him.
However, she didn't seem to pay any attention and tried to move her hand to fit under his doctor’s uniform. He swats it away, “Miss, I am happily taken. She still roams these spaces. I do not want your affection.”
“You must not be satisfied. We share something, Doctor. We share the pain of losing someone, how could she know anything about that pain?!”
“How dare you—”
Ring… Ring…!
Zayne uses this opportunity to shove her away before picking up his phone from the counter. It was you. “Zayne, Honey… are you okay?” You whispered.
For some odd reason, he suspected you already knew what was going on. “I didn’t do anything.”
“I know, Honey.” You said, reassuring his worries. “Put me on speaker.”
He does it without question and your voice booms to the Surgeon, “Me and my boyfriend are doing fine. Stop harassing him and leave. Unless you want me to come down there and deal with you myself?”
Her mind seems to have finally caught up with her as she scrambles to pick up her belongings and runs out the door, slamming it behind her. The house regains the quiet peace it had before and he lets out a sigh, pressing his phone to his ear, “Thank you, Darling.”
“I’ll be there soon. I’ll bring your favorite sweets and a few surprises!” You chirp.
He smiles for the first time since you left. “I’ll look forward to it.”
Xavier
He was awakened by a knock on the door.
Xavier was sprawled out on the ground, his face snuggling up to your sweater. Instinctally, he reaches out to his side to grab your hand, but nothing was there. He groggily lifts himself off the ground, yawning while he inhales a deep breath.
The knocks on the door became more frantic. “Xavi, are you home?”
He has a full-body shudder at the nickname coming from another woman's mouth that wasn’t yours. “I’m coming.” He tries to make himself look somewhat professional as he calmly runs a hand through his hair and smooths out the wrinkles in his uniform.
When Xavier finally opens the door, he steps aside to let the Hunter enter. They walk over to the living room, sitting down on opposite sides of the couch, and he lets the silence linger. It takes a bit before she opens her mouth, “I wanted to ask for your help filling out reports.”
He hums, his mind still hazy from sleep, “Haven’t you worked for the Association for more than a year? By now, you should have done hundreds of reports.” Xavier looks at the couch, at your designed spot whenever you two have movie nights, at the way the Hunter sits there. He could not help but feel the room become suffocatingly smaller, “This is strange.” Xavier thinks.
She wanders her eyes, not once meeting his gaze, “I received a note from Jenna about that. Something along the lines of ‘this needs to be clearer’ so… who else to go to but the best Hunter!” She shoves a pile of papers onto his lap.
Xavier raises an eyebrow, but he decides not to push it any further, remembering your words. Xavier starts to read the first page yet he could never focus on anything as he feels her eyes on him like a hawk. He opens his mouth to say something except she has already stood up. “Can I get some water?”
“Okay.” Xavier says with a bit of relief.
He lets his shoulders relax, but that was soon a mistake as a pair of hands rested on them. He jerks up as The Hunter’s hands begin to massage his shoulders, “You looked really tense…” She whispered, “she's on that mission, right? Poor Xavi, I’m willing to relieve your—”
He stands up, letting all of the papers scatter on the floor. Her hands fly off and he turns around to face her, “What?” Xavier looks down at her in a state of shock. “You— Don’t touch me. I have a girlfriend. Why did you—? Get out.” His words were slurred together, but all she could focus on was the sword he summoned. One pointing straight at her.
“I’ll leave! I’ll leave!” She didn’t even pick up any of her papers before running out the door.
Xavier heaves in a deep breath as if he just finished a long-winded battle. He puts his sword away and flops back down onto the couch, clutching tightly over his heart. His pulse rings in his ears like an alarm and his eyes make contact with the security camera moving…
He shoots you a soft smile.
Rafayal
He was (for the most part) solely engrossed in his painting.
Rafayal sat atop his ladder, trying to mix another different shade of blue amongst all the other blues. He didn’t even flinch at the sound of a stranger’s heels hastily making their way to his living room. A tinge of annoyance was potent in his voice, “Thomas isn’t here if you have—”
“Mr. Rafayal. I’m Mr. Bennet’s assistant and here to pick up the painting he requested.”
The woman’s voice created goosebumps all over his exposed forearms. Rafayal didn’t respond immediately as if waiting to hear his beloved Miss Bodyguard’s voice interject on his behalf to tell her that he’s soo busy and then she’ll leave and he’ll be able to cuddle you til dawn. He lets out a loud sigh.
He pulls out his phone and immediately calls Thomas (even if his finger was hovering over your name). Instead of picking up he receives a text:
I’m curating a gallery at the moment. Please be cooperative this once!
“Yeah, yeah…” He muters under his breath. “Wait here.” Rafayal climbs down from his post and sets his palette on the floor, his muscles aching from his shrimp-like position. He doesn’t glance at the other woman, but he feels her intense gaze on him. It reminds him of finally finding an empty page to sketch in.
When he’s confirmed that he did actually finish that painting, he strolls back into the main living area. His voice is filled with annoyance, “So like it’s—” Rafayal looks back to where she was earlier and his heart drops. She’s gone.
Rafayal almost felt like doubling over in laughter. Then a deep, ancient stir wells up inside of him, calling him to wait out his prey before cornering them. Instead of brandishing his dagger, Evol or enlisting the help of Reddie, who was merely dozing off in the midst of seaweed, he paces around his home.
It didn’t take much to find her. She was in a state of undress in his bedroom, her blazer was on the floor and her black heels kicked off. Rafayal snickers and that’s when she turns around, her fingers deftly unbuttoning her shirt. “I—”
“I don’t really wanna hear it.”
“She doesn’t have to—”
“She will.”
“One time. I just—” She runs up to him, arms outstretched, but Rafayal steps back. “This would be great for my career. With your connections,” she tries to shut the door behind him, but Rafayal grasps onto her outstretched wrist, “I can make something of myself!”
“You know… my beloved is like an incredible hunter.” Rafayal steps around her as if dancing to an invisible tune. “She’s brave enough to fend off annoying Wanderers. She’s the only woman who roams these halls and illuminates this bubble. Even entertain someone like you around.”
Rafayal shrugs. “Until you can do that… yeah, you’ll have to like kiss your dreams goodbye.”
The woman merely stares at me like he’s grown two heads. He ignores her and picks up her clothes, “She’s around here… let her know that I’m getting tired of waiting for her.” He gestures towards the door, “Don’t ever come back. If you do… just know that your precious dreams will be over before you know it.”
She frantically puts her clothes back out before rushing out the door. He leans against the door frame as his front door gets slammed shut. Rafayal walks to the middle of his bedroom, arms crossed before glancing up at the camera aimed towards him.
He playfully winks at you— one that yells, “Did you like the performance, cutie?”
Sylus
Without fail, Sylus is bored.
He spins a knife in his hand as he stands in the middle of his garage. The harsh winds outside bang against his home, almost drowning out the crickets’s songs. If he was able to, he would have loved to snap a picture of the bright full-moon and send it to you, but he had another problem on his hands.
Sylus glares down at her— the women claiming to have important intel for him.
She fumbles with her hands as she stands a bit away from him. She hasn’t made eye contact with him since Luke and Kieren walked her in nor has she said a word. Although Sylus usually trusts Luke and Kieren’s own investigative work, he is quickly beginning to doubt their claim that she has been sharing inside secrets. Not to mention, why would she immediately after being confronted wanting to share them with him?
None of it made sense.
“You know why you’re here. ” He clutches his motorcycle helmet under his arm.
“Right!” She tenses up, “um… well… it’s a lovely night, isn’t it?”
Sylus doesn’t humor her. “You have previously worked for Ever. Or so you say.”
“Yes! I was a… receptionist?”
That small tint of hesitance was all he needed to know that she was bluffing. He scowls and his immediate reaction is to use his Evol to kick her out, but he stops himself. “I can’t get carried away,” he thinks. Instead, he allows her to dig herself into a deeper hole, “I won’t say it again. Tell me what you know.”
Despite her long rant about the inner workings of Ever, Sylus was counting down the minutes it will take for you to arrive back. He hung his helmet on his motorcycle and pulled out his phone, reading through the text messages you sent him before your mission. It took him a while to notice that the women had gone silent.
When Sylus looked up from the screen, her face was nearly colliding with his fingers. He lets out a small “tch” and she stumbles back, her face burning red. “I-I’m sorry! I was just— just—”
“What’s the real purpose of this?” Sylus says, his imposing stature so unlike hers that it was almost comical. “You come here telling lies and wasting my time.”
The woman immediately falls to her knees, her hands covering her red face. “I’m so pathetic. I just… I wanted to meet the leader of Onychinus. I want to… see you up close.” She reaches further down, past her waist. “I can be quiet… in exchange… could I stay—?”
Suddenly, red tendrils wrap around her and lift her into the air, reminiscing the first time Sylus met you. He slowly walks to her, “you’re right. You really are pathetic. Instead of begging others for help, why don’t you do something about it? Waiting around for a miracle isn’t worth it. “I don’t accept your offer. I have my own woman who roams this home and satisfies me just fine.”
Using his other hand, he forces open a separate door, one that leads into the inside of his house, and as expected, Luke and Kieren stand there. They immediately stand to attention and Sylus (with as much restraint he could offer) hands her over to them, “get her out. I don’t want her to see her around here ever.”
Before the twins could get a word out, he closed the door.
Syus strolls back to his motorcycle and hears the whirling of the camera moving. He merely gives it a simple glance and pulls out his phone, sending a voice message, “Kitten, bored already? Come back sooner. We can go on another night ride.”
Wow! It's been so long since I've uploaded here and across my other socials as well... so sorry for no fics guys! truthfully, i've been busy with a j*b + internship + uni. all of which require reading and writing. Made me super burnt out by the end of it! ANYWAYS I've been trying to get back into writing for fun again so this might be a little scuff ;-;
my favorite thing about this post is that a handful of people have gone "oh wait! this is tangible proof that i don't need to be embarrassed about leaving a lot of comments!! i'll stop being so ashamed!" YES!! ao3 authors basically universally will die for people who comment spam. we love to see it and we do not find you weird or annoying At All.
think about it this way: we ourselves are weird enough to have spent several hours, days, or Months writing down this story. we are weird enough about the content to do that! why on Earth would we be mean and judgmental toward people who care enough to get excited about reading it?? we shared it Specifically For You To Get Excited About!
Let us all welcome our Writer, @viscariaa! Her words transport our senses to a world of wonder, just as ballads do. Ride the wind to a wonderful world with her Anemo Boys!
Hey hey Nara friends! We are happy to announce that we've got the date for our Preorders! 🌱
On March 20th the doors to Mahavanaranapna will open, so keep an eye out for any cabbage-like creature activity, you might catch a glimpse of what's coming 👀
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