#i actually have a lot of thoughts about skuld and brain as housemates

[corishadowfang]

Any or all!

Skuld and Mimir: 🫂 💢 🛡️ 

Skuld and Brain: 🎁 🏠 ❤️‍🩹

Skuld and Ven: 🛏️ 🎤 ⛓️ 

(For this)

Haha, two of these are pretty fitting, since I hopped on Tumblr to take a break from working on the next chapter of Fallen Stars. (Putting these under a read more because they get...kind of long.)

Skuld and Mimir

🫂 PDA — what are their opinions on public displays of affection? are they comfortable with touch, or is that a big ‘no’ in their friendship?

A lot of their public displays of affection are pretty subdued! Skuld enjoys hugs, but Mimir won't really seek them out unless they're pretty overwhelmed; Mimir's also not someone who'd really do a lot of the roughhousing Skuld might do with some of her other friends, except on rare occasions, haha. (Sometimes, they are willing to push her into the fountain or something, if only because they think it'd be funny and catch her off guard.) So for the most part, it's just like...gentle shoulder leaning or hand-holding, or just quietly hanging out next to each other.

💢Combat — for fighters, how do they work off each other to defeat a greater foe? would they have a “team attack” or tactics for attacking an enemy, or in a more realistic scenario, who would be most likely to pick a fight for the other’s honor? for pacifists, is there anything that can push them to resorting to violence?

Before The Reveal, they worked (or would've worked, since they didn't get much opportunity to fight together) really well together, balancing each other out almost instinctively. They'd probably both get a strong sense of deja vu, and slip into familiar patterns without thinking.

Directly after The Reveal, they'd ironically have trouble working with each other right away; both of them are still struggling to deal with the fact that Mimir is also the Player, and that means that they second guess themselves or feel weird about falling into familiar patterns.

After they start to figure things out, though, they kind of...find a way to work together that's unique to them. They still cover each other's weaknesses a lot, with Skuld being a much more aggressive physical fighter, and Mimir taking a kind of hit-and-run/healer strategy. It's different to what they used to do, and they spend a lot of time training to try and figure out what feels right for them. (They also definitely try and come up with team attacks, haha; it becomes a bit of a fun pastime for them.)

Of the two, Skuld's more likely to verbally challenge someone for Mimir's sake--but Mimir's more likely to just go ahead and smack them with a Keyblade, haha. (They do still have some of the Player in them, after all.)

🛡️ Guardian — does someone specific take the role of “guardian”, or do they protect each other equally? if one character is more protective of the other(s), is their protective nature appreciated or suffocating?

They tend to protect each other equally! Both are pretty capable Keyblade wielders, and neither wants to step on the other's toes. That said, they'll definitely step in to protect each other if there's something the other seems to be struggling with!

Skuld and Brain

🎁Gifts — what would they get each other as a gift?

Skuld might go the easy route and get him books, haha--not that he minds, because she has a pretty good idea of what he likes, and he'll always take new books.

Brain tends to make things rather than buy things, and a lot of them tend to combined practicality and sentimentality. He likes creating things that mean something to the person, if they're close to him, so he'd probably create something like "a star charm with a protection spell," or, "new pouch that's essentially a bag of holding but has decorations to remind you of home," or something similar. (Skuld occasionally feels bad that her gifts aren't quite as personalized, but Brain generally dissuades her of that pretty quickly, haha.)

🏠 Housemates — how would these characters be as housemates? if they’re already roommates, what does their life look like together? if not, would they want to live together, or would that be pushing things too far?

Haha, they tend to bicker a lot, but they do enjoy/would enjoy living together, depending on what sort of timeline we're talking about. Provided they're given enough time and space away from The Plot, they'd probably settle into an easier sort of rhythm...albeit one where they'd still mess with each other a lot, haha.

❤️‍🩹Healing — when one of them is hurt or suffering, what little things does the other do to help them heal (physically, emotionally, etc)?

Both of them tend to immediately check in and see what's wrong if the other seems off. They don't always actually talk about it, but it's the thought that counts.

Brain tends to be someone who makes things for his friends to try and like...either fix the problem or at least take their mind off things. Gifts are definitely his major love language, haha.

Skuld usually tries to find ways to make whatever Brain's dealing with a little easier. Usually, that means asking him if she can help with projects, which he's often grateful for.

Skuld and Ven

🎤 Karaoke — what’s their go-to karaoke songs, for when they’re taking turns singing and what duet do they choose when they’re singing together?

Haha, with Ven, I have to go with a Jesse McCartney song, and the one that feels most fitting is the cover of "I'll Try." Skuld...I'm not entirely sure. I think if she was going to sing Karaoke, it'd be something more energetic? But I don't know if I have a good song in mind. (I, uh...also don't know for sure what they'd do as a duet, though they give me strong Disney song vibes, haha.)

🛏️ Sleep — what sleeping habits do they have? how would they comfort the other(s) after a nightmare? would they share a bed or cuddle together, or does that cross a boundary?

The "nightmare" thing actually segues pretty well into the "share a bed or cuddle" thing, because...that's basically what happens! If Ven has a nightmare, he'll usually seek out one or more of the other Union Leaders, who'll either drag the rest of the Union Leaders into one big cuddle pile, or offer to share a bed with him for the night. Skuld tends to tell him stories until he falls asleep.

Skuld's a lot more reluctant to go to Ven in turn, though, just because she worries about putting too much of a burden on him. Ven gets pretty good at picking up when she's upset, though, and tries to do the same thing for her that she'd do for him.

When they get older, things change a bit. I imagine after they meet again in canon (uh. hopefully), they're both...dealing with A Lot. Skuld has a bit more trouble opening up to people, even if she wants to talk to Ven; Ven doesn't have the same problem, but he is aware that he doesn't know this version of Skuld. Skuld has a lot of nightmares, and I like the headcanon that Ven doesn't really like to sleep after everything that happened to him, and I think that leads to a lot of them just...spending quiet moments up together. It's comforting for both of them, since neither expects anything of the other, and they can just...be with someone who cares. (If they get tired enough, they probably end up falling asleep against each other, and I like to imagine that eventually, they get comfortable enough around each other again that that becomes more common as things go on.)

⛓️ Chains — how do they respond to learning about each other’s trauma, or what holds them back?

In the UX days, if Skuld had known about what had happened with Strelitzia beforehand, she would've been...distressed. If she didn't know that Darkness was involved, she'd probably be disbelieving, because she just...doesn't believe Ven would do something like that. If she did know about Darkness, she'd absolutely be ready to hunt it down and give it a peace of her mind. Regardless of which, though, she'd want to comfort Ven, even if she might not know how to proceed.

If Ven had learned about some of the traumatic stuff Skuld had gone through (i.e. the Keyblade War), he'd...probably feel a little overwhelmed, but his first instinct is to comfort his friend, so...that's what he's going to do! He might not know what to say, but he can still hug them or try to be a listening ear.

In the present, Skuld would be furious to know what Xehanort did to Ven, and it'd hurt a lot to know just how much he'd been through. (While she'd definitely be tempted to go after Xehanort if he was still alive, she also might find herself struggling with it, since, uh...she has her own trauma regarding him.) Because of everything she's been through, she finds it harder to figure out how to comfort him, but she still desperately wants to.

Ven would also be a lot less hesitant in the present. Given his own experiences, he has a much better understanding of the type of traumatic shit people go through, and how it can change a person. He gets it, and he can guess a lot of what Skuld's feeling about the situation...pretty accurately. That's not to say he's not mad at Xehanort too, though, and both of them probably vent about him as a bonding activity. I like to imagine at this point that Skuld's a lot less likely to see Ven as "kid brother that should be protected" and more as an equal, which makes it easier for both her and Ven to be honest with each other about what they've been through and how they feel, which...they can't always do with the others, to varying degrees. (Though it's definitely getting better for both of them!) It means they end up being pretty good support systems for each other, once they get past the initial awkwardness of, "I knew you once and now I have to relearn who you are" thing.