FATE/BOUND

feel  free  to  change  any  gendered  language  &  alter  anything  as  needed,

❝ i’m really glad we met. ❞

❝ do you think we would be friends if we hadn’t meet how we did? ❞

❝ want to spend the night at my place? ❞

❝ do you want to.. cut my hair for me? ❞ / ❝ would you let me.. cut your hair? ❞

❝ you have no idea how much you mean to me. ❞ 

❝ you might think we’re too old but there’s no age limit to building a blanket fort. ❞

❝ see.. you’re dying so much in this game because you need to dodge the bullets. not run into them. duh. ❞

❝ you know, you’re a smart ass. but that’s why I like you. ❞

❝ do you feel like going out and doing something tonight? i could use a distraction. ❞

❝ baking together is essential for every friendship, i think. ❞

❝ if i go on that scary looking roller coaster, would you consider coming on with me? ❞

❝ do you feel like painting my nails? it could be fun. ❞ / ❝ do you want me to paint your nails? it could be fun. ❞

❝ oh come on, taking photo booth pictures is so much fun! ❞

❝ no one’s ever done that to me before. ❞

❝ could you play with my hair? ❞

❝ i can’t remember the last time i did this with someone. ❞ 

❝ that feels nice. ❞

❝ i haven’t been hugged in years. ❞

❝ i never want to let go. ❞

❝ let’s just cuddle forever. ❞ 

❝ you put your arm around me and i literally felt my knees buckle, this is so pathetic. ❞

❝ i just want to be held for a little while. ❞

❝ you’re legally obligated to keep holding me. ❞

❝ i think i forgot what human contact felt like. ❞

❝ i need to remember what hugs feel like. ❞

❝ do you mind if we stay like this for a little longer? ❞

❝ my family was never the touchy-feely type. ❞

❝ i’ve never been in a relationship before, so i don’t really know how to do the whole…kissing thing. ❞

❝ you were my first kiss. ❞

❝ could we cuddle, like, platonically? ❞

❝ i’m in desperate need of a hug. ❞

feel free to adjust as needed!

Even Sae had to admit that there was something MIGHTILY WRONG with her reaction to Makoto’s IMPRESSIVE RESOLVE. As in… Why did it UPSET HER that the student council president held steady against one’s scrutiny? DIDN’T FLEE IN TERROR? Why had the girl’s resiliance to her own anxiety proven to be such a monkey wrench in the haywire cogs of Sae’s brain? Simple: BECAUSE SHE’D BEEN BETTING ON IT. Question did rise of where exactly Makoto’s ever-toughening spine had come from but THOSE bets were hedged on the new gang of vagabonds the naive fool had aligned herself with in recent weeks. Irregardless, the pressure had yet to cease and Makoto was applying MORE. “It doesn’t matter what the point is, Makoto Niijima.” Full name in hopes of evoking even more anxiety? “You had no business going through such a confidential and classified piece of technology.” OF COURSE, Sae could take responsiblity for letting her guard down and even trusting Makoto to BEGIN WITH. But… But that would be counterproductivity to pushing the opus of blame on said sister. Still, the girl PUSHED & PERSISTED; Growing ever more INFURIATING to the elder Niijima who was very much used to GETTING HER OWN WAY. “Well you ARE grounded. And I’m taking away YOUR laptop. AND your phone. And I’m setting an 8PM curfew. You break it and I sign you up for revisionary sessions at the libary, do you understand?” LAYING DOWN THE LAW.

                                                            – NGRR…                                   …BUT WHY WOULDN’T HER YOUNGER SISTER JUST GIVE UP!?!?

Stop. Pushing. It. Panic had begun to fire in her neurons, pushing Sae beyond the brink of lashing out. (That had been when she’d grounded her, took everything away, and enforced a curfew via blackmail.) “My feelings? What feelings? Since when did we let the feelings of others affect us?” Yeah, her own defense was, IRONICALLY, falling apart at the seams. It made sense. She’d given up being a DEFENSE ATTORNEY when their dad died. “Reproach me? Might I remind you who is in charge around here?” The way Makoto failed to maintain eye contact gave Sae AN OUNCE of power. She’d stretch that into a METRIC TONNE if it meant escaping this conversation. Woman had reached that same point she had back when… When the word USELESS had been throwing around. And the phase ‘EAT AWAY AT MY LIFE’. A memory Sae had YET to forgive herself for. More to the point, that black and white blurr meant that Sae had FAILED to notice Makoto’s ailing health. Hopefully she wouldn’t ACTUALLY COLLAPSE. “W-What do you mean? What are you talking about?” But it just kept coming. The cold. Hard. Truth. (Even as Makoto HERSELF defended it.) And before Sae knew it… Facing down the words from her own sister’s mouth… Firing around her brain in frantic chaos… Sae lashed once more. “What are you? INSANE? Those search results were not about ME. And they were NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!” But in her irrational explosion of emotion… Sae may have missed one crucial detail… And it all depended on how close Makoto’s attention had been to the SEARCH RESULTS. Because more than a few mentioned JUDAISM BY NAME. And even the DEATH OF ONE’S PARENTS. Still… Makoto HAD thrown Sae a LIFELINE… Even if the thought of a woman OTHER than Makoto left her SICK TO HER STOMACH.

          “FINE.” Clean & decisive response was all she offered to her big sister’s terms of punishment — Funny thing was; The more DEFENSIVE Sae Niijima became, the more incriminating the evidence was against her. As a Public Prosecutor who spent a majority of her time INTERROGATING others, you’d THINK she’d make a conscious effort to avoid such glaring signs of GUILT. Makoto supposed that was what made emotional reactions so dangerous & damning in the court of law. (She too had fallen victim to her own passions when she recklessly approached Kaneshiro to prove her WORTH). Bony fingers scrunched & knotted at the fabric of her plaid skirt — Unintentionally bunching it up & exposing a few extra centimeters of stocking-clad thighs. NERVES were crashing over her, & it was taking every ounce of DETERMINATION she possessed to keep her chin held high & fight to maintain eye-contact. Battle she was LOSING. However, she would WIN THE WAR. 

Childish GROWL punctuated the air as Makoto spitefully AGREED to her punishment, only further frustrated the already too far flustered Sae. This right here was EXACTLY why Sae hated emotions; Practising meticulously by the daily to REMOVE THEM FROM HER BRAIN. She believed she saw things more RATIONALLY that way. Though, in reality it merely helped her more effectively reinforce her BIAS PREJUDICES. Instead, here she was, stumbling over her own defenses like a rat chasing its own tail in a rat cage, each second evermore incriminating than the last. Didn’t help that, as Makoto steadily grew more ANXIOUS by the minute, she’d been... AHEM... Inadvertently tugging on the pleats of her skirt, and Sae had caught the FAINTEST GLIMPSE of her baby sister’s STOCKING CLAD THIGHS, driving a gasping breath out of Sae who fought to LOOK AWAY. “Then why am I the one being questioned here? Why is any of this even in question?” Truth was: Woman had never felt this HELPLESS. “Why do I have to sit here and listen to this DRIVEL about incest and repressed homosexuality and what I may or may not have googled?” Honestly, this was a CURIOUS GLIMPSE into what could have been had SAE NIIJIMA been the younger sister. “Why does the invasion of MY PRIVACY on MY CONFIDENTIAL WORK COMPUTER get overlooked, huh?!” Let’s ignore the fact that Makoto just ACCEPTED her terms of punishment for that. In truth, the prosecutioner had come a LITTLE BIT UNGLUED at this percieved POWER STRUGGLE. And now she was lost in her rant, she’d likely not stop until-- Oh-, OH--...

                                                                                        UNTIL THAT.

“Really? You seemed to change your mind awfully fast.” Despite BLUNT CYNICISM, the marked increase in Ganyu’s mood QUAVERING in her voice. She’d even bounced forward the slightest step without realizing it. Years of servitude had conditioned somewhat of a PAVLOVIAN RESPONSE to positive reinforcement. Made her feel SPECIAL & WANTED & IMPORTANT. And within a blink of an eye, Ganyu had suddenly shifted from a regressing, shrunken, anxious-ridden wallflower, back into a CONFIDENT & GLOWING force of nature. “Well you should still take time to rest! What if there’s an amazing recipe staring you right in the face and you’re just not realizing it?” WAIT. Was Ganyu still referring to cooking with that line? It had to be a bit of both. Girl wasn’t even AWARE of her feelings toward Xiangling. So how could she have intended those words to mean anything beyond the literal? Smiled graced pretty lips when Xiangling readily related herself to the Qilin-Human Hybrid. “Yes, I guess you are right. We both DO spend an awful lot of time at work.” VOLUNTARY OVERTIME AT THAT. “It’s really hard to take a second to breathe, isn’t it?” No one had ever massaged Ganyu. Albeit, partially because MEMORIES had bred a resistance and hesitation to letting ANYONE get so close to her. Her insomnia was an easily remedied case, after all. “Yes you should lay down so I can best access your chakra, nerves, knots and muscles.” Would give her FULL ACCESS. “T-Take you dress off?” Question was purely rhetorical, punctuated with a HUM. “That had been the very kind of boundary I had been referring to.” Ganyu was PLAYING WITH HER HAIR NOW. Unusual anxious tic that the hybrid didn’t even realize she had. (Why did Xiangling get her so anxious?) “You would at least need to loosen it. Take off the ribbon and jacket, of course.” After all it was her NECK she was clutching. “B-But if you WERE to take off your dress then I’d have the highest chance for the best possible results.” Not even a WORD of a lie. “But really it’s up to you. I would never want to make you uncomfortable.”

Simple nod as a hum of agreement resonated HARMONICALLY in Ganyu’s throat, hands pressed together in her lap now. “I do agree, but sleep IS important. Especially for humans to maintain a high level of functionality. Your levels of exhaustion likely correlates quite directly with your flagrant frequency of burning woks.” BLUNT AS FUCK. But Ganyu meant zero ill-will. “Hm.” And speaking of mere observational assertions, here Xiangling was offering a little FOOD FOR THOUGHT. (...Pun... Unintended...) “That much IS also true. You are far less likely to find food in your bed than out in the wild.” Was that if Xiangling’s logic? Did Xiangling even HAVE logic? One could suppose that also proved the theory that Ganyu had in NO WAY consciously calculated her analogy that so transparently reflected her own WITLESS CRUSH. “But nevertheless, I’d still recommend it.” How wildly splintering both conversations at hand presently were. The first flowed so seamless and carelessly regarding the EFFICIENCY & BENEFITS of sleep cycles in humans. The other... The other had brought Xiangling to another QUIET JUDDER. What exactly was going through that young girl’s head? It had to be either some kind of moral battle with her own secret relationship OR some kind of personal battle with her own insecurities. “Again, you don’t have to--...” NEVERMIND. Ganyu was just about to give yet another opportunity for Xiangling to DUCK OUT but the girl had instead responded in a manner that could only ENTIRELY ERASE the idea that it had anything REMOTELY to do with PERSONAL INSECURITIES. As Xiangling reduced to a giggling little ball of infernal excitement tearing away at RIBBONS and JACKETS and DRESSES until-- Until... -- Until...

                                                                                     -- OH MY...

One hand clenched up, held close to Ganyu’s heart as she looked away, blushing VEHEMENTLY. She hadn’t exactly saw TOO MUCH as Xiangling had been dancing and jiving and skipping and otherwise frolicking her way throguh to Ganyu’s bedroom. But she’d caught a glimpse of her PERKY RIGHT BREAST and had FULL VIEW of the dimples and freckles and grooves of Xiangling’s naked back. Not to mention the STRIP TEASE ITSELF. And, well, the sight of Xiangling in JUST a tiny pair of SHORT SHORTS. The chef needn’t have offered a FULL FRONTAL EXPOSE to take Ganyu’s breath away. Thighs rubbed together subconsciously and the Qilin took but a second to BREATHE, to SWALLOW, to COLLECT HERSELF. Why did her stomach feel like it was full of PHOENIXIAN BUTTERFLIES?! Like she herself had become home to one of those fabled seelies hidden away on Dragonspine? Again, massages were not uncommon in Ganyu’s line of work. As secretary she had offered and given massages to HUNDREDS of Liyue’s governing body across an entire MILLENNIA of service. She’d seen Keqing ENTIRELY NAKED more times than she could count. Beidou, too. And go figure a lot of Millelith men JUMPED at the chance to have a female’s hands all over their bodies. But none had EVER evoked a response from or in GANYU HERSELF. Teeth nipped at bottom lip as hands combed through sky blue strands. Okay, maybe NOW Ganyu knew that she had a thing for Xiangling. But it was PURELY PHYSICAL. And that meant she could IGNORE IT -- ...Right? Call out from the very next room and she shrunk in to herself once more, taking another gulp.

“Oh?” Reaction caught Ganyu off-guard. Suffice to say, the half-breed had never had someone react with such CONFRONTATIONAL SURPRISE to an offer of a BACK RUB. Many, such as Ningguang would just politely decline. Some, such as Keqing would kindly thank her for the help. In her thousand years of experience in Liyue, the only people who SHIED AWAY were… Well… They were PEOPLE ALREADY TAKEN. But Xiangling had no relationships to speak of… The Qixing would KNOW if she did… – Right? “My apologies. I was not expecting the offer to be so… Problematic.” Despite her words, there had been NO OFFENSE TAKEN by the Qilin. Rather, a logical removal of the option from the table. (Though, maybe the idea of Xiangling being in a committed relationship had her a little SHAKEN. It was WEIRD.) “Really, it’s– Huh?” Step forward and omniluscent eyes scanned themselves thoroughly across Xiangling’s aching frame. “You really should seek therapeutic help. Or– Or at least lay yourself down and rest.” HYPOCRITE. Ganyu had so far been awake for exactly thirty seven hours and twenty four minutes. SLEEP had attempted to take her on multiple occasions. But her contract had her so busy. And she was DETERMINED to do right by Rex Lapis and the Liyue Qixing. “Double shifts? W-Well? Do you want the massage? You could sit down or even lay down and it really wouldn’t take long.” Hopefully. Really it depended entirely on where her muscles were the MOST TENSE. Such was the very reason committed folks would react so. Massages were… INHERENTLY INTIMATE processes. But… “You can even set the boundaries and limits, if that helps.”