#exile!verse

Title: (Last) American Christmas

Fandom: Arrow

‘Ship: Nyssa al Ghul/Sara Lance

Rating: PG-13 (some violence, some swearing)

Summary: The Lance-al Ghuls head to Starling City for Christmas. (Long delayed Exile!fic. Furthest in the future we've been yet)

Read on: AO3 or FF.NET

"Embarrassing home haircut, check. Schoolbag, check. Uniform, check. Did ya pack the bento... yep, check. Ya look chipper 'ta be off 'ta school. Remember the mission!!" She's fastening his school tie but it's so tight it must be strangling him. "Persuade Kurosaki!!" // Verse: that time Shinji enrolled as a highschooler lolol, all the vizard standing around taking his photo 😂😂

          He was about done being fussed over and laughed at by the rest all morning long. After having been brow beaten and outvoted to take this ridiculous role - you're the most suitable out of all us, Lisa had blandly pointed out with unfailing logic and Kensei, Rose, Love and Hachi had immediately backed her up - mostly because none of them wanted to go in exchange, those shitheads. The same shitheads who were now either outright exuding amusement and/or trying not to look completely dismayed by the current dumbed down appearance of their wise and great leader. 

          Shinji was gnashing to leave the warehouse already. How hard was it going to be, recruiting a teenage boy riding high on hormones and testosterone, with an intense passion for wielding his long, big, sword? Shinji consoled himself, pride still smarting from the overly done bowl cut. Aa, worse comes to worst, there were sure to be cute high school girls abound too in Karakura High, so mayyybe this mission wasn’t going to be as horriblaack!! 

          Gagging at the sudden pressure around his windpipe, he slapped the monkey’s hands away and stepped back, clawing fingers easing the overly tight knot loose, glowering at the smirking chimp. 

               “ Will ya stop that? And who are ya callin’ embarrassing? ” Already annoyed by the farce of putting a full grown man like himself back in high school, Shinji snatched his man-purse (with Hiyori’s Shitty Bento inside) before it could be lobbed at his head by the increasingly violent brat. “ Yeah, yeah! Stop naggin’ me, already! I know what I gotta do. Are ya my mom? ”

          He marched straight to the door with the rest of the Visoreds standing around looking like new parents watching their only son toddle off to school on his first day...before he stopped abruptly and pointed warningly at Hiyori, who had tailed behind him automatically, as usual. 

He looked rather pleased with himself then, because even though Shinji hadn't technically agreed, Rose knew he could count on him to be sensitive about these sorts of things when asked. He smiled a little, gaze wandering over to their resident self-proclaimed monkey's room. Surely she was admiring the way she looked in that dress. That, or she was eating all the wagashi he had given her. Just as likely. "Just enhancing what is already there, that's all~"

               “ ...Just enhancing, huh. ” What was that even supposed to mean? The gentle smile on Rose’s face calmed his nerves, however. Shinji knew, that with Rose’s artful flair and eye for detail, that Hiyori was in good hands. He had been exposed to some incredibly awful/hilarious ordeals of the brat running around the barracks after doodling on her own face with Kirio’s makeup before, back when they were still in the Gotei. Nothing that Rose could come up with would top that, for sure-

"It's getting serious again." He scowls at the paper and folds it in half to hand it to Shinji. "What do we do when war arrives..?" Should they stand with the humans? Lend their strength? He feels a twisted kind of duty for it. Not to mention.. War usually means a lot of souls needing passage into the spirit world. Which meant.. An awful lot of shinigami-traffic. //exile verse WW2(?)

          Shinji silently accepted the newspaper from his friend, a serious expression on his face. The screaming headlines could not be any louder; as expected, the talks had fallen through and the Allied forces were coming. Supplies were becoming more and more strictly controlled, basic necessities like grains, sugar and salt were drying up fast, and the atmosphere in the air was tense and brittle, everyone treading lightly with trepidation and baited breaths, just waiting for the inevitable other shoe to drop. 

          Yesterday, the air raid sirens had howled through the city for the very first time, sending the citizens into a panicked frenzy as they frantically tried to burrow into crammed makeshift shelters that were ill-equipped and under-prepared for an actual air raid. In the end, it had been a false alarm, but it had also emphatically driven home the dire situation they were all in. The People of the Rising Sun, who had so far only enjoyed the glory and prosperity of a country raging on an unforgiving warpath, were now starting to experience the true terror of invasion. 

               “ At this point, what can we do? ” It was not...right for them to interfere with the activities of the living; the sheer scale of war was far beyond any effort they could feasibly effect...and yet... 

          Shinji tucked the newspaper under his arm, tugged his flat cap low over his eyes. He was quiet for the longest time. “ ...Let’s play by ear. That abandoned steelworks warehouse we found the other day; has Hachi fortified the parameters already? I’ll check with Kisuke; see if he can help create somethin’ similar as that underground basement of his, but we’re all prolly gonna hafta chip in serious effort ‘ta pull it off in the shortest amount of time- ”

          There was just no way they could rustle up enough food to feed the living, certainly not in this dire political climate when they could barely manage to support themselves, but when the bombs come...perhaps some lives could be preserved. Shinji glanced askance at his equally grim-faced companion. “ ...What else d’ya think we should do? ” 

@sarugakisan​ said:

— “’s too damn easy ta entice ya, ye pervert baldy !” She scolds, scowling deeply at him. What had it been? Some type of girly event that was guaranteed to draw out all the beauties of Karakura. Some release of a new product all women all over Japan apparently needed in their home. Hiyori wasn’t so sure, but under the guise of her, Mashiro and Lisa surely needing this promised wonder, Shinji was trying to drag her along.

    Now, of course, the real reason came out. “I ain’t comin’ with ya so you can get in an’ pick up chicks.” She doesn’t even care about the free food and booze, and that is saying something.

         He stuck his tongue out at her accusation, guilty as charged. He wasn’t sorry at being called out, however

              “ Ey, what’s wrong with goin’ ‘ta a nice place ‘ta look at pretty things every now and then? ” he asked baldly, angling a stare at her usual pinched, tetchy demeanor. She looked like she had slept badly again, the bruises beneath her eyes seemingly heavier than usual. Getting her outside for a while was looking more and more like a great idea by the second. “ The eats and drinks are free at the event, and heaven knows ya can certainly stand’a smell a bit better- ”

"Taste this." He holds up his tasting spoon for Shinji. A fragrant, red curry with a piece of chicken sits upon it. "Too spicy or not?" He's got a very, very good resistance to spice, and so he sometimes needs other members of his family to check. After that one debacle of pretty much all of them burning their esophagus's out of their bodies, he'd like to avoid that result in his cooking.

          The entire warehouse smelled irresistibly good right now; a rich, fragrant aroma of exotic herbs and spices wafting lazily through the entire building. Having just returned from a quick patrol in town, Shinji proceeded to follow his nose and moseyed his way into the kitchen where Kensei was hard at work preparing dinner. 

               “ S’up, chef? Curry night, huh? ”

          Shinji grinned and willingly volunteered himself as taste tester. Kensei’s curries were always a hot favorite amongst the group. Robust with flavor and deeply warming, it was a great comfort meal to have especially on a cold and rainy day. Fortunately, he was the only one around right now, or there would have been a squabbling line clamoring to ‘taste-test’ the goods. 

               “ Don’t mind if I do~ ” He opened his mouth and accepted the spoonful of savory, spicy red sauce, combined with the tender, succulent piece of chicken. Shinji hummed with delight as he chewed; it was as if a flavor bomb had just gone off in his mouth. He took his time to savor the morsel, enjoying the complex blend of spices and welcoming the scorching heat of the chili as it spread across his tongue and palate, and then all the way down his throat when he swallowed. A faint sheen of perspiration coated his forehead, but he was smiling. Shinji flashed their resident cook a thumbs up. Two thumbs up, actually. 

          Shinji lifted a brow at Rose’s random questioning. 

          It had only been weeks after their forced exile from Soul Society and everything had been an uphill struggle so far. Currently, they were putting up at an old, abandoned machiya near the outskirts of Edo, because it was near impossible for pursuing Shinigami to detect them when they were hiding in plain sight amongst humans. 

          …But at the same time, the presence of so many Souls densely concentrated within the city also made it extremely tough for them to hang onto their fraying threads of sanity whenever their Inner Hollows, currently subjugated under immensely powerful reiatsu suppression seals, randomly flared up. 

          The suppression seals were but only a temporary measure, but maybe Kisuke would be able to figure something out to help them completely eradicate this malicious taint corrupting their bodies. Shinji still had hoped, at the very least. 

          The other blond’s query was a welcome distraction. 

               “ …What d’ya mean? Other than Hiyori deliberately evadin’ me with that tragic gutted look on her face every time she sees me? ”

          That foolish girl had been riddled by guilt whenever her gaze so much as fell upon the long gash that she had inflicted on him back when she was struggling to resist her own hollowfication. Her blade had flayed him open from his left shoulder down to his right hip, but while the wound was long, it wasn’t particularly deep. He was healing well, but what was even more annoying than the itching skin and flesh slowly knitting back together diagonally down his torso was her stricken stare…and then her evading him. Just thinking about it was enough to get his brow ticking with visible pique.

          Did she really think that he would resent her for something that was an accident, and clearly out of her control? Really, that ‘lil idiot. 

things you said at 1 am (Exile!verse)

“Won’t it be nice to have a baby in the house again, you said. Don’t you miss the baby years, you said.”

“I’m an idiot, okay? Do you feel better?”

“No,” Nyssa says, almost petulantly.

Nyssa continues to rock seven-month-old Soraya instinctively. Soraya continue to wail. She’s an expert at that.

“We should bring her back to Nanda Parbat. Bring her to the dungeons. Anyone withholding intelligence would break within an hour,” Nyssa says.

“Oh good, let’s use our kid as a torture device.”

“Our child is already a torture device. I’m simply suggesting we use her for a purpose.”

Sara has a retort but then pauses, with a grin. “Our kid.”

Nyssa’s annoyance fades. She presses a kiss to Soraya’s sweaty temple.

It is night 7 on Paradise Island, less than a month into their new lives as a greatly expanded family. 

“I had forgotten how unending the nights can be at this age,” Nyssa says more softly.

“Yeah. You think Damian’s old enough to tap in?”

“I do not,” Nyssa disappoints her.

“Damn. Would have been good payback.”

“One of us could get some rest.”

“Nah,” Sara smiles. “We’re in this together. But I’m going to have to break out the big guns.”

“Are we truly there?”

“Yes. We are. It’s Guns & Roses times.”

Sara likes to think that Nyssa’s groan is one of joy.

_______________________________________________

things you said when you were drunk

“You know. We really are just ninjas,” Sara giggles. She presses her bare foot against Nyssa’s hip. She takes another sip of her beautifully fruity concoction. She loves it when Thea makes the drinks.

“Bite your tongue,” Nyssa shoots back, sipping on her more dignified whisky.

“No,” Sara grins widely. “You do it.”

Nyssa’s eyes narrow and then she sets her whisky down, very slowly. She stalks over the couch, knees on either side of Sara’s hips.

“You are such a brat when you are drunk,” she says, her face oh so close to Sara’s, and yet not close enough.

“Yeah, but you love it.”