Moonlark Turned Evil

Inktober Special: Massive

GUYS GUYS GUYS IF ANYONE HERE IS A FAN OF SCUM VILLAIN YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO READ THIS FIC ON AO3

So basically *takes deep breath* SY is transmigrated into SQQ's body like he is at the start of the canon series, except he can't understand Chinese- And so all the peak lords and disciples have to stare in bewilderment as he goes around spouting gibberish (read: english)

BUT

BUT

Here is where SQH and SQQ meet during a PEAK LORD'S MEETING and find each other out by RECITING MEMES IN ENGLISH

I actually had to get up and running around because I was laughing too hard

Alright I'll stop rambling here

The fic is called "Goddamn it! Where the hell is google translate!!?"

Btw if anyone knows any fics where SQH and SQQ have their usual stupid goofy ass friendship (or a romantic relationship, I lowkey kinda ship them), please recommend it to me, I'm starving for cumplane content

Ik that Tiergan took them in in canon but MTE was written in the spirit of fuck all that is canon this is the new way and I shall continue this

Elwin Heslege wasn't in the habit of collecting children.

And yet, here they were—standing at the entrance to the bright, glass structure of Splendour Plains, Elwin and two children that he had . . . collected.

Okay, collected was a bad word. He was going to stop using that from now on.

Then again, what else was he supposed to say?

He couldn't say adopted, since he actually hadn't adopted these two: Linh and Tam Song. They had been set to return to Choralmere once their banishment had ended, after all, to go back to the very parents who had allowed them to be sent to Exillium. The Councillors had remained impassive despite the twins' pleading, and it was only because Elwin was in the room at the time, checking for injuries, that he was able to change the course of the conversation and ask Councillor Emery to let the two of them stay with him for 'the time being'.

Whether that was a few days or a few months remained unspecified, and Elwin hoped Emery would allow it to slip past him without much complaint. He just couldn't stand the thought of Linh and Tam going back to their parents.

Which was odd, to say the least, since he actually hadn't exchanged more than a few words with either of them.

Whatever it was that influenced his decision making to become the mess that it had been today, Elwin was now in charge of taking care of two children who'd just been subjected to one of the most ridiculous aspects of the elvin nation's sentencing system. Really, to banish a child because she couldn't control her ability? And her brother because he stepped in to protect her?

It seemed the Council was morally bankrupt and needed to go begging for someone who was willing to spare some extra braincells.

Elwin shoved all thoughts aside and smiled at the twins. "Welcome to Splendour Plains. Please make yourselves at home."

He led them in without further ado, watching as they shielded their eyes against the sun, reflected blindingly bright in the thousands upon thousands of glass panels that was his residence.

"It's massive," Linh murmured under her breath to her brother.

Elwin pretended not to hear, giving them a tour with the highlights. "There are stuffed animals everywhere, if you want one to cuddle at night," he said, gesturing to the many surfaces that carried the precious little creatures. "I can tell you all of their names and stories, too."

The twins' shared look of, Is he okay? didn't go unnoticed by Elwin, but he took it in stride.

"This is the living room, the kitchen . . ." Most of the rooms were breezed through without much of an explanation. It was an elvin house, of course it was too big to go through all at once. They'd tire themselves out before they had the chance to explore even half of it.

"Ah, and here are the rooms you'll be staying in," Elwin said happily, coming to a stop. "I wasn't sure whether you'd want to be together, so I chose two that are connected inside."

Linh and Tam exchanged a guarded glance, before Tam said on their behalf, "Thank you for your hospitality."

"No problem at all," Elwin smiled. "I'll let you two get settled. If you need anything, I'll just be making food in the kitchen. Oh, and there should be changes of clothing in something at least similar to your sizes in the wardrobes. If anything doesn't fit, we can buy something new, so let me know, please."

He left the two of them to their business, wading through his own thoughts as he traversed the halls.

They really were just kids, and incredibly protective of each other, from the looks of it. Elwin couldn't blame them for that. They only had each other to rely on this whole time, after all.

God, this Council truly was led by morons.

It barely took twenty minutes for the twins to find him, hair brushed and clothing changed from the tattered and muddy Exillium hand-me-downs(?) they'd been wearing since their return to the Lost Cities. Elwin had just finished preparing a simple pot of soup, and he doled it out into bowls that he handed to them.

"Go, sit down," he said. "I don't think you've eaten very much in a while, have you?"

There was no answer, and neither of them moved to eat, but they sat anyway, and Elwin could count that as a win.

He served himself some soup and sat down across from them, deliberately spooning a mouthful and swallowing it. He didn't assure them out loud that it wasn't poisoned, but him being able to eat it without keeling over and dying seemed to convince the twins enough to cautiously follow suit.

"We only got to see each other during the checkup, so I don't think you guys know very much about me," Ewin said, setting aside his spoon for the moment. He plowed on, undeterred by how neither of them were responding. "My name is Elwin Heslage, and I'm a physician. I work a little bit here and there, all over the place, but my main job is at Foxfire."

"Elvin nobles' school," Linh recited quietly. "Hard to get into. Easy to be expelled."

Elwin chuckled. "I'm sure that summary wouldn't be appreciated, but it certainly is correct. Is there anything the two of you want to ask me?"

They locked eyes with each other, seeming to communicate silently. The twins had already manifested as a Shade and a Hydrokinetic, so there was no way either of them was also a Telepath, yet it looked like an entire discussion took place before Tam said slowly, "Why did you take us in?"

Ah.

So that was the burning question.

"Neither of you seemed to want to return to Choralmere," Elwin replied, refraining from uttering the words your parents in case he hit a nerve that he didn't want to damage. "Knowing the Council, they wouldn't have arranged an alternative, so I offered."

"'So you offered'?" Tam repeated, narrowing his eyes. He voiced nothing of the rest of that sentence, but Elwin could pluck it out of the air between them and read it quite easily as if the words had actually been spoken.

Elwin quietly mused over what he should say, before finally deciding on, "I understand that you wouldn't trust me. I had . . . a similar experience to you when I was younger. Not exactly the same," he clarified, when both Linh and Tam snapped their gazes up from their still almost full soup bowls to look at him, "but I was betrayed by someone I held very dear to me." More than just one person, actually, he added on in his mind with a light grimace.

"Pity, then," Linh decided, like there could be no other reason behind his actions.

"No, not pity," Elwin said. "I just wanted to give you two a chance. Because no one gave me mine."

There was a beat of silence.

"Your house is massive," Linh muttered once more, but this time it was less bitter and more of a statement.

Yep, Elwin could definitely count this conversation as a win.