#tsukamaki

THIS ONE IS SO HARD but okay I'll give you my top 3 in no particular order:

Caitlyn hiring Lest in Cherry-Lemon. I love that Caitlyn makes the choice to address this trauma she has without waiting for Vi. It's a real moment of growth for her.

Vi and Jinx's fight in Seismology. I really wanted to explore the two of them arguing as equals. One of the big things in Seismology with Jinx has been her taking responsibility for the hurt she caused and so that fight was really important.

The reveal of Caitlyn in Tsukamaki. Right after I posted it, I was worried that I hadn't built the world up enough for it to hit. So watching everyone spiral out about it was awesome and super satisfying.

“Caitlyn.”

Caitlyn pauses doing up her cloak as her mother approaches. It feels as though she has aged her parents ten years in the span of a few days. Caitlyn tries not to shift her weight as she stands there. Her mother is her sovereign, but she’s also her mum. And the past few weeks with her have been a kindness Caitlyn never thought she would get. But it makes this next bit harder. So much harder. There is a part of Caitlyn that just wants to throw herself into her mother’s embrace and never leave. Even if they have just fought over whether or not she will be shuffled around. They look at each other for a moment before her mother moves forward and wraps her arms around her. It’s a tight embrace, but for once there are no words that accompany it. No warnings, no reminders, just a tight squeeze that Caitlyn sinks into. She buries her face in her mother’s shoulder like she has not done since she was a child, since she had to push up to do it instead of curving her neck down. 

“I’ll see you soon,” she says, when they finally must pull apart. 

Her mother nods as Caitlyn fights the burning that has spread from her ribs to her throat. It’s never easy to watch her mother take her place as the queen, but this time it hurts even more. All of the other Knights who wear her face look equally emotional, they always do. It’s a kindness concocted by someone in her line, someone who realized it was probably a step too far to ask the heir not to be emotional at every parting. But this time it is harder. This time Caitlyn feels the weight of parting even more. It aches through her as she is absorbed by the crowd. Everyone here would lay down their lives to protect her. Guilt burns through her as Caitlyn aches with the knowledge she has very nearly rendered their sacrifice irrelevant with her selfishness. Even if one of them was shifted to take her place, they would know. Her mother would know. Caitlyn has no-one to blame for that but herself. Even though she held on, even though it didn’t happen. The longer time spent with her mother, the harder parting—all of it feels like some kind of punishment she deserves. Caitlyn can feel the sob building even as she pushes it back. Her parents are watching. It’s hard to hear a few of the others sob but Caitlyn tries not to. This time it’s a losing battle. She’s one of the first at the gates. This feels like running away and leaving a part of her behind. A part of her soul, perhaps. 

Because the gates opening and Caitlyn knows it’s not her heart. 

That is already elsewhere. 

“Vi!” 

The name tears out of her as Vi whips around. Her eyes go wide at the sight of her. Caitlyn barely notices the shadows under her eyes, the unkept length of her hair, the white knuckled grip on her sword—all of it falls away as she throws herself through the half opened gates. Vi’s arms are open and that is all it takes for Cailtyn to fling herself into the embrace. For all her shock, it only takes a moment for Vi’s arms to lock around her. In that moment Caitlyn can hear the pound of her heart, the catch of her breath, but then she hears the sigh of relief as Vi’s arms clutch her back. Dimly Caitlyn can hear the chaos surrounding them, but it flies by as though happening to someone else. The only thing that matters is the way Vi tucks her head against hers as she holds her close. 

“Gods, Cait—“ she breathes and Caitlyn just tries to press herself closer. 

“I know,” she says.

Vi lets out a weak laugh instead of arguing. She buries herself closer and only Caitlyn can hear the choked half-sob that leaves her. It makes Caitlyn clutch her back even tighter. Vi smells horrible, but somewhere under that smell of stress and worry is the smell of Vi. And that’s what matters. Especially as the adrenaline and relief make Vi sink into her embrace. They shift somehow from Vi holding her up to Caitlyn returning the favor, both of their knees embarrassingly weak. But Caitlyn’s side reminds her that she’s healed but not entirely. And the idea of dropping Vi isn’t one she’ll entertain. 

“Let’s get back to the inn,” she says. Vi nods against her, “when did you last sleep?”

Vi pulls back with a weak sound that might be a laugh and Caitlyn gets her first real look at her in weeks. Everything in her aches at the sight as she takes in her appearance. She begged them to send word to Vi, but it’s clear that wasn’t done. Caitlyn reaches out and touches Vi’s cheek. She turns her face into her hand, her breath coming down Caitlyn’s wrist. But when she opens her eyes, she manages a weak smile. 

“You can’t go worrying about me,” she says, “you’re the one who almost got yourself killed.”

“Then why do you look as though you’re dying?” Caitlyn asks helplessly. 

Vi doesn’t have to answer. It’s the same reason Caitlyn knows her heart was not left in the palace. That it hasn’t been there for years now. It’s why Vi lets her lead her back to the inn and get her into the bath. Why even though Vi is exhausted and Caitlyn’s ribs are aching, they won’t sleep for hours. There’s nothing to catch up on, it’s not as though they have done anything for the past weeks. But neither can quite believe this worked. That they are back together when everything from tradition to logic says they shouldn’t be. But for now, Vi smiles and shrugs and even manages to wink like they are fresh of that muddied field where they first met. And just like back then, when Vi also had no business winking and smiling, Caitlyn cannot help but smile back. 

16

pls and thank you🙏🏻

16 is my prequel to tsukamaki where Caitlyn gets stabbed saving Vi and Vi has to get her home before she dies, even though it's not clear if the crown will save her.

“Vi?”

The soft, pained call of her name almost makes Vi drop the water. Five minutes, she was gone for five minutes because they were going to be out of water. Caitlyn was dozing nearby and she thought—it doesn’t matter what she thought. Vi left her and Caitlyn woke up. Vi crosses the short distance to where she left Caitlyn laying down with her feet up. Like Steb told her to do. Both of their cloaks are tucked over her. Vi didn’t want to stop. It killed her to stop. But the horse isn’t going to make it if she rides at a dead gallop through the night, not unless they stop for water. 

“Hey, hey I’m here,” Vi says, kneeling next to Caitlyn. She wastes no time sliding her hand under Caitlyn’s skull and trying to guide it up so she can drink, “just try,” she says when Caitlyn’s brow furrows, “for me.”

This will probably hurt her more than all the wounds she got so far.

Great job once again.

Thank you so much! I'm hoping the reveal is going to be super satisfying. I almost had it happen this chapter but I realized there was a way better place for it. it does happen soon thought!

Vi's got some serious wounds in this fic (everyone tell @qvert to stop judging me I can hear her rolling her eyes) but we all know I try to have my AUs have the root of the characters in them. Here I really wanted to play with the whole dynamic kind of post-life saving/pre-bridge explosion so Vi did have to go through the ringer, but in a different way.

Like the knight one right now, I'm loving it so much that if you stopped updating it for fractals or Anomalies, which I also really want, I'd be like nooo Where's my prince Cait?

Basically, what I'm saying, as long as you keep writing caitvi, I'm happy with anything you give us because it's always so good.

Oh this is such a sweet message and don't worry I am like over a thousand words into both the anomalies and fractal updates. But I'm so happy to hear you're giving my knight fic a shot! In a weird way I feel like Knight!CaitVi has joined the pantheon of my other "we met as kids but can't be together for some reason" fics like Fractal, Anomalies and the Soulmate AU.

I have been ever since I discovered it was about handle wrapping and am curious as to why you named it as such

You’re not the only one! I think it will become clearer as the story progresses so i don’t want to just give the answer since it’s a plot point. But as the story progresses it should be clear. If not ask me again 😆