#discussion of scars

[arecaceae175]

Whumptober Day 27: Matches, Scars

AO3 link. I'm still working my way through whumptober :D.

AND!!!! THIS IS MY 50TH WORK POSTED ON AO3!!!!!! :DDDDD

Summary: The chain relaxes in a hot spring, and Wild notices Sky has a scar that matches one of his. 1052 words. Sky & Wild.

Warnings: scars, discussion of scars, lightning scars, Sky starts to feel very uncomfortable because of discussion of scars (not graphic, doesn't reach panic attack stage)

Whump rating: 1/5. Very light-hearted vibes

Sky lowered himself into the hot spring with a long, content sigh. The heat immediately soothed his aching muscles, and the pressure of the water felt incredible. Sky sighed happily again, letting his eyes slide shut and his head fall back to rest on the rocks. The angle made the pain in his neck more pronounced, Sky realized with a wince, but he didn’t have the energy to hold his head up. 

“Sky, here,” Wild said. 

“Hm?” 

“Lift your head for me?” Wild asked. 

Sky lifted his head without opening his eyes. He heard Wild shuffling behind him. 

“Okay, good,” Wild said.

Sky dropped his head again and made a surprised noise when it landed on something soft. It kept his head raised enough that the angle didn’t put pressure on his neck. Sky smiled widely as he reached up to adjust the fabric into the perfect position. He opened his eyes to meet Wild’s above him.

“Thanks, champion,” Sky said. Wild beamed. 

Sky finished adjusting the fabric then let his arms splash back into the water. He let them float on top, making small waves with careful motions. 

On the other side of the spring, Wind and Hyrule were taking turns being thrown into the spring by Twilight. Their laughter was like music to Sky, and he relished in the sound. Sky could see Four watching closely, and Sky hoped he would set aside his maturity for long enough to play, too. 

A comfortable distance away from the splashing, Time, Warriors, and Legend were reclined comfortably in the water. Warriors and Legend were playfully arguing about something. Although Sky couldn’t hear, he suspected Time was antagonizing them on purpose, based on the man’s mischievous smirk. 

Sky chuckled softly to himself. It was a perfect day.

There was a small splash as Wild flopped into the spring. The water lapped up against Sky’s chest. The heat stung comfortably. 

“This was a great idea,” Sky said. “The heat feels so nice.”

“It has healing properties, too,” Wild said. 

“Oh, really?” Sky asked. 

Wild nodded as he pulled his hair tie out and began combing his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. The science is pretty cool, actually. Yunobo explained it to me once. The water here is connected to the great fairies springs, but there’s also a reaction that happens with some chemical I don’t remember the name of because of the heat.”

“Cool,” Sky said. They fell into comfortable silence as Wild worked on his hair and Sky worked on relaxing.  

“Hey, Sky?” Wild asked. His voice was soft and hesitant. Sky looked at him in surprise.

“Yeah?” Sky asked.

“Those lines,” Wild said. 

Sky followed his gaze. The bright lightning scars started on his hand and branched up his arm, then down the right side of his torso and all the way down his right leg. 

“They’re from lightning, right?” Wild asked. 

“They are,” Sky pushed the words out through tight throat. The nerves in his hand tingled. He kept his gaze on the water. 

“Look, I have some too! We’re matching!” Wild said. Sky blinked in surprise at the change in his tone. 

Wild jumped up in the water and pointed to his hip. The same marks arched across Wild’s hip and down his leg. Sky had never noticed them before. Wild’s body was a mosaic of scar tissue more so than the rest of them. It all blended in Sky’s mind. That was what Wild looked like, and he had never paid any more attention to it than that.

“It’s from Thunderblight,” Wild said. “Made it through rubber armor and a shock resistant elixir.”

Sky didn’t know what rubber was. He decided to focus on that, rather than the shock of the lightning coursing through his body, and the blood-boiling anxiety of I have to get this shot right- have I held onto this one for too long- is this going to fry my heart- am I going to win.

“What’s rubber?” Sky asked. He thought his voice sounded remarkably steady, considering. 

Wild paused, blinking blankly at him. “I… don’t actually know.”

And just like that, Sky felt the tension in him break. He huffed a laugh and tried to force his muscles to relax, his heartbeat to slow. 

“You used it even though you don’t know what it is?” Sky asked. 

“Course I did. I didn’t know what anything was, at first,” Wild said with a grin. Sky nodded in acquiescence. He supposed that was true. 

Wild looked at Sky’s scars again, and his expression made Sky think he was going to ask another question. 

“Can, um,” Sky asked, swallowing thickly. “Can we change the subject?”

Wild’s eyes went wide. “Of course! I’m sorry, Sky, yeah. Of course. Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I was just- we matched, and-”

“Hey,” Sky said. He put his hands over Wild’s to still their rapid movements.

“It’s alright. You didn’t know,” Sky said. “But we’re here to relax, and I’d like to do that.”

“Yeah, totally. Sorry. We’ll do that,” Wild said. Sky smiled again, and leaned back on the fabric below his head. 

“Sky!” 

Legend’s yell came from across the spring. Sky groaned light-heartedly and reluctantly raised his head. Legend and Warriors were both rushing towards him in the water. They looked ridiculous, Sky thought, trying to move quickly through the spring. He stifled a laugh.

“You need to settle this for us. The old man can’t have a serious discussion for more than two seconds at a time,” Legend said, shooting a glare in Time’s direction. “You’ll be impartial.”

“There’s no way you’re winning this one,” Warriors said. 

“Shut it, pretty boy. Here’s the thing. I’m obviously the most fashionable hero, here-”

“Bullshit.”

“I said shut it! And since I’m obviously the most fashionable, I-”

“How are we deciding that? I think I should be in the running,” Wild said. 

“What? There’s no running, I’m just trying to make a point-”

“I dunno, I think I could give you a run for your rupees,” Wild said, complete with a shrug and a shit-eating grin to match Time’s. 

Sky stroked his chin in an imitation of deep thought. “Wild makes a good point, Vet. What’s the criteria here?”

Legend let out a strangled, frustrated noise and splashed backwards into the water.

[mcyt-cats]

Mr Finnegan!

And Katy Bee :)

ft. the inevitable consequences of holding cats

[hinamie]

siren!megumi concept sheet i whipped up in a single-minded fever state fr @uriekukistan

[jeeaark]

What If....Bonus alternative result to Greygold's insight check on Durge's intimidation check shenanigan.

[polling-sonic-fans]

I will not use an image for this poll, as there are none that would be Sega-owned or Official artwork. Feel free to drop your own illustrations.

Polling Sonic Fans for their opinions on all manner of things. Share good questions to indicate what you want asked. Submissions open.

[fountainpenguin]

Etho and Scar's interactions in LimLife are golden to me... that painful inhale Etho does before whispering "I'm about to go out of roleplay" when Scar flipped his ender porter and Etho wanted to strangle him... The way that Etho attempts to improv by pulling the "Has your mom told you you're adopted?" card and Scar just says "Oh I know that's not true because we've got something in common: failed traps <3" and a longsuffering and exhausted Etho just sighs and leaves... Love that for them.

+ The dichotomy of Cleo ''You are definitely Etho's child'' @ Scar vs ''Please please don't be my kid'' Etho SDLKFJSDKFL

[smoozie]

Whatever Gem and Scar have going on this season is what Gem thought she had with Pearl in Secret Life

[hi-there-buddies]

The quickest way to figure out if someone didn’t pay attention while watching Fullmetal Alchemist, is to ask them what they think about the Mustang and Envy scene

If they say something like “they should’ve killed Envy, he didn’t deserve mercy” they are so far removed from the show it’s comical. They’ve forgotten what the scene was even about and are now making arguments based on their own false memories. The scene was never about mercy. Riza herself says she’ll kill Envy then and there. The scene is about Mustang specifically being the one to kill Envy (this one genuinely annoys me because I’ve seen it so much)

If they say something like “Riza, Ed, and Scar were stupid for stopping Roy. Envy deserved to suffer” also don’t understand the further context in that they weren’t really stopping him for Envy’s sake. They were stopping Mustang for his own sake. Because torturing and killing someone for a personal grudge is one HELL of a slippery slope, that Mustang himself NEVER wanted to fall down (although, out of all these arguments, this is the one that I understand the most)

If they say something like “it’s stupid that Riza was going to kill Mustang just to stop him from torturing Envy”, they DIDN’T PAY ATTENTION TO THE FORESHADOWING AND THE REST OF THE SHOW. Roy tells Riza specifically that, if he were to EVER stray from the correct path, he wanted her to shoot him with her own hands. This is explicitly stated in the show word for word

This scene is not Ed, Riza, and Scar being pretentious. This scene is them holding Mustang to his own morals, that he himself was willing to die for if he abandoned them

[autopsiedsage]

this may be controversial ya’ll but I Don’t think we should be tagging curly as body horror in our art when he’s just. There. if we’re depicting curly super gory and what not, if we’re specifically drawing him stylistically dramatically injured hell yeah, but if its just a turn around? if we’re just making little posts of him hangin out, sitting down, chillin? I really dont think we should put body horror on that folks.

he’s a severely multiply disabled character, who Yes we are supposed to be a lil freaked out by when he’s introduced but… his multiple amputations and burns and bandages arent the source of the horror. thats just his disabled body.

now again please don’t get me wrong, mouthwashing has a lot to talk about concerning the loss of autonomy and the horror of disability, if your art concerns that or literally any definition of body horror please tag it as such but I just want to see less posts of curly just Existing tagged with it please. its Really Weird and it tells me some things about how you view disabled people.

[2700k-moogie]

Milk ref sheet done yaHOOOOOOOOOOO lookit my big beautiful baby they filled with joy and happiness

[cosalphonse]

we need to do a study on the overlap between fma 2003 fans and lesbians. what is it about 03 that drives us all to it like moths to a flame.

[sorrelpaws]

is it really an authentic r&m dynamic if it doesn't involve (at least mildly) morally questionable preservation tactics

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

hey. radovid seeing jaskier do the Finger Fidget Thing (particularly when discussing rience) or even seeing something of a burn scar on his finger and just taking his hand and fucking. kissing his fingertip on the spot where he was fidgeting. that's the post

[dejasenti99]

no one is coming for you that you'd wanna meet. (the thorns, the fire, messiah.)

[general-cyno]

Hey hey have you ever thought about how zoro breaks his body again and again for Luffy gaining scar after scar loosing eyes and shit trying to keep up with Luffy and his devil fruit and sanji with his genetically modified body. Do you think zoro wonders what will be the thing that tips him over the edge into death??? Do you think Luffy does???

well hello to you too, anon! sorry that it took me a while to answer but I love this and ended up typing a lot. so, I also apologize in advance for the long-ish read.

but yeah! actually I was sort of thinking about it thanks to some twts I saw discussing thriller bark again. I gotta say, perhaps I have a bit of a less angsty view? because the thing is... zoro's a pretty straightforward and single-minded character, which doesn't mean he's flat or lacking in depth, but his overall thought process isn't extremely complex.

though zoro treasures his life (just like his swords, both which he needs to achieve his goals), he's not naive. he knows death is a real possibility, more so in the pursuit of his dream. zoro says as much to sanji back in baratie:

zoro doesn't seek death, the opposite actually, and he refuses to die in situations he finds dishonorable or out of his control, but he's come to terms with the idea of his own death. aside from that (or additionally), zoro's most prominent traits are rooted in his deep sense of commitment, devotion and loyalty to what he wants and believes in - namely his dream and his promise to kuina. this aspect of his character doesn't change imo, rather it broadens to encompass luffy and the crew as well.

all this to say that albeit I've called it a sacrifice myself, I don't think what zoro chooses to do for luffy or the crew would count (for him) as such. it's just what he believes he must do - to achieve his personal goals as much as to ensure luffy gets to fulfill his own and to protect the crew as a whole, because they've all become intertwined with zoro's dream to begin with. especially where it concerns luffy. what good is ambition if I can't even save the life of my own captain? indeed, for someone whose end goal is to become the strongest, what's the point of doing so if his strength doesn't allow him to protect those who are important to him? the person who is most important to him?

so when zoro chooses to keep pushing himself to train harder/become stronger, to do the exchange with kuma, beg mihawk to train him or agrees to do crazy stuff like take the drug that will help him recuperate enough to fight but will worsen his injuries/pain tenfold the moment the effect wears off in wano - they're not sources of regret or decisions he sees as tragic sacrifices. he's quite like luffy too, who's made similar choices along the story.

the angst of moments like "nothing happened" for me lies more on the implications of what could've happened (zoro dying for real), what eventually did (almost getting killed in sabaody, the crew's separation) and what luffy's reaction would've been if he'd found out. I do agree luffy would ultimately respect his decision, what I don't usually agree with is that he'd be immediately okay with it. the last thing luffy wants is to lose someone he loves, less so if they get hurt trying to protect him. points at his backstory, marineford and post marineford. this is exactly why sanji insists on not letting him know.

on the other hand, imo, zoro's not trying to keep up with luffy per se... how I see it, it's more like meeting him halfway. when you're faced with how powerful luffy's become nowadays, it's easy to forget he's not infallible. luffy has weaknesses and shortcomings too. post TS zoro is even more aware of both of their limitations (he's the one who's literally experienced luffy's pain as if it were his own) though he's also become more confident in their strength and the crew's as well. zoro will do his best to stand by luffy's side and protect him/their crew, but luffy has to measure up! zoro has no qualms about reminding and demanding him to get his shit together. zoro might not reach luffy's levels of raw strength (and I'd argue he doesn't need to), still, there's other ways in which he makes up for what luffy lacks or can't do in certain circumstances. so if you ask me, it's not about keeping up - it's meeting each other in the middle and striding forward together.

as for sanji, a similar thing applies. for all their petty rivalry and their roles as crew combatants, it's important to remember sanji's more of a nurturer (he is the cook, after all) and his dream of the all blue has little to do with strength, unlike zoro's. his genetic modifications don't really become an issue (for the crew) until wano and if anything, rather than this setting him above zoro in terms of power/abilities or turning into something zoro has to catch up with, sanji relies on zoro to keep him in line if he ever endangers the crew because of it.

all in all, I don't think zoro's the type to wonder what's gonna make him kick the bucket, though he knows dying is a realistic possibility. plus, he's not the only relatively Normal Guy who's ever become crazy strong among DF users and other enhanced characters. rayleigh is a very good point of reference as to what zoro is capable of becoming or achieving, and it's no coincidence they share a bunch of a similarities too.

AND FINALLY LUFFY. I rambled about this in the tags of a post a while back but luffy is a bit of a more complicated case imo. the manga doesn't exactly provide insight on luffy's inner thoughts/feelings (he voices most of them anyway) and though he's not naive in this aspect either, especially not post TS, the story rarely lets him witness situations in which zoro's vulnerable or in real danger of dying. this leads to him sometimes coming across as insensitive or being unfair (by having almost unrealistic expectations wrt zoro) but part of it is that he sees zoro bouncing back from the seemingly impossible more often than he sees him down.

however, the way he loses his goddamn mind when mihawk hurts zoro at baratie, when kizaru almost kills him and as kuma sends him away in sabaody, is a very good indicator of how he handles the idea of losing zoro which is - not well. at all. OPLA also gave us a more blatant example of this with the near dissociation, panic, losing his appetite and actively refusing to eat etc when zoro's wounded and unconscious after his duel with mihawk.

whether he thinks about zoro dying or not is probably more headcanon/fanfic territory, since it hasn't come up in the manga itself. even so, I do believe luffy's the type who... deliberately does Not ponder about sad or potentially upsetting things. one very brief moment that stood out to me while reading was this:

luffy not wanting to remember when garp left him on his own as a kid and straight up getting mushroom-high after being separated from his friends? man.

despite his cheerfulness and confidence, luffy is at his innermost terrified of losing the people he loves and hates the idea of being alone, ever since he was a kid. he begged ace not to die, has fought time and time again to rescue his friends and bring back those who've left. zoro's not just his first crew mate but he's also been the most long lasting and steady throughout the story. as some people have pointed out - zoro is the only one of the east blue gang who's never left the crew, even if the rest all had very understandable reasons for doing it each time. so on a more speculative note, after all the losses luffy's suffered, I'd say wondering when or how zoro will die is something he'd very much avoid. the thought's likely pretty devastating. instead, it's easier to put his entire trust and faith into believing zoro will pull through anything, like luffy says in dressrosa, and zoro would accept no less than that imo - because that's the kind of trust/faith he places in luffy as well.

lastly, about the scars and such... this is where zoro and luffy's similarities are highlighted. when it comes to all the choices they make wrt their dreams or protecting their friends, those luffy understands well. he's pretty much the same as zoro in this regard. that's why he refuses to let buggy interrupt zoro's fight with cabaji and stops johnny and yosaku from interfering in his duel against mihawk, even if seeing zoro get hurt upsets him greatly. zoro and luffy match in many ways, their dreams and determination to fulfill them is one of them, no matter what they have to do or how many scars they collect along their journey as a result.

[ladyvalikage]

Every time I see people talk about the helsmits they always mention WormMan as being Zedaph's Hels counterpart when Zedeath is literally standing right there.