#bc what he is is a monster and while he actively does not want to die it would probably be better for humanity if he was

[oldmyths]

i have a disease that makes me want to watch true detective s1 whenever i watch anything else

[lil-oreo-crumbles]

You know back when the AU was a comic, I was able to gloss over so much of the politics of Mewni Creek I was not well equipped to handle and focus instead on the relationships and bonds that were important to the story going forward and explain the new governmental system of this combined world after it had been established and the masses calmed long down.

But now? Now that it’s a fic? Now that I have to essentially re-start the Ovelia establishment and better flesh out her blossoming friendships and connections to the main cast?

I’ve really gotta buckle down and write the politics and post-Cleaved chaos don’t I.

Man…

[pomegranatesandtangerines]

based off this post

how I think (some of) the Dungeon Meshi characters would interact with an isekai-ed reader who's hyperfixation is dungeon meshi

includes: Laios, Falin, Kabru, and Toshiro (Shuro)

Laios

im imaging reader meeting him when he was a child

a little after Falin was born and after he was given the dungeon gourmet guide

reader actively seeking him out but kinda starts freaking out when they actually see him

reader decides to go with the approach being interested in his book

Laios was suspicious at first ( the book is one of the main reasons he got bullied )

but after some time and patience he got comfortable with you

I feel that Laios would be very attached to reader

like someone besides his sister who gets him, listens to him, communicates with him, etc.

listen as someone who is very hyperfixated on dungeon meshi at the moment I would be so invested in learning about monsters

and Laios is more then happy to talk about it for hours

reader making a point to support his dream of exploring the dungeons bc his parents are dicks

he wouldn't really be weirded out by reader seems to know so much about him, maybe early on but over time I feel he would just be glad to have someone like that by his side

low-key though,,, I think there would be a small small part of him that is kinda jealous over how reader seems to just,, get some people

Falin

I see reader being her number one hype-person as a child

reader would also beg her to teach them some magic

I think that Falin and reader would meet through Laios

Falin while she is outcasted from her home town, is still a litter more sociable then her brother

but what had her truly open up was not only the readers support of her magical talent but also the readers interest in learning about how biology works in this world

she also info dumps a ton

you know how she kept bringing Marcille things cause she wanted to eat them with her

she would 100% do that with reader,,, and the amount would increase when Laios leaves

Kabru

he would be veryyy fascinated by the reader

his hyperfixation is people. studying them, their anatomy, psychology, how they tick

he would absolutely notice how reader picks up on things, knows things about some people without even having met them, predict events

to put it simply he wants to study reader under a microscope but is also extremely suspicious of them

he's also gonna pull out all the stops to try charm his way into understanding reader

his distrust sky rockets the first time they lock eyes, he can see it in his eyes, this look of understanding the deepest parts of him

he does not like it

it takes a long ass time for him trust them and genuinely open up again

reader making a point to ask things that will make him want to info dump

"hey did you notice how x was acting today" or "did you hear that x and y got together? do you think they'll make it?"

gossip buddies

Toshiro

ALRIGHT LET ME START BY SAYING THIS, HE IS WAYYYY TOO MISCHARACTERIZED IN THIS FANDOM

and reader would be all too aware of this as well

he is heavily implied to have a hyperfixation on bugs, and had to at a young age become a master at masking and picking up on social norms

but anyways-

he would think reader is weird, mostly bc they would remind him of laios

slowly but surely I feel he would feel more comfortable

another case of the way to his heart is through the info dump

maybe walking back from a little adventure and noticing a beetle and showing him

now hes not gonna be as outwardly as excited as Laios

but it is slightly noticeable that he is interested and excited

reader offers to give it to him and asks him some questions

less info dumping and more info sprinkling but still he does like to talk about it

I think he would appreciate how they seem to pick up on his smaller details, maybe not a perfectly but still

[ldrfanatic]

Slytherin Boys as 1989 Songs

+ bonus! the slytherin boys as romance tropes

I decided to shake this one up a bit and do all happy love songs

here's 1989 (tv ofc); which taylor swift album should i do next?

(mattheo riddle, draco malfoy, theo nott, lorenzo berkshire)

slytherin boys masterlist works

mattheo riddle as I Know Places

best lyric(s) - "let them say what they want we won't here it" + "love's a fragile little flame it could burn out" + "just grab my hand and don't ever drop it"

trope - enemies to lovers :)

mattheo w a crush - in love, mattheo is somewhere in the middle between being sappy and just straight up insulting you. not like calling you ugly or anything but like "damn i didn't know it was possible to mess up such an easy spell" like kind of teasing. he's one of those guys that will be mean at first and then be like playfully mean and then finally, will start being nice to you but only sometimes. he just thinks you're adorable when you're angry.

mattheo as a boyfriend - now as a boyfriend, mattheo still teases the hell out of you but god forbid literally anyone else does bc he'll kill them. like actually. also the pair of you go through a little bit of a rough patch during the war and he keeps telling you that you have to stay way from him but secretly, he's really happy that you never actually listen to him because he doesn't know what he would do without you. he just kind of ignores all the whispers and hogwarts becomes your guys' like safe little happy love bubble.

draco malfoy as Out of the Woods

best lyric(s) - "the rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming color" + "when you started crying baby i did too, when the sun came up i was looking at you" + "I walked out I said 'i'm setting you free' but the monsters turned out to be just trees"

trope - everyone can see it except for you

draco w a crush - I think draco would be the kind of guy that actively avoided his crush. like if you were sitting in the very front of transfigurations, he was sitting in the absolute furthers corner in the back. If you were going on the hogsmeade trip, he was begging his friends would leave him to simmer in his affections for you. he's just so nervous and so certain you'll dislike him that he'd rather not talk to you at all. when he finally does work up the courage, he's extremely happy and like eternally grateful that you'd give him a chance.

draco as a boyfriend - i do think though that draco is not always the best at communicating just because he always wants everything to be so perfect and he doesn't want there to be anything that he says that could make you resent him so he'd rather not say anything at all. obv, this doesn't work out well for him cause like... communicating w you is so essential. y'all get into arguments fairly regularly but you always end up making up because he's always just creating those demons in his head and it's almost never that serious.

theodore nott as Suburban Legends

best lyric(s) - "you were so magnetic it was almost obnoxious" + "when you hold me, it holds me together and you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever" + "you'd be more than a chapter in my old diaries with the pages ripped out"

trope - hopeless romantic

theo w a crush - I think with a crush theo would be the kind of guy that just simps like a mf. like you need someone to carry your books, he's there, why would you even try to carry them yourself? just let him take care of it. or like, when you're not feeling well and you might need to spend a few days in the hospital wing, while you're sleeping theo sneaks in and leaves the notes for the classes you missed as well as your favorite sweets and flowers. (one time when michael corner made you cry, he beat the snot out of him and then the next day left this huge teddy bear outside your door with the note "y/n, that douchebag sucks. -tn")

theo as a boyfriend - theo's simp nature carries over when he's a bf so he's super freaking caring. he does literally everything for you. he'll brush your hair when you get out of the shower if you ask. or if you're like me and you have like thicker ethnic hair, he'll ask you to show him how to do your hair so that he can do it for you. he's also one of those guys that's like casually dominant. like hand on your lower back in a crowd, opening your doors, reaching up and grabbing things from the top shelf for you. naturally protective in the sense of like he always wants to sleep closest to the door in case something happens and like is also always making sure you eat and get enough water.

lorenzo berkshire as "Slut!"

lyric(s) - "and if i'm gonna be drunk, i might as well be drunk in love" + "and i break down then he's pulling me in. in a world of boys he's a gentleman" + "got love struck went straight to my head"

trope - friends to lovers

enzo w a crush - enzo is the kind of guy who's not afraid to be in love. he actually loves it. he loves having someone to compliment and shower in gifts and win over. where mattheo would tease you, draco would avoid you, and theo would lose himself in you, enzo is the guy who would bring you inexplicable joy and make sure you knew that it was him that was bringing you joy. not to say that he wouldn't do sweet gestures and such but he's the sort of guy that will make you his best friend and then make you fall in love with him.

enzo as a boyfriend - because of this, you and enzo are like those like childhood friends turned lovers type of thing. he just knows you so well and the love between you two comes so easily. he makes it his personal mission to make you smile at least once a day. as your boyfriend, he's just really playful. things like pillow fights and tickle fights. he's also that boyfriend that will do all those little stupid tiktok trends with you but like really energetically and not just like half-assed bc if it's gonna make you smile, he's going all in.

---

4.25.24

wc 1k

taglist @moonlightreader649 @svt-dk97 @thatdammchickennugget @helendeath @fandom-life-12 @bouquetolegoflowers @maryvibess

[alelathedragon]

The world deserves to see my funky brain do backflips over something as simple as a Drawing Prompt

@liliththequeenofdemon was hosting some contest to draw fav characters as Krampus, I don't really mind what place I get as I was purely invested in making a Krampus Mr.Puzzles. this man is turning in my head 24/7 on loop and I cooked up a whole ass Concept for what he would be like as Krampus

Enjoy

Surface Level- Sweet and Affectionate (as possible)

He was put into the world to punish bad children while Santa gave gifts to those who were good! But Puzzles didn't want to hurt people, in fact he was jealous of Mr.Cringle... why does he get to make everyone happy while HE is left with the leftovers? So instead of doing his job, Puzzles seeks out bad children who are about to fall under some monsters cruel fate and Rescue them.

He gives bad kids a second or even a third chance to change their behavior bc he simply wants to see them smile and get credit for it

He actively hides all his monstrous attributes as he doesn't want to scare nor harm the children, and while he does his absolute best to rescue kids from a life of bad decisions hes not really... GOOD at talking to people, he doesn't understand how the kid feels and thus doesn't know how to give them advice. Hes also some type of deity so like- how does he help a kid with something like too much homework?

He'll give kids ⭐Spying Stars⭐ in order to keep an eye on them more closely, maybe get an idea of why they're being so rotten and interject himself into their life where he can. Sometimes he helps and sometimes he just makes their lives harder... His heart is in the right place but there's a reason this stuff was left to Santa and not him.... But he never sees Santa helping kids, he just rewards good behavior then disappears! So ofc Puzzles sees this as an opportunity to get close to people himself

Even though he just wants to see people smile he is still prone to getting angry easily, he especially hates it when he manages to help someone out but they never tell his story... Hes not popular or loved like Santa they just forget him and what he did to help which can lead to- kidnapping or worse,,,,

Some deity have mercy on you if he is genuinely trying to help some kid and you attack him for it- he will lose all composure immediately.

He just wants the world to be a better and happier place and is really frustrated none of his efforts do anything and when they DO nobody acknowledges him!!

Very easily pissed off, even if hes mostly gentle and tries to be kind he will snap in an instance to murder mode and actually do his damn job if he feels the wrath not ending.

Whelp hope you enjoyed my Krampus Mr.Puzzles idea im going to evaporate into mist now

*woosh

[our-queer-experience]

I really respect you, which is why I'm reaching out. But I wanted to explain why reblogging that post about how "most" suicides are "manipulative" is actively harmful to people with depression and suicidal ideation. I lost pretty much my entire friend group after I attempted, when I needed them most. More than anything else, suicide attempts & threats are cries for help and to call them manipulative, while true, just contributes to the harmful ideas around suicide. At one point I remember thinking "if I'm so selfish, then my friends would be better off without me anyways". So much of society already hates people who attempt, ignoring that it's an awful place to be that we don't want to but we feel we have nowhere else to go and it's a time when we need help the most, and instead we're treated like dirty monsters. If we want to get rid of the shame and stigma around suicide, we need to stop treating it as if the people who do it are evil monsters who want you to feel bad. I'm sorry for the rant but I was incredibly upset and disappointed to see someone who's fairly popular in a community that's incredibly vulnerable to suicide reblog something so isolating.

before i reply, i want to say i’m going in with the presumption that this is the post you’re referring to and my response is based on that

this post is not saying that “most of all suicides are manipulative”- at least, thats not what i see and interpret. i could be wrong and it has happened.

what i see is saying that “often, when someone is called out for abuse an is backed into a corner, they threaten suicide for revenge or to get you back on their side”. whether or not it’s genuine, it is still based in intentional emotional manipulation. and this is something people will do and ive personally experienced. and it sucks.

take somerton’s first apology, where he opened it by talking about how he was in the hospital for suicide for what, like 10 minutes. i, unlike a lot on here, am inclined to take that in good faith and assume he’s not lying on principal. but why did he bring it up in an apology video for years worth of plagiarism and theft? why did he film it the way he did, crying and downplaying his behavior? because the goal was to make you pity him, because the internet is a stranger to kindness and nuance.

i have been in way too many relationships and stayed in them because i was afraid the other person would kill themselves if i wasnt there and they said so quite explicitly. many people have attempted after i tried to break off those relationships. one of them is currently back in the hospital and i can’t talk to her, because last i heard from her she threatened to kill herself if my friend hung up the phone to go to work and refused to get help. me and that other friend spent months ignoring manipulative and abusive behavior because we didnt want to lose her and now its reached a point that we can’t talk to her anymore. when i was 12 we had another friend who would lie about being in contact with his bio dad or spraining an ankle to get us to help him and make us do all his work around the house and physically intimidate us bc it was funny. and when we tried to talk to him about it, he said he was going to kill himself so we panicked and stuck with him. my friends mom does sex ed and works with rape victims in the ER, one of the things she talks about is how often women’s boyfriends will often threaten suicide if their girlfriends leave them because guess what! no one wants their friend to die! even if theyre a sucky person and even if they’re abusive.

because the point of “threatening suicidal is bad” isnt that theyre lying, its that theyre weaponizing their death against people theyve hurt in order to keep hurting them.

imo, saying “suicidality, whether true or not, is often used to manipulate victims into staying with their abuser or in this case, convince someone to pity you and therefor stop criticizing you and you should be wary of how people present these things to their audience and why they’re doing so” isn’t the same as saying “most suicides are manipulative” because the key word there is darvo

that context is important! the post is about abusive tactics that utilize suicide, not suicidal people being abusive! and if you misinterpret it… i’m sorry, i’m happy to clarify what i mean(this is the reading comprehension site, adjust to your environment and ext) but if you were harmed by a misinterpretation that is not the fault of me or the op.

because while it would be nice for suicide to exist in a vacuum, it doesnt. i dont think james is lying about suicide- rather, i think its harmful to say he’s lying- but the way he is presenting this information to us is manipulation 101. he is using his life to try and get people to stop talking about what he did and that’s more than terrible. you should be able to condemn that without associating him with all suicide survivors or attempters.

as a (sorts formerly mostly “its complicated”) suicidal person, can you imagine if i responded to this post a month later and said “sorry for not addressing this, i tried to kill myself and was in the hospital. did you know i have adhd and head trauma and grew up poor?” you’d be upset and feel cheated, as you should! because that is a manipulative tactic used to avoid accountability.

[stevieharringtonwifeguy]

changeling steve whose fae abilities activate early bc of the upside down, which surprises him bc he had no idea he wasn't human

usually changelings are a little weird, but don't become like Full Fae until they come of age, somewhere around 20, but sometimes if their life is in danger or they're otherwise under a great deal of stress, they can Blossom early

steve's never been a little weird. in fact, he's always been good at being Very Normal, always exactly what everyone expects him to be, exactly what everyone wants him to be. when he's young, his parents want a quiet boy they can show off at dinner parties, so steve dutifully bends his personality into shape, polite and good enough at the piano to play something for the grownups and let them coo over him (never too good or too polite, because his parents want him to be a little boy who'll grow into a Man's Man, and that means not liking music too much and climbing trees without getting dirty and pulling on girls pigtails)

when he gets to high school, his parents want him to join sports teams, so he bends his personality again and doesn't think about how easy it is for him to gain the muscle mass and dexterity required, because he must just have some kind of natural talent for it. the team has its own expectations of him: they want a King, someone who's good with girls and likes to kick down at the unpopular masses, so he does that too, picks up on everyone's insecurities the easiest out of all his followers, always seems to know exactly how to twist his words to make his victims feel the worst

then he meets nancy, and it's the first time he's not sure exactly what someone wants from him. sometimes he wonders if she even knows what she wants him to be. he still does his best though, because that's what he does, bending and twisting into the perfect boyfriend, sweet, attentive, a little roguish just to keep the edge on. and for a while it works, even after barb and the demogorgon and the nailbat in his trunk that doesn't fit any of the people he's supposed to be and sometimes makes him itch so much he feels like his skins going to crawl off

but then it's the next halloween, and nancy calls him bullshit and he knows she's right. doesn't know how to not be bullshit though, no ones ever wanted that from him. he could try though, for her, he thinks, if that's what she wants, so he shows up at her house a few days later with a bouquet, only to find dustin henderson demanding he take out his bat again

and later, in the junkyard, while the kids are in the bus yelling and steve's been knocked on his back by a demodog, bat out of reach as he frantically pushes at the heavy weight of the monster on top of him, he curses how weak and useless his stupid human hands are. if he was more like the demodogs, with their gnarled claws and copious amounts of teeth, he'd have no problem winning this fight. and as he thinks it, as he deliriously and desperately wishes he had some kind of natural defense against creatures like this, something changes inside him. it feels like someone's injected pop rocks into his bloodstream, and they seem to collect in his hands, where they're still uselessly scratching at the demodogs tough hide

except, they're not uselessly scratching anymore. now they're carving into the thing like butter, because his nails have gone from blunt and fragile to something long and hard like steel, and the tendons in his hands have shifted and strengthened to be much more effective at cutting through meat. he has claws now. actual, literal claws, a lot like the ones the demodogs have, although his are sort of glowing and shimmering from within like he's full of fireflies. it would explain the buzzing in his veins. but he can't think about that now, has to get this thing off of him, has to protect the kids, has to live another day

and at the same time, across town in a little trailer, the only two witches in hawkins have just gotten hit with a blast of released magical energy that's so strong it sends them physically reeling. eddie actually falls on his ass. wayne helps him up while the kid asks what the hell that was, and honestly wayne isn't absolutely sure himself. doesn't feel human, even if the mortal panic it's laced with feels very human indeed, and it takes him a while to place that fizzy feeling as fae magic. a Blossoming.

so he explains to eddie about changelings, cuffs him good-naturedly around the head when the kid immediately relates it to his nerd game (he does this every time wayne teaches him something new about magic), and explains a little more about fae in general. he's told eddie about them before, but fae tend to keep to themselves, so there's been no real need to explain more than basic etiquette and safety measures eddie should take if he ever came across a fairy in the wild

now though, he explains, he thinks eddie should reach out. that Blossom was early, panicked, which means there's some kid out there about eddie's age who's going through magical puberty into an entirely new species directly after some kind of terrible ptsd-inducing event. so he tells eddie to keep an eye out for them at school, because magical folk gotta stick together, and eddie agrees, because they do, and frankly yeah that sounds like a terrible thing to go through alone and confused

so imagine his dismay when king steve shows up to school the week after, clearly beat to shit and looking confused as hell when the things he reaches for end up in his hand without him actually grabbing them

reaching out might be a little harder than eddie expected. but, cursing himself a little for being too good a person to leave even king steve in the dark like that, he does it anyway.

[bumblebeehug]

hi friend. i am in desperate need of a chapter 520 reversal. lucy’s body heat is down and our man Natsu needs to help,,, post Alvarez PLEASE💗 love all your fics btw.

i'm yours no matter

Summary: Lucy comes back from a tough job in a terrible state: she's in a coma, Porlyusica won't stop naming risks and consequenses of the damage she's taken, and Natsu wants to throw up out of worry. Notes: glad fortsättning as we say in sweden! christmas is over, i have to study for my test, new years will probably leave me with the worst hangover ever bc when hasn't it :') but here's a hurt/comfort fic to satisfy y'all until the middle of january<3 thank you bluedragneel for this request, i'm obsessed with this trope and might write it again some day teehee :3 Ao3 - FF.net

***

Natsu would never have let Lucy go without him on this mission if he knew the state she’d come back in. He clenched and unclenched his fists while trying to understand what Porlyusica was saying, between odd medical terms and concerned small talk. He didn’t care about the details: he needed to know what happened and how it was going to be fixed.

“Boy, are you listening to me?”

“Huh? What? Come again?”

Porlyusica sighed, a vain threatening to pop out of her forehead.

“This is important. We don’t know how she’ll recover, if she recovers. If she does wake up we won’t be certain if she makes it out without brain damage. Wendy did the best she could, but even her magic is limited.” The fact that Porlyusica wasn’t screaming or yelling with rage, or even annoyingly tapping her foot or actively scowling at him made it clear that this was serious. She tried to appear calm, but in this case it only made him more worried.

“What… does brain damage mean? What would happen to her?” Natsu wasn’t sure he’d like the answer, but he had to know.

“What it entails?” She clarified, getting half a nod as an answer. “Well, if her brain is too damaged, her attention and concentration could suffer, we don’t yet know to what degree. She could also have problems with her memories, and making decisions and motivation would become difficult. This could mean that she’ll be more easily distracted, or she’ll experience information overload and become slower at taking in and making sense of information. Her work as a wizard would be jeopardized.”

Natsu felt a headache creeping on. He wasn’t sure if he properly understood half of that, but it sounded bad. His throat felt thick, swallowing seemingly didn’t help.

“That’s not all though.” Natsu glared at her.

“There’s more?”

He felt ill to his stomach. What could possibly be worse than what she’d just told him?

“We don’t know the exact circumstances around what caused this coma. Her sustained injuries have me worried that she’ll become disabled. It’s not certain she’ll be able to walk or talk like before.”

“What,” he hissed. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier!?”

“I did tell you, you were just too busy throwing a hissyfit to listen.” If eyes could kill, Natsu would be ten feet under. “I’m not saying there’s nothing to be done, though.”

Natsu almost perked up. He didn’t dare have any high hopes, but a spark of possibility had shown itself: maybe she’d end up okay. Just maybe.

“What we know from the mission is that the client requested protection from a snow monster. Its estimated strength was around ten times the strength of a vulcan, and not only that – it was said to use strange curses. As curses are unregulated, we’re not sure what could have caused exactly this, but we understand that she got thrown headfirst into the mountain. It was Loke that brought her back, but due to how different the time flows in the celestial world, she’d already been out in the snow for a couple of hours.” Porlyusica tried to summarize again what had happened, considering Natsu had been too worried to listen the first time. “We already have Levy, Freed and Makarov working to figure out the curse, but there’s something I want you to do in the meantime.”

Natsu perked up, listening intently. If he could do something, anything, to get her back, he’d do it without a second thought.

“You need to keep her warm.”

“I can do that!” Natsu almost laughed in relief. He’s a dragon slayer – warming things was the thing he did best!

“You have to make the transition steady though. If you heat her up too quickly she could go into shock. Do you understand? You have to start by warming her with your body heat. This is important, you cannot rush things like these.” Porlyusica narrowed her eyes. If he got careless Lucy’s health could be in danger.

“Body heat? So what do I do, just warm her with my hands? It’s gonna take ages.” He fidgeted with his hands, suddenly more impatient than usual. Not to warm Lucy, specifically, just to get her treatment started. He understood how important it was to follow Porlyusica’s instructions: she’d never been wrong about this before.

“Do you remember back when Fiore was at war with Alvarez? You had that tumour in you, and you too were passed out in a coma. Back then, your fire was going out: you were rapidly freezing to death. Lucy was the one who kept you alive, and she did so with skin to skin contact. Today I need you to do the same.”

Goosebumps appeared on Natsu’s arms as he recalled. That was a time he didn’t think fondly of. He went through a lot of hardship back then, even if waking up to Lucy and Happy was something that had given him relief at the time. That’s right, where was Happy?

“Y-yeah, I’ll do it,” he mumbled scattermindedly. “Do you know where Happy went? I rushed here so fast, I’m not sure I told him what was going on…”

Porlyusica sighed. This boy was something else, wasn’t he? Not in the best way either, she feared.

“While you were yelling and getting mad, trying to run to the client of her mission for revenge, I explained everything to him. He’s already gotten a head start. I urge you to join him.” This time her glare was comparable to lazer, earning a hard gulp from Natsu. Still, he was relieved to hear Happy wasn’t in the dark: he knew how much those two meant for each other. If Lucy fell ill and Happy couldn’t be there to help… He didn’t want to think of it. Happy had been much more protective of Lucy ever since he felt Future Lucy die. That went for Natsu too of course.

___

Natsu gulped again and looked back at Porlyusica. Lucy layed behind those hospital drapes, shallow breaths filling up the room. Her scent did its usual work of calming him, but he noticed that it didn’t carry in the air like usual. He was sure that curse and her lack of body heat had something to do with it.

Porlyusica had turned around as she let Natsu undress. She’d seen him in this light attire before, but as a healer she had some courtesy to at least wait until he was finished. Natsu awkwardly cleared his throat, breaking the silence that had filled the room.

“Do I… Take off my underwear?” Porlyusica nearly choked on her own spit.

“No. Please don’t. For all our sake. She’s still a lady.” The last sentence was muttered in a voice barely louder than a whisper, but Natsu heard it. Still, he didn’t want to do anything wrong. “Are you done?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, feeling his arms hang along his sides. This situation was so odd. He wasn’t exactly shy, but being bare like this in a serious situation felt vulnerable. He wanted to wear his scarf, but she had rejected that idea as soon as he said it. Something about the neck being an important area as a heat source.

Porlyusica turned around, not sparing him as much as a glance. Instead she headed straight to the curtains and drew them to the side. There she was. Under a couple of blankets. So still that he’d be worried for her life didn’t he hear her pulse. It was faint, a bit irregular, but there. He’d made sure to really listen for it this time.

“What are you waiting for? Join her.” The healer motioned at the bed.

“It’s so small though…” he puzzled. If he had a Jewel for every time Porlyusica sent him a stare that was out to kill, he’d have enough money to buy not just Lucy’s apartment, but her entire apartment building. He took that as a sign to keep quiet if he was about to question Porlyusica’s methods.

“You’re gonna need to cuddle close anyways, just hurry up. We’ve already wasted too much time.”

Natsu took a shaky breath and lifted Lucy’s blanket. Her bluish pale hands laying against her sides made his heart drop. This was really serious. Just because this was a treatment that could help, didn’t mean that her health would perfectly return. If anything, this was just another flighty attempt to heal her. Surely it wouldn’t benefit her as much as lifting the curse: had Natsu been smarter, maybe he could have helped her faster.

He shook his head. No, he had to focus on what he could do here and now. Worrying about things that could have been wouldn’t help at all, even if he was right about this body-warming treatment only helping a little. It might just be the thing that would keep her away from this brain damage thing Porlyusica had been talking about. He finally crawled into bed beside her.

Cold. She was really cold. His first instinct was to make his own body heat higher, but as he was about to he heard Porlyusica’s warnings echo in his mind. If he didn’t take this slow, new complications could arise. He just had to slowly get used to this sensation.

Porlyusica suddenly spoke up.

“Now, I don’t want you just laying there doing nothing.”

Natsu sent her a confused look. Wasn’t this what she’d asked him to do?

“You need to talk to her. Say her name. Whatever happened on her mission, I’m growing increasingly uncertain of her coma being caused by a concussion. If anything, it’s more likely that it’s a magic coma. And if it’s a curse, nothing helps breaking it better than love. You need to call out to her.”

For the first time in a very long time, Natsu felt himself blush. Just faintly, but the indication that his love for Lucy would be the thing to wake her up, made him feel weird inside. Not a bad weird, just… weird.

“She did the same to you,” she added, only pouring gasoline on the fire inside of him. “If I didn’t think this was important I’d ask for someone else for help, much earlier. Elfman has a large body, he could easily get her to a normal body temp.”

This time, her implications made Natsu tense up instead. He didn’t like the thought of that giant muscle head cuddling with Lucy, skin to skin. He instinctively wrapped his arm around her waist, as to protect her from whatever googly eyed guy that would come waltzing in, in hopes to join them under her blanket.

“Don’t look so stupid. Getting angry gets you nowhere. Anyway, you’re the one who has to do this. If anything can wake her, whether she’s under a curse or not, it’s the connection you share. So I need you to talk to her.”

Natsu once again felt weird inside. He couldn’t pin the feeling down: was it that he felt vulnerable? Or that he felt embarrassed, doing all this in front of someone else? It was awfully intimate after all. Happy was one thing, but having another person listen to him calling out her name like a lost, desperate puppy? Well, awkward or not, it had to be done. He cleared his throat again and looked back at Lucy with determination. He felt his arms lightly shake her from a natural body reaction.

“Lucy,” he tried, his voice sounding weak in the still room. “Hey Lucy, come on… Wake up, would’ya?”

For the first time since Natsu entered the room, Happy spoke up. He seemed like he was in his own world, dazed in worry. Hearing Natsu must have made him realise what had been going on around him.

“Lushy…” The nasal croak he let out made it clear he’d been crying. Natsu envied him a little: he wanted to cry too, but if he did he was sure he’d have a complete breakdown. He had to focus on getting her awake – crying wasn’t an option. Porlyusica shifted her weight. It looked like she wanted to sit down, but she had to join the others with coming up with a cure soon.

“You have to try harder than that Natsu. A tip to not feel like you’re going crazy just repeating her name, is to recall old memories. It’ll keep you busy from anxiety and worry, plus it’ll strengthen your and her resolve. Besides, it’ll make your bond feel stronger. I think that could be beneficial in a case like this.” Porlyusica watched as Natsu turned her words in his mind, trying to understand exactly what she meant. “I’ll trust you to do this now, don’t let her down.”

With those words Porlyusica left the infirmary, leaving Natsu and Happy with their unconscious friend.

Natsu held Lucy close, her icy skin a sharp contrast to the heat radiating from his body. Carefully he glanced at Happy, who looked like he was close to dissociating. If he didn’t start talking now, he’d probably have to deal with two traumatised people who meant a lot to him, and he wasn’t sure if he had the strength to do that.

This thought was enough to kick him into action. He swallowed hard, his voice low and trembling as he spoke.

"Lucy… you’ve gotta come back. You can’t leave us like this." Carefully he grabbed her hand, her fingertips almost blue from lack of blood circulation. His grip tightened just slightly, as if willing her to feel the warmth spreading from his fingers. "I don’t know what happened out there, but I’m here now, okay? So… so just wake up."

He took a shaky breath, tangling his legs with hers, just like he’d done so many times before in her apartment. This time it was different. This entire situation made him want to cringe, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.Why her out of all people? He’d never been the one who solved problems tenderly. He could fight, get revenge, he’d always been confident of his ability to do grand gestures to fix what was wrong. He couldn’t handle things with care, make out nuances in language, emotion or even a thing like physical hurt. If Lucy ever got injured she’d be honest and frank: sure, she tried to go on for a little bit longer than she should, even while having deep gushes through her legs or shoulders popped out of place. But she was honest enough about it that Natsu always knew what to do about it: sear the opening of the wound, fetch Wendy, pop her bones back into place. Those things were child's play in comparison to this. Now he had to carefully heat her up, not too quickly but not too slowly either, while calling out to her, pulling on whatever strings they had on each other’s unconsciousness. He was aware of the connection they shared, and he was normally confident in it: at times he felt like they shared one and the same mind. But this? He wasn’t so sure it was enough anymore.

"You’re always the one who’s there for everyone," he continued, his voice breaking just a little. "You never give up, no matter how bad things get. That’s who you are. So don’t stop now, Lucy. Please… just don’t."

Happy joined in through whispers in her ear, not daring to raise his voice in case it’d crack. Natsu felt his heart break a little as he watched him hold on to Lucy for dear life. It was one thing that Natsu felt like this, but Happy wasn’t meant to be sad: he had spent his whole life making sure he would get the childhood Natsu never got. For him to have to almost lose Lucy twice: it was a pain Natsu could barely cope with himself. He was genuinely worried about his furry friend.

Still, he had to stay focused. He remembered what Porlyusica had told him, about memories being an effective way to keep his anxiety at bay, while still grasping at Lucy’s unconscious.

His thoughts raced, memories flashing through his mind. The way she’d smiled when they took their first job together, the way she’d always trusted him to catch her when she’d fall, how she always knew what to say to get him to keep moving forward.

"Hey, Lucy… You gotta wake up, you know? I promised you we’d go on more adventures, back when we fought against Future Rogue and…" His voice cracked, he still didn’t dare finish that sentence. "Whenever I was a wreck, you were there. You didn’t give up on me, not even for a second. So now it’s my turn, Lucy. I’m not giving up on you."

Happy’s soft, tearful voice chimed in from beside them. "Lushy… we need you. Please wake up."

Natsu’s jaw clenched. He would do anything to get her out of this. He just wished he could do something more effective. Deep in his stomach he felt his fire work it’s magic: he’d been suppressing it so he wouldn’t warm her up too quickly, so to not slip up and unleash a heat wave on the three of them, he took a deep breath.

“I… Guess this is the time to tell you how thankful we are that we met you all those years ago.” Happy met Natsu’s flickering gaze, sharing a small encouraging nod. “We really are thankful. Like, we’d probably be dead if it weren’t for you.” He tried to chuckle at the attempt of a joke, but Happy didn’t seem as pleased. Natsu cleared his throat.

“What I’m trying to say is… well… we can’t imagine a life without you. If I ever had to go back to only sleeping in my swine sty of a house, instead of being with you everyday, I’m not sure I’d be able to keep my sanity. Even when you scream and do all kinds of weird stuff, we need you.”

“Lushy,” Happy sniffled, “what would I do if I had to go back to only living with Natsu? I’d starve! He burns my fish and everything else we own…”

“Oh come on! You’ve survived up till now!” Natsu protested, but couldn’t bring himself to actually find a counter argument. He was telling the truth after all. Happy glared at him and continued talking.

“I know he’s really stupid,” he began, earning a stern frown from Natsu, “but I think he might be the one who’d hate it the most if you died. But that aside, I don’t think I could stand losing you again.” Tears were once again pouring out of his eyes. “You’re the closest thing I’ve ever had to an actual proper mom…”

The last part would have been impossible for Natsu to hear, hadn’t it been for his dragon-hearing. He swallowed the big knot in his throat that threatened to come out as a sob. He didn’t know Happy had felt so strongly about Lucy, though it made sense as he heard it. Of course she was like a mom to him: she was perfect like that. Caring, worrisome at times, but always loving.

“Hey, you heard him, right? You can’t leave Happy after he tells you something like that, can you? So hurry and wake up… You’d never forgive me if I scared you like this, so come on…”

“But you did scare us like that though,” Happy argued.

“Oh can it,” Natsu muttered, raising his body temperature another degree.

While continuing talking, mixing the casual bickering with emotional anecdotes, Natsu started massaging Lucy’s right hand, the one with her guild mark. Laying there, he realised that the colour of it really was the exact same shade as his hair. The thought tugged on his heartstrings. Had she even meant for that to happen, when he made her join Fairy Tail all those years ago? Had she always been determined that it would be the two of them – and Happy of course – teaming up? Even if that wasn’t the case, if it had been her unconscious that picked the shade of pink so close to his hair, he still wanted to tear up. The two of them were so incredibly attached, to the point where Natsu couldn’t even imagine a life without her anymore.

He continued observing her hand as he massaged her soft skin. It was slender, a nuance less blue than it had been when he laid down with her some minutes ago. This realisation sparked some hope within him. They were helping her: it was working. Continuing the talking, letting his mouth speak whatever flew into his brain, he simultaneously went on thinking about her hand. When she proudly showed it off to him when her mark was new, it had been in pristine condition. Soft, flawless, not a callus or scar in sight. Her nails had been long, carefully taken care of, painted a light pink that almost seemed nude in comparison to the bright pink guild mark. As he looked at it now, it was covered in scars. Some cuts from falling on gravel, some webbing up her wrist like veins. He knew that must have been reminiscent of when she rewrote E.N.D. for him. Another constellation of scars resembled shattering, likely scars from when she had to summon the Celestial Spirit King back when they fought Tartarus. Most of these scars gave Natsu shivers. They were all pale and faded now, but he knew they must cause Lucy pain every day. To carry her biggest joy and her worst pain on the same hand seemed taxing.

He brought her fingers up to his lips, pressed them against them lightly. Then he embraced her, letting her limp, cool body rest against his. Her skin was so soft, but he didn’t enjoy this fake cuddle session: he wanted her to be awake, or even asleep would be better: even when she was asleep she ended up reciprocating his cuddles. This made him feel like he was hugging a corpse, and it was quickly rated as one of his least favourite sensations.

In his new position he could hug her from behind, the many pillows propped up behind his back making him sit up slightly. This allowed for Lucy’s head to rest on his chest, right by his collarbones. Carefully he nudged her a little bit to the left. Maybe his heartbeat could aid them in some way: he wasn’t sure how, but it couldn’t help to try. Happy nudged himself between Natsu’s embracing arm and Lucy’s chest, covering up what would be a very revealing view hadn’t he laid there. Any other day her nudity would be arousing for Natsu, but today it didn’t have that effect. Rather than arousing, it gave him a sense of security. Their bodies, pressed against each other, like clinging on to Lucy’s soul for dear life.

He rested his lips on the top of her head for a while. Happy was in the middle of yapping about Lisanna, his biological mom and Lucy, when Natsu suddenly felt her arm twitch. It was small, and he’d disregard it as his imagination hadn’t he heard her breath hitch at the same time.

“Lucy?” He hugged her tighter, squashing Happy a little in the process. “Happy, I think she’s responding. She just twitched! Keep talking,” he urged, nuzzling his face into her neck. He was certain of it: she had reacted.

Suddenly his resolve increased tenfold, his fiery determination bubbling to the surface. He didn’t care how long this took—he’d stay by her side until she opened her eyes.

"Lucy," he said, his tone growing stronger, more resolute. "I’m not going anywhere, got it? You’re stuck with me, so you’d better wake up and yell at us for being too loud or something. You always do."

Once again he thought he saw the faintest flicker of movement—a twitch of her fingers against his hand. His breath hitched.

"Lucy? Come on, it’s me. Natsu." He leaned closer to her ear, her smell filling his head until he felt completely intoxicated. His voice dropped to a near whisper. "I need you. We all do. So please… wake up."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, her lips parted, and a faint sound escaped.

"N… Natsu…"

His eyes widened, hope surging through him like a wildfire. "Lucy!”

Happy dried his eyes that were puffy from all the crying he’d done. He was quick to jump out of their embrace.

“I’ll go get Porlyusica!” He almost left the room before he turned back, lifted her blanket a little to cover the goods, and then hurried away. Natsu barely registered his actions, his focus being completely tuned in on Lucy.

With a split moment alone, Natsu almost felt overwhelmed with the silence. She’d called out his name, though only faint, but instead of her heartbeat rising to accommodate her waking up, it seemed like it was slightly fading. Worry filled Natsu’s head, the anxiety shooting out prickling sensations in his arms and legs.

“Lucy, what’s going on? Why’s your heartbeat slowing down?” His high pitch made the worry apparent, but he didn’t care. “Shit, come on! Stay with me!”

He rocked their bodies back and forth in hope that he’d manage to keep her heart pulsing. It was quickly made apparent that it wasn’t enough, when for a split moment her heart missed a beat.

This time he couldn’t conceal his panic. No one was nearby, Lucy was fading away by the second, and all Natsu could do was choke out a small “Please…”. He didn’t know what to do, tears welling up in his eyes faster than he was prepared for.

“Don’t leave…” he croaked, sobs filling the silence. “Shit, Lucy, I can’t live without you… I love you…”

Had he not been busy pressing her lukewarm cheek against his, rocking them back and forth, and trying to swallow the sobs that leaked out anyways, he’d notice that his confession pulled Lucy’s heartbeat back for a few seconds. But he didn’t notice this: instead he continued his endeavors of grasping whatever life was left in her.

“Lucy, Lucy, Lucy… Please…” He opened his eyes again, quickly regretting it as they soaked Lucy’s face in the salty liquid. He wanted to see her face properly, take in her soft features before it was too late. He grabbed her face with his free hand, slowly letting his thumb caress her cheek. His blurred vision made him miss how her eyebrows twitched into a furrow. Instead he let his heart steer his actions: he didn’t know what else to do.

Pushing her bangs out of her face, Natsu let his lips land on hers. Softly, his hot ones on Lucy’s dry cold ones. His chin quivered – he didn’t want his first kiss with her to be his last one. In fact, he never wanted his first kiss to be with Lucy while she was unconscious at all. He had thought of their relationship for a long time, even imagining them having their first kiss under the stars after a dinner that would leave both of them too stuffed to walk. They were supposed to be joking around, laughing, and he’d look at her, look into her brown, sparkling eyes, that held a universe inside of them, and he wouldn’t be able to contain himself, so he’d lean in and kiss her: and she’d kiss him back. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, in a sterile bed, in the infirmary that had too bright lights, naked under blankets, Lucy dying in his hands.

Still, he didn’t dare to stop kissing her. And good thing he didn’t, because suddenly, for him out of nowhere, he felt her kiss him back.

In shock he pulled away, his eyes big as plates.

“L-lucy? You’re…” Silent tears kept falling onto Lucy’s face. Her eyelids fluttered, and after what felt like an eternity, they opened, her brown eyes glassy but unmistakably alive. She blinked up at him, her voice hoarse but clear.

"You’re… warm," she murmured, her lips curling into a weak but familiar smile.

Natsu laughed, tears streaming down his face. “Don’t scare me like that…” he muttered, a blush spreading across his face before he could stop it. "But you’re back. That’s all that matters."

Lucy slowly brought her hand up, cupping Natsu’s cheek.

“Did you kiss me?”

Natsu avoided her eyes, awkwardly tensing up.

“I thought Porlyusica said you’d have brain damage or something…” Lucy was quick to hit him on his arm.

“Are you stupid? Don’t wish I wouldn’t understand something like that!” Her voice was shrill, cutting through Natsu’s ears like knives, but today he didn’t care about that. He was insanely happy to have her back to normal.

He let out a chuckle, albeit against his own will.

“It’s not like I hoped for our first kiss to be like that.”

Lucy just smiled. She had put out a lot of energy right as she woke up: truth was, she still felt exhausted and honestly a bit dizzy. After getting a good look at Natsu, taking in his worried frown, his wet cheeks and reddened eyes, she closed her eyes again.

“What are you?! Lucy! Wake up!” He violently shook her this time, not allowing her to fade away again.

“Calm down,” she puffed, “I just need to rest a little.” Slowly she sneaked one eye open, observing Natsu as his wrinkle became more prominent.

“How do I know you won’t die in your sleep?”

“Well, for one you don’t keep believing that I will. Don’t manifest it.” She tried to joke, but it was apparent Natsu didn’t understand what she meant. She sighed. “Just… Stay here, please?”

She turned her body around so she laid on her stomach on top of him. It was at this moment she realised the attire they both were in.

“Natsu..?” She whispered against his chest.

“Yeah?” Natsu had started rubbing his hand against her back in a repetitive motion. This time he was making sure she’d stay alive.

“Why are we naked?”

Natsu didn’t know if the sound he let out was a chuckle or a sob – perhaps a mix of both. It was such a relief to hear her worry about her usual things.

“Don’t ya’ worry ‘bout it,” he smiled, continuing to rub her back.

“Well that’s not suspicious,” she mumbled as she slowly fell back to sleep. This time it felt better for Natsu: her body was warmer, her arms were hugging him back, and now he knew any major damages could be disregarded.

That’s when he heard Happy let out a cry of joy, flying up to nuzzle against her cheek. "Lushy! You’re okay!"

Natsu hurried to push him away with a harsh “shh”. Happy would start an argument hadn’t he seen the corners of Lucy’s mouth curl into a soft smile, her eyes opening briefly to greet her feline friend. Her heart twinged at his tearful eyes, but she still managed to give him a playful blink. She wanted to assure him she’d be back to normal soon. Porlyusica stepped forward into the room, her expression as stern as ever, but a hint of relief apparent in her eyes.

"She’s not out of the woods yet. Keep her warm and let her rest. But this… this is a good sign."

Natsu nodded, his arms tightening protectively around Lucy. 

"Ya’ don’t gotta worry. I have her."

Lucy’s eyes drifted closed again, her breathing steadying as she slipped into a more peaceful sleep. Happy hugged her shoulder tightly. He was so relieved that she was okay. And Natsu? He was beyond relief. If he could, he would have cloned himself so one of his bodies could do a celebratory dance, meanwhile the other could stay here, holding her tight, making sure she could stay comfortable for as long as she needed. He didn’t know any cloning magic though, so he let his imaginary clone work the floor beside the bed while Porlyusica hurried around the two of them, counting Lucy’s heartbeat, drawing her blood for testing, checking her pupils for dilating. Despite the worrying things she was doing to her, Natsu managed to stay calm. Maybe it was the deep breaths he felt against his torso, or the tiny, almost invisible nudging Lucy did to get her body closer to his, but Natsu felt at peace.

Everything would be fine. He wouldn’t let her go:  not now – not ever.

[starryskiesahead]

So…

I may have just found a new anime to obsess over.

Yep. The Case Study of Vanitas is easily one of my new favorites.

My goodness, I don’t ever think I’ve fallen in love with a piece of media this fast. From the first episode, I adored every second, every minute of it. I fell in love with the animation/visuals, the music, the character dynamics, the worldbuilding and lore, the story…I’m just so invested in it and love it absolutely. Noé and Vanitas have an absolutely amazing dynamic and their relationship is one of my favorites that I’ve ever seen. They have easily earned their spot in my Top 5 fictional faves.

Parts of it actually kinda surprised me? For one thing, it's a lot more comedic than I expected. Like I mean. A lot of times it gets dark and fucked up bc all the characters are traumatized and have their own tragic backstories that are made of their trauma and suffering. But it's also not all serious and grim all the time like I initially thought it would be based on my initial assumption. There's a lot of cute, comedic chibi moments (iconic tbh), which I didn't expect from this anime. Also the OP, which I expected to be chock-full of darkness and blood and symbolism and motifs and action and angsty visuals, is essentially VaniNoe going on a date.

In that aspect it's completely different from what I expected but also not too far off from what I've expected, a guy and his soulma-er, partner going on dark fantasy adventures around 19th-century-steampunk France. I really like the concept of Vanitas being a doctor curing the curses that corrupt vampires' true names into malnomens, turning them into forms like monsters - when he pulls out The Book of Vanitas and activates the magic grimoire, it sends a flurry of beautiful, sparkling magical constellations to purify the afflicted like he's a magical girl in a mahou shoujo anime using her special attack to save the day from the monster of the week.

ALSO also... holy shit never before have I shipped ANY fictional pairing as hard as I’ve shipped Vanitas and Noe. I don’t even ship hard 99% of the time AT ALL, the closest was two of my OCs, who are my own original characters so they don't count.

BUT THESE TWO?

THEY’RE JUST SO PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING AND AWESOME TOGETHER AND WHY THE HELL AREN’T THE TWO OF THEM KISSING YET?!

like.

I mean I get that Vanitas x Jeanne is canon (don’t care for the ship that much, but I can accept it I guess though I’ll never be super into it) and Noé could have a thing with Domi, but honestly? They’ll never hit the way Vanoé does for me. Even if they never become canon in the end, their relationship, while not necessarily romantic, is nonetheless a dynamic I treasure and the way their personalities play off of each other is my favorite part of the series.

(And even if you disagree with me and don’t see the romance you can’t argue that their relationship certainly did come off that way to a good deal of the fandom, judging by all the Vanoe content I’ve seen. Honestly with the dancing scene, the way they look at each other and are super pretty in each other’s POV, the fact Noé wants a taste of Vanitas’ blood so much when blood-drinking is usually framed as a sexual thing in this series, the first ending song being them reaching out to each other while lyrics like “you made me whole” play in the background….yeah I think someone has to definitely know what they’re doing at this point, right?)

This anime was a blast from start to finish. I was instantly entranced, enthralled, enchanted by it, and I simply can’t get enough, so I ended up binge-reading the entire manga in one day. And I loved and adored it as well! The cover art with all the watercolors is so *chefs kiss* stunning, lovely and beautiful and the mangaka did amazing with it. So talented, wtf?

Love it! 💙🩵💜💖

I do have some criticisms such as I feel the story (mostly in season 1, I feel like it got better around season 2) is kind of…jumping around between plots a bit? I was expecting the main conflict to just be. The problem of cursebearers that Vanitas and Noé mostly go around curing, with a few extra shenanigans here and there. Like the whole thing with Roland and the Chasseurs and the whole encounter at Dr. Moreau’s lab felt like it was a bit rushed or resolved kinda quickly for my tastes? and the ending of S1 with the encounter between Lord Ruthven and Noe right about as we’re about to begin the Gévaudan arc, and just an episode after Jeanne and Vanitas’ little date…And like I mentioned before, I don’t really care for this pairing - though I like both of them as individual characters, and I can accept that this is canon, but I don’t particularly have too much investment in the ship. No hate to anyone who likes it though. And well it’s important enough to the story to not be really ignored, it’s also kinda just. Okay. They like each other. At least it’s a subplot and there’s other things going on, so for me I don’t have to be too into VaniJeanne as a pairing to enjoy the story. Also I’m personally really not fond of the fact both of the times they kiss were forced on each other. But that’s just my two cents. (Toss in Noé and Dominique into the equation and the shipping/romance love square does get more messy/complex, though like I said, I’m glad it’s not a constant will-they-won’t-they love drama thing all the time (no hate to ppl who like it, but not personally fond of those). Relationships are definitely a very important part of this series, and that includes the romance stuff but at least to me it doesn't feel like constant dragged out melodrama all the time.) Also I lowkey do wish Jeanne and Domi got more chance to shine in the first season outside of their connection with the guys. They do get good character development in season 2, and though a good amount of said development does seem to be pretty linked with their relationships with Vanitas and Noé respectively, I can forgive it as after all, the relationships and dynamics are an important part of this series and at least they have entertaining, fun, and likable personalities and their own backstories and lore outside of just being "the girls who are there to be the guys' love interests".

Honestly the pacing to me feels much better in the manga than in the anime - idk if it’s the different format and the fact that I can read it at my own pace, but it just feels less fast and easier to understand. I know for the anime some people found it a bit confusing, and while I partially agree/can see it on some parts it’s not THAT confusing for me and I can still understand the plot okay. But that being said, I think the manga is a bit better at this and in some ways, easier to follow than the anime.

Also, while I love the chibi comedy moments, I feel like sometimes they can be a bit overused from time to time? Especially when it's shortly after a mostly serious moment, it kinda throws me off. The truly serious, dark moments, focusing more on the characters' backstories and trauma, at least don't get interrupted randomly by the chibis, but still it does feel a little jarring when the style randomly switches.

That being said, the problems or flaws this series has/my criticisms don't really take away my enjoyment at all, and I still loved and enjoyed the experience as a whole even when there were somethings I wasn't too keen on , so I can honestly still say that it was such a wonderful, magnificent experience for me. I do hope there'll be Season 3, but I think there's not enough manga chapters to adapt into the anime and the author is on hiatus I believe. Either was, this series has sunk its fangs into me and won't let go, and I look forward to seeing it the whole way through and being there for this journey, beginning to end, I am TOTALLY hooked.

I'm totally along for the ride, and until then, will be looking at all the fabulous Vanitas and Noé art by all the amazingly talented artists out there (keep up your good work, love you!)

(Also Noé might now be my #2 favorite character of all time, up there with Arlo from Number Days. Yes, he's simply that powerful.)

[sentience-if]

#i'm a bit surprised no one's been upset at val

oh i can talk about how mine for sure is

Val leaving Io made my MC feel so hurt, especially since she also doesn't like the Religious and didn't want to come here but made to anyway. she doesnt see why he could not have ran out with her hand in his. as a result, once she found him and got say her accusatory "You left me", she left. and she wanted to Val to follow her or stop her or something, but Val didn't (for justified reasons, i wouldnt have stopped Io in Val's place either)

i think something between them has been broken now, likely irreversibly. she might grow to like him again and even have some trust, eventually, but i think Val has been labeled as "would leave you" forever in her mind. i dont think she'd trust Val with her life anymore. i think anytime Val might joke "Have I steered you wrong before?" that there will be a sour, accusatory silence. my Io went from "shame there's no Connie-Val poly in addition to the Klaus-Val poly, because i camt imagine her ever NOT loving Val" into, "well, it's a good thing theres a Klaus-solo route and also that Connie's route never had an option to be poly with Val, bc idk if Val can get Io to that point of love again"

which i do wonder if that makes my Io especially vulnerable, in the sense that someone else can now step into Val's "place" and be a lot less good-intentioned about it. bc my Io had been nigh co-dependent, had been "I don't exist without Val", and now something has just shattered where my Io has now very rapidly developed abandonment issues

and the realization that Val does know where Io came from in the sense of the ending revealing Val saw who Io was before Io's current form?? that is not helping. that is making things actively worse. that is now "oh. so you didnt tell me, so you kept me at arm's length in a way i didnt see that you were, because you were scared of me. you didnt take me with you because you were scared of me. like all the stuff in-between where i was Becoming A Human Being didnt matter, even when i didnt remember what i used to be, because you DID remember. and you kept it from me. because you were scared of me." in a very.......... uhhhhhhhh

have you ever seen Fruits Basket?? im internally comparing Val to Kyo's mom. that's how my Io sees Val now, basically. albeit Val is less extreme than Kyo's mom, obviously

if youve never seen Fruits Basket, this is a spoiler, for sure, but it would also give context(?). Fruits Basket has a scene where Kyo can turn into this monstrous creature anytime he takes off this bracelet. and his mom was ashamed that he could do that, that he could transform like that, but she didnt want him to know that (but he did) so she kept saying stuff like "You're so adorable, I have to keep you all to myself" and "It's okay. It'll all be okay because I love you. That's why I don't want anyone else to see you, to look at you. Nobody look at my son, he's all mine. You're just so cute. I can't help it" and "I'm so proud to have you as my son" while also never letting him go outside or be around others, and even said "No, honey, you're as human as anyone else. You turn into the form sometimes because of evil magic. Not because there's anything wrong with you. You turn back to normal soon after, right? That proves you aren't a monster. It's okay, I promise, I'm not scared at all" and he would think back in recollection and go "Liar. You were scared, weren't you? That's why you checked dozens of times a day to make sure my bracelet was still on". she used love to be in denial of what was happening. eventually, the denial and unspoken shame and self-silenced fear and whatnot became so bad, she "unalived herself". and Kyo's dad blamed Kyo for that (like a dickhead) while also saying "She loved you. Your mother loved you more than anything else in the world". Kyo would come to say (to himself, to the memories of this) "Stop it! Stop it, you're wrong! Don't force that kind of 'love' on me, I don't need it, I don't!". and when he remembered that his mom would say "Sweetheart, I love you. I would die for you, you know that, right?" his internal response to that memory was "Why did you always say stuff like that? How can you love someone when you never acknowledge who they really are?"

now, years later, this gets further addressed via Tohru. as Kyo meets this girl named Tohru, and has a real connection with her but is hesitant about getting closer even though they already are close. because Tohru doesnt know about Kyo's monstrous form. his mother's death impacts his need to keep Tohru in the dark, but other people know Kyo's secret form and force him to reveal it to Tohru without her havung any idea of what is happening and without his consent. he runs away, and Tohru ends up following him. he tries to push her away, even causing her shoulder to bleed because of his claws, and she does initially walk away before realizing, if Kyo didn't come back with her, she'd probably never see or hear from him again; and then turning around and hugging his arm as he thrashes around for her to let go and run already. she begs him "Let's go home, please! We have to go home, right now!" to which he replies "No! Just go away!" and she says "No!" back and he yells "Don't you get it?!" and she says "No, I don't!". she continues, "I'm scared. Even though I know that's your voice, it doesn't sound like you. You're in a form I've never seen before. It scares me. But scared or not, I want to understand. If you need to talk, I'll listen. If you need to be selfish, I'll let you. I want to help you, the way you've helped me. If you're feeling hurt or scared or weak, tell me. I want you to tell me so I can face it with you. Because I want us to keep living together. I want to eat with you, study with you, worry with you. I just want to stay with you, Kyo." to which Kyo replied, transformed back to his human self again, in a mix of words to Tohru and internal monolog "The thing is, if she didn't love all of me, my mom, that would've been fine. Or, even if she were scared, I would get that. Because being scared would've meant she was looking at the ugly part of me. But she never did. My mom used 'love' as a way of avoiding seeing the truth, to avoid even thinking about it. But, I wanted her to understand. I just wanted her to say 'We'd face it together', I just wanted her to say she wanted to stay. Even back then, I knew it was stupid. A kid's dream that would never come true. Because who would ever say something like that to me? That's what I thought, until... Tohru." and he goes back home with Tohru to face everyone again, and keeps Tohru a close part of his life

so, my Io sees Val now as more of a Kyo's mom than she does a Tohru. obviously Val isn't AS BAD as Kyo's mom, vut i think you see my point?? and so now my Io is looking for "her Tohru", so to speak, albeit not conciously. and she no longer sees Val capable of being that. so her love for Val can only go as far as, well, as far as Val can, really. it doesn't bridge the gap between them. no matter how badly Val might insist their own love can bridge it (but it isn't, maybe it can't) or how much Val wishes my Io's love could bridge it (but it won't. it used to. but now she's too scared of being abandoned again after getting her hopes up). and so my Io's every route has Io and Val being "almost"-in a relationship, as close to being in love as two people refusing to label it can be, before this effectively ends the romantic side of their relationship. i guess that means Val is her situationship? that feels weird to put on Val, but yeah. and maybe Val can turn this into a "second chance romance" and "be her Tohru" and bridge the gap, in the sense that idk how you plan to progress and am not a mind-reader and therefore cannot say "never again" because "never say never" and whatnot

but yeah. that's where my Io is right now. very upset and feeling very unlovable. and maybe Connie or Klaus can fix that (i do also love Kat and Ira, but i dont think my Io does, so im currently not playing either's route but maybe that'll change! thatd be nice!!) or maybe Val can fix it. but not right away

but yeah!! cant wait to see how the story goes. im in shock at how damaged my Io and Val's relationship is, how my Io is basically scared of Val and sees them as.... "a flake" feels inaccurate but that kind of same "dont buy into Val's promises so much, you'll only get disappointed. Val means well. but Val still left me behind when push came to shove, Val still omitted all this from me" of self-restraint. she feels very much like a kid who got her hopes up only to be let down, kind of like a kid with a deadbeat dad who promised Disneyland but he never shows up to take her and instead he stays at the bar(?) but not quite. but does that make sense?? not angry, not resentful, just feeling very stupid

but, yeah, add another tally in the "Ios who are upset with Val" box for me lol

ohoho the ANGST the DRAMA this is good food thank you. I've seen parts of Fruits Basket in that I had a roommate that watched it a lot but yeah I can definitely see the parallels

Val will get a chance to fix it but I think I'm definitely going to have to write a route where Io does not forgive them. And for an Io who turns to Connie or Klaus instead- that would sting Val so much, in equal but opposite ways. It's probably a very good thing that Klaus wouldn't want to hurt Val because you're right, it would be really easy to take advantage of Io's emotions right now, and I wouldn't put it past him

oh and as to your second ask re: not gendering Val- genuinely don't worry about it haha. I just use they/them for Val (and Connie) in asks because i don't want one to seem more canon than the others. I don't mind if readers pick one

[cy-cyborg]

Hey Cy,

If I have a character with a disability that makes him an ambulatory wheelchair user, with a prosthetic shoulder-left arm, prosthetic above knee amputation on his right leg, and who helps fights monsters in multiple different settings (but who’s usual setting is a city one) what default wheelchair would you suggest?

Before he starts using a wheelchair he uses prosthetics full time which is incredibly taxing on him but he does it bc he has some internalized ableism he works through as the story progresses. Towards the middle-to-end of the story he starts adapting to using a chair more.

I’m having trouble mainly because I don’t know how he would move his wheelchair if he would need both arms to propel it but he only has the one arm. I saw that some wheelchairs have a gear shift-esque handle on them to propel them forward too which might work. I thought of a power chair for him but if I’m working with a high speed city terrain idk if a power chair would work.

One of his magical abilities is that he can mold and shape the terrain and ground to his liking which I thought would help with the terrain issue and bumping/falling over broken pavement but if you have suggestions for that power as it relates to his disability please lmk.

Thanks for reading all this, I appreciate any and all feedback on this. :)

So take this with a grain of salt, since I'm not an arm amputee/don't have any (major) upper-body mobility issues, but there's a few options.

A power chair would probably be my first suggestion. While lower-end power chairs can be pretty slow and clunky, higher end ones can be fast and durable. I've tried a few that were even all-terrain (though that's probably not what your character would need).

Something like an Omeo could be another option. Omeos are very new so they're not super common yet, but they work kind of like a segway, you lean in the direction you want to go instead of pushing your arms, so they're gaining popularly with arm amputees. They require a lot of core strength though (my abs ached for a week after using one for a few hours, but I'm really out of shape), and they can be a bit... touchy? My partner nearly threw me out of the one I tried by putting his hand on my shoulder when I wasn't paying attention, so it could be risky if your character takes a hit. They can also be a bit harder for leg amputees to use, but since your character still has one, they should be fine on that front.

Some people I know have just a regular active chair like this, but get it modified so one side is heavier to offset only being able to push on one side, or get attachments like a smart drive (basically, cruise control for wheelchairs) or Batec Handbikes, which are an attachment that clips onto the front of a manual chair which has motor-bike kind of controls.

I have no idea what her name was, but I once played wheelchair basketball against a woman from Canada with one of her arms entirely paralysed. I don't think her chair had any modifications (they're pretty strictly against that in wheelchair basketball at the higher levels where I met her) but instead she had a very distinct way of pushing to account for only having one functional arm. If anyone knows her name, lmk, she was on the Canadian national women's team so there's probably some footage out there of her which might be useful to look at.

As for powers, be careful with terrain manipulation specifically. It's a pretty common trope to give a character with a disability powers that specifically mitigate their disability and it's impact on their life, which terrain manipulation definitely could. It's not impossible to do it well, but you would be walking a very fine line. If you do decide to stick with terrain manipulation powers, be sure to show that this doesn't "fix" issues of inaccessibility (e.g. technically, he can use his powers to turn stone stairs into a ramp, but doing so in town will almost certainly get him fined or even arrested for destruction of property, so it's still not solving the problem. It also only solves it for him, but other disabled people are still left behind due to a lack of access).

[via-l0ve]

OMG UR MIKE SCHMIDT HCS ARE PERFECT!!!!!!!!! pls do a part two 🙏🙏

(btw can I be 😾 anon? )

Dating Mike Schmidt Hcs PT. 2!❣️

a/n: ABSOLUTELY!!! thank you sm 😾 anon <3 i love u! this also includes just some general head cannons of him because he’s my baby.

warnings: nothing :)

mike drinks coffee and energy drinks all the time

his favorite flavor of monster is the original or the Strawberry dreams

if you like monster (i’m an addict) he buys you one every time he buys one for himself

when he was working at freddy’s you’d patch him up if he ever got hurt :(

you teach him how to bake so he can teach Abby

You’re the only person Abby likes her brother to be with

she incorporates you into her drawings after a while of knowing you

mike is so happy when he sees you drawn in because his sister’s approval means a lot to him even if she’s only ten

it takes a while for mike to open up to you

but when he does he kinda has to break it up into small bits

he’s surprised when you hug him and comfort him bc what no one’s ever done that before

his love language is most definitely words of affirmation and physical touch

mike is so stressed with his work schedule so he can’t always be there physically but he always, without fail, every. day. sends you a good morning and good night text.

that might not seem like much but it’s everything to me okay!!!!

“hey baby, good morning :) i love you the most and i hope you have an amazing day. im on my way to work now but when i get out ill text you and when i get home ill give you lots of kisses. i love you.”

that’s so fucking cute

you guys have frequent date nights that just consist of laying on the couch or in his bed and watching a movie while he lays on your lap or on your chest

Abby usually interrupts because she “can’t sleep” but we all know it’s just because she wants to watch the movie

Mike secretly has a savings account for the two of you

he wants the best for you and when he can give you the world he will

but for right now he’ll pay for some stuff and give you kisses afterwards

he makes playlists that remind him of you

he loves to give you his clothes

or, if you don’t want those, he gives you blankets of his that smell like him

Mike notices the little things

like if you told him a story about your cousin and how they pissed you off

and then you brought them up again

he would remember the incident but he wouldn’t remember their name

“oh isn’t that the cousin who did all of that stuff to you?”

you guys have deep talks at 2am while he lays on your stomach and you comb through his hair with your fingers and you guys just talk and make out

his lips are soft but his hands aren’t

you definitely flirt with him all the time to make him blush

he hates feet

like everyone wears socks in his house or he will shoot his eyes out

he also hates canned corn

don’t ask me why i think this is just do

he’s scared of being alone

he also most definitely uses “:) :( :/ .-.” instead of actual emojis

he laughs at all of your jokes

even if they’re just not funny

he dosent want you to get sad lol

he’s always scared he’s not enough for you

he works a lot and he’s constantly tired and he makes minimum wage so it’s not like he can take you out to fancy dates or anything

he opens up about how he feels and when you tell him how much you adore your little mundane activities he gets all teary eyed and just hugs you so tight

:(((

he just wants to be the best version of himself for you

he adores you

off topic - he’s a lightweight when he drinks

he’ll stumble into the house drunk and just clinging onto you like a sloth

poor baby

he just deserves the world

[spngirlpolls]

Would you consider Bobby a bad father? (I mean for the record imo even tho he's textual understood to be a father Figure I never get the sense that the boys are his responsibility even in the time when he would want that do he's like. An uncle at best. But yeah I'm rlly curious how u think Bobby fits into that bad dad paradigm

good question, long post sorry.

yeah the show loved to retcon how involved bobby was in the winchester childhood. s1 they're like "he's the only hunter we know and he babysat sometimes" and by his death in s7 bobby's like "i raised them!" i think he acts as a father figure/mentor in their adult lives but questionably so in their actual childhoods, i think we conflate fanon/canon there a lot.

regardless, i think the show's overall argument for bobby is he is a rare "good" father exception because he has broken the cycle of abuse. his father was abusive, bobby actively chose not to have kids as to avoid perpetuating the cycle.

bobby acts as an anti-john, someone who lived through a similar tragedy and chose a different path. john pushes people away, acts alone, which ultimately puts people in danger (harvelles, his own kids, etc) while bobby uses what he's learn to build a community: he's running the phone scams, he's operating a backwoods occult library, he's checking in on people.

(there's other misc messy character things like ghost bobby, bobby being in hell?? etc but overall the idea is that he's the glue of the community)

so yes, the show posits he is supposed to be a good father. i think there's some wonky advice/character stuff but within the supernatural mythos bobby is what passes for a good father, perchance the best example of "fatherhood". or maybe more accurately, bobby is the only character that is even capable of potentially being a good father bc he has broken the cycle of abuse, regardless of how good is parenting actually is. john (and sam and dean and all the other bad fathers) are incapable of being good fathers (in the rules of the supernatural writer's room) because they literally never break the holding pattern of abuse in their tragic fucked up lives. that's the crux of the supernatural story IMO, whether that's morally right/wrong or even interesting, that's the question the story is structured around for all 15 seasons: am i my father am i my father am i my father.

(as an aside) notably, when bobby dies, the winchesters don't take up the mantle of being pillars of the community. they don't run the phones or make sure ppl come back from hunts. they totally abandon that part of bobby's legacy, the most important part of his character, his literal life's work. garth is the one that carries that torch. salmondean never really make themselves part of the community, even though it would make sense for sam to be doing that while dean is in purgatory. they live in monster hunters HQ and they don't share those books or tools or anything with ANYONE. at no point does any grief or trauma sam and dean endure prompt them to cultivate community, which is very john, which is repeating the cycle.

[squeezysreservoirofcookies]

random athf hcs

i know characters dying but reviving next ep/no continuity is the norm, but when it comes to steve, it would not surprise me if dr. weird had a large collection of steve clones that he just goes through for the lulz. he never has to hire new peeps so it's just convientient

plutonians purr like cats do and for the same reasons, but the purr sounds like a combo of a cat, a dove's coo, and a gutteral rattle

Carl: 6', Frylock: 5'3", Shake: From bottom to cup lid 5' but to the bend of the straw it's 6', Meatwad: 2', Oglethorpe: 5'9", Emory: 7', Ignigknot: 3', Err: 1', MC Peepants (Big Spider Mode): 8', Dr. Weird: 6'6", Steve: 5'9" for some heights

shake's pistachio milkshake power works like snake venom in that he can only shoot out a certain amount of it until he empties out, and that it takes a lot of energy/nutrients to regenerate it. not that it changes anything bc he'd still be a depraved omnivore of a sentient milkshake w/o the setback but uh. OH yea and it is edible, enough to fill a route 44 from sonic to the top, but you'd have to ask REAL nice or be hyper sweet to him if you wanna get it but no guarantee. plus hed prolly spit in it or immediately toss it to the ground

frylock's fries are also edible but it genuinely hurts him if you eat it bc while it is sorta like his hair, some also have bones in them and are basically like our hands/arms. maybe if he shoots his fries at you like in the movie it would be ok, but you'd get hurt af and it's the same w shake in that he cant use it too much bc it takes a lot of biological resources & energy to regenerate. if he wants to cut his hair he can take certain pain mediation for it.

DO NOT EAT MEATWAD. 1.) if u do ur a monster but 2.) it may be ground meat but it's got garbage, sand, broken down bits of food, dirt, poop?, pee, parasites, the whole 9 yards so unless ur a animal or if you want to shit ur organs and skeleton out bc ur that desperately hungry then go ahead ig

meatwad works through slime logic in that he can't actually die unless hes been atomized/obliterated completely/eaten whole then yea hes dead. he just needed some time to recuperate dw abt it. not to mention he can also eat just abt anything in any amt. also he knows every aspect of the skibidi toilet lore, but only some major details on the fnaf lore but do NOT ask him abt reminant and fazgoo cuz he'll just stare at you blankly

the mooninites used neil armstrong's footprints on the moon as their restroom

carl doesn't know what an anime is but if he did knew what it was he would absolutely be a fan of it (even if he'd hide it in shame). you dont wanna know what else.

shake sucks at sports in general and anything that requires physical activity, he prefers to watch it on his seat instead. he is physically strong when he's prepared to fight, but if you catch him by surprise he's a complete bitch. actually hes a complete wuss in general when it comes to trying to fight anyone bigger/aggressive than himself. if him and his girl get mugged while walking in the middle of the night he's tossing her at the robber and running (jumping) away. but anyone weaker/smaller/meeker is fair game bc ofc

frylock has misophonia (hates the sound of people chewing). anytime he tries to explain it, shake makes a mesothelioma joke. but also it's so intense he will straight up blast you if you dont listen to him, shake had to learn that the hard way

mooninites can only comprehend music in 8 bit/midi. like ignignokt can listen to regular classic rock and be like "fuck yea bro" but through his ears(? head??) it sounds like an 8 bit/midi rendition of it. idk if this is making any sense but the closest i can come up w is that its more like a translation thing

plutonians do poop/excrete?? waste that does act like all purpose cleaner from earth but it smells highkey like rotting eggs and aged cheese, maybe even worse depending on what they've ate

[jesse-pinko]

It’s so sad The Magicians could have been good if I had written it 😔 like okay yeah I’m only on S2 but I feel like they rlly fumbled the obvious parallel between Julia’s trauma and the Chatwins’… like when Martin was trying to persuade Julia to give up her shade I was like omg what if bc of their shared trauma Julia decides to restore Martin’s shade instead of letting them murk him and it turns out the only actual way to defeat the beast was to return his soul to him, and now Martin has to actually work through his trauma and the fact that he killed his own sister and take responsibility for the ppl he hurt and also now the Big Bad of the whole series is just like… a guy who cries a lot and it’s really uncomfortable how he keeps following them around and apologizing for killing them all 39 times in really graphic detail and it could have been funny and still a lot more sympathetic but for some reason this show hates SA victims specifically… or idk maybe Julia travels to the past again and confronts Jane and asks her was it worth it. Was it worth it, unleashing Reynard onto the world (albeit unintentionally) where he victimized more people in the same way that Plover did to her brother? Was substituting one monster for another really the best you could do, was your happy ending worth mine? Reynard did way more damage onscreen than Martin ever did, and yet everybody treats Julia like she’s being petty and selfish for choosing to go after the rapist murder demon over the demon beefing with college students, and Reynard is eventually spared despite being pure evil and an active threat while nobody has any thoughts or feelings ab killing Martin, a victim of SA who went down a dark path out of desperation. I just found it so strange that we never lingered on the pretty compelling tragedy of the Chatwin family or learned anything about Jane’s feelings toward her brother, what was done to him, what he did to her, what she did to him etc. And when Julia and Martin teamed up I was really looking forward to what could have been a really fun and weird odd couple dynamic but instead Martin gets nuked so Quentin can be sad ab what a shitty bf he was and Julia loses her soul after aborting her literal demon baby… tanked it they fucking tanked it why does this show treat SA victims as though they have something to atone for or as if being angry ab being abused makes them just as bad as their abuser it’s so grody. If you want to include dark themes to make it more gritty and adult fine whatever but does that have to mean punishing characters for ?? trying to do some good after recognizing they fucked up and getting tricked?? Getting an abortion?? Seeking sanctuary from their abuser?? I don’t think either of these storylines necessarily had to be this tacky and awful, but if you’re including themes of SA and SA recovery in your sexytimes edgelord magic show then you’d damn well better know what you want to say

[ozzy-boy]

Scale's life with the Order of the Assassins

my headcanon for how Scale grew up bc he's my pookie <3

tw: baby in distress and near suffocation (it's brief though)

-

-The job was a messy one- someone ordered a hit on a couple of frauds who tried to skip town with a large sum of stolen money. A fairly common sight for the assassin.

-He only hears the crying after the two targets are already dead. In the next room over, he finds...

-A baby, red in the face and screaming beneath a blanket. Panicked, he swipes up the kid and holds it, trying to shush and calm. The assassin doesn't know if his targets had been trying to hide the child- or get rid of it. At this point, it doesn't really matter, does it?

-This makes the job much, much more complicated. No one had told him that the couple he was after had a kid. He can't just leave it here- who knows how long it would take before someone else discovered the scene?

-Sure, he could probably just drop the baby off on the doorstep of the nearest orphanage or church. But it felt... especially cruel, to ditch a child after killing its parents... He may be an assassin, but he's not a monster.

-So, the assassin brings the child back to the Order- to see what the Elders think should be done.

-It's all very unprecedented. There ends up being a debate among them on whether or not it was even safe for a child to exist in the Order.

-They're an assassin clan secluded in the mountains. They aren't exactly the most caring group of individuals. Eventually, they decide to let the boy stay for the sake of the Order's honor. At least until he was old enough to decide for himself where he wanted to live.

-The Order ends up being the epitome of the phrase "It takes a village". Scale (named by the assassin who initially found him, since they were unsure if he had a birth name) was taken care of and watched over by anyone that wasn't actively on a mission. Any assassin in the Order was subject to their fair share.

-He certainly doesn't have a normal childhood. Scale doesn't get hugs or kisses, no nightlights or checking under the bed, not many toys and no other kids to play with. Despite it all... Young Scale seems to love it in the Order, and everyone grows increasingly fond of him. One of the Elder's even insists that the Order has never been livelier.

-He's a rambunctious child and if left unchecked for too long Scale will find something dangerous to get into. After three pulled down tapestries, multiple broken vases, and particularly terrifying instance of a runaway toddler with a small dagger, the headquarters undergoes... intense baby proofing.

-No one is really surprised when he wants to learn to be an assassin. When he becomes a teenager, the others start letting Scale join their trainings, albeit at a much lower level. Scale is mostly just happy to be included rather than only being able to watch.

-He may not get a very normal childhood, but Scale has an entire guild of assassins looking out for him. Giving him advice and training, patching up scrapes, and letting him pretend to be more grown up than he is while someone always stays within arms reach to make sure he never gets seriously hurt.

-Even when he's grown up and working professionally, the assassins who've raised him still baby him- just a little. He's talented for someone so young, and the Order as a whole can't help but be proud of him.

-It's kind of like if your little brother started working at the same company as you... Sure, he's your coworker and you respect him on a professional level, but that's not gonna stop you from giving him a noogie when the boss isn't looking.